It’s only six competitive matches since Chelsea wiped the floor with Mark Hughes’ Queens Park Rangers at Stamford Bridge. The bad news is, they’ve spent nearly £70m improving their attack since then.
Perhaps, in future, when I passionately want the Champions League final to finish in favour of a certain side I should force myself to watch the bloody thing – especially if it involves Bayern Munich who don't seem to be able to cope without my support.
In 1999 Manchester United beat Bayern in the Nou Camp with two goals in the last minute of the game, in the process providing irrelevant fill for Clive Tyldesley's commentary for the next 13 years (and counting) and giving birth to the half decent joke about the veteran broadcaster's perfect dinner date being 'Zat Knight in Barcelona.'
I didn't see those goals at the time because I was on a flight to Greece and once I'd heard United – who I still hate more than anything else in the world – had won I had no interest in catching up on the highlights. I've actively avoided them ever since and will leave a room or change the channel whenever they're shown again.
Fast forward to May this year and Chelsea 's day of destiny with Bayern. Since losing the first leg of an earlier round at Napoli 3-1 – a scoreline that flattered the English side – but then squeezing through the second leg after sacking their manager in the meantime I couldn't shake the feeling that Chelsea 's name was on that trophy. As I watched their remarkable semi-final win in Barcelona in a Barnet pub full of underage drinkers bellowing the 'Celery' song as if they knew a damn thing about it, or indeed had ever been to a Chelsea game, I made a conscious decision that I wouldn't watch the final and instead purchased a ticket to see War Horse at the New London Theatre.
When the day came I happily sat in the dark and watched the luvvies prance around on baskets pretending they were horses with my phone off, content that I had no idea what was going on. It was a win win – either Chelsea would lose, or they'd win and I wouldn't have to look at it. However, I'd reckoned without the bloody thing going all the way to penalties, and the fates transpired against me by making the play finish just as the shoot out was about to begin. I couldn't help but be drawn into a Covent Garden pub for the grim climax. There I stood, at the back, with a similarly depressed Tottenham fan, as Bastian Schweinsteiger missed a penalty.
Now, you know your name is on a trophy when Bastian Schweinsteiger misses a penalty against you. Schweinsteiger is the über German. His great, great grandfather Wolfgang probably invented the penalty shoot out in the first place to give the Schweinsteiger family an activity that they would be better at than the rest of the world. Schweinsteiger missing a penalty kick is the most astonishing thing I've ever seen in a football match. I'd turned and was out of the door the moment the decisive strike left Drogba's boot.
What that dogged, backs-to-the-wall and ultimately successful pursuit of the trophy owner Roman Abramovic coveted most of all did was turn a disastrous season in which Chelsea finished outside the automatic Europa League qualifying places into one of their most successful ever. They started last season by paying stupid money – even by their standards – to buy young coach Andre Villas Boas out of his Porto contract. He correctly identified that the Chelsea squad has gown old together and there are no obvious replacements for the ageing star players they rely on, but set about tackling it in a "before turning the gun on himself" sort of a manner which ended with him alienating his entire playing squad and being crushed under the weight of a dressing room rebellion.
When Villas Boas left Chelsea they were on the cusp of Champions League elimination and facing a tricky FA Cup replay at Birmingham City. Their captain John Terry, by now mired in racism charges for an incident during the defeat at QPR earlier in the campaign, was due to be out injured for another six weeks but he and the team made a miraculous recovery upon Villas Boas' departure and rarely looked back.
Villas Boas was replaced temporarily by Roberto Di Matteo, and that arrangement suited Chelsea down to the ground. A temporary manager doesn't have to buy any players – exactly whose job that is at Chelsea is a regular bone of contention – and he doesn't have to worry about dismantling a good but ageing team with an eye on the long term because he's not there for the long term. Perhaps Chelsea should just have a caretaker manager all the time. The problem is it worked so well they could hardly not give Di Matteo the job permanently this summer, although there's a strong sense that he's merely keeping the seat warm in the hope Pep Guardiola could be tempted next summer.
What the Swiss-born former Italian international does appear to be doing, however, is fazing the old guard out rather more tactfully and effectively than his predecessor did. Didier Drogba has gone without real replacement, which may bite them if Fernando Torres loses form or fitness, but further back real quality has been added to the team which has meant few people actually noticed when Michael Essien left on deadline day – this time last year that would have been headline news.
The key test will come if Di Matteo stays around long enough to have to replace John Terry, Frank Lampard and, to a lesser extent, Ashley Cole although in his case Ryan Bertrand is ready and set to just slot into his position. It's when managers have challenged the authority or positions in the team of that axis of three senior players in the past that problems have arisen and P45s been handed out.
Answers this week from the Chelsea Daft blogger, who we thank for his time as always.
Assess last season from a Chelsea point of view. It seemed to be an unmitigated disaster for the most part followed by the most glorious triumph against the odds at the end.
