Over £500 million was spent throughout the season, the club’s record transfer fee was broken twice over and a host of promising young players were recruited in a span of weeks. Now that doesn’t sound like a recipe for misery, does it?
Well sadly, none of it has helped Chelsea‘s fortunes, as the Blues continue to sink further down the table with any hopes of European Qualification already down the drain.
At the helm of the disaster is mid-season appointment Graham Potter, the former Brighton gaffer has managed to win just 5 of his 17 games in charge of the Blues.
The London outfit have also won just 2 of their last 14 League matches, which accounts for a horrific win percentage of 29.4% under the Englishman.
Matters at Stamford Bridge are best summed up as chaotic, the Football on the pitch is uninspired and bland, the fanbase is at odds with the manager, and there is a distinct lack of energy all around.
Chelsea’s performances in recent weeks have lacked any semblance of the three things often taken for granted: passion, hunger and desire.
Their pressing is laborious and the attack barely functional, teammates sharing a dressing room are entirely unfamiliar with each other and it shows.
Recruiting 6 first-team players from 6 different leagues isn’t a sound policy for instant success or even squad-building for that matter.
The team looks disconnected on the pitch, and naturally, this has led to suspicions that the situation behind-the-scenes isn’t all that different either.
These theories have been further fueled by two separate indications which suggest that the Chelsea dressing room is far from a happy one.
The first piece of evidence arrived after Chelsea’s 1-0 loss at home to 20th-placed Southampton.
It came in the form of a brief clip captured right before the warm-ups which displayed a dejected Chelsea side standing inside the Stamford Bridge tunnel.
Heads down, with a total lack of enthusiasm in the body language and plenty of sour faces, the morale among the players looked absolutely non-existent.
They didn’t even respond to Captain Cesar Azpilicueta’s rallying cry, and instead, they simply jogged forward and out of the tunnels.
The dire sight left plenty of Chelsea fans worried, as they wondered whether the rumours of an unhappy dressing room were actually true.
This was followed up by another valid piece of evidence which also pointed to a bit of unrest among the players.
On this occasion, the indication came courtesy of some subtle Twitter activity from Belle Silva, the wife of Senior Chelsea player Thiago Silva.
Much like her husband, Belle Silva has also earned plenty of adoration amongst the Chelsea faithful, purely through her passion for the club.
Unfortunately, she has a tendency to get a bit overzealous with her support, and as a result, she often ends up criticizing members of the club.
She famously hit out at Timo Werner during the 2020/21 season for his poor finishing abilities, and this wasn’t the only such incident either.
Belle’s latest victim ended up being Graham Potter, or at least that is what her Twitter activity suggested.
Through her official account, Belle liked a Tweet which basically stated that Potter is out of his depth at Chelsea, more specifically it labelled him a ‘deadbeat, tacticless coach’.
It also included a request for Thiago Silva to manage and coach the side instead, which is likely the reason behind Belle Silva liking it.
Belle Silva liking this negative tweet about Graham Potter kind of suggests the dressing room is unhappy. What’s your thoughts on this? pic.twitter.com/hTq3jKaMyT
While it’s not as glaring as the warm-up clip, her Twitter activity managed to stroke the bubbling tension among Chelsea fans.
With no visible signs of improvement, the club’s dire state is likely to continue for the next few weeks, the onus remains on Graham Potter and co to turn the side’s fortunes around.
