Stale Chelsea a Result of Fear of Rotation

Having had time to reflect on the slaughter at the hands of Arsenal, Chelsea boss Antonio Conte has to act in the best interest of the squad and make some unpopular choices.

Chelsea haven’t changed much in the past five years. The confidence in the old guard served us well and led us to the title in 2015. The old guard has only gotten older and it hasn’t quite sunk in with the powers that be at Stamford Bridge that there will come a time when these players will need to be replaced.

It’s as if Michael Emenalo and Roman Abramovich are reluctant to put their faith in new signings unless it is absolutely necessary - as was the case with Kurt Zouma. And their unwillingness to try new talent out is compounded further with a brutal and business-like approach to the loan army Chelsea has around the world.

Instead of acting in the best interest of the club, there’s been a slow descent into murky depths as a result of inaction leaving the team unable to compete with the rest of the Premier League.

I appreciate John Terry getting a new contract last year because he didn’t deserve to end his career on a suspension like he was in the closing stages of last season. But Ivanovic getting a new contract is really case-in-point of the inane love affair between the Chelsea executives and the old players.

But Terry is our only leader on the pitch, nobody else is close to holding that mantle except perhaps Gary Cahill, but he has to shape up or ship out after humiliating us at the Emirates.

And the suffering goes beyond just results with several players being transferred in and out, failing to make their mark on the squad because they weren’t given a fair shot.

In just the last few years the players who have a right to claim damages from Chelsea’s lack of rotation are Alexandre Pato, Kenedy, Ruben Loftus-Cheek, Ola Aina, Juan Cuadrado, Matt Miazga, Andre Schurrle, Papy Djilobodji, Filipe Luis, Marko Marin, Oriol Romeu, Romelu Lukaku, and the list goes on.

All these players have either maintained their first-team spot elsewhere or are fine contenders to be starters for any decent team. And yet Chelsea threw them aside, without letting them realize their potential.

And this season is largely the same but with a twist: and that is that Chelsea did spend a considerable amount on players this summer, and the same problems are still there.

What’s the point in spending 30 or 40 million pounds on a player if they’re not even going to be considered for a first-team spot unless there’s an injury or an emergency substitution?

N’Golo Kante is the only one who has been allowed to break into the Chelsea squad, and I wish we had bought two of him. Michy Batshuayi and Marcos Alonso could easily replace a number of players in the squad, they cost a fortune, and are prime candidates for being effective players based off the few appearances they’ve gotten and Chelsea bought them, seemingly, as backups and nothing more. Why?!

It’s all good and well to threaten to overhaul the squad, and the rumors of Abramovich opening his coffers for Conte are encouraging to Chelsea fans but I’ll believe it when I see it.

Truthfully, the changes should have taken place after the title win in 2015. Jose Mourinho was stubborn and chose to put faith in the same squad for last year’s campaign and we all know how that worked out.