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Chelsea Analysis: Revision, not revolution, needed after latest Champions League demise
One win does not make Inter a great side, or Chelsea a bad one...
| Bet: | Returns: | Inter £13.50 | Draw £45.00 | Bologna £75.00 |
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| Bet: | Returns: | Inter £14.00 | Draw £42.00 | Bologna £90.00 |
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| Bet: | Returns: | Inter £13.64 | Draw £43.33 | Bologna £85.00 |
|
| Bet: | Returns: | Inter £14.00 | Draw £45.00 | Bologna £80.00 |
|
| Bet: | Returns: | Inter £13.00 | Draw £45.00 | Bologna £91.50 |
|
18 Mar 2010 12:30:00
By Alex Dimond
It's amazing how one game can change everything, isn't it?
Sometimes a game of football isn't just a game of football. Sometimes it represents a seismic shift in the game's balance of power.
Apparently that was the case on Tuesday — Inter Milan’s 3-1 aggregate victory over Chelsea wasn’t just a fortunate result after two very tight legs, it was actually a defining moment in football’s progression.
Who knew? Depending on who you listen to, the result is conclusive evidence that Italian football is back on the up — despite its second best side, AC Milan, being bludgeoned by Manchester United just a week earlier — while English football is now sliding towards ignominy.
On a club level, Inter Milan are apparently now a dominant force in Europe — having finally reached a Champions League quarter-final for the first time since 2006 — while 2008 finalists Chelsea need a radical overhaul if they are to achieve chairman Roman Abramovich’s aim of winning the European Cup any time soon.
Interesting theories. Of course, all of them are total rubbish.
If Inter Milan are in the final in Madrid come May, then — and only then — they will have earned the right to be considered among Europe’s best. One impressive yet fortuitous result shouldn’t grant them that privilege.
The same goes for Chelsea, who should not be written off for one early exit that, after past successes in the competition, was perhaps overdue. Their record over the last five years should grant them one off-year, especially considering how unlucky they were over both legs of the best match of the round.
If nothing else, it would be interesting to see how the tie would have gone if the injury situations of the two clubs had been reversed. Who knows how Wesley Sneijder might have fared against Michael Essien rather than John Obi Mikel, or how Maicon would have played coming up against Ashley Cole?
To take such “what-ifs” further, how about if Chelsea had been able to include two of their best players, while Inter had been without their equivalents, Maicon and Sneijder? What if the Nerazzurri had been forced to play Paolo Orlandoni in goal? Or, already without Maicon, what if Mourinho had needed to plan around the loss of their other starting full-back (okay, so admittedly Christian Chivu was actually absent) and had missed their only other option (Santon/Zhirkov) for the first leg?
We can never be sure, but it is not too much of a stretch to suggest the tie would have had a different winner — even if only Essien and Cole had been available while the outstanding Sneijder and Maicon had been ruled out.
Unfortunately these are things we will never know — just like we will never know how the outcome would have changed if the referees over the two legs had given just one of the three fairly clear-cut claims Chelsea had for a penalty.
After the game at Stamford Bridge, Mourinho, savouring a memorable victory, helped the media shape their post-match comment pieces by highlighting his team's qualities over the 180 minutes, while predictably ignoring the good fortune they received.
"Best team by far," Mourinho said of his side.
"Chelsea are a great team, we know that, but my team came here knowing very well the way they play and we know if you don't control the game by having the ball you have no chance.
"We created the best chances, and when we got the goal they were completely out of the game.”
No mention, then, of Chelsea’s injury problems forcing Carlo Ancelotti into starting a 4-3-3 that the world and his wife could have predicted. Even more surprisingly, no highlighting of how anticipating such a tactical move from the Italian (his only real option) created the opportunity for 'the Special One' to implement an unexpectedly attacking formation (arguably the one true managerial masterstroke of the tie) that was tailored perfectly to exploit the weaknesses of Chelsea’s inflexible line-up.
"I always said that the penalties are only when the referee whistled, and the referee didn't whistle. I didn't see what happened [for Drogba's sending off]," Ancelotti said after the game.
"We played better the first game in Milan, and now we are not able to repeat the same play as in Milan.
"We did not play how we wanted. Inter put some pressure on our midfielders and we had a lot of difficulty to play. Inter played a very good game with a good counter attack.
