The hunt for the title is on and Chelsea have almost made it a two-horse race. Not what you want to hear as a Chelsea fan but it is the harsh reality. Chelsea drew with Everton allowing their title rivals to extend their lead by 4 points.
We need to investigate just exactly what is going on and what needs to be done to help our situation.
Are the injuries hampering Chelsea’s progression? Is this a good enough excuse?
Last season saw Liverpool go through a similar scenario. Jurgen Klopp managed to salvage his season towards the end, however that may be a little too late for the Blues.
With a cluster of matches coming up and a high chance of heavy rotation even when everybody is fit, Thomas Tuchel will need to find a solution, and find it fast.
It’s December and frustrations are building within the Chelsea fan base - and possibly within the Chelsea team.
“This is the lowest I've seen Tuchel, post-game. He’s seething inside. He’s had to go out and say what he’s had to say. But you can see he hasn’t picked himself up in that interview. They’ve got to pick themselves up pretty quickly.” Glen Hoddle's post-match on BT Sports.
Following Thomas Tuchel’s post-match interview, it is clear to see that there are questions that the Chelsea boss just doesn’t have answers to just yet. It is scary to think that the boss is just as lost as we are as fans. He gracefully refused to blame injuries and illnesses but admitted that the draw was “hard to swallow”.
So where do the Blues go from here? Does the system need a change or is it the personnel?
The 3-4-3 system benefited Chelsea’s back three massively. The reactionary fan in me wants to see a change. I think back to Antonio Conte’s magical shift from a 4-3-3 to a 3-4-3 in 2016 when he went on to win the Premier League following a 3-1 defeat to Arsenal. However, it’s not so feasible to try new things with a Champions League-winning team. It worked for 6 months last season, nothing has really changed since then.
Chelsea are known to be vicious spenders in transfer windows. Year after year, the Blues make tweaks to their squad to keep them competitive. If the system cannot be adjusted to compliment the available players, January is around the corner and a Premier League title is at stake. If push comes to shove, Marina Granovskaia may need to work with the German to find perfect fits to complement his award-winning system.
The ultimatum is there for the Blues. It’s time to see which direction Tuchel and the Blues take. There is no doubt that they will need to spend a fortune to acquire a left-back, worthy of replacing Ben Chilwell and a central midfielder that can hold the fort down as effectively as a Mateo Kovacic or N’golo Kante.
The squad depth isn’t what we thought, unfortunately. The fact is that regardless of the injuries and illnesses, we need every single squad player to be able to slot into Tuchel’s system. That is currently not an option.
It’s back to the drawing board for the Tuchel and the camp - we trust in him to turn it around.
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