Mid Season Loan Report

 

As we enter the start of a New Year and a new transfer window, I wanted to review the players out on loan for the first half of the season, to see how well they have been doing up until this point. I am not including first team players or soon to be signing players on loan in this summary. Below is a visualisation of the stats from these players so far:

Andrey Santos – Strasbourg – Ligue 1

Without doubt Santos has had the best loan for this season and is one of the best loans the club has had that I have recorded. In the 16 games that Strasbourg have played so far this season Santos has started 15 of them. He has been the best player in the team so far this season without a doubt. He has been operating in a central midfield role and has contributed 5 goals and 2 assists in those 15 games. Performance-wise he is excelling, racking up an average rating of 7.80 so far, only Cole Palmer in the first team has recorded a higher average so far this season with 7.83.

There are many among Chelsea fans who believe that we should bring Santos back in this January transfer window and integrate him into the first team. Reporting suggests that Chelsea do indeed have the option to recall him during this window, however, I am not sure if that is the best option for him at this stage. Allowing him to see out the season at Strasbourg, and continue the good form, will be more beneficial for him and his development than returning to back up the first team.

Caleb Wiley – Strasbourg – Ligue 1

Wiley joined Chelsea in the summer and was immediately sent on loan to Strasbourg. Unfortunately, his time at Strasbourg has been plagued by injury. Firstly, with a knee injury and then in November a dislocated shoulder, which could potentially see him being recalled back to Chelsea to rehabilitate and opening up an international loan spot for another player. Wiley has only managed 6 appearances to date with half being starts.

Teddy Sharman-Lowe – Doncaster Rovers – League 2

For those who may not know Sharman-Lowe is a 21-year-old Goalkeeper who is embarking on his fourth loan move, having previously spent time at Burton Albion, Bromley, Havant & Waterlooville. Goalkeepers being out on loan is a tricky thing to get right, usually they are at lower league clubs to ensure that they get the minutes that their development requires. Being in League 2 this season Sharman-Lowe has established himself very well having started all but four of the fixtures for Doncaster. In his 24 starts he has kept seven clean sheets and conceded a total of 25 goals which is a decent record. His performances have earned him a 6.97 rating so far this season and hopefully by the end of the season he can increase this to over the 7.00 mark, which for me is always the sign of a successful loan spell, and earn himself a loan next season in League One or the Championship.

Ted Curd – Hampton & Richmond – National League South

Curd is an 18-year-old Goalkeeper embarking on his second loan spell having spent half of last season on loan at Hashtag United (incidentally my local club that I was coaching at for a few years). 18 years old is very young for a Goalkeeper and getting first team game time at this level for him will be an invaluable experience. So far, he has taken brilliantly to the level of football having started 23 of the teams 25 games keeping 10 clean sheets and conceding 23 goals. His performances have been very positive to date with an average rating of 7.14, which if he can continue to maintain will be an excellent achievement for him.

Eddie Beach – Crawley Town – League One

Beach is one of the few players having a difficult time on loan this season. The 21-year-old Goalkeeper is on his third loan spell having previously been on loan at Gateshead, where he made five appearances, and Chelmsford where he made 20 appearances. He unfortunately missed 12 of Crawley’s games through injury and has only managed two starts this season conceding six goals and has been on the bench for 13 games. There is a decision to be made with Beach now: do the club decide to leave him at Crawley and see if he can force his way into the team? (which at this point seems unlikely) or do they bring him back and find a new loan move for him elsewhere?

Beach’s contract with Chelsea is up at the end of this season and it would seem likely that he will not be offered a new contract resulting in him needing to look for a new home to try and establish himself. At 21 years old this is probably the right move for him.

Luke Campbell – Hendon – Istmian League

Another young Goalkeeper out on loan is 19-year-old Campbell. He has obviously gone to a lower league to get game time and so far, the loan is doing what it is was designed to do. He has started every game so far for Hendon which has totalled 30 appearances to date, where he has kept 9 clean sheets and conceded 42 goals. Playing at this level in senior football will give Campbell a good grounding and hopefully next season he can continue to move up the football ladder.

Alfie Gilchrist – Sheffield United – Championship

Having spent time in Chelsea’s first team squad last season making 17 appearances in total Gilchrist has gone on loan to the Championship to further his development. So far, he is performing well for Sheffield United and has made 25 appearances all at Right Back and has contributed two assists. His performances have got him to an average of 6.97 which is a decent start to the season, with the hope that in the second half of the season he can improve his consistency and end the season strong. This would put him in a good position for next season.

