Guus Hiddink Must Continue His Chelsea 'Experiment' After Thrashing Aston Villa
VILLA PARK, BIRMINGHAM, ENGLAND — As the mutiny started on the terraces at Aston Villa on Saturday, we witnessed something that hinted at a more positive revolution at Chelsea.
With their team on the brink of relegation, Villa fans protested with placards against the club's owners; in contrast, Chelsea supporters captured a potential glimpse of the future.
Guus Hiddink said ahead of his side's visit to Villa Park that now was a time for experimenting. True to his word, the Chelsea boss gave three players their Chelsea debuts, while Ruben Loftus-Cheek not only played the full 90 minutes but also scored the first league goal in the 4-0 rout.
In terms of what it means for Chelsea's season, we can't read much into it. The Blues remained 10th in the table, 10 points behind Manchester City in fourth. In terms of their UEFA Europa League hopes, they're equally slim, the seven points that separate Chelsea and West Ham United in fifth looking as difficult an obstacle to overcome.
That isn't the point, though. The 4-0 victory over Aston Villa isn't about the present; it's more focused on what the victory means for a team whose pre-season has effectively already started.
Usually, the return from summer holidays is about regaining match sharpness and fitness. With a new manager entering the fray at Stamford Bridge this summer, the focus will also be on drilling players into new systems and revamping the look of the squad.
By rotating the way he did on Saturday, Hiddink has started that process for his successor.
The smart money appears to be on Antonio Conte in that regard, yet whoever it is, the new manager will have much more than training-ground reports from which to evaluate those on the fringes at Chelsea.
Matt Miazga, Alexandre Pato and Jake Clarke-Salter all made their first appearances for the club at Villa Park.
Miazga, a January signing from New York Red Bulls, enjoyed a fairly trouble-free afternoon. Villa didn't offer much in terms of a threat, although the young American should still be feeling buoyed on the back of a clean sheet.
He may not have been tested too much by Rudy Gestede or Villa's other attackers, but that wasn't the focus. Hiddink would have wanted him to demonstrate his understanding of the game by positioning himself well alongside Branislav Ivanovic.
Miazga did that, looking a player with the potential to develop into a fine defender. He's only 20, so the hope is he will emulate Kurt Zouma, who signed for Chelsea at a similar age.
From being a squad player, Zouma has become a regular in the two years since he arrived at Stamford Bridge. He's achieved that through a six-month loan back to his old club Saint-Etienne before captitalising on the injuries and suspensions to more senior players.
With John Terry set to depart Stamford Bridge this summer, Miazga should be targeting making the most of the upheaval. Becoming a regular is probably too soon, but with Terry out of the picture, there are places available at Chelsea where there haven't been for well over a decade.
By using Miazga and Clarke-Salter against Villa, the hope is Hiddink will repeat the move regularly enough between now and May so as to give these players more exposure. If he does, it provides Chelsea's up-and-coming talent—whether produced in the academy or signed from elsewhere—a chance to establish themselves and for the club to build around them.
"It's good to see young guys like Loftus-Cheek, Clarke-Salter and Miazga coming in," Hiddink said after watching his team steamroll Villa. "Of course we can't win anything anymore in this league, which makes it a little easier on one hand; on the other hand, it's good to see when guys like Loftus-Cheek come in and there's something at stake, how they deal with the pressure.
"Then it's a little difficult to bring more young guys who haven't had the experience so far, but I always like to bring in youngsters. Now we have the rest of the season to bring in more frequently the other guys. For [Ruben] it's very important that he is not just making 45 minutes or 60 minutes but that he feels the substance to deal with the Premier League's demands."
Hiddink was speaking like a coach who understands his role at Chelsea. Perhaps the international break has given him an opportunity to reassess where this team is at and what it needs. After all, on the back of the 2-2 draw with West Ham United in their previous league game, Hiddink was speaking like a man who had his eyes set on one thing: European football.
The tone seems to have shifted, however. Hiddink knows reaching the Europa League is going to be a major task, let alone going one better and qualifying for the UEFA Champions League. Games are running out, which means the points that can be picked up are reducing with it.
Chelsea's season as a contest is over, although that fact shouldn't mean the club has little to play for. They do—namely, getting a head start for next season. That's not going to be achieved by fielding players we know about, meaning Hiddink is coming at it from a different perspective.
Chelsea will undoubtedly look to spend big in the transfer market. Failing the way they have this season, statements need to be made. They don't come much bigger than marquee signings to ruffle the feathers of rivals. As the interim manager, Hiddink's influence in that area will be slim. What he can do, though, is give his replacement the tools to build from within, allowing any new faces that arrive to complement what Chelsea already have.
It's testament to his character and ability as a manager that Hiddink is showing signs of viewing things this way. He was asked about his unbeaten record in the Premier League since returning in December, but Hiddink is putting little value on that statistic. What is it worth when Chelsea stand to gain little from it? No, the manager is looking at the bigger picture, and it's one that will continue to evolve long after he has left west London.
"When you bring in young kids, you have a risk of more failure because they have to get that experience of success," he added. "As a consequence, the risk of defeat might be a little bit higher, but I prefer that than saying my personal record from December to the end of the season was good.
"I prefer to try to bring up youngsters with a little more risk; then I don't care so much about my personal record."
There's every chance results could get messy in the final seven games this season if Hiddink continues to show as much desire to change things as he did against Villa. Indeed, Chelsea will face far tougher opponents in the run-in than they did at Villa Park.
Eric Black's Villa have been the epitome of poor this season, which was only confirmed all the more by the manner in which they collapsed against Chelsea.
The Blues still have to face Manchester City, Tottenham Hotspur and Leicester City in their final seven matches, and the club should remain unperturbed. The message from all at Stamford Bridge should be to stick with the Villa template as Chelsea stand to gain much more than pride against their rivals.
Garry Hayes is Bleacher Report's lead Chelsea correspondent. All quotes were obtained firsthand unless otherwise noted. Follow him on Twitter @garryhayes.
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