2014-15 Chelsea FC Season Preview


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Plains of Almeria 2

Introduction

Welcome to the second instalment of the Plains of Almera Season Preview download. We hope that youenjoy the time and e ffort that has gone into producing this. The majority of contributors have done so

while maintaining full-time work or study, so we greatly appreciate their endeavour. This season thedownload will be free, but we hope that many of you will give what you can to the below:

https://www.justgiving.com/plainsofalmeria

We have chosen to ask for donations, no matter how small, to help Chelseas O icial Charity partner for2014/15. The charity is called Help a Capital Child and supports children and young people a ffected byabuse, homelessness and poverty. It would be fantastic to contribute to a cause that the club is supportingand any donations would be hugely appreciated.

The Download will be split into two parts. The irst part will preview the season and looks to cover everyangle possible. We have individual player pro iles, tactical pieces, stats analysis and some expert insight

into what we can hope to expect. There is a look at the extremely exciting Chelsea academy as we previewthis years crop of youngsters. Lastly, an extensive look at the commercial picture surrounding the club andhow inancial fair play is shaping the future of our club.

In the second half of the Preview we have a series of articles and pieces from a host of writers. Spanningthe attachment to Stamford Bridge and the surrounding area to giving Frank Lampard a send-o ff worthy ofone of your greatest players.

Mostly we hope that this is an enjoyable read and again if you can spare any money at all, we wouldmassively appreciate the donations. Here is to another rollercoaster season: we can only hope that thistime we end the season with the Premier League trophy returning to Stamford Bridge.

Carefree,

Joe Tweeds (@JoeTweeds)

2014/15 Season Preview
http://origin-www.chelseafc.com/page/Charitieshttps://www.justgiving.com/plainsofalmeria


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Contents

Part One

6

An OpportunityMissedby Joe Tweeds

9

Tactical Previewby Tim Palmer

12

Mid eld Mattersby Sebastien Chapuis

17

Is The Squad CreativeEnough?by Oscar Puente - ChelseaIndex

21 Player Pro les22 Overview23 Petr Cech24 Mark Schwarzer 25 Thibaut Courtois26 Branislav Ivanovic27 Filipe Luis29 Kurt Zouma30 Nathan Ake31 Gary Cahill

32 John Terry33 Cesar Azpilicueta34 Cesc Fabregas35 Ramires36 Oscar38 Eden Hazard40 John Obi Mikel41 Andre Schurrle42 Marco Van Ginkel43 Mohammed Salah44 Nemanja Matic45 Willian47 Fernando Torres48 Didier Drogba17 Diego Costa

53 Academy Previewby ChelseaYouth

56 Academy Pro lesby Ollie Glanvill and JoeTweeds

61

Financial Fair Playby Jake Cohen

66

Rivals In Focus Arsenal, Manchester City and

Manchester Unitedby Oliver Todd

Part Two

70Thanks Frankby Trizia F

72 The Foundationsby Chelseadaft

5

Home Is Where TheHeart Isby David Chidgey

78

Three Italiansby Phil Lythell

82The Penaltyby Joe Tweeds

85 The Forgotten Yearsby Tim Rolls

89 Away Games Previewby Walter Otton

5 A Lifetime Of ChelseaNotesby Clayton Beerman

5

Faith, Hope AndInsanityby Chris M

Plains of Almeria 3

22

41


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ContributorsJoe Tweeds (@JoeTweeds )

The editor of Plains of Almeraand a Chelsea season ticket

holder.

Tim Palmer(@timhpal)

Tim is a football writer and coachworking in Australia. He writes

for FourFourTwo, SB Nation andAustralia Scout amongst other

sites.

Al e Jones(@everydaypundit)

A freelance assistant producer insport TV, Al ie worked on the

2014 World Cup in Brazil and is aregular at BT Sport. He's a

Chelsea season ticket holder.

Sebastian Chapuis(@SeBlueLion)

Seb is a football coach, tacticalanalyst and pundit working onCanal+s The Specialists, theFrench equivalent of Match of

the Day for the Premier League.

Jake Cohen(@ jakefcohen)

Jake is a lawyer who can oftenbe seen writing and speakingabout footballs legal, inancial

and economic issues.

Chelsea Youth(@chelseayouth)

Needs very little introduction.The preeminent voice of youth

football at Chelsea.

Chelsea Index(@chelseaindex)Oscar Puente

(@FootieFromAfar)Chelsea Index are part of theEPLIndex team and provide

great content around tactics andstats throughout the season.

Oscar writes for Chelsea Indexon a regular basis.

Rik Sharma(@riksharma_)

Rik is a journalist who works forSport in Spain. He also freelances

for Mail Sport, Bleacher Reportand various other media outlets.

Jenny Brown(@cfc_jb)

Jenny works for stats websiteWhoScored.com as a social

media guru.

Priya Ramesh(@Priya8Ramesh)

Priya is a freelance Dutchfootball writer.

Oliver Todd(@oliver_todd)

Oliver is a journalist working forMail Sport, formerly of theManchester Evening News.

Jack Cox(@ jackCFC96)

Jack is a regular contributor tothe Chelsea fanzine cfcuk.

Casual 5-a-sider.

Charlie Harris(@HarrisCharle5)

Charlie is a freelance sportswriter, who operates in the

digital and social media space.

Alex Finnis(@AlexFinnis )

Alex is presently a traineereporter at the Mail Online.

Ramon Isaac(@mowingmeadows)

Editor of the MowingMeadowsblog and general football scribe.

Chris M(@toga lex)

An obsessive Chelsea fan, writer,blogger and DJ.

Ollie Glanvill(@ollie_glanvill)Ollie is a Chelsea season ticket

holder and writer

Triz F(@TerrenceTheCat)

The Chair of the ChelseaSupporters Group and frequentcontributor to national media

outlets.

Chelseada f @chelseadaft)

Chelseadaft is the award winningchelseadaft.org website and is an

o icial Chelsea FC blogger

Stamford Chidge(@StamfordChidge and

@ChelseaFanCast)Chidge presents the award

winning Chelsea FanCast TVshow and podcast which can beseen every Monday at 19.00 on

Chelsea FanCast TV or You Tubeor heard at mixlr.com/chelsea-fancast/ or downloaded from

ITunes.

Phil Lythell(@PhilLythell)

Phil is a blogger and writer forESPN FC.

Tim Rolls(@tim_rolls)

Writer for cfcuk, Plains ofAlmera and the Chair of the

Chelsea Supporters Trust. Timcan be found on radio andtelevision throughout the

season.

Walter Otton(@WalterOtton)

Walter is an author andcontributor to the cfcuk fanzine.His works include The Red HandGang and Shorts, both of whichcome highly recommended if

you are stuck for readingmaterial.

Clayton Beerman(@goalie59)

Clayton is a long-time seasonticket holder and occasional

blogger/podcaster.

Plains of Almeria 4
http://www.twitter.com/goalie59http://www.twitter.com/walterottonhttp://www.twitter.com/tim_rollshttp://www.twitter.com/phillythellhttp://mixlr.com/chelsea-fancast/http://www.youtube.com/ChelseaFanCasthttp://chelseafancast.com/chelsea-fancast-tv/http://chelseafancast.com/http://www.twitter.com/ChelseaFanCasthttp://www.twitter.com/stamfordchidgehttp://chelseadaft.org/http://www.twitter.com/chelseadafthttp://www.twitter.com/terrencethecathttp://www.twitter.com/ollie_glanvillhttp://www.twitter.com/togaflexhttp://www.twitter.com/mowingmeadowshttp://www.twitter.com/alexfinnishttp://www.twitter.com/HarrisCharle5http://www.twitter.com/jackCFC96http://www.twitter.com/oliver_toddhttp://www.twitter.com/Priya8Rameshhttp://www.twitter.com/cfc_jbhttp://www.twitter.com/riksharma_http://www.twitter.com/FootieFromAfarhttp://www.twitter.com/chelseaindexhttp://www.twitter.com/chelseayouthhttp://www.twitter.com/jakefcohenhttp://www.twitter.com/sebluelionhttp://www.twitter.com/everydaypundithttp://www.twitter.com/timhpalhttp://www.twitter.com/joetweeds


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Part One

Dan Davies | facebook.com/ChelseaYouthPhotos
http://facebook.com/ChelseaYouthPhotos


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Plains of Almeria 6

AnOpportunity

MissedAs the season came to its conclusion it wasbecoming painfully obvious that Chelsea lackedthe irepower to really pull away in the title race.For all Mourinhos guile and tactical acumen youcan only hide such salient laws for a short spaceof time. As soon as sides igured out the Chelsea

equation stop Eden Hazard and stop Chelsea games almost became impossible to win.

The frustration of sitting through games whereteams could heavily load their right hand side tocounter Hazard became a regular sight. WhileManchester City seemed to carry a goal scoringthreat from every area of the pitch, Chelsea hadnowhere near that level of irepower. Liverpoolsresurgence was spearheaded by the gifted LuisSurez and the ability to play their strongest side

every game. Both of these teams scored over100 goals, 30 more than Chelsea. Thebenchmark for what is required to win thePremier League had been set high and wasmeasured in goals.

