Chelsea’s double substitution in the 64th minute summed up their problems in their 3-0 home defeat to Leeds.
Conor Gallagher and Jorginho came off for Hakim Ziyech and Christian Pulisic. The two players who are hoping to leave Chelsea before the transfer deadline on September 1 had to try to save the day.
Still, Thomas Tuchel had to act, with N’Golo Kante and Mateo Kovacic injured, as his midfield duo ended the first half with just 75 percent possession and bereft of confidence.
They couldn’t play out of Leeds’s press, with Chelsea physically bullied by their opponents all over the pitch at Elland Road.
They were unsettled and out battled with all areas of the pitch showing huge problems for Tuchel to solve.
Even goalkeeper Edouard Mendy, who is the undisputed no1 with a new contract being discussed, was at fault for the result.
His attempted Cruyff turn on the edge of his six-yard box was cut out by Brendan Aaronson who deservedly opened the scoring as Chelsea struggled in the first half.
Rodrigo stole a march on Reece James for the second goal to make it 2-0 from a set piece.
Kalidou Koulibaly and Marc Cucurella couldn’t deal with the runners from deep from the third goal, as bodies in the box simply led to a Jack Harrison tap-in goal to make it 3-0.
In both a back four or back five, Chelsea were poor. The defenders were all over the place with Koulibaly getting sent off in the 85th minute. Chelsea switched formation twice looking for answers that never came.
Gallagher improved slightly moving to his preferred number eight position but didn’t escape being substituted.
Ziyech and Pulisic couldn’t improve the midfield, playing out of position and without feeling the confidence of their manager.
The attack was blunt as Tuchel tries to build a new attacking trio through Mason Mount, Kai Havertz and new signing Raheem Sterling.
The trio haven’t clicked and are isolated in a system that carries one more defensive player than the rest of the best teams in England and across Europe.
There were almost no positives at Elland Road and despite having spent over £170million already - Tuchel will no doubt push for spending to go over a world record £300m to compete at the top level.
Chelsea have now made offers for Leicester City’s Wesley Fofana, Everton’s Anthony Gordon and Barcelona’s Pierre Emerick Aubameyang as their primary targets. All three offer different things to Chelsea and would push spending to staggering levels.
Looking at the midfield issues, they may even want to add Barcelona midfielder Frenkie de Jong - who has been offered to Chelsea - but is also reluctant to move away from the La Liga giants.
It’s a remarkable state of affairs that a team that has spent so much needs to spend so much more to even contemplate pushing for the Premier League title.
Luckily, they have the means to fix their issues on the pitch in the boardroom.
