Chelsea are crippled by Makelele, Sheva and Ballack
We’ve pussy-footed around the issue, confused by Chelsea’s strong showing in the Champions League and their ability to leave 18 other Premiership teams behind them biting dust.
Any team (and manager) that wins two titles in a row (in such comprehensive fashion) cannot be underestimated.
But when you have a squad not playing to their potential, and 8 points behind (5, if Chelsea beat Newcastle) the Premiership leaders in mid December, there really is cause for concern.
Shevchenko’s and Ballack’s history afford them an almost-mythical status as demi-gods amongst men, a reputation forged by years of domination in Europe. Ballack lorded over Bayern Munich, Shevchenko spearheaded AC Milan’s reign. So if these two don’t fire, there’s a problem.
Sheva and Ballack DON’T need more time
On one hand it seems fair to give players time to adapt to new playing conditions - Drogba took time, Essien took time, why not these two? On the other hand, these two are not two young kids. Giving Kalou a season to get to terms with Chelsea and the Premiership sounds fair, giving Shevchenko the same time is a waste.
You only have to look at Makelele to understand why. A seasoned professional doesn’t need a full season to ‘adapt’. Makelele dropped into Chelsea, knew his role and while you can argue that his position doesn not require pace, it IS the same fast-paced league that Sheva and Ballack are having ‘troubles’ adapting to. Shevchenko’s problem is not that of pace - he is good enough to not let something like that bother him. Same goes for Ballack.
But they’re not the ones to really blame. Yes, they’re not firing in the way expected of them, but both players are being badly misused by Mourinho, and it is to their credit that they haven’t bitched about it like Gallas.
Chelsea need to put Sheva, Makelele and Ballack on the bench
Formation-wise, a diamond 4-4-2 is not such a bad thing, and not so limiting in width as you might think. If the full-backs are attacking enough, if the base midfielder is a Vieira rather than a Makelele and if the left and right mids are able to go wide when needed, AND if one of your strikers is really fast, then it works.
However, Chelsea don’t have Vieira. They have Essien, and he’s being shunted between right midfield and right-back because of Makelele’s place as the holding midfielder.
Chelsea don’t have attacking fullbacks either - Ashley Cole does not go forward enough, nor does Geremi. Ballack can’t play wide, neither can Essien. Drogba is a battering ram, needs a fast striker next to him. Sheva is a clinical finisher, who also needs a fast striker next to him.
Chelsea are unbalanced - for all of Mourinho’s efforts, they are caught between two very difficult choices. Play Ballack/Sheva with Makelele and have an unbalanced team, or ditch Ballack/Sheva and go back to 4-3-3 with 2 fit wingers.
Right now, Chelsea’s best bet to accomodate all their key players is to start Essien at right-back and play a 4-3-3 with Robben supporting Sheva and Drogba, and Ballack and Lampard playing central ahead of Makelele. It gives Chelsea Robben’s pace, pushes Sheva/Drogba out wide in an unfamiliar position and makes life difficult for Essien, but it works.
But a better option would be to be bold, drop Makelele, Ballack and Sheva to the bench and play a 4-4-2 with Essien and Lampard in central midfield, Robben out left, SWP out right and Kalou supporting Drogba. It’s not pretty, but if Joe Cole is fit he can play up front with Drogba, or in a roving role behind him in a 4-4-1-1 formation.
Chelsea lack pace, they lack flexibility and the only way they’re playing good right now is if they return to 4-3-3.
So either Mourinho does that, or shifts to a proper 4-4-2, or Chelsea will continue to cripple their chances of winning the Premiership.
Latest Articles
- TSG 1899 Hoffenheim - the fairytale football club?
- United don’t want Huntelaar, Madrid aren’t interested either
- Queiroz fingers Ronaldo as future Portugal striker - will that work for United?
- Bentley v Beckham - which David would you pick for England?
- Hoffenheim score 20 in a game - what can English teams learn from them?
While I admire your effort to analyse Chelsea’s ‘problems’, it would be better if you stuck to writing about a team you have more knowledge of because you clearly have no knowledge of Chelsea’s recent past.
The biggest mistake you’ve made is basing your argument that Sheva and Ballack don’t need more time on Makelele’s first season: Maka’s first season for Chelsea was relatively poor and I know several fans who questioned his signing, in the same way that some (fools in my mind) are now questioning Sheva and Ballack’s. Maka has since proved to be almost indispensable - and there’s nothing to say that both Sheva and Ballack won’t find their Premiership feet soon.
