•Henry Winter: why a winter break must be introduced
• Jeremy Clarkson is perfect match for Chelsea
• Chelsea conqueror Zlatan Ibrahimovic's harsh red card to stand
• Jose Mourinho has lost some of his stardust
• Terry says Chelsea will not stop pressurising referees
Jose Mourinho has demanded that his Chelsea defenders must put an immediate end to their header horror show to keep a grip on the Premier League title.
Chelsea manager Mourinho plans to make a summer bid for Real Madrid central defender Raphael Varane, which places a big question mark over Gary Cahill’s first-team place.
But Mourinho’s concentration is currently focused on how to ensure that Chelsea bounce back from their Champions League elimination against Paris Saint-Germain and the Portuguese has highlighted his team’s marking as the area requiring the most urgent improvement.
Having promised to analyse the 2-2 draw with PSG in a calm way during a team meeting at the club’s Cobham training base on Thursday, it is understood Mourinho spent most of his time picking apart how both David Luiz and Thiago Silva were allowed to score from set pieces.
Gary Cahill's place at Chelsea is coming under threat (GETTY IMAGES)
Mourinho was particularly unhappy with the marking, as Luiz beat Branislav Ivanovic to the ball to head his goal, while a mix up between Cahill and captain John Terry gave Silva his chance.
There is a wider issue for Mourinho to address quickly as Chelsea look to hold on to their five-point advantage at the top of the Premier League, starting against Southampton at Stamford Bridge on Sunday.
All five of the goals Chelsea have conceded since the end of January have been headers, with Luiz and Silva adding to efforts from Burnley’s Ben Mee, PSG’s Edinson Cavani in Paris and Aston Villa’s Jores Okore.
Three of those headers came directly from corners, while Okore’s goal was scored as a result of a corner that was initially cleared.
Mourinho made his frustration with Chelsea’s marking clear in the immediate aftermath of the PSG game, as he said: “We concede two goals in two set pieces where the organisation is clear. The markers are absolutely decided.”
Jose Mourinho is angry at Chelsea conceding two goals from set-pieces (AP)
During Thursday’s inquest he went into greater detail over the fact his instructions were not carried out and how his markers must improve. Chelsea’s midfielders did not escape criticism either, as Mourinho complained that the movement of the ball had been too slow and picked up individuals for failing to track back.
Despite the fact he scored Chelsea’s first goal on Wednesday night, the PSG tie was not kind to Cahill, who was caught out for Cavani’s header in Paris and got in the way of Terry before Silva headed the goal that clinched the French club’s place in the quarter-finals.
Mourinho has made no secret of his admiration for Varane, whom he gave a debut to at Real Madrid, and is ready to make an offer for the £30 million for the 21-year-old.
Chelsea’s £200 million Yokohama shirt sponsorship has ensured Mourinho will be able to make major raids in the summer transfer market and the 52-year-old sees Varane and Kurt Zouma as his ideal central defensive pairing of the future.
Jose Mourinho worked with Raphael Varane at Real Madrid (GETTY IMAGES)
Terry has been superb for large parts of this season and will be offered a new one-year contract, which means it is Cahill who is most likely to find his place under threat from Zouma for the rest of this season and potentially Varane after that.
Mourinho last month said: “I think the French Federation should write me a letter to thank me because I think they have now the best two young central defenders in the world. I’m not saying the best because they are young. There are obviously end products, mature players, 24, 25, 28, 30-year-olds.
“But as young defenders can you imagine what Varane and Zouma can represent in football in a couple of years?”
Captain John Terry is to be offered a new contract at Chelsea (GETTY IMAGES)
Cahill had thought he might be Chelsea’s Champions League hero after giving his team an 81st-minute lead.
“I was hoping I’d scored the winner,” he said. “It was late on in the game and we thought we might have enough to see it out from there. But you never know in football and you have to play to the end. Unfortunately for us, they equalised and took it to extra-time.
“We’ve got a game at the weekend to prepare for and it was always the plan to go in on Thursday to sit down and go through the game.
Did you know Telegraph Sport has a Chelsea Facebook page?
“It’s kind of done now. The lads are hurting for sure. We are disappointed but we’ve got an important last 11 games and that’s solely our focus, on the league. It starts this weekend which is very important. We have to get back up and running for the weekend.”
Chelsea’s performance levels have dropped in recent weeks, with the team struggling to produce their early-season swagger. But Cahill insists this is not the time of the season to worry about fancy football.
“We’ve played a cup final and got a good result there,” he said. “It was draining after that game, but we went to West Ham and won there. Whether you win ugly or win playing great football is irrelevant at this stage.
Unfortunately we didn’t win against PSG, so now there will be a massive, massive push to the end of the season to get the job done in the league.”
0 nhận xét:
Đăng nhận xét