After a somewhat disappointing season by Mourinho’s standards last year, Chelsea will look to improve on their trophy-less season and look to bring in silverware this time around. Chelsea finished 3rd in the Premier League behind eventual winners Manchester City and a Suarez inspired Liverpool. They had a good run in the champions league before being eliminated by Atletico Madrid in the semi-finals. So whats different this season ?? You might ask.
The Transfer Window:
David Luiz, after an abysmal World Cup with Brazil has now moved onto PSG for a whopping £40m. Club legends Lampard and Ashley Cole have been retrieved of their duties and have moved on. But, they have adequately replaced by La Liga’s top performers, read Cesc Fabregas and Filipe Luis; man-to-man replacements for Lampard and Cole.
Strikers & Goals…
It would be rationale to attribute Chelsea’s trophy-less season due to a lack of goals from their front line of Torres, Eto’o and Demba Ba. In comes Diego Costa who scored more goals in Atletico’s La Liga winning campaign than the whole of Chelsea’s front line. Include this to more prominent role for the World Cup winning German Andre Schurrle, Jose seems to have made all the right moves in the transfer window.
Diego Costa has played well in the pre-season games
Pre-season results:
WYCOMBE WANDERERS 0-5 CHELSEA
AFC WIMBLEDON 2-3 CHELSEA
RZ PELLETS 1-1 CHELSEA
NK OLIMPIJA LJUBLJANA 1-2 CHELSEA
VITESSE ARNHEM 1-3 CHELSEA
WERDER BREMEN 3-0 CHELSEA
CHELSEA 2-0 FENERBAHCE
CHELSEA 0-1 BESIKTAS
FERENCVAROS 1-2 CHELSEA
Tactics and probable line-up:
Mourinho usually employs a 4-2-3-1 formation with workaholic attacking midfielders. Nemanja Matic will be a guaranteed starter as he is the best defensive midfielder in their squad. The other spot is up for grabs as Mourinho has players like Ramires, Fabregas, Mikel and Van Ginkel to choose from. Fabregas will be a key player for the blues this season as his passing ability can be a prime weapon from the deep lying areas to start counter attacks which the Portuguese manager loves so much. Oscar, Willian and Eden Hazard might be the 1st choice attackers to support Diego Costa up front with former Leverkusen man Andre Schurrle joining the blues later after an extended leave due to the World Cup.
In defence, new acquisition Filipe Luis will be the 1st name on the team sheet at the left back position. It is likely that Cesar Azpilicueta will start ahead of Ivanovic at right back. Gary Cahill and John Terry are a very established pair at the centre back positions and in addition, Mourinho has the option of playing Ivanovic and Kurt Zouma as well. Petr Cech will face some stiff competition from Thibaut Courtois as the Belgian had 2 fantastic years with Atletico Madrid and help them win silverware.
Mourinho went with a counter attacking style of play last season, as he usually does, and has signed players accordingly for the more of the same this season.
Prediction:
After a long period of unrest and confusion, Chelsea under Mourinho seemed to have finally settled. A combination of talent – Hazard, Oscar, Fabregas and strength- Terry, Matic, Costa; this Chelsea team look formidable and are very much capable of mounting a title winning campaign.
| Player to watch out for: Eden Hazard | The WILD CARD: Diego Costa |
FOOTSIE’s Prediction League: 2nd UCL: Semi-Finals |
