Chelsea Suffer Largest Premier League Defeat In 23 Years

Photo Credit: Warren Little

Well today was anything but good for Chelsea FC, as they suffered a 4-0 defeat at the hands of Bournemouth FC of all teams. Now look I actually like Bournemouth and admire what the club does on a shoestring budget, but they’re a mid table club that I honestly wouldn’t be surprised in any season if they got relegated. But leave it to Chelsea, battling for a coveted top four spot to not only lose but to get blown out 4-0. As I mentioned, this was the largest defeat Chelsea have suffered in the Premier League in 23 years. The last time they got beat by 4 goals was in 1996 to Liverpool when they lost 5-1. Well after today’s loss, Chelsea have now fallen out of the top 4 and it looks like their season is on the verge of collapsing.

So what went wrong? Well as I mentioned in my Premier League Round-Up after Chelsea’s 2-0 loss to Arsenal, Maurizio Sarri continues with the same tactics no matter how bad the game is going. At least we actually played with a striker up top this time with the newly added Gonzalo Higuain, but that obviously didn’t help much. Also Sarri pulled Alonso in favor of Emerson because all Chelsea fans just drool over Emerson and how he is so much better than Alonso. Well Emerson did absolutely nothing and regardless of Alonso being a defensive liability at times, he’s probably our best player going forward in attack outside of Hazard and he’s a damn defender. Alonso has been one of our most reliable players at Chelsea dating back to 2 seasons ago when we won the title. Again, I don’t understand the Alonso hate, he’s the least of our problems. But outside of Higuain and Emerson, there were no other changes. Same lineup and same awful 4-3-3 formation which doesn’t not fit this team. What will it take for Sarri to realize that Kante cannot play a RM role. Kante is a defensive midfielder that should play right in front of your back 4 defenders, not on the right side running down the pitch like he’s a winger trying to attack. Kante cannot attack and nor should he be expected to, and it’s simple as that. But nope, Jorginho has to play in the middle because he’s the “magician” who pulls all the strings and controls the play. I think that a 4-2-3-1 could work with Kante and Jorginho but with the 4-3-3 Kante shouldn’t even be in the lineup. That may sound harsh but it’s the truth. In the end, the 4-3-3 is going to be the death of Sarri at Chelsea. I’m not saying that we can’t turn it around and squeak out a top 4 spot because the team is still very talented, but I’m giving us only about a 20% chance that we make the top 4 at the moment.

Honestly, If we miss top 4 and Hazard leaves, which he most definitely will, we should just blow up the roster and rebuild from scratch.