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17 Goals Conceded In 8 Games: How Can Jose Mourinho Fix Chelsea’s Defence?

Four points off the relegation zone, seventeen goals conceded in just eight games and four games lost out of eight this season. Not many would have expected such a dismal start for Chelsea in this campaign, especially after being crowned as the Champions of the league last season.

This has easily been the worst start to a league campaign by the Blues in a long time. Mourinho’s teams weren’t always about attacking intent but it was always built on a solid defence. They wouldn’t concede goals but could score the important ones and ensure victories.

Jose Mourinho
Jose Mourinho

That steel in the defence has been missing this season, despite going to a more defensive outlook in the second half of last season. Although many predicted that Chelsea could struggle due to a lack of investment in the squad.

Out goes the dead wood, in comes no one

Chelsea did sell Felipe Luis, one of the best left-backs in La Liga last season after just signing him a season prior to that. Though they couldn’t get the best out of him and selling him was the right thing to do, they haven’t brought in a replacement that can slot into the team at the first go. They did spend a lot of money bringing in Baba Rahman from the Bundesliga but the former Augsburg left-back hasn’t got much playing time as Mourinho still believes he needs time to get accustomed to the league.

Baba Rahman
Baba Rahman

Chelsea also dropped John Terry from the second half of the game against Manchester City and the captain has not been able to get back into the squad. This, coupled with the fact that Chelsea couldn’t sign John Stones from Everton in the transfer window has hurt them a lot more than expected.

Chelsea now have to deal with this defence and team till January and the first thing they need to do to fix the defence is drop Branislav Ivanovic, who for some reason has been able to keep his place in the team. With news that he might be injured, this could be the chance for Baba Rahman to shine for the Chelsea team.

The other thing they must do is play John Terry with Kurt Zouma as that is the best pairing they can have in the centre of defence. Zouma can work really well with the Chelsea captain and dropping Gary Cahill needs to be done to accommodate the duo.

Branislav Ivanovic
Branislav Ivanovic

The other thing that Mourinho needs to do is play with a couple of holding midfielders rather than the pairing of Fabregas and Matic. The Serbian hasn’t been at his best with Fabregas beside him and maybe playing him along with a Ramires or Mikel could be beneficial to Chelsea’s defence and overall play.

Jose Mourinho has probably never faced such a difficult situation in his career but he does have the experience of dealing with issues and surely he can get Chelsea back on track this season.