There’s rarely a dull moment down at the Bridge but you bet that all concerned with Chelsea could do with getting back to a bit of normality.
Three defeats from five, two consecutive home losses and only two wins from seven is causing much delight around the rest of the country but within the corridors of power at Cobham, there will be some serious head scratching about just what is going on with one of the teams who have dominated English football in the 21st century.
Crisis may be an over used adjective monopolised by the tabloids, but even if things aren’t that bad their current form will be much cause for concern.
Twelve points adrift of Manchester City at the summit of the Premier League and with participation in theChampions League in the balance is not where last seasons league runners-up envisaged themselves being at this stage in proceedings.
But all is not lost, indeed all can be salvaged, but Andre Villas-Boas certainly needs to right some wrongs fairly sharpish if they are to compete for the honours they would have expected at the beginning of the campaign
A brittle backline, a midfield that lacks class and authority and a set of forwards who are reticent to make places their own are all jeopardising another season after the 2010 league and cup double winners finished potless last season.
There is something about the autumn months which causes the Blues to shed points like the trees shed their leaves. At the same juncture last year the wheels had fell off under Carlo Ancelotti and although they recovered to chase Manchester United down to the bitter end, the damage had already been done.
The solution under Ancelotti was to launch cash at it during the January transfer window and the least said about that the better, so without going down the same route again once auld lang syne’s died down, just what can AVB do to steady the good ship Chelsea?
He could start by heeding these five pieces of wisdom.
1) Get Alex in.
Not many of the Chelsea brethren can work out why the big Brazilian has been so sparingly used by AVB. He dropped a clanger early on against West Brom but for the large part the former PSV stopper has been effectively solid at the heart of the back four.
Despite his offensive abilities from deep, David Luiz’s wing and a prayer defending is not what Chelsea need at the moment, especially next to Skipper John Terry who seems particularly vulnerable next to the eccentric Sideshow Bob look-a-like. Alex may lack a bit of mobility but he rarely gets caught out, and if Chelsea are thinking of going back to basics, an Ivanovic-Alex-Terry-Cole back four would be as good as any place to start.
2) Ditch the high line
Since AVB came in he’s tried to adopt the tactics which brought him so much success at Porto. The concept is fairly straightforward and indeed it’s similar to that which Barcelona so brilliantly execute. It involves pressing high up the pitch, and engaging the opposition in their own half – well away from goal.
The policy of pressing this high in theory means there’s no easy way out to gradually play the ball into your half, and by doing so, if you win the ball back by rights they’ve got less distance to travel to the business end. The idea makes sense but in order for this to be effective, the right players with the right attributes are needed, and Chelsea haven’t got those types of players to make this system work.