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Despite the fact they still have seven games to play in the league and a realistic chance to put the FA Cup in the Stamford Bridge trophy cabinet, Chelsea’s season is firmly on course for underachievement.
The cost of failing to reach Champions League football for a second time in three seasons is yet to be calculated but looks a near-certainty as we come out of the Easter weekend.
It will certainly affect the club’s finances at a time they’re looking to develop Stamford Bridge and could also impact matters on the pitch with star players making for the exits and recruitment of new players and potentially a new manager also likely to be impacted.
The wobbling wheels of their bid to defend their Premier League title this season can be said to have finally fallen off at the turn of the year.
Having just convincingly beaten Stoke 5-0, Conte’s side have recorded only three more league wins from the 10 matches in 2018, half of these fixtures ending in defeat.
But what’s behind this drop-off in form that has threatened Chelsea’s position among the European elite?
#5 Poor recruitment
Antonio Conte has blamed a poor set of transfer windows for a lack of player depth in his squad at various points of this season. Yet despite the fifth-biggest net spend in the league this season, a figure minimised by sales which have recouped over £160 million, Chelsea have brought eight new players into the first team squad.
While many players require a settling-in period before hitting their peak with a new club, it’s significant that all of these signings have failed to deliver any major lift to the club.
With the quality of these signings being called into question, the blame for these transfer decisions is hidden somewhere within the inner workings of the club. Michael Emenalo has been made a scape-goat for this to some degree. However, it looks to be a systemic problem rather than one director’s ultimate responsibility.
As such, it remains to be seen whether the situation improves this summer following a lacklustre trading period in January.
#4 Poor squad management
With the former Blues players Mohamed Salah and Kevin De Bruyne leading the running for this season’s Premier League player of the year awards, it brings Chelsea's player development process back into the spotlight.
Roman Abramovich’s plans to make Chelsea a financially self-sufficient entity are to be applauded in these times of footballing hyper-inflation, however, their track record for allowing players leave the club is looking increasingly questionable.
Beyond the two headline names above, several other players have flourished elsewhere in the Premier League this season, players who could have been beneficial to Chelsea given their weakness this season in creativity and squad depth.
Kurt Zouma, Kenedy, Nemanja Matic, Nathaniel Chalobah and Ruben Loftus-Cheek have all proven themselves at this level with the likes of Michy Batshuayi and Diego Costa both leaving the club this season aswell.
#3 Antagonistic Conte
Reports circulating around comments from the likes of Jamie Redknapp and Gianluca Vialli of a toxic atmosphere inside the Chelsea dressing room are little more than rumours which are hard to verify.
The fact that they’re surfacing now is not completely surprising, given that the club are currently experiencing a slump which should affect the morale within any squad of players.
As a manager with a disciplinarian approach and increasingly hunched shoulders, Conte has already had public fall-outs with both Diego Costa and David Luiz this season.
Furthermore, a public spat conducted through the media with José Mourinho just after Christmas served to cast Conte as a person at the whim of his own emotions.
Having also spent time railing against the internal mechanics of the club this season, a subject he again brought up unprompted following January’s Carabao Cup defeat to Arsenal, Conte has fought a lot of battles which could easily have been sidestepped.
With Conte’s passions lacking the focus and direction which helped inspire his players upon his arrival in London, his downbeat demeanour now lacks the confidence and defiance which he once exuded in press conferences, the dugout and quite possibly the training ground too.
#2 One-dimensional attack
While both Eden Hazard and Álvaro Morata have recently been turning in good performances, there’s been a lack of attacking options in the Chelsea front-line.
As a club who have relied for so long on players in the mould of Didier Drogba and Diego Costa, Chelsea’s approach play has been more predictable for opponents without this physical presence up front.
Olivier Giroud looked to have been recruited to fill this void, however, the French striker has only started 2 league games since swapping London clubs, returning a single assist against doomed West Brom and no goals from his 7 league appearances.
A lack of creative options to take the weight off Cesc Fàbregas has also become apparent, especially worrisome considering the Spaniard’s reputation for failing to deliver in “big games”.
Without a strong plan B in their armoury, Chelsea have been too reliant on a style of play that has produced the least number of goals amongst the top-six teams.
#1 Individual errors
Compounding this lack of firepower has been a spate of individual mistakes which have left Chelsea exposed. Although Conte has not resorted to blaming his players for specific losses, these mistakes have proved costly for the club.
Both Andreas Christensen and Thibaut Courtois were culpable for goals conceded against Barcelona which contributed towards their exit from Europe while Victor Moses was at fault at home to Spurs last weekend.
In addition to this, Conte himself admitted to making errors in his team selection after they were beaten 4-1 at Watford just days after a 3-0 loss to Bournemouth.
In a game that was notable for Tiemoue Bakayoko’s errors, any system is only as strong as it’s constituent parts and for whatever reason, Chelsea have been severely weakened in 2018 by too many avoidable mistakes.
How the club decides to rebuild from this point remains to be seen, however, Conte has already proved himself capable of delivering in English football.
Having improved the club by a 43-point swing in points during his debut season, they currently sit 19 points off where they were at this point last season.
Much of this can be attributed to the 19 points they’ve dropped in their last 10 matches which is a serious problem Conte will need to arrest if he does decide to stick with the club.
