Chelsea lowdown ahead of Porto clash
José Mourinho brings his Chelsea squad to Porto on Tuesday, amidst a certain degree of turmoil at Stamford Bridge. Is Mou losing his magic touch?
PortuGOAL writer and Chelsea supporter Paul Gellard runs the rule over how the Blues have played this season, and tells us how Mourinho is currently viewed by fans of the London club.
Current form. How have Chelsea looked form-wise in recent weeks?
Things had started to look up in recent weeks. A win in the Champions League over Maccabi Tel Aviv was followed by a much-needed league win at home to our bitter rivals, Arsenal. Some will question the validity of the win when Arsenal played over half a game with 10 men and later on 9, but you can only beat what’s put in front of you. We then won up at Walsall in the Capital One Cup, making it three wins in a row. Those ties can be banana skins so we were grateful to get through unscathed.
This weekend we were extremely poor at Newcastle though and lucky to get out with a point. To give an idea, José Mourinho said of the game, “We were so poor, so bad. At half-time I said I was sorry I only had three subs as I wanted to change six.” It’s been that kind of season in general so far.
Ones to watch - Who are Chelsea’s star players?
It’s a tough one to call this season. We’ve had an extremely poor start and not many of our players have hit any kind of form of note. Asmir Begovic has performed well between the sticks. He was signed to be backup to Thibault Courtois but, through injuries to the aforementioned, he’s ended up playing most of our games so far and been very reliable. Young centre-half, Kurt Zouma, has also been a positive thus far. Very strong and quite useful going forward too. Eden Hazard is capable of producing on any day but has struggled this season. Diego Costa too is always dangerous around the box and will likely rile any opponent’s centre-halves.
Strong points/weak points – what must Chelsea beware of and what can they exploit?
The major weak point at the current time is our defence. The back four have really struggled on the whole and are perhaps not the most mobile in the world. If Mourinho persists in using Branislav Ivanovic at right-back, then Porto could find they get a lot of joy going forward down the left. Brahimi would’ve enjoyed playing against him but, given his injury at Moreirense on Friday night, I would assume Varela will take on that role. Aboubakar is capable of causing problems for the centre-halves. It remains to be seen which two Mourinho will start with out of Cahill, Terry and Zouma. None are particularly quick so will need protection from the likes of Nemanja Matic and the out-of-form, Cesc Fàbregas.
I think the final third will be an interesting area to watch. If Diego Costa starts and can get decent service, he’ll give Maicon and Marcano problems. Also look for him to antagonise them and give them a physical battle. Eden Hazard is certainly capable of being a handful for Maxi Pereira and Willian / Pedro the same against Layún, although it could be that Willian / Pedro will spend a lot of his time providing protection to Ivanovic at right-back.
Formation and playing style – what system do Chelsea usually play? Would you describe them generically as an attacking or a defensive team?
It’s almost a given that Chelsea will play a 4-5-1 / 4-3-3 system. Costa will be the lone striker and Hazard and Willian or Pedro will look to provide the width. It’s also likely that ex-Benfica man, Matic, and Fàbregas will provide the holding midfield with either Oscar or, possibly Ramires, playing further forward. I would say Chelsea are a cautiously attacking side. Mourinho’s mantra is that attackers must defend as well as attack. For that reason, it’s rare we ever swamp teams going forward. We are setup to not concede goals, first and foremost, but we do also have goals in us.
What are the expectations as regards Chelsea’s participation in the Champions League this season? Is there a feeling they have under-achieved in this competition since Mourinho returned?
There is only one expectation when it comes to any competition at Chelsea - to win it. Roman Abramovich doesn’t take failure very well and Mourinho is no different. He knows what it takes to win the Champions League and feels he has unfinished business at Chelsea in that respect, having never been beyond the semi-finals with the club. Last season was certainly a poor ending to a promising Champions League campaign. Going out to Paris St Germain in the manner we did, didn’t go down well.