It is too simplistic to boil our issues down to alack of goals, but is undoubtedly a good place tostart. It has only been in Lampards advancingyears that you notice the di fference in ourfortunes without his goals. Our last successful

league campaign featured Lampard scoring 22times in the competition and Didier Drogbanetting 29 times. We have never replacedDrogbas general in luence on proceedings orLampards rare ability to frequently score crucialgoals.

This is where a huge step up in aggression andclass is needed from the current squad. Top goalscorers have a unique desire to ind the netwhen it is most required. It is an innate quality

that turns a loss into a draw or a draw into avictory. That killer instinct, the inherent belief

Joe Tweeds

Wikimedia Commons


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Plains of Almeria 7

that the goal will eventually come, seemed non-existent when required last season. Without EdenHazard performing at full capacity, who elsewanted to step up?

The foundation of Chelseas success over the pastdecade or so has been rooted irmly in the conceptof the team. Every area of the pitch contributes inscoring goals. When we have been at our best wehad mid ielders regularly inding double igures,defenders pitching in with 4 5 goals and forwardsall looking to hit 15+ over the season. There werefocal points, but they were complimented by thosearound them. Either through sheer hard work oradditional quality, other players seemingly wantedto step into the spotlight and takes games over.

Was there was half an eye on the World Cup? Orwere our players simply not ready to assume theresponsibility required to deliver a league title?Patently we did not click last season. There wasvery little in the inal third that made oppositiondefences genuinely fearful. Juxtapose how you feelwhen Agero picks the ball up in space and runs atour back four with the ball being played intoTorres. If you or I feel such a huge di fference canyou imagine what a Premier League centre-backfeels?

Chelsea have enjoyed success with centreforwards who primarily occupy as many defendersas possible. Goals are a certain measuring stick,but purely from a team standpoint we have alwayslooked more luid with that type of player leadingthe line. Didier Drogba in his peak is often criticisedfor not regularly hitting 30 goals a season by thosewho do not understand his fuller contribution.Drogbas role was to cause havoc, link play andgive space to everyone around him. In arguably hisbest season, free from injury, we broke the Premier

League goal scoring record.The Torres experiment may be in the last stages ofits natural life. Unless the Spaniard magically indssome semblance of form or reinvents himselfentirely into a right winger you have probably seenthe last of him at Chelsea. Sitting for another 2years on a horri ically overpriced contract mightbe well within Torres rights, but it would de initelysour relations with the fans. In an era where squadmanagement is becoming even more important,

having an overseas player simply not contributingis hugely damaging.

Etoo played his part as you would expect, butbeing in a situation where your apparent thirdchoice striker is the best player available wasincredibly worrying. Where his performances wereof a decent standard the side looked far moredangerous. Demba Ba provided two of themoments of the season, but ultimately looked like

an average striker struggling to make theadjustment of playing in a top side. The vastdifference in space and perception did nothing tocomplement Bas natural game. Transforminghimself to a striker capable of playing in tighterareas did not happen. In truth we went into lastseason grossly understocked in the strikerdepartment. Without a main focal point or goalthreat we struggled. The fruitless pursuit ofRooney hindered us immensely.

If our ability to score goals was average, then ourmid ield play throughout the season could mostlybe described as mediocre. Without Lampardsgoals there seemed to be nothing happening in themiddle of the park. Against top sides we movedDavid Luiz into a central role to provide some biteand attacking impetus. However, against lesserteams we struggled to move the ball at any sort ofacceptable tempo. The arrival of Nemanja Mati brought much needed technical quality to the area,but even that was not enough.

Ramires is many things, but a controlling in luencein mid ield is certainly not one of them. Obi Mikel isan exceptionally useful player against top sides,but we know his limitations. Lampard was reducedto a game management role. Marco van Ginkel wassadly injured very early into proceedings and couldnot contribute. Of those regularly available nonehad the vision or range of passing to incisivelydistribute the ball against defensive sides.

That agonising side-to-side pendulum of endlesspassing was never going to break a disciplined sidedown. It was a peculiar feeling going into gamesagainst direct title rivals with more con idencethan relegation battling sides. The lack of passingquality meant our strikers, for all their faults, couldnot thrive at all. Similarly there was no chance forEden Hazard to in luence proceedings receivingthe ball at a pedestrian pace. In such a vital areathe lack of balance and vision almost crippled usentirely.


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Mourinho was clearly feeling his way back into theswing of the Premier League last season. Webegan playing an expansive style of football, butseemed incapable of defending. After a switch to amore defensive shape goals were hard to come by.There was no balance. Mourinhos attempts tocreate a workable structure proved di icult. We

had a young group of players who did not havethe understanding of what it takes to succeed on aweekly basis in this league.

There are things that Mourinho needs to look torectify from a personal standpoint. Perhaps beingless antagonistic in the media would work in ourfavour. We seemed to get a few questionabledecisions from o icials last season stemming fromcomments that Mourinho had made. He needs toplay the game this season and make no mistake

about it, he is under signi icant pressure to deliver.Taking a step-back from the controversy, sayingthings when required and letting his team do thetalking will alleviate matters.

Pre-season is not a great barometer of how theseason proper will pan out. However, the RealSociedad game seemed to intimate a shift in themanagers mentality. Everyone seemed morecon ident in possession, more aggressive on theball and perhaps more importantly our defensive

structure seemed more proactive. If Mourinho hasdeveloped the trust in his side to truly unleashthem, this could prove to be the greatestdevelopment from last season.

All of last seasons problem areas appear to havebeen ixed in some capacity. Nevertheless, we maystill require greater depth in the strikerdepartment and being greedy I would love a worldclass box-to-box mid ielder. This squad has thepotential and now needs to start delivering on that

promise. There will be no international distractionsand the side looks fresh after a well-judged pre-season campaign. Time will tell but there is causefor optimism.

Over the course of the next few pages we will betaking an in depth look about how this summerswork in the transfer market has fed through toresolve some of these issues. Things are de initelylooking up, but there is still going to be periodsthis season where we need more than talent to

pull through in games. Here is hoping that those

bought this summer bring much neededleadership and ight to blend with our existing lair.


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Plains of Almeria 9

Chelseas progression and improvement in theinitial year of Jose Mourinhos second spell asmanager, predicted and unfolding as an inevitableseason of transition, was such that the goal for thisnew season is simple - the Premier League title.

That target has been coupled with smart, e icientwork in the transfer market so that the squad isnow irmly set to challenge on all four fronts. Theadditions of Diego Costa, Cesc Fabregas, Filipe

Luis and Didier Drogba, although exciting, are alsofairly boring, if only in the fact their roles inMourinhos system are immediately obvious.There should be no tactical surprises this season,with the new signings itting seamlessly into thepre-existing 4 2 3 1. Costa to striker, Fabregas inmid ield, Luis at left-back and Drogba waiting onthe bench. The summer has been all aboutupgrading individuals in previous areas ofweakness.

As a collective, however, the key question ahead of2014 15 is whether Mourinho can improve thesides most glaring weakness from the lastcampaign. Their inability to break down weakersides, particularly teams that defended deep, costthem in late-season defeats to Sunderland, CrystalPalace and Aston Villa. Mourinho has alreadyspoken extensively in pre-season about thischallenge, commenting that in certain matches,when you dont have space and time to play, you

need more quality. We are working in thatdirection, to play against teams with low blocks

and who are very compact, to play against teamswith 10 players behind the ball.

Costa, a 32 million pound signing from AtleticoMadrid, is the personi ication of this quality. Hebrings a verticality to the frontline long missingfrom Chelseas attack . His constant, aggressiveruns in behind will help stretch the depth of thepitch, pushing centre-backs back and thusstretching the compactness of the opposition

defence. That, in turn, should create spacebetween the lines for Costas supporting attackers.Eden Hazard, in particular, should be freed up byCostas presence, as the Spaniard is able to occupydefenders with his back to goal.

Last season, Etoo had a good relationship withHazard because he drifted towards the left of thepitch and made sharp runs in and around Hazard,both pulling away defenders and providing apassing angle for the Belgian to play into, who

often then overlapped and received the returnpass inside the area (most obviously for thatspectacular goal against Newcastle). Costasstruggles at a national level at the most recentWorld Cup may suggest otherwise but contrary tohis bullish reputation, he is a re ined strikercapable of similar link-up play.

Costa will also have an important impact in thedefensive phase of play. In the irst quarter of lastseason, Mourinhos plans to implement a high-pressing system were obvious, with Oscar and

Tactical PreviewTim Palmer

Wikimedia Commons


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Plains of Almeria 10

Willian instrumental in leading the pressureimmediately after turnovers. Costas work ethicmeans he will it seamlessly into this approach,and combined with a more mobile mid ieldpairing, means the side will now be betterequipped to playing a more proactive defensivegame. Simple logic means this will have positive

low-on e ffects to the attacking phase - win the ballhigher up the pitch, of course, and youre closer toyour attacking goal.

