What Chelsea need to do in the New Year:
- Keep AVB. It’s ridiculous to start saying he should be sacked. He’s only just arrived, Abramovic paid Porto £13m to release him and he has inheritted a team which needs refreshing. He will come good. But they also need to…
- … Get the dressing room behind the manager. At the same time, the Chelsea dressing room has to get behind Villas Boas. From Terry down to the juniors. If they don’t then how can they win? But that also means…
- … Ensure Frank Lampard understands where he stands. It’s clear Lamps isn’t a happy chap at the moment. The penalty he scored against Man City was struck with all the anger, frustration and passion which he clearly feels at the moment and it would have taken off Joe Hart’s hand if he had tried to stop it. But when Lampard was interviewed on MOTD a few weeks ago and asked if he knew why he was being left and out and whether AVB had talked to him about it, he just said “No” very curtly and that was that. So, if he isn’t going to be first choice any more then he needs to be told and he needs to understand why. And if necessary he needs to knuckle down and prove AVB wrong – a la Beckham at Real. Lampard is still Chelsea’s second highest goal scorer this season after Daniel Sturridge. And Chelsea need a positive and keen Frank Lampard.
- Play Torres for a succession of games. Fernando Torres just needs to play. And score one or two more – and then he will start to score in buckets. He was just starting to show he could do that when he got sent off at Swansea earier in the season and since then he has bearly figured in the team. He is so obviously a player who needs to play and when he does, he can make things happen. He was so unlucky not to score against Villa two days ago and his work-rate and play and movement that game was fantastic. With Drogba off to the African Nations Cup, this is Torres’ time.
- Send Josh McEachran on loan. It’s so frustrating not seeing Josh McEachran become the player he could be. And if the Blues aren’t careful, then he will be up and off to a club where he will get first team football. But if he isn’t going to get to play in the Chelsea first team now, then send him on loan somewhere where he will play every week, will gain in skill and knowledge and can then come back to Stamford Bridge as a man ready to play for the club. Witness Daniel Sturridge and Jack Wilshere as players who did just this and, when they came back, their performances demanded a regular place in the team. McEachran himself could do worse than go to The Reebok Stadium, although playing for a team who is consitently losing may not the best choice. Maybe somewhere like Swansea (with Chelsea connection, Brendan Rodgers) would be better, or Wigan if they start to pick-up. Even a Championship team such as Southampton could be a decent choice.
- Buy a central defender (just maybe not Gary Cahill). We wrote recently about Chelsea’s need for a new central defender. The result against Villa just empahsises that. And to avoid this problem in the future…
- …Have more faith in the Academy, and maybe even review the approach to it. Chelsea do not have a good record of late of bringing through Academy players as real first team regulars. Clubs such as Manchester United, Arsenal, Tottenham, Liverpool and of course Barcelona are all better and have all benefited so much more than the Blues. If Chelsea and Abramovich want to get the best players, then start with them – don’t rely on having to buy the best because CFC no longer have the monopoly on money.
