Thomas Tuchel needs to cut out the excuses and turn Chelsea back into a clean sheet machine.
There is no avoiding the facts that were on display in their friendly against Arsenal in the United States at the weekend. In a 4-0 defeat, they were out-thought and out-fought, something which hasn’t happened to the Blues for some time against their London rivals.
Are Chelsea ready to be title contenders next season? At this stage, no. They are undercooked. Will they be ready to kick off the season starting against Everton on August 6? The evidence is sketchy - a knock on from the instability of Roman Abramovich being forced to sell up, and new owners coming in.
Even Tuchel isn’t sure what shape his squad are in. He clearly fears there is uncertainty and instability in his ranks that could ruin the big kick off. "I can not guarantee it," he said on Sunday night. "I saw a team in Arsenal who are mentally committed to an idea of playing, a level of exhaustion, a level of physical commitment that we could not match.
"Also, a level of mental commitment we lacked because we have a lot of players who are thinking about leaving." From being top of Europe a couple of seasons ago, they should have known how their squad would evolve.
Chelsea have made two good signings so far in Raheem Sterling and Kalidou Koulibaly. But less than two weeks before the season starts, Chelsea have Hakim Ziyech keen on a move to Milan and in defence, Cesar Azpilicueta and Marcos Alonso are mentally on their way to Barcelona.
Tuchel needs to push the new ownership at Stamford Bridge to get their own defensive business over the line. Incoming and outgoing. They want Jules Kounde from Seville, but Barcelona could pip them, and PSG winner Presnel Kimpembe, and the sooner, the better.
It looks like from being at the very peak, they’ve let things drift a little bit. Because one or two want to go, it has become four or five and that will leave them in a perilous situation next season with Manchester United strengthening, Arsenal stronger and Spurs doing a big pre-season.
If you are not moving forward in the Premier League you are moving back fairly quickly. Losing Andreas Christensen and Antonio Rudiger, departures signalled months in advance, why not get replacements in quicker?
Where will Chelsea finish in the Premier League this season? Have your say in the comments!
Does Tuchel have the cache to bring in the players they need to move forward. The kind of cache Pep Guardiola has? If you had to bet who the top four would be this season, I’d say Manchester City, Liverpool, and then, instead of Chelsea comfortably third, I’d put them in that bunch close to Spurs and Man United and Arsenal.
Tuchel also needs to get some good old fashioned pre-season Antonio Conte-esque work into them. Up the running power. Up the physical output. And lay off the "he's gone, they may go" excuses - or he will be under pressure.
