Another dismal performance at Zenit saw Chelsea concede a late equaliser that has dented their chances of retaining the European Cup. They dropped two points which relegated them to second place, meaning formidable opponents like Bayern Munich, Real Madrid or Ajax await in the next round. While that is a future concern, the immediate problem is Chelsea’s performances.
All of a sudden, the ever-reliable and seemingly impenetrable defense is looking anything but solid. They are without a clean-sheet in four and have conceded eight in that time. Before that, they had conceded just seven all season. The only win in that run was the 2-1 win at Watford, which Thomas Tuchel himself described as “lucky”. Chelsea have surrendered top spot in the league and Champions League group in the space of a few days. Such crisis is not a huge surprise given the fixture schedule and the injuries that are mounting up.
But this is Chelsea, and even the hint of a crisis doesn’t end well for the manager. Also, the timing of it is ominous for Tuchel. Ever since Chelsea won the league in 2017, their seasons have followed a similar pattern. Start the season bright, a 5-6 week crisis around Christmas, and the rest of the season is basically damage repair. This is what happened with Antonio Conte in 2017/18, Maurizio Sarri in 2018/19, and Frank Lampard last season.
A 3-1 win over Leeds moved the Blues top momentarily last season, but what followed was a run of two wins in nine games which led to Lampard’s sacking and Tuchel’s arrival. Chelsea were billed as title favourites after that Leeds win, but when Tuchel arrived, they were languishing in eighth, with top-four the ambitious target for Tuchel. He achieved that target and brought home the Champions League in May, which earned him a longer contract.
Now, for the first time in his Chelsea career, Tuchel is under the cosh. He needs to revisit the formula that brought him success last season. Chelsea need to become the miserly team no one wants to play against. The standards for this season’s title race have been set (for the most part, by Chelsea themselves). Now they need to live up to those standards. Otherwise in no time, Chelsea could once again find themselves battling for fourth.
Over the past three-four seasons, we have seen how unrelenting Manchester City and Liverpool can be. Both have already sneaked ahead of the Blues and if they want to keep up with those two, they will have to sort things out pretty soon. There have been plenty of talks about how this Chelsea are different from past seasons, and Tuchel needs to prove it.
If this (hopefully) mini-crisis isn’t sorted soon, Man City and Liverpool won’t be hanging around waiting for them. They will have pulled clear. That would mean this season was another false-dawn at Stamford Bridge, and will beg the question, if Tuchel can’t, who can?
The past few seasons have been underwhelming for Chelsea. They simply haven’t been able to sustain a season-long title challenge and haven’t finished within 19 points of the champions since last winning the title. Tuchel needs to act fast if he is to buck that trend.