Chelsea v Fulham: What Chelsea need to do to get out of the rut

Two big signings for Fulham

Dimitar Berbatov

The signing of Dimitar Berbatov was and remains a revelation for the Cottagers. He is world class, composed and a sublime footballer of the highest quality. He may not be the quickest; he may not work as hard as plenty of others, but his touch and control of the ball coupled with his sharp footballing brain more than make up for it.

This summer, Martin Jol has done it again with the signing of Darren Bent. Left out in favour of Christian Benteke at Villa (and we have all seen why!), Bent has been looking for a new start and he has that at Fulham.

He’s someone who, if he keeps himself fit, works hard to force himself into the team and plays well enough to stay there, will score 20+ goals a season. Those goals will push Fulham further up the table to finish inside the top 10 easily. If Berbatov and Bent can form a partnership, then who knows where it could take them.

More than anything else, Fulham is a hard working team. It’s the emphasis on the word ‘team’ that is being called into question right now about Chelsea.

Why it’s going wrong!

So what of Chelsea tomorrow? What do we expect and what would I like to see happen?

Let me start by talking about the way we play currently and some observations I have already made. I am really pushing for Jose to make a switch in our formation well away from the 4-2-3-1, back to the 4-3-3 formation as I personally feel it gives us a much better balance.

However, bearing in mind it would have only been three days since Basel, I cannot see that change happening for tomorrow so we need to focus on the current formation.

There are problems at the moment when we are with and without the ball and both are contributing to our downfall. With the ball, we are not using it quickly enough; our tempo is far too slow.

We play with three attacking midfielders who are our flair players, and we should be getting that ball into their feet at the earliest opportunity, for them to attack the opposition’s defences at pace!

But what’s happening at the moment? We are too laboured in possession, we are too slow and allow the opposition to get numbers back behind the ball, and we find it hard to break them down. As a result, we pass the ball sideways and backwards more often than forwards.

There seems to be no interchange of positions throughout the 90 minutes from our attacking three. It all starts well enough in the first half with those players popping up in different positions all over the pitch, but seems to fizzle out and they then remain static and easily marked and played against.

Chelsea’s attacking potential

Tomorrow, I want to see us utilise the attacking potential we have at this club for 90 minutes. We have six players, all fighting for a start in three of those positions. If a need arises, select three players on the understanding that if they are not doing what is being asked of them, they will be substituted by a like-for-like change, no problem.

I want to see them interchange, and I want to see plenty of movement off the ball. I want to see the player with the ball at his feet being given plenty of options as to who to pass to. I want to see those players pull the Fulham defence all over the place, out of position to expose gaps in their defence that just one pass to our striker can exploit!

This is the reason I want to see Juan Mata start and to be given 90 minutes tomorrow. I want Jose to have the same faith in him as we all have and as long as he is prepared to work hard, let the boy play. I want to see that smile back on Mata’s face as he dictates and orchestrates Chelsea’s attacking play.

Without the ball, I want to see each and every single one of them work hard for the team, to be part of our team and to defend as a team. No half-hearted jog back towards goal, I want to see a drive and determination to get back and do the job they are being asked. Like I said, there are plenty of options to bring on players that will do exactly that!