Chelsea face consequences of risky transfer policy as crisis of form sinks to a new low | OneFootball

Chelsea’s failure to address their weaknesses in the January transfer window was ultimately the difference at Villa Park

Chelsea slumped to a 2-1 defeat at the hands of Aston Villa

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This was a game played in February but decided in January. It could well have major consequences come May.

At the turn of the year, even having wobbled briefly either side of Christmas, Chelsea were in the box-seat in the race for the Champions League. They were complacent, though, declining to strengthen even as results continued to slide during the transfer window and, more pertinently, allowing too many squad players out of the door.

A growing injury list had already delivered some comeuppance, but here the contrast was stark with an Aston Villa side who saw January as an opportunity to revive their own flagging campaign.

New signings Marco Asensio and Marcus Rashford combined twice to lead a superb second-half fightback, the Spaniard’s first two goals for Villa earning a 2-1 victory, after Enzo Fernandez had opened the scoring early on.

Fernandez’s effort had been Chelsea’s reward for a bright start, sparked by Enzo Maresca’s surprise decisions to move Reece James into midfield and Pedro Neto up-front. From midway through the first-half, though, it became clear that momentum was swinging Villa’s way. With a bench left threadbare by injuries and January exits, Maresca made just two changes, and one of those at enforced at centre-back.

A team that had the luxury of wholesale rotation during the first half of the season now looks spent, fading badly as this game wore on, as they have tended to over the past two months. Since Boxing Day, the Blues have dropped 15 points in the league, 13 of those from winning positions.

January, too, might have provided a chance to address Chelsea’s most glaring area of weakness: in goal. Instead, Maresca backed Filip Jorgensen to provide an internal upgrade on the struggling Robert Sanchez, but here the young ’keeper endured a nightmare moment, somehow failing to keep out Asensio’s winner a minute from time.

Maresca has little choice now, surely, but to stick with Jorgensen, lest he create a farcical environment where every mistake leads to a passing of the gloves. The reality is that, somehow, after so many signings in the position, Chelsea do not have a reliable No1 on the books.

In isolation, a 2-1 defeat might be no disaster. Villa are now unbeaten at home in 14 league games, having held leaders Liverpool here in midweek, and even with victory remain a point behind Chelsea with a game fewer left to play. Bournemouth lost earlier on Saturday, while Manchester City face a tough meeting with Liverpool on Sunday and Newcastle and Nottingham Forest cannot both win. Chelsea remain, in points terms, firmly in the hunt for fourth.

Except this is not a result that can be viewed on its own. Three straight defeats now have this crisis of form at a new low. It is just nine points from ten league matches and Chelsea have not won on the road in more than two months. Their away schedule between now and the end of the season does not promise much.

No wonder, then, that the coach’s team selection had the air of a man simply trying something at a time when nothing had been seeming to work.

For Maresca, already being accused in some quarters of being overly cautious, it was a risky play. On the face of it, his response to his team’s lack of attacking threat was to take a forward out of the lineup, in the injured Noni Madueke, and replace him with another defender, in James.

The captain’s use as an out-and-out midfielder came out of left field. He had played in there with success as a youngster on loan at Wigan but that is a long time ago now; his last central-midfield start for Chelsea had been away to Zenit St. Petersburg, in December 2021.

This was, unsurprisingly, not a flawless return to the role, with James guilty once or twice of wanting the kind of time in possession that might be forthcoming at right-back, but seldom in the heart of the pitch.

Frustration: Reece James

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Some of his passing, though, was wonderfully crisp and his repurposing briefly brought the kind of security Chelsea’s midfield has so badly lacked. Moises Caicedo, overworked to say the least, appreciated the support and so too did Fernandez, who used his extended freedom to make the box and nudge the opener home.

For 20 minutes or so after that strike, Chelsea looked a force. Neto, in particular, was excellent, his pace and movement troubling the cumbersome Tyrone Mings and his assist for the opener a thing of brilliance.

By midway through the second-half, though the Portuguese was visibly exhausted and with no sign of relief. Palmer has looked leggy for weeks now and spurned a wonderful opportunity when put clean through on goal.

Unai Emery, in scenes that must have made Maresca envious, sent Rashford on at half-time and added another January signing in Donyell Malen

Last month, as revealed in his pre-match press conference, Maresca held a meeting for all Chelsea’s training ground stuff at which he urged them all to set sights on finishing in the top-four. Villa have the same aim - but did their talking in the transfer market.