The energy and work-rate of the front four, helpingto push the ball wide, protects the mid ield pivot,who in turn protect the back four by staying inposition and crucially, taking turns to moveforward and close down so that cover is mixedwith pressure on the ball. That, in part, shouldalleviate the general concern over Cesc Fabregass

ability to defend in a mid ield pivot. Although notunfounded, its likely Mourinho will switch to a4 3 3 against stronger sides, bringing Ramires intoa trio alongside Nemanja Matic to ensure the sideisnt overrun. Furthermore, Fabregas has beenswitched between the pivot and a #10 rolethroughout pre-season, suggesting Mourinhowont be averse to moving Oscar to a wide role, oreven to the bench.

Fabregass primary contribution, however, will be

in possession, where he boasts the technicalability and vision Chelsea have long lacked in adeep-lying mid ielder. In what was a pivotal factorbehind his lopping at Barcelona, hes more directwith the ball than the Catalans generally prefer,able to receive passes on the turn and hit longer,penetrative balls at transitions. This will aid thequality of Chelseas counter-attacks and improvethe speed of the movement from defence toattack.

If Fabregas and Costa help stretch the depth ofield in attack, then Filipe Luis is crucial in the

opposition direction - width. Cesar Azpilicueta hada ine season in an unusual left-back position, butprimarily because of his strength in 1v1s, oftenbene itting from the fact opposition wingersfrequently cut inside on the ball - onto Azplicuetasstronger right foot. The conversing e ffect of this,though, was that Azpilicueta was weak goingforward - wary of overlapping for fear of beingexposed on the break, and tentative with his use ofthe ball when high up the pitch.

Luis should represent an upgrade, at least goingforward. At Atletico, the Brazilian was excellent atwhipping early crosses in behind the defence forCosta to attack, and is energetic enough to burstforward beyond Hazard - thus creating that crucialoff-the-ball movement that pulls defences out ofposition, and in turn generates more space for the

Belgian.An intriguing sub-plot of Luiss arrival is what itmeans for the right-hand side, where Azpilicuetawill presumably return to battle against BranislavIvanovic for a starting berth. Ivanovic featuredthroughout last campaign because he providedthe physical attributes otherwise missing, with hisheight particularly useful as an outlet at goal-kickskicked long. Costa is decent in the air and willprobably become the primary target of these long

balls, but Ivanovic may continue to feature againstthe divisions more physical sides. He also providesan extra body both attacking and defending set-pieces.

Tactically, Chelseas approach this season isobvious. Last season demonstrated Mourinhoslong running love of transitions, with the sidebecome more and more pronounced in theircounter-attacking approach. Matches againstAtletico Madrid and Liverpool, for example, saw

the entire game plan based almost entirely aroundextreme defensiveness, and desperate, one-end-

Costa

Hazard

Oscar

Willian

Fabregas

Matic

LuisTerry Cahill

Azpilicueta

Courtois/Cech


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to-the-other transitions. Even with the newarrivals, the sides strength remains in this kind ofquick- ire attacking - indeed, Costa and Fabregasdont revolutionise the style of play, but insteadaccentuate the existing approach.

An important question, however, will be in wherethese transitions begin - higher up the pitch, inmid ield, or from deep? A pressing approachencourages the former, while the latter willprobably be evident in big matches, but themiddle might be the most sustainable in the long-term, with the pivot players sticking tight to theirdirect opponents, and transferring the ball quicklyinto attack.

The famous 6 0 thrashing of Arsenal, and the 1 0away at the Etihad, were the most obviousillustration of this tactic, with Matic and David Luiztremendous in their relentless energy up againstthe deep-lying players; whether such a approachcan be replicated in light of Luizs transfer to PSGremains to be seen.

The Brazilians departure also has rami ications onthe sides ability to create from deep. Althoughinconsistent with his production, Luiz was alwayskeen to bring the ball forward from the back, oftenlooking for long diagonals over the top forFernando Torres or Andre Schurrle to chase. WhileJohn Terry is capable of clean, accurate cross- ieldpasses on his left foot, Gary Cahill is limited in hispassing, and relies on brute force to provideincisiveness.

Fabregas, of course, partly alleviates these issues,but the full-backs will probably be asked to playslightly higher up to compensate. This has beenobvious in pre-season.

Another fascinating aspect of the friendly ixtures

has been Mourinhos constant experimentationswith shape - even if the overwhelming feeling isthat he will stick with the 4 2 3 1. Three at the backhas been a recurring variation, with some unusualdeployments of wing-backs (such as MohammedSalah and Victor Moses) as well as bizarre trialwith Marco Van Ginkel as a centre-back. Lastseason, of course, was memorable for his drasticsecond half changes in order to chase games,often switching to unorthodox formations in orderto incorporate more attackers, and to throw onextra strikers. One example is the entertaining useof Branislav Ivanovic as a centre-forward.

That, in many ways, demonstrates what seems tobe the rather simple logic behind these sort ofchanges. Rather than being part of someintelligent tactical switch, they seem designedpurely to instigate chaos - the e ffect of which canbe wildly unsettling on opposition players, whohaving become comfortably defending deep

against a certain formula, have to adjust to anunknown, unpredictable attack.

Ultimately, this variation - though perhaps not tosuch extreme, Ivanovic-as-striker, measures - willprove decisive. Premier League titles are not oftenwon by sides with a single set formula, but insteadby teams able to vary their approach, and adapt toopposition tactics.

Mourinhos irst season was about moulding thesquad to suit this hypothesis - now, with a diverse,multi-functional group of players, he needs toprove it.


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The mid ield area is without a doubt the region ofthe ield that typi ies Jos Mourinhos vision of amultifunctional team. According to the Portuguesemanager, it is of an absolute necessity for his teamto connect all available areas of the pitch in the

most e icient manner. It translates on the playingield through a judicious use of space according to

the precise moment of play.

Putting together a functional unit

Chelseas starting formation is typically seen as thedeployment of two central mid ielders ahead of aback four, as well as three attackers supposed tofeed a lone striker. The combination betweenarrivals and departures in the past year has led tothe set-up of a squad of players able to executewhat is expected of them in all phases of play.Thus, every player has been awarded dualattacking and defensive duties. Mourinhos set-uprelies on taking into consideration the opposingteams strengths, and therefore playing in a waythat exploits every opportunity in which theopponent doesnt feel in total control. It is of littlesurprise that well-rounded players such as Oscar,Ramires, Willian and Azpilicueta have been wellconsidered by the man in charge, considering theirwide range of abilities, which allow them toimplement a host of instructions in various types ofsituations or scenarios.

The past season has been dedicated to the re-implementation of a collective discipline thatcommits the ten out ield players. The choice ofpersonnel has been the outcome of a trial anderror phase of a few months until the teams irstaccomplished performance, the home win overSchalke 04. The team that lined up that nightprovided a hint of what was going to be Chelseasmost functional composition in mid ield for theupcoming months.

Mid eld Matters Sebastian Chapuis

Wikimedia Commons


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As a base of Chelseas play in possession, one ofthe two central mid ielders has been awarded theduty to patrol the zone ahead of the two centrebacks as well as recycling possession from left toright. At the very start, it was the Brazilian Ramireswho was asked to provide a simple passing optionas well as feeding a more adventurous mid ielder

in the continuation of what he was already doingduring the 2012/13 seasons run-in. DespiteRamires boosting his own passing igures (interms of volume and accuracy, closing on to sixtypasses - twice as much as he does as a box-to-box), his goal-record breaking counterpart failedto perform convincingly enough alongside him.

Mikels inclusion in November meant that Ramiresgradually replaced Lampard in the starting line-up.Mati made the deepest mid ielder role his own

straight away, essentially slotting in alongsideRamires. The now departed David Luiz was usedsporadically as a mid ield enforcer, somethinglikely to be equalled and replicated by the frontfours work rate for the upcoming season.

For the irst time in a decade, Frank Lamparddidnt manage to get to double igures for goals,only hitting the back of the net in half a dozenoccasions. In spite of the passing of 12JM/Obicomet last September (a rare and spectacular

occurrence of goal scoring) and Ramires longrange shot against Crystal Palace, the goals frommid ield havent reached a satisfying enough tally,which is an aspect to be addressed ahead of thenew season.

On the right of mid ield, Willian establishedhimself as a key part of the set-up after a muchneeded re-start of his (incredible) athletic engineafter two spells of lesser intensity in easternEurope. The Brazilian made an impact amongst

the Chelsea faithful with his impressive turn ofpace and ability to beat his man. Willians wellaccomplished game features expert technique aswell as great range of passing. This made him looklike a loosely deployed central mid ielder pushedwide. Willians propensity to ask for the ball intofeet and his natural tendency to tuck inside inpossession proved to be the perfect foil for whathappened on the other side.

Bene iting from a much more coherent structure

ahead of him than the one he played into lastseason, Eden Hazard established himself as

Chelseas Player of the Year. The combination of anability to beat his man and get in good scoring orassisting positions meant that he had to shoulderthe responsibility to make the di fference in theinal third of the pitch.

