So, Xabi Alonso cocked things up for us twice this season. First with his spawny goal against us at Stamford Bridge – and if not the goal itself that did us some serious damage, then certainly the psychological edge that going four and a half years unbeaten at home being removed has cost us. Secondly, going down as if the sniper had got too impatient waiting for Didier Drogba’s arrival this time, which undoubtedly made Mike Riley’s mind up before he brandished such a ridiculous red card in the return match.  That saw us fall 5 points off United with them still having played a game less, and if there was ever any hope we’d catch them before the Liverpool result, there certainly isn’t any now.

But has our season really been defined by those two games against the dippers or is there a bit more to it than that?

What about our home game against Arsenal, where we were ahead until the linesman gifted Van Persie an equaliser that saw us capitulate? How much did that knock our players’ confidence? Not to mention the humbling at Old Trafford where we didn’t even have bad decisions to blame for the outcome. In fact, any or all of the games we’ve played against Liverpool, Arsenal and United won’t have helped our cause.

Certainly, there’s a few factors that have contributed to this season’s difficulties, but why have Chelsea struggled so much this season, in games we’d previously have been well up for?

Well, I’d hazard a guess that September 15^th was actually the deciding date in our season – the date Steve Clarke joined West Ham.  I mean, if you think about it, ever since then we’ve looked a shadow of our former selves. We’ve lost our fight and for the most part – our defence has gone missing. Coincidentally enough, West Ham’s seem to have turned up.

Even after the strictly defensive Jose Mourinho departed, Clarke was there to pick up the training reins in the background. He was there to get the hapless Avram Grant through the season, going as far as to get us involved in an unbelievably tight title race with United. This season though, Scolari doesn’t have the benefit of the one constant who inevitably picked the players up when they were down and reminded them to do what they knew best. The man who would have spotted the very first set-piece disaster and dealt with it before it turned into the phobia it seems to have become.

I’d talked about Steve Clarke as a potential manager one day, and wondered when he left just what sort of impact it would have on our season. And as we slip further away from Manchester United, I think I have my answer.

Chelsea’s record with and without Steve Clarke 2008/09

Filed under: Rants