Chelsea are spiralling, on and off the pitch. The situation is untenable

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The situation is untenableChelsea have lost five successive league games without scoring for the first time since November 1912 Warren Little/Getty Images Share articleLess than a week has passed since Chelsea co-owner Behdad Eghbali suggested, during a rare public appearance at the CAA World Congress of Sports conference, that the story of the Liam Rosenior era might yet take a different course. “In my perspective, when you get punched in the face, you’ve got to fight back, you’ve got to stand up and fight,” he said of his team’s struggles. “And it’s going to hopefully show a lot about the character of this squad.” The days since have underlined the brutal, tragicomic truth: Chelsea are spiralling and deeply mired in the realm of the unserious, on and off the pitch. First there was the bizarre, awkward spectacle of the club publishing a video of an informal ceremony, filmed at the start of a team meeting at Cobham, to mark Moises Caicedo demonstrating his unwavering long-term commitment to the BlueCo project by extending his contract from *checks notes* 2032 (factoring in a one-year club option) to… 2033. Strangely, that heart-warming, momentous news failed to quell the large anti-BlueCo fan protest that took place outside Stamford Bridge before Saturday’s visit of Manchester United. Michael Carrick’s team duly capitalised on Wesley Fofana momentarily putting Chelsea down to 10 men by leaving the field for treatment on a rib injury to score the only goal they needed to as good as end Rosenior’s hopes of delivering Champions League qualification. Chelsea arrived at the Amex Stadium on Tuesday needing a result as much to find a reason not to check out on the season as to preserve any receding European aspirations. None of the pre-match omens were promising: Chelsea’s team news confirmed an “exclusive” posted by a since-deleted X account purporting to be Marc Cucurella’s barber, which had informed several Fantasy Premier League users earlier on Tuesday that Joao Pedro and Cole Palmer would not be playing — days after the FPL gameweek transfer deadline had passed. Chelsea’s substitutes, generally youthful in the BlueCo era, combined for 289 career Premier League appearances; Alejandro Garnacho and Tosin Adarabioyo accounted for 230 of those. Then there was the restoration of the captain’s armband to Enzo Fernandez, less than a month after Chelsea and Rosenior had suspended him for two matches for spending much of the March international break encouraging speculation about a summer move to Real Madrid in a series of media appearances. Most jarring of all was Rosenior’s abrupt change of tactical system: a return to five at the back out of possession not seen since Chelsea set up to spoil against Arsenal in the Carabao Cup semi-final second leg at the Emirates Stadium. It made little sense on paper and was rendered utterly obsolete inside three minutes of play by a routine Brighton & Hove Albion corner that Jorrel Hato failed to clear at the near post, and a Ferdi Kadioglu shot that Fofana tried to block but only succeeded in diverting past Robert Sanchez. Brighton proceeded to batter Chelsea for the rest of the first half as the travelling supporters distracted themselves from the spectacle and the south coast chill by running through the entire BlueCo protest repertoire, culminating in a demand for Eghbali — watching stone-faced alongside co-director of recruitment and talent Joe Shields — to “f*** off, you’re not wanted here”. For the first time Rosenior got similar treatment, at first tentatively and then resoundingly, to the point where the home supporters took a break from booing all of the various Brighton alumni in Chelsea colours to sing his name and chant “he’s one of our own”. By then Jack Hinshelwood had doubled the home side’s lead, bouncing Caicedo to the floor as Jeremy Doku did a little more than a week ago to score from Georginio Rutter’s pass. The fact that BlueCo’s recruitment has managed to transform Chelsea into the mortal enemy of a mid-tier, relatively mild-mannered Premier League club would be less of a concern if Brighton did not keep dominating these head-to-head meetings. Fabian Hurzeler’s team never looked in danger and there was a sense of inevitability about Danny Welbeck’s seventh career goal against Chelsea from the bench, the result of another shockingly simple move. Most of the away end had emptied by the time Chelsea’s players nervously edged over at the final whistle. Rosenior accompanied them, walking closer and putting his hand on his chest as he allowed the opprobrium of the angrily gesticulating stragglers to wash over him. Fernandez was the last to retreat, seemingly keen to show leadership and accountability by engaging with the same supporters his recent comments had suggested he is open to leaving this summer. Rosenior tried gamely to stress the seriousness of the situation in his post-match media duties. “The performance in terms of professionalism wasn’t there,” he told Sky Sports. “It was a really, really difficult night, the most difficult night — not even here at this magnificent football club — but in my career. Some of the things I witnessed today, I don’t want to ever see again. “If you’re playing at this elite football club, or any football club, to be even accused of throwing the towel in is unacceptable. That’s all I’m going to say. I’m hurting, I’m feeling numb. That doesn’t represent me. That doesn’t represent the football club in any way. That has to change, starting with the FA Cup semi-final on Sunday.” But even the authority of that message was undermined. “I thought personally the boys were running their socks off,” defender Trevoh Chalobah told Sky Sports. “Everyone in the changing room is tired. It’s nothing to do with effort. We gave it our all, we just got beat today.” None of this engenders confidence going into Sunday’s FA Cup semi-final against Leeds United, or any of Chelsea’s final four Premier League games. This finishing whimper is beginning to echo the miserable final weeks of the 2022-23 season, when a bloated squad simply let go of the rope long before the end. Chelsea finished that campaign in 12th. The trajectory here looks similar, and the situation is every bit as untenable. Spot the pattern. Connect the terms Find the hidden link between sports terms