The whole 4-4-2 v 4-3-3 argument is moot: it is foolish to doubt Jose Mourinho’s judgement and a team that can switch from one formation to another in such devastating fashion has to be admired.
“Chelsea will continue to cripple their chances of winning the Premiership”? Give me a break. We’ll see come May.
Go back to writing about a team you know more about.
Ahmed you’re at it again. This is not “latest news” it’s complete drivel. You’ve fallen for all the media hype abut Manure. It’s early days if we were 10pts ahead now, as we were the last two seasons, what would be the point of having a football league if the same thing were going to occur season after season. Manure are having a good start, there’s every chance they’ll have a bad finish. Give it a chance mate, Jose is The Man. Just leave it at that. It will all come good just enjoy it for what it is, football.
This article lost all credibility when you included Makalele in your arguments.
You will not find a reputable football expert/pundit who will do anything other than sing his praises. As for those of us who watch Chelsea each week - anyone other than a young child who just looks to see who scores the goals, will see week in and week out that he is one of the best players in the world
I am not the biggest Chelsea lover, but admire the team ethics. Many a team would have allowed the loss to Barca & L’Gunners and they dug in and probably were unlucky with the draws.
Makalele is awesome and Essien WILL be his replacement. I agree that Shev & B$ll$ck should be dropped, and then promoting Robben and SWP/Joe Cole and reverting to the 433.
I hope CSKA London keep playing shevchenko and ballack. If they played Robben and SWP/Joe Cole on the wings every match, they’d be scary.
Really, I’m lost. I am LOST here. Your criticism of Sheva/Ballack is understandable as their inclusion destablized an existing system….. but to point a finger at Makelele is like…. haha I dunno what to say. You’re only thinking attack, and ignoring defence. The reason, in part, for the supreme Chelsea defence of last two years and a prolific Lampard, is, to a very noticeable degree, Claude Makelele. He’s ruined so many attack of opponent teams and given the back four and Cech those crucial few seconds to collect themselves for defence. And Makelele has a history man. Remember his Real days when he used to channel the ball to Zidane? He’s done that so brilliantly for Lampard who has gone on to making dozens of successful moves for Chelsea. Makelele has been for Lampard and Chelsea…. what Cambiasso used to be for Veron and Inter. And his continued inclusion is a MUST. I read the article TWICE, I couldn’t decipher your objection over Makelele!! If you really want pace in the game, why does a “holding midfielder” necessarily has to be a Donovan Bailey, you even acknowledged that yourself? What a holding midfielder has to do is provide the backline an additonal layer of security (as much as possible) and feed the ball to the one who will mobilize the game. The wingers or the attacking midfielder can do the rest. So Ballack/Sheva argument is fine, Makelele….BS!
definately sheva and ballack should be dropped. robben and joe cole in. they have the pace and skill to set up the goals and score them too.
yeh ahmed i think ur gettin a bit 2 technical….lol
btw, come on united!!!!!
Utter nonsense. Is this writer a Manchester United supporter? Why else would he suggest dropping Makelele, moving our midfielder-of-the-season Essien out of midfield altogether, and playing SWP (who has been utterly hopeless) and the inexperienced Kalou? The writer also claims Ashley Cole is not an attacking fullback.
The problem with the internet is that it has given poor scribes a means of exposing their drivel to unsuspecting readers who click on their tripe hoping to read something authoritative. I suggest the writer of the article in question leaves the writing to the Fleet Street hacks who, while bad enough, would not descend to this lowly level.
Shite article, Drop makalele U must be mad. He is like a lynchpin to the team, drop the best defensive midfielder in the world? fuck off. im all for 4-3-3 drop ballack and sheva. OR if worst comes to worst, move essien right back and put makalele ballack lamps in the middle. JC DD AR up top we are in good shape. But MAKA no way, Ahmed u are most def on coke, BTW doesnt everyone think Manyoo should drop Cristiano for Fletcher or O’Shea???