"We didn't play how we wanted, so Inter deserved to win. Congratulations to Inter."
Apparently, after this one defeat Chelsea now have to return to spending huge sums in the transfer market if they are ever to get back to the latter stages of the competition.
Never mind that two of the biggest spending clubs in Europe over the last decade, Inter themselves and Real Madrid, finally have one quarter-final appearance between them in the competition over the last four seasons.
Perhaps the most frequent phrase used in a sentence to describe Chelsea over the past few days has been ‘ageing squad’, the consensus being that Chelsea’s key players are getting old and past their prime. This wasn't just a poor performance, as Ancelotti claimed, but a side past its prime trying to keep up.
This is possibly true, but such an opinion is hard to fully respect when the Blues’ starting XI on Tuesday was, on average, over a year younger than Inter’s, and even harder to swallow when you consider AC Milan's winning side in the 2007 final had an average age of over 31 — almost two years older than the Blues' starting XI on Tuesday.
Do Chelsea need to make wholesale changes? Not at all. Could they do with a fresh injection of talent? Undoubtedly. Inter might have been fortunate over two legs, but the impact which the players they have signed this season alone — Lucio, Thiago Motta, Diego Milito, Goran Pandev, MacDonald Mariga — had on the tie shows the importance of constantly revising and refreshing a squad at the highest level.
Self-sufficiency is a laudable target for Abramovich to set, but shutting down transfer activity to pursue it in recent months has undoubtedly set Chelsea back a few steps, though not so far that radical changes are needed to recover the lost ground.
Another striker has to be a priority, with expensive moves for Sergio Aguero or Alexandre Pato highly likely to bring rewards. If Ancelotti is to stick with the 4-3-3, a young midfield option to complement the ageing Frank Lampard and Michael Ballack wouldn’t go amiss, although Michael Essien's return will be a huge relief to everyone involved at the club.
But what Chelsea need more than anything is a change in attitude. After the recent succession of unsavory exits, you have to wonder how battle-scarred this side is, and whether they now truly believe they can win the Champions League.
With the memories of John Terry's slip, Andres Iniesta's last-minute shot and now Samuel Eto'o's blistering finish burned into their memories, the players could well be forgiven for thinking something will always deny them.
"Everything was superior, including the attitude on the pitch," Mourinho, who perhaps more than anyone is responsible for the Blues' irresponsible approach, pointed out after the game.
"They felt very frustrated immediately and felt their opponent was superior. So they went for the long ball and the dive in the box and the creation of the situation when they could possibly beat us."
Not for the first time, rather than focus on getting the job done despite the perceived adversity, the players capitulated and let a winnable game slip through their grasp. With off-field controversies destabilising the squad since the turn of the New Year, perhaps the players' mental approach is really the core problem.
That, as much as the squad’s make-up, is what needs to be changed if Chelsea are to lift the trophy they desire above all.
Whatever else has been written this week, one defeat has not made Chelsea a bad side, just as one victory has not made Inter Milan a great one.
With a little reinvestment in the right areas in the summer — and an off-season focus on the mental approach of all the players — the Blues can easily re-establish their credentials as one of Europe’s best.
Careful revision, not wholesale revolution, is what is needed at Stamford Bridge.
Become a fan of Goal.com UK's Facebook fan page for all the latest news and insight into everything related to the beautiful game!
Sometimes a game of football isn't just a game of football. Sometimes it represents a seismic shift in the game's balance of power.
Apparently that was the case on Tuesday — Inter Milan’s 3-1 aggregate victory over Chelsea wasn’t just a fortunate result after two very tight legs, it was actually a defining moment in football’s progression.
Who knew? Depending on who you listen to, the result is conclusive evidence that Italian football is back on the up — despite its second best side, AC Milan, being bludgeoned by Manchester United just a week earlier — while English football is now sliding towards ignominy.
On a club level, Inter Milan are apparently now a dominant force in Europe — having finally reached a Champions League quarter-final for the first time since 2006 — while 2008 finalists Chelsea need a radical overhaul if they are to achieve chairman Roman Abramovich’s aim of winning the European Cup any time soon.
Interesting theories. Of course, all of them are total rubbish.
