The Week That Was

A sad 2-2 start against Swansea turned into a disastrous 3-0 loss against Manchester United for Chelsea. The Chelsea gameplay was more shocking than the scoreline. Jose Mourinho was just trying to deflect some of the criticism of his players by declaring that the result was fake and that Chelsea were the better team in the second half.

Chelsea put on a shocking display. That Begovich had to make 3-4 good saves in the opening 20 minutes is not a stat to be proud of. But Begovich could keep out Aguero only for so long (it’s only Cech that can keep out super stars like Messi). Something had to give in.

To be fair, Chelsea did improve after the break. John Terry was hailed out at halftime and replaced by Zouma. Chelsea played better and had a couple of decent chances. That Hazard miss! Hazard needs to start burying chances like those if he has to justify his manager parading him as the second best player, only after Messi and definitely ahead of Ronaldo! Hazard needs to start scoring.

Chelsea were playing better until Ivanovich happened. The captain and vice-captain have had really disappointing starts to the season. Both of them need exponential improvement in their game to make Chelsea solid again. This is just disastrous!

Anyways, before the game Jose Mourinho had maintained the same theme for the summer transfer window:

The best players are all at Chelsea because Chelsea is the Champion. No player could expect to walk-into this line up. If Chelsea were to get anyone it would only be to replace someone leaving the team. Chelsea have funds to buy players, but don’t need to do so. Everyone else is trying to buy the trophy but not us. We have the moral high ground.

*Above is an interpretation of what Jose had been telling all summer.

But immediately after the game we announced the signing of Baba Rahman. The news was such a relief. We can finally bench Ivanovich and play with proper full backs.

And after that Chelsea has gone into a hyperdrive! We gazumped Manchester United to get Pedro in. I’ve been impressed with what people have to say about Pedro. He’s got pace, is direct and shoots for goals. He had a bright future at Barcelona and was loved by Pep Guardiola. It’s just that the arrival of Suarez meant he dropped down to the bench. I think he definitely is an upgrade over Willian-the-winger, Juan Cuadrado and Victor Moses. Right wing has been a weakness for a very long time. Hopefully we have that issue nailed after this acquisition.

Rumour mill is on full throttle with us getting linked to Pogba. It’s got everyone’s hopes up again. It’s almost like Chelsea is trying to make up for an entire summer of activity. Let’s see what happens. Fingers crossed.

Mourinho now calls the next two weeks as the Window of Opportunity. This is going to be fun.

WhoScored Chelsea Ratings

• Oscar retains his top spot by virtue of not playing against Manchester City.
• Begovich was clearly our best player according to me.
• Defense had a shocker and everyone lost places. Terry moved out of top 10.
• Courtois is rooted at the bottom because of that red card in the first match. Hopefully he’ll move up in the next couple of weeks.
• Ramires and Cuadrado enter the fray.

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Chelsea Formation Summary

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WhoScored Premier League Summary

Premier League Team Statistics

We have moved down the rating table – 17th (6.67) from 13th (6.86). Which means that this weekend we’ll be playing a team with better rating than us – 16th (6.73).

• Chelsea are 13th in Shots per Game – 10.5. Only Manchester United (16) is below us.
• Chelsea are 11th in Possession – 51.5%. No title contender is below us.
• Chelsea are 6th in PassSuccess – 81.5%. Manchester City (2), Arsenal (3) and Manchester United (4) are all above us.
• No title contender is below us in rating.

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Premier League Player Statistics

• Riyad Mahrez keeps his top spot.
• David Silva moves up into 2nd.
• Ross Barkley enters in at the 3rd spot.
• Adrian, Jamie Vardy, Yohan Cabaye, Craig Cathcart and Dusan Tadic move out.
• Romelu Lukaku, Yaya Toure, Jefferson Montero and Fernandinho enter the top 10.

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Premier League Best XI

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