When I saw last night’s team sheet, the first thing that came to my mind was that Mourinho had gone to Liverpool for a draw. But as the game progressed, we saw Chelsea doing well to get the ball and giving it away, we witnessed a rare case of poor transition from defence to attack by the Premier League pace setters.
“Recover the ball, lose the ball, recover the ball, lose the ball – exactly the opposite that happened against Swansea. today, we did fantastic defensive work but we were not efficient in the transition. To score only one goal frustrates me.” – Jose Mourinho in his post match interview.
I believe Chelsea are evolving, but it’s time to take that evolution to the next level, and that is imposing our will and playing the same way at home and away. Our Premier League form has been very disappointing on the road with defeats to Newcastle and Tottenham, not forgetting an away draw to Southampton; it’s safe to say our form on the road is inconsistent.
If we have poor transitional play away from home maybe we should consider a Ramires-Matic partnership? I personally feel Ramires is more effective at running out with ball on a break than picking a player in midfield with the perfect pass. Another option is promoting Loftus Cheek to partner Matic when we want to rest Oscar and play Fabregas as our number 10.
Whatever we decide to do I think this team is designed to play football and play attacking football, and itÂ’s time to take the shackles off and play our football whilst on the road. I think there is still a place for Mikel in the team but I think this is to be cover for Matic, the two players should never play alongside each other.
