Jose has got a headache

Remember last season? The ‘dark ages’ under the leadership of Rafa? A lot of people – myself included – were saying how the midfield was our weakest position, where we had no depth? Oh how times change…
Going into this season, our midfield looks incredibly congested with options all over the place to slot into our first eleven. There are extra complications though. With a World Cup following this season, everyone is going to be wanting regular football so that they can get on that plane to Rio and play for their country. Somehow then, The Happy One must somehow fit in a group of ambitious midfielders into his selection and keep everyone happy. The headache.
I must also note that this is being written with the current common assumption that Daniele De Rossi (referred to as DDR)  is on his way to Chelsea.
So here’s the situation: it’s widely expected that we shall employ a 4231 ‘Christmas Tree’ formation for the season, thus leaving us with 2 players in the ‘pivot’ and 3 further up the pitch to help serve the striker. In an ‘ideal pivot’, you have one midfielder who screens in front of the back four, whilst the other shuttles up and down the pitch, linking attack and defence. An example of someone who screens: CFC360 favourite John Obi Mikel and the man who shuttles perhaps Ramires. So, lets split this up when we look at our options.
Midfielder 1 ‘The Screener’: John Obi Mikel, Michael Essien, DDR.
Midfielder 2 ‘The Shuttler’: Ramires, Kevin De Bruyne, Frank Lampard, Marco van Ginkel, Josh McEachran – and possibly Oscar.
As I’m sure you can see, Midfielder number 2 has a greater range of options and I’m not entirely sure how Mourinho will keep all of those happy. My guess would be, Oscar plays further forward, De Bruyne also on occasion, McEachran goes on loan and Lampard plays a limited role. But wait, where is David Luiz? In his rightful position, centre back. Anyone who watched the Confederations Cup will have seen David Luiz play centre back for Brazil and been impressed. In big games, Luiz seems to rise to the occasion and for that reason I believe he’ll remain centre back.
As I’m sure you can see, there is a big fight for places. I’m pretty happy with the strength in depth we now have at Jose’s disposal. Good experienced players, good young hopefuls and plenty of options. My concerns are purely for the morale of players.
How can you be unhappy when you get paid as much as they do and all you have to do is sit on a bench, your average Hilario might ask. Well, ask Lampard. As much as I love Lampard and I know most of you do too but we have to admit, he is known to whine if not being played. This can lead to dressing room disruptions and all kinds of stuff which the club would rather not have to deal with. Lampard will have to accept he won’t get as much playing time as he’d like, but hopefully the emergence of Marco van Ginkel and Kevin de Bruyne will help soothe the pain for fans. Mourinho proclaimed van Ginkel as one of the top midfield talents in the world and de Bruyne’s performances last season for Bremen speak for themselves. These are two very promising midfielders.
Another emergence – or perhaps re-emergence – I was looking forward to seeing this season was that of one Oriol Romeu, who has been almost forgotten thanks to injuries. Now shipped on loan to Valencia against my will, I long to see him back at Chelsea showing that form he had when under AVB, orchestrating our midfield from deep and breaking up attacks. His departure means one of two things: we are signing a shorter term replacement (DDR) or Jose’s adopted African son Michael Essien will play more. Don’t get me wrong, I love Essien, but his decline in recent years has been tragic. For that reason, I’d much prefer the other option.
Or maybe not…
DDR has been widely touted as a future Chelsea player for a little while – like he was a future City player last year – and a lot of fans I’ve spoken to seem chuffed with this idea. However, despite his relatively ‘cheap’ fee – yes, about 13 million euros is cheap when you’re Chelsea – DDR will be a far from cheap investment for Chelsea. DDR is currently one of the highest earners in Serie A, earning about €6m per year after tax. If he’s to move to Chelsea, we’d have to match that at least. With tax regulations, we could end up paying DDR €10m per year at least. Not looking so cheap now are you Daniele? Whilst I believe he’s an upgrade on what we have, you could be critical on how it’s not very long term thinking from the board. Aged 29 though, he could well have at least 3 seasons at the very top so we will still get good service from him I’m sure. His domestic form has dipped in the last 12 months but his international form gives hope that he certainly hasn’t lost it.
So there we are, I’m sure we’ll have our own opinions on who the best midfield will be next season. The options we now have are promising and DDR would be a welcome addition, despite the hefty financial package he brings. The midfield looks a hell of a lot stronger than last year. Is it a title winning midfield? We shall see.