Sublime to ridiculous in four days: how good are Chelsea?

What an interesting week it’s been for Chelsea supporters.

First off, a Drogba-inspired Chelsea dismantle supposed title challengers Arsenal at the Emirates. Despite the home side bossing possession in the first twenty minutes of each half, Chelsea’s strength, discipline and experience gave them a cutting edge up front and a brick wall at the back. In the end, the performance was as impressive as the score line suggested.

Yesterday however was a different story. A much-changed Chelsea side travelled to Ewood Park to take on Blackburn in the quarter finals of the Carling Cup. With the score locked at two-all on ninety minutes, the game went to extra time. Two goals at either end meant the game would be decided on penalties, and it was no surprise that, once again, events didn’t go Chelsea’s way.

You could question the wisdom of Ancelotti’s decision to field a centre-half pairing of Ferreira and Ivanovic (especially bearing in mind full-backs Beletti and Zhirkov haven’t played much of late). You could also question making three substitutions at half time when Chelsea were only one nil down. Realistically though, the second half performance was much improved, Blackburn played well and Kalou’s injury – leaving Chelsea with just 10 men – was unlucky. It was a strange, end-to-end game that could have gone either way.

Disappointing as it was to go out of the Carling Cup (I’ve always maintained that it’s a good tournament to win) last night’s defeat wasn’t the end of the world. But it did get me thinking though – just how good are Chelsea?

In conversation with a friend of mine – a realistic Arsenal fan who was pretty downcast after the weekend result – he suggested that Chelsea were a good side in a league in decline. He went as far as to call the Premier League average, but his main argument was that Chelsea fall short of being a ‘great’ side.

I agree with him – partially at least. Liverpool have fallen apart and Man Utd lost Ronaldo, so the league isn’t what it was. But on the other hand Man City have become a force to be reckoned with and Spurs and Aston Villa have made great starts to the season. It is by no means an ‘average’ league, and certainly hasn’t become so over night.

And, for the moment at least, Chelsea are comfortably sitting atop that league. We’ve scored the  most goals (level with Arsenal) and conceded by far the least. On current form we have the best striker in league (perhaps Europe) in Didier Drogba, who has now scored 15 goals. We’ve dispatched each of the main challengers for the title. Our second team could (and perhaps should) have beaten a solid Blackburn team last night. And the amount of points Ancelotti’s side have scored up until the end of November (36) is greater than any other side has managed over the last five seasons.

But, despite all that, Chelsea still to me don’t seem consistently spectacular. True, there have been moments of scintillating football, but principally success this season has come via  moments of Mourinho-esque sledgehammer. Moving now into December, it is probably fair to say that Chelsea’s greatest strength is, by a margin, its defence.

For all the newspaper hyperbole about Chelsea now walking off into the sunset with the title, I think we all need a bit of a reality check: this Chelsea side is still short of being ‘great’. But we needn’t worry. There aren’t many ‘great’ sides out there and Chelsea have been extremely impressive under Ancelotti. 

Chelsea are good enough to win the league and challenge for other trophies, and that’s more than enough for me. But if Roman wants another ‘great’ side – like the teams of 04/05 and 05/06 - that can take on any side on the world with both flair and brute strength - he will need to open chequebook in January. 

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Comments

[rich]

good analysis but i think it is hard to compare the team that played Arsenal and the team that played yesterday.

[Tom R]

Consistently great sides are few and far between. Really only the Champions League winners are considered "great" at the end of the day. When United won the League / Champions League in 07/08, they drew Reading (who was relegated) in the league and lost to Coventry in the Carling Cup. When Barca won the treble last season, they lost to Numancia and drew Real Betis (both of whom were relegated) and drew Getafe (who only stayed up on goal difference).

That's not to say that this Chelsea team is exceptional, but I think they are a very good team who should win the league and very well could win the Champions League. Last night was a good chance to get some of our fringe players some playing time with the busy Dec / Jan season coming up and two very important players (plus Kalou and Mikel) leaving for a month.

Really, the only thing to take from this is that Chelsea will be in some real trouble if they lose Cech, Ashley Cole, Terry, Carvalho, Alex, Bosingwa, Essien, Lampard, Anelka, and Drogba for an extended period of time.

[Michael Hepp]

A loss in the Carling Cup, a shoot-out loss no less, is not worth getting concerned over. Last year around this time Man U trounced us 4-0, that was a time for concern. The league is weaker, but I find the strength of the leagues sort of runs in patterns. The last couple of years the PL has been the strongest, before that the Italians ruled the CL, remember Milan v Juventus, and before the Spanish were strong. Now it seems the Spanish are going to be the class of the CL (time will tell on that though). That seems to go in waves.

I think Ancelotti has one goal, win the Champions League. Roman has the Carling Cup, the FA Cup, and the Premier League title, I am sure he wants that Champions League title. Those other fringe competitions only serve to distract us from the main task at hand. I for one will gladly trade both the Carling Cup and the FA Cup for the Champions League title.

I also think that after such a huge derby win, a small let down can happen. I hope that it serves to remind them that they can't let up or someone will pass them.

[jerald]

The reality check is good, I feel we have done exceptionally against other big 4 competition, but that has given people the undue notion we are walking away with the league. Last season after 14 matches, we were tops ahead of ManU by 5 points after ManU played their game in hand. This season, we are 5 points up on ManU. Can't get ahead of ourselves. I don't expect us to win every match, especially when we field the B team in lesser competitions, but I just hope the results don't bleed over into more important competitions.