The Problems at Chelsea

The feeling around Chelsea at the moment is one of negativity. Despite an upturn in form with back-to-back league wins over Leeds and Leicester with a dominant Champions League victory over Dortmund in between, a lot of the Stamford Bridge faithful are very sceptical over whether Graham Potter is the man to take them forward.

Since Potter come in and post World Cup it’s not good reading for the former Brighton boss. With two wins in twelve in the league and no wins in five and only scoring six goals. That turgid form lead to 10 points in 12 games leading to the majority of the Chelsea dabs calling for the head of Potter and the atmosphere during and after games at Stamford Bridge becoming toxic.

The massive outlay from the board on the playing squad hasn’t helped the pressure on him with them spending €320 million spent in January on players like Enzo Fernandez and Mykhaylo Mudryk neither of which have really shown their potential of their transfer fees yet. The former is starting to show a bit of the €105 million spent but he will have to show a lot more to match his ludicrous price tag.

While sacking Potter might be the best idea for a lot of the fans, given the amount of money spent on the squad, the main issue with Chelsea is they have too many players. Getting rid of a lot of the dead wood might be a better idea than getting rid of the manager.

A squad of 32 players with Malo Gusto still to join the squad from Lyon and the rumoured signing of Christopher Nkunku from RB Leipzig to come to Cobham in the summer will lead to even more for Potter to juggle.

There is a lot of players in the club who need to be let go, if Chelsea want to be a regular title challenge there are a lot of players at the club who just aren’t at the level required.

Denis Zakaria’s loan move from Juventus hasn’t worked out, despite playing well in spells, his injury record just hasn’t got him the minutes needed for a player of his level, while Joao Felix also has a loan deal until the end of the season, I feel that signing the Portuguese international would be best for Chelsea as, out of the January signings, he has looked exceptional and would be a great signing for the blues permanently.

N'Golo Kante is a tough one. The Frenchman’s deal is up at the end of the season, but he has been injured for the majority of the season and has, on average, missed 16 games a season since he joined the blues from Leicester. There is no doubt he is one of the best DMs in the world when fit but the best ability is availability and Kante doesn’t seem to have that consistency needed at the top level anymore. And even if he’s back fit and firing, the best trait is his engine and non-stop moving and covering a lot of ground, can he do that when he’s got a lot of niggling injuries piling up, he might not have the mobility anymore.

Players with a year left on their deal are the interesting ones, players like Mateo Kovacic and Thiago Silva are certain keeps, needed to stay. The Croatian has been a shining light for Chelsea recently and should be top priority to tie down to a new deal for Graham Potter. And despite the Brazilian being late 30s, he is still loved by the blues fans and is obviously a great leader in the dressing room, both on and off the pitch, feel he could play into his 40s.

Then there’s the curious case of Mason Mount. The Englishman is yet to sign a new contract and it’s said there is a ‘big gap’ between club and player, according to Fabrizio Romano. Its fair to say he has been in poor form given his high standards. This season his three goals and two assists in 25 games, and its not as if he’s been unfortunate as he’s matching his Xg of 2.11 and Xa of three. Given last season he had 11 goals and 10 assists, this is a massive drop off for the England international and with Liverpool reportedly keeping tabs on his situation, the question remains of would you keep him for a season and hope he signs a new deal or cut their losses and let him go. But if he doesn’t want to sign the best thing for all parties is to sell him. Get some of that money and make back some of the mass expenditure by selling.

Overall, the issues surrounding Chelsea run deeper than Potter, there is a massive squad there that needs trimming and getting rid of Mason Mount, if he doesn’t re-sign, and N'Golo Kante could start the rebuild of squad. Keeping Potter until the summer and the start of next season, let him have a pre-season with the squad and put his system in with hopefully, a trimmed squad. But he has to get it right because the fans are still not happy with him despite the upturn in form.