Tactically Explaining Chelsea's Terrible Start to 2015-16 Premier League Season

Defending Premier League champions Chelsea have endured a pretty horrific start to the 2015-16 season. A 1-0 loss in the Community Shield to Arsenal has been followed by a failure to beat Swansea City at home on the opening day and a 3-0 trouncing at the hands of Manchester City the following weekend.

Three games in and without a win to speak of, Jose Mourinho appears to have already thrown his toys out of the pram, benching captain John Terry at half-time at the Etihad Stadium last Sunday in a perceived show of defiance toward the club's lack of action in the transfer market.

"If you're standing still you're going backward" is the phrase many use when illustrating the need for even champions to keep on spending, and Chelsea simply haven't done enough.

The squad stands threadbare at the back, Filipe Luis is out and Abdul Rahman Baba slow to make his way to Stamford Bridge to replace him (the Express' David Wright reported the deal was done Sunday); Radamel Falcao has been brought in, but all three strikers seem one tired stride from pulling a muscle at any time; and Juan Cuadrado's continued struggle to resemble a real footballer places a big question mark over the club's wide corps again.

But let's step away from the off-field narratives, manager eruptions, farcical treatment of club doctors and the treading of water in the market for a moment and delve into the Blues' film. What's going wrong tactically, and how has an XI unchanged from a Premier League triumph in May fallen on hard times?

Episode 1: The Community Shield

This one's fairly easy to explain, and there's a reason those who had watched both Arsenal and Chelsea in pre-season were predicting Arsene Wenger's first triumph over Mourinho in 14 attempts.

The Gunners finished off an excellent summer campaign with a flourish, thrashing Lyon 6-0 in the Emirates Cup. They looked sharp, precise, incisive and well prepared for another chance to bag some silverware at Wembley—a now-favoured stadium of theirs.

Chelsea, by contrast, looked sluggish, slow and unprepared. Pre-season consisted of some laboured performances. They failed to win a single game (not that that matters too much), and in the process delivered some particularly eyebrow-raising showings. The draw with Paris Saint-Germain was pretty rancid, while the loss to Fiorentina at Stamford Bridge just three days before the big kick-off could be considered pedestrian at best.

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There were very few positive performances to pick from across the pre-season schedule, and when you're praising Victor Moses for standing out, you have to worry the others aren't pulling their weight. In the Community Shield match itself, Diego Costa was badly missed, Loic Remy forgot the offside rule and Arsenal won thanks to a moment of genius.

Mourinho's assertion that the "best team lost," per BBC Sport, is false, but it was a reasonably close game. At this point there's nothing to worry about; the Blues treated the occasion like a glorified friendly and lost, by a goal, to a title challenger.

Episode 2: Chelsea 2-2 Swansea

Disclaimer: Swansea are a very good side. This writer has them usurping both Southampton and Tottenham Hotspur this season in the league table to finish sixth. They could even trouble fifth.

But Chelsea are expected to win every home game, and the right way to start your title defence is with a victory at the Bridge to get the fans going. The Blues failed to banish the uncertainty of the Community Shield when they stepped onto the pitch.

There were two key issues in this game. First, Swansea pressed superbly off the ball and Chelsea failed to. The first 30 minutes in particular were extremely impressive from the Swans, who were unwilling to give their opponents a moment's rest on the ball. Chelsea were constantly passing under pressure and often struggled to string together a run of five passes.

Credit: Canal+

It produced a bitty game with lots of stoppages and throw-ins, playing into Swansea's favour. Oscar was the only player in Blue to replicate that pressing, and he was the only one able to play passes between the lines in the face of the press. Hazard and Willian started well but fizzled out.

Credit: Canal+

The other issue was a complete lack of width—a crack Chelsea papered over all of last season.

Branislav Ivanovic represents the total sum of their natural width, and when he's trapped in a defensive role—as he was in this game by the excellent Jefferson Montero—the Blues become narrow and predictable, and the space in which they're able to play shrinks dramatically.

Interlude: Vote for Pedro?

The width issue has been on Mourinho's mind for a while; he acknowledged it in signing Cuadrado in January and seems to be acknowledging it now by moving for Barcelona's Pedro, per the Guardian.

Willian's been great for Chelsea in his bespoke winger role, block-pressing and attacking infield, but is a No. 10 at heart and often drifts inside rather than taking the outside line.

Ivanovic loves to attack and does so with gusto, but with Eden Hazard inverted on the left and the right-footed Cesar Azpilicueta playing behind him at left-back, only one of the four wide men (Ivanovic) actually stretches the pitch.