If Inter Milan are in the final in Madrid come May, then — and only then — they will have earned the right to be considered among Europe’s best. One impressive yet fortuitous result shouldn’t grant them that privilege.
The same goes for Chelsea, who should not be written off for one early exit that, after past successes in the competition, was perhaps overdue. Their record over the last five years should grant them one off-year, especially considering how unlucky they were over both legs of the best match of the round.
If nothing else, it would be interesting to see how the tie would have gone if the injury situations of the two clubs had been reversed. Who knows how Wesley Sneijder might have fared against Michael Essien rather than John Obi Mikel, or how Maicon would have played coming up against Ashley Cole?
To take such “what-ifs” further, how about if Chelsea had been able to include two of their best players, while Inter had been without their equivalents, Maicon and Sneijder? What if the Nerazzurri had been forced to play Paolo Orlandoni in goal? Or, already without Maicon, what if Mourinho had needed to plan around the loss of their other starting full-back (okay, so admittedly Christian Chivu was actually absent) and had missed their only other option (Santon/Zhirkov) for the first leg?
Face-off | Swap Sneijder for Essien, do Inter still win?
We can never be sure, but it is not too much of a stretch to suggest the tie would have had a different winner — even if only Essien and Cole had been available while the outstanding Sneijder and Maicon had been ruled out.
Unfortunately these are things we will never know — just like we will never know how the outcome would have changed if the referees over the two legs had given just one of the three fairly clear-cut claims Chelsea had for a penalty.
After the game at Stamford Bridge, Mourinho, savouring a memorable victory, helped the media shape their post-match comment pieces by highlighting his team's qualities over the 180 minutes, while predictably ignoring the good fortune they received.
"Best team by far," Mourinho said of his side.
"Chelsea are a great team, we know that, but my team came here knowing very well the way they play and we know if you don't control the game by having the ball you have no chance.
"We created the best chances, and when we got the goal they were completely out of the game.”
No mention, then, of Chelsea’s injury problems forcing Carlo Ancelotti into starting a 4-3-3 that the world and his wife could have predicted. Even more surprisingly, no highlighting of how anticipating such a tactical move from the Italian (his only real option) created the opportunity for 'the Special One' to implement an unexpectedly attacking formation (arguably the one true managerial masterstroke of the tie) that was tailored perfectly to exploit the weaknesses of Chelsea’s inflexible line-up.
Upper hand | Mourinho took advantage of his luck
"I always said that the penalties are only when the referee whistled, and the referee didn't whistle. I didn't see what happened [for Drogba's sending off]," Ancelotti said after the game.
"We played better the first game in Milan, and now we are not able to repeat the same play as in Milan.
"We did not play how we wanted. Inter put some pressure on our midfielders and we had a lot of difficulty to play. Inter played a very good game with a good counter attack.
"We didn't play how we wanted, so Inter deserved to win. Congratulations to Inter."
Apparently, after this one defeat Chelsea now have to return to spending huge sums in the transfer market if they are ever to get back to the latter stages of the competition.
Never mind that two of the biggest spending clubs in Europe over the last decade, Inter themselves and Real Madrid, finally have one quarter-final appearance between them in the competition over the last four seasons.
Perhaps the most frequent phrase used in a sentence to describe Chelsea over the past few days has been ‘ageing squad’, the consensus being that Chelsea’s key players are getting old and past their prime. This wasn't just a poor performance, as Ancelotti claimed, but a side past its prime trying to keep up.
This is possibly true, but such an opinion is hard to fully respect when the Blues’ starting XI on Tuesday was, on average, over a year younger than Inter’s, and even harder to swallow when you consider AC Milan's winning side in the 2007 final had an average age of over 31 — almost two years older than the Blues' starting XI on Tuesday.
Do Chelsea need to make wholesale changes? Not at all. Could they do with a fresh injection of talent? Undoubtedly. Inter might have been fortunate over two legs, but the impact which the players they have signed this season alone — Lucio, Thiago Motta, Diego Milito, Goran Pandev, MacDonald Mariga — had on the tie shows the importance of constantly revising and refreshing a squad at the highest level.
Self-sufficiency is a laudable target for Abramovich to set, but shutting down transfer activity to pursue it in recent months has undoubtedly set Chelsea back a few steps, though not so far that radical changes are needed to recover the lost ground.
