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Where are Chelsea going wrong?

Just two seasons ago, Chelsea lifted their second Champions League trophy, defeating Manchester City in the final in Porto.

A lot has changed since then, but their ambition to be the best in Europe remains. This summer, they enjoyed a record-breaking transfer window, spending over £250 million. Many expected them to be back on top of the world this season.

But so far, it’s all been a bit of a let-down. They’ve won just three of their seven outings in all competitions, most recently falling to defeat in their Champions League opener against Dinamo Zagreb. This ultimately proved to be Thomas Tuchel’s final game in charge of the Blues.

What exactly is causing this disappointing start to the season? Let’s take a look.

Defensively poor

In his early days at Stamford Bridge, Tuchel built one of the sternest defences in world football. When they won the Champions League in 2021, they conceded just twice in the knockout stages.

Now, that rock-solid backline has been torn apart. Antonio Rudiger is the most notable absentee, having left for Real Madrid this summer on a free transfer. Andreas Christensen also departed at the end of his contract.

In their place, Kalidou Koulibaly and Wesley Fofana have stepped in. The former had an encouraging home debut against Tottenham Hotspur, but has since been suspect. The latter has featured just twice.


Meanwhile, the usually-reliable Edouard Mendy has looked a shadow of the goalkeeper who was once voted as The Best FIFA Men’s Goalkeeper. Following a poor run of form, some fans have called for second choice Kepa Arrizabalaga to be recalled to the starting XI.

All of this has resulted in a defence that has kept just one clean sheet all season – coming against a side that had no striker. This may improve once the new boys are fully settled in, but there’s no guarantee that they’ll reach the levels of before.

This been an issue for longer than just the last few weeks, as this damning statistic from Sky Sports shows. From Tuchel’s first 50 games in charge of Chelsea, they conceded just 24 goals. In his last 50? 53 conceded. How have they become so leaky?

Weak in midfield

In their latest fixture against Dinamo Zagreb, Chelsea boasted 68% possession. This suggests that they controlled the game, but that is far from the truth.

Despite dominating the ball, they never really looked like scoring. They were lethargic, unimaginative, and uninspired.

There are only two matches all season where the Blues have managed to maintain some sort of control in midfield: the away victory against Everton, and the home draw against Tottenham Hotspur. The common denominator? N’Golo Kante.

When the Frenchman is fit, Chelsea look like a much better side. But his fitness is a major worry, and the supporting cast simply aren’t on his level.

Considering all the money they spent, the Londoners made shockingly little effort to upgrade in this area. Conor Gallagher returned from loan, teenager Carney Chukwuemeka was recruited from Aston Villa, and Denis Zakaria was loaned in from Juventus on deadline day, most likely in an act of panic.

Blunt in attack

The defensive issues could perhaps be excused if Chelsea were scoring at a prolific rate. Unfortunately for them, they’re not. From seven games, they’ve found the net on eight occasions – for comparison, Erling Haaland, Kylian Mbappe, and Neymar have all got more individually.

Some may attribute this to the lack of a natural finisher in their squad, but the problems run deeper than that. They’ve racked up an expected goals value of 7.6 in the league this season, ranking tenth in the Premier League (via FBRef).

Once again, it comes down to creativity. Aside from Reece James’ crosses from the right, Chelsea have often looked out of ideas when it comes to breaking down an opponent. The likes of Mason Mount, Kai Havertz, Hakim Ziyech, and Christian Pulisic haven’t done enough so far.

That said, they’ve lacked a world-class finisher for a while. Raheem Sterling and Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang are both capable of getting goals, but neither are particularly clinical.

Of course, all these players have proven in the past that they’re good enough. But they ought to step it up soon before it’s too late.

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