Dylan Williams – Burton Albion – League One

Williams joined Burton under former Chelsea U21’s manager Mark Robinson at the start of the season. Things have not gone well for Burton this season and they currently sit at the very bottom of League One with Mark Robinson being sacked in October. To find a place as a loan player in such turmoil is not an easy task. Williams has made 23 appearances with 15 being as a starter and has contributed one goal and one assist so far. He has been playing in either Left Back or Left-Wing Back role depending on the formation Burton have been putting out. Williams will hope to improve on his performances in the second half of the season having only made an average of 6.57 in the first half, but again performing well in a struggling team is not an easy prospect especially in your first loan move into senior football.

Ronnie Stutter – Burton Albion – League One

Another player who has suffered due to injury is Ronnie Stutter. The injuries along with the turmoil at Burton has seen the 19-year-old only play for 20 minutes this season. Ultimately, the complete lack of game time has led to Chelsea making the decision to recall Stutter. Hopefully the club can find a better home for him for the rest of the season, and he can overcome the injury issues as a good spell on loan is what Stutter needs to further his development.

Bashir Humphreys – Burnley – Championship

Having previously spent time on loan at Swansea and SC Paderborn a loan for the 21-year-old to Burnley was seen as an opportunity to establish himself as a senior player. So far, he has made 20 appearances with many of them being from the start and playing at either Left Back or Right Back. To date he has been consistent with his performances and is currently at an average rating of 7.00. December saw him put in some very good performances which he can hopefully use as a building block to continue to improve for the rest of the season.

Humphreys loan move to Burnley includes an obligation to buy for £12m, so his current development is to Burnley’s benefit and not Chelsea’s but it will be very nice to see him become a good level pro.

Leo Castledine – Shrewsbury Town – League One

Castledine is embarking on his first loan move at the age of 19 and so far, he is getting the game time he needs in League One. He has started the majority of his 23 appearances and has managed to bag himself two goals operating in the Attacking Midfield role for Shrewsbury. Much like Burton Shrewsbury are struggling this season sitting 22^nd in the league which has made it harder for Castledine to stand out. That being said, I am sure he will want to look to improve his performances in the second half of the season considering that he is sitting at an average rating of 6.44. Hopefully he can continue to get the game time and improve on his performances.

Trevoh Chalobah – Crystal Palace – Premier League

To the dismay of a lot of people Chelsea were looking to offload Chalobah in the summer. However, a permanent deal was not found for him and a loan move to Premier League side Crystal Palace emerged. He joined the club injured but once he recovered, he quickly established himself in the team playing on the right side of a back three alongside fellow Cobham graduate Marc Guehi. So far, he has made 14 appearances scoring three goals and achieving an average rating of 7.05 which to put into perspective is higher than Colwill (6.94), Badiashile (6.98) and Disasi (6.93) which has to put into question the wisdom of allowing him to leave.

Armando Broja – Everton – Premier League

Broja is another player who was possibly looking at a permanent move away from Chelsea but ended up with a loan. Broja’s season has only just started having to recove from an Achilles injury. He has only made one start and three sub appearances so far this season so he will be hoping to get more game time going forward. Personally, I feel that now is the time for Broja to find a permanent home away from Chelsea. This is his fourth loan move and including his time in the Chelsea first team he has failed to establish himself as a reliable goal scorer.

 

Chelsea used 32 separate Academy players in their first teams squads last season

 

It has been a while since I fully immersed myself in the academy at Chelsea, life getting in the way, but I have decided it is time to return and get myself back involved with all things academy.

In doing so and looking at the stats for last season I was surprised by a statistic that came to light. That being that last season under Pochettino there were 32 players who have played in Chelsea’s academy used in first team squads throughout the season. That is 32 separate players. It surprised me because I would never have said it would be that many as a gut feeling.

The figure on it’s own makes good reading for the academy and something to be proud of but I want to look at that figure deeper here and try to come to some thoughts on the overall season with the academy players and the first team.

Firstly of those 32 players only 8 of them managed to make 10 or more actual appearances on the pitch for the first team. Of the other 24 players none of them made any more than 3 appearances on the pitch. So the first thing we can see is that there was a core group of 8 players who are academy graduates who played first team football last season.

Looking at those 8 players now and Casadei is one who you could argue should not count in these figures but for now I have. You have the core group of players you would expect to be there in Gallagher, Colwill, Chalobah, Broja & James with Maatsen also making a decent number of appearances. All of these players at their age and experience you would expect to be making the numbers they did make. All but 2 of those players have now departed the club either permanently or on loan.

