Third worst defence in Europe - why Chelsea's defensive crisis is ruining their season

Chelsea 0-3 PSG 

Chelsea’s hopes of finishing the season with silverware were dealt a further blow on Tuesday night, when a convincing 3-0 win from European Champions Paris Saint-Germain at Stamford Bridge knocked Liam Rosenior’s side out of Europe by an unflattering aggregate score of 8-2. Although the Blues still have it all to play for in the FA Cup, they are out of the League Cup and languish sixth in the Premier League table. And it’s not hard to see why the London club are struggling to challenge for titles this season.

The second-leg defeat to PSG now means that Rosenior’s side have conceded a remarkable 31 goals in 20 games across all competitions since the start of the year, which works out at a troubling 1.55 goals conceded per game. In the last five games alone, Chelsea have conceded 11 goals despite facing out-of-form Aston Villa in the league and second-tier Wrexham in the FA Cup. Few could doubt that the Stamford Bridge faithful are getting their money’s worth of goals under interim head coach Rosenior, whose teams have averaged 2.35 goals per match. But it’s now becoming abundantly clear that the club’s average of 1.47 conceded goals per game under the 41-year-old tactician is holding them back.

As we can see in the table above, only two clubs across Europe’s top five leagues have conceded more goals since the turn of the year in all competitions than Chelsea. The Stamford Bridge side are spared the ultimate embarrassment of having Europe’s worst defence in the calendar year, thanks to the calamitous defending of Athletic Bilbao (32 goals conceded in 17 games) and fellow Premier League side Newcastle (36 goals conceded in 21 games). But fans of the club will take note and certainly have plenty of concerns surrounding the fact that they’re currently sitting level with relegation-threatened Tottenham for shipping goals this year.

So why are Chelsea leaking so many goals? Transfermarkt UK’s content manager Joe Krishnan is a regular viewer of Chelsea’s games this season and has a clear idea of what’s gone wrong for the Stamford Bridge side. "Chelsea didn't bring in an experienced centre-back in January, and the decision not to sign a top goalkeeper, with Mike Maignan seemingly available, has left the club with two number twos in Robert Sánchez and Filip Jørgensen.” So is it all Roesnior's fault? Not quite, according to Krishnan. “That’s not to put the fault entirely on Rosenior," he added. "He is working with the tools at his disposal, and the sporting directors have ultimately failed to provide him with established names - instead giving him unproven young defenders who are still learning the ropes.”