Given that we won the competition under Roberto Di Matteo in 2012, the subsequent campaigns have definitely been considered underwhelming. Mourinho knows the club is expecting him to improve on these this time around.
Mood in the camp – judging by player/coach quotes regarding this game, do you think Chelsea go into the match in a confident frame of mind?
Not much has yet been said by Mourinho on this week’s game, but I would imagine he will be confident of going to the Dragão and winning. We have a good record there over the years when we’ve met in the Champions League. The mood in the camp is hard to gauge at the moment though. It’s clear to the supporters that not all is rosy behind the scenes at the club and, with so many key players being out of form, I would imagine that Porto will also fancy their chances. One positive is that we’re now unbeaten in the last four games in all competitions. That will certainly help.
Mourinho watch 1. Looking from afar, the Portuguese coach seems to have lost a bit of his Midas touch in recent seasons. How do you compare his Chelsea side since returning to his Chelsea side during his first spell?
For me, there can be very little comparison between this current side and the side from his first season at the Bridge in 2004/05. Defensively, that side was solid and conceded a record low of 15 Premier League goals for the whole season. It was built on a central defensive pairing of John Terry (in his prime) and Ricardo Carvalho. William Gallas played left-back and Paulo Ferreira at right-back. Petr Cech was behind them and at times we looked unbeatable.
If you compare that to now where neither regular full-back is a natural in their respective role (Azpilicueta is a right-back but plays on the left, Ivanovic is a centre-half), you see a huge gap in quality. We also had just the one holding midfielder in 04/05 and that was Claude Makélélé who was so good he had the role named after him! The wings were occupied by pure pace in Arjen Robben and Damien Duff and there was also the Chelsea legend that is Frank Lampard who drove forward from midfield in his prime. Didier Drogba was a menace up front although I feel that Diego Costa can be as successful with us as Drogba was.
Mourinho watch 2. He’s always courted controversy, but it appears the level of criticism aimed his way is growing, and most of his recent spats are very bad-natured. How does this play out with Chelsea fans? Is he still considered a Stamford Bridge legend or are fans (or a proportion of fans) starting to turn against him at all?
There has certainly been a lot of drama this season, going back to the opening day with the Eva Carneiro (club doctor) incident against Swansea. It hasn’t helped the mood around the club and there is definitely a large percentage of supporters who feel he has “lost it”. There have been calls in some corners for Mourinho to go, but you will find that the vast majority of Chelsea supporters back Mourinho and still love him as a legend. This is the man who gave us our first top-flight league title since 1955, in 2005. It was probably best encapsulated in the standing ovation and personal chant aimed at him against Crystal Palace at the Bridge.
What I would say is that criticism is definitely mounting regarding his selection policies. With players such as Ivanovic and Fàbregas really struggling for form this season, it’s a growing source of discontent that he continues to start them every week. A lot of supporters believe he should be looking elsewhere, at the likes of young Ruben Loftus-Cheek and also, moving Cesar Azpilicueta to his natural right-back role and starting new signing, Baba Rahman, at left-back instead.
There are also a lot of calls for Loic Remy to get more playing time as he has a superb goal scoring to games ratio. However, Mourinho seems to prefer Costa and Falcao, despite questionable form. Many feel dropping John Terry has been a mistake and that Mourinho has made him a scapegoat when he should be looking elsewhere.
What do you think the result of the match will be?
Tough one! On current form, and having watched a lot of Porto this season, I believe it will be tough for Chelsea. That said, if both sides play to their full potential, I’d expect a Chelsea win - perhaps 1-0 or 2-0. The way Chelsea have played so far this season, it’s impossible to predict which side will turn up and, personally, I’d take a draw if you offered it now. I’ll stick my neck on the block and say 1-1. I think it’ll be a cagey game too.
Our thanks to Paul Gellard for his fascinating insight. Follow Paul on Twitter @PauloSimao55.
