This can’t go on for much longer or else Potter is toast. Chelsea have lost ANOTHER game in which they were shutout by their opponents, though this time it came at the hands of 20th place Southampton in a bitter 1-0 defeat.
There’s going to be a breaking point for Todd Boehly with his hand-picked, 1st-ever managerial appointment, and I fear for Potter that it is coming soon.
In truth, Chelsea under Potter aren’t a horrific abomination that can’t function as a cohesive unit as the 2015 team was under Jose Mourinho, and it’s not the painfully stale, lifeless 2021 team that Frank Lampard managed in his last season in charge of the Blues (which went on to win the Champions League under Thomas Tuchel a few months later).
This is actually a decent footballing side that can move the ball up and down the pitch, get in behind defenses with great, skillful winger play, has great ball-winners in the midfield, and can defend relatively well, which is usually a winning formula in the Premier League.
I mean, this is the formula that helped Leicester City win the 2016 Premier League title in that magical campaign, and also was used by Chelsea under Antonio Conte to win the 2017 Premier League title and 2018 FA Cup. It’s a tried-and-true formula that can get the best out of wingers/attacking-minded players…so long as it also possesses one key ingredient that blends everything together: a prolific, clinical striker.
Jamie Vardy was that man for Leicester City when they won the Premier League as he scored 24 goals for the club, and Diego Costa scored 20 goals for Chelsea in the Premier League in 2017. Two great goal tallies from fantastic strikers that saw them finish within the Top-3 of the Premier League goalscoring charts their, respective seasons.
Do you know who the highest Premier League goal scorer for Chelsea is this season? Kai Havertz with 5 Premier League goals, which puts him as the Premier League’s 24th highest goal scorer this season.
Yes, that’s right, Chelsea doesn’t have a single player in the TOP-20 of the Premier League goal scoring charts! Moreover, they only have two players in the Top-50 goals scorers (Kai Havertz: 5, Raheem Sterling: 4), which is absolutely insane for a club that is not only the size of Chelsea, but also spent €350M+ on transfers this season.
And these goal scoring woes were on full display against Southampton.
Time and again, Chelsea’s wingers, whether it was Mykhailo Mudryk, Raheem Sterling, Joao Felix, Noni Madueke, Mason Mount, or Conor Gallager, were able to get in behind and create chances for whichever Chelsea player found themselves in the box, but the striker would ever miskick the ball, blaze his shot over the bar, or would pass up on taking a shot all together.
Still, despite these misfires, Chelsea ended up having 17 total shots, 5 shots on target, 8 corners, over 60% possession of the ball (61% to be exact), nearly 500 passes (475 to be exact), and an 85% passing accuracy, yet they just couldn’t put the ball past Southampton’s Gavin Bazunu.
Though, obviously Chelsea’s attackers shot themselves in the foot on numerous occasions, Southampton’s backline also played fantastic under extremely hostile, difficult conditions.
Sitting bottom of the table, under the charge of new interim manager Ruben Selles, and playing in front of a desperate Stamford Bridge crowd, the backline of Ainsley Maitland-Niles, Jan Bednarek, Romain Perraud, Armel Bella-Kotchap, and the keeper Bazunu defended their goal as if their very lives depended on it.
They made key challenges in the box, blocked numerous shots, kept Chelsea’s wingers at bay to the best of their ability, made two huge goal-line clearances (both on Raheem Sterling shots), and Bazunu parried aside all shots that Chelsea was able to get on target in route to getting their second clean sheet of the season.
Of course, the whole Southampton team played well, but the backline as a whole gets my Man of the Match award. They were that fantastic.
Speaking of fantastic, is there a better free-kick taker in the Premier League than James Ward-Prouse? I don’t think so.
His first half free kick that curled over the Chelsea wall, beat Kepa to the far post, and gave Southampton the lead right at halftime was utterly superb. It takes real skill and dedication to the free-kick craft to be able to get the ball up and over the wall in just enough time to also be able to beat the opposing keeper as we all know.
If Southampton do get relegated, which is now not as much of a forgone conclusion with them drawing to just three points from safety, a mid-table Premier League club would be smart to snatch up Ward-Prouse to bolster their own midfield.
He may not be able to run down the pitch at blistering pace and create and defend at the highest level, as many of the world class midfielders can, but he’s a workhorse on a defensive-minded team that would be doomed without him. Plus, he’s shown that he is a tremendous leader for this Southampton side as they easily could have folded and gave up coming into a match against a desperate, dangerous Chelsea team.
And, as I said, Southampton (20th) are now just three points off 17th Bournemouth, even though they are still on the bottom of the table with 18 PTS. We’ll have to see if Ruben Selles can continue to get a tune out of these Southampton players (or whoever the front office puts in charge), but the possibility of staying up in the Premier League is still a realistic notion that should not be forgotten by these players and coaches.
As for Chelsea (10th), this was a dreadful result.
Nearly all of their Top-6 rivals picked up points today, while the pressure on Graham Potter to get this team to score is at an all-time high. If Chelsea can’t get three compressive winning results (not draws or lucky 1-0 wins) from their next four matches against Spurs, Leeds, Borussia Dortmund (in the Champions League), and Leicester City, then it might be time to move on from Potter.
Otherwise, they might actually end up finishing the in bottom half of the table this season.
PS: I hope Cesar Azpilicueta is doing okay. He had a devastating head injury that forced him off on a stretcher in the second half, so I hope he’s doing well now, and the injury is not too serious.
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