The only player last season we can say really made the move from academy to first team is Alfie Gilchrist who managed to make 17 appearances in total last season. This is the sort of progress you want to be seeing each and every season. At least one player who makes that step up and gets some good time in and around the first team. Gilchrist is now hoping to take a step further and get some real good minutes under his belt on loan.

What I really want to understand here is the 24 players that was used who made 3 or less appearances but were part of match day squads. We know last season that injuries were huge and that probably accounts for a large chunk of these numbers. However I think this speaks to the fact that these players were only there for numbers and not with any intention to actually give them some involvement.

Given the situation we had last season it would have been more beneficial in my opinion to take a handful of these players and consistently use them in the squad to give them time and allow the manager to get confidence in them. Instead it is clear that Pochettino used the academy players just to fill up the bench and had no intention of using them. It was used to give a little reward to players the opportunity to sit on the first team bench for a match or 2.

This is highlighted by the fact that 20 of those 32 players made no more than 5 minutes on the pitch with the majority (15) seeing no minutes at all. It is clear that an opportunity was missed last season to allow some of these players the chance to integrate themselves more in the same way that Gilchrist did. It is hard to understand actually given 15 separate players the opportunity to be part of the first team squad and never use them. Again this is a massive underlining of the fact that there was never the intention to use them in the first place.

Looking ahead to this coming season and we have seen the number of first team players who are academy graduates dwindle significantly. It remains to be seen how Maresca will use the academy players in and around his first team but I hope that when he does it will be in more meaningful way than we saw last season. It is something I will be keeping an eye on and will see how things have gone once we come to the end of the season.

Be positive not Negative

One of the biggest problems we have at this football club in terms of playing style is the lack of positive attitude. The only way to play quick exciting football is to play in a positive way, what does that mean? Well it involves a few different aspects of the way we play.

It all starts right at the beginning. Too many times we have seen us set up with the opposition in mind only. Yes you do have to do that to a certain extent but to set up with defensive minded players like Bertrand on the wing against teams like QPR and Brentford is just madness, understandable when there is a real threat to try and stifle like Messi, Ronaldo, Tevez ect.. but you are not going to get that same threat from the majority of teams we will play against.

It goes right back to the mentality aspect, of course you study your opposition and learn how they play and how to counteract them but against 99% of the teams we are playing against the main focus should be how we impose ourselves on the opposition to dominate play and give us the best opportunities to win the game, this it seems we do not do.

We have some of the best creative young talent in world football in our squad and to get the best out of them we need to play with a high tempo. You can see that when the pace of the game picks up and the ball moves with speed the ability from these players shines in particular Juan Mata. These players are so quick with what they are doing that they can take 3 or 4 players out the game with one quick move. Playing with a slow tempo however makes it so much harder for them, the ball gets passed around the 18 yard box for a while looking for an opening and when it comes that opening is so tight that the pass will not get where it was intended.

Just look at the second half against Man Utd to see how the quick play gets the best out of these players and look at most of the other games to see how a slow tempo game frustrates these players and makes it very difficult for them.

The final aspect is pressing. This is something that we very rarely do but the best teams have to do. When opposition teams have possession we always sit back and let them come at us with absolutely no pressure on the ball. Teams can just take their time to pick out the pass they want and make it and as for crosses well we just seem far to happy to let them come in and then deal with them. Again against United we was on them as soon as they got the ball and it caused them all sorts of problems. We want possession of the ball and we do not want them to have it. Barcelona are the masters at the pressing game and that is why their possession stats are always so high. We have got to stop making it so easy for teams to come at us, this is why we have struggles defensively because we invite the pressure and hope to deal with it.

This is not to say that the team has to play full tilt pressing and quick breaks every time. Jose's team had it right, they would break when they could but they also knew how to rest on the ball, keep possession while resting, we do not have the right balance to our play at the moment.

There are signs that we are finding our feet, last night there were periods where we would press and made quick chances but there was all too often where we would let them play and put pressure on ourselves. If we can up our tempo and be positive in our play then the rest of the season could be good again for us as fans to watch. 

A springboard to a positive end?

There has been a lot of talk following the game against Manchester United on Sunday, unfortunately a lot of the talk has been about whether Benitez should get the credit for the changes he made, personally i think the team selection was wrong from the outset but Benitez is not the topic of this blog post.

What we saw from the team on Sunday was a group of players really go for it, the pressure was put on Man Utd and this is something we have rarely done, the first half against Arsenal was another example of when we did this. All too often we are content to let the opposition have possession of the ball and allow them tons of space to come at us and we hope we can clear it from our defence, then we have a slow build up and try and break through a brick wall.

