You
don't have to be a mind-reader to work out what John Terry was probably
thinking as he watched Arsenal score their second goal in the FA Cup final
against Chelsea on Saturday.
He must have been thinking what every Chelsea supporter who was watching on
TV was thinking: 'What's the referee got against us - and what's happened to
our defence?'
Hector Bellerin was in his own half when he picked the ball up and powered
forward. From a Chelsea point of view, what followed was a comedy of errors
involving all three of their centre-backs. In quick succession Antonio
Rudiger, Andreas Christiansen and Kurt Zouma showed why Chelsea's defence
needs major surgery this summer.
It's all well and good Chelsea spending big money on world-class forward
players such as Timo Werner, Hakim Ziyech - and almost certainly Kai Havertz
- but they are not going to challenge for the title again until Frank
Lampard addresses his problems at the back.
He needs to sign at least one commanding central defender this summer and it
could be time to call on the services of an old friend who knows all about
defending in west London, someone who is being linked with the vacant
manager's job at Bournemouth.
'Terry return is written in the stars'
Chelsea made exactly the right decision by making Lampard manager last
summer and you could make a pretty good case for saying that they should try
to bring John Terry back as well. Terry has done a good job as Dean Smith's
assistant head coach at Aston Villa. He is happy and under contract at Villa
Park but it seems to be written in the stars that he will end up back at
Stamford Bridge one day.
Captain, Leader, Legend, Defensive Coach doesn't exactly roll off the tongue
but Chelsea's defence needs sorting out and it shouldn't be a job that's
beyond their greatest-ever defender, the man who won it all at Stamford
Bridge and played a record 717 times for the club.
When it comes to defence the statistics are damning. Last season Chelsea let
in 54 goals in the Premier League - more than any other side in the top half
of the table. To put that into context Chelsea only conceded 15 times when
Terry captained them to the title in the 2004/05 season.
There are major differences between that Chelsea side and the players who
wear the blue shirt now. In those days, Chelsea had Petr Cech in goal and
Claude Makele protecting the formidable centre-back partnership of Terry and
Ricardo Carvalho.
Chelsea had leaders all over the pitch. Big characters with big
personalities who were born winners. Finding modern day equivalents in the
transfer market is not easy although Liverpool have managed to do it by
signing Virgil van Dijk and Alisson for a combined fee of almost £150m.
'Chelsea will sign a goalkeeper - but it
won't be easy'
Chelsea will sign a goalkeeper this summer and sell Kepa or find a club who
will take him on loan. It's not going to be easy because Chelsea made him
the world's most expensive goalkeeper when they signed him for £71m from
Athletic Bilbao two years ago. Cech, who is now the technical and
performance adviser, is playing a big part in the search for a new No 1 and
the options include Jan Oblak, Andre Onana, Nick Pope and Marc-Andre ter
Stegen.
Chelsea need a real presence in goal, someone who is not afraid to confront
his defenders when they let him down, someone who will command his area and
play out from the back.
Signing a world-class centre-back is going to be even more difficult
especially because Lampard will have to sell before he can buy. He would be
willing to listen to offers for Rudiger, Christiansen and Zouma in order to
secure a replacement but there are not many world-class centre backs
available at the moment and the best young option - Dayot Upamecano - has
removed himself from the market by signing a contract extension at RB
Leipzig with the expectation that he will eventually move to Bayern Munich.
Whatever happens it promises to be a hectic few weeks before the season is
due to start again on 12 September. Werner and Ziyech have arrived, Havertz
looks to be on his way and in an ideal world he would be followed by a
goalkeeper, a left-back and a centre-back.
Meanwhile, there are question marks over the futures of almost a third of
Chelsea's first-team squad. As well as Kepa and the three centre-backs,
Chelsea would listen to offers for a long list of players including Emerson,
Jorginho, Victor Moses, Tiemoue Bakayoko, Danny Drinkwater and Michy
Batshuayi.
Last summer Manchester United spent £80m on Harry Maguire to try and address
their soft centre at the back, 18 months before that Liverpool spent £75m on
Van Dijk. That is the kind of money you are talking about when it comes to
signing world-class centre-backs.
'Terry could improve the existing
defenders'
In the meantime, Chelsea could improve the defenders they already have by
bringing Terry back. On paper you could argue that when it comes to natural
ability Arsenal's centre-backs on Saturday were no better than Chelsea's,
they were just better organised and that was the result of good coaching.
Every NFL team has a small army of role specific coaches and Liverpool even
have a throw-in coach, so - should he choose to leave Villa - there is no
reason why Terry shouldn't come back to sort out the problems at the back.
Roman Abramovich has shown a lot of faith in Lampard and the Russian
billionaire is not as impatient as he used to be when it comes to expecting
instant success from his managers. Having said that, Lampard will only get
so many chances to get things right. He know better than anyone that unless
Chelsea progress and improve on their fourth-placed finish next season then
serious questions will be asked about his future.
In the meantime, it's time to get the band back together again. Lampard and
Terry. Why have one legend when you can have two?
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