Insights to why Chelsea struggle to prove doubters wrong

For Chelsea, what was meant to be a day of triumph turned into a nightmare as they suffered a heartbreaking defeat to a depleted Liverpool side in the Carabao Cup final on Sunday.

All and sundry thought the trophy was Chelsea’s to lose given the number of absence in the Liverpool squad, which forced Jurgen Klopp to fill the bench with teenagers from the club’s Academy.

Yet, Chelsea failed to seize the opportunity and they were punished in the second-half of extra time as Virgil van Dijk attacked a Kostas Tsmikas’ corner kick at the near post, guiding his header past Djordje Petrovic to secure a 1-0 win.

The loss marked Chelsea’s sixth consecutive defeat in domestic cup finals, a staggering record that has left fans and pundits alike searching for answers.

Whatever happened to Chelsea ?

Chelsea’s record in finals was one of the most impressive not long ago. Time and again, it was almost certain they were always going to emerge as the winner whenever they compete in domestic finals. Between 1997 and 2012, the club won six of seven Emieates FA Cup final appearances.

Around the same period, Chelsea won four of five Carabao Cup finals, and became even more renowned for their resilience in tough fixtures, both domestically and on the continent.

Unfortunately, they are not slowly but rapidly losing the plot as in the last seven seasons they have lost seven in eight domestic Cup finals, losing six straight to set a new record for most by any English team.

Chelsea in no man’s landChelsea are really struggling to maintain their top status and their task has not been made any easier by the continous increase in the competition in the Premier League.

Now the club is placed tenth on the league standing and have lost a golden chance to win a silverware this season, although they still remain active in the Emirates FA Cup.

Chelsea will not be the first big club to experience this kind of crisis as the likes of Liverpool, Arsenal and currently Manchester United are also having their share of loss of credibility.

However, there’s little similarity between the aforementioned and Chelsea, whose downfall coincided with the change of ownership in May 2022.

Twist of luck compared to the previous eraUnder the ownership of Roman Abramovic, Chelsea recorded the greatest success in the club’s history, including their only two UEFA Champions League titles.

Whenever things started to turn sour with a manager, they fired him and hired new one, and the move always boosted their momentum. This happened in the course of their two Champions League triumphs.

Unfortunately, the same is not the case under the ownership of Todd Boehly. In less than two years of the American, the club has been managed by five different managers.

Not impressed by the works of Thomas Tuchel, and wanting to make an impression upon his arrival at the club, Todd Boehly relieved the German of his duties few months after winning the UEFA Champions League title for the club.

Graham Potter, Bruno Saltor (interim), and Frank Lampard all tried to get Chelsea back on track, but they all failed and got dismissed by the ownership as a consequence. Mauricio Pochettino is also on the brink of losing his job and Chelsea are in search of a successor because the Argentine has failed to live up to expectations. His Carabao Cup final loss all but cleared any doubts the club might be having on his status.

Why can’t Chelsea prove doubters wrong ?

A lot of factors contribute to the failure of Chelsea to prove doubters wrong. Starting from the club’s clownish transfer strategy, which has seen them literally sign players to prove authority rather than strengthen their ranks.

Signing to impress rather than to improve Chelsea boasts a star-studded roster and an impressive financial backing, however, the Blues find themselves perennially grappling with skepticism and uncertainty.

A more critical look at the situation and you’ll realize it is their own doing, choosing to let go of their best players at the first sight of them slowing down.In six months, Chelsea let go of the midfield trio that won them the UEFA Champions League and replaced them with players whom they rather sign to impress the fans, because those were the selling names in the window.

Enzo Fernandez came into the limelight due to his performance in the FIFA World Cup with Argentina. Since he was also on a fantastic first season with Benfica, Chelsea paid 106.8 million pounds to sign him, six months after Benfica paid just eight and a half million pounds.

