Our resident Chelsea supporters here in the Football Transfer Tavern are counting down the days right now but counting down the days until what I hear you cry?
Well, they’re counting down the days until the time in which this Chelsea squad grow a pair as a few of our hardened Blues fans have quoted while turning it around and forgetting this dreadful start to the campaign altogether.
So far this term, Jose Mourinho’s men have only achieved victories over West Bromwich Albion, Maccabi Tel Aviv, Arsenal and Walsall while losing to Manchester City, Crystal Palace, Everton and FC Porto.
In what is very much uncharted territory for Mourinho who himself has admitted other fans will be laughing at his and the Blues’ predicament right now, the signs are that Chelsea’s squad aren’t responding with this dreadful run continuing on in to October.
With Southampton visiting Stamford Bridge on Saturday evening, that won’t be the easiest fixture for the Blues to navigate also with Ronald Koeman continuing to get the best out of a relatively small squad on the south coast so it’s fair to say our Chelsea fans are a little bit anxious right now.
For many, the performance away at Porto on Tuesday evening was anything but horrendous but unfortunately it was marred by a lack of concentration on two occasions where Andre Andre and Maicon struck the Portuguese side’s goals.
With Mourinho having claimed prior to the game that there’s no longer any “untouchables” in his squad, this is one of the rare times in which the Blues boss hasn’t opted to protect his players.
With this theme in mind, we’ve today devised a list of who we believe to be the five most disappointing Chelsea players so far this 2015/16 campaign.
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Click on the image below to reveal the five most disappointing Chelsea players this 2015/16 season.
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Branislav Ivanovic
On many occasions already this season, our Chelsea supporters have angrily been questioning just what has happened to Branislav Ivanovic?
Like a player who is still feeling the effects of going into work the next day after a big stag do, the Serbian international’s hangover is lasting way too long prompting many Blues fans to question whether the long-serving defender is now past it for good?
Now in his thirties of course, Ivanovic isn’t getting any younger but the strange thing is that he was putting in some supremely efficient performances for Chelsea as early as just six months ago.
Caught out of position on numerous occasions and looking pretty much incapable when faced with pacey wingers this term, Ivanovic has so far managed to stay in Jose Mourinho’s eleven but you can imagine he’s been given a stern talking to behind the scenes in the dressing room during most weekend’s so far this term.
Radamel Falcao
Yes, he’s received few chances to impress so far being reduced to a super-sub role nowadays in his career by Jose Mourinho but lets have it right, there’s been nothing super about Radamel Falcao’s performances in a Chelsea shirt to date.
Scoring one goal so far in the home game against Crystal Palace which the Blues went on to lose, you just get the sense that Chelsea supporters expect nothing when they call upon the Colombian international from the bench.
In many ways, Falcao’s dramatic fall from grace has been incredible similar to Chelsea’s fall from stardom this season but for the player himself, it really doesn’t look as if it’s going to get better any time soon.
Loic Remy is most definitely the second choice striker when Diego Costa isn’t available and for Falcao, he’s just a utility member of the squad but in the times he has got on, he’s wandered around with no real impact.
Diego Costa
It is a mark of how bad Chelsea’s start to the season has been when their top scorer in all competitions is Willian with three strikes while Diego Costa languishes in second place with just two goals to his name.
While the Spanish international scored a superb finish in the Champions League against Maccabi Tel Aviv on matchday one, he’s either been missing through suspension or simply toothless on the other occasions in which he’s led Chelsea’s line.
His start this term has been in stark contrast to last season where he started his Blues career like a train, striking up a deadly assists and goals partnership with international compatriot Cesc Fabregas.
Now while Chelsea supporters will be delighted with the work he did in getting Gabriel Paulista sent off for Arsenal in the heated game against the Gunners a few weekends back with that incident proving the catalyst for a 2-0 victory over Arsene Wenger’s men, Blues fans will also have in the back of their minds the fact that Costa can sometimes prove a burden.
Seemingly intent on starting a riot in the away game at Manchester City to boot, Costa’s antics are great to idolise when it’s going well for the Blues but when it’s not and he’s crucially not scoring, Blues supporters will be irritatingly frustrated with his wavering attitude.
Cesc Fabregas
Much like Branislav Ivanovic, Chelsea fans have been wondering what on earth has happened to Cesc Fabregas with our Arsenal supporters in the tavern making the jibe that they’ve been designing wanted-type missing in action posters for their former player who has seemingly lost the Midas touch.
Devastating in the first few months of his Chelsea career, Fabregas has been found wanting this season and in truth was playing with the handbrake on for the second half of last season although his away goal at Queens Park Rangers hauled Jose Mourinho’s side closer to the title.
Enduring perhaps his worst game this season against Manchester City at the Etihad Stadium, the Spanish international was slated by Match of the Day pundit Alan Shearer for repeatedly giving the ball away in midfield, allowing City’s midfielders to dangerously stride into the space in front of a worried looking Blues back four.
Fabregas did of course float a delicious free-kick into the path of Kurt Zouma who tucked away with a header to defeat Arsenal a few weekend’s back but Chelsea supporters crave more from their number four right now and you can’t blame them.
Eden Hazard
Last on our five-man countdown is Eden Hazard who lets not forget was quite rightly last season’s PFA Player of the Year.
Like all other members of Chelsea’s squad mentioned on this countdown so far, Eden Hazard has been found wanting on too many occasions this term with his performances being so subdued that Jose Mourinho rarely benched him in midweek for the trip to FC Porto.
Most definitely the Blues’ go-to man for creativity, the Belgian international just hasn’t been able to attack opposition full backs with the same verve and flair as we saw last term and it’s hard to put your finger on exactly why this is.
Given the fact Jose Mourinho said Hazard is getting to the level where Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi are performing, we think the Blues boss might have to reassess this statement after Hazard’s performances so far this term and the player really does have to look at himself and question whether he truly intends to make it to the very highest level over the next few seasons.