Another striker has to be a priority, with expensive moves for Sergio Aguero or Alexandre Pato highly likely to bring rewards. If Ancelotti is to stick with the 4-3-3, a young midfield option to complement the ageing Frank Lampard and Michael Ballack wouldn’t go amiss, although Michael Essien's return will be a huge relief to everyone involved at the club.
But what Chelsea need more than anything is a change in attitude. After the recent succession of unsavory exits, you have to wonder how battle-scarred this side is, and whether they now truly believe they can win the Champions League.
With the memories of John Terry's slip, Andres Iniesta's last-minute shot and now Samuel Eto'o's blistering finish burned into their memories, the players could well be forgiven for thinking something will always deny them.
Blame game | Refs nudged Blues to self-destruct
"Everything was superior, including the attitude on the pitch," Mourinho, who perhaps more than anyone is responsible for the Blues' irresponsible approach, pointed out after the game.
"They felt very frustrated immediately and felt their opponent was superior. So they went for the long ball and the dive in the box and the creation of the situation when they could possibly beat us."
Not for the first time, rather than focus on getting the job done despite the perceived adversity, the players capitulated and let a winnable game slip through their grasp. With off-field controversies destabilising the squad since the turn of the New Year, perhaps the players' mental approach is really the core problem.
That, as much as the squad’s make-up, is what needs to be changed if Chelsea are to lift the trophy they desire above all.
Whatever else has been written this week, one defeat has not made Chelsea a bad side, just as one victory has not made Inter Milan a great one.
With a little reinvestment in the right areas in the summer — and an off-season focus on the mental approach of all the players — the Blues can easily re-establish their credentials as one of Europe’s best.
Careful revision, not wholesale revolution, is what is needed at Stamford Bridge.
Become a fan of Goal.com UK's Facebook fan page for all the latest news and insight into everything related to the beautiful game!
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Arsenal thrashed by AC Milan, Zenit beat Benfica - Follow the Champions League LIVE!
With Alex Fisher
Arsenal fall to their heaviest defeat in Europe on a miserable night in Milan for Arsene Wenger's side. Join Goal.com as we cover tonight's huge games on the continent.
Get in touch on Twitter via @GoalUK
Arsenal fall to their heaviest defeat in Europe on a miserable night in Milan for Arsene Wenger's side. Join Goal.com as we cover tonight's huge games on the continent.
Get in touch on Twitter via @GoalUK
15/02/2012
So that's all from me tonight, thanks for joining me for what was quite a memorable evening in the Champions League.
15/02/2012
We've heard from all the big players from tonight's games as Milan and Zenit record first leg victories.
For Milan progression to next round seems inevitable after they thumped Arsenal 4-0 at the San Siro.
However things are very different for Zenith, and despite their win you may actually make Benfica favourites given they scored two away goals in Russia.
For Milan progression to next round seems inevitable after they thumped Arsenal 4-0 at the San Siro.
However things are very different for Zenith, and despite their win you may actually make Benfica favourites given they scored two away goals in Russia.
15/02/2012
All this focus on the Arsenal and Milan game should not take away from another cracker earlier tonight between Zenit and Benfica. The Russians came from a goal down to lead 2-1 in the closing minutes before Oscar Cardozo levelled things for Benfica, but it wasn't over there as Roman Shirokov won the game for Zenit in the 88th minute.
Here's the thoughts of Benfica coach Jorge Jesus who felt his side deserved a point from the game
Here's the thoughts of Benfica coach Jorge Jesus who felt his side deserved a point from the game
15/02/2012
Arsenal keeper Wojciech Szczesny bemoaned his side's luck tonight but refused to give up. Here's some of his quotes, the full story is here.
"They were the better team on the night and that's the story of the day.
"We have to keep fighting, pick ourselves up, get the confidence back and challenge in the other competitions and in the second leg of this tie too.
"They punished us on every occasion; they scored some quality goals and they deserved to win."
"They were the better team on the night and that's the story of the day.
"We have to keep fighting, pick ourselves up, get the confidence back and challenge in the other competitions and in the second leg of this tie too.
"They punished us on every occasion; they scored some quality goals and they deserved to win."
15/02/2012
I'm just watching the highlights of the game and some of Arsenal's defending really was shocking. It really makes you wonder why Wenger didn't bolster the defence in January.
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