I expected to see such articles today and for the rest of this week. We all know how the media absolutely LOVE a Chelsea meltdown and downfall. Many of them have articles written in drafts ready to post whenever something goes bad for Chelsea, and many of them are hoping and praying that Chelsea are transfer banned or deducted points after spending almost £1bn on new players.
But with all that said, I am afraid that most of the stuff written about Chelsea right now is hard to argue against. I know that many of them are thriving in our demise, but you just have to admit sometimes that the criticism is fully deserved.
Barney Ronay of The Guardian has written a somewhat sarcastic article today and I cannot help but admit I was entertained by reading it. It sums up my own feelings really, the fact that all I can do is laugh right now because it’s my best form of coping mechanism!
Ronay has described Chelsea’s squad as ‘human soup’ and all I could do was laugh, because he’s right!
‘Chelsea were so poor against Arsenal they seemed at times to be indulging in a kind of protest activity, non-sport, football as an act of extended standing around waiting for it to be over,’ Ronay wrote.
‘How unusual to win a game 5-0 in the final knockings of a title race and yet somehow it is the opposition who feel like the story here. This is how bad Chelsea were. Even the teamsheet had the feeling of end-times, leftovers, football in the post-apocalypse.
‘Mudryk-Madueke-Jackson-Gallagher. This is a strange human soup, disparate parts, human talent as amortised numbers. We are the stuffed men. We are the hollow men. We are the Chelsea midfield. Imagine not beating this Chelsea team 5-0.
‘In a way it was refreshing. There is so much heavy systems football around. How liberating to see a team with no plan whatsoever. At one point Enzo Fernández carried the ball forward 30 yards, then just seemed to run out of bandwidth, stopping then starting again, visibly confused. Conor Gallagher’s only real job early on was to sprint in and stand in front of every Arsenal free‑kick. Well, it’s a living.
‘Talent has been hoarded here. But why? This is the question Chelsea seem to ask with every sideways pass, every shrugging restart. There is a serious drop off in quality in this Chelsea team without Cole Palmer and Malo Gusto. One odd thing about the 18-month mega-splurge was the narrow range of talent. Chelsea bought a lot of deeply room-temperature footballers. All filler no killer. This is our DNA now: the yeah-maybe player.’
I found this entertaining, which is really sad to admit. But that’s where I’m at right now.
Kieran Gill of The Daily Mail also had a pretty damning conclusion and he’s also spot on.
‘Truth be told, this was originally going to be a piece about Nicolas Jackson and whether he could do a job as a left winger if Chelsea sign a striker this summer,’ Gill wrote. ‘But that was when it was 1-0.
‘Then it became 2-0, which was frustrating for Chelsea. Then 3-0, mildly embarrassing. Then 4-0, humiliating. Then 5-0, a certified capitulation in which one of the country’s most loyal followings decided they had seen enough, exiting the Emirates Stadium’s away end long before full-time.
‘Jackson and the left wing debate can wait for another day. After this loss to Arsenal, Chelsea have bigger problems that need addressing, and it is hard not to feel that they go beyond the manager.
‘That is not to say Mauricio Pochettino is blameless. Far from it. He cannot escape being held accountable for how Chelsea have crumbled into a steaming pile of price tags.
‘For how this young team seem to emerge for second halves as if they have been sung a lullaby. For how in a division full of discernible styles of play, it is difficult to see what Chelsea are trying to do
‘Reports emerged elsewhere on Tuesday that Pochettino will remain in charge for next season and they were premature, to say the least.
‘The plan was, and seemingly still is, to stage a summer review. Sources say the players ‘love’ Pochettino, but evenings as shameful as Chelsea suffering their heaviest-ever defeat by Arsenal will not help his cause with the Clearlake Capital ownership and sporting directors Paul Winstanley and Laurence Stewart.
‘And now they are stuck. Stuck with young players, signed for significant sums and down to lifetime deals, whom they would struggle to shift for anything other than a loss. Stuck wondering what to do, where to turn, and whether this team will ever fulfil the potential they paid for.
‘Axel Disasi and Benoit Badiashile cost a combined £74m and only stopped conceding once 39-year-old Thiago Silva was introduced to form a back five in a switch that screamed damage limitation. Moises Caicedo and Enzo Fernandez cost £221m and could not get close to anyone in red. Noni Madueke and Mudryk cost £117m and hardly had a sniff of goal. Jackson cost £32m and, despite showing glimpses of the good, we again witnessed the bad in his finishing.
‘Pochettino’s position will be scrutinised and rightly so, but he is only part of a wider problem that has left Chelsea facing yet another season without European football.’
He’s got all our issues spot on and rounded up perfectly here. I wonder if this, like all our concerns and criticisms, will also fall on deaf ears. MAKE CHANGES, NOW!!
