Thibaut Courtois: Teams fear Chelsea again under Guus Hiddink

1/10
Simon Johnson1 March 2016

It has taken far longer than anyone at Chelsea wanted but Thibaut Courtois believes they have become a team to be feared once again.

Last season, many sides were beaten before a ball was kicked as the Blues led from the start to claim a fourth title in 11 years.

But that air of invincibility vanished in a flash this season.

Nine defeats in the first 16 matches left them one point above the relegation zone and suffering a humiliation no Premier League champions had been forced to cope with.

Manager Jose Mourinho was fired and interim boss Guus Hiddink was brought in just before Christmas.

The Dutchman’s impact has been clear. Two months on from his appointment, they go to Norwich tonight boasting the longest unbeaten run in the top flight of 11 matches and having just won their first back-to-back games in the League since last April.

Victory this evening would see them climb to eighth in the table —their highest placing since August.

Of course, it is too little too late as far as Chelsea are concerned but Courtois has noticed how opponents have been paying the Blues far more respect in recent weeks.

The goalkeeper said: “In the beginning of the season, because we were champions, teams were more motivated because they wanted to win against the holders. That’s normal.

“But when we struggled after the first few games, the other teams saw we were a bit weak and tried to attack us, to put our confidence down. Obviously, a lot of teams were happy to play us because we were in a weak moment and they could beat us.

“But now things have changed and it isn’t like that anymore. We are playing very well and obviously we want to end the season well.

“A few of our players have reached their best level again and we have started to win matches. The atmosphere in training is very good, we train very hard with a lot of intensity.”

Clearly Hiddink’s arrival has had the desired effect. Striker Diego Costa has scored seven goals in his last nine League matches, while midfielder Cesc Fabregas’s return of two goals and three assists under the Dutchman does not reflect the huge contribution he has made.

Courtois added: “I think Hiddink has just tried to adjust some small details, but he has not changed a lot.

“Maybe on the training pitch he has just helped us have confidence again. I don’t know about everyone else, but I had some talks with the manager. I guess he has with other players.

“Sometimes confidence can change things. When Diego scored his first goal after a while, he went on to get more. Sometimes one moment can change everything.”

Given Chelsea’s title challenge ended months ago and they are 11 points off a top-four place, one might think the League is not much of a priority.

After all, next week Chelsea face Paris St Germain at home and Everton away in the Champions League and FA Cup respectively in the only two competitions they have a chance of winning this term.

Players might be forgiven for thinking about saving their best for those two matches and coast through the Norwich encounter or the home clash with Stoke on Saturday.

But that is not a view shared by Courtois. He said: “Realistically we want to win the FA Cup to start with. It is the shortest way to silverware. There is the Champions League, but that is a hard one. But in the Premier League we will try to climb the table and finish as high as we can. The sixth spot is quite close.”

That is significant after Manchester City’s victory in the Capital One Cup and assuming Manuel Pellegrini’s men finish in the top four and secure a Champions League place, it means sixth position will qualify for the Europa League.

The gap between Chelsea and sixth-placed West Ham, who meet at Stamford Bridge later this month, stands at seven points.

Getty

For defender Gary Cahill, there is no question that Chelsea will continue to do their utmost in all three competitions.

“We have to keep this momentum going,” he said. “There is no game that isn’t important when you play for a club like Chelsea. It is not hard to stay motivated in the League, even though unlike the other two tournaments, we can’t win it.

“We have spoken about the momentum we have been building over the last few weeks and it’s because we keep focused on each game.

“In the meetings, in training, everything is geared up for our next fixture, nothing else. It sounds simple, but that’s the way we have been doing it and how we feel before playing Norwich.

“The fans expect us to get results, the club that pay us expects us too, whether it’s in the League or the Cups. The pressure is always on and we have a lot of hunger to keep doing that.”

Should Chelsea sustain their renaissance, perhaps the season will not end up being one to forget after all.

Create a FREE account to continue reading

eros

Registration is a free and easy way to support our journalism.

Join our community where you can: comment on stories; sign up to newsletters; enter competitions and access content on our app.

Your email address

Must be at least 6 characters, include an upper and lower case character and a number

You must be at least 18 years old to create an account

* Required fields

Already have an account? SIGN IN

By clicking Create Account you confirm that your data has been entered correctly and you have read and agree to our Terms of use , Cookie policy and Privacy policy .

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged in