da betsul： When Chelsea won the league in 2015, the question was could they retain it? The same questions will be asked going into the new campaign, but it’s been nine seasons since any team won two Premier League titles in a row.
da dobrowin： Only two clubs have done it over the last 25 years, and even if you look beyond the Premier League’s inception, you have to go back to 1984 when Liverpool managed it. Chelsea have only ever repeated a title victory once, in 2006 under Jose Mourinho.
So although no side has retained the title in a while, it doesn’t necessarily mean that it’s harder today, even though it’s true that the Premier League – with its evenly-matched top six – is as competitive at the top as it’s ever been. It’s always been hard, but Chelsea could end the summer perfectly placed to do it again.
Of course, whatever you do in the transfer market will only ever set you up for the season ahead. Deciding favourites and predicting title winners based only on a glorified shopping spree is clearly going too far. That said, Chelsea are in a great position to make this summer count. Naturally, they could also mess it up. It can still go both ways.
Back in the summer of 2005, the Blues were celebrating their first Premier League title. It was arguably one of the greatest seasons in recent memory, too. They conceded just 15 goals, losing only once in the league. That was a 1-0 defeat to Manchester City, as a Nicolas Anelka penalty consigned Jose Mourinho to his first defeat in English football on a rainy evening in the north. They won the title by a massive 12-point margin.
Chelsea were clearly the best team in the country, but you don’t get anywhere resting on laurels. Champions certainly don’t retain their titles just because they were the best team the season previous. Wholesale changes clearly aren’t the recipe for repeating the success, but squads need strengthening, not to mention freshening up.
And that’s what Mourinho did.
Clearly, Chelsea were still a work in progress when they won their first league title. Money was still about to be spent in the hope of adding the Champions League to their trophy cabinet, as Roman Abramovich attempted to make his mark on world football. But that was exactly why his team were able to maintain their form over two full seasons.
They say that a league is a marathon, not a sprint, and once you cross the finish line and break the tape, it’s only natural to stop running. That’s what needs to be avoided, and the inability to add new mountum is one of the reasons it’s so hard to retain the title.
Contrast Chelsea’s 2015 summer with their 2005 one. Both times Jose Mourinho was the coach, but only in 2005 did he add the quality needed to make his starting XI better.
In 2015, Chelsea signed Baba Rahman, Asmir Begovic and Radamel Falcao. Perhaps only Pedro was the sort of signing to strengthen the team, but even if the Spanish international did make Chelsea better, he didn’t make them much better. In the end, summer business wasn’t the reason the Blues finished the season in 10th, but you get the feeling that they were never going to retain the title anyway.
But that’s in stark contrast to the summer of 2005, when Michael Essien, Shaun Wright-Phillips and Asier del Horno were, amongst others, added to the squad. Wright-Phillips and Del Horno may not now look like the most important signings in Chelsea’s history, but they played a huge role in helping the team retain its title.
Essien made 41 appearances in his first season, whilst Wright-Phillips made 38 and Del Horno 33. Each player was a key member of the squad, and that’s the crucial point. New players in the starting XI add a desire and a hunger to the squad, injecting a little extra momentum at a vital stage, just before the new season starts.
This summer, Chelsea probably look more like the 2005 team than the 2015 side in terms of their starting XI. Two years ago, you could have named Chelsea’s starting lineup, and there looked to be few obvious weaknesses. That’s why it was so hard to buy the right players. In 2005, Jiri Jarosik, Mateja Kezman and Alexei Smertin could all be improved upon, and they were.
This summer will be a similar story. A new central midfielder could improve on Nemanja Matic, whilst there is surely a right wing-back who can improve on Victor Moses, despite the fact he stood in admirably last season in a new position.
Up front, if Diego Costa goes, a replacement like Romelu Lukaku may not be a huge step up in quality, but would certainly add a new dimension and provide the squad with a fresher impetus in attack. The makeshift nature of Chelsea’s squad last season lends itself perfectly to a summer of improvements, and that’s exactly how titles are retained.
There are some caveats, though. They were spared Champions League football last season, but European commitments will add to their burden this time around. That won’t help, even though all of the other title rivals will suffer the same. It’s also true that all of the other teams will strengthen, too, and with the money available to the Premier League’s top clubs you get the feeling that they’ll all be dangerous whatever happens.
And then there’s Chelsea’s own performance in the transfer market so far. The window hasn’t even officially opened yet, so judgement must be reserved for now, but recent reports painted a picture of a manager frustrated at transfer inactivity and threatening to quit the club. Those reports have since been ‘laughed off’ by Chelsea, but inactivity is a real cause for concern.
They are in a similar situation to 2005, with a team capable of winning the league, and some obvious areas where they can strengthen in order to give themselves an even better chance of success. But signings need to be made.