Vital lessons that Chelsea can learn from Arsenal by Kennedy
Arsenal’s march towards the Premiership crown continues after a pulsating 2:2 draw with Liverpool, and now the Gunners lead our local rivals Chelsea by a whopping 34 points, with eight games left before the season ends.
Meanwhile Chelsea’s dismal performances continued after losing by a solitary goal to Wolves, even after appointing Frank Lampard as their interim manager.
Chelsea’s fortunes on the pitch have dwindled considerably this season in spite of the massive investment in new players.
What lessons can the misfiring Chelsea learn from the Gunners ‘project’?
Frequent managerial changes are counterproductive
In the last ten years, Chelsea has hired and fired almost ten managers.
In June 2013, Chelsea recruited the eccentric Jose Mourinho as thier manager.. He was followed by Eddie Newton, Steve Holland, Guus Hiddink, Andreas Villas Boas and Di Matteo not necessarily in that order.
Later on,Antonio Conte, Maurizio Sarri, Frank Lampard, Thomas Tuchel, Graham Potter and Bruno Saltor came and left Chelsea in quick succession.
Frank Lampard is the current interim manager and the Blues are still searching for a substantive manager.
Arsenal on the other hand has had only Four managers for the last ten years. They include the iconic Arsene Wenger, Unai Emery, Freddy Ljungberg and Mikel Arteta, the current gaffer.
In modern football, frequent changes in the coaching staff creates uncertainty among the players.
This is due to the fact that different managers have different Philisophies, tactics and training methods. They also have different personalities and temperament.
Jose Mourinho for instance is outspoken, combative and does not shy away from controversy. Maurizzio Sarri by contrast is calm and introspective.
Frequent managerial changes force players to adapt every time a new gaffer comes in, and this affects performance adversely in the long run.
These changes can also lead to a breakdown in the working relationship between players and the manager. Graham Potter for instance had a frosty relationship with Jorginho, Edouard Mendy and Aubemayang.
In short, Chelsea needs to learn the vitue of patience and managerial stability if they aspire to succed on the pitch like Arsenal.
An effective player acquisition strategy is a precondition for success
Tod Boehly and his associates have signed a considerable number of new players after taking over the Blues. However, no clear recruitment strategy is evident and the exercise has been error prone leading to a disastrous performance on the pitch.
For instance, why did Chelsea sign Pierre Emerick Aubemayang and then start looking for a way to discard him shortly after?
Arsenal on the other hand have a clearer player recruitment policy led by Edu and Mikel Arteta.
The Gunners sign young and ambitious players and mould them into a closely knit synergetic outfit. Jorginho’s acqusistion is an exception after the Gunners failed to sign Caicedo from Brighton.
In addition to this, Arsenal has avoided extrvagant expenditure on new players. Instead, the Gunners have invested in the academy, which has provided players like Bukayo Saka and Emile Smith Rowe.
The results of this astute player acquisition policy are out there for everyone to see.
If Chelsea is to attain a semblance of success in the coming season, it will have to learn from the Gunner’s player recruitment game plan.
Prodigous expenditure does not guarantee success
Chelsea paid £22 million to bring in Graham Potter from Brighton which is a bit on the high side. Later on, the Blues paid him another £13 million for terminating his contract after he failed to live up to the expectations.
More recently, Chelsea signed Mikhailo Mudryk for £88 million. But the youngster has failed to make an impression for the Blues.
Araenal, on the other hand, signed Gabriel Martinelli for only £6 million and the Brazilian has been in scintillating form this season.
Chelsea needs to learn that conspicous consumption on new players and managers does not guarantee success on the pitch
Drastic reorganisation can affect players’ performances
After acquiring Chelsea, Tod Boehly embarked on an aggressive restructuring exercise. Marina Granovskaia the Director was shown the door.
Petr Cech, the technical and performance advisor was dispensed with, and Bruce Buck, the chairman, was similarly edged out.
Tod Boehly even made himself the sporting director for sometime. This abrupt reorganisation and other bad decisions affected the players performance, triggering a downward spiral that culminated in Potter’s dismissal.
Arsenal has also undertaken some organizational restructuring in the recent past but the changes have been gradual, subtle and well thought out.
Chelsea fans may not like to be compared with Arsenal but the truth of the matter is that the Blues have much to gain and nothing to lose from emulating the Gunner’s astute, prudent and successful management blueprint.
