Changes Chelsea need to make to defend the Premier League title

What can Jose Mourinho do to turn around Chelsea’s fortunes?

Nobody saw this start from Chelsea coming. Comfortably champions by a mile last season, expected to retain the title again this season and, not to mention, the bookies’ favourite to win it, until their poor start. It has been pretty shambolic from Chelsea on the pitch and off it thus far – the Jose Mourinho vs Eva Carneiro row, poor showings on the pitch and a lot of blame being thrown around at referees, players and staff.

However, all is not lost at Stamford Bridge. Time is still on Jose Mourinho’s side. It has only been eight games into the season and the Blues can go on to mount a serious title challenge by putting a good run together. For that, Jose Mourinho needs to tweak his side in a few areas to get things going.

1) Bench Branislav Ivanovic and play Cesar Azpilicueta at Right-Back

If the first 8 games have shown anything to viewers worldwide, it has to be the incompetence of Branislav Ivanovic at right back. The Serbian defender has been nothing short of appalling so far in his position. Too far from an onrushing player, a genuine lack of pace, indecision in his tackles, sluggish in his recovery and he does not offer much going forward.

His form has been shocking, to say the least, and yet Mourinho continues to put faith in the 31-year-old. He must be dropped and the immaculate Azpilicueta should rightly return to his favoured position at right back. Perhaps it is the inexperience of Baba Rahman that prevents Mourinho from making this change but it is something that surely must be considered before it is too late.

Branislav Ivanovic (C) has been singled out for criticism while John Terry (L) has also struggled

2) Adopt either a defensive line that is either high or deep, not one in between

Chelsea were the best team defensively last season mainly down to Mourinho employing a deeper defensive line which had John Terry at the heart of it. This season, though, they have been stuck in no man’s land. It has been pretty scandalous for a Mourinho team and very unlike a team managed by the Portuguese manager, defensively speaking.

The few games they did win were when the defensive line was higher up the pitch i.e. with the quicker Kurt Zouma playing and not John Terry. Mourinho must decide according to the opposition they face which strategy suits the Blues better and deploy it efficiently to start the turnaround and stop leaking in so many goals.

3) Nemanja Matic needs a new midfield partner

The pairing of Nemanja Matic and Cesc Fabregas worked well last season by co-existing and working dynamically to win the title, operating in the engine room for the Blues. But this season the rest of the Premier League are on to them. Targeting Fabregas’ inability to defend and simply overpowering the Spaniard on several occasions has put all the defensive burden on Matic - who has tried to hold things down on his own but has been unable to do so.

Although Matic needs to further improve his game, he could use some support in the middle. The youngster Ruben Loftus-Cheek was impressive for the Blues in their first Champions League group game and could be utilized alongside Matic to add some steel to the midfield. It is a change that could bring in some solidarity for Chelsea and how vital will it be to have a homegrown player in the middle of the park fighting for every ball.

Cesc Fabregas and Nemanja Matic are yet to click this season

4) Chelsea need their Cesc appeal back

The real Cesc Fabregas has been missing and it has been 8 games already. Jose Mourinho must be looking on in disbelief at the torrid time the Spaniard is having in the middle. We all know his well-documented end of the season burn out. Last season, 85% f his asstists came in the first half of the season and only 4 assists were made in the second half of the season.

This season, he hasn’t even begun to get going. Just one assist in 8 games is a paltry return for one many consider the assist king. And it’s not just the assists but Fabregas needs to get involved more and dictate play again like he did last season. His stats for pass accuracy has dropped from 80.6% to 78.6% and his key passes per game have dropped from 2.8 to 1.9 as well.

Perhaps it is the slow early decline of a player who started his career at 16 for Arsenal and having played more minutes than most players his age since then (almost double that of Gary Cahill who is two years his senior). To be fair he is trying hard. In the last outing against Southampton Fabregas covered more ground than any player on the pitch. However, the magician Fabregas could certainly use a magic hat right now to bring back the flair Chelsea fans are so accustomed to watching him play with.

5) A free role for Eden Hazard

Last season’s Player of the Year needs to start hitting the heights of last season and Chelsea need him to hit them soon. He has shown flashes of his brilliance so far but nothing in comparison to the previous campaign. Perhaps a free role like the one given to Lionel Messi could turn it all around for the Belgian who is sometimes caught ball watching on the left flank.

Eden Hazard needs to start expressing himself more through the middle and start spraying the game around the park along with his trademark swift darting runs while also crossing the ball more often.

Both Eden Hazard and Diego Costa have failed to deliver

6) Diego Costa needs to get 100% fit

Diego Costa has admitted to not performing up to the mark by his own standards. In a recent interview, he acknowledged that he had come back from holiday a few pounds over-weight and has cited this as the main reason for his poor showing so far. Apart from not getting into trouble with match officials, Chelsea need their hitman to get back to his old shape and start scoring frequently again to get their season back on track.

Costa has admitted to not following his diet and needs the help of the Blues’ fitness department to get him into proper shape again. A meagre return of one goal in 8 games is shoddy by his 20 goals a season standards.

7) Higher intensity of play

Chelsea have been so lacklustre in the intensity they have shown in games that they quite rightly deserve the position the currently occupy in the table. Lack of motivation or lack of purpose – whatever you call it, Mourinho must get that killer instinct back into their gameplay and up the ante on the pitch. Whether the problem is physical or psychological, Chelsea need to start being more aggressive and determined while playing the full 90 minutes to start the turnaround.

The return of Thibaut Courtois will be a huge boost for Mourinho who will look for ways to rekindle the fighting spirit back into the Blues and maybe a few tweaks here and there could do the trick.