Jose Mourinho is still chasing a win at the St James’ Park after his Chelsea side drew 2-2 with Newcastle in the Premier League on Saturday. Chelsea were in search of a win after winning only twice this season with the latest coming against Arsenal last weekend.
Ramires and Willian were introduced in the second half and to show Mourinho has still got it with his top notch capabilities as a tactician, his substitutes helped Chelsea fight back for a point.
Here are five things we learned after the unimpressive 2-2 draw on Saturday.
Early days fast becoming ‘dark days’
Prior to Chelsea’s win against Arsenal at Stamford Bridge, the Blues had endured their worst start to a season for almost three decades. No real determination from their players as most of them had body languages of disinterest in the business this season.
Last season’s champions hoped to secure a win over struggling Newcastle who laid 19th with a mere two points after six Premier League games. However, Ayoze Perez and Georginio Wijnaldum had other ideas for the Blues following their fans decision to boo the Toons after the defeat in the Capital One Cup in midweek.
Chelsea are lowly in 15th on the league table and their early season poor form is fast becoming a crisis clouded with darkness.
No real threat upfront
Who ever thought we would be saying this? – Chelsea are struggling to find a scorer with or without Diego Costa.
The striker has been banned for three games, of which two has been served after this game; but Chelsea are not missing his goals in his absence – well he has scored one goal and registered one assist.
Eden Hazard and Pedro were tasked to help Loic Remy to provide the goals against Newcastle, however all three players were missing in action.
Willian and Ramires’ introduction pointed to some of the frailties in this Chelsea side. Willian injected some pace and purposefulness into the side wile Ramires added energy to a stale midfield.
Last season’s double award winner, Hazard came into life with a quarter of an hour to finish the game with great runs that momentarily split open the Toons defense.
Pedro however, missed a glorious chance in the dying minutes of the game and with Willian’s impact, the Spaniard will have to improve or sit out.
Defensive network facing technical difficulties
Ayoze Perez scored a great goal, but what was all that about from Ivanovic and Kurt Zouma?
The defenders sandwiched Perez before he powered home the opener from inside the 18-yard box, and yet had the referee halted the game, to plead with them to rethink their positions and decisions, they would have still had it wrong.
A strong telling off by Jose could do the trick because it was frustrating for a Chelsea fan to see elementary mistakes like that on the pitch that involved no less a player than the Vice Captain.
As the fine cross was delivered by Janmaat, Ayoze had all the time in the world to receive it with a deft first touch and turn to shoot while Ivanovic and Zouma kept dialing their cell phone numbers to ask who should react first.
The young Frenchman, who kept captain John Terry out of the first XI for a second successive week, opted against heading away Janmaat’s delivery in the belief that Ivanovic would do it. He paid a hefty price for his indecision.
Newcastle result exposes ‘Fake wins’
The performance that accompanied Chelsea’s result against Newcastle proved how the problems at the club were still not solved despite recent success on the pitch.
Beating Maccabi Tel Aviv, nine-man Arsenal and Walsall merely papered over the cracks in Jose Mourinho’s side. The Blues still look a million miles from the side which dominated the top flight last season.
Following Chelsea’s three game winning streak in three different competitions, the Blues were expected to beat Steve McClaren’s bruised Newcastle but their 2-2 result shows Chelsea were running on fake results that only hid their true selves.
Mourinho must find a formula, whatever it may be, to save his job and that of his failing stars at the Bridge.
Fabregas is no defensive midfielder
The role beside Nemanja Matic is one that can be defined with raw willingness to tackle and dictate the pace of the game simultaneously.
Instead, Jose’s choice of deploying Fabregas alongside the Serb is a baffling one, especially after poor displays from the Spaniard since the end of last season.
The former Arsenal captain has been a shadow of his former self and has not yet returned to the form he displayed at the inception of last season.
Against Newcastle, he failed to make a single successful tackle according to Opta stats. Ramires’ introduction helped ease the pressure in the midfield and probably lift the spirit of his teammates.
Feel free to share your opinions on what you learnt too.