Oscar, the vital cog

The cornerstone of the whole system has beenOscar. His expanded role was correlated with theground he has been asked to cover, patrolling inbetween the various zones of the ield. In fact,Oscars movement when his team is in possessionof the ball proves to be the trigger of the wholemechanics of play.

When the centre backs are in possession of theball, Oscar usually drops deep in around the centrecircle with a clear aim in mind. Whether the

opposing team has one less body in mid ield or ifthere is a numerical equality, the Brazilian takesaction in order his team to move the ball forward:making himself available to receive the ball orpulling his marker out to allow one of his team-mates to receive the ball into feet (usually Willian).

During the preparation of an attack, Chelsea dulymove the ball in mid ield: a rotation occurs whichmeans that Oscar now faces the play and that thesecond central mid ielder (Lampard, then later in

the season Ramires) can now attack the spaceOscar has vacated higher up the ield with a run.During the time the opposition adjusts with thatinterchanging, Chelsea move the ball, usually fromright to left with aim to ind the match-winningBelgian in close proximity to the penalty box.

Then, Oscar wears another hat which is morerelated to what one could expect at sight of hispassport. Going close to Eden Hazard in tightspaces, he makes sure to create the appropriate

numerical overload with the ultimate aim to playHazard through. If the situation doesnt allows theopportunity to play a short cut-back cross straightaway, Chelseas patient approach means that theball is often played out and the focal point of theattack switched to the right lank in order to re-start another attack on the left after havingshu led the opponents defensive focus.

Change of direction at the New Year

Oscar encountered a dip in form after Christmasfor various reasons (from lack of itness havingplayed close to 150 games since his participation


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in the Olympic Games, to drop of focus with theWorld Cup played on Brazilian soil in sight). Hisreplacement was the ever-running Willian, whichmeant that with di fferent abilities ielded, theoverall dynamics evolved. Those are elements ofcontext to explain why Ramires seemed less atease because he was playing a more positional

role. Also, it suggests why Eden Hazard seemed alittle bit more isolated during the latter months ofthe season in Oscars absence.

Willians directness and willingness to carry theball up the ield at full speed did match therequirements of a game plan based more on thecounter-attack at through the New Year. However,it restricted the aforementioned dynamics foundin the early part of the season. Nemanja Mati sarrival meant that Chelsea was able to transition

the ball quicker from deeper areas to the path of arunner such as Schrrle, Salah or Demba Ba, withthe Serbian boasting 4 assists in half a season.

However, what proved to be a successful formulawhen facing the likes of Southampton, ManchesterCity, Fulham or Liverpool who, at times, opened uphalf the pitch for Chelsea to run ruthlessly into; putChelsea facing a mountain to climb whenopponents simply decided to restrict space in theirdefensive third. The di iculties encountered to

move the ball quickly enough and ind penetrationhas brought to light Gary Cahill, Nemanja Mati ,Willian or Ramires limitations when holding theresponsibility to play penetrative passes thatbreak through a line or create uncertainty for thewell organised teams of Aston Villa, Sunderlandand Crystal Palace.

The shell-shaped structure

With Jos Mourinho in charge, Chelseabegan a process to play with moreresponsibility. With pragmatism as aguideline when attacking, Chelseasstreaks of possession have developed ina way that restricts early turnovers. Inaddition to this, the instruction to keep atleast ive players behind the ball at all timesmeans that Chelsea is naturally in a position ofdefensive overload in the case the ball is lost(hence, ready to counter-press). The fact thatOscar and Willian occupy the central areas of

the ield when Chelsea attack means that theyrealready set to force the opponent to play the

ball out through wide areas directly after theturnover of possession.Chelseas way to recover the control of the ballcommits consecutively a band of four attackerswith the support of one of the central mid ieldersas a irst wave of pressing. Through occupying thespace and lanes available to play the ball through

the middle, opposing teams are left with the onlyoption to pass short via the lanks (Cahill andTerrys aerial dominance coupled with Ramirestiming to get on loose balls allows Chelsea torecover the ball most of the time is it hoofed).

This is the point where the full backs are involvedto pressurize and burst out from their positions(instead of tracking back, as it was often the caseunder previous managers), enabling CsarAzpilicueta, Branislav Ivanovi and logically Filipe

Luis to showcase their ability to get stuck in andwin the ball back. In the meantime, both centralmid ielders role is to provide cover in case theopponent is tempted to play the ball back inside. Ifhe ever manages to do so, this corresponds toNemanja Mati or Ramires irst actual action interms of active defending through intercepting orclosing down.

Thereby, central mid ielders arent in the front linein the set-up when Chelsea tries to recover

possession. Their contribution is part of a processwithin which the opponent was compelled to playwith limited resources in terms of options

available, space and time; meaning thathes more likely to play a predictable

pass into a blue net.

This point is central whenconsidering Nemanja Mati scontribution as the Serbians sheeraggressiveness and mobility

doesnt always compensate for hisslight tendency to ball-watch andopen up pockets of space behind

him. In the same way, by securingthe services of Cesc Fbregas who has a

history of being maligned for hisinsu icient defensive contribution,Chelsea hasnt completely added thepiece to the puzzle likely to prove to be a

liability at some point. In both cases, thecohesive structure enhancing mutualcover and a balanced sharing of tasks


15/98


results in that no player is likely to appear overlyexposed and o ff the pace at any moment. Itappears to be a natural pairing.

Completing the puzzle over the course ofthe summer

The addition of Cesc Fbregas has been described

by Mourinho as a great opportunity to feature aplayer with a "di fferent" pro ile, who he describesas a "player of control". The Chelsea manager seesin the former Barcelona player a valuable option"to control the ball and take more initiative in awaygames" considering the fact that he can play bothas a number 8 and 10. His superb range of passinggoes from short to long and allows to switch thepoint of attack instantly, considering players suchas Ivanovi , Felipe Luis or Willian are suited toreceive the ball and keep hold of it to increase ourterritorial advantage.

In pre-season, Fbregas has played equally in thenumber 8 and 10 slot, but alongside di fferenttypes of players; which means that he has adopteddifferent attitudes to accommodate to his role.

On his irst appearance against NK OlimpijaLjubljana as a central mid ielder, Fbregas playedthe ball with purpose to feed Jrmie Boga whotook the responsibility to take on players in the

inal third (a - considering that Willian and evenHazard can play Bogas role).

Given Nemanja Mati and Marco Van Ginkels morepositional role against Vitesse Arnhem a few dayslater, the Spaniards movement were essentiallybased on making himself available on the width ofthe pitch in pockets of space as a conventionalnumber 10, before looking to play the ball forwardto play the main striker through, just like on DiegoCostas goal (b).

The short two-legged trip in Turkey, was Fbregasirst occasion to play with Oscar. The Brazilian

inherited his usual number 10 slot. Both playersalready showed natural chemistry to interchangein order to allow Fbregas to move unmarkedhigher up the ield when Chelsea attacked in amore positional way. Even though Diego Costasexcellent goal doesnt put credit on anyone buthimself, the moment the striker got past theremaining two defenders to get in the box was

facilitated by Fbregas unsel ish diagonal run topull defenders out of Costas way. Spatial insightbehind or ahead of the ball has always been a

crucial part of the former Arsenal mans game, anaspect emphasised by his experience as a falsenine for the Spanish National Team. Hisattendance to Lionel Messis exclusive dribblingmaster classes means that the option to get past afew defenders also exists in Fbregas repertoire.

In addition to that, Eden Hazard, Diego Costa andAndr Schrrles simultaneous presence on theield meant that in situations of fast-breaks,

Chelsea looked like playing with three strikerseager to run in behind and encourage the likes ofFbregas or Mati to play fast transitional passesin their path. (c)

Less than an hour later, Chelsea faced the blackeagles of Besiktas. Ramires and Willians inclusionin the starting eleven meant that Fbregas waspushed a step ahead. Then it was his turn tovacate space for a runner, naturally Ramireswhose body angle was suited to receive a passfrom his Spanish team-mate and attack spaceahead of him in the inal third. (d)

The bottom line is that Cesc Fbregas successfullydemonstrated he has the tactical versatilityrequired to play as a number 8 or 10 and ill theappropriate zones in relation to the players heplays with. In line with Jos Mourinhosobservation that the Spaniard has already built anunderstanding with everybody as a link man,Fbregas certainly wont need any adaptation timein a league he already knows like the back of hishand and in which hes still ranked amongst themost decisive players.

Furthermore, Ramires, a player valued by JosMourinho and highly spoken of, will need to makesure to avoid spending time on the side-linesbecause of suspensions and bans in the future.Very few mid ielders of his type match the blueKenyans industrious work rate and accuratepassing range coupled with the ability to producea consistent end product at the end of well-timedruns. The drive and dynamism that characterisesRamires play are an asset when Chelsea plays in afunctional set-up (when played wide in importantgames), but are also something to take intoconsideration to get the best out of him in a set-upwhere he can interchange (thus, where hewouldnt be restricted into a positional role

because no-one vacates him space higher up theield).


