José Mourinho – The Old Chelsea vs The New Chelsea – A Comparison

‘The Special One’, José Mourinho, is now ‘The Happy One’ at Chelsea FC. TheHardTackle compares the current squad against previous Chelsea squads and analyses how The Blues will line up this season.

 

Before the differences between Jose Mourinho’s Old Chelsea and the current one are laid out it must be kept in mind that Chelsea have only played 3 league games and that in no way would give us the full picture of what Mourinho’s New Chelsea will be like, it will however give us a faint idea of what to expect from his new Chelsea.

Early days and league domination

The Old Chelsea under José Mourinho can be looked at in two different parts, before Drogba and after Drogba. When Mourinho inherited Ranieri’s squad he already had many experienced and good players in Frank Lampard, Eidur Gudjohnsen, Damien Duff, Joe Cole and an able Captain in John Terry, what he did not have was players of his choice but Roman’s investments took care of that very well, Mourinho brought in a few of his players from Porto in the form of Ricardo Carvalho, Paulo Ferreira along with Tiago to strengthen the Midfield but his most important signing would turn out to be then Marseille and Ivory Coast striker Didier Drogba.

When José Mourinho first joined Chelsea and took pride in his achievements with Porto, naming himself The Special One, he had already set the bar very high, the owner’s expectations were no less and Roman was prepared to do anything required to reach the top. Mourinho’s favoured formation through the season would turn out to be the 4-3-3 which would occasionally switch to a midfield diamond when some change was required, with his preferred back four consisting of Paulo Ferreira, Terry, Carvalho and William Gallas. Makelele would start in almost every competitive game played, partnered alongside Frank Lampard, the third midfielder would usually be rotated among Smertin, Geremi, Tiago and Jarosik. Upfront Eidur Gudjohnsen was Mourinho’s favourite as the Centre Forward, flanked by two out of Joe Cole, Robben and Duff and at times partnered by either Drogba or Mateja Kežman.

Chelsea’s start couldn’t have been tougher with the first match to be played against Manchester United, although in a small transition they were still the team to beat in the League. The Match ended 1-0 in favour of Chelsea with Gudjohnsen getting the only goal of the game, which was a signal of intent from Chelsea as they were solid at the back throughout the match. Many might not know this but Chelsea lost just one match the entire season, to Manchester City courtesy of a Nicolas Anelka penalty but when the previous season gave us The Invincibles anyone would hardly remember the next which was just one match short of it.

Mourinho’s Chelsea in his first season is touted by many as the toughest Chelsea side they’ve played against and it was true, for most of the season the Chelsea side bullied teams around by sheer physical strength and got their job done with utmost ease. John Terry and Carvalho had formed a solid partnership at the back, Makelele had made the midfield area his own while Lampard kept getting his goals from midfield, upfront was no less with Gudjohnsen, Didier and Co getting goals on a regular basis, it did not matter if someone had a bad game. With only 15 goals conceded full season Chelsea were the meanest defense in a long time. They were not as successful in other competitions due to some controversial results and a few disappointing ones the stage was set for the second season and more hunger from the players was needed.

Chelsea later brought in more expensive signings in the form of Michael Essien and Shaun Wright-Phillips but only one of them would come good and that was “The Bison” as they called him then, quickly became a regular in midfield and the midfield rotation almost never happened with him partnering Makelele and Lampard on a regular basis, Chelsea finally had a powerhouse in midfield who could bully players around and get the job done. While Makelele would quietly sit there cutting out key passes and making crucial tackles and interceptions, Essien would run around chasing players, putting pressure on them till they gave up, this gave Lampard more chances to go forward and we all know what happens when he is given that freedom, he was Chelsea’s top scorer in all competitions that season followed by Didier Drogba who slowly started to come out of his shell showing everyone what he is made of. This was the transition of Chelsea from a free scoring side to a side that was happy defending a 1 goal lead while keeping out all the attacks from opponents. The defence was as solid as it could’ve been.

