Is Chelsea Lacking Complacency Already? By Adedeji Arijeniwa

 

ANALYSIS: Chelsea’s 5-3 loss to Tottenham Hotspurs during their London Derby at White Hart Lane on New Year’s Day has shifted the balance of power to the red half of Manchester after surrendering a 1-goal lead.

 

And that, was why the English Premier League is called the “The Best League In The World”. It is the main reason we love the festive periods, because they are extremely too unpredictable and always filled with astonishing and surprising moments, moments we could never imagined even if we expected something similar to happen.

 

Early this season, Jose Mourinho in one of his numerous press conferences admitted that Chelsea will lose matches, but he said if his team had to lose, it would not be due to lack of complacency. However, after their first defeat of the season in all competitions to Newcastle at St. James’ Park, Chelsea never seems to hit the peak of that stellar performance they started the season with, although they bounced back after the 3-0 loss at St. James’ Park, the winning streak was never stable again. The entire team seems to be tired; evidently, it was manifested against Southampton when they have to come from behind to secure a 1-1 draw.

 

On Thursday, leading 1-0 at White Hart Lane – which happens to be a must win match for them giving that Manchester City is already level on points with them at the top of the league standing –  and ended up conceding three goals in the first half, that just shows how complacent the team is becoming! Before the start of the season, many pundits are of the opinion that Chelsea and Manchester City are going to be the main title candidates, ruling out other rivals. In fact, the prediction has been excellent; the first half of the season, Chelsea lost just a single match in the league, while their main rival and defending Champions Manchester City lose twice –to Stoke City and West Ham United. It has been a two-horse race from the start, but it is as if Chelsea’s horse is already feigning and getting tired while City’s stallion is getting stronger.

 

Chelsea lost the League last season, with much of the reasons attributed to lack of regular goal scorer in the team, but with the arrival of Diego Costa from Atletico Madrid in the summer, that problem seems to have been dealt with once and for all. Nevertheless, after the loss to Newcastle United, Chelsea seems to have reverted back to the same problem of last season – misfiring in front of goal, they struggled to win matches, leaving it until the final moments. Since Sergio Aguero was sidelined with an injury, Costa has managed just two goals – against West Ham and Tottenham. Jose Mourinho is an experienced and master tactician in the game and he is one of the best gaffer to have ever grace the game of football, but as it stands now, losing the first match of the year and surrendering the top spot to Man City does not speaks well of his managerial prowess.

 

After taking the lead at Tottenham, they lost the rhythm of the game, they lost their feet, they could not balance the game, so many errors start pouring in one after the other, the back line could not hold on and they paid the price with three goals under 20 minutes. Matic and Fabregas could not connect with the attackers, Andros Townsend caged in Ceasar Azpilicuta for much of the game, and John Terry’s partnership with Garry Cahill was just a total mess – the same way it happens at Newcastle. Eden Hazard dazzled, but it was not enough to save his team from conceding five goals –  it was a typical London derby match, full of goals and ending Spurs barren of taking three points from Chelsea since 2010.

Although, Chelsea still boast of active participation in all competitions so far this season, Mourinho will have to solve this hoodoo in his team before he finds himself being shown the exit door from Stamford Bridge even before the League ends in May.