The Board
Roman Abramovich should be known as a club legend, the man changed our club, and I am very grateful. People who claim to 'hate' him, are clearly saying this out of anger after a rant about the club, or they are just an Arsenal fan. Either way, Roman changed us for the better as a whole.
However this season, Roman and co decided to sack Roberto Di Matteo in November. The man had such an emotional bond with the players, and sacking him the night we lost 3-0 to Juventus in the Champions League must have done the camp huge damage. It was the wrong time to sack the man that led us to the greatest night in our history, Abramavich, Gourlay and Bruce Buck should have given him a season to decide whether to take him on permanently. It was just a bad run of form in my opinion.
Roberto Di Matteo
I hate to say it, but leading up to Di Matteo's sacking, Chelsea were so, so poor on the pitch. After such a promising start to the season, it all went down hill for the Italian. Failing to win in the league in four games wasn't acceptable, and a poor Champions League run didn't help those matters.
Robby's failure to rotate the squad proved costly, as many player looked fatigued on the pitch after playing two full games week in, week out, and he was very attacking minded, losing concentration on the back four.
I don't agree that Roberto is a 'lucky' manager. He did show glimmers of hope during his short stay at Chelsea. I think we should have given him a longer time to prove this.
Rafa Benitez
So the club legend Roberto Di Matteo gets sacked, and in comes the man we all love to hate. Rafa Benitez. The fat, Spanish waiter himself, famous in West London for his remarks about the Chelsea fans (we haven't forgotten!). I'm not a fan of Benitez, and it would take a lot of persuading for me to become a fan of him. Maybe, a Premier League title, or persuading UEFA to let us back in the Champions League.
I was surprised when he was appointed, and didn't want to leave the media speculation leading up to it. He put Liverpool in a mess before he left, and he didn't do Inter many favours either.
We have failed to reach a stable run of form under Benitez. Our away form has been excellent, and you can't fault the man there, but we need to make the Bridge a fortress again. However, I do not feel Benitez is a very good man manager. He may know the game inside out, but that's only half the job. Look at Mourinho, Ancelotti, Di Matteo even - They were three successful managers at Chelsea, and they all had a great relationship with the team. Rafa however, does not.
I'm all for squad rotation, and the lack of it proves costly. However, resting our best players for a Premier League tie to QPR, and saving them for a cup game is just ridiculous.
The Players
It's easy to blame the manager. We all do it. Well, us Chelsea fans do, seeing as we're so used to it by now. Some would say we signed too many similar players in the Summer, in Hazard, Oscar, Moses and Marin, as well as already having Juan Mata at the club, whilst others would simply say that the squad packed with new players simply need time to gel. We were wrong to let Raul Meireles and Micheal Essien go, as we are terribly weak in the double pivot role, especially now Mikel has gone to the African Cup of Nations. Neither Ramires or Lampard suit the role very well, whilst Meireles and Essien do. If we had one of these players, we could play Ramires further up the field, where he did so well for us last season.
Defensive Tactics
Coming into this season, Chelsea favored the exciting attacking formation of 4-2-3-1, with 3 attacking midfield players supporting the lone striker.
The defence has been slacking. I've realised that when the opponents attack, the two full backs would squeeze in with the centre backs, almost making four centre backs, with the two in the pivot role chasing the ball down. Nowdays, all I see is the two centre backs defending, with the full backs staying close to the winger.
This is a drastic change in our defensive set up, and I think it has come at the wrong time, especially as we are currently playing without the powerhouse Mikel in the double pivot to help support the centre backs.
Our successive years under Mourinho were built on a solid defensive set up, and I'm sure all Chelsea fans would love to relive those days. Granted, John Terry has been out for the majority of the season, but Cahill and Ivanovic should be able to do the job.
Attacking Tactics
It's a well known fact among Chelsea followers that Roman Abramovich wants easy-on-the-eye, fast flowing attacking football, like Barcelona's famous tikka takka style of play. The lone striker for most of the season hasn't been getting the ball enough, and lacks support in front of him. Well, for most of the season that striker has been Torres - so we can't get a proper insight into this. We also fail to adapt to change formation. When we are on the back foot, the formation is all over the place, and sometimes we fail to get back into this formation, for example the Arsenal game at the weekend.
Torres
I don't like to single out any player, but I honestly believe a lot of this is due to our number 9. Fernando Torres. He just doesn't suit the team at all, and he's not a very good player anymore either! He isn't direct enough to suit the style of the three men behind him, and I think if we had Demba Ba for example playing there since the start of the season, we would have had a lot more success in this campaign. I'd love for Torres to find form and become a great player again, but I've lost hope.
In conclusion, this just simply hasn't been our year. With only the FA Cup left to fight for, a top 4 finish will look about it for us this season. Hopefully this is just the start of a second Chelsea revolution with the young squad needing time to gel, and a huge boost for them would be to win the legendary FA Cup.
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