In an ideal world, Chelsea would be flourishing at the top of the table, playing free-flowing, entertaining football and winning teams week in and week out by 3 or 4 goals.
In an ideal world, Andre Villas Boas would be the Messiah, the young Portuguese champion who united the expensive egos in the locker room and made Chelsea play as a lean, mean, fighting machine.
In an ideal world, Torres would be banging in the goals with aplomb and plundering defences everywhere.
In an ideal world, David Luiz would know how to defend.
But we're not living in an ideal world.
Sadly, we're living in the real world where Chelsea are currently struggling in a fight to finish 4th place, where the dressing room looks more like a war zone, where AVB is on the verge of tasting player mutiny, where Torres has not scored since the Beatles broke up, where a popular strategy opposing teams have adopted against Chelsea recently seems to be "let's pass the ball to David Luiz in his own half and collect the stray pass / failed dribble thereafter", where Sturridge doesn't realise that football is not a single player sport and where getting 3 points against Bolton is an occasion worthy of popping open the champagne bottle for.
To say that it's been a bad season would be the understatement of the year. There is no doubt that major changes need to happen at the Bridge come summer. Fresh faces, a change of philosophy and a revamp of club structure, maybe. But that is still a couple of months away. At present, there's less than 15 matches more to play before the season draws to a close. So the only thing left on the agenda for Chelsea would be to salvage whatever's capable of being salvaged.
There is still hope yet. It's not as if the Chelsea players all turned shite overnight. Their current predicament is more down to a combination of bad tactics, crap formation, wrong selection of players in wrong positions and AVB's inability to adapt to his players' strength and motivate them.
So, on the assumption that AVB reads blogs, and on the further assumption that AVB actually were to stumble upon this humble one, and on the very unlikely and furhter assumption that he then decides to consider recommendations made in blogs, then AVB please listen up and listen good.
PLAY 3-4-3.
An unconventional, flexible and fluid formation which would suit Chelsea's current personnel and collectively play to their respective strengths best.
Centrebacks
First, AVB has to line up 3 solid centrebacks. No problem. Terry (when fit), Cahill and Ivanovic would form the 3 Burly Musketeers needed to patrol Chelsea's box. Terry with his experience and reading of the game would provide a solid leadership from the back, marshalling the back line and keeping the shape of defence in a 'Marcell Dessaily-style' role. This would inevitably take some pressure off his weary legs and ageing body as he has both Cahill and Ivanovic playing the 'stopper' / man-marking roles.
Flying Wingbacks
Next, we need 2 attacking wingbacks to provide cover and width to the team. Enter Ashley Cole on the left and David Luiz on the right. Cole as the left wingback would not be much different that what he already does week in, week out for Chelsea except that now with 3 centrebacks behind, he can be even more adventurous and overlap down the left flank even more.
Perhaps a few eyebrows would be raised at the suggestion of Luiz as right wingback. Yes, this involves assigning a new position to an already unstable and positionally indisciplined player. However, if you think about it, Luiz's problems stem from his rash tackles, eagerness to gallop forward and penchant to make those jinking runs into the opposing half. Whilst such qualities are frowned upon for a centreback, these are essentially the traits needed for a rampaging wingback. As a wingback, Luiz could roam freely up the right channel and join attacks when necessary. Any mistakes made, possession lost or wrong footed tackles put in will not have such serious repercussions on the wings compared to if they were committed near the box or in them.
Engine Room
With wingbacks providing thrust and drive along both channels, the midfield must be manned by 2 energetic box-to-box midfielders. Ramires would be an obvious starter in one of these slots given his lung-bursting performances and high energy game he favours. Partnering him would either be Essien / Lampard depending on the opponent they face. Essien should start if the midfield needs a stronger presence or if the opposing team packs the centre of the park with creative midfielders. Lampard would be the alternate option if attacking drive is needed (if the opposing team plays negatively and tries to choke Chelsea out of the game).
The 'One'
Now we move on to attack. The 3-4-3 which I propose has an inverted triangle for an attack. Instead of the version popularised by Mourinho where he employs a sole centre-forward flanked by 2 wide forwards on either wings, the Chelsea squad would do better with a deep-lying playmaker operating in the 'hole' behind 2 strikers. This was a role made popular by players such as Raul Gonzales, Alessandro Del Piero, Zinedine Zidane and even Roman Riquelme. Chelsea has a ready-made candidate in the form of Juan Mata. With his vast array of passing skills, nifty tricks, ball control and creativity, Mata would certainly relish the opportunity to be Chelsea's playmaker extraordinaire, playing a free-role in 'no man's land' where he could be given the license to wreak havoc on defences and feed the front 2.
Twin Strikers
In this day and age, most teams play with a single centreforward. Gone are the days of the standard 4-4-2 where strike partnerships were the most critical component in any team-building. With the squad at his disposal, AVB could do no worse than to revert back to the twin striker system by playing Torres / Drogba and Sturridge.
Everyone knows Sturridge is a skillful lad brimming with potential. However, when pushed to play on the flanks as he has been made to at Chelsea, he has shown frustration, selfishness in releasing players in goalscoring positions and a tendency to drift inwards towards goal. He clearly doesn't fancy himself a wide player and he wants a more central role. Playing him as a striker may just be the solution to his problem.
As for Torres, where do I even begin? Total loss of confidence in his own abilities seem to be turning him into a pale shadow of his former self. Many times this season you could literally see him hesitate for a split second when put through on a half or even full chance on goal. The Torres of old would not have needed as much as a 2nd look to bury the ball into the corner of the net. However, El Nino is not even a mild breeze these days. Playing him alongside a strike partner may just do the trick. It will ease the pressure off him from being the sole goal poacher for Chelsea. Playing alongside a strike partner may even provide Torres an outlet should he feel too crowded out and at the same time a healthy rivalry to stoke him back into competitive spirit.
SUMMARY
In short, a bit of flexibility, revolutionary thinking and a whole lot of balls of steel are needed to put this system into place. As I type this, Chelsea just suffered a 0-1 away loss to West Brom. Seeing Chelsea struggle in that ill-fitted formation which AVB insists on Chelsea playing, and seeing a team like WBA (no disrespects meant) steal a winner in such a fashion makes the need for a change of playing style and formation even more compelling.
Perhaps events of tonight may have sealed AVB's fate. Perhaps and perhaps. But one thing's for sure, whoever replaces AVB (if he is indeed told to walk the plank after this game) would be inheriting a poisoned chalice.
So the biggest perhaps, I would suppose, would be that AVB's successor would read this post ... and sensibly adopts a 3-4-3 to save Chelsea's season.
All together now, 3-4-3!!!
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