Southampton Stalemate

Chelsea's distinctly patchy away form continued on the south coast as the league leaders had to make do with a solitary point, in spite of complete dominance of the second half. However, just as the Blues were bracing themselves for a home win at the Etihad, Burnley were good enough to prevent Manchester Wannabes from trimming the gap at the top to one point. Instead, both teams in blue and the also rans in third [aka ManUre] all recorded one point for their efforts on this day.

Wayne Rooney, certainly nobody's idea of an insightful footballing sage, was nevertheless correct to suggest that the congested fixtures over the Christmas period is counter-productive and can lead to injuries. Mind you, Burnley have just fielded the same eleven players yet again, and this kamikaze ploy appears to have served their troops well. So much for the merits of squad rotation!

In fact, adding to the folly of squad rotation was Mourinho's understandable decision to bring in a few reinforcements for the visit to Southampton. However, this strategy backfired. Schurrle replaced Willian in the starting line-up, but it was apparent by the halfway stage that such a reshuffle didn't bear any fruit. It's now obvious that Schurrle is exceptionally good at coming on as a substitute and making a dynamic impact from the bench. Unfortunately he still seems woefully incapable of imposing himself upon the proceedings when used from the kick-off. This is a conundrum that Mourinho will strive to remedy, or else Herr Schurrle may have to bid Auf Wiedersehen. Willian, by contrast, has the energy and workrate to keep the team ticking over and transform defence into attack. The flip side with this Brazilian maestro is that he lacks Schurrle's accuracy in front of goal. For me, Willian's lack of goals is a major worry, as it is a trifle unrealistic to expect Costa and even the red-hot Hazard to be scoring all of our goals. 

Furthermore, Mikel was brought back into the fray. He will never be a fans' favourite nor a man of the match candidate in any match. Yes we acknowledge his efforts in the Champions League success of 2012, but I am still firmly in the camp that wonders why Mikel still occasionally commands a starting place in a team of superstars. Most matches [this one included] seem to pass him by. Mikel does not deliver incisive passes, make many great tackles, or threaten to score many goals. He is a passenger. If Chelsea want to attain silverware in 2015, they can scarcely afford passengers in the starting XI.

Ultimately, Chelsea's failings against Southampton were a complete absence of efforts on target, with the glorious exception of Hazard's excellent solo effort on the stroke of half time. It's all very well enjoying lots of possession, but converting the possession into chances was lacking. Chelsea pride themselves on being 'patient' but I find the 'let's not panic' mentality to be a fools' paradise, because the Premiership leaders like to probe and probe, but before you know it, half an hour has passed by and the probing has not resulted in goals. The team are now a cross between the Barcelona of Guradiola and the Arsenil of Wenger, two teams that seek the perfect goal and who wish to walk the ball into the net. We need more long range efforts from the likes of Fabregas, Matic, and Willian to ask questions of the goalkeeper. Otherwise, a refusal to mix up our attacks renders Chelsea's approach play a bit predictable. Consequently, a well-organised defence like Southampton can cope with everything that Chelsea throw at them.

The bottom line is that Chelsea are consistently struggling to score more than two goals in a Premiership match in the last several weeks. Now that goals are hard to come by, opposing teams are able to ambush a team that is a shadow of the free-scoring express that blitzed Everton with six goals back in August. In the Premiership, Chelsea have failed to score more than twice in a match since October, with the one exception, a home win against Tottensham. Funnily enough they are our next opponents. I doubt whether the so-called mighty Spurs will be quite so generous on New Year's Day. However, Chelsea cannot allow many more away points to be conceded, or else it puts huge pressure on achieving maximum points at home for the remainder of the campaign. With Manchester Mercenaries at home to Sunderland, west London's finest could see their lead diminish further or even evaporate, unless they can rediscover their Midas touch away from the comfort zone of Stamford Bridge. 

Southampton 1 CHELSEA 1; half time: 1-1. Sunday 28th December 2014.

CHELSEA goal scorer: Hazard

CHELSEA team: Courtois, Ivanovic, Cahill, Terry, Filipe Luis, Mikel, Fabregas, Schurrle, Matic, Hazard, Costa. Used substitutes: Willian, Drogba, Remy.

CHELSEA LEADING SCORERS:

Costa - 13 goals

Hazard - 10 goals

Drogba - 6 goals

Fabregas, Oscar, and Schurrle - 4 goals

Matic, Remy, and Terry - 3 goals

Ivanovic, Ramires, and Willian - 2 goals