Who exactly is Chelsea’s most in form striker? This is a question that seems to be plaguing Chelsea fans all over the country. It also seems to be a question that José Mourinho is unsure of the answer to. It’s a frustrating one for Chelsea to have to answer as other than upfront they seem to have their house in order. But, maybe even more frustratingly, Chelsea’s most in form striker appears to be Everton’s Romelu Lukaku.
This Monday night Lukaku put Newcastle United to the sword, scoring two goals and laying on another in Everton’s 3-2 win over the Toon. Add this to his winner against West Ham and Lukaku has 3 goals in his opening 2 games with Everton. The young Belgian looks to be an inspired signing by Roberto Martinez in a loan deal that mirrors Lukaku’s move to West Brom last season. But it certainly raised a few eyebrows when Chelsea allowed him to leave for another year.
Chelsea stuttered last season as they were without a talismanic forward to lead their attack. José Mourinho’s return to the club this summer only hastened the need for reinforcements upfront. Mourinho’s brand of football has always relied on a powerful forward who can hold the ball up and bring others into play. Exactly what José used to have Didier Drogba for. Lukaku, or ‘the next Drogba’ as he has often been called, seemed tailor made for this role.
But Mourinho decided that all he needed from Lukaku was for him to leave for another year to gain first team experience. But in a year at West Brom Lukaku has already shown that he is a force to be reckoned with in the Premier League. As last season went on he went from strength to strength and it seemed that this season would be when he finally made the transition from ‘exciting Chelsea prospect’ to ‘key Chelsea player’. But Mourinho has decided to rely on 3 other strikers this season.
Firstly Fernando Torres, who is far from the striker that Roman Abramovich thought he was getting when he paid £50million. Torres always threatens to show something special but never quite seems to deliver. Demba Ba is firmly at the back of José Mourinho’s thoughts, or so it seems anyway. Ba has made it onto the pitch in only one of Chelsea’s opening Premier League games and doesn’t quite seem to be the force he was at Newcastle.
Lastly, Mourinho added experienced Samuel Eto’o to his squad, a player who he knew from his time at Inter Milan. There is no doubt that Eto’o has been one of Europe’s most exciting strikers in the last decade but two-and-a-bit seasons playing in Russia doesn’t seem to have kept his skills sharp and he is now one of three Chelsea strikers who can be described as ‘not what he once was’.
If they were all at the height of their powers then Chelsea would have one of the most formidable forward lines in the world. But that day is no longer here and you can’t score goals with just reputation and nostalgia. It may be these rather limited options upfront that led to José Mourinho playing with 6 midfielders and no forwards away at Man United a few weeks ago.
That fruitless trip to Old Trafford, where Chelsea made little impact on what has been a fragile United defence, is one where Lukaku’s presence was truly missed. Just a few months prior, Lukaku had terrorised United as West Brom drew 5-5 with the champions in Sir Alex’s final game, netting an impressive hat-trick in the process. The kind of impact that was sorely lacking from Chelsea’s game with United.
It was probably this game that caused Chelsea fans to call into question the most unquestionable of managers. How could Mourinho let Lukaku leave???
Chelsea are title contenders under Mourinho. They have started the season brightly and can be forgiven the odd poor performance when the rest of the top 6 have all dropped points in games they were expecting to win. Truly the league is wide open for the first time in a long time. At least six sides can harbour genuine title ambitions and Chelsea are certainly one of them. But maybe, if Chelsea had held on to Lukaku, perhaps this title race would be a little less open.
Chelsea seemed to have the one missing ingredient that they needed and they let him slip through their grasp. I don’t wish to knock Chelsea’s title aspirations for this season, but if their fans can allow themselves to look forward towards next season they have a lot to get excited about. An immensely talented team from front to back, including a Romelu Lukaku that has another season of terrorising defences under his belt.
But for Chelsea fans, I hope you’re not left this season thinking about what might have been.