reading list: the times on troubled chelsea

updates have obviously been thin on the ground. this weekend, however, seems as good as any with which to re-dedicate myself to the beautiful game. in-form city take on united (who were magnificently controlled against a good villareal team on tuesday night) in the manchester derby, but the game that interests me more is the other "super sunday" clash between arsenal and chelsea.

the mixed fortunes of arsenal have rather fascinated me over the past 3 months - to the extent that i have basically turned this into an arsenal-blog (my apologies for that) - but at this point i am more interested in the performance of their opponents. the reasons for this can be found in this half decent article today by matt hughes in the times, but can be surmised as such: the squad, the money and the tactics.

the squad and the money are not problems easily solved. the squad, bolstered with the signing of deco in the summer, is woefully imbalanced. the only attacker of any quality capable of playing in a wider area is joe cole; whilst i don't feel florent malouda is quite as bad as most people make out, he clearly isn't an amazing footballer - at least, not a match for a fit arjen robben, for example - and salomon kalou is a young player who arrived with much promise, but one that has had his development totally stunted by a lack of playing time and a constant shuffling of position. the remainder of their midfield is constituted by central midfielders, and whilst these are central midfielders of the highest quality, this inevitably means chelsea lack tactical flexibility. furthermore, they have, in one way, been very fortunate that michael essien has been injured - the outstanding ghanaian would otherwise demand a place in the starting xi, and with deco, ballack and lampard around him, it would be difficult to create a balanced line-up from that. his injury has guaranteed mikel a starting place, and whilst i have my doubts about him, he at least provides a valuable shield, dropping back into defence when necessary and picking the ball up from the back four to initiate attacks. and whilst essien could come back and fill that role, the dynamism and sheer excellence of his play means to limit him like that would be utter folly.

this is a situation unlikely to be altered a great deal in january, for ambramovich has allegedly told scolari he must first sell before he can buy. given the paucity of his options and the fact that the squad was already slimmed down in the summer this seems harsh, but it seems that even the russian isn't immune to the global recession. if we assume this to be true, scolari doesn't have much ability to raise funds: most of the marquee players are either too good or too old to generate a useful profit (see: the entire midfield, ricardo carvalho etc). so what could scolari do? i shall do my best to explore the options:

- sell didier drogba. this is probably a good idea: the ivorian is now probably reaching the end of his peak, and his playing time is already being drastically reduced by a succession of injuries that hint at a physical decline few players - certainly few players of his nature - really recover from. if rumours of inter's interest are correct, chelsea should certainly entertain offers. but how much would be gained? probably no more than a low-£20m fee, and it is dubious how much this would transform the squad.

- sell petr cech. the goalkeeper is probably the most overrated player in the squad, benefitting from the worst kind of nonsense punditry - the insistence on how having to make one good save a game is somehow more difficult than making ten - that means people constantly elevate his performances, based on precisely nothing, above those of his rivals. a good goalkeeper could likely be picked up for less than the money gained from a sale of cech, but it is questionable just how much that would be.

- sell john terry. terry is at his peak, and as a central defender who has never had much pace it is a peak that you imagine would continue for at least another 4 years. last week in the news of the world it was rumoured man city were considering a record bid and fee for terry, and although he is unlikely to want to depart, if chelsea were to make clear their desire to sell you would imagine his desire to stay would be rather reduced. and the rationale for selling is strong - carvalho is at this point the far superior player, and the best defender chelsea possess, and partnering him with alex is a partnership perfectly capable of maintaining the defensive excellence chelsea are known for, at a profit of at least £40m. in short, the symbolic value of terry far outweighs his value on the pitch, making him the ideal candidate to sell.

however, one would imagine this to be a highly unlikely scenario. i doubt chelsea will sell terry, and beyond him the ability of scolari to generate the profit necessary to bring in the quality he needs is limited. which means making the most of his current personnel.

as hughes points out, this has meant scolari defaulting to a broad approximation of the system with which he won the world cup in 2002 - two centre backs, shielded by john obi mikel, the defensive midfielder who then drops back to become a third centre back when necessary, with the width provided not by wide midfielders but by the two attacking full backs. more out of necessity a lone striker is played, supported by a pair of attacking central midfielders and two other attackers of some description, including perhaps another central midfielder. one of the latter may well be sacrificed when drogba finally returns to full fitness.

this is a system not without its flaws: the full-backs become de facto wing backs, and if pinned back by wingers chelsea find precious outlets stultified; if of course chelsea chose to ignore it, they are faced with speedy wingers attacking the fringes of a back three. the play is funneled through mikel, and without a gattuso to provide a shield, this allows other teams to put a man on him and disrupt chelsea's rhythm. further up the pitch, lacking the quality out wide, chelsea rely too much on the central midfield duo/trio/quartet (depending on your viewpoint) to penetrate. playing the lone striker role nicolas anelka does well to stretch the the play, but the current admiration of his prowess seems to ignore the fact he has scored almost nothing of any quality and on a lesser team, one unable to give him as many chances from 12 yards and in, would probably have a quarter of the goals he has currently.

for the sake of balance, i think scolari needs to make sure he's playing two attacking wide players at all times, so that without possession chelsea can move back into a 4-5-1 and provide a more balanced look to the side, especially in the transition from defense to attack. but beyond that, some brave steps need to be taken in the transfer window if this chelsea side are going to maintain their league position.