This time we put pressure on the United players, we harried them when they were on the ball and then we broke quickly to catch them out and we did on several occasions. This is the basis on what we need to work on for the rest of the season. We have hugely talented attacking players and we need to utilize them, we cannot expect them to beat 8 men every time, we need to give them opportunities to break at defenses with speed.

The managers biggest fault has been his refusal to play our only real defensive midfielder Mikel. Mikel needs to be playing every game for the rest of the season. When the substitutions were made on Sunday and the Chelsea fans were singing "you don't know what you're doing" i was surprised because the subs made sense. Personally i think it is because a lot of fans are a little precious when it comes to Frank Lampard, fact is that Frank does not always cut it in the formation that we play and this game was one of those. With Mikel alongside him Ramires is able to be at his devastating best. Mikel and Ramires is our best pairing and should be played together in the biggest games, Lampard and Ramires should be a combination played together, it just does not work and never has.

Ramires' runs from deep are what he is all about, even when played out wide his best work has been done on the break and running from deep, playing high up the pitch and trying to make things happen is not his best suit. Ramires is a bundle of energy, him breaking from deep with Mikel sitting causes problems for opposition defenses and he is able to make much more telling contributions. When played alongside Lampard he is the one expected to be more defensive minded and that is not his strong suit either, he can play well defensively, but positionally it is not comfortable for him.

Playing a high tempo pressing game suits the players we have and releases the pressure we put onto ourselves. We can play all 3 of Oscar, Mata and Hazard together and it will work very well, but the tempo of our play needs to be high for them to be as effective as they can be.

Can Benitez use what he saw on Sunday and take us comfortably to the end of the season without giving all supporters heart attacks? Or will his constant chopping and changing and random substitutions still continue? 

For me we showed ourselves the way to play, hopefully the players can realize this and galvanize themselves for a decent end to a disaster of a season. We have a very good team of players and we should be looking to finish the season comfortably in 4th place not hoping and praying for 4th place on the last day of the season.

The fans are not at fault here Rafa!

Last night saw a spectacular outburst from the Interim one and it is a wonder that he is still in charge of this football club. The outburst has had some people agreeing with him (basically opposition fans, those who like to be different and those who crave attention) and some people disagreeing with him, and surprisingly a number of media outlets agreeing with Chelsea fans on this point.

Chelsea fans have been right from the outset, yes we didn't want him because he was in charge of Liverpool and said some stupid things about us but more than that we knew that he is a useless manager. At the end of his reign as Liverpool manager Chelsea fans would sing that we wanted him to stay  there because he was doing such a wonderful job of messing up Liverpool football club. We knew it then and we knew it when he was appointed here.

Benitez has a habit of blaming everyone possible for his failings other than himself. When he came he said that he will prove himself by winning games, well he has not won games that he should be winning and as such has proved himself to be as useless as we thought he was. He said he would get Torres playing well again but Torres scored more and looked better pre-Benitez. It is quite staggering how bad things have got.

For Benitez to come out and blame the fans for the poor performances is just ridiculous. You can blame Abramovic for the knee jerk sacking of DiMatteo and the frankly bizarre appointment of Benitez. You can blame the players for not playing to their highest level. Then you can blame the man whose bizarre team selections, tactics and substitutions actually DO dictate what goes on the pitch. 

On top of all that he has it totally wrong, Chelsea fans do support the TEAM they do not support BENITEZ. There is big difference there and one i am sure that is not lost on the players. 

To me it seems like this is a man who has either found out that he is not getting the job long term and is chucking his toys out of the pram. Or more likely because he has previous of this is to find things are not going well for him and he is trying to maneuver his way out of the club.

If he is not given the push before the game against West Brom then the reception he is going to get will quite rightfully be unbelievable and will continue to be so until he finally leaves our club and on that day everyone will be happy. The desire for Benitez to go has got to such a level that most people are thinking warmly of comical Avi Grant and would quite happily have him back for the end of the season.

Personally i can't go that far, a Steve Holland, Dermot Drummy combination would suit me for the remainder of the season. Any replacement would get better results than Benitez is now. But the question has to be asked, how on earth is he still the manager after that rant? 
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Put us out of our misery

A season that started with so much promise has now descended into chaos. When the 2012/13 season started we were looking forward with excitement, we had signed some exciting young talent with ability to make us play some good football and we had the prospect of some exciting trophies to win with Super cup and the World Club Cup both up for grabs.

