Chelsea’s stars finally turned up and duly dispatched their relegation rivals Sunderland with a 3-1 win over the Black cats at Stamford Bridge. The atmosphere was a little subdued and well quite vitriolic as many fans targeted the likes of Diego Costa, Cesc Fabregas and Eden Hazard for their alleged roles in getting manager Jose Mourinho out.
The Blues also had new interim manager Guus Hiddink overseeing the action from the stands as he takes the reins again till the end of the season, something that he did a few years ago. Chelsea’s transfer signings have been mostly duds this season but with another transfer window coming up; it could well be the right time for some upheaval and getting the rot out of the club.
New faces or the old ones?
There were always doubts about Chelsea’s signings this season with the likes of Radamel Falcao, Asmir Begovic, Baba Rahman, Papy Djilobodji and Kenedy coming into the squad. That was never going to be enough when it came to bettering the side that won the Premier League title last season. The failed attempts to sign John Stones certainly does not provide good reading as attacking the goal has been as much of a problem as defending it for Chelsea this season.
Radamel Falcao should be sent back to Monaco, the Colombian does not look like a Premier League player and this experiment has completely failed for Chelsea. Instead, they should bring in Patrick Bamford who was the top scorer in the Championship last season but was loaned out again to Crystal Palace this season where he hasn’t really played a lot of games for the Eagles.
He would certainly provide Chelsea with a better chance of getting goals when playing as the main striker. This does raise the question of the future of Diego Costa. The Spaniard has gone from Super Saiyan mode last season to Krillin this season and needs to be sold as soon as possible. He has always been a tough character to keep and with things going pear-shaped for Chelsea, he should be sold before he causes more problems.
Roman Abramovich might not want to spend a lot of money at the moment, thinking about which manager would take over from Hiddink before the next season starts but he can certainly make a few small changes. There are a few Chelsea players out on loan who could be given chances to prove their ability under the new manager or at least the interim one.
Victor Moses, Nathan Ake and certainly Marco van Ginkel could be recalled as Chelsea look to end the season on a high. They shouldn’t actually spend any large sums of money in this transfer window as it would be like throwing cash away. Hiddink might have to work with what he has and in all fairness, he is capable of getting these players to perform better.
It is a catch 22 situation for Chelsea though, especially the players. If they go on a winning run now, there will be a lot of blame on the players for not performing under Mourinho but if they continue to lose or perform badly then the axe again falls on them. Mourinho might have left but his legacy still remains and the Chelsea players need to get over that and start performing till the end of the season, anything else and they could also be shipped off when the new manager comes at the start of the new season.