16/98


He is a divisive igure, but Mourinhos insistence onpicking him says much about his worth.

With the activation of Diego Costas release clauseand Didier Drogbas not so surprising return, onthe back of his relatively poor goal scoring record,Fernando Torres doesnt appear to be the mainstriker to lead the line. However, Mourinho spokeabout the possibility to feature two strikers at thesame time as something hes working on.Fernando Torres has always been anuncharacteristic centre forward (as evidenced byhis movement on crosses), who never really foundin west London the same counter-attacking set-upin which he lourished at Liverpool.

In spite of a gradual loss in spontaneity, Torreswork rate has always been a consistent aspect ofthe Spaniards play. While his (lack of) ability intight spaces has never matched his ever-presentwillingness to take on defenders, Jos Mourinhosees in the World Cup winner an option on thelanks. When given the opportunity, Torres is also a

fantastic crosser of the ball.

From a defensive point of view, Torres has shownhe is capable of being part of a bank of four whenChelsea defend deeper. But given his tendency toask the ball into feet when deployed wide, thismeans that a player (paradoxically) more eager toattack space in

behind on the right has to be ielded to balancethe teams attacking outlet (Schrrle, or Salah).

Nemanja Mati and John Obi Mikel are the twoplayers listed as holding mid ielders on thewhiteboard in Jos Mourinhos o ice. The optionto play both players at the same time exists andwould have for purpose to have a foothold in theopposing half while the other sits in regard of bothplayers strength to shield the ball and lay it o ff.Cover in the sitting role would consist in Ramiresafter the two aforementioned players, as theBrazilian workhouse showed for one year that hecould do a job in that position if asked so.

Marco van Ginkel is a player that is probablyregarded as cover in the number 8 position.Having demonstrated that he has a good passingrange, the Dutchman certainly has room forimprovement related to his positioning to receivethe ball in better conditions as well as not beingforced to rush into last-gasp tackles that willnecessarily cause him issues at some point. He hasexhibited a better sense of timing, but puttinghimself in a better position allows for him to not beso hurried into the tackle.

Depending on the requirements of a one-o ff gameand in relation to speci ic areas to target, JosMourinho can decide to pick amongst options toset-up a custom made starting eleven as most hisattackers can play on both wings with di fferentinstructions. In regard to mid ielders, the formulaput down on paper, whether its 4 3 3 or 4 2 3 1 isnot very relevant in itself. Its the moment of thegame and the requirements which will decide howspace will be covered in a dynamic process.

The important thing is that Chelsea can meet thetwo ends, whether the situation dictates to defenddeep for long periods and play quickly forwardwhen possession is gained, or counter-press highup the ield and exploit pockets of space in theinal third. This is the main advantage of well-

rounded athletes made tactically astute andresponsible through Jos Mourinhos periodizedtraining programme.

This season should see Chelseas mid ield movefrom an area of relative weakness to strength. Thebalance of skill and defensive acumen meansMourinho can inally create an area of the teamthat accounts for any potential opposition set-up.It should be a far cry from last season.


17/98


In an attempt to look for answers to that illusive question are Chelsea creative enough? I stumbled across an

excellent website a little earlier this year. Stats can be used for many things and can present some ridiculousconclusions. However, Chelsea Index seems to be rmly in the camp that uses them sensibly. So I hand over toOscar Puente for his take on whether Chelsea are creative or simply pro igate in front of goal.

Ive chosen to go about this in the two ways that make the most sense to me: comparing against Chelseasprevious few seasons to see how their performance changed, and comparing against other teams in theleague to see where they stand in the overall context of the Premier League. The data today comes fromthe EPL Index OPTA Stats Centre, with a few points taken from Squawka.

Chelseas Growth

The data above shows Chelseas stats for the last four seasons in a few key areas relating to chancecreation and conversion. I was on the fence about including 2009 2010, as that is a long time ago, but alsothe last time that Chelsea were anything like lethal in front of goal, but I couldnt ind any numbers onclear-cut chances for that season, so ultimately decided to leave it out.

A few quick notes: the clear-cut chances created number is measured by OPTA, who I inherently trust to bedoing a good job of di fferentiating between a clear-cut chance and not. Chance conversion is that ratio ofchances to goals. Shooting accuracy is the ratio of shots to shots on target, and is almost perfectlycorrelated with chance conversion (not just for Chelsea, but for most teams in most seasons). Clear-cutchance conversion is the ratio of clear-cut chances to goals, and does not seem to correlate with anythingelse in the data set. Total Chances created includes assists and chances from set pieces. With those quicknotes out of the way, lets jump right in to analyzing the data.

AreChelseaCreativeEnough?

Oscar Puenteand Chelsea Index

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18/98


As we can see above, the number of chancescreated from open play strongly correlates with totalchances created (which makes sense, because mostchances come from open play, unless youre Stoke.Surprisingly the common perception of Stoke doestally up statistically. The good news is that Chelsea

showed a lot of growth in this area and created a lotmore chances last season than they had in the twoprevious years, which goes against the popularnarrative that Chelseas creation was bad this year.The bad news is that they are still not quite back atthe level they were at in the Carlo Ancelotti years,when we were a truly elite team. And worse yet,thats about it for the good news.

Interestingly, even though the number of totalchances created and chances created from openplay went up, the number of clear-cut chances lastseason went down. I would imagine that little spikein the 2012 2013 season is what we might call theJuan Mata E ffect, and the fall back down this seasonwas largely attributable to his diminished minutes /departure in January. Chelsea were dangerouslyclose last season to creating only half as many clear-cut chances as they did in the Carlo Era, and onewould hope that the signing of Cesc Fbregas will

help get the Blues back up to those lofty levels. Nowthat weve looked at the rates at which chances werecreated, lets have a gander at the numbers for how

well they were put away.

The axis on the left is for chance conversion, and theaxis on the right is for shooting accuracy. We canreally see the correlation between the two statisticsin this visual format, and both show a sharpdecrease from 12 13 into last season. Remember thatthis has nothing to do with the rate at which chanceswere created, but rather the rates at which shots andchances were converted into shots on goal andgoals, respectively. This same downward trend is,predictably, seen in the number of goals Chelseascored in the league, if you look at the numbers inthe table above. Chelsea have been pretty poor atputting chances away in the last few seasons. WhereFbregas will hopefully help Chelsea create chancesat a higher rate (especially clear-cut ones), we can

equally hope that Costa will help convert thosechances into goals at a higher rate. There was onetiny ray of hope though, in the surprising form ofclear-cut chance conversion.

I have to admit, Im very surprised by that last graph,given that Chelsea were trotting out a front line ofEtoo, Torres, and Ba last season. If you had asked mepoint blank, without looking at any data, whether I

thought Chelsea had improved in the area of clear-cut chance conversion last season to a ive yearhigh, I probably would have laughed at you.


19/98


Which only further proves that your eyes can be deceiving. Now, I dont know if Chelseas 46% is a goodnumber compared to other elite teams, or is this just speaks to how truly terrible Chelsea have been at wastingclear-cut chances in other seasons, but well ind that out in a little bit. At the very least, its good that Chelseaimproved in this area, and we can only hope that with Diego Costa on board, Chelsea will continue to showgrowth in this area and break the 50% mark.

Chelsea v The Top Four: Putting the Numbers in Context

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20/98


but is anyone else surprised by Arsenals numbers? I mean, they employed Olivier Giroud as their primarystriker, and I know Aaron Ramsey had a really good season (when he was healthy), but still. Shocking.

Clear-Cut Chance Conversion

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()*+,*- .-/0)*,1*2 (415 62,*/-+ 748*29::+

Finally, we knew from the irst section thatChelseas 46% was a huge improvement inthe clear-cut chance conversion department,and now we also have some context for it.

Turns out, thats a very respectable number,and if it goes up at all now that we have anelite striker up front, theres a very goodchance that it will be good enough for best inthe league.

To sum up, Chelsea were okay at some things,very good at others, but theres de initely a lotof room for improvement, and the Fbregasand Costa signings will hopefully go a longway towards that goal. This season is going to

be an exciting one, thats for sure! Adding astriker who de initely borders on excellent/elite plus a huge dose of creativity shouldmean a higher conversion rate and morechances being created. This may even beenough to clinch Chelsea the Premier Leaguetitle.



21/98

Player

Pro les



22/98


Introducing the Squad

Pre-season is over and with all the top clubsstrengthening, the 2014/15 campaign is shaping upto be one of the most competitive ever. Its hard torecall a season where the expectations of the fansof the top 5 or 6 clubs are so high everyone thinksthey have the manager and the players to do thebusiness, even with plenty of mileage left in thesummer transfer window.

On the latter, Jos Mourinho has already declaredthat Chelseas summer spending is over. He isdelighted that the club managed to acquire his topthree targets and by adding them, plus two or threeU21 players, to the irst team group he feels thesquad is complete. Of course, I type that pinching afair chunk of salt, but still, assuming for now thatthe squad is set give or take a few loan moves itappears a good time to assess what we shouldexpect of Chelsea and each individual player in thecoming season.