Fast forward to today and we have managed to mess up the Community Shield, the Super Cup, the Champions League, the Club World Cup, the League Cup and the Premiership leaving us with the FA Cup and the Europa League a competition we never expected to be in in the first place and chances are very slim that we will win either of those.

Add to that list of disasters the fact that we fired a manager hugely popular with the fans way before giving him. Fair chance and appointed the only man that Chelsea fans would dispise being in the job even if it is only as interim.

So all I am asking now is for the club and Roman to put us out of our misery. Please just get shot of Benitez whatever it means. Even if we replace him with Steve Holland and Dermot Drummy for the rest of the season. Anything has got to be better than what we are having to sit and suffer at the moment. The football is going very wrong and it is clear Benitez has not got a clue how to get things going for us again.

We are in serious danger of missing out on a top four finish again this season and this time there will be no way for us to get in the Champions League without it. To start next season without Champions League football would not help us at all.

Lets act now, no manger has been afforded the luxury of this level of poor results and performances and hold onto his job so why allow it now. Sack Benitez now and let's try and save something from this season and that is securing a top 4 finish.

All we ask us get Benitez as far away from this club as possible. And quickly too.

Support the academy

These are trying times for Chelsea fans, watching our team perform to a level that is way below them and struggling to beat even the smallest of teams, not to mention having to endure a manager that pretty much ever fan cannot stand. But thankfully there is an answer to the woes...... follow the young stars in the academy!

Roman Abramovic has a vision for Chelsea, he wants them to be an entertaining team, playing wonderful football and being successful at the same time. What he may not realize is that it has already been achieved and the academy is providing that vision.

Last night saw a Chelsea U19's team take on a huge challenge in the NextGen series last 16 against first team foes Barcelona. The assumption was that things would go pretty similar to the first team, Barcelona will have lots of possession and Chelsea will try and hold them off and catch them on the break.  As it turned out it was just like the first team, but not in that way. As is typical in a Chelsea Barcelona game Chelsea had to play half the game with 10 men. Prior to Connor Hunte being sent off Chelsea were playing very good football, playing out from the back and keeping possession well, Barca had chances but a lot of them game from mistakes from our defence. In the first half we deserved to be 1 - 0 ahead and then had to hold off waves of Barca attacks than really led to little in real chances due to a superb defensive performance  then much like a night not too long ago in Barcelona we go down the other end and Boga produces some magic to win the game.

I would have loved to have seen this game played out for the full 90 minutes with 11 v 11 because it was a great footballing spectacle and the sending off ruined that, however i don't think there can be any arguments over the sending off, it was a very very silly challenge to make already being on a yellow.

What this game highlights is just how far we have come, Barca are regarded as having the best youth set up in world football, bringing those talents through and we went there and for 45 minutes was playing them comfortably at their own game.

If you are feeling down with Chelsea at the moment turn your attentions to the academy and you will be in for a thrilling end to the season. It is debatable how much improvement the new league set ups at U18 and U21 levels has brought around but what it has created is a bit of league excitement for the end of the season and something to really aim for.

With the win over Barcelona last night Chelsea U19's find themselves in the quarter finals of the NextGen Series with their opponents to be decided on Friday and this is a team that should fear no-one. On top of that the recent win in the FA Youth Cup sees the U18's in the quarter finals of that competition too with a ties against either Derby or Manchester City. 

In the U18's league Chelsea topped their first phase group in style and are still unbeaten in the second phase in the Elite group with 2 draws and a win and will be expected to do well. In the new set up Chelsea will need to finish in the top 3 places of this Elite group to progress to the semi finals and be in with a chance of being crowned U18's league champions a challenge that i am sure they are well up to achieving.

At U21's level Chelsea have a tougher route if they wish to be crowned U21's champions, having narrowly missed out on the Elite group they find themselves in Group 1 where they are currently top after 3 wins and a loss although they have played more games than the 2 below them but they are playing very well so far. To make the semi finals however from Group 1 they would need to finish top in the group and then play off against the top team in group 2 to join the top 3 teams in the Elite group in the semi finals. Not an easy task for sure but one that this group of players can do.

What you will always get at Academy level is great football, desire and commitment from the players and excitement. It is getting harder and harder to justify why these players are not coming through to the first team. So cure your blues blues with the academy, watch the games on Chelsea TV or the highlights on my YouTube, get down to cobham on a Saturday morning to watch the U18's if you can and go and see the U21's if you can because it is going to be an exciting end to the season for the Chelsea academy boys.