On Saturday, Chelsea had a huge away match against our biggest rival, Man United. And on the scoresheet, it was ugly. We went down 3-0 at half, and never really looked like we'd win the game. But I went back and watched the game again and, in retrospect, it was as encouraging a performance as a 3-1 loss can possibly be. So here are my key thoughts from the match:
1. Chelsea were the better team-- Everyone makes this claim about their team pretty regularly, but in this case, the stats back it up. Chelsea had 22 shots to United's 14, 8 on target to United's 6, and 10 corners to United's 4. The difference in the game was one thing: United took its chances and Chelsea didn't. That's a problem on its own, but this was not a game where Chelsea got bossed or looked out of its element-- the team outperformed United, and were unlucky not to at least draw the game.
2. Andre Villas-Boas got his tactics right-- This is huge. The 33 year old manager put the squad in a position to win the game. And that's all a manager can do-- he can't make his defenders mark, he can't put the ball in the net for his forwards, and he can't make passes for his midfielders. But AVB put the squad in a position to win, and, when some things weren't working out, he made changes.
3. Fernando Torres is improving-- All anyone will talk about after this game is Torres's horrible miss. Everyone's seen it by now: he took a through ball, took a quick touch past the keeper... and shanked the ball wide with the net open. What everyone is ignoring is that he scored a brilliant goal to open the second half, and put himself in a position to score. This is three strong performances in a row now for Torres, and he got on the scoresheet against the defending champs this time. There have been two big problems for Torres: he lost his confidence after failing to score for awhile, and he's never really gotten the explosive speed he had before the World Cup back since he hurt his knee last summer. The speed is coming back now, and I think the confidence is at least moving in the right direction. If he comes back, this is a different Chelsea team.
4. Frank Lampard isn't good enough to start for this team-- It's always hard to push out a club legend, but this game really underscored the truth: Lampard, at 33 years old, just isn't a starter for a title-winning team anymore. At his best, he was a box-to-box player who ran all day, scored 20 goals a season, and provided thrust in the middle of the field. Now, he's lost the ability to outlast his opponents, and it's made him a pretty middling player for this team. He can't keep up with quicker midfielders, and his passing isn't good enough that he can operate as a playmaker. The United game made this painfully obvious: he didn't have the movement to close down space in the middle of the field, he wasn't quick with the ball, and the team improved when Nicolas Anelka replaced him at half. I don't think Lampard should be forcibly sold-- you can't get rid of a guy like him against his will-- but I think he's a squad player at this point.
5. What this team needs is... Frank Lampard-- Not today's Frank Lampard, but 2006 Frank Lampard: the Frank Lampard who brought energy to the middle of the park and chipped in regular goals. A month ago, if you'd asked me what this team needed, I would have said Luka Modric. Modric still wouldn't hurt. But Juan Mata is a guy who's very capable of playing as a creative central player (even if he plays in a more advanced role than Modric). What the team needs is a box-to-box guy. Strangely, it's not Modric the team needs, but Scott Parker, who's only a couple of years younger than Lampard, but is visibly more energetic and better able to provide the energy in midfield that this team needs. I think Moussa Sissoko from Toulouse would be the ideal signing, but he may be a year or two away.
6. This is not a 4-3-3 squad anymore-- The United game made it clear that a 4-3-3 doesn't really suit this team's strengths. Especially with Michael Essien out, three central midfielders are not optimal for this squad. Instead, at this point, I think a 4-2-3-1 is ideal. At the moment, that would mean Meireles and Ramires in front of the back four, with Sturridge, Mata and one of Anelka or Malouda behind Torres. Once Drogba comes back, he'd rotate with Torres, while Essien would work into the Meireles/Ramires rotation in central midfield. That formation would be the ideal combination of central thrust and attacking link-up play for the personnel on this team. The squad's improved performance when Lampard came off and the team went 4-2-3-1 just underscores the need to move to this formation on a permanent basis.
No comments:
Post a Comment