The Club

On a footballing level, Chelsea must win a trophynext season; its as simple as that. Theconsequences for not doing so remain to be seen

but despite all the rhetoric concerning Mourinhoand the long term project at hand, sadly, I wouldntbe surprised if a fruitless season resulted in a newmanager come 2015/16.

Away from the football, the board must continue tosuccessfully negotiate through FFP, particularlynow that UEFA have left the footballing world in nodoubt over their commitment to the policy. Onesuspects Chelsea will continue to buy some youngplayers with the sole aim of selling them on for

pro it (what I crudely - call cash cows) but theremust also be renewed incentive to increase the

clubs commercial deals, especially following newsof Manchester Uniteds incredible new Adidas kitcontract.

The ManagerThis could be more of a signi icant season forMourinho than some Chelsea fans care torecognise. As I alluded to above, Chelsea must setout to win in all competitions and a failure to bag atrophy will put the manager under big pressure.There is no more room for talk of little horses oreggs in need of warmth and paternal care.

That said, one of the big challenges facingMourinho this coming season is that of balancingthe necessity to win whilst blooding some of ourbest youngsters. With Terry, ech (and nowDrogba) the only remaining survivors of our title-winning core, the youth policy is as important asever. A few of the U21s will feel ready to make theleap into the irst team and the fans expectimprovement on that front.

To achieve what needs to be achieved, Mourinhowill need to foster a happy group and one that ishighly motivated and willing to ight for him. At hisbest, The Special One is compelling and successfulin equal measure but there is a valid argument thatat times last season he slipped into something of acaricature of himself. With Van Gaal likely to takethe press on a merry ride, Mourinho may be bestserved staying away from the ridiculous and theneedlessly provocative and return instead to thecheeky and challenging charm that was such abreath of fresh air in 2004.

Without further ado lets get into the squad.

Al e Jones, BT Sport

IntroducingAl e Jones

Al ie Jones is a Freelance AssistantProducer at BT Sport and a seasonticket holder at Stamford Bridge. Hegives his opinion on each playerscampaign last season, and looksahead to what we can expect in 14 15.

Contributors

Joe TweedsRik SharmaAlex Finnis

Priya RameshRamon Isaac

Charlie HarrisJenny BrownChris Morgan


23/98

Having written this a few days before the decisiveseason opener at Burnley it is not known whetherChelseas greatest ever goalkeeper has kept hisstarting berth this season. In his young Belgiancolleague ech faces unquestionably the mostdi icult competition of his time at Chelsea. CarloCudicini was a great Premier League goalkeeper, butThibaut Courtois is a world class adversary. On theface of it ech seems like a prime candidate to leavethe club if deposed of his starting role. Yet, there is a

bond between the Czech stopper and the club thatmeans he might stick around.

Last season saw ech playing behind a stabledefensive line for the irst time in a few seasons. Thereturn of Terry undoubtedly helped solidify thebackline, but ech maintained a consistently highlevel throughout the season. It is di icult to trulyenvision just how ech loses the starting spot, but hiscompetition is no ordinary player. Were there signslast season that ech had just reached his peak andmay potentially be on the other side? It really is too

close to say.Using statistics as a matrix to judge goalkeepers is alittle too fraught with obvious risks. echs 77% shots-to-saves ratio compares with Courtois 74% seems aminiscule di fference. Playing in a position where yougenerally seem to quantify worth basis how manyrickets you avoid making is certainly a high risk highreward criterion. Joe Hart, for example, makes aplethora of high pro ile mistakes each season. I wouldnot classify him as a top class goalkeeper, but forsome reason the media will portray him thusly.

ech is not the type of goalkeeper to make highpro ile mistakes. His biggest strength has alwaysbeen his consistency and focus during the game.There are therefore a di fferent set of rules you haveto apply to ech to determine whether he hasactually deteriorated or whether the young Belgian isnow his equal. Has his positioning and reactionsdwindled? Is he letting in shots you would anticipatehe would have saved? Di icult to quantify as this is asubjective viewpoint, but try we shall.

It de initely felt like ech was occasionally half a paceout of position last season. My overriding perceptionwas of him being beaten too frequently at his nearpost for a goalkeeper of his ability. There were

de initely conversations in and around the groundthat expressed murmurs about echs inability todeal with crosses. Memories of under-committingand over-committing seem to be fairly strong.

I do think ech is now approaching the other side ofhis peak. Uncharacteristic minor blips crept in overthe course of last season and his distributionremained extremely frustrating. An extremely harsh judgement, but ech does not have your averagegoalkeepers standards. He still is a world classgoalkeeper, but there are a few signs that hisimpeccable level might just be decreasing. Thedifference is miniscule and subjective, but I felt it wassomething I had not seen in ech before.

Mourinho and the club appear to not be harbouring

any goodwill to club legends anymore. Deals werecertainly o ffered to Cole and Lampard, but oneassumes at a level of pay that recognised theirreduced role in the squad. Logic would dictate thatech is potentially the next great to leave the club.Even if you feel he is better than Courtois, for howmuch longer? If he is showing signs of decline is itworth losing the best young goalkeeper in footballfor another year of ech being irst choice?

It took Manchester United an absolute age to ind anadequate replacement for Peter Schmeichel. We are

in a fortunate position to have a readymade worldclass replacement at the club. Why exacerbate thesituation by prolonging echs stay as irst choice,even if he is marginally better at this point? This maybe the last season we see ech in a Chelsea shirt andsadly this feels like a bit of a farewell piece on him. Ifhe remains there is a lot of paper speculation that itwill be as a number two and surely he is still too goodfor that.

Then again Mourinho is noted for springing asurprise or two who would genuinely bet againstech starting at Burnley? We will know more afterthen.


Petr CechJoe Tweeds

#1 Last season:What is there to say that hasnt already been saidthroughout his Chelsea career? A superb goalkeeper

who will forever be part of the clubs history. Last year,he was as steady as ever.

This season:

He wont give up top spot lightly, and nor should he heis still one of the worlds best. A consummate

professional and one of the old guard, I expect him totake on Courtois challenge with grace. He also has a

very important role supporting John Terry o ff the pitch.

Al ies thoughts @everdaypundit
http://www.twitter.com/everydaypundit


24/98

If you looked up textbook back-up in some sort ofsporting dictionary you are quite likely to see MarkSchwarzers face next to the de inition. He wasoriginally brought to the club with competition inmind. Being a former irst choice goalkeeper heunderstood the pressure and requirements of a toplight number one. Cech was still relatively secure in

his role and Schwarzer illed the role adequately.

The problem came when Schwarzer was required toill in for Cech during some high pro ile games. The

drop o ff was tangible. In many ways his additionalresigning foreshadows a move for one of Mourinhosbig two. Schwarzer is likely to be our number two atsome point this season.

Con idence in the Australian should he be required to

deputise for long stretches would be a little thin onthe ground. At the very highest level he was foundwanting, but should bring an element of experienceif required. I anticipate the odd cup appearance andproviding something of a veteran presence ifCourtois does indeed takeover as our irst choicekeeper.


Mark

Schwarzer Joe Tweeds

#23

Last season: He had a few dodgy moments last season when he lledin for Cech but all-in-all hes about as capable a back-up-

back-up goalkeeper as youll nd.

This season:

Assuming Courtois stays and ghts it out with Cech forthe number 1 spot, Schwarzer will certainly be 3 rd

choice. He may get the odd cup game but at 41 years old,hell be content to see out his playing days in relative

comfort.


http://www.twitter.com/everydaypundithttp://facebook.com/ChelseaYouthPhotos


25/98

To speak about Thibaut Courtois in relation to theupcoming season is di icult, given Petr ech hasno intention of handing over the No 1 jersey. It isimpossible to guess, at the time of writing, who willbe Chelsea's irst choice goalkeeper. Perhaps JoseMourinho will take a lead from Carlo Ancelotti anduse one in the Premier League and another in thecup competitions. The English media are hintingthat it will be Courtois, but until the game kicks-o ff we will not truly know.

If that was the case, you'd expect the experiencedech to play in the high-pressure tournamentgames, with Courtois getting used to Englishfootball in the league. But rotation of goalkeepersdoesn't necessarily work, as exempli ied by thedecline of Iker Casillas. Sure, Real Madrid won theCopa del Rey and the Champions League, but itwas Casillas' mistake that almost cost them LaDecima, but for Sergio Ramos' late extra-timeequaliser.

If you had to guess which of the goalkeepersMourinho will stick with, Courtois fractionally winsthe battle, because he has many years ahead ofhim. And back in 2004, ech replaced much-lovedveteran Carlo Cudicini... thanks to Mourinho. Somebelieve that Mourinho will not be able to ditch aigure that was key to his success the irst time

around at Stamford Bridge.

However, the manager was unsentimental withAshley Cole last season, dropping him for CsarAzpilicueta and then allowing him to move to Romaat the end of the season without much fuss. Butwhile it is almost impossible to predict with anycertainty what will happen in the Chelsea net thisseason, what we can do is look at what Courtoishas achieved. And it is impressive.