The only difference from Mourinho’s first season at Chelsea was that Didier Drogba was preferred more than Gudjohnsen upfront while the midfield saw a lot of Michael Essien. Chelsea were slowly turning more defensive.

Third Season at Chelsea and departure

The third season under Mourinho started with big name signings in Ballack on a free and Shevchenko for a whopping 30m Pounds which would turn out to be one of the worst pieces of business. Players like Salomon Kalou, John Obi Mikel and Ashley Cole also signed for Chelsea the same season and would be pivotal for years to come. Mourinho’s third season was filled with injuries to key players and this meant the depth of the squad would be tested, Frank Lampard would once again cross the 20 goal mark in all competitions but this would be overshadowed by Didier Drogba who racked up a total of 33 goals in all competitions, this was the season that Drogba came to life, where previously he would hold up play for other attackers to come and join him this season he took matters into his own hands in the process destroying defences for fun.

Mourinho had to change his formation a number of times to accommodate the two big name signings in Ballack and Shevchenko so he went the diamond way again in most of the matches with Makelele sitting deep, Essien, Ballack and Lapmard interchanging positions in midfield, upfront with the departure of Duff and injuries to Robben and Joe Cole it was an easy choice with the usual pairing of Drogba and Sheva getting most number of starts with occasional support from Wright-Phillips and Kalou. Although Chelsea had a better defensive record they lost out to Manchester United because of drawing too many unnecessary games, the season although ended with a trophy in the form of The FA Cup at the New Wembley, which would mark the start of a new relationship between Chelsea and the FA Cup.

Mourinho’s 4th season with Chelsea doesn’t really count because he lasted for a little over a month but left on mutual consent the reason of which is still unknown.

From his first stint it was clear that Mourinho builds his team based on a strong defense and an even stronger midfield and he faced bad results because of a thin attack that could not replicate the same form of his first season in charge. One would think that Chelsea went from an all attack side to a totally defensive side but clearly this change can be attributed to the fact that although Chelsea’s defense remained the same or stronger throughout Mourinho’s time it was his attack that slowly lost its way and so the defensive abilities of his sides were shining brighter.

Mourinho 2.0

Fast forward 6 years into the future and you have Mourinho back to where he belongs, according to him. Whatever was wrong with the Chelsea that he left has all been taken care of with his new team but what was right with Chelsea when he left has turned on its head as well. On paper Chelsea should be as good in attack now as they were in defense back then but there are still some doubts over it. Mourinho doesn’t want to change the system of a 4-2-3-1 which seems to be the modern formation to get the best out of your team but he still doesn’t have an able forward to lead the line, Torres has never hit form since he joined Chelsea, Demba Ba has not hit the net enough and Lukaku has only been a hit elsewhere.

Based on preseason games and a few league games it is apparent that Mourinho wants to get the best out of his old guard and believes that players like Terry and Lampard still have a lot to give and if Mourinho can work his magic they could be really helpful in setting up a future for the rest of the players. From whatever games Chelsea have played this season it is apparent that Oscar is being used as the No.10 floating around the front-man, although not a typical No.10 he goes about doing his job so well that it is hard to point out his flaws if he has any, it is hard to say someone like Mata does it better because one just cannot compare those two right now. While Ramires has toned his running down a little as compared to earlier seasons his defensive abilities have improved as well, so the question is who will do the scoring?

The strikers seem lost so Mourinho has to look to players like Hazard and Lampard for the goals but for how long can he wait? Is Mourinho a man known to have patience with his players? Bringing in Eto’o only added fuel to the speculation that Mourinho is not happy with his strikers at the moment, maybe he wants more options upfront. With André Schürrle showing some promise in the Supercup and Victor Moses heading out on loan it looks like the wings have been taken care of with the arrival of Willian who is easily one of the brightest players in the world of football.

What will be interesting to see is now that there are no changes in defense, will Mourinho help the team tighten up some more? Last season was really bad in terms of conceding goals even though Chelsea scored many, maybe that is what Chelsea needs right now to achieve more.