Many Chelsea faithful regret an abrupt departure of their Italian manager Roberto Di Matteo, who was sacked after a few poor results.
Many Chelsea faithful regret an abrupt departure of their Italian manager Roberto Di Matteo, who was sacked after a few poor results. Many Chelsea fans have not been convinced with the sacking of a man who brought Champions League glory for the first time in the club’s history. Di Matteo is certainly a very good coach though his side has not been in good form of recent. Perhaps Chelsea owner Roman Abromovich was angered by their heavy loss against Juventus in the UEFA Champions’ League but forgot the Italian brilliance last season.Di Matteo restored a good sporting environment at Chelsea after their European success and performed well in the first phase of the 2012-2013 English Premier League season.He was replaced by Spanish coach Rafa Benitez, a man who has endured tough times at Liverpool and Inter Milan.Though it is too early to predict Benitez success at Chelsea, his impact so far is not good after failing to score against Manchester city and Fulham.The Spanish replaced Di Matteo two weeks ago but has failed to win his first two premier league games that have all ended in a 0-all draw. Though playing against Manchester City and Fulham is not an easy task for many teams, tactical changes made against Fulham in their mid-week fixture was naïve.The former Liverpool manager opted to make two changes to the side that drew 0-0 in his first game in charge against City last weekend, making the strange decision to rest Juan Mata and John Obi Mikel in favor of inexperienced youngsters Oriol Romeo and Ryan Bertrand.Mata’s performance this season has been incredible, his dynamism and creativity inspired Chelsea at the start of the season. He has a good penetrative mind in the penalty area and creates space for teammates to score.Chelsea problems are not in the midfield as recent tactical approaches for Rafa highlighted. Chelsea has for long been reliant on striker Fernando Torres who only resurrected his scoring form during Di Matteo’s short-lived reign at Chelsea. Torres is currently suffering from a slump in performance as he has failed to score for Chelsea in their last five outings. His replacement Daniel Sturridge lacks experience and sharpness to score goals and Chelsea certainly lacks a formidable striking force.With Romeo Lukaku currently on loan at West Brom, Chelsea will have to wait until the January transfer window to look for a new striker or recall back the Belgian international.Benitez should revise means to improve his striking options in search for goals at Stamford bridge, otherwise he will find problems to win games for Chelsea.The Blues are now seven points behind leaders Manchester united and six points behind second-placed Man City. Further poor results will dump Chelsea in the middle table as teams like Tottenham and West Brom look well placed to overtake them.Their next fixture is against West Ham United at Upton’s park, a game that Rafa has to win in order to install faith at the Bridge.It is not easy now days to beat the Premier League newcomers and Chelsea will struggle to get positive results at their fellow Londoners.There is still a long way to go if the new Chelsea coach is to win matches and possibly convince the fans that owner Abramovic made the right decision.Benitez is currently facing a hostile environment at Chelsea and his condition with Blues fans during his time at Liverpool was not good.At their last fixture against Fulham, Benitez avoided the boos that greeted his appearance in the home dugout against City, yet the atmosphere around Stamford Bridge was flat from the outset. It now looks like the enthusiasm has been sucked out of the players and supporters ever since Di Matteo left.Chelsea has lacked the invention to score goals in their last two fixtures as Oscar and Hazard were denied space to operate and Torres was lazy and struggled in his movement as the target man in the attack.