Jose’s Defense

   With the expected appointment of fan favorite Jose Mourinho as the new Chelsea manager, new excitement has dawned upon the club,  the players and the fans. Twitter erupted with joy within seconds of the anticipated official announcement that Jose had come home. Hate had its fair share of tweets as well, manifested in the form of fear that began crawling down the backs of rival supporters of a host of English teams. It would seem the reunion has come at the right time;  otherwise Arsene Wenger would have become the symbol of the English top flight with Fergie announcing his retirement from management. How bad that would have been..  

   It is an exciting time for the Premier League with new managerial faces all around; Micheal Laudrup and Brendan Rodgers, to name a few. Perhaps, Mourinho saw this as a chance to  frighten the newbie bosses and take his ‘special’ seat as the Premier League’s top man. Whatever his reasons, he will have his work cut for him this summer as he would need to oversee the reshaping of the faltering European champions.

   The biggest questions, as with every transfer window, revolve around where and on whom Roman is willing to splash the cash. Its agreed upon by most Chelsea fans, that the arrival of Mourinho is not enough to spur the club on to silverware. 

   It is clear that Chelsea’s back line has been a soft spot for most strikers this season. Rafa Benitez managed, towards the end of his interim tenure, to contain the erratic mistakes that has cost us the title last season. But surely enough, they are bound to err again come next term. The Blues have constantly been linked with world class strikers, but no enough with center backs. It perhaps vital to look at the stats before pointing out certain individuals within the Chelsea squad. Let us compare, Chelsea’s defensive record during Jose’s debut season in 2004 and this season’s defensive display. Under Jose Mourinho, Chelsea had a clean sheet rate of 66% in the league and this figure last season was at a mere 37%. A stark contrast between Chelsea’s day as the best side in England and the current Europa League champions. In 2004/2005 the Blues conceded 15 goals in 38 league games and that figure has rocketed to 39 goals in 38 games. Chelsea also had the 2nd highest minutes-per-error ratio in the league, only behind West Ham United. Tough to imagine the likes of Wigan and QPR less mistake-prone in 2013 than 2012’s Champion’s League winners. It is also interesting to note that Chelsea have lost possession of the ball (408) more times than West Ham, Everton, West Brom and READING. Now to single out the worst of our defenders, based on their defensive stats. Surprisingly David Luiz has been one of our better performers at the back with 72 interceptions in 30 leagues games. Now compare that with Gary Cahill’s 27 interceptions and Branislav Ivanovic’s 49 in a similar amount of games in the league. With these stats alone, it becomes obvious that Chelsea are dire need of new center backs if they are to challenge for the league title.

   A potential signing is Kyriakos Papadopolous, 21, who is known for his physical strength and no nonsense defending. He is rumoured to be valued by his club at around £15m. He has only amassed 10 games in the Bundesliga this campaign yet he has made more interceptions (29) than Gary Cahill has in 24 games for Chelsea. Should we also mention Papadopolous’ defensive partner Benedikt Höwedes, it is possible again to see the immense difference in quality between him and our very own ‘star studded’ back line. Höwedes has played 32 games for Schalke this season and has had 102 successful interceptions in the Bundesliga alone, in addition to 27 interceptions in 8 Champions League outings. Now, in my own opinion, Chelsea need a Centre back that can be deployed in an offside trap to partner any of David Luiz or Gary Cahill in a potential starting eleven in here’s why..

   The defenders that are currently on the Chelsea pay roll are extremly effective in blocking shots and are threat going forward. The aforementioned Schalke defenders are more adequately adept at cutting out passes and playing the offside trap. Having one of each would give Chelsea the best of both worlds really, and it will allow more flexibility in certain games. Since Chelsea have had a revelation in the form of  right-back Cesar Azpilicueta, it is only fair that he continues as a starter, and quite rightly so. Chelsea’s Ashley Cole has provided a crisp running field for his opposite numbers all season and was dribbled past 22 times in 31 league games. It is blatantly obvious that the ‘English Maldini’ is nowhere near his solid form 2 seasons ago and at the age of 32, it doesn’t look good for the seasoned full back.  Ryan Bertrand has utilized Cole’s brief injury in March of this year to stake a claim for a starting berth and has impressed slightly in his 19 league games for the season. He has only been dribbled past on 3 occasions and has made 10 tackles in the process. Okay, he is no Jordi Alba, so is there might be questions over his role under the Special One come the new campaign. Our only left back on loan this season was Patrick Van Aanholt at Vitesse. He has helped Vitesse finish 4th in the Eridivisie in what was an impressive season for the Dutch club. He is known for his blistering pace, his Ramires-like stamina and he’s also got a fierce shot on him. In addition, he can cross the ball better than either Cole or Bertrand. 

   The perfect setup at the back next season:  Van Aanholt  Höwedes Luiz Azpilicueta.  Chelsea might not have to spend big to flourish next season as Höwedes would be the only new signing at the back. A bid of around £16-20m should be enough to tempt Schalke to sell.