Kennedy Mwanzia
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It’s not necessary they emulate us. Let them continue their own way. Is it not something we Arsenal should be happy about ?? Seeing our bitter neighbor slipping down significantly. Long may it continue.
Chelsea’s methods made them more successful than Arsenal at winning major trophies, but I believe Arsenal is more profitable for the owners than Chelsea
I agree GAI, their changes brought them titles and Champions League trophy, but it’s not sustainable long term as they are oscillating wildly.
On the other hand, Arsenal have a sustainable model, financially prudent, but as yet no title in almost 20 years, and never raised a Champions League Trophy.
Perhaps somewhere in between is the correct answer.
Wenger was replaced after his fortunes declined, Emery was dismissed after 18 months but little to no traction.
Arteta has 3 years now and finally an upward trajectory. I hope he is successful with us, but we need more than top 4 also ran status that many deemed acceptable.
Monumental task to win League or CL, but settling for less leads to stagnation as we’ve seen
Yes, I was disappointed when Sporting kicked us out of EL
And what have you won? Chelsea fc have been through a lot of changes (club ban from selling match tickets, ownership changes …etc) and yet we are still standing. We might be going through bad times at present but we will be back to our best as we have winning trophies in our DNA. Like any new project it takes time… Arsenal can enjoy the limelight while it last because we will be back as London is Blue!💙💙💙 COYB💪
@Beranger or should I say @Deranger. You lot are blue because you hold your breath for too long. Tod Boehly’s football knowledge and British culture knowledge is zero. With all the players he bought, he forgot that in football you need to have a striker up front. What a joke. Then he brings in Frank Lampard. Just go back to your Chelshite fan boy site. London is RED ❤❤❤,,, and don’t forget that Sonny Boy
The article as confused me as in Chelsea have been way more successful than Arsenal in the last 15 years
2 champions league
3 prem
A few fA cups
2 Europe leagues
League cups
We have won 4 fA cups
I agree Dan Kit,
The article cherry picked Chelsea’s results and focused on this year.
However, over last 15 years compare their trophy haul to ours.
Author seemingly mocks their struggles this year, but blindly ignores their successes over the last decade.
Wasn’t convinced by the article as Chelsea’s quick chop tactics have fostered ambition and tangible trophy results.
Not saying I want us to mirror them, but don’t slap a club that already has the titles and CL trophy many here desire
Difficult to compare Chelsea and Arsenal.
Abramovich “washed” money by pouring them into Chelsea, which made it possible for them to spend much more, than any club, which have to look at the bottomline. Every time we could buy one top player, they could buy two or three for several years.
That was the foundation for their success, and as such it has been far greater than ours for the past n15 years.. We have to use a different plan to compete with that and others, who can spend more.
For years, we haven’t had a plan, which made us competitive for the title, but luckily that has now changed. We do better at the moment, because of that plan, and given the age of our team, we should be able to compete also in the coming years, if all goes well.
In some ways, Chelsea now is what Arsenal were in 2018. Post Wenger era, we knew it would take at least 4 years to get to grips with the squad, with Chelsea, it could be longer given the length of some their contracts and overly bloated squad.
On the flip side, they do have better players and more potential then Arsenal’s 2018 squad.
With the money that they’re spending you have to put their failure down to lacking a clear plan… lacking in good leadership combined to make a said plan. The head scouter or head of football should be operating on the same page as the manager, you don’t get that feeling with this Che, you get the feeling that Boehly is spending massively just because he didn’t have to pay for the club, so he’s out there on his own mission or something like that. You don’t get a sense of clarity with how Che operates, mirky I would describe them. Whereas we are almost the complete opposite of that, everyone sees our planning… our blueprint… we have clarity in leadership and in their planning, long may it continue, we had to be extremely patient all the same. One more terrific transfer window and AFC will be set for years of challenging the disgusting money-rich clubs who’re buying buying buying to see what sticks to the wall
You do realise we have spent half a billion ourselves in the last 4-5 years
It is difficult to understand and agree with much of this article.
The only point that one can agree with is the last one. And Chelsea do not need to learn this from Arsenal.
All of the other points run counter to what Chelsea have been doing and they have been one of the more successful clubs in the PL for the last couple of decades.