The cracks are starting to appear at Chelsea, more chaos feels inevitable as we head to the summer
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Updated 03/07/2022 at 14:18 GMT+1
Ahead of their FA Cup clash with Crystal Palace, Pete Sharland looks at the current state of Chelsea. They are not good enough to challenge the top two in England, and not bad enough - yet - to be in danger of getting sucked into the top-four race. Plus with the club’s sale still hanging over everything, there is the awkward discussion to be had about the work that needs to be done.
LONDON, ENGLAND - APRIL 06: Thomas Tuchel manager of Chelsea looks dejected during the UEFA Champions League Quarter Final Leg One match between Chelsea FC and Real Madrid at Stamford Bridge on April 6, 2022 in London, United Kingdom. (Photo by Marc Atkin
Image credit: Getty Images
Chelsea are out of the Champions League. They are 12 points off the top in the Premier League. There is a lot of uncertainty around the club and the general mood could best be described as tense.
The atmosphere is reminiscent of the other Roman Abramovich-era Chelsea meltdowns of 2007, 2009, 2012, 2015 or even 2021, but, no, it is 2022. You may have missed it, but we’re nicely entering Phase 2 of what this writer likes to call 'The Chelsea Chaos Cycle'. A three-stage process guaranteed to result in carnage.
Phase 1 is when a new manager comes in and lifts the gloom from the previous regime, maybe they get a shiny new player or introduce a new tactic. Success usually follows in one of the myriad of competitions Chelsea find themselves in and Stamford Bridge is a happy place to be. Pundits and fans talk about a dynasty being created. More on Phase 3 later.
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Thomas Tuchel, Manager of Chelsea kisses the Champions League Trophy following their team's victory in the UEFA Champions League Final between Manchester City and Chelsea FC at Estadio do Dragao on May 29, 2021 in Porto, Portugal.
Image credit: Getty Images
Then we enter Phase 2, where we are now. In this phase the winning is still there but it gradually gets less and less consistent. There is without doubt an inexplicably heavy defeat against a team further down the league, often at home. Players start giving cryptic interviews and both players and managers call on the fans to make Stamford Bridge more of a fortress and boost the atmosphere. The fans will often respond here and there, but will quickly turn when the losses and frustrating draws pile up. This particular edition of Phase 2 is extra-special because you have an extra special bonus round of the owner having his assets frozen and the club currently in the process of being sold.
Phase 3 - 'Super Mega Divorce Implosion' - is when either the manager doesn’t want to be there, the players don’t want him there, the manager doesn’t want certain players there, certain players don’t want to be there or the fans want everyone out. Or some combination of all five. Chelsea start slipping out of the European places (or even further down the table if the master of chaos Jose Mourinho is in charge) and you may see some cardboard signs depicting players as vermin at the Bridge. It ends with the manager getting sacked and then a new manager comes in to lift the club from the previous regime’s gloom and thus begin the perpetual cycle once more.
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Jose Mourinho of Chelsea
Image credit: Getty Images
This is not to suggest that current Chelsea manager Thomas Tuchel should be fired, or even that he is soon to enter Phase 3 (spoiler alert, it is his destiny at some point), but Chelsea managers have been sacked for less. Of course, winning the FA Cup might help, but if he loses to Crystal Palace on Sunday he will end the season trophyless and - at best - third in the Premier League.
There is a good chance Tuchel breaks the cycle, he has shown the capabilities of 'The Chelsea Chaos Cycle'. But Chelsea as a club are different to any other club in the world bar maybe Real Madrid. And like their conquerors in the Champions League, it is near impossible to confidently predict what is next at Chelsea.
But, to this observer at least, it doesn’t seem as if a new owner is going to solve all the problems. If you get an owner who hamstrings the club with financial cut-backs then of course Chelsea will drop down to mid-table mediocrity but let’s say you get an owner who is willing to spend, just in a more restricted way than before.
Chelsea are realistically losing three of your eight-man defensive rotation. Andreas Christensen and Antonio Rudiger are practically out of the door and Cesar Azpilicueta should follow. That leaves you with Reece James (who is superb), Thiago Silva (who is masterful but starting to show his age a bit), Trevoh Chalobah (who has promise but still has a bad mistake in him), Ben Chilwell (who is coming back off a bad injury) and Marcos Alonso (who can’t defend).
Now, with Abramovich in charge you’d bump a loanee or younger player into the rotation and splash £50-100 million on getting one or two more experienced players in. But if you are losing the above players for free (or with Azpilicueta a nominal fee) then even with the saved salary your scope to go for someone like Jules Kounde is greatly diminished. Levi Colwill is extremely exciting but we don’t know yet whether he’s ready for featuring regularly for the senior team.
