Last year, before the away game against Crystal Palace, an article written by Louise Taylor appeared in The Guardian under the headline “Chelsea’s perfect 10 but are they that good and have they any weak points?” Going on to ignore the first question completely and failing miserably to get to grips with the second, the piece proved to be one of many forensic Chels studies made over the Christmas period and relied heavily on the posing of further [unanswered] questions, such as, is three at the back really that great an idea and could matching up a trend be capable of demystifying Conte’s 3-4-3 blueprint? But, needless to say and try as hard all the hacks and pundits might, none of them have come up with anything like a magic potion to cure the Premier League’s primary ill this season - the growing concern that by the end of February, if not earlier, Chelsea will have turned the title race into a non-event.

More importantly, neither have the managerial medicine men at any of our closest rival clubs. Since last December we have gone from strength to strength with only Spurs, of all teams, finding a chink in our armour-plated defence which, true to their own advertising hoarding blurb, resulted in them getting under it by means of the relatively simple tactical ploy of targeting the right-sided height issue in our back three when defending as a five. But that was to be it, all there was by way of Sherlockian detection and fault-finding, an exercise in failure that seems to have ended in mass shoulder-shrugging, case-closed acceptance for ManU, Man City and Mankind in their quest to rid the football world of an unspeakable, unprintable CD virus - Chelsea Domination. Indeed, apart from the solitary panacea provided by a Dele Alli double and the resultant three-point drop at the Lane, abnormal service was duly resumed against Leicester, an aggrieved press corps subsequently reverting to type with their last ditch lazy journalism, the en bloc frolicking in a murky pool of ‘let’s destabilise Diego’ nonsense. 

So, can it really be said that the Conte era heralds an unstoppable advance of full blown CD or is this just the wishful thinking of a fan instantly sold on the Italian‘s football philosophy? Any Chelsea supporters response probably hinges on his or her own levels of optimism when measured against the numerous false dawns we’ve experienced over the last decade, but assuming you have sufficient faith (and who wouldn’t in present circumstances?) it is tempting to look forward to our basking in what could easily be a very long sunny spell of success. Exactly how long may well depend on the length of time it takes for the hero everyone else is holding out for to step up to the plate, whether it be Potch, Pep, Jurgen or Mou, the Fourth Estate aren’t fussy, although the current flavour of the month is the former and any championing of the latter would have to be grudgingly made through gritted laptops. Yet in all honesty what are the odds of the Media’s saving grace (or graceless save in Jose‘s case) coming from this quarter? Slim to none, I’d say, because our Antonio has played a blinder so far and he appears to have no equal. 

This then, begs the question - where, exactly, are the ’weak points’ Louise Taylor refers to and, should there be none beyond fake news about Diego, is Chelsea Domination potentially as incurable as it is inevitable? In the past, when faced with a similar threat in the 2004/5 season, there were age-old antidotes available. A good dose of ferocious Fergie could always be relied upon to stiffen ManU sinews and if that potent mix of teacup tossing and press censorship failed to do the trick (as it did the very next season) most expert analysers still displayed sufficient blind faith in Professor Wenger and his bottled elixir to proclaim such quackery a ‘cure all‘ and not the ‘do f***k all‘ it has turned out to be. The Special One ended up confounding both, only to suffer at the hands of an increasingly resentful Media that rubbished his management style and methodology, undermining the working relationship with Roman and derailing CD in the process. Ten years on and the club now look a different proposition altogether, the likelihood of our perennial weakness - a pressing of the self-destruct button - an improbability under Conte, and the added bonus being that his football philosophy hardly lends itself to the s**t on a stick criticism we were subjected to when Jose was in his pomp. 

Also, slap bang in the centre of a period best described as ‘the-big-Manc-spend-up-years‘ our own rigid adherence to Financial Fair Play has served to counter the derogatory ’buying the title’ claims once levelled against us, this principled stance being helped in no small measure by a flourishing Academy. Indeed, it could be argued that CD has already been firmly established in this area through a relentless winning of FA Youth Cups year-on-year, as well as other highly-regarded European trophies. Previously a hornets nest regularly poked at by the Media for being an excessive waste of money on young players that would ultimately do nobody any good, our Development Squads have [at last] proved themselves to be the breeding ground for top class talent and all that remains is for youngsters like Loftus-Cheek, Chalobah, Aina, Ake, Musonda and Solanke to establish themselves in the first team, thereby completing the evolutionary cycle. Cynicism on this subject was rife before Conte arrived, but now even a previous critic like Henry Winter of The Times has had to take a serious look at the progress being made rather than just give it a cursory glance. When a journalist of his standing does this you end up with a quality piece, as seen from the following paragraphs taken from his recent article on RLC:-

“The club now feel that Ruben Loftus-Cheek, whose progress was again tracked by Gareth Southgate on Saturday, is ready to “cross The Road” permanently. The Road runs through Cobham’s expansive complex, separating academy from first team, development to delivery, and signals a player fully in contention for sustained involvement…

… two years ago, Chelsea discussed whether Loftus-Cheek should go on loan to sharpen him up, but José Mourinho felt that the player was progressing quickly and wanted him within the first-team fold. Injuries, and pupils’ differing learning speeds, as well as competition for places, held Loftus-Cheek back and Chelsea now regret not sending him out on loan. But such is his weight of talent that he has forced his way through. Others have taken more scenic routes, such as Nathan Aké, newly recalled from a successful loan with Bournemouth. The Dutchman, 21, knows that he is returning with a good chance of playing, especially with Terry and Ivanovic fading.

