Team Focus: Mourinho's Criticism of Chelsea Strikers Warranted

Jose Mourinho’s frustration with his centre-forward options weren’t hard to discern even before the Champions League tie away to Paris Saint Germain, when he fielded Andre Schurrle as a false nine and then made his loaded post-match comments about “real forwards”. Unless he repeats the Schurrle experiment, though, he is stuck with picking one of Samuel Eto’o, Fernando Torres and Demba Ba for the remaining six – or perhaps seven if they make it to the Champions League final – games of the season.

Ba has scored vital goals against Swansea in the league and PSG in the second leg of that Champions League double header, but he has actually been the worst of the three forwards according to WhoScored.com’s rating, scoring just 6.46 in Premier League games as opposed to 6.89 for Torres and 7.02 for Eto’o – although it may be that that figure is artificially lowered by the fact he has come off the bench 13 times: less time on the pitch makes it harder to register high scores.

Nonetheless, despite starting only three games, Ba has scored three league goals, only one fewer than Torres, who has scored four goals in 15 starts and nine substitute appearances. Eto’o has scored eight in 15 starts and five substitute appearances, although – remarkably – he is yet to score away from home. In terms of assists, Torres leads the way with four, with Eto’o on two and Ba on one.

More significant, though, given how many of Chelsea’s goals come from the line of three attacking midfielders in the 4-2-3-1, is what else the strikers contribute. Eto’o is by far the most direct, contributing 2.8 shots per game, as opposed to Torres’s 2.2 and Ba at a remarkably low 1.5 (fewer than Ramires and David Luiz). Ba also scores poorly in terms of key passes per game, managing just 0.3 compared to Torres’ 0.9 and Eto’o’s 1.1.

Where Ba might have been expected to score highly is in aerial duels won, but even there he is eclipsed by Torres, who has managed 2.3 per game (winning 65 of 131 attempted) to Ba’s 0.6 (10 of 33), with Eto’o, who barely even bothers challenging for aerial balls, down on 0.3 (6 of 20). Given his stats for the season as a whole, in fact, it’s easy to see why Mourinho seemed to lose patience with Ba. The counter-attacking game to which Chelsea switched after the defeat to Sunderland in the Capital One Cup demands that players be able to run with the ball: Torres this season has completed an average of 1.1 dribbles per game to Eto’o’s 0.8, while Ba is way back on 0.1 (a total of just two
successful dribbles all season).

Yet Ba, disappointing as he has been for most of the season, has started to make an impact at a vital time. He was only on the pitch for 24 minutes against PSG, yet in that time won four aerial duels as Chelsea started playing direct to him (that is, pro rata, 25 times more than he has averaged in the league this season). He only actually touched the ball 12 times in those 24 minutes, but mustered not only the decisive goal but also a key pass.

Against Swansea, he didn’t win any aerial dues, but in his 79 minutes he did have five of the 26 shots that Chelsea managed over the whole game, getting two of them – including the winner – on target. That he started that game ahead of Torres and came on before him against PSG suggested Ba is now the first-choice back up to Eto’o. The last two games have probably justified that status, but it does seem desperately harsh on Torres who, by WhoScored.com rating, is having a better season this season than in either of his last two years at Liverpool – even if there has been a slight dip from last season when, in the Europa League especially, he prospered under Rafa Benitez.

In these final games, though, present form is probably the most important factor: which means Eto’o will be first choice, with Ba there as a physical option and Torres, with whom Mourinho’s patience seems to have run out, a distant third.

Who should be first choice striker at Chelsea for the Premier League run in? Let us know in the comments below