Atletico Madrid stunned Spain by winning La Ligalast season and a lot of their success wasdependent on their defensive diligence. Courtoisorchestrated it and made stunning saves when hewas required to, keeping several clean sheets ontheir way to victory.

He was also important on the run to the ChampionsLeague inal, his commanding presence andcalmness in a crowded area clear qualities of his.Courtois also has excellent re lexes and is rarelyever at fault for a goal being conceded. They weredeveloped, it is said, back home in Belgium, wherehis back garden was a beach volleyball court.

People are sometimes amazed at how quickly hegets down to the ground from a standing positionbut thats his volleyball training, said his father. Inthe football world theyre not used to seeing tallpeople who are quick, but in top-level volleyball,you see it in people who are 6ft 6in all the time.

Atletico fans grew to love him so much over thethree years he has spent on loan there that theyinvented a craze called Thibauting, where they are

pictured in diving poses. The term even was putforward to become Belgian sports word of the year.And if he has his way, then Chelsea fans will lovehim with the same passion too.

He comes across as a highly con ident individualunwilling to play the role of the deferentunderstudy. This may perturb people, particularlyfans concerned about an attitude questionregarding some Belgian players. We are all toofamiliar with Romelu Lukakus unwillingness to

actually ight for his place. Courtois, on thecontrary, is merely at one with his ability. He knowshow good he is and will become.

Whoever starts against Burnley is likely to beMourinhos number one for the remainder of theseason. Jos has suggested that the team will indout who is his irst choice on Sunday. I would edgethe young Belgian at this point in time. Ultimately ifboth goalkeepers are viewed as equal you go withthe one who you can retain for the longest period

of time. Courtois might just have won the race andif that is the case then we can only hope we see thevery best of him over the coming years.


ThibautCourtois

Rik Sharma

#13



26/98


Although a favourite of both Jose Mourinho and thefans, Branislav Ivanovi will probably ind himselfplaying signi icantly less football than he has beenused to these past few seasons The signing of FilipeLuis will allow the excellent Cesar Azpilicueta toreturn to his natural right back position next season,and you imagine it will be these two who start asChelseas irst choice full backs.

Branislav Ivanovic

Alex Finnis

#2 However, Ivanovi will still be a vital player nextseason, not just in terms of being an extremely abledeputy not just at right back, but at centre back but also in his role as a senior igure and generallypositive in luence on the squad. Ivanovi has beenexploited more often than usual in recent years for afull back he is not the quickest and is liable to the

occasional lapse in concentration, while his crossingcan be frustrating to say the least.

There will always be an issue with how Ivanovi isused in an attacking sense and this may be thegreatest evolution we see at the club. His limited endproduct, despite ever willingness, has often stuntedour ability to attack down the right lank. He does notprovide an overlapping threat or the type of intricateability to link with his wide man consistently.

When physicality is required I can de initely see

Ivanovi being deployed as a full-back. Mourinhotypically likes one of his full-backs to be dominant inthe air, in which case the Serbian more than holds hisown. It is, however, against sides that we struggledagainst last season where the lack of width andadditional quality out wide hurt us. With everythingbeing funnelled down our left we needed width andcreativity out right to stretch play. It never came.

In general though, Ivanovi is still an excellentdefender, and one any Blues fan would be sad to see

leave. He is brutally strong, full of desire and loves agoal. The big Serbian clearly loves the club too hesbeen around for all the big moments, rememberswhat it takes to win Premier League titles andalongside John Terry and Petr ech, provides thatinvaluable heart of the old guard at the back.

The amount that Ivanovi has actually put intowearing the Chelsea shirt cannot be measured. Interms of bargain buys and e ffort he has far exceededany potential return anyone could calculate. What he

and the other more experienced players must do istransfer their unyielding winning mentality over tothe new breed.

Expect him to start early and then potentially bephased out as Luis comes up to speed withMourinhos instructions. Nevertheless, his role withinthe team over the course of the season is likely to besigni icant when called upon. Like many he o ffersboth on and o ff ield qualities that cannot be coachedor bought. A real understanding of the club and thebadge.

Last season:

Part of a pretty mean defence last year, Ivanovi was as solid as ever if not a little frustrating at times when

venturing into the nal third.

This season:

Filipe Luiss arrival may put an end to Branas life as rstchoice right back as the logical move would be to move Azpilicueta over to the right. That said, you sense the big Serb still has a signi cant part to play lling in at

centre back and right back when called upon as well as acting as a senior member of the squad.



27/98

How good can Filipe Luis be? After all, he didn'tmake it into the Brazil World Cup squad and theBrazil World Cup squad was terrible. Yes, Luis wasthe third choice left-back for the defence which gotsavaged so brutally by Germany in the semi- inal.

However, the fact that he can actually defendseemed to count against him in Luiz Felipe Scolari'sranking logic. Or maybe the Brazil manager didn'twant any name-related misunderstandings goingon at the tournament. Either way, whatever reasonhe had for not including the Atletico Madrid playerin his squad was clearly not one that stood up toscrutiny.


Last season:

If Luiss rst interview with Chelsea TV is anything to go by, the Brazilian le f -back prides himself on his ability todefend and attack in equal measure and by all accounts

he is a very complete le f -back who enjoyed a superb season with title-winning Atletico.

This season:

That said, at 29 years of age he wont be a ff orded time to settle and he needs to hit the ground running. Hiscon dent command of English should help him settlewell and theres no reason not to expect good things.

Filipe Luis Rik Sharma

#3 Al ies thoughts @everdaypundit

Perhaps Scolari had not been paying attention to theChampions League last season? The tournamentwhere Atletico had battled their way to the inal

thanks to an incredible, tough-as-nails approach toeach game. That would also explain why Scolari alsodecided to overlook Luis' compatriot Joao Mirandafrom the Brazil team.

But enough about Brazil - in fact, Luis missing theWorld Cup should play into Chelsea's hands. It meanshe's had the summer o ff to rest and recover afterwhat was an incredibly draining season with theSpanish champions.

The way that Diego Simeone's team play meansthere's no room for un it players and the Atleticoplayers usually inish every game without anythingleft in the tank. Luis is a particularly athleticperformer, frequently bombing up the left to provideadditional width for a team which doesn't have muchon the lanks further forward.

At Chelsea Luis is expected to dovetail with EdenHazard and that is a task that the Brazilian will relish.The Belgian is fond of cutting inside and so to havesomeone bombing up the pitch alongside him shouldeither buy him some more space, or provide a goodoption for a pass. Chelsea missed that last season,with Ashley Cole considerably less dynamic than heused to be and Csar Azpilicueta unwilling to be tooaggressive on that lank.

Luis' arrival should see the Spaniard rotated back tohis favoured position, ighting for a place at right-backalongside Branislav Ivanovic, who, in turn, may returnto his favoured position at centre-back. John Terryhad a magni icent season last year but as he turns 34it wouldn't be a surprise if Jose Mourinho wanted torest him occasionally.


28/98

So with Luis set to play a key role in the team thisseason, what can we expect from him? A high-workrate, certainly. He has already pledged to run his gutsout for the team and that will get him in Mourinho'sgood books for a start. Unlike other full-backs(cough, Jose Bosingwa, cough) Luis will do hisutmost to get back in position after a failed attack.

While it would be an exaggeration to describe hisrelationship with striker Diego Costa as 'telepathic', atAtletico last season they combined to good e ffect ona number of occasions. Luis's crossing is decent andhe frequently got himself into good positions todeliver for the Spain hitman.

We can't feel too sorry for the Spanish side, eventhough Chelsea have ripped out some integralplayers, because they're getting top dollar for them.Luis, who cost roughly 16million is 28 years old, sorealistically the Blues will only get four quality yearsfrom him. But if that's exactly what they do get, thenit is money well spent.

Luis joined Atletico from Deportivo in the summer of2010, so played three complete seasons with theRojiblancos. Last season was undoubtedly the inestof his career, although that was the case for everysingle player in Simeone's squad.

If Luis has one weakness, he's not great in the air. Byno means bad at aerial challenges, you would still

rather have him marking one of the smalleropponents at set-pieces. Another slight law is that hepicks up a fair few yellow cards, seeing eight and onered last season - but it's nothing to be too concernedabout.

Whatever happens, this transfer probably won't beheralded by the football world as a brilliant move butit could be an important piece in the jigsaw ofpotential success this season. Filling Cole's boots isn'teasy but there's no better choice to do it than this

man. Luis is an excellent left-back, arguably the inestin La Liga. And now he is out to show he can be theinest in the Premier League.



29/98

Kurt Zouma is the de inition of a project player. It isall too easy to forget that he is only due to turn 20years old this season due to his incredibly physicalprowess. Simply put, if you were to handcraft aPremier League centre-back you would mould himon Zouma. He has every physical tool one couldhope for in the position. An abundance of pace,bags of power, a ridiculous leap, superb aerialprowess and immense aggression are all traits hehas in spades. However, from a technicalperspective he is in need of an immense amount ofwork.

