Antonio Conte didn’t want to discuss, well, you might call them the elephants in the defence. It’s certainly a metaphor that comes easily after the kind of lumbering movements and pachydermal touches in the Chelsea backline that made life so difficult for the side in successive league defeats to Liverpool and Arsenal.
“I think that it’s not good to talk about the defenders because it’s more important to talk about the whole team,” Conte deflected after the dismal 3-0 defeat at the Emirates.
That might be understandable man-management but the problem is the disproportionate effect Gary Cahill and Branislav Ivanovic - in particular - are having on the team, making it very difficult to understand why they are in the team. They just look out of step.
For the first goal at the Emirates, Cahill was caught out in the same way, for the third successive game. He struggled with his feet. Receiving an admittedly poor back pass, the English international still had time to adjust, but immediately showed why he has averaged more unsuccessful passes - at 33 - than any other Chelsea player this season. He responded clumsily, putting himself into trouble. Alexis Sanchez pounced on that kind of sloppiness, and then showed real slickness to lift the ball over Thibaut Courtois.
That meant Cahill has made the most errors directly leading to a goal in the Premier League this season, with two, but he probably could have shared that one with the supplier of that bad backpass: Ivanovic.
The Serbian was partly responsible for another goal, too, having been ripped apart by Alex Iwobi once more. It was one of the defining images of the game, as he regularly struggled to get near the young Arsenal attacker. That is not just because of Iwobi’s quality. Ivanovic has made his fewest tackles per game this season, at 1.7, than any of his others at Chelsea.
That is probably consistent with what has seemed a long-term decline for the 32-year-old, but it still adds up to an even greater problem for the team. It is not just that it makes the entire right side of their defence so suspect. It is how it spreads beyond errors in that area.
Conte so clearly wants to play a high line to facilitate his ferociously intense ideal pressing game, but that necessitates defenders who are nippy enough to operate in that position, and are good on the ball.
That doesn’t look the case with either Ivanovic or Cahill, who both seem to be struggling even with the fact they have so much possession. Cahill, for example, has averaged 54 passes per game this season. His best before this was 43.7, and it has brought out some of his worst moments.
He rightfully grumbled about the foul he suffered in the Swansea match but, as unfair as that goal was, the fact he was even in that susceptible situation foreshadowed all of this. He just looks so nervous right now.
Ivanovic, however, just looks out of time. And he’s so often out of his position. He has actually made more passes in the final third of the pitch than any other Chelsea player in the league this season, at 55.
It is no coincidence, then, that they have looked so disjointed and devoid of dynamism against better sides.
Because the defence isn’t really comfortable with that line, Conte evidently feels the need to protect, so puts N’Golo Kante in a much more restricted role than he is used to. That in turn pins back the entire midfield, and leaves a massive gap to the forwards.
The combined effect is that this is some way short of a Conte team. The remaining question is why it persists. Why do they continue to get in, and how long will that last?
Cahill does look like he will be jettisoned as soon as John Terry comes back to play alongside David Luiz, and Kurt Zouma should suit Conte's play much more. It would seem obvious that Cesar Azpilicueta can move across to Ivanovic's position with Mikel Alonso coming in at left-back, but then the Serbian has defied the obvious decision before to stay in the team. It does beggar belief that he is getting his game given some of his displays over the last 12 months.
Conte must address the situation, even if he refuses to address questions on it.
What do you feel is Chelsea's strongest backline? Let us know in the comments below
