Unattractive Chelsea Sit Handsomely

Jose Mourinho’s Chelsea outfit sit 10 points clear at the top of the English Premier League with just 6 games remaining, but can the neutral Englishman be proud of the team that are champions elect? Having beaten the in-form, and the recently more recognisable Manchester United 1-0 over the weekend to seal the fate of England’s top league, you’d expect there to be a world of excitement buzzing around the Blues, right? Wrong. Having seemingly stalled and stumbled across the finish line many people are already looking to next year as a much tighter affair, fancying the more expressive Arsenal and United sides. We all love to watch free-flowing attacking football, but as tactician Mourinho shows time and time again, this isn’t essentially the recipe for success, not over a 38 game competition, anyway.

The London side have already secured the English League Cup this calendar year, and kudos to them, but Mourinho’s caution and defensive set-up back fired against League 1 side Bradford City in the FA Cup, succumbing to a 4-2 defeat, whilst Thiago Silva rose highest to nod home in extra time to give PSG a passage to the UEFA Champions League quarter finals on away goals. Overall though, the 2014/2015 season for Chelsea will be a looked back on as a successful one.

Mourinho, time and time again, finds ways to grind out results to give the boys from Stamford Bridge that clinical advantage. Chelsea have won 5 of their last 6 EPL games, drawing the other match 1-1 with Southampton, and all of the victories were won by just the 1 goal. Although seemingly ‘out-of-form’ Chelsea still manage to pick up the points required to maintain the gap above the top 4, whereas Mourinho’s rivals just can’t do the same, or choose not to.

All the top teams have had purple patches this season where they appear to have all the qualities needed to be champions. Arsenal have won their last 9 games, Liverpool went 10 unbeaten through December and January. Manchester United are in the best form since the Fergie era, and we all know what Manchester City (current EPL holders no less) can do on their day. Ultimately though, 10 points is a considerable margin and it’s hard to blame Mourinho for his side’s often unattractive and boring performances, as they simply produce the results. Of course Chelsea can be exciting and fun to watch at times, but that usually comes from teams offering too much respect, and rightly so, to the likes of Hazard, Fabregas and Costa. Mourinho has brought in these world class players who can unlock defences on their own with a solid defensive structure behind them. Southampton are probably the closest highly placed team to be doing something similar and it’s working, although they don’t quite have the world class talent and finances of Chelsea and co.

Next season is set up for possibly the most dramatic and competitive championship to date, but may ultimately come down to which team and manager can either grind the results out like Mourinho and Chelsea, or who can produce the tactics and performances to beat Chelsea twice over the season. I predict turning Chelsea over on the tv through boredom multiple times again next year, whilst deep down feeling extremely jealous of the position they sit.