That was rather a signing to impress fans and it not only saw them spend so much but also lose Jorginho to rivals Arsenal, a man that had just won the European best player award. Six months later, they sanctioned the sale of Mateo Kovacic to another rival, Manchester City, while N’Golo Kanté left Europe altogether to join Karim Benzema at Al Ittihad in Saudi Arabia.

Just like that, a midfield trio that delivered a historical moment for the club has been let go and replaced with players not really scouted but signed as they were the most sought after in the window.

Moises Caicedo was close to joining Arsenal in January window of 2023 but remained at Brighton because he was not allowed to leave, although he did threw tantrums before he succumbed to reality.

Liverpool were also in for the Ecuadorian in the summer before he moved to Chelsea for a British record fee.

Chelsea also signed Romeo Lavia, who was also on the radar of Liverpool and could have been a much fitting addition for the Reds, who had a shortage of holding midfielders. And with Conor Gallagher, they make up the midfield options, not forgetting Lesley Ugochukwu and Carney Chukwuemeka.

This is undeniably a crop of young and exciting talents. However, they are in a team in transition and with no real experience or pressure of playing for a big club. While the managerial instability is also having it’s toll.

In January 2023, they paid around 100 million euros to Shakhtar Donesk for a 22-year-old Mykaylo Mudryk, who had 12 career goals to his name and had not played a game in more than two months, all to beat Arsenal to the player’s signature.

Chelsea continued to make the signings, whether or not they fit into the system. However, they deserve some credit for the signing of Cole Palmer, who has been the club’s knight in shining armor so far.

Christopher Nkunku was the Bundesliga top scorer before moving to Chelsea. However, his poor injury record, which has now become a plague, was not taken into consideration. The Frechman has recently been ruled out for the next three weeks.

Nicolas Jackson had a sensational second-half of the season with Villarreal and that made Chelsea sign him. In a new environment, he has delivered up to his qualities but not match the expectations of fans in West London.

Every club wants to sign good players to improve their team but for Chelsea, it appears a few months of top performance is enough to convince them to splash the cash on any player. Noni Madueke was also snapped up for more than £30 million from PSV Eindhoven. They just continued to sign, as many as they can.

Managerial instability

This phenomenon worked in their favour under the previous administration but it is surely not working this time.

Five managers in less than two years, the fifth one almost on his way out and there has been no positive changes to the situation at Chelsea. Surely, it looks like it is going to take more to move past this phase.

The longer it takes for Chelsea to get it right with managerial appointment, the longer it takes for them to return back to the good not so old days. Ask Liverpool fans, who saw their club went from being the best English club to a 29 year without a Premier League title.

Although they finally got it right in the long run they’d already lost a lot of ground. The UEFA Champions League title in 2005 was all they had to show for the barren years.

And even after the appointment of Jurgen Klopp, who turned doubters to believers, they still had to wait and with a bit of luck, their wait for a Premier League title ended in the covid-19 year.

It happened to Arsenal. Theirs was as a result of a manager overstaying his welcome. This is the 20th season since they last won the Premier League title.

At some point they fell out of the top four and finished out of the top seven in back-to-back seasons. Under Mikel Arteta the ship has been steadied, but the days of glory they continue to await.

Manchester United still wallows in the swamp of uncertainty due to their poor choice of manager when choosing a successor to Sir Alex Ferguson. Till date, fans in the red side of Manchester will regret the appointment of David Moyes.

For Chelsea, desperation is starting to set in. It shows in the way they spend. But that could also land then in hot waters. As the FIFA financial fair play is always on their neck.

Chaotic decisions see followers playing the leaders

The leadership choices at Chelsea is really alarming. Despite always being selected in the starting XI almost every time he is available, Thiago Silva was literally stripped of the captain armband.

In the 2022-23 season, it was in the order of Cesar Azpilicueta, Jorginho and Thiago Silva, and when Jorginho departed midway through the season, the Brazilian subsequently became the vice captain and led more as Azpilicueta hardly start in games.

