The Blues finished in third this year, and after threatening to win both the title and the Champions League came up short in both competitions. Here's a look at how they wound up trophyless.
Manager
Jose Mourinho returned from Real Madrid and watched his old team win La Decima on TV. Manuel Pellegrini, the man he had replaced at Real Madrid, beat Chelsea to the title and also knocked Chelsea out of the FA Cup in his first season at Man City. "The Special One" all of a sudden doesn't look so special anymore. Not as special as his rivals, anyway.
Mourinho brought his extremely defensive tactics back to England, constantly jamming the midfield with defenders and setting his team up to quickly counter-attack. It worked extremely well against the other big clubs. Chelsea won a staggering 5 of their 6 EPL matches against the rest of the top 4, and the sixth was a 0-0 draw at Arsenal when Arsenal was playing extremely well. They conceded just 2 goals in those 6 matches, and scored 13.
Smaller teams set themselves up similarly against Chelsea, allowing the Blues to have the ball and keeping men back to foil their counter-attack. Chelsea struggled against these sides. Late season losses to Aston Villa, Crystal Palace, and Sunderland took the Blues out of contention for the title, and they lost to Atletico Madrid in the Champions League semi-final because Atletico defended better than the Blues at Stamford Bridge.
3rd place and no cups can only be seen as a failure for Mourinho and Chelsea due to the strength of their squad and the resources available. Roman Abramovich would probably have already sacked anyone else for a season like this one. If the results don't improve next year, Mourinho's homecoming may be a rather short one.
New Additions
Mourinho brought 5 new players in with him in the summer, and 2 more in January. They had mixed results.
Mark Schwarzer was bought to be Petr Cech's backup, and he was called into duty after Cech was injured in the first leg of the Champions League semi-final against Atletico. The veteran was undeniably better than the former deputy, Henrique Hilario, but also undeniably worse than Atletico's on-loan Thibault Courtois, whose rights are owned by Chelsea. Courtois was perhaps the man of the match when Atletico beat Chelsea 3-1 at the Bridge to go to the Final.
Willian was bought, hilariously, from the Tottenham training ground as the Brazilian was going to Spurs for a medical. Abramovich utilized his connections with Russian club Anzhi to steal him right from under Spurs' nose. Willian was gradually introduced to the EPL, making 25 appearances (7 as a substitute) and he didn't have as great a season as many predicted. 4 goals and 2 assists was all Willian could muster, but his pace and athleticism made Chelsea much more dangerous on the counter attack than the man he replaced, Juan Mata.
Samuel Eto'o was brought in on a one-year contract to be the club's 1st choice striker. Injuries somewhat derailed his first season in England, but the Cameroonian did finish second on the team with 9 EPL goals. He also had 2 assists in just 16 EPL starts. Although he was undeniably the club's best striker this year, it looks like he will be replaced by Atletico's Sprazilian sensation Diego Costa next season.
Andre Schurrle was bought from Bayern Leverkusen and made 30 EPL appearances, 15 as a substitute. He scored 8 crucial goals and assisted 2 more, which is a strong return for a player who was often on the bench in his first season in England. Often behind Eden Hazard, Oscar, and Willian in the pecking order, Schurrle did very well last year, and was probably the club's most successful summer signing.
Marco van Ginkel suffered an ACL injury and missed most of the season. It would be unfair to judge Oscar's understudy at this point.
Nemanja Matic returned to Chelsea from Benfica and was probably the best January signing in the league. Matic is a tall, athletic warrior in midfield who can tackle and shoot from distance. He's the type of player who seems to be a perfect fit in Mourinho's philosophy. Man of the Match in his first game (a win at Man City), Matic was a mainstay in the Chelsea team in the spring, making 15 starts and 2 more appearances as a substitute. But he was crucially cup-tied in the Champions League, after playing in the competition for Benfica in the fall. One can only wonder how Chelsea's fate may have differed had Matic been available.
Mohamed Salah was bought from FC Basel to be a backup winger. The Egyptian is very fast, and he scored 2 goals in 6 starts and 4 more appearances as a substitute this spring. Salah is behind Hazard, Willian, and Schurrle in the pecking order and it's hard to see how that will change next year.
Key Players
Eden Hazard won the PFA Young Player of the Year award, as he tallied 14 goals and 7 assists in 35 appearances from the left wing. The diminutive Belgian is probably the most skilled dribbler in the Premier League. He causes constant problems for the opposing defense when he has the ball. But he doesn't seem to fit well in Mourinho's system. Mourinho wants his wingers to track back and he gives them a tremendous amount of defensive responsibility. Hazard is, frankly, terrible at this role. Hazard went public in his criticism of his manager's tactics after the loss, complaining that the team was only set up to counter-attack. Mourinho responded by questioning his star player's commitment, saying "[Hazard] is not the kind of player to sacrifice himself for the team" and blaming Hazard's poor marking for the loss to Atletico Madrid. The marriage between Mourinho and his best player is a rocky one, and it will be interesting to see how long it lasts.
Bratislav Ivanovic was one of three mainstays in Chelsea's dominant defense, with John Terry and Gary Cahill. All three made 30 or more appearances, but Ivanovic was the most consistent. Ivanovic started 36 matches in the EPL and scored 3 goals. The makeshift right back has grown into his role, and his physicality can seriously intimidate opposing forwards. While brute strength is perhaps Ivanovic's best attribute, his ability to get forward and help out in the attack is often undervalued.
Cesar Azpilicueta broke into the first team at the expense of Ashley Cole on the left side of Chelsea's defense. While he is naturally a better fit on Ivanovic's right side, the young Spaniard was one of Mourinho's most reliable players in the second half of the season. He made 29 appearances and will feature prominently in his manager's plans next season. Rumors of Chelsea's interest in another Atletico player, left back Felipe Luis, may allow Azpilicueta to shift to his more natural position on the right, consequently moving Ivanovic back to his more natural position in the center, next year.
Looking Ahead
Chelsea looks determined to strengthen. The Diego Costa signing seems to be all but confirmed. Felipe Luis may very well join him at the Blues next year from Atletico. And they are rumored to be interested in bringing Cesc Fabregas back to London.
PSG is willing to pay a ridiculous fee for David Luiz, a glorified squad player under Mourinho whose importance was trivialized with the addition of Matic. Samuel Eto'o, Frank Lampard and Ashley Cole look set to leave as well, so Chelsea should have a lot of room on the wage bill to buy new players. Room that would only increase further if Chelsea can somehow get someone to take Fernando Torres off their hands.
Chelsea will need to become much stronger in attack in order to break through the defensive smaller clubs that caused them so many problems this year. Costa is a very good start, but it remains to be seen how he'll fair in his first season in England. Very often players like Costa, who look like they can handle the physicality of the EPL, actually can't (Julio Baptista comes to mind). In my opinion, they'd be stupid not to bring Romelu Lukaku back to the first team setup after two very successful years on loan with lower EPL clubs. But Mourinho doesn't seem to rate the player.
It's hard to see Mourinho coming back without a trophy again next season. His job might very well depend on it. With City's FFP problems and Liverpool's additional fixtures, Chelsea looks to be in a very good position to put forth a genuine title challenge. And in order to do that, "The Special One" will need to buy players that can bring something different to his attack. Keep an eye on what Chelsea does this summer. It could easily decide the title.
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