It’s hard to know just where the most anger lies for Chelsea fans currently. The players are the ones booed off the field, but most have been signed in the past 12 months and arrived with the chance of enhancing their careers on life-changing moves.
It is the players that have the responsibility to carry out actions, to defend the box, to score goals and the rest, but the issues come from above, that is widely accepted. That there is no one clear area of the pitch that has fallen short of expectations in recent weeks doesn’t help.
Mauricio Pochettino has turned the attention towards the strikers, as he did throughout the summer and also over one month ago when claiming that Christopher Nkunku would have scored between eight and ten goals already. But, the defensive mistakes have meant there is little security when things do fall short in attack
This squad has been created by a mixture of sporting directors ranging from club co-owner Todd Boehly in 2022 to Paul Winstanley and Laurence Stewart from January onwards. Christopher Vivell has been and gone whilst Behdad Eghbali has his own impact. The mix and match approach to transfers is another area receiving widespread criticism.
The manager himself cannot be blameless, opting for defensive changes and using players in unfamiliar roles that don’t always suit their style and strengths. How he works within the still ever-changing structure from above is also attracting scrutiny.
As always, the easiest place to pin the blame on and to demand for change in is in the public view. New players are called for and a fresh face in charge to shake the place up. With a lack of culture and identity, two things that have been stripped back from the club in the aftermath of the forced ownership switch 18 months ago, a common consensus is that Chelsea are unrecognisable.
The feeling at Stamford Bridge, the actions in the transfer market and the results on the pitch are all night and day compared with what became staple under Roman Abramovich. In these circumstances, where the players themselves have little connection on and off the pitch after being so quickly banded together, calls for a familiar face emerge.
It was why Frank Lampard’s appointment was greeted with still reluctant optimism last year. Here, at least, is someone that knows about this club in ways that others simply cannot. It is also why the call for John Terry to be involved in some form remains so strong, be it as a coach or just a body to radiate that Pure Chels energy.
Petr Cech’s departure last year stings in the same way. This was not only someone of Chelsea heritage once more leaving but also a footballing brain being effectively axed.
In this world there are no remainders of the former team on the pitch to call upon. Signing Juan Mata is out of the equation, even Eden Hazard has retired and not even Diego Costa on the pitch could offer more than Armando Broja. So the attention turns to the duggout, to the one place there can be a visible embodiedment of Chelsea.
It isn’t hard to see the thought process, at least on the surface. Jose Mourinho is a familiar someone with previous success and the aura of a king. He is admired at SW6 and even the move to Tottenham can’t shake his popularity. Mourinho left Chelsea worse off in the table than they are now but would be welcomed back with open arms and a kiss.
His presence transceneds actual football in a way that no other manager – not even Thomas Tuchel – can so universally do to Chelsea. Just a quick social media glance and heads have turned again to the Special One online. Just the prospect of being united together under one man can make people giddy.
However the reality demands something different. Chelsea need a unity and for even a sense of direction and turning to Mourinho offers neither of those things currently. His time in Italy has been more successful than most imagined, but to claim it is an indication he could shift the dial at Stamford Bridge again is far fetched.
Tactically, there remain questions that have plagued him since 2015 and at Manchester United or Tottenham the man-management was less impactful as it has been previously. Lampard himself was brought in more for vibes than anything and struggled to get a fractured group together.
This core, if there even is a core, is more unified but remains a world away from what is required to meet expectations. After the year that the Blues have had there is a need for time, simply time, to gather thoughts and to allow for wholesale issues to get the chance to be resolved.
Mourinho is seen as the dream plaster though and there’s little doubt that if asked he would find it hard to turn down. “If you ask me do I have somebody that I would love to take over from ‘my Chelsea’ let’s say that, yes, but I have but I close my mouth,” he said when asked about the club earlier this year.
“The club reached such a level that it doesn’t matter who it’s with but Chelsea will always be Chelsea. Chelsea will always be big and my house will always be 200 metres away from the stadium so I want to keep listening to the sound of happiness and success. I’m pretty sure it’s going to be like that
The reality for Chelsea is that even Mourinho’s powers would face the biggest challenge of his career by some distance if he was to return. It might united the supporters but what is left of ‘his Chelsea’ is hardly worth counting anymore and for now it is Pochettino’s job to form a new foundation, not turn back the clock again.
Although the lure of Mourinho remains as strong as ever, his ties with the club as clear as can be, at some point the question must be asked just what the best case scenario with him is. The connection would be to Mourinho not the squad and the man dealing after him would be left with the same issues that plagued Chelsea between 2007 and 2010, and even that is being optimistic.
Hiring Mourinho is a pragmatic move and not one that demonstrates clear thinking or plans for the future. It is a reversion to the past and even for Boehly-Clearlake it would be a new low.
