Chelsea find their feet, as Benitez Boo-boys fall silent

As always, the International break gives clubs the chance to review their position and reassess their goals for the final end-of-season push. With almost all our players being called up on national duty, they will certainly not be getting any rest. However, it gives Rafa Benitez the chance to analyze and prioritize for the run-in. After Tottenham's much awaited capitulation in recent days, we sit in 3rd place, but we must remember, we still have trips to Anfield and champions-in-waiting Manchester United before we can be rest assured of Champions League football next season.

A key learning since the defeat at Eastlands is that our side needs Jon Obi Mikel. Much maligned for his propensity to pass backwards than find a teammate ahead of him, we forget that there are enough players already in this side now, who are more than willing to do that. The calm he brought to the midfield in the second half at Old Trafford was priceless. Frank Lampard and Ramires for all their effort cannot do what the Nigerian does. Their pairing is fine when the opposition does not play with quality in the No.10 role between the lines. Put the likes of Daivd Silva, Wayne Rooney, Luis Suarez or even Abel Taraabt or Moussa Sissoko in that role, and Lamps and Rami will be brutally exposed. So in the game against West Ham, when Rafa chose not to start Mikel, he got his tactics spot on, as Jack Collison is not in the same league of No.10's who can trouble Chelsea.

Another massive boost is the form of Eden Hazard. He is better than what he was at the start of the season, and its no coincidence that Chelsea's winter slump and Hazard's dip in form came around about the same time. His ability to tease and ghost past established Premier League right backs and combine with Ashley Cole is mesmerizing at times. Even though much praise for him will come when he does the same to the likes of Philip Lahm and Dani Alves in the future Champions League games, for now let's just celebrate and revel in what this young Belgian is capable of doing.

Benitez, for all his short-comings and justified public vilification by Chelsea fans, has got it spot on since the 1st half of the FA Cup quarterfinal against Manchester United. He corrected his mistakes there and put out the our best eleven against Steaua. Although David Luiz put in a shocking 1st half last Thursday, he made up for it with an assured 2nd half display. And the more Luiz plays with John Terry, the better and more disciplined he will get.

What was a little bit of a worry was Demba Ba's glaring miss when he was through on goal against West Ham. A brief look at his record so far will point out that he's been a flop since that opening game against Southampton, and 2 goals in 13 appearance since then certainly doesn't make good reading. But what statistics will not tell you is the runs he makes and space he creates, or the fight he showed to assist Torres' late equalizer at Griffin Park that saved us from crashing out of the FA Cup. And what statistics will not tell you is that one of those two Premier League goals came in a close and hard fought 1-0 win over a strong West Brom side. But yes, we'd like him a clock up a few more goals before the season is over.

Much needed depth and bench strength will be brutally tested as the congested fixture list just doesn't let up for Chelsea. With Victor Moses, Marko Marin, Yossi Benayoun and Fernando Torres too on bench, we may not have the most in-form bunch of players to fall back on, but at least we aren't as thin as most of our competitors are in this department. Most of our regulars have already clocked up 50 appearances this season, and they are bound to tire as the games reach the hour mark, what Rafa needs to get right is not only the tactics of his substitutions right, but also the timing of his substitution.

The ridiculous fixture schedule sees us travel to St.Mary's next in the league, and mind you the Saints have improved vastly since Nigel Adkins' sacking, as Brendan Rodgers' Liverpool side found out over the weekend. Two days later we host Manchester United in a replay of the FA Cup quarterfinal, that we really should have won based on the chances we created in the 2nd half at Old Trafford. And before we look further ahead, lets just win these two matches first and then think about the comforts of home games against Rubin Kazan and Sunderland in 1st week of April.

Chelsea stutter against Steaua, as a season defining week begins

As the season goes by, it's not surprising to see how we've run out of adjectives to describe how woeful the Chelsea have been performing. Following a decent performance 3-4 days earlier comes an atrocious one, that makes you pull your hair out in frustration. Thursday night in Bucharest was no different. The responsible performance by Benitez's men against West Brom at the Bridge may not have been champagne stuff, but to follow that up with an insipid performance as soulless as the one the Blues came up with in the Romanian capital was astonishing. Honestly, we're lucky the tie is still alive in the competition.

