What Went Wrong For Chelsea In The Champions League This Week?
Chelsea really are feeling blue after Tuesday’s loss in the Champion’s League to FC Basel. Despite loosing 1-0 with the goal being scored late on, in the 87th minute, Chelsea still managed to qualify for the knockout stages and are safely through to the next round. Though its great that the west London side will continue on in the Champions League, it was by no means pretty, and they shouldn’t be at all too proud of their recent performance.
Chelsea manager Jose Mourinho has come out defending his side claiming that the poor performance was all due to fatigue, which, I uppose, is understandable. These midweek matches that require travel can really take a toll on players, especially for the players who had to travel for the international matches last week.
Chelsea fans have complete and utter faith in Mourinho, but maybe if he thinks that his players are tired it would be wise to switch up the line up a bit. Chelsea lost this match, and still qualified for the knockout stages, so why is the Portuguese boss playing people that are too tired to give a strong performance? I think that matches like this are a good time to give the youth players a chance, or someone who has been seeing a lot of the bench lately.
Samuel Eto’o was given the start after Fernando Torres had been suffering from injury; however, Torres replaced him in the 42nd minute after he went of injured himself. It is the Chelsea midfield in particular though, that seems to be very similar from week to week. Oscar, Ramires, Frank Lampard, and Eden Hazard are regular fixtures. Now I am a Chelsea supporter, so I love all of these guys, but why not switch stuff around a bit when you have the chance to?
David Luiz has played in the midfeild on occasion and at times it actually worked out, and I will never understand what is going on with Juan Mata. He is an exceptional talent and if Mourinho doesn’t feel the need to play him even during a match like this, I can’t help but wonder if there are things going on behind the scenes that we aren’t aware of.
I guess my opinion on the matter is that a poor performance shouldn’t be blamed on fatigue. If you see that your players are tired, sit them – Oscar and Lampard could definitely use a break, and Mata definitely deserves a chance.
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