Dave Kidd of the Sun has just written up his column for this week looking back at the weekend’s action, and he opened with a long section putting the boot into Chelsea.
He mocked them for their failed attempts to copy Brighton, which of course were hilariously compounded by then losing to the Seagulls twice in a week.
The writer forsees a very real situation where the Blues don’t qualify for the Champions League. Most fans and pundits haven’t yet accepted the terrifying reality of this, mainly because of the likely addition of 5th place as a potential avenue. But Chelsea are in a tailspin right now, and with so many teams pressed up close behind them, they could fall much further in the weeks to come.
“Yet [Maresca] now faces the prospect of failing to qualify for the Champions League. Fifth [place] should be good enough. Chelsea are sixth and shot of confidence. Is Maresca under threat? Maybe but what good would a sixth manager in 2½ seasons be when Boehly’s entire project looks so flawed?”
Chelsea in a negative spiral just as they need to get positive
Ignoring the other parts, the important point is that we are already below 5th, and given the dreadful lack of confidence in the squad right now, don’t seem to have much hope in improve our standing. Conducting a fighting retreat to the finish line this season might have been possible, but battling back up the table is going to require us to start picking up more points than our competition, which looks unlikely right now.
The other factor Kidd doesn’t even mention is the injuries to our two strikers. That sort of loss could sink even a team in good form – let alone one struggling as badly as we are right now.
Levi Colwill is not good for left centre-back, therefore, please replace him by Aaron Anselmino.
I would prefer the 4231 formation with these players versus with Aston Villa:
Filip Jorgensen
Reece James – Tosin Adarabioyo – Aaron Anselmino – Marc Cucurella
Moises Caicedo – Mathis Amougou
Cole Palmer – Enzo Fernandez – Tyrique George
Christopher Nkunku