Chelsea - Season review 2011/12

I cringe when I hear cliches. I hate them, I really do. They divulge a deep lack of creativity, and a person too lazy to try. But, with that out of the way, there could be no better way to describe Chelsea‘s miserable/wonderful season better than the age-old cliche – a tale of two halves.

Di Matteo: From getting sacked at West Brom to winning the UCL at Chelsea.

The first half – Boas, a poor boss

Chelsea’s season started off with Roman Abramovic paying £13.3 million in compensation to Porto, for the signature of Andre Villas Boas. He was tasked with building the squad – which was aging rapidly – and reviving Chelsea’s strength with some young blood. Apart from this, Boas also tried to transform Mourinho’s ‘boring’ Chelsea into an attacking, fluid, flowing unit. To achieve this, Boas got Raul Meireles and Juan Mata to Stamford Bridge. Thibault Courtois, a future replacement for Cech, was loaned to Atletico Madrid (where later in the season he won the Europa League), and Romelu Lukaku was signed as a direct replacement for the beast known to us as, Didier Drogba. Oh, and Torres was expected to get back to his old self any time during Boas’ tenure.

What followed, however, was a squad spectacularly failing to adapt to the new ideas ‘forced’ upon them. Boas, rather than coaxing the old guard of Chelsea to retire, he made them sit on the bench through most of his tenure. He managed decent results in the Premier league and lead the team into the knockout stages of the Champions League. Unfortunately, his poor handling of the huge egos in the squad – especially telling Anelka and Alex that they were no longer needed – significantly affected the mood in the dressing room. The end of his tenure was a sad sight to watch, as the players looked increasingly uninterested with their manager’s style. Unfortunately, he was given the boot.

With a goal in each cup final, Drogba reignited Chelsea's campaign.

The second half – a renaissance

Di Matteo took charge of a squad that was still fighting for a Champions League spot in the Premier League, and for a place in the quarter finals of the FA Cup and the Champions League. Chelsea could still win two trophies, though Torres scoring a hat trick looked more likely at that time. What Boas lacked in man-management, Di Matteo had it in him plentiful. He got the ‘old guard’ of Chelsea performing as if they were in their prime. Lampard, Drogba, Terry were at the center of Chelsea victories with a good supporting cast of Ivanovic and Ramires. The team overturned the deficit against Napoli and waltzed into the UCL semifinals. What happened next, possibly changed their season. Playing against probably the best team of our time, a resilient Chelsea team managed to beat Barcelona over two legs and even avoided defeat at the Camp Nou despite being down to 10 men. Spurred by this confidence, Di Matteo’s team went on to beat Liverpool in the FA Cup finals on the road to Chelsea’s second UCL final in their history. Towards the end of the season, Roberto di Matteo seemed to give up on his team’s chances in the Premier League, often playing second-string line ups even against teams like Arsenal and Liverpool. But, having gambled next season’s UCL qualification on winning the UCL tournament itself, paid off when they defeated Bayern Munich in Munich.

All in all, Chelsea still need to rejuvenate their aging squad – Drogba has already left the club and Lampard is set to extend his contract. But for now, they can rest on their laurels. What is amazing is that for a team that is ‘ageing’, they may pick up five trophies (UCL, FA Cup, Club world cup, Community Shield and the Super Cup) half-way into next season, and it would be too harsh to say they didn’t earn it!

• UEFA Champions League (UCL) – Champions
• FA Cup – Champions
• Carling Cup – Quarter finalists
• Premier League – 6th