Soccer is often as much a game of expectations as it is results. Set your sights too low and you’ll anger the fans, set them too high and you’ll disappoint them. When David Moyes claimed Manchester United were underdogs against Liverpool, he earned the ire of the Red Devil faithful. It is perhaps the chronic overselling of Jose Mourinho that has doomed him to so many lost positions.
With that in mind, it is worth reading the words of Mourinho’s interim-replacement Guus Hiddink with a little cynicism when he claimed in his press conference on Friday that Chelsea are not safe from the drop.
“Relegation is a reality. When we started, we were one point above the relegation line, and now we have a little bit more of a breathe, but…the Premier League can surprise you.”
Of course, no one really believes Chelsea could get relegated this season. Despite their atrocious record, they still have a pretty incredible squad, and the results have trended to the positive since the change in management. But Hiddink setting the bar for success so low does tell us exactly how bad the team’s fortunes are right now. There was hardly a word of a hope for Europe or even a top ten finish in Hiddink’s remarks.
“We all like to look forwards and on the top of the table, but also don’t be unrealistic,” he told reporters. In other words, scraping through this season and starting over next is about all the Blues have to hope for.
At this point, the fans may be willing to take that. The chaos that has been Chelsea’s season is a terrifying curiosity for supporters. A team that began with the same players and the same manager that handily won the league last season have been hovering just above the relegation fight for months now. Their continued struggles despite all reason is as inexplicable as the rise of Donald Trump.
Indeed, though Hiddink has improved results of late, he has only been able to keep them from losing, what might be called the Louis van Gaal strategy. The team is getting very good at forcing a point or throwing away two, with draws making up three of their five results since Mourinho was booted out. Going 2-3-0 is a marked improvement, though one of those wins came against a pathetic Sunderland before Hiddink was in charge. But with a win against Crystal Palace and a draw against United, Chelsea will be grateful for any upward momentum after going 1-1-3 in the five games previous.
Still, it isn’t the sort of play that shoots teams up the table. It’s the sort of play expected of a club aiming for a comfortable-enough, mediocre season that sees them surviving until next year. Hiddink has turned Chelsea into a team Bournemouth probably envies and Aston Villa would die for. If they weren’t the current champions of the league and its third-most-expensive club, that would be nice enough praise, but that is nowhere near the level Chelsea aim for. Chelsea want to be the best club in England, or the best club in Europe even. It’s hard to see them reaching anywhere near those heights this season.
Instead, their hopes must rest on dreams of an excellent summer of transfers and a miracle solution to a broken squad (perhaps with a little Pep added to their step). Until then, it’s an eye over their shoulder instead of a look ahead. A brighter future seems about as unrealistic as relegation at the moment.