And this conundrum speaks to a wider issue with the process of how the team has been assembled. And that issue is that there has been no process whatsoever.
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MADRID, SPAIN - APRIL 12: Antonio Rudiger of Chelsea celebrates 0-2 during the UEFA Champions League match between Real Madrid v Chelsea at the Santiago Bernabeu on April 12, 2022 in Madrid Spain (Photo by David S. Bustamante/Soccrates/Getty Images)
Image credit: Getty Images
Put it this way. How many world class players do Chelsea have? Players who are in the top two-three in the world in their position. The only one you can say for certain is N’Golo Kante. That is it. There is an argument to be had for Reece James, perhaps.
And let’s get this out of the way now. You don’t need 11 world class players as a top club. In fact, no top club has that. But as a team like Chelsea you want five or six really in the squad. Manchester City and Liverpool are anywhere between four to seven really depending on the arguments you want to make. Real Madrid have the same, so do Bayern Munich.
Over the past four or five years Chelsea have done one of three things when it comes to building their squad. They have either bought proven players who they think are world class, younger players who they think can become world class or promoted from the academy/loan army with the view of becoming world class.
The Chelsea squad is littered with £30m+ players who just haven’t worked out. You’ve got Kepa Arrizabalaga, Alonso, Christian Pulisic, Timo Werner, Ross Barkley, Hakim Ziyech, Romelu Lukaku etc.
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Romelu Lukaku of Chelsea looks dejected after his team concede a fourth goal during the Premier League match between Chelsea and Brentford at Stamford Bridge on April 02, 2022 in London, England.
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And the way they’ve integrated with the academy players is utterly bizarre. Chelsea watched Mason Mount, Callum Hudson-Odoi and Tammy Abraham either shine or show promise and decided to buy Pulisic, Barkley, Ziyech, Werner, Lukaku and Kai Havertz.
The result is that Hudson-Odoi’s promise has evaporated and Abraham has gone running to Mourinho’s arms where he is thriving in Rome.
And it’s not just them. There are a host of players Chelsea have discarded in favour of the new shiny thing. Fikayo Tomori, Tino Livramento and Ola Aina are just three examples of players who could have contributed to the team. And let’s be clear. There is a good chance that none of these players made it. But they could have done had they been given a chance and the time to grow.
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Tammy Abraham of AS Roma celebrates the victory during the Serie A match between AS Roma and SS Lazio at Stadio Olimpico, Rome, Italy on 20 March 2022. (Photo by Giuseppe Maffia/NurPhoto via Getty Images)
Image credit: Getty Images
But no, Chelsea decided to spunk their excess money on players who don’t work out and eventually will get moved on for a loss, normally on loan first.
So rather than have a squad that needs one or two additions you realistically need two central defenders, probably one wing-back, maybe one central midfielder, another winger perhaps and for certain a consistent goalscorer.
And that's because these players (and by definition the manager) aren’t given the time they need to learn and grow. And because the managers come and go all the time players are constantly adjusting to new systems, one they weren't bought to play in. You compare that to Liverpool and Manchester City (where Jurgen Klopp and Pep Guardiola are now the longest-tenured managers in the league following the surprise Sean Dyche sacking) and you can see a system in place as to why players are bought and what the plan is for their development. It's sensible.
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Marina Granovskaia and Petr Cech
Image credit: Imago
But down in London, Chelsea will be forever stuck in The Chelsea Chaos Cycle. Like Sisyphus pushing his boulder up the hill Chelsea think they have finally got to the end of their nightmare. Only for the giant rock to then roll back down to the bottom and they have to start all over again.
So this isn’t about whether Chelsea win the FA Cup. It’s not about if the club gets a new owner that fits the fans’ criteria (you have to have money but you can’t be a bad person; well you can be one kind of bad person but not the other kind of bad person; you absolutely definitely cannot be a bad person who ALSO doesn’t spend on their sports teams).
This is about the club as an entity wanting to break the cycle they find themselves in. At this stage it might not even be possible. So even though managers and players will profess their love for the club. And people in the club’s hierarchy will talk about a long-term sustainable project, that is not who Chelsea Football Club are, or have been this millennium. Perhaps a new ownership will change that, but I sincerely doubt it. For now Chelsea fans and the rest of football just needs to embrace this club for the weird rollercoaster it is. Lean into the chaos and it’ll all be a lot more fun to watch.
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