Now it starts again.
Thomas Tuchel has learned a lot about Chelsea since joining the club back in January. He has seen the positive and the negative, but in Saturday’s 5-2 loss to West Brom, he saw the only problem that no manager has been able to solve during the best part of a decade – the mentality issue.
Chelsea deserved deserved | CLIVE ROSE / Getty Images
Before Thiago Silva’s early red cards, Chelsea were uninspiring but in control, but when things turned against them and West Brom began to claw their way back into the game, the Blues disappeared and Tuchel found there was nothing he could do to get things back. on track.
Where have we heard this before?
In 2015, after a 2-2 draw with Newcastle, Jose Mourinho said that his Chelsea squad did not have the right attitude to become league champions.
Mourinho was the first to suggest a cultural problem Steve Welsh / Getty Images
Three years later, after a 4-1 loss to Watford, Antonio Conte said that some in the squad did not have the personality needed to play for a good club like Chelsea.
Then we had a 2-0 loss against Arsenal in 2019 under Maurizio Sarri, who after the match brutally stated that he simply did not know how to motivate his player group.
Finally, Frank Lampard ended the cycle after a 3-0 loss to Sheffield United and admitted that he had learned a lot about his team that he would never forget.
Lampard saw the same problem Pool / Getty Images
You can fire any manager you want, but Chelsea are five managers deep in this mentality issue and do not seem to be closer to sorting it out. At some point, it must be accepted that the boss is not the problem.
This does not mean that the whole squad has to be sold. There are some obvious strong links and players who deserve to be a part of the future, but there are clearly a handful who looked incredible from their depth against the 19th placed West Brom, and they are some of the names that have dropped out more. once before.
There is no reason to overreact to this single defeat, no matter how disappointing it was. At the end of the day, if you offered Tuchel a loss in his first 15 games in all competitions, he would definitely have taken it. It’s fine.
Having said that, history shows that this is a continuing problem that will not go away on its own. Four men have already lost their jobs to this plague. Figuring out a solution has left some of the best names in the management stump.
What this result has done is offered Chelsea fans a strong reminder of the reality before the blues. They are a good club with some fantastic players, but it is clear that something very, very wrong is going on.
The sign of true winners is to face adversity. When things go against you, you have to keep calm and assert your dominance, but that’s not something Chelsea have been doing for six or seven years now.
Blues, however, have a habit of taking things a step further. They not only lose their heads but surrender completely. The ability to play football disappears completely. Had this been a 1-0 loss, maybe it would not have been so bad, but 5-2? 5-2?
It’s now up to Tuchel to sort out this Pool / Getty Images
We have seen results like this too often in recent years, and no matter who has been in the excavation, no one has managed to come up with a solution.
So, Mr Tuchel, can you be the one to figure it out?
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