It's safe to say that last season was the single most frustrating we as chelsea fans have ever witnessed. Brilliant against the top teams but sluggish and wasteful against the teams at the bottom. The result that summed up our season was the loss to Sunderland at Stamford Bridge. So many chances were wasted and we only sped up our play after they had scored their second goal. Funny enough, we went on to beat Liverpool the very next weekend. This 'Jekyll and Hyde' form is shown in the graph below
Culled from Zonal Marking [online]
The graph compares the points per game of a team against the top half and against the bottom half. Only Chelsea and Sunderland have higher points per game against the top half than the bottom half. Funny, isn't it? From watching any of our matches against the bottom sides, the flaws are obvious. Lack of a clinical striker, sluggish ball movement, full backs who can't attack particularly well and AMs who were a bit scared of shooting (I'm looking at you, Hazard). Against the top sides this wasn't a problem as there was a lot of space to work with but against bottom sides who defended deep (aka Park the Bus™), the flaws were evident. The priorities for this window should be a striker, an attacking full back preferably a left back and a creative central midfielder.
INS
The Striker
The signing of Diego Costa and the return of Lukaku should leave us settled in the striker position. As the Chelsea blog 'Plains of Almeria' put it, Costa shares Mourinho’s indomitable spirit and as a focal point there are few who lead the line as well. His aggression, movement and power are salient qualities that have been missing from Chelsea’s docile attack. Gianfranco Zola went as far as saying that Costa represented “the missing part of the puzzle”.
The Central Midfielder
This is another area in which Chelsea didn't waste time to strengthen. Fabregas was signed during the World Cup group stages and I was delighted with the signing. Fabregas is one of the most creative players in the world and he can play attacking and central midfield. I'm still hoping one more midfielder is brought in and that is Pogba. That guy can do it all. He has an eye for a pass, he can tackle, he has very good stamina and exceptional shooting. Plus, with the sale of Luiz(Still don't know how we got that much money), we have the money required to buy him.
The Full Back
Time and time again, we had to endure the sight of Branislav Ivanovic trying to cross. The decision to play Azpilicueta on the left made our full back play very flat. This made it easy for teams trying to defend against us. They just had to double mark Hazard and the right winger. With the departure of Ashley Cole, a new left back will be needed and the obvious choice should be Ricardo Rodriguez as he is one of the best attacking full backs in Europe. But, Chelsea seem to be chasing Filipe Luis who would cost stupid money and is going to be 29 in August. Plus, he's not attacking enough. Other targets could be Moreno or Blind or even Rojo
OUTS
Ba - He scored some important goals towards the end of last season but lack of minutes on the pitch has led to him asking for a move away. He's given us a lot of memorable goals but it was either him or Torres (Hint: Have you seen Torres' salary?)
Moses - He has stagnated a bit since his promising first season and he should be sold or loaned again.
Bertrand - He's simply too old to be fighting for a place in the team and there is interest from Tottenham and Liverpool so this is a no brainer.
CONCLUSION
This transfer window is pivotal and we can't have another season of failing at the last hurdle. We've already made some good moves and with 2 more signings we would be favourites to win the EPL.
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