Chelsea Miss Their Key Man: Claude Makelele

Every great team requires a certain balance of players. It needs solid defenders, players who can pick a pass, someone who can get past players with pace, and someone to score goals.

However, the teams that have achieved most success in the world of football also have someone who can glue all these parts together to turn a great club into a great team.

Ronaldo commented back in 2003, when Real Madrid won La Liga, that of all the superstars in their team; the likes of Figo, Zidane and Raul, the most important player was one Cladue Makélélé.

Despite also helping Madrid to a Champions League win the year before, Chelsea took the chance to sign the well established midfielder.

Under Ranieri, Makélélé was played in a 4-4-2, but struggled to make a real impact; however, when Mourinho took over, he employed a 4-3-3/4-5-1 tactic Makélélé as his holding midfielder to allow Essien and Lampard to push forward more effectively, knowing that his back four was given sufficient cover.

Mourinho produced Chelsea's first League Tittle in 50 years and helped them win it back to back, adding a League Cup and an FA Cup.

Many football critics have since held Makélélé as the key to Chelsea's success. His experienced defending, and simple passing seemed to give the start for Chelsea's attacking moves, and it is impossible to doubt his effectiveness against the worlds top attacking players.

Not so long ago, Chelsea seemed almost unbeatable, Petr Cech kept a record of clean sheets in a row, by some margin and success seemed inevitable.

Even under Grant, despite not winning the Champions League last year, a 35-year-old Makélélé started the game, implying his importance to the club. He has even become synonymous with the defensive midfielder role, often referred to as the "Makélélé role".

Since he has left last summer to join Paris Saint Germain, despite having more adventurous attacking play, Chelsea look vulnerable at the back, especially in defense. Perhaps due to Carvalho's sustained absence, perhaps due to Essien's injury, but largely because they don't have a world class defender in the midfield.

The highly rated John Mikel Obi has been forced to step into Makélélé's shoes, which on the whole, he has done surprisingly well;s however, he is just 21, and plays naively, giving away needless fouls in dangerous areas.

Ultimately, Chelsea's so far disappointing season can be put down to a number of factors, Drogba's absence, missing out on Robinho and Essien also being injured, along with lots of more minor injuries, however, the role that Makélélé played in this Chelsea side cannot be disputed, and they do have a gap in the team, which needs filling for Chelsea to once again assert some dominance in the domestic game.

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