Another week, another Premier League club in crisis.
Well, there's actually quite a few Premier League clubs in crisis right now. Manchester United look rather dreadful, Newcastle United can't buy a win, and Luton Town are still Luton Town.
When picking this week's 'Premier League crisis club of the week' however, one stood out above the rest.
Chelsea, for a record fourth time in this series' history, it's time to talk about what's going wrong.
What's the crisis?
Winning just one of your first four Premier League games is pretty bad. Losing to West Ham United is pretty, pretty bad. Losing to Nottingham Forest at Stamford Bridge is pretty, pretty, pretty bad.
All of this occurring after you spent over £1bn on a new squad of players is truly catastrophic.
Why are they in crisis?
See that £1bn+ that Chelsea spent on new players? Yeah well they spent it hoarding young players instead of building a squad capable of winning games of football.
While the likes of Cole Palmer, Romeo Lavia and Deivid Washington may be sound long-term investments Chelsea, they're only sound long-term investments when key positions of weakness have already been addressed in the market.
The fact is, Todd Boehly and co focused on these long-term investments instead of signing a proven goalscorer who can win Chelsea games, and a high-quality goalkeeper who can prevent Chelsea from losing games.
They're literally the two most important positions on a football pitch, and Boehly essentially neglected them.
What can they do to rectify it?
With the transfer window now closed, Chelsea fans simply need to hope for three things to happen:
- Mauricio Pochettino works out a tactical system that makes the Blues much more effective in the final third.
- The trillion young players that the club have signed all come good.
- Todd Boehly trusts Pochettino and doesn't sack him...and then sack the manager after that...and the manager after that too all the in the space of six months (again).
If these three things occur, Chelsea could become a genuinely good football team for the first time since Boehly took ownership of the club.
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This article was originally published on 90min as Premier League crisis club of the week 2023/24: Chelsea.
