3 problems plaguing Chelsea right now
Chelsea were beaten 3-1 by West Ham United on Sunday, August 20. It was their first defeat of the season, following the 1-1 draw against Liverpool at Stamford Bridge on the opening weekend.
West Ham took the lead before Chelsea's Carney Chukwuemeka equalized for the Blues in the first half. Chelsea saw Enzo Fernandez miss a penalty going into the half-time break.
The Blues came out the more attackings side in the second half but were undone in a counter attack, with Michail Antonio scoring for the Hammers. The match took another turn as West Ham went down to 10-men soon after but Chelsea failed to take advantage of the situation.
Instead, it was the Hammers who netted a third goal, with Lucas Paqueta converting from the spot. By the end of the game, Chelsea appeared to have returned to their old ways of last season - Unorganized, disoriented and dire.
Even though it is just one result, Chelsea fans will know that the feeling is all too familiar, given the result of the previous season. The signs of failing to convert chances only to concede on counter-attacks is what plagued the Blues last season and they seem to be carrying on with that trend this time around as wel.
On that note, let us take a look at three glaring problems with Chelsea right now:
#1 Excessive transfer activity
Chelsea have led a massive exodus at the club this summer and at the same time brought in several new players. They have spent lavishly for the third window in a row and the squad appears to have been almost completely overhauled.
On the wage books, it appears to be a good move, as they now have younger players on low salaries, with performance-based bonuses but the overall spending on transfers is now close to a £1 billion.
Moreover, despite selling smartly, the Blues now have the issue of having to gel together a team who are all new at the club. The group of youngsters will probably develop over time into formidable players but at this point it is more of a disjointed side with youngsters, who lack experience of winning games in the Premier League.
Players like Romeo Lavia, Moises Caicedo, Fernandez, Mykhailo Mudryk, Christopher Nkunku and others have been signed but they have been brought in this year.
This means that they haven't had the requisite time to build a chemistry and familiarise to each other's playing style. Add to that, these players are on excessively long contracts, meaning that should they not click through, it will be hard to offload them.
#2 Departure of key players
That brings us to our next point. A throwback to the Champions League winning squad from two years back and only the likes of Recce James, Thiago Silva and Ben Chilwell remain at the club. The issue here is that, the first team is hardly recognisable from last year and the year before.
Regulars such as Kai Havertz, Mason Mount, Mateo Kovacic, N'Golo Kante, Edouard Mendy and more were shipped out to bring new players. Additionally, a lot of these names were sold to rivals such as Manchester City, United and Arsenal. While that's not a bad thing per se, but two squad overhauls in two seasons is hardly painting a picture of stability. It depletes a bit of the experience from the side while making it hard for the manager to get his ideas across.
#3 Mauricio Pochettino might be a misfit at Chelsea
Speaking of managers, Chelsea took another big step in appointing the former Paris-Saint Germain boss as manager. Mauricio Pochettino is among the popular managerial names out there and his work at previous clubs like Southampton and Tottenham were rather expemplary. However, he was afforded a lot of time to get his ideas and tactics across and shape the side.
The Stamford Bridge outfit are not known for any of that. The Blues are ruthless when it comes to winning silverware and managers are hardly given too many chances. Thomas Tuchel got the sack early last season and his successor Graham Potter could not even see out the campaign as Frank Lampard took charge on an interim basis.
Hence, it looks like Chelsea might just have gone after a manager who is perhaps not quite used to handling a time-sensitive project. Unfortunately, it is time that this squad needs, regardless of who the manager is.