… Chelsea engage in an internal debate about Aké’s best position, probably a left-sided centre back but also capable of holding midfield, even wing back. He and Kurt Zouma, who was bought from Saint-Étienne for £12 million, loaned back and then brought back, are not in Conte’s squad merely to make up the numbers. They will be joined by another centre back, Andreas Christensen, next pre-season. In the summer of 2015, Chelsea decided that their highly regarded Danish centre back, then 19, needed to work on his heading and tackling. His passing and reading of the game was considered advanced. After extensive discussions at Cobham, Chelsea opted for a two-season loan to Borussia Mönchengladbach, where they felt that Christensen would mature as a player and a person. He was soon in the Denmark national squad and is constantly monitored by Paulo Ferreira and Eddie Newton, popular former players who are now in charge of overseeing the loanees.”

And the conveyor belt also looks well set to keep the talent flowing for many years to come, those not making the grade with us receiving a level of coaching that is second to none, standing them in good stead to pursue a career with another club eager to employ a youngster with the football equivalent of an Oxbridge education. Of course, the real high flyers must have one thing in common - patience - but of those named above RLC, Chalobah and Ake are within touching distance and there now appears to be a natural pathway leading to regular first team appearances next season. Just as there is a fine skill to The Road building going on at Cobham so there is an art to choosing the right moment to move on to pastures new, as recently displayed by Branna, and to retire, as no doubt JT will demonstrate at the end of this season. Though parting is such sweet sorrow in the case of the legend, there is a feeling that nowadays the club is even getting these momentous changes right (in terms of their timing to fit in with a greater scheme of things) and maybe, when one door closes on Steve Holland joining Gareth Southgate at the FA, another will open to welcome Lamps back into the fold in his place.    

So, no weak spot crumbs of comfort to be found for the Media in this direction either, which leaves them clutching at a last short term straw in this season’s title race that is best summed up by the phrase - ’it’s Chelsea’s to lose’. This phraseology is, of course, as close as we are ever going to get to symbolic waving of the white flag and grudging acceptance of the existence of CD as a growing force. Resigned, as every news outlet is, to acknowledging the situation (often in the most coded and sour-grape fashion) you can sense the pessimism in every pundit voice or printed word, excellent work such as Henry Winter‘s article being an exception to the drool. How different it all would have been if Pep’s Citeh or Potch’s Spurs, or Klopp’s Pool, or Arsene’s Arse, or even the increasingly moody Mou’s United, had been in our position. Revolutions would have been gleefully predicted, Histories gloriously made, Dynasties started, New Eras begun, Geniuses hailed. But instead, unless I’m very much mistaken, we shall see Antonio simply, solemnly sworn in as a great manager with little mention made of the potential for CD, or even an acknowledgement of it already having been established at youth level. 

A media narrative that was once all about an unspeakable club owned by an unspeakable Russian, with unspeakable players, managed by an unspeakable individual, spending unspeakably large sums of money, has been rendered ridiculous in one watershed season under the guidance of Antonio Conte, our catalyst for future success on what could be an unprecedented scale. Only time will tell, but this unspoken truth could end up speaking volumes.           
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Edited February 5, 20179 yr by Dorset

Very optimistic piece, Dorset. Lots to be optimistic about, of course, but we  always, as a club, seem to have our fingers above the self-destruct button. It might be Steve Holland's departure, it might be an injury to Kante, it might be JT's career coming to an end, it might be Conte deciding to swap Hazard for some overrated joker like Cavani, it might be bulldozing the old East Stand, it might be something utterly unforeseeable, but somewhere along the line lurks something that will derail the amazing progress we have seen so far.

 

Edited February 5, 20179 yr by Backbiter

This is Chelsea we're talking about. Enjoy it while it lasts. But I'm hoping Conte stays for a long time, and we finally have some stability. 

No jinx.

5 hours ago, Ivanov87 said:

This is Chelsea we're talking about. Enjoy it while it lasts. But I'm hoping Conte stays for a long time, and we finally have some stability. 

No jinx.

 

He comes across like a young Mourinho without the ego and ludicrously confrontational nature. Hopefully, if things at any point begin to slip, Roman has learned patience and will give him time to turn things around. This year has been superb so far, but there's still so many top managers and teams around who are sure to strengthen even further.

Not sold on domination yet but it will happen soon. I also want to see us crushing Liverpool before saying we're dominating. Anfield is really a tough stadium.

On 2/6/2017 at 00:03, Ivanov87 said:

This is Chelsea we're talking about. Enjoy it while it lasts. But I'm hoping Conte stays for a long time, and we finally have some stability. 

No jinx.

 

He will stay for long. That I'm sure of.