Fake stories, style and challenges: What Jose Mourinho has in store

The Brand

The key feature of Chelsea in almost all of the eight games, has been the intensity with which they played. Most teams opted to use a low block and defended cohesively against Chelsea, narrowing the gap between lines. It became even more difficult with the strikers not performing at the expected levels.

Such high intensity in attack was the reason for a balance offset while defending a counter against Basel in Champions League, which led to the shock defeat.

Chelsea themselves played cautiously against Manchester United and Bayern Munich, choosing to hit on the counter, a feature which needs a lot of sharpening from the Blues. Still in the early days of his second tenure, Mourinho is searching for that right balance in order to showcase a new entity for this Chelsea team.

In all the teams he has managed, Mourinho created a brand image for the style of football they were playing. Right from the collective team effort at Porto, the rigid structure and direct play at Chelsea, the technical and intricate side at Inter and a ruthless counter-attacking team at Madrid, the Portuguese has evolved to the needs of the league and country he has managed in.

After Jose’s departure in 2007, Chelsea retained the roots of organized defending and direct play until the Champions League win in Munich, after which the owner desired a more exciting brand of football.

The shift hasn’t been that easy, but some inspired performances from the likes of Juan Mata and David Luiz helped the Blues to maintain their status as a top-4 team. Chelsea lost its football identity while trying to creating a new one under Roberto Di Matteo and later on Rafa Benitez.

Mourinho now is trying to create that unique identity which, from the games played till date, suggestively revolves around high intensity attacking football and swift transitions.

Can two brilliant wizards co-exist in one team?

Oscar and Juan Mata seen shopping together

This is where is the compatibility issues in the squad surfaced. Oscar was favoured over Juan Mata for the No.10 role, as the Brazilian offered much better tactical discipline and immaculate vision in tight spaces.

Looking at the chances Mata was given, he didn’t look comfortable in his new role. The challenge for Mata to step up and adapt his game to the new blueprint brings to light the way Mourinho brings the best out of world class talent. In the current scenario, Juan Mata needs to play a lot of games in order to stand a chance for the World Cup in Brazil next summer. The club, under no circumstance will let go of Mata permanently, It would look naive on the club’s part if such a thing happened. But, a loan move in January for more regular football cannot be ruled out.

David Luiz is another player under scrutiny, with his positional discipline and rash decisions being the talking points. Mourinho prefers a stable and solid defensive duo when his teams spend more time in attack. David Luiz falls short in the stability column as his frequent escapades into attack zones compromises the whole theory behind the image that is being worked upon.The Challenge

Mourinho is known to work on the principles of conflicting ideals which spurn the players and bring out the best in them on the pitch. The squad he has is capable of winning any competition, provided he dons the role of the X-factor. It will be a big challenge for Mourinho to drive this Chelsea side towards success, as it is he who is adjusting to the squad and not the other way round, which has been the case in his past. Many questions will be asked about his policy on youth players, the very basement on which Chelsea’s rebuilding theory through extensive scouting networks stands.

Manchester City’s recent thrashing of their neighbors is no stop-gap feat. Pellegrini has been drilling his team to suit his system and a minor customization to an established style proved fruitful last weekend against United. City will grow in form as games come in hot, and beating them in the title race would be a mighty challenge.

The present Chelsea team is still a work in progress, lacking a focal point in attack. Mourinho is trying to compensate for the lack of that focus with a new and different footballing style. We can get a hang of it with a decent sample size, maybe after few more weeks of football. But the cards remain on the table for now, with City, Chelsea and Arsenal in strong contention to lead the race for the Premier League crown.