What could be the reason that they have been under-performing as of late? Is it purely tactical and if so, what is going wrong?
No idea. I'm still trying to figure out how Chelsea have gone so far backwards with the same premiership-winning team as last season.
Almost every player has regressed a little, (in the case of guys like Ivanovic, a lot) and Chelsea weren't a team that blew teams out of the water but rather relied on resolute defending, fine margins a bit of brilliance from guys like Hazard or Costa to win games. The 1-0, 2-1 wins become draws and losses especially when a few things against you when you play such a delicate style.
Could be on to something. It seems they just keep underestimating teams how well some of the teams from the smaller leagues can play and get caught off guard as a result. I think complacency might also be at the heart of Chelseas woes. A lot of clubs in the Prem went out and made big signings (I don't mean money wise, I mean talent wise) while Chelsea seemed to rest on their laurels with an apparent "if it was good enough last season, it'll be good enough this season" type of attitude.
Definitely. This and I just think we overrate the English teams as well. England being a buying and not a developing league leads to inflated prices of players coming in and as a result we have unjustly high opinions of them and assume that just because a team is filled with the most expensive players, they're superior when this isn't necessarily the case. Tactics I think comes into it, not because English teams are tactically deficient per se, but because the physicality/professionalism of football is spreading and now teams from outside of the big leagues at leas at the top are reaching a level of wealth where the facilities are good enough to get players up to the highest level of conditioning and games are a lot more competitive. Defenders who may be out of the depth on a technical basis can still mark someone out of a game or a coach can at least utilise great athletes to build a resolute defence and as a result a technically inferior team can grind away, get a couple of breaks on the counter or from a free kick and pinch wins in tough midweek away trips for Western/big league sides.
That is all Mourinho always sets his teams up yet he basically always finishes 2nd or 3rd. It will be interesting to see what he does if Chelsea are still languishing at the middle of the season.Being 8 points behind isn't too bad right now though.
Yeah the English league may be one of the wealthiest but only will pay the stupidist prices for players e.g Andy bloody carroll to liverpool