Well last season was incredible really. From looking lost we ended up European Champions and FA Cup winners. It was the most amazing end to our season and one that went down in our history. However, in the back of our minds we are all aware of the fact that finishing sixth isn't good enough and we will be looking for a marked improvement this season.
How do you rate Chelsea 's start to this season? What can be achieved this year?
Chelsea now have the attacking potential to beat anyone on their day but as we have all seen, can leave themselves exposed as Atletico proved to everyone the other week in Monaco. Our League start has been ok with the performance at home to Newcastle being our best so far. If Di Matteo can sort out the defensive side of our formation, we can make a real push to get back in the top four again this season. As for the Champions League? To be the first side to retain the trophy in its current format would be amazing but something tells me we had ALL the luck we were ever going to have in the competition last season.
Would you have given Roberto Di Matteo the manager's job? Is he just a stop gap before a big name (Guardiola?) is brought in next summer?
You have to sit back and look at what RDM achieved here after taking over from AVB. He deserved the job on a full time basis and I am 100% behind him. As for Guardiola, it's important to remember that he had everything in place at Barcelona . From the academy up, he knew everything was there for him. You have to question if Guardiola could now go somewhere else and replicate the football his team played by stepping into the breach at Liverpool for example or Chelsea ? Would he be given the time to do that? I doubt it.
Di Matteo seems to be shifting the old guard on rather more diplomatically than AVB did. Will the same dressing room issues arise when it comes to replacing Terry, Lampard and Cole in time?
I have to say that I think that winning the Champions League is massive when it comes to shifting the 'old Guard'. Would Drogba have left if we lost in Munich ? I am not so sure and think he would have given it one final crack. These guys have now won it all and that's the big difference between Chelsea now and 12 months ago. Cole, JT and Lampard will not want to end their Chelsea careers at a level well below where they are and have been. If anything, they will probably make it easier for the manager.
What do you make of Andre Villas Boas - the job he did at Chelsea in hindsight, his Spurs appointment, and how you think he'll do at White Hart Lane?
AVB came into Chelsea will all guns blazing and cocked it right up. People go on and on about player power at Chelsea but you have to remember that these players had a winning mentality, the knew what it takes to put trophies on the table and knew what gets the best out of everyone. In the beginning they went with Villas Boas' approach and when, like all of us, saw what was going wrong, spoke up and fell out with the manager who refused to budge. I can't believe the bloke has tried to take some credit for us being European Champions.
Ask any Spurs fan what they think of him and it's going to be a similar story. Look at the turnover of players and their results so far. They may come good but it will take some doing. At the end of the day Harry Redknapp should never have been sacked and the fact he was is scandalous.
For all the money spent this summer, you seem very reliant on Torres. Is he up to the job? Where is the squad and team strong and weak?
Fernando Torres will fly this season mark my words. All he has ever wanted is the right service at the right time. He now has that with the likes of Hazard, Mata, Marin, Oscar and Moses supporting him. Drogba leaving was massive as he was the main man and Torres struggled to live within his shadow. Now Torres is the main man he has confidence and he has shown that already with three goals in four games including the Community Shield.
Chelsea are very strong through the middle and in the attacking third. At the moment we are weak in wide areas when we need to defend and leave ourselves exposed. Atletico would have been a massive shock for Di Matteo and the players and I expect Chelsea to be more solid at the weekend.
What is your opinion of the forthcoming John Terry FA hearing and how you expect it to go?
I am not biased here at all. I remember you asked me something similar to this last season and my opinion is still the same. All I will say on this matter is go back to the incident and look at the number of black players on the pitch for QPR and Chelsea. It doesn't matter what side you are playing for, if you hear someone say anything racist you would speak up or kick off and quite rightly so. If Terry said what was reported then why didn't the likes of Mikel, Wright-Phillips and Cole react or say something straight away? I don't believe that Terry said what he is accused of in the way it was made out that he had. What we all saw on TV was his reaction to someone saying that he had and he was responding saying he never did.
If you were looking for examples of well run clubs in the English league, I should imagine West Brom and MK Dons would figure near the top of a very short list – however lamentable the circumstances around the latter's initial formation may be. In recent years both have been seen as decent proving grounds for managers with Martin Allen, Paul Ince and Roberto Di Matteo all moving higher up the career ladder from Stadium MK, and Tony Mowbray and Roy Hodgson doing likewise from The Hawthorns. The thing you might notice is that four of them – Allen, Ince, Mowbray and now potentially Hodgson – failed in the jobs they left for.
Di Matteo left MK for West Brom and won promotion to the Premier League but was then harshly sacked midway through the following season. He now finds himself at Chelsea where there are riches beyond his previous wildest dreams as a manager, but a complex political situation behind the scenes and in the dressing room.
