Chelsea: Is "The Happy One" bringing happy times to Stamford Bridge?

Midfield

Chelsea absolutely need a deep lying playmaker, but that cannot be the reason for why Mourinho selects the players the way he does. Other than Ramires and Hazard, there are 3 spots that are up for the picking and you see week in week out that Lampard gets into the squad.

He has been a great servant for the club, but he is slow in attack and these days is almost useless in defence. He weakens the defence and is one of the reasons why Chelsea is leaking goals on set plays, because he never moves into position when the player he is tracking has moved (as can be seen in Skrtel’s goal in last night’s match against Liverpool).

Mikel is another reason for defensive frailties that Chelsea are facing these days. While he is way better in defence than attack, Mikel is weak in the air. For a holding midfielder, that is a very big minus. But we see that Mourinho never plays Luiz in midfield, even though he has done a good job of it last season. I am not saying Luiz is perfect for the job, but of the choices Chelsea have, I dare say, he is the best deep playing midfielder Chelsea has today!

Coming to the attacking side, Mourinho wants his attacking midfielders to help with defence. While that is an admirable trait to have for an attacking midfielder, I would expect the attacking midfielders primary role is to be attack!

Mata is absolutely critical for counter attacking moves. He has been Player of the Season 2 seasons in a row and yet Mourinho just won’t play him. No one in the Chelsea team (including Hazard) can pick a long pass like Mata does and yet Chelsea would rather play Willian who has done precious little in terms of attack in the games he has played or Schurrle, who again has only impressed in pieces.

Forward

There isn’t much Mourinho can do here. He is going to do some buying and the situation will change. There are enough reports that say that Torres is the worst Chelsea buy in history. Though it is true that Torres has not been the player the Stamford Bridge loyalists expected him to be, you can see that he gives a lot when he is on the pitch.

He has scored a few and has made a few for others. He should be the de-facto front line man. If not for Torres, I would think Ba, who was brilliant for Newcastle and has lot of Premier League experience would be a better option than Eto’o.

I completely agree that Eto’o has been a brilliant player for Barcelona and later during Mourinhos reign at Inter Milan. But he is way off Premier League’s pace. Torres is quicker than him and Ba is stronger than him. He surely is a better poacher than many even today, but to me he is just as definitely third in the pecking order at Chelsea. But Mourinho has him as second or sometimes even first choice striker! So, again some stubbornness shown by Mourinho.

Chelsea are 3rd in the league and a hard earned win against Liverpool is exactly what they needed going into the New Year. Mourinho has done very well to keep Chelsea within striking distance of the title and kudos for that. But his team selection could work against him in January as Mata and maybe even Luiz look to go elsewhere to get regular first team football.

And as we know, the best talent isn’t available in the January transfer window and even if they are, definitely not at the right price. While we are only half way done with the season, this is a season like no other and every decision could be pivotal in the title race. Hope Mourinho has a better plan in mind than what I can see, and if so, I definitely will be the ‘happy one’!