The Man in The Shed

29^th May – End of season report

So with the dust having settled after a great night in Baku it seemed a good time to look back and assess what the 2018-19 season had delivered – or not.

Realistically, with the late departure of Conte and the arrival of Sarri, I confess that I could not see Chelsea winning the league. So what would a good season look like ? I genuinely felt we had a great chance in the Europa League and fourth place in the league would be progress.

The positives

Despite a short period (when Zidane stood down as Real Madrid manager) I was always convinced that Eden Hazard would not sign a new contract and force the board to sell him this summer. The best bit of man-management from Sarri was to acknowledge this, encourage the Belgian to focus on offensive football and the result was the best set of stats. (goals and assists) in his Chelsea career. Thank you Eden – the most talented footballer to wear the shirt.

Antonio Rüdiger has slowly but surely grown as a Chelsea player. Whilst always a cult favourite his performances have been the stand out for a defender in the squad.

The double-barrelled boys. Very little was seen of Ruben Loftus-Cheek or Callum Hudson-Odoi in the first half of the season. Sarri’s argument was a lack of defensive discipline by both of them. He was right. You only had to see how Willian and Pedro track back to realise than the younger men had much to learn. As soon as they understood and implemented what was expected they were playing regularly. A second reason to thank Sarri for good man-management. Just a tinge of sadness that both players suffered bad injuries when they did.

Olivier Giroud has never been a prolific goal scorer although that did not stop him being a regular starter in the French team which won the World Cup. Whilst some of the opponents in the Europa League weren’t the best, his tally of 11 goals was a major factor in our progression to the final.

Eight Chelsea players made it into the Europa team of the year (Kepa, Luiz, Dave, Jorginho, Kanté, Giroud, Pedro and Hazard)

Rob Green does a JT. Despite being third choice and not playing a single competitive minute it was nice to see a man whose career never recovered from letting in a soft goal for England in 2010 get his hands on a major trophy. Fully kitted up and smiling broadly, the press were awash with pictures of the veteran holding the trophy aloft.

The negatives

Alvaro Morata continued to spit out his dummy until he was shipped out to Atlético Madrid. As soon as Premier League defenders realised they could bully him it was a series of whines and senseless bookings (and a few goals). Even changing shirt numbers to avoid “the curse of the number 9” had no effect.

Over the last 20 years Chelsea have lost games but it was mostly by the odd goal. I saw a 3-0 or a 4-1 as a major defeat. So 2018-19 has been a somewhat sobering experience after 4-0 at Bournemouth and “that 6-0” to Manchester City.

“Keppa-gate”. It was bad enough losing to Manchester City (again) but watching a goalkeeper who had been down several times in the previous 10-15 minutes refuse to leave the pitch was humiliating for us fans. Besides, at that point I had big Willie down as a better penalty stopper.

The stubbornness / predictability of the manager for the majority of the season. “Barkley for Kovacic – 60 minutes”; “Pedro for Willian – 75 minutes”. Was this really the best he could come up with ?

Marcus Alonso’s form was “variable”. Comfortable under Conte’s wing-back system, playing a more traditional fullback role exposed Alonso’s forward runs regularly. I found myself feeling more reassured seeing Emerson’s name on the team sheet.

It is always sad to see the players that a coach doesn’t like just making up the numbers. So finding Gary Cahill not even good enough for the bench until the last month was sad. Especially after a period where every away game seemed like we could get a serious pasting. Little did Danny Drinkwater realise that when he played in the Community Shield that would be the highlight of his season.

Player mentality. Of course losing all “The Legends” over the past few years has left a huge gap in this area. Side-lining Cahill didn’t help either but the team regularly looked rudderless – especially when we went behind. Sarri was right in highlighting the lack of leaders but probably wrong to call them out in public.

Knowing Eden Hazard would leave is perhaps negative but the performances we have seen this season (superb goals against Liverpool and West Ham to name but 2) have been world class.

The Jury is still out on ..

Kepa. A big fee and a tantrum in the League Cup final didn’t help. A reluctance to catch the ball too but you only have to look at David De Gea’s early form for United to see it could take time. Performances at the end of the season (such as the penalty saves in the Europa league) suggest that the future is bright.

Higuain. The curse of the number 9 shirt struck again (when was the last time somebody wore this shirt and was successful ?). In the few occasions the team created chances for him he seemed lethal but the pace of the English league seemed to hypnotise him.

Sarri-ball. The performances across the season seemed to be completely against the logic. Sarri claimed (reasonably at the time) that he was transforming our playing style and it would take months to achieve. So we start the season unbeaten and then the longer the players are coached the worse our overall play seemed to get. As soon as the results dipped the fans were not slow to tell the manager exactly what they thought ! And the manager’s key disciple (Jorginho) bore the brunt of the frustration.

Jorginho. Blaming him for the team’s ills seemed harsh. The pundits were unable to contain their positive enthusiasm at the start of the season but his failure to score goals (or even an assist) began to sway opinion. And it didn’t take other coaches long to realise you simply man-mark him and Chelsea stop playing.

A new role for Kanté. Nothing seemed to rile the analysts more than playing the little Frenchman out of position. It took a while but developing the offensive part of the player has shown lots of positivity. If he can score 10 goals a season along with all the other great things we know about already then Sarri’s decision will be validated rather than vilified.

Ross Barkley. Whilst knowing you will only be sharing 90 minutes with Kovacic every game cannot be the best motivation, the Englishman had a solid pre-season and seemed to fit the mould for a Sarri-ball disciple. He spoke openly about how Sarri was actually coaching him for the first time in his career (Everton will be pleased) and I felt he generally did well overall. Considering his good performances for England as well - the question is can he take the next step next season ?

Looking ahead

At the time of writing Chelsea were not appealing the transfer ban so the only expensive import this summer is going to be the young American – Pulisic. He’s had a mixed season with injuries so my main concerns are – will he be expected to replace Hazard (unfair) and will he actually be fit enough to play very often.

Of course there are no shortage of “new players” if you look in the right places. With around 40 out on loan (including the likes of Mason Mount, Reece James and Trevor Chalobah to name but 3) there are countless options. They just need opportunities. Which brings me on to the primary question ..

Who will be the manager next season ? You would have thought that delivering a trophy, 3^rd place behind City and Liverpool and a second cup final would be enough. At this moment speculation is rife that Sarri and the board are at odds over strategy. You cannot blame the Italian for leaving if he doesn’t get backing. Let’s face it; Juventus have a far better chance of winning the Champions League than we do. On the other hand everyone seems to have forgotten how long it took Klopp to get Liverpool playing his way. Even Pep had a shaky first season in England and look where City are now. If it were my choice I’d give him another year. One of Sarri’s biggest fans is Pep – say no more. Sadly, the clamour to bring in Lampard (too soon) and play all the youngsters is based more around a fantasy than footballing logic.

Exciting though, either way. Let’s enjoy our summer and come back stronger next season whoever sits in the dugout and pulls on those blue shirts !