Before Real Madrid perfected the art of playing dead while secretly steadying themselves for the counterpunch that will leave you out cold on the ground, Chelsea were probably the Champions League’s closest thing to mentality monsters.
In 2007-08, when they reached the final, they lost the first leg in Istanbul before an 87th-minute winner and, against Liverpool in the semi-finals, scored a last-minute equaliser in the first leg and then two extra-time goals in the second.
It peaked in 2012, when Chelsea made themselves Europe’s backs-to-the-wall champions extraordinaire. Having lost the first leg 3-1 in Naples, they beat Napoli in extra-time thanks to a late penalty that forced it. The semi-final featured the original Gary Neville GoalgasmTM, a Lionel Messi penalty miss and two of the most outrageously efficient counter attacks you will ever see.
In the final, Chelsea faced 43 shots, blocked 22 of them and then robbed a late equaliser. They even offered a delightful encore by going behind in the penalty shootout before winning.
And what did those two teams have in common, Todd Boehly hears you ask: weird stand-in managers! Avram Grant might have been officially permanent, but the name was still written in pencil. Roberto Di Matteo was the caretaker who became king (at least until he got sacked a few months later). Chelsea’s last five European trophies have all come under managers who had taken over that season.
You can easily envisage that Boehly is enthralled by this sense of mythology as he prepares to watch Chelsea in the Champions League under another interim coach. Believe that this season can still be governed by a mysterious Chelsea lifeforce and it chips away at the notion that the owner has got just about everything wrong.
“Who scored that winner against Fenerbahce?” he asks – Lampard. “Who scored one of the extra-time goals against Liverpool?” – Lampard. “Who scored the penalty that forced extra-time against Napoli?” – Lampard again. So who you gonna call? Frank. Lam. Pard!
*Adopts Frank Lampard tone shift* No but seriously, those Champions League campaigns were not really about the manager in charge, but because Chelsea had a core of long-serving players who were thoroughly invested in the club’s performance and were able to use the bonds – tactical and emotional – between them to override the uncertainty above them.
Between the 2008 and 2012 finals, look at the list of players who were there throughout: Lampard. Terry, Cech, Ivanovic, Cole, Essien, Drogba, Mikel, Malouda, Ferreira, Kalou. Not all played in every game, but they formed a core. They were the benefit of good fortune, no doubt. But they earned that, just as Real Madrid seem to, because of the resolve within the squad.
That is what Chelsea have lost this season, more than the two managers who have departed. The vast overspend on players is not without merit if you are building for the future (although the praise for their amortisation model deliberately ignores the downside of having a player on an impossibly long contract long after you have given up on their transfer working out).
But such a turnover inevitably destroys the power of those relationships between teammates who have built up and understanding over a long period.
Of the top 100 longest-serving players at Premier League clubs (in terms of presence in the first-team squad – academy time is not counted), Chelsea have only two representatives.
Cesar Azpilicueta is one, who has admitted he wanted to join Barcelona last summer – fun fact: Chelsea haven’t won any of the last seven league games Azpilicueta has started. N’Golo Kante is the other, whose contract expires this summer and a new deal has still not been signed. To give you some context of the uncertainty around Chelsea, Kante’s next game at Stamford Bridge will be his fourth in a row under a different head coach.
Now, therefore, the mentality is flipped on its head. There is no wall too low for a Chelsea player to think they cannot climb it. No fence is too small for an expensive signing not to trip over it and then look to the heavens as if to say “How did we all even get here?”.
It is, unthinkably, 24 matches since Chelsea last fell behind and even took a point and they haven’t done it in the Premier League since 1 October. I’m not saying that feels a long time ago, but Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang scored.
There is still hope that Chelsea can do this on the fly again. After all, when nothing else makes sense what is there left but hope. The stars may align like 2012 or, like 2021, Chelsea may rediscover their Champions League muscle memory. Lampard may well be the best guy for this specific gig, if that gig is telling them how he scored a series of late goals in this competition more than a decade ago.
But it is based in mythology. There are teams who are better organised and better prepared. There are teams that can locate and exploit your weaknesses and Chelsea have plenty.
There is no strong resilient core who might bleed blue if you cut them. And that’s the point really. Chelsea head into the last eight of the Champions League hoping for a mini-miracle. And when you spend half a billion pounds on transfer fees, you’d hope that you might skip the need for miracles.
from Football - inews.co.uk https://ift.tt/12uIVX0
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