Vacancy: Chelsea in need of Forwards

Love him or loathe him, José Mourinho is a very good manager, one the best in the world.

But for all his experience, domestic and continental triumphs; he’s no miracle worker. He cannot turn water into wine, nor can he take an average football player and turn him into a world class forward. The 2013 to 2014 season saw a return of José Mourinho to Chelsea, the team he first managed from 2004 to 2007.

Chelsea has a really good defence, they conceded the least number of goals (27) during the 2013 to 2014 Premier League season. Some may call it “parking the bus” and do not appreciate when the team has nine or ten players sitting back in the defensive third, soaking up the pressure. Despite the criticism, this strategy is very effective in neutralizing goal threats.

Chelsea has a top notch midfield, with players such as Hazard, Schürrle and Oscar to name a few. Excellent dribbling, ball retention and incisive passing are a hallmark of this team. The midfield does pitch in with its contribution in terms of goals but the team has been overly reliant on them to produce.

Chealsea has forwards but they lack the sharpness and killer instinct needed to be successful. José Mourinho has spoken about the lack of quality forwards time and again. To illustrate how badly Chelsea needed a quality forward last season, let’s do a bit of math. Luis Suarez scored 31 Premier league goals for Liverpool while Fernando Torres,Demba Ba and Samuel Eto’o scored a combined total of 19 Premier League Goals for Chelsea. Not exactly prolific.

Chelsea has dominated possession in many matches yet failed to score, losing valuable points along the way. All Chelsea fans hope that the arrival of Diego Costa over the summer will usher in a new era of goal mouth plunder. He will need to hit the ground running, carry on his impressive form from last season.

With a host of creative and dynamic midfielders behind him, he should succeed where the previous forwards have failed to make an impact.

Ultimately they will need to improve their strategy moving into 2014-2015 and not rely so much on their new front man because if he gets injured, they will have to resort back to the same mediocre strikers from last season.