End of an ‘Era’ for Chelsea

Defending Premier League champions, Chelsea, have found themselves at a dead end at least for the current season. Presently, they are languishing in 10th position in the Premier League log; the possibility of a Champions league spot might only be a joke.

For the very first time in 13 years, the Blues won’t take part in the biggest and most competitive club competition in Europe; the Uefa Champions League, next season, a huge blow for the club, fans and its stakeholders.

Everton ended Chelsea’s last hope of silverware in their FA Cup quarterfinal clash at Goodison Park, Romelu Lukaku scored two brilliant goals in the final minutes against his former club to send Everton into the last four of the FA cup.  That made up Chelsea’s second defeat in the space of a week. French Ligue 1 champions, PSG, also denied Chelsea with a 4-2 aggregate defeat in the Champions League.

There is obviously little or no hope of silverware for the Blues, In a post-match briefing by Chelsea’s interim manager, Guus Hiddink, he said “They are gone now and that’s a pity, but when you play in a big club like Chelsea and we emphasize this to the players in the upcoming seasons, you must also play with responsibility and pride even if the season is as it is now”.

Notice the Chelsea boss saying ‘players in the upcoming season’? A flush and further restructuring is expected in Stamford Bridge in the coming season, considering the poor form of Nemanja Matic, Cesc Fabregas, John Terry, Kurt Zouma, Branislav Ivanovic, Cesar Azpilicueta and Cahill. Chelsea has definitely displayed a dismal performance this season.

The clash with PSG even built up further speculations on Eden Hazards future at the Bridge; The Belgian upset Chelsea fans by swapping shirts with PSG’s Angel Di Maria as the players left the pitch at half-time. A small number of boos were quite audible when Hazard signalled to the bench and was replaced by Oscar during in the second half of a 2-1 Stamford Bridge defeat that sealed Chelsea’s Champions League exit. Ranting Diego costa in his usual dirty manner attempted biting Everton midfielder Gareth Barry.

A few signed pointed to a bad run for the defending champions. Chelsea fought away from the relegation zone at a point this season; in typical fashion Roman Abramovich was quick to fire Portuguese manager Jose Mourinho for poor performance, Chelsea already had a very poor start winning their first home game in September; a month after the Premier League began. The win also saw The Blues keeping their first clean sheet since March, after they defeated Crystal Palace 1-0. Even before the Premier League started, Chelsea lost to Arsenal in the community shield clash. Mourinho lost to Arsene Wenger, whom he had never lost to in his two managerial spells at Stamford Bridge.

Current boss, Guus Hiddink has been in charge of Chelsea since 19th December 2015, but the London side have leaked 2.4 goals per game this season as compared to 0.84 last term. The first time a Chelsea side has done that in the EPL. Arguably one of the worst seasons so far, Mourinho was blamed for poor decisions in the last transfer window, he might have placed too much confidence in a sinking ship, by selling a few players, and investing in a few non-profiting arrivals like Falcao and Pedro, major departures from the team included: Peter Cech, Filipe Luis and Juan Cuadrado, Andre Shurrle all doing well in their respective teams.

There is no Wembley or Camp Nou for Chelsea side, this season can as well be written off; the club can easily concentrate on the domestic league and starts earnest preparation for the upcoming season.

With the look of things at Stamford Bridge, an overhauling is needed to salvage the current predicament. Former Juventus manager and Italy coach, Antonio Conte is rumoured to have agreed a deal to coach Chelsea, but the Italian tactician should start mapping out strategy on how to rebuild the collapsed Bridge.

Again, the board and owner must give Conte the free hand to manage the team.

But the big question is: Will Roman Abramovich and Chelsea board allow the new coach Antonio Conte free hand do his job?

Anthony Nlebem & Martins Noel