Chelsea are not panicking but must rediscover spark after PSG blow

http://www.theguardian.com/football/blog/2015/mar/12/chelsea-psg-jose-mourinho-dominic-fifield

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It was early afternoon at Cobham when José Mourinho assembled his playing squad and, the dust having settled from the crippling disappointment of the night before, sought to focus minds on what must happen next. This was apparently not one of those team meetings Chelsea once conducted almost on an annual basis, the kind where grievances were aired by senior players and frustration expressed at the team’s whole approach. Whether intentionally or not, those always ended up undermining the manager.

Instead, this was about instigating an upturn because, as Mourinho made very clear, immediate improvement is needed. A slackness has crept in, a carelessness that may undermine the Premier League title pursuit if it is allowed to fester. It had manifested itself all over the pitch against Paris Saint-Germain, though it was at the French team’s set pieces where it was felt keenest of all. David Luiz and Thiago Silva had scored the visitors’ goals with free headers from corners, Chelsea defenders tripping over each other, or even appearing to grapple among themselves, as they laboured to deal with PSG’s movement in the area.

It is clear that Thibaut Courtois – a young goalkeeper capable of brilliance, as he had demonstrated to deny Silva moments before the extra-time concession – must command and communicate better still. Those in the back-line were stretched and muddled, unaided by team-mates retreating from further up the pitch. The message extended to midfielders not tracking runners as effectively as is demanded. The slackness has contributed to a new-found and uncharacteristic fragility in the air: Chelsea have conceded only five goals in their seven games since January but all of them – to Jores Okore, Edinson Cavani, Ben Mee, David Luiz and Silva – have been headers. Only Cavani’s came from open play.

The mood was focused, a line drawn under the European campaign, and with an eagerness shared by playing and coaching staff to address this unlikely achilles heel before the visit of Southampton on Sunday. This was no time for talk of crisis. As dramatic as Wednesday’s exit had been, it was not the familiar cataclysmic Chelsea departure from the Champions League.

Sure, there had been anger and dissent at the final whistle but, in the aftermath, even the players acknowledged such exasperation boiled down to an acceptance they had not performed to their true capabilities. Any outrage at the performance of the officials was expressed by the victorious visitors, incensed as they were by Zlatan Ibrahimovic’s dismissal. The home side’s selection had not been blunted by suspensions and there had been no grand controversy at which to point as the real reason for elimination. As anticlimactic as it all was, departing Europe has not brought an entire campaign juddering to a halt. Chelsea still have a first Premier League in five years to claim, and there is no tumult surrounding the manager either. Mourinho is actually likelier to sign new terms in the summer than feel his reputation has been damaged.

Yet, set-piece marking and defensive work aside, he is well aware that he must conjure a spark from a season dampened by Wednesday’s events. The manager had been bemused by his charges’ lack of intensity, shrinking when everything had appeared to be in their favour. They were confronting depleted rivals who were chasing the tie and Chelsea had benefited from a rare clear week of preparation. A year ago a weaker team than this had rallied against the odds to oust PSG at the last yet, at times, this was as feeble as it was disjointed. It was more reminiscent of Chelsea’s 2-0 loss to Mourinho’s Internazionale under Carlo Ancelotti in 2011, a game when the visitors had appeared more driven, more motivated and more convinced in their approach than much‑fancied hosts.

Performances over recent weeks suggested the team had entered a pragmatic phase, attempting to manage games through a hectic schedule as they competed on three fronts. Not since their trip to Swansea City in mid‑January have they truly scintillated as they did at times over the campaign’s opening months, and that against a side whose philosophy is never to stifle. They have lost only once since New Year’s Day – to Bradford City in the FA Cup – but have dazzled only in passages of games. They still boast strength, as demonstrated at Upton Park last week, but the disruption of injuries and suspensions, particularly to Diego Costa and Nemanja Matic, has taken its toll. Rhythm has been interrupted.

Perhaps that left them prone to caution against PSG, with the management unable to raise standards either at half-time, full time or during the extra half-hour. “We felt that drop in intensity a bit, and that was one of the reasons we didn’t kick on,” Gary Cahill said. “Winning ugly or by playing great football is irrelevant at this stage of a season, but when you see [PSG] going down to 10 you expect to grab the game by the scruff of the neck. We didn’t do that, and I’m not sure why. We didn’t play to our potential, the way we can play.”

The concern is that key players have been labouring for a while. Aside from the defensive lapses, two of their most potent attacking performers – Costa and Cesc Fàbregas – have faded of late, with a lack of personal form affecting the side’s collective approach. Costa endured a three-game hiatus for stamping on Emre Can, an offence he still disputes, and, since his return, appears even more determined to fight the world as if to prove the authorities will not suffocate his style. Booked for a foul on Silva on Wednesday, he later risked further sanction by pushing Marquinhos to the ground. That frustration is probably as much born of 649 scoreless minutes stretching back to mid-January, his side’s second in the League Cup final having been credited as a Kyle Walker own goal. He mustered one attempt against PSG and a valid penalty claim was waved away. He is working the channels as feverishly as ever but the opportunities are not falling his way.

Fàbregas was his principal supply line and the Spaniard, as in his three seasons at Barcelona, appears leggy, his influence not what it was before Christmas and particularly when he is thrust further upfield into a No10 role. Fatigue may have crept in, his own radar slightly skewed by the chopping and changing ahead of him. At Barça the late-season slumps were measured in goals: one, six and one in the final 24 games of each term. At Chelsea his contribution is more about assists, with 15 in the first half of the campaign but none since that win at Swansea nine games ago.

Mourinho has defended both in public but, behind the scenes, he knows he must coax out a return to that early-season effervescence. This campaign will still rightly be measured as a triumph if the Premier League title is regained, which ensures that there is no sense of panic in the wake of elimination from Europe. But events on Wednesday were illuminating. The manager and his squad have work to be done.