English Premier League champions Chelsea are having their worst season for many years and here at The Transfer Tavern there has been lots of talk among our resident fans about why they have under-performed.
Chelsea sit down in 13th place in The Premier League table, 23 points behind leaders Leicester City and 17 points off a Champions League place.
In fact, Chelsea are closer to a relegation battle than that of a top four spot, with them only 7 points ahead of the bottom three.
Our Transfer Tavern landlord has been listening and talking with some Chelsea fans here in the Tavern and they came up with varying reasons as to why The Blues were struggling this year.
One theory is that former boss Jose Mourinho got the best out of an overrated group of players and had them performing well above their normal capabilities.
Here is a list of FIVE overrated players in the Chelsea team our resident fans came up with.
Hit the image below to see FIVE overrated Chelsea players!
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Pedro Rodriguez
Former Barcelona forward Pedro Rodriguez arrived at the English champions with much hype surrounding him.
Signing for £21million, he has been a huge disappointment and has played just 15 times this season. Scoring just two goals so far this term, which equates to £10.5million per goal!
The Spanish forward could not get into the first team and perhap we now see more evidence of why, coming off the bench or the odd start he looks good but cannot sustain that performance level.
Alexandre Pato
It’s still unclear on why Chelsea felt the need to sign this forward as, though he has an exceptional reputation, in every club bar one he has failed to deliver.
His best spell came when he played for Milan from 2007 until 2013 and is still remembered and compared to that period of his career.
Yet either side of playing for Milan he has not performed any where near high enough to merit his reputation.
John Obi Mikel
The defensive midfielder for Chelsea was at one time a shoe in for a starting place, now though however he makes more appearances from the bench.
Mikel is not ever going to get you bags of goals and is at best an average player in his position.
For whatever reason though, managers seem to rate this midfielder more than our resident Chelsea fans.
Radamel Falcao
Our landlord like everyone else was really excited when Falcao signed on-loan, first for Manchester United and then this season Chelsea.
The Colombian was once a truly world class striker, however the evidence shows us that world class status is no longer.
With just five goals in the past two season’s, his reputation as a current world class forward was massively over stated and he falls in the overrated category.
Branislav Ivanovic
The Chelsea full-back is probably one of the controversial players on the list but our resident Blues fans were adamant he should be placed here.
Renowned for his attacking play, he has at times been labelled one of the best full backs in the Premier League. However defensively he has been found out and has not produced much going forward this season.
In previous seasons, he has had the likes of John Terry and Gary Cahill bailing him out in defence. Which have masked his frailties as a defender, now though with the whole back four making errors, Ivanovic has been found out.
