Chelsea managers are always under pressure – but especially when their teams play the way they did away at Everton.
Saturday’s performance in a 3-0 defeat was nowhere near good enough and what will be especially worrying for the Chelsea hierarchy is the belief among some Chelsea fans that the players didn’t appear to be playing for head coach Liam Rosenior.
There is no getting away from it: Chelsea had a terrible 10 days. They were humiliated by PSG across two defeats which knocked them out of the Champions League, and they lost to Newcastle and Everton in the Premier League.
The picture is even more concerning if you go back to the start of last month. Since February 3, Chelsea have played 12 games and won only three – against Wolves, Hull and Aston Villa.
Having said all that, we need to retain a sense of perspective. There have been games non-stop since Rosenior took charge of his first match on January 10. He has overseen 19 games in total and his record reads: won 10, drawn two, lost seven. It’s fair to say, though, the owners were expecting better results than that.
If Chelsea carry on like this, there is a real chance they will miss out on Champions League football. That would be a massive blow on and off the pitch. Missing out on the Champions League could cost in the region of £100m and that would be a bitter pill to swallow for a club who, according to UEFA, have recorded the largest pre-tax loss in the history of English football.
Chelsea fans aren’t just frustrated with Rosenior. There is a real disconnect between the fans and the people running the club. Yes, fans have different opinions, but many of them feel this is not the real Chelsea.
They are used to watching a team that had character, personality, a never-say-die attitude, a team that was led by some of the best managers in the world.
At the moment, those days seem a long time away. Chelsea fans are asking why new owners came in, ripped everything up and started again when they had a world-class manager in Thomas Tuchel and had won the Champions League in 2021.
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FREE TO WATCH: Highlights from Everton’s match against Chelsea in the Premier League
Some don’t understand why Chelsea are buying young players and not more players with proven Premier League experience. Why hasn’t the goalkeeper situation been sorted out? Why haven’t they signed an experienced centre-back?
Another big concern for fans is the calibre of managers who have been appointed since Tuchel left. Chelsea used to appoint the best in the world: Jose Mourinho, Carlo Ancelotti and Antonio Conte.
One group of Chelsea fans are planning a protest ahead of the home game with Man Utd on April 18 – and it will be a unique one as they will be joined by supporters from Strasbourg, a club who share the same ownership group as Chelsea.
Rosenior needs a response on the pitch. Chelsea play Port Vale in an FA Cup quarter-final and then they have Man City and Man Utd at Stamford Bridge in the Premier League. Those City and United games will be pivotal in the club’s hunt for Champions League qualification.
At this stage of last season, Chelsea had five more points and were two places higher in the table. It’s not too late to turn things around, but time is running out.