Raul Ruscescu slots home the penalty he won to give Steaua a 1-0 lead in the 1st leg.
It was the home side's only meaningful shot on target over the 90 minutes as well. 

The unpredictability of the starting line up is refreshing, but the tactics are a cause for concern. By playing both Branislav Ivanovic and Ryan Bertrand as your fullbacks, Chelsea resigned to the fact that they are not going to go forward on the wings. Neither are accomplished going forward and doubling up with the wingers on a regular basis. Cesar Azplicueta and Ashley Cole give so much more in this regard, that it is a necessity that either one of them starts as fullbacks. So often, Eden Hazard got the ball and had two Steaua players to cope with, that he made the wrong decision everytime he got the ball. Neither did Oscar come to help him out, nor did Ryan Bertrand. Just watch how much Ashley Cole and Eden team up, if they both start against Man United at Old Trafford on Sunday.

Being forced to defend for most of the 1st half was down the fact that our midfield barely got into the game until the penalty. Steaua may not have had chance after chance, but we were not exactly stamping our authority in the defensive third either. David Luiz committed himself far too often and found himself in no mans land, which really makes me wonder why he is rated all that highly. Mind you, he's been at rarely failed to commit his habitual blunder in every game he plays in the centre of defence.

Chasing down the ball when not in possession is something we clearly suck at. The way Steaua's left side combined in the build up summarizes the problem. Oscar, Lampard, Mikel got close, but not one was able to dispossess the opponent. And finally with all the attention dragged onto the right side, a simple ball in behind Ryan Bertrand led to the penalty. In the Premier League, you will never see those given as penalties, and the same goes for Nani's red card. The offences are more sternly dealt with in Europe, its something we have to live with.

To be fair, Chelsea did wake up after conceding  But that was more because the home side were happy to sit back and watch us in possession. With little to no movement ahead of Mikel and Lampard, it was not surprising that we lost the ball so regularly. Oscar and Benayoun did manage to penetrate the penalty box in the 40th minute, but the Israeli's shot on goal was a lacking intent as his place in the starting line up in the first place.

The reaction expected in the second half did not materialize either. The Bucharest president labelled us a slow side, and when the ever dependable Frank Lampard had the ball taken off his toes just as he was about to let fly from the edge of the box, you couldn't really disagree with what was being said. Frank did have a below par outing, he wasn't able to find the trio ahead, and had more misplaced passes than I could count on  my fingers.

Yossi Benayoun had Chelsea's best chance of the match 5 minutes from half time,
but his shot on goal was characteristic of his time at Chelsea - fruitless.

When Rafa Benitez puts Yossi Benayoun and Ryan Bertrand in the eleven, you have to fear the worst. The same goes for the Lampard-Mikel defensive pivot, while Gary Cahill has shown in the last few matches why he is the most dependable centre-back at the moment on the Blues' roster. From the outset, the tactics were a bit confusing.

Starting with John Terry obviously means we are not going to be more than 20 yards from our own penalty box, if that's the case, then why have the midfield pressing. Rather have a counter attacking gameplan, and 32-year old Yossi Benayoun is the anti-thesis of everything Chelsea want to be. Marko Marin, Eden Hazard n Oscar does make a lot more sense doesn't it? I won't blame Benitez for playing Fernando Torres up front, honestly, its not like he had a choice.

Picking ourselves up for the FA Cup game against United and the return leg will be crucial,
or else we could resign ourselves to a trophyless season in the year we called ourselves Champions of Europe.

Petr Cech's assessment after the game was telling. The 'worst possible result' he said. But he also said we could turn it around. Over the weekend, we might get battered by the wounded Premier League leaders if we turn in another performance like this. Expect changes galore for that one. Be sure all of Ramires, Victor Moses, Ashley Cole, Gary Cahill and Demba Ba to start. Because if either of them don't, I'd fear for Rafa Benitez's safety.

Television pundits and journalists are bound to have a swipe now, since Chelsea is the club everyone loves to hate across England. But that's the same thing they were doing last March. We need a reaction soon, or premature end to the season looms. The season can still be salvaged mind you, if we turn in a big performance in Manchester at the weekend.