In the wake of Cesar Azpilicueta’s departure in the summer, new boss Mauricio Pochettino made Reece James the captain of the side and also promoted Benjamin Chilwell to the role of vice captain.Thiago Silva only came in at third and Conor Gallagher was also included in the leadership hierarchy.

Unfortunately, the frequent absence of Reece James and Ben Chilwell due to injuries exposed the discrepancies behind the Argentine’s choices.

In the club’s 3-0 win over Luton Town back in August, Ben Chilwell handed the captain band to Thiago Silva while departing the pitch following his substitution. However, Fernandez was seen doning the armband later in the match.

This translated that Thiago Silva had passed the armband to the young Argentinian, even though Conor Gallagher was still in the pitch. How irrational.

Later in August, Conor Gallagher captained Chelsea for the very first time as they defeated Wimbledon in a Carabao Cup second round meeting, although in the absence of Thiago Silva and other captains.

Surprisingly, Gallagher retained the armband following the injury to Ben Chilwell for their trip to Bournemouth mid September, even though Thiago Silva was included in the starting XI for the match.

Reports in December has it that players at Chelsea were perplexed that Silva has not been made captain when Reece James and Ben Chilwell have been absent. There were also rumors that Mauricio Pochettino has shown disrespect to the Brazilian and it is a growing topic in the dressing room at the time.

Internal conflict in leadership is never a good omen for any club, more so, one going through a lot of uncertainties like Chelsea.

Fans have no football knowledge syndrome

One of the biggest problems facing Chelsea is the fans have no football knowledge syndrome. For a club with a very good chemistry with its fans, the lack of knowledge of the game of the fans is affecting the club.

So much success begs for more, and for Chelsea fans who have witnessed hasty decisions turn out good under the ownership of Roman Abramovic, they become impatient too soon once their expectations failed.

That has seen their most important players not long ago depart the club. Too much pressure on the club and criticism of players have played significant roles in the decisions of the club, just for the new owners to keep their support.

Mason Mount was Chelsea’s overall best player during his spell at the club but despite being home-grown and an established England international, it was not enough to save him from the bullies, who call themselves fans of the club.

Kai Havertz was not the most consistent player. However, his role in Chelsea’s success can never be undemined. A German international that cost £71 million to move from Bayer Leverkusen, he was subjected to a harsh treatment at the club.

Now that they’re all gone, the angels that could do no wrong have now failed to deliver for Chelsea, and funny, those that work their shins off get much of the blame these days.

Conor Gallagher has been one of the best performers so far yet many believed it was best to move him on, when speculations of a move to Tottenham Hotspur surfaced in January.

On the other hand, Enzo Fernandez and Moises Caicedo are not performing like players worth their transfer fees but that is no issue for the fans, afterall they can always direct their angers and abuses to the likes of Nicolas Jackson.

Jose Mourinho: a pragmatic solution to the malady, perhaps ?

Roma’s decision to part ways with Jose Mourinho could be a blessing in disguise for Chelsea as they look for a successor to Pochettino. The Portuguese returning to Chelsea to start the new era as he did for Roman Abramovic could be all they need.

Jose is renowned for his tendency to become the leading character in his team and this is exactly what is needed at Chelsea, where youngsters appear to call the shots.

Ultimately, Mourinho’s commanding persona may be the key to galvanize Chelsea and lead them back to prominence, in the company of the heavyweights.

He’ll bring a unique blend of experience, tactical acumen, and charisma to back to London for what will be his third spell at the club.

He is a man who transmits the culture and morals of the club and is very loved by the fans. Though he has his own buts, however, in the short period he can help them get over this phase. That is if he is considered as an option by the administration.

What is sure is that Chelsea will replace Mauricio Pochettino in the long run, maybe sooner rather than later. Getting a right successor will be crucial in proving doubters wrong.

And maybe with a renewed sense of purpose, and a collective determination to overcome adversity, Chelsea will rewrite the narrative and finally silence their doubters once and for all.

Hassan Afolabi