In games where sides press high or defend stoutly in banks of four, this can be a real issue. The more you shrink the area in which you play, the harder you make it for yourself.

David Ramos/Getty Images

Cuadrado was an electric, speedy, direct winger who can hit the byline and cross, but something's happened to him and no one knows what. Mourinho has already cycled through Andre Schurrle and Mohamed Salah, too, so Blues fans can hope Pedro is the answer, but there's no guarantee.

It's feasible Pedro takes on the Alexis Sanchez role under Gerardo Martino at Barcelona—the one season Fabregas truly looked at his stylish, skillful best in Blaugrana colours. Pedro's best trait is his impeccable timing of runs off the edge, and he will start touchline-wide more often than not. Cesc will find his runs and find them often.

Stylistically he ticks the boxes, and he can press, too. Perhaps he's exactly what Chelsea need.

Episode 3: Manchester City 3-0 Chelsea

This was a bit of a horror show for everyone concerned. The midfielders were overrun, the defenders were stuck on the back foot and Diego Costa was reduced to scrapping with Vincent Kompany. 

Again a lack of pressing hurt Chelsea here, but City were able to exploit the space allowed better than Swansea and create numerous chances. Fabregas and Nemanja Matic were left badly exposed just in front of the defensive line, while John Terry and Gary Cahill were diced apart at will. Ivanovic really struggled for the second game running.

There's a reason Mourinho has moved Cesc into the No. 10 slot for these games, and it's because he's defensively irresponsible. You have to move him out of the No. 6 role or protect him properly with a pressing No. 10, yet neither of these things happened.

Credit: FOX HD

In an ideal world, Mourinho may have fielded Kurt Zouma or John Obi Mikel alongside Matic, but he also wanted to play Willian (in good form) and Ramires (a vital line-breaker on the counter-attack), and he couldn't face dropping a player of Cesc's stature.

The width issue reared its head again here; too frequently, Chelsea build on the left but don't go beyond the full-back, then switch the ball to the right via Hazard or Cesc to the onrushing Ivanovic. He always receives the ball in space, but at that point it's all on him to either cross, play it back infield or shoot (he shoots a lot; probably too much)

Credit: FOX HD

There's no help ahead of him, no one to play a one-two with and overlap and no one to attack Aleksandar Kolarov. City can play deep and narrow, stack numbers in the central areas and nullify any attacks.

But the ultimate killer here was no Oscar. He may have been dropped for the game anyway if he hadn't picked up an injury, but he's vital in every way—particularly in these bigger games.

As the only player in the team whose skill set can truly be considered universal at the highest level—able to press, dribble and pass between the lines—he should be one of the first names on the teamsheet, but Mourinho won't drop Cesc. 

The addition of Pedro further clouds Oscar's role for the club; with the Spaniard expected to start wide right should he sign, Willian would move inside and embark on a timeshare with Oscar at No. 10. Unless Mourinho is planning on moving back to the 4-3-3, allowing Oscar and Cesc to play just ahead of Matic (and marginalise Willian), it's difficult not to be pessimistic about Oscar's role here.

End Credits

There are some allowances to be made in Chelsea's performances, and it's a positive sign that Mourinho is seeking to bolster in the right areas. Ivanovic is clearly topping out performance-wise and starting to drop, but Montero and Kolarov—his two opponents in league play thus far—have been absolutely fantastic; any right-back in world football would have had issues dealing with them.

Credit: Canal+

The injury to Oscar ahead of the City game was a big blow, and Mourinho's decision to play Cesc in the "2" alongside Matic backfired dramatically. Yaya Toure and Fernandinho dominated the centre with ease, and Terry and Cahill spent the game backtracking and chasing Sergio Aguero as he slipped through the channels.

The acquisition of Pedro should solve the width issue higher up and genuinely transform the approach play on the right side. It gives Ivanovic less to do, less to concentrate on and releases him from the burden of being the entire flank every match. But the pressing must return, at least in the early stages.

Again, and it's a bit of a disclaimer, but Arsenal, Swansea City and Manchester City are all really strong sides. The club were not prepared for the start of the season at all and with no additions made, a stale feeling seemed to creep into the performers and contribute to the lackluster start.

It's not the crisis many will make out, and Chelsea can get firmly back on track away to West Bromwich Albion with or without Pedro, but the solutions are very clear: Reinstall the press, find width on the right and protect, as a unit, far better. Mourinho's as culpable as his players here, but it's all readily fixable.

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