Chelsea has been in a port hole since the beginning of the 2022/2023 season and is living in one of, if not, the most disjointed dreams they could never have imagined.
The Blues are known to be one of the biggest teams in Europe and are also part of the famous Big 6 teams in England.
So, how did Chelsea go from winning the Champions League to fighting for a spot at any of the UEFA competitions in the space of 3 years?
Since Todd Boehly took over as the new owner of Chelsea, they haven't been the same.
Sure, he had the resources and finances to help them build a bigger and stronger team but despite all this, Chelsea is still looking like a shadow of their previous self.
One of the key points that contributed to this dilemma was the sacking of Thomas Tuchel.
The German was brought in the second half of the 2020/2021 season, replacing Frank Lampard, and in the space of that time frame till the beginning of the 2022/2023 season, he had already led the Blues to 6 finals and won 3 of them.
It is safe to say the trophies won were the Champions League, UEFA Super Cup, and the FIFA Club World Cup.
Though he failed to win the FA Cup on two occasions, losing to Leicester City and Liverpool respectively, and also the Carabao Cup, where he lost to Liverpool again, he remained one of the prominent coaches, as he had the support of the then owner of Chelsea Roman Abramovic.
But after the sale, everything began to change, as the Board decided to make a managerial switch, just a few days after Boehly came in.
Tuchel didn't have a good start to the season, winning just 3 games and failing to collect points in 3 games in all competitions it was the loss against Dinamo Zagreb in the UCL that proved to be the final straw and Chelsea decided to let him go, or rather, he was sacked.
They could have had patience and known Tuchel, who would have made a turnaround.
This didn't come as a surprise to many as Chelsea has always been one of those clubs that grow impatient with the managers quickly if they don't see results, but it seems like they had changed their ways, seeing how much time they gave his replacement Graham Potter before he was shown the back door.
The former Brighton manager had one of those fairytales starts with a club, winning 5 of his first 9 matches with the club in all competitions, a period when he went unbeaten but as stated earlier: a fairytale start.
Everything began to crumble after their 4-1 loss to his former side Brighton and it was during this period that injuries began to plague the camp of Chelsea, taking out some of their best players in the likes of Reece James, Ngolo Kante, Wesley Fofana and occasionally, Thiago Silva.
In the league, they failed to take even a point against Arsenal or Newcastle in November.
They also fell to the hands of Manchester City in 3 separate meetings and have come with their head down as they failed to score in any of their encounters, conceding a total of 7 goals across the 3 matches so far.
Despite spending 500+ million dollars in the January transfer window and bringing in the likes of World Cup winner Enzo Fernandez, Joao Felix, and, Mykhalo Mudryk, it still didn't change a thing.
From the 1st of January till the 4th of April, the Blues won just 4 games, drew 6 games, and lost 6 games in all competitions, losing to the likes of Southampton, Fulham, and Tottenham.
Even after their epic comeback against Dortmund in the UCL R16, it didn't do much to boost the morale of the team.
After a 0-0 draw against Liverpool on April 4th, Potter was relieved of his duties, much to the joy of the Chelsea faithful.
In the 32 games that he managed, he got only 13 wins, and 7 draws, and suffered 12 defeats.
In less than a day, Former Manager and Chelsea Legend Frank Lampard were appointed as the caretaker till the end of the season but after losing his first match against Wolves in the league, fans quickly began to turn on him.
After their 2-0 loss against UCL Quarter Final opponents Real Madrid, they went on to lose to Brighton for the second time in a row.
Currently, Chelsea sits in the 11th place in the Premier League with 10 wins, 9 draws, and 12 defeats with a total of 39 points, their European dream for next season seems to have diminished completely and after crashing out of the UCL, following another 2-0 loss against Madrid in the 2nd leg, it is looking clearer.
Though they might be safe from relegation, a top 7 finish doesn't look like a likely finish either.
One could say that the season is over for the Blues and for that, they need to think and try to find where the problem lies.
Is it the manager and his staff, the players and their form, or the board?
As it stands, fans are getting tired and with them out of all competitions and having 7 games to play before the end of the season, they just hope that Chelsea tries to deliver and hope to, at least, secure a top-half finish.
Well, let's see what next season will bring for the London faithful.
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Thank you.
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