Chelsea’s Cesc Fàbregas back in the groove as Mourinho’s changes pay off

Cesc Fàbregas celebrates scoring Chelsea’s fourth goal against Maccabi Tel Aviv on a more upbeat night for the Premier League champions. Photograph: BPI/Rex Shutterstock

GIVEN the commotion that has followed Chelsea around these past few turbulent weeks, what José Mourinho needed was some sanctuary. He found it at Stamford Bridge even before his team began to reboot their season.

As the teams lined up just before kick-off, the Matthew Harding Stand started up a defiant, supportive chant of their manager’s name. Three goals later the whole of Stamford Bridge stood up “for the Special One”. He raised an appreciative hand.

A five-game wobble should not, in Mourinho’s humble opinion, be a valid reason to criticise, despite it being the worst start to a season he has ever experienced. But all the same you could not help feeling that Mourinho needed that shot in the arm. A bit of love, even.
This complex time, which Mourinho depicted as a sort of business as usual with one difference (that difference being the small matter of happiness), seems to have been played out to the tune of Murphy’s Law. More or less everything that could go wrong has been dreadful. It felt like more of the same as Eden Hazard stood over the game’s first clean chance: a penalty.

It was breathtakingly bad. It defied logic from a player who exhibited such coolness in similar situations last season. The ball hit the upper tier of the Shed, straight at the Maccabi Tel Aviv fans who could barely believe their luck.

Mourinho’s immediate reaction was to applaud, the kind of encouraging gesture to send the signal to his player that everything was OK.

Fortunately for Hazard, for Mourinho, for Chelsea, the difficulty passed quickly. Maccabi Tel Aviv’s defence made an art form of the reckless. Their goalkeeper, Predrag Rajkovic, made a spectacle of the hapless. Such limited opposition gave Chelsea the perfect platform to rediscover some zest and self confidence.
The changes that Mourinho rang helped in that regard. He has made a big deal of stressing that his team were champions recently. “Many of this squad are the same players who won the Premier League last season,” he wrote in his programme notes. “Now we have to respond like champions.”

Watch all Chelsea goals on this video

On the one hand six alterations mean it is difficult to over-analyse the composition of Chelsea in terms of the broader Premier League picture. But what the incoming players did bring was a different feel to the team.

Freshened up, Chelsea gave themselves a reminder of what they do well. They found an urgent energy that had been so sorely missing.

One of the keys to Chelsea’s renewed positivity was Oscar. The Brazilian, who had been absent since the opening day of the season, introduced guile and sharpness of thought, spreading play smartly and moving the ball with intent. The added effect was that his work in the central creative area takes some pressure of Cesc Fàbregas. The Brazilian certainly played himself into contention for Saturday lunchtime’s match against Arsenal, when Chelsea will be eager to make a positive showing against their London rivals.

Fàbregas has been underwhelming and still gave the impression of coasting a little against the Israeli side, but he did at least find moments to make a difference again. The excellent performance of his partner in deep midfield, Ruben Loftus-Cheek, also gives Mourinho food for thought. Despite being booked in the opening minute, he scampered boldly around midfield. He was unlucky not to earn a penalty shortly before half-time with one driving run into the box.

The changes were as much about opportunities as the chance to give a few more experienced campaigners a breather. Loftus-Cheek was a perfect example of that. As Mourinho said on the subject of his team selection: “I told the players I don’t want to think about Everton or Arsenal. I am not trying to punish anyone, I try to give people an opportunity which is what they are working hard to have. Loftus-Cheek is a player with great potential. This is a process with us, he has been in it since the middle of last season.”
Loïc Rémy offered plenty of elusive movement, initially as the centre-forward and then, after Willian’s injury, out wide. Again, something else for Mourinho to ponder as he tries to rebalance his team domestically.

But if Chelsea needed one sign that they are closer to getting over their blues, it arrived with the sight of Fàbregas floating an assist towards Diego Costa for the striker to finish with a glorious swivelling volley. Willian’s opener, which benefited from some atrocious defending, and Oscar’s drilled penalty were all well and good but that was a hallmark goal.

Fàbregas got on the scoresheet, too – so that’s one goal and one assist to give his damaged early-season statistics an improved look.

It’s business as usual now, with some Stamford Bridge happiness back. Guardian.com