Oh not again Ahmed,ok Shevs fair,but Ballack is gettin grip of himself,And Make,he’s the best…how can u expect them on the bench if subs like SWP Kalou & ETC are not up to it…Not to mention their formation is superb…Makel & Essien holding,Lamps & Ballack atttacking…ok maybe no width,but Cole And Fatso are so good at overlapping what more can’t u ask for…It make perfect sense,Mourinho’s teams always about power and defence stability…not pretty…Their only fault is that Manure currently are just too damn good…Or maybe i’m just as biased as u are ok
i forgot 2 say that 4-3-3 sucks. 4-2-2 is way better, and allows for more entertaining football with 2 wingers and the front stricker supported. has every1 forgotten back in the day when chelsea used 2 be better than us (man utd),they had robben and joe cole as wingers.
but now its just boring boring chelsea again. but im not complaining…..
i meant 4-4-2!!! and everything else of course..
Your article is wrong mate. Scheva and Ballack need time, Makelele is not a problem and 4-4-2 is not the answer either. Plus 4-3-3 won’t work without Joe Cole fit as Robben is too selfish and SWP not up to standard. Jose just needs to switch Lampard and Ballack around. It’s that simple……Lampard back banging goals in from behind the strikers, Ballack marauding from deep…….
You sit here and diss so easily and its easy sitting here and blaming people but surely if you knew you football and tactics more than Jose Mourinho easily the worlds best manager then maybe you should try for all your qualifications and challenge Jose!
Here Here! Cat must have his fucking tongue!
i guess mourinho reads ur columns, he did put sheva & makelele on the bench..but he did persist with Ballack, well jose’s english is not tht gud so he might have missed tht part from ur post…
The 4-3-3 formation suggested by u and earlier used by jose, which had promised much success earlier in the contest, was clearly hampering the champions.
And newcastle with their big injury list, were matching the champions for a long long time in the game.
Antoine Sibierski should have scored one in the first half.
4-3-3 won’t work this year, thanks to a misfiring lampard , an injured Joe cole and SWP who?
And in all tht knowledge a diamond 4-4-2 with strength players in the midfield gives chelsea,more reliability and cuts opposition attacks.
“helps them not get beat”
[...] Makelele - 5 is fair, but his time was already up, as I said back in December. [...]
Blue 2…. its now June, and yes we did see…. Chelsea did cripple their chances, and Ballack and Shevchenko didn’t improve at all since you’re comment.’Chelsea R’: I actually remember Gary Lineker and Alan Hansen talking about Makelele early this year so you’re point is clearly wrong. And im sure most of you Chlesea fans now don’t think the same about SWP…
Conor, I do not see how you can say Chelsea limited their chances. They finished second in the Premiership while only allowing the league champion to score twice in 300 minutes of football. Both Ballack and Sheva were starting to come around at the end of the year and fell victim to injury; I consider this year to be mostly a wash.
Azam - your theory regarding the 4-4-2 diamond is flawed. You state “[it] helps them not get beat.” However, any knowlegable sports fan will tell you that a team always suffers when attempting to not lose. Chelsea is looking to WIN, not utilizing a formation that will lead them to not lose.
No, Shevchenko was never good enough to play for Chelsea at any time, if kalou played instead of shevchenko for the whole season I find it likely that Kalou would have scored at least 10 premiership goals, and as makelele did eventually drop to the bench it shows that Jose agrees he just isn’t good enough any more, and “only allowing the league champion to score twice in 300 minutes of football” , do you wonder why your team are known by many as ‘Boring boring Chelsea’, thats what chelsea do, they focus on defending more than they do attacking, and clearly this conception of ‘1 goal wins are perfect’, Utd. appreciate the value of entertainment so much more. Ballack did improve slightly, and im sure he’ll be alot better next season, but when you could have played robben/swp on the wing and put Essien in instead of Ballack, Essien obviously would have been beter there, and so Shevchenko and Ballack did limit Chelseas chances, so i wasn’t wrong in saying that. Finishing second in the Premiership isn’t good enough, you know it yourself.
I’m sorry to doubt you Conor. After all, I am a Chelsea fan and you seem to be a Red Devil, so of course you would know more about my team than I.
Glad to know you care more about Man Utd providing entertainment rather than winning - I’m sure that was an excellent trade off worth making the two Prem seasons prior to this when the trophy was being hoisted at the Bridge. But hey, I gues not winning was OK so long as the fans were entertained, right?
Also I agree with you on Man Utd being superior and providing stunning entertainment - the entire first 60 minutes of that FA Cup was amazingly exciting, wasn’t it? Great entertainment from Manchester there, in all games actually. I mean, shouldn’t an offensive team that craves to entertain score more than twice against a team always dug in on its heels?
