It has been a difficult few years for Chelsea, both in terms of their on pitch performance levels, and then their off pitch ownership issues that were largely not within their control, but despite the incredible spending outlay following the takeover by Todd Boehly and the Clearlake Capital group, very little has changed in on pitch results.
Having earlier replaced manager Graham Potter, for former Tottenham Hotspur gaffer Mauricio Pochettino, whilst some faces in the dressing room have changed as their spending continued, their over all basic form has not, although 51 year old Pochettino has picked up a few extra victories and those who attend Stamford Bridge on a regular basis would have enjoyed those moments.
Those extra couple of wins though count for very little right now, as having been hammered by league leaders Liverpool in their 4-1 defeat, Chelsea again struggled in their match with Wolverhampton Wanderers just four days later, as they went down 4-2 on home soil.
That defeat saw them slip down into the bottom half of the Premier League table and into 11th place, and with us well into the second half of the 2023/24 campaign, Chelsea fans will be understandably worrying that the season will end with them being effectively miles away from even simply being in the mix for European football – and again with one eye on their spending and the Premier League doubling down recently on Financial Fair Play breaches, the loss of that revenue could have repercussions of its own in future months.
Following the defeat to Wolves, Pochettino acknowledged that the side were ‘not matching the history of the club’ and he actually apologised to the fans for the performance.
“We are all not good enough at the moment, that’s the reality. Myself also. I’m the first responsible for the situation. What we showed today was that we are not good enough.”
Thomas Tuchel, Graham Potter and Frank Lampard (as interim gaffer again) were not good enough and Pochettino came in with huge expectations on his shoulders to turn them around, but put simply, the five time Premier League winners and two time Champions League winners now have the same number of points on the table as they did at this stage of the season (23 games in) during Potter’s spell in charge last year.
It is probably understandable as to why the fans booed at the full time whistle last Sunday, as there has been no real or tangible improvement.
It will also raise questions about their transfer strategy, as four different managers have now failed to get any kind of real tune out of the assembled side that even comes close to matching the expectations that such spending would imply the club have – it is certainly nowhere near the expectations the fans have and that anger is now beginning to grow again with every passing defeat.
There is, however, a genuine question to be asked when it comes to potential boardroom interference though, if four gaffers have struggled, have Chelsea now spent so much that there is no cohesion or team spirit in the dressing room, and have they simply established a first team full of ego, who for whatever reason, simply cannot now do the basics together?
Some performances would easily argue that is not true, and they have performed well at points and showed some real signs of clicking and understandings starting to form, but there is a complete lack of consistency, and when matches turn against them, there are clear issues with the mental strength of the group and that core foundation, as they too easily fold.
The issue is certainly not a lack of talent, they have a group of extremely good players who should definitely be doing better than they are, but it does seem that those in the Chelsea fan base, and the wider world of football itself, who pointed out that their wild spending would prove to be counter productive as there was no real great plan behind the signings and that it was simply a new owner in a sweet shop approach playing Football Manager with a financial cheat code, may well have been proven right.