Chelsea have struggled to get the train back on track this season and the pressure on manager Graham Potter is mounting with each poor result. Football commentator and Premier League connoisseur Tim Weilandt highlights the malaise at Chelsea. It seems like “I think it’s underrated”.
Maybe. In 2021, Chelsea were crowned Champions League champions by defeating Manchester City in the final. Last weekend, the same Manchester City only needed a glorious B team to dispatch the Blues 4-0 in the FA Cup.
It marked another negative exit to the season for Chelsea, who sit in a dismal 10th place in the Premier League and were previously eliminated in the League Cup.
The resignation of coach Thomas Tuchel, CL champion for nearly two years, at the beginning of September did not make any changes in the least. Caliph Graham Potter has not yet found the right recipe to help the patient recover. Moreover, Potter didn’t exactly help an unprecedented wave of injuries.
Right-back Reece James is the main absentee. Without it it is much less.
“This wave of injuries is just one of the problems,” Tim Wielandt sheds light on the malaise at Chelsea. “A lot of important players have been injured, like Reece James and N’Golo Kante.”
“James is actually really the most important. It might be strange to say about a right-back, but it’s true. Without him it would be a lot less. Chalobah played there now, but that’s not a real right-back. And Azpilicueta is also getting a little old. He’s over. Top a little bit.”
Reece James is one of the many injured Chelsea players.
“The potter’s wand does not work yet.”
An injury wave is the same, but players who play don’t immediately make a great impression. “Look at Cucurella. It cost 65 million euros, but it doesn’t know what football is anymore,” notes Tim Wielandt. As a result, they also have a problem with the left flank.”
“Kepa doesn’t perform badly in goal, but he doesn’t show a lot of confidence. Koulibaly isn’t terribly good in defense either. Pulisic played well up front in the World Cup, but he’s not very good at Chelsea either. Now and then is a good thing.”
The fast-scoring striker is also missing. “Aubameyang didn’t bring anything at all and we knew that beforehand. His transfer is also not a bull’s-eye.”
Potter is a good boss, but he needs time to build something.
Many injuries and the poor condition of many players do not make it easy for coach Graham Potter either. “Circumstances are not serving him,” Wieland agrees. “He’s not only looking for the right line-up, but also the right tactics.”
“Potter’s magic wand doesn’t work at Chelsea at the moment. It will work long-term at a club like Brighton. This is more of a family club. But you don’t get much time at Chelsea.”
“Potter is a good coach. He can do that, but he needs time to build something up. That goes a little bit against Chelsea’s philosophy. But now they’ve chosen him, and then they have to give him that time too. To give him.”
Graham Potter has yet to put Chelsea on the right track.
Todd Bohle knows nothing about football.
A wave of injuries, players out of shape, a coach looking for magic and then there’s that weird American president, Todd Bohle. “He also owns the LA Dodgers baseball club, but he doesn’t know anything about football. However, he appointed himself head coach,” says Tim Wielandt.
Just last month, Chelsea got a new manager with German Christopher Pfeiffel. He must now guide the club through the transfer market and out of the doldrums.
“But there is a lot of panic,” Weilandt notes. “They’re jumping on everything that moves again. Everyone who gets mentioned at another club is suddenly interested in Chelsea: Michaglo Moedric, Enzo Fernandez, Joao Félix, … It seems like money isn’t an issue, but they’re running with their noses to the wall.”
“There is a lot of panic and they jump on anything that moves again.”
“Todd Bohly thinks he knows about it, but he doesn’t. In American sport, transfers happen in a completely different way. You have free players or you trade players. It’s very different than in Europe. It’s not just working with Bohly. .They are causing havoc.”
In the Premier League, Chelsea are 10 points short of the top four. Can they still reach the Champions League? “I don’t think they’re going to rectify that situation this season,” it seems.
“I think it’s still an understatement. Even when everyone’s fit, it has to be pretty good pretty quickly,” says Weilandt.
Todd Bohle
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