This is so easy, I can celebrate before you’re even finished trying to beat us, Mourinho appeared to convey. The last thing Chelsea expected was three seasons in the wilderness. Should they keep their nerve today and beat Wigan to finish No 1 again, Didier Drogba and Co will enjoy one of the sweetest feelings in sport, one seen on the face of a boxer who regains a belt or a tennis players who takes back a major, that of the former champion who reasserts his credentials.
In such instances, there has always been doubt to overcome, both within one’s camp and outside it, and a journey that can seem even more special than the original path to glory. Drogba asked to leave Chelsea when Mourinho went, feeling his work in London was also done, and back then could not imagine how much winning another Premier League would one day mean to him.
“After my first three seasons, I felt a little ... not fatigued, but I asked myself, ‘What am I going to win in England?’ I won the Cup, League Cup, the championship twice,” Drogba said. “But losing the title hurt and that created a new challenge: it must be won. And it’s three years running after that. It is a desire that grows, that becomes increasingly strong.” Drogba’s determination to succeed again was etched on his features as he celebrated Chelsea’s win at Anfield last week. Frank Lampard, John Terry, Petr Cech and the other veterans of 2004-05 and 2005-06 burn the same.
Nobody should be mistaken in thinking Chelsea are back to Mourinho-era levels. If they are on top again it is because other teams have slithered from the higher ground while they have planted their feet. The goalscoring aspect of Carlo Ancelotti’s 2009-10 Chelsea exceeds previous editions but, in other departments, this team are not superior or even at the level of vintage Mourinho Chelsea. They have more in common with the Chelsea sides who failed to win the title under Avram Grant, Luiz Felipe Scolari and Guus Hiddink: a very good outfit but not a brilliant one, a winning yet also beatable team.
Chelsea will finish with a points total roughly the same as in the past three seasons but the tallies of Manchester United, Arsenal and Liverpool have depreciated. The comprehensive English failure in the Champions League suggests standards of the Premier League’s elite have diminished. One of their number are about to lift the crown having lost more league games than any title-winning side since 2000-01. That’s not to say Chelsea will be anything less than deserving champions if they prevail: 95 goals, two short of the Premier League record with one game to play, is the calling card of thrilling and consistent entertainers. The prize for best playing style in England is usually a theoretical joust between Arsenal and United but Chelsea, taking something from Arsenal’s possession game and something from United’s ensemble counterattacking method, have outplayed both.
After securing that second title, Mourinho gave an oddly sour press conference, moaning about not receiving enough manager-of-the-month awards and saying his native Portugal was full of “rats” who wanted him to fail. “Chelsea is always treated in a negative way,” he complained. Now, perhaps because of Ancelotti’s more dressed-down style, perhaps because appreciation has slowly grown among the football public for Drogba, Lampard and their ilk, Chelsea are in grave danger of being popular.
They have pieced their season together best. Ferguson says Mourinho “raised the bar” in terms of what it takes to be English champions, most notably by producing title-winning teams who dominated from the off. Ancelotti understood, while United forgot, the need for a good start. Performances on Chelsea’s pre-season tour of the US were exceptionally sharp by the standards of play in friendlies and Mourinho’s Inter Milan were among their scalps. They took that momentum into the regular season, winning their first six games from a fixture list that included Tottenham at home and awkward trips to Fulham, Sunderland and Stoke.
By the end of November, 14 games into the campaign, Chelsea had a five-point lead over United and were 11 points ahead of Arsenal. If they win the league, that initial phase, which contained features sustained all season, will prove vital. The win at Stoke came with a 94th-minute winning goal by Florent Malouda, the one at Sunderland a comeback from being behind at half-time and on the opening day Drogba scored in the 91st minute to defeat Hull. The resolve and spirit of Ancelotti’s Chelsea are beyond question in that they are like Mourinho’s, and Drogba compares the two managers. “They drive the players daily, they are leaders,” he said.
Chelsea’s opening run also involved defeats of United, Liverpool and Arsenal. They have won six out of six against those teams and conceded just once — a dubious goal from United’s Federico Macheda.
Their imperious record in the big head-to-heads is Chelsea’s greatest title credential of all. In all those victories except a slightly fortuitous home win over United, Chelsea have been physically stronger and passed the ball more effectively than teams with pretensions to be equals. They have also finished better, largely because of Drogba, Lampard and Malouda who, if Wayne Rooney wasn’t so good, would comprise the shortlist for any player-of-the-year award.
Nobody could disagree with Drogba’s assessment that “this is my best season by far, even at the assists” and he proclaimed Malouda’s talents. “Florent’s first season here was difficult. Flo is not a player who will dazzle you right away. He’s someone who, by his consistency, is there. Six years ago I named him ‘player of the future’ because he’s a robot, a force of nature. Not a robot in the pejorative sense, but someone who is able to bind the games, who has a great understanding of the game, a tactical intelligence. You can put him in any position. He played left-back, midfield, striker this season.”
Whatever Terry says to the contrary, his form has wavered over the season and so too has Chelsea’s defence generally. The title push has not been an effort led by their back four. Ancelotti’s team have conceded more goals than any Chelsea side since 2002-03, when Claudio Ranieri was manager.
Drogba admitted the media maelstrom caused by Terry’s affair with Vanessa Perroncel rattled the team. “The cameras were trained on various facts rather than our football and we lost our concentration, unconsciously, and lost points,” he said. Chelsea dropped 10 points in seven games after the scandal broke and went out of the Champions League, getting back on course after Ancelotti convened a team inquest when they drew at Blackburn.
They also recovered from a December blip that saw a defeat at Eastlands and draws against Everton, Birmingham and West Ham. Iain Dowie no doubt wants to ask Ancelotti the Italian for “bouncebackability”.
Wigan are another side against whom Chelsea have stumbled. When they are good, they are very good, as seen in seven-goal hauls against Aston Villa, Stoke and Sunderland. And when Ancelotti’s team are bad, they are very bad. They were caught out at the DW stadium by their opponents’ high intensity, quick attacks and penetration in wide areas.
That is the way to beat them, as Tottenham confirmed last month. But Chelsea have more means of beating foes than any other team in the Premier League, which is why they are champions-elect.
Source:http://www.timesonline.co.uk
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