And since you know Chelsea better than I do, you’ll know that every Chelsea fan in the world agrees Essien should have been in midfield, but he was the most selfless, hardworking teammate to take over in defense when injuries amounted. But of course, you already knew that…
Just like Makelele riding the bench late in the season…because, as a Cheslea fan, you know that Mikel was playing out of his mind and couldn’t be stopped and deserved to play the holding role over Claude. But you already knew that…
Just like you know that I’m being entirely sarcastic and that it is laughble to that you’re telling me you know better about Chelsea’s tactics this season than I.
i think that whomever thinks that ballack was negative to chelsea this last season is surely only counting how many goals Ballack scores. Ballack is the best tactical midfielder in Europe, Philipe scolari said so, Franz Beckenbauer said so, Alex Ferguson said so, Ottmar Hitzfeld said so, and Mourinho relied on his passes, his ability to tackle and break the opponent’s advance, in addition to his ability to read the whole game clearly.
it’s sad that some people who know some football start doubting mourinho’s football intelligence as a whole.
Guys, things dont always go well in football
and the starting line up includes the most fit, robben was struggling all season.
Let’s face it, Chelsea suffered and lost their lead to Manchester BECAUSE MANCHESTER IMPROVED BY FAR compared to last season and ALSO GOT LUCKY!
You have to give Alex ferguson most of the credit though
I just cant tolerate how people think they are football brains and start doubting a football genius like Mourinho…trust me i am not a fan of his, but give us a break!
Here i never aid i knew more about Chelsea in any way, but do you agree or not, Shevchenko and Ballack didn’t play good enough to be in your team this season for most of it? Would you have rather had essien playing in his proper position when he could instead of ballack? Would kalou have been better to give a chance to? He seems good and quick, which is the sort of partner Drogba would play well with.
And no playing well isn’t better than winning, but the fact is we can play well AND win, this season you did neither.
“Also I agree with you on Man Utd being superior and providing stunning entertainment - the entire first 60 minutes of that FA Cup was amazingly exciting, wasn’t it?” That just proves my point that Chelsea make matches so boring…
Mikel was playing out of his mind? HA, he runs around too much not doing enough.Ok thats a bit exaggerated, but so was ur comment of playing ‘out of his mind’, that seems to imply that he played as well as he could, which would lead me to think he’s not very good…
“And since you know Chelsea better than I do, you’ll know that every Chelsea fan in the world agrees Essien should have been in midfield, but he was the most selfless, hardworking teammate to take over in defense when injuries amounted. But of course, you already knew that…” I never mentioned at any time about Essien playing in defense, by the way, he’s good at scoring own goals…
Conor, if you don’t even bother to watch Chelsea as a whole, don’t even comment on this subject and act like you are right about anything.
The first hour of the FA Cup was terrible by both teams. To say Chelsea is boring because of it has nothing to do with how either of the teams played. They both played slow, uninteresting football for that hour. But, your previous comment, playing entertaining football, is the stupidest thing I have ever heard, because if Manc won the league playing “Chelseaball” you would be just as f*cking happy.
By the way “Chelseaball” = tactics; “Mancball = win Prem on Ronaldo dives” (a joke for those to laugh at here)
To counter your point about winning, Chelsea played well the last two seasons and DID win. Remember ‘04 at all? Oh yeah, that’s right, 28-8-1 while allowing ONLY 15 goals and accumulating a record 95 points in the table. I’d like to see the Mancs do that, really I would. Because clearly, EVDS was the top keeper in the Prem this year (huge snickers)
As far as Mikel, you’re flat out wrong, because if you had seen Chelsea play at all you would see how invaluable he was when he did. After his early season drama the guy was spot on/ So good Claude rode the bench late in the year because Mikel turned into a playmaker stud out on the pitch, was faster, stronger and more offensive. The guy is only 20 and plays like he is 30.
As far as Essien goes, you said “Essien would be better in there than Ballack.” Since you know jack shit about Chelsea, I was letting you know why Essien was not in there - he was busy playing defense. Again, we all knew he should be in the midfield, but he was helping our defense out because they were hurt.
As far as Ballack and Sheva are concerned, they did not play up to expectations. Their campaigns were also shortened by injury, and I at least never judge those seasons worthy at all because they don’t go from start to finish. If they play the same way next year healthy I am with you, they are not worth the money.