Grading Guus Hiddink on His Season with Chelsea

The final curtain has fallen on 2015/16 and as Chelsea look ahead to life under Antonio Conte, they should also reflect on the past 12 months.

To move forward, it’s vital the Blues take stock of the mistakes that were made over the course of the previous season to ensure they set things straight. Equally, to continue in areas where we see have seen some positives.

Jose Mourinho’s second spell as Chelsea boss ended as a nightmare. The club looked completely different from the one that had lifted the Premier League title just six months earlier and the walls were crumbling all around the manager. They were in a relegation fight and had to get points on the board to avoid a full-blown crisis.

When Mourinho was replaced in the interim by Guus Hiddink, things improved gradually, but the Dutchman still didn’t have the sort of impact many Blues fans would have been hoping for.

Supporters were trading on the fond memories of Hiddink’s first spell in charge in 2009 when Chelsea won the FA Cup and reached a UEFA Champions League semi-final. Seven years on, it was a different story, with the Dutchman’s Blues struggling to climb back up the table.

But should we be judging Hiddink on Chelsea’s 10th-place league finish? What about his work with the club’s up and coming players? And the team’s form in the cups?

Join Bleacher Report as we break down Hiddink’s six months as Chelsea boss and grade him on the areas that he impacted most.

Premier League form

Throughout Hiddink’s time at Chelsea, much was made of the fact he lost few games as manager. In 2009 it was just one defeat in 22 games in all competitions, with 12 wins in 14 Premier League matches. That’s a return of 36 points from a possible 42.

Hiddink’s record was phenomenal as he turned around the fortunes of a struggling side and made them feared again. Chelsea looked relentless come the end of 2008/09 and were set up perfectly for Carlo Ancelotti to take over.

Fast forward to the climax of 2015/16 and a 1-1 draw against Leicester City seemed par for the course where Hiddink’s new Chelsea were concerned.

He had started with a 2-2 Boxing Day draw with Watford and that set the precedent. Chelsea would go on to draw a further 10 games with Hiddink at the helm. They won just three times at Stamford Bridge in all competitions since his appointment in late December.

Regardless of what had gone on before, that wasn’t good enough from Hiddink’s Chelsea. In fact, while things were hitting rock bottom under Mourinho, the Blues still won six times at Stamford Bridge this season.

Those draws came about from Hiddink’s desire to stop Chelsea losing. It made sense at first as the priority was to transform …

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