Weekly Why: Premier League, Chelsea Woes and the Expectation of 'Better Talent'
Welcome to Bleacher Report's Weekly Why, a place where we discuss world football's biggest questions that may go neglected and/or avoided. Ranging from the jovial to the melancholic, no subject matter is deemed off-limits.
Why Isn't Form Placed Over Talent?
I've shared my thoughts on Chelsea's horrific campaign throughout numerous Weekly Why offerings this season, yet I can't escape the feeling that something's missing, and I think I've located the absent piece—not discounting the notion this may be an altogether different puzzle—after their latest defeat at Leicester City.
We've discussed pragmatism (which has evaporated), Golden Badge Syndrome (now seems legitimate) and Jose Mourinho's inexperience with crisis (like a pilot who's never felt turbulence) being problematic.
While all these factors play a role, I've always started with the presumption Chelsea are an elite club.
Why wouldn't I?
It makes perfect sense: They're the defending Premier League champions, managed by a two-time Champions League winner, funded by Roman Abramovich, who has more capital than several countries, and they've hovered around the summit of European football for over a decade.
Not to call the entire journey a false front, as the Chelsea squad of yesteryear was indelibly talented.
Despite winning three Premier League titles, a host of domestic cups and the Champions League, an argument could be made that the spine of Petr Cech, John Terry, Ashley Cole, Frank Lampard and Didier Drogba underachieved. Barring the Ivorian centre-forward, the English triumvirate and Cech could make cases for being the best at their respective positions in the Premier League era. Match that with Drogba's big-game presence and quality role players—the makings of a superpower was birthed.
But what if this Chelsea rendition's "elite" label was incorrect?
Now, all but the veteran bones of Terry have survived. New faces have taken old numbers, though built by the same architect, the players inside the shirts aren't.
In what appeared an honest post-match interview, Mourinho gave reporters, as noted by ESPN FC's Liam Twomey, an "either/or" regarding last season: "[Either], all last season I did a phenomenal work, and I brought [my players] to a level that is not their level—that was more than they really are—or this season we are just so bad..."
The Portuguese has two points, and they are not mutually exclusive.
Last year, Chelsea punched above their weight. Maybe they were the best club in England, but that could be an indictment of England more than praise for the west Londoners. This season, they're just bad; it's shocking for sure, but not beyond the realms of impossibility, where, and I'm happy to report, we all live.
I find myself wanting to put square pegs in square holes. It's primary school conditioning, but reality nonetheless. What if all that's available is a square peg and a round hole?
Fellow writers and pundits alike keep shouting: "Last season's champions don't change into relegation battlers overnight." Why is that option being removed? Could it be possible Chelsea aren't "going through a bad patch," but are exactly where they're meant to be?
Was Chelsea underperforming not meant to happen because they won last season's crown after a brilliant start? The premise is flawed: If something's completed once, that doesn't mean it's meant to happen again. Yet, everyone and their grandmother declared Chelsea favourites at the beginning of this season, without properly weighting their stalling form at the tail end of last season.
I have to admit, I was in that camp. I thought because they ran away with the Premier League, they would do something similar again, especially after a summer of rest. That hasn't happened.
Many based their pre-season predictions on talent and recent history.
The problem with talent is that it doesn't register. Talent is a measure of what you can produce, it isn't a measure of what you will produce. Production is based more on form than anything. If form leaves, world-class players can look horrendous. Therefore, one's level of potential and/or talent means nothing towards a collective effort—only what is completed on the day.
This is why the Premier League creates the most drama in domestic football.
EPL clubs are so evenly matched that the 20th club can give the league leaders trouble. If one comes to the table with talent alone, but isn't willing to give 100 percent effort, their talent can be usurped by a footballer who simply wants three points more.
Desire, hunger and passion, especially in England, are the hallmarks of winning sides. Those items create and keep out goals
Chelsea have lacked verve since the opening day and have won games based solely on the disparity in belief and talent of their opponents, but any time an opponent has wished to received something from the defending champions, they've been obliged with points.
Mourinho claims he needs to look his players in the eyes, to see "if they feel Chelsea" the same way he does, according to BBC Radio 5. It might be time for Mourinho and his players to see Chelsea the way I do: A club of talented players, never recovered from winning the league, who've lost their way.
What's the way back?
They have to want to; as the old adage reminds us: "Hard work beats talent when talent doesn't work hard."
Last Weekly: Man United, Louis van Gaal and the Criminality of Different | Why Doesn't Different Football Translate?
*Stats via WhoScored.com; transfer fees via Soccerbase where not noted.
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