From what we have seen during pre-season theiner points of centre-back play have not begun to

take form in Zoumas game. Such are his physicaltalents that he could quite easily cope in Ligue 1 onpure athletic capacity alone. It is not oversellingZouma when I say he could develop into the mostphysically dominant centre-back in world football.

Nonetheless, many diamonds in the rough neverfully make the transition from superlative teenagetalent to bona ide superstar. It will be Mourinhostask and the role of the club to ensure that Zoumadevelops into the next leader of Chelseas defence. Isee him as the heir to Terrys role in the back four an organiser, physical and with exceptionalleadership quality he should be the clubsfuture.

A tendency to misread the light of

crosses likely stems from playing in aleague that favours other methods ofattacks over the old English favourite.The adjustment is one that he shouldmake this season. He also needsto adjust to the quicker tempoof play in England and in timehis sense of positioning shouldmake a similar correction. Hisgame on the ball does need work,

but he is likely to indcomfort playing next to aball playing centre-half. I

foresee Zouma being the

dominant physical centre-back in a new partnershipat the club. Conversely, his overall use of the balldoes need to improve in general. He has hit somegreat passes in pre-season, but a few moments oflapse play have stilted attacking opportunities.

In John Terry the club already have the perfectmentor for the young Frenchman. Terry, himself,was helped along magni icently by the likes ofMarcel Desailly during his early stages and heshould now adopt a similar role to working withZouma. Terry is noted internally as someone whospends a signi icant amount of time working withand encouraging youngsters at the club. If youcombined even a portion of Terrys understandingof centre-back play with Zoumas physical gifts, yousee the potential.

This season Zouma is likely to adopt a role as thethird/fourth choice centre-back at the club.However, I anticipate that he will play adecent amount of football this season. I

would let him play in every cupcompetition and ease him into playingsome league ixtures. There needs to be a

commitment to developing his game andensuring his almost limitlesspotential is reached.

Am I concerned if he is dropped i into regular football at an early

point in the season? Slightly, but Ithink there is enough around

him to compensate for anyperceived lack of technicalability. He is a huge project,but if he actually developsthen we could not only belooking at a future centre-

back but a captain as well.


Kurt Zouma Joe Tweeds

#5 Last season:Undoubtedly one of the best young defenders in Francewho has bene ted hugely from being involved in the St

Etienne rst team since August 2011, even if his form didtail away towards the end of last season.

This season:

Its important to remember Zouma despite being builtlike a freight train is only 19 years old. He has plenty ofmaturing to do (especially with the ball at his feet) andhe may well have to do that by learning o ff Terry andCahill in training. Its hard to see him leaving on loan

with such little cover in central defence. His chances onthe pitch may come in the domestic cup competitions.



30/98

In the summer of 2011, a 16 year old Ruud Gullitlookalike landed at Cobham from the waterlogged,reclaimed shores of the Netherlands. He arrived as acentre-half but since, Nathan Ak has proved to bemore versatile than he seemed much like thedreadlocked Dutchman he resembled, but not quite tothat extent proving adept at left back and in adefensive mid ield position.

A very intelligent player, Ak has always seemed to be

performing a bit above his level. Impressing for theyouth side in their FA Youth Cup triumph in 2011 12, Akearned himself a promotion up to the Reserves side atonly 17, exhibiting a certain smartness-on-his-feet andability to read the game above his years.

In the 2012 13, the Chelsea faithful got to see a lot moreof Ak, used relatively often as a substitute and evenearning himself a few starts under the interim RafaBenitez. In all of his involvements for the senior side,

Ak has been used as a defensive mid ielder andthough he is not the strongest or fastest, he has showna consistent composure on the ball in the centre evengoing up against teams like Everton and Rubin Kazan.


Nathan Ake Priya Ramesh

#6 His increased involvement toward the end of thatseason raised hopes for the ex-Feyenoord youngsterbut the signing of van Ginkel and return of MichaelEssien saw him more involved in the U21s, beingnamed captain. He played a crucial role in theirUnder-21 Premier League triumph appearing 7times as centre-back, 7 times as left back and twicein defensive mid ield.

Versatility however, can prove to be a double edgedsword as it is possible to be a jack of all trades,master of none and this is something Ak has to becautious of. Unless he inds himself a set position, itis hard to see him establishing himself in oneposition, starting and excelling for club and country.

At the moment, that position seems to be leaningtowards left back. Having been called up to thesenior squad on a permanent basis in January of2014 as backup for the left back position, he has

appeared there recently in friendlies. Ak is a regularat left back for now-Man Utd assistant coach AlbertStuivenbergs Netherlands U21 team.

As far as the coming season is concerned, there isequal chance of Ak being loaned and beingretained at Chelsea.

If Jos feels that having only 3 natural fullbacks inIvanovi , Azpilicueta and new signing Filipe Luis issu icient to get him through the season, Ake willprobably be loaned to get himself some irst teamaction and the chance to pit himself againstopposition that are de initely a few steps above theU21 level be it in the Premier League or in theEredivisie. There was talk of him being part of thelatest batch sent to Vitesse but it does not make ahuge deal of sense, given Vitesse have a very steadycentre-back partnership in Kasha and van derHeijden and a consistent starter in defensivemid ielder Vejinovic. The Arnhem-based club havealso been looking forward and anticipating the non-

return of Patrick van Aanholt, already found areplacement back in January in ex-PEC man, RochdiAchenteh.

However, we do not look like signing another leftback, and given it was in this exact predicament having 3 fullbacks that Jose called up Ak to thesenior squad, it is likely that he will be retained to actnot only as a backup to Luis, but also in mid ield ifthe need ever arises. It is quite hard to say whetherAke who now quali ies as homegrown will be

loaned or not, but certainly it would be encouragingto see him mature some more as a player and growthis season.

Last season:

Ake has been at the forefront of Chelseas youth teams for a few seasons now and was rewarded in January 2014 with a permanent place in the rst team squad

under Mourinho.

This season:

Capable at centre-back and le f -back as well as inmid eld, the Dutchman is very highly regarded at the

club. He has time on his side to learn from Luis but should look to take advantage of any cup chances he

gets.



31/98

Gary Cahill Alex Finnis

#24

Since moving from Bolton back in 2012, Gary Cahillhas turned himself into one of the best centre backs inthe Premier League. Despite David Luiz costing morethan three times the 7m we paid for Cahill, hecomfortably kept the Brazilian out of the side lastseason. In essence, he is the reason why Chelsea havebeen able to sell Luiz, a man who has captained Braziland was wanted by the likes of Barcelona and BayernMunich, for a huge 50m to PSG.

Cahill proved himself to be better foil for club captainand stalwart John Terry. His partnership with Terryhas quickly become the most solid in the country, andto recognise his consistency, he was named in the PFATeam of the Year. Now, he will be key to Chelseaschances of ending a ive-year wait for the title.

Our success in Mourinhos irst spell at the club wasalways built upon a strong back four, and last seasonproved that his philosophy has not changed.Mourinho clearly trusts Cahill, not just as an able

partner to Terry, but going forward, as our maincentral defender and maybe even captain. Cahill ledthe side into the pre-season friendly at OlimpijaLjubljana, and with Terry potentially in his last seasonwith the club, this could be a sign of things to come.

Cahills biggest strength comes in his awareness andeye for the game he has become somewhat of aspecialist in the art of the last-ditch block, while it isvery rare to see him make a mistake. He is also verygood with the ball at his feet he likes to make the

occasional venture into the opposition half and isgood for a goal too, whether that be at close rangewith his head or of the White Hart Lane screamervariety.

When Chelsea defend with depth there is a level ofcomfort in watching Cahill play. He perfectlyunderstands the concept of defending space or hisman and allows a solid foundation for those ahead ofhim. Now we have to see improvement from him inplaying a slightly higher line. We need Cahill to

emerge as a leader.Cahills only weakness stems from his reactive style asa defender. It is something that means playing anaggressive pressing game is more risky than it needsto be.

Last season:

Cahill enjoyed his best season in a Chelsea shirt last season but there is no doubt that he is a far better player

when John Terry is by his side (take a World Cupwithout him as a case in point).

This season:

He will be hoping that Terry stays t and that they enjoy another season as one of the best centre-back pairingsout there at the moment. He must not get complacentdue to the lack of really signi cant competition (see

Zouma) and could also come out of his shell and adoptmore of a captains role within the rst team.

With Terry adjusting to playing the role of thesweeping centre-back, Cahill must ind morecon idence in how he attacks the ball. He backsaway time and time again, allowing strikers to getshots on target. If he is going to potentially captainthe club in the long-term a lot more ownershipneeds to be taken around his work.

The club has lost a lot of leadership and experience

over the course of this summer. Cahill has been apillar in both European inals and is emerging as aface within the squad. His next step is to continue towork on his craft and assume more responsibility.He seems to be the logical choice for a futurepotential captain out of our existing squad.

Cahill has come a long way from the player that wesigned from Bolton. He is the end product of animmense work ethic that has seen him establishhimself at the heart of Chelseas defence. Sure, there

are de initely things

2014-15 Chelsea FC Season Preview

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