The problem with picking managers up from West Brom and MK Dons is that although their grounding in the lower leagues or other end of the Premier League may be attractive, it's highly unlikely that your club is as well run as the one they’re coming from. Grounded they may be, but they're used to a sensible budget at an organised club with clear structures and principles in place and a long term strategy and plan to abide by. That's not the case at most other clubs and may explain why Allen at Leicester, Ince at Blackburn, Mowbray at Celtic and now potentially Hodgson with England didn't quite work out as promised.
Di Matteo's advantage at Chelsea is he used to play for the club and is well liked there – which will always buy time. And, of course, he won two trophies as the caretaker, turning round a disastrous season in the process, which may keep Abramovic off his back slightly longer than he would otherwise expect if things start to go wrong.
As a player he scored the fastest goal in FA Cup history at the time (since beaten by Louis Saha) in 1997 against Middlesbrough and won 34 caps for Italy despite being born in Switzerland – Di Matteo was certainly no mug as a player. He was given a chance to cut his managerial teeth in this country at MK Dons in League One.
He stayed in charge there for just one season, losing out in the 2009 League One play off semi finals to a Scunthorpe team with worse players on paper and a budget about half what the Italian had to work with at Stadium MK. I’m not criticising him here, a play off semi final in a first senior managerial position was a very reasonable achievement, but I do wonder whether that was quite enough for Championship side West Brom to come cheque book in hand to take him straight to The Hawthorns.
They were rewarded for their faith initially, Di Matteo promoted them back to the Premiership at the first time of asking, but as discussed previously in this column West Brom are structured to bounce back immediately from any Premiership relegations that befall them. It’s not quite at a level where a trained chimp or Bryan Robson could get them back up but it’s not far off. Chairman Jeremy Peace then broke with his previous form and sacked Di Matteo midway through the first season back in the big time – a decision universally said to be harsh but one which has paid off for them.
Di Matteo pitched up at Chelsea last summer as assistant to Andre Villas Boas and turned a season heading for the rocks into an FA Cup and Champions League double. He must now ensure a higher league position than last season's sixth while revitalising an ageing squad and keeping the old guard onside through the process. A big ask, especially since many see him as a mere stop gap.
The last time these two teams met Chelsea won 6-1, calmly exploiting every weakness QPR offered up to them and picking the R’s off at will. The bad news is those weaknesses in the QPR team remain, and Chelsea have improved weapons to target them with.
The main problem at Stamford Bridge – among many – was that Mark Hughes stationed Djibril Cisse wide on the flank and Bobby Zamora up front by himself. That didn’t necessarily have to be an issue, however because Cisse stayed wide and Zamora showed no interest in – or had specifically been told not to bother with – dropping back and engaging Michael Essien at the base of the Chelsea midfield the Blues were able to pick QPR apart at will.
Chelsea start almost every move by playing out from the centre of their defence either through Mikel or with David Luiz, Gary Cahill and John Terry carrying possession forward. It simply has to be the striker’s job to get involved with disrupting this and Zamora did not do that at Stamford Bridge.
The cumulative effect of this is like a domino pattern. Because Essien, Terry and (on that day) Ferreira were able to walk into acres of space behind Zamora unchallenged it drew QPR’s deep lying midfield three – Buzsaky, Barton and Derry – forward down the field to meet them. This in turn left acres of space behind them but in front of the back four in which Juan Mata, Daniel Sturridge and Solomon Kalou ran riot.
Sadly despite 12 new signings in the summer, Swansea City showed that QPR are still vulnerable in that space between defence and midfield if they go chasing a game. Even more worryingly, Chelsea have improved their ability in that area of the field exponentially with Eden Hazard, Oscar and Victor Moses joining Mata, Sturridge and Lampard. And, while we’re panicking, the addition of Hazard coming in from that right side means that if Rangers were to try and sit with three deep lying, narrow midfielders as they did against Spurs and Arsenal at Loftus Road last season, it’s likely that the Belgian would simply destroy the set up round the side, particularly as the QPR full backs are all known for their forward runs rather than their defensive ability.
There are weaknesses in this Chelsea set up though. That organisation in defence that carried them to European Cup glory hasn’t really carried on into this season: they shipped three to Man City in the Community Shield, two very poor goals to Reading in a home win and four to Atletico Madrid in the Super Cup. When I saw them against Wigan – poor opposition and a comfortable win – they still gave the home team plenty of chances. They were particularly vulnerable in wide areas despite dropping into a midfield five set up when out of possession. They defend any wide set pieces with a very tight line of seven men strung out between the six yard box and the penalty spot that could be exploited in any number of ways – most effectively with low balls whipped in behind them and in front of Cech in goal, or curled inwards towards the back post.
The key is maintaining a high work rate and compressing the pitch. Whoever is playing up front needs to prevent the Chelsea centre backs and holding midfielder playing out easily. That will enable midfield bodies to crowd the area that Mata and Hazard like to operate in. Rangers simply don’t have the defensive ability to cope with the Chelsea attacking midfielders so they must focus on keeping space they operate in to a minimum, and cutting the ball off at source in the first place.
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