I was wrong in my season prediction, but hope is not completely lost

Even from here, we have shown we have the talent to turn it around

To begin this piece, I’ve got to make an admission. I was wrong. I thought we’d improve this season. I thought we’d get more points than last. In fact, I expected it.

To me that had to be the natural progression from our success last season. But obviously, bar an absolute miracle, that’s not going to happen now.

A lot of fans have written off this team for the season. This is fair enough, people are perfectly entitled to that view after our form of the last 5-6 weeks. It’s been shocking and exposed the awful squad building by Behdad Eghbali and the Sporting Directors.

Personally, I’ve seen too much quality from this squad to write them off. In the last 3 months of last season we were the form team in the Premier League. The way we performed in the Conference League and Club World Cup finals, the quality we showed against Liverpool, Barcelona and Arsenal, the number of times we’ve come from behind to get a point or a win (including last weekend against Manchester City), shows me we have a hugely talented squad, or at least first choice team.

To me, the talent is there and should be well capable of getting Champions League football.

But the poor recruitment in squad depth has come back to bite us. When you have Tosin Adarabioyo, Benoit Badiashile, Jamie Gittens, Marc Guiu as squad depth, when Romeo Lavia is essentially injured most of the time (and he is a massive talent, lets be clear), when you’ve not signed an elite CB for 4 years and sign raw talents as your depth options, whilst playing Champions League football, you’re ultimately going to pay for it somewhere. And we are right now.

In truth we’re only 3 points behind fourth place, and 2 points behind 5th, despite only 2 wins in 10 games. I simply can’t see this level of form or performance continuing like this, even the law of averages, with this squad, proves that.

We may not have a title challenging squad, but this is certainly is not a 2 wins in 10 squad, and they’ve shown it multiple times. Aston Villa have also shown this year how quickly you can go from the bottom of the table to near the top.

From my observations, I see a squad devoid of confidence, focus or belief. Not talent.

The poor form and bad results, and disruption at the club recently, have all led to a loss of belief and confidence. Players look distracted and only able to lift themselves for big games. Of course, there’s also a lack of leadership, because Behdad Eghbali thinks adding some quality experience is this evil, immoral, unthinkable thing. He’d rather spend £88m on Joao Felix and Jamie Gittens and buy Tosin on a free transfer, an experienced player but without the quality required.

We also have this instinct for self sabotage. I’ve not often seen us beaten tactically, but I’ve seen us sabotage ourselves with abysmal self discipline, and many unforced errors which have gifted the opposition goals. There’s an argument that had we not had so many players sent off, we could easily have another 7 points at least, which would have put us 4 points clear in fourth place.

And into this walks our new head coach, Liam Rosenior. I think he’s a talented coach, and he seems to understand the expectations and demands from both fans and those above him coming into this job. I’ve been impressed with everything he’s said so far, as well as being impressed with his coaching history. But of course, what matters is results on the pitch.

So what does Liam Rosenior have to do to get us back on track? Here’s my thoughts:

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• Restore confidence and self-belief in the players.

• Cut out the individual errors.

• Tackle the lack of self discipline in the squad.

• Get the players motivated for every game, not just big games.

• Get the fans behind you as quickly as possible.

• Stop picking players who aren’t good enough - Tosin, for example.

• Believe in the young talent - Estevao, Andrey Santos, Jarrol Hato, for example.

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Its a tough job, but its not impossible. As I’ve said, the talent in the squad is there. We’re capable of putting a good run together and getting ourselves in contention for Champions League football and even winning a trophy.

We’re not finished as a club. We’re not headed for disaster. (Not yet, anyway). Our season is not a write off with 17 league games to go. We’ve got to get behind our team and fight for this season.

Yes, this is an awful moment. Personally, I’ve never had so little confidence or been so low as a Chelsea fan, not in 2023, not even when I saw us get relegated in 1989. I’m slightly nervous we may end up in the Europa League. But I will hold on to the belief we can improve and finish in the top 4/5, because there IS evidence to support it and I want to believe in this squad.

To be very clear, by the way, I currently have no confidence in Behdad Eghbali or Sporting Directors to run our club well or deliver success. None whatsoever.

So instead, I’m going to believe in the players and manager, and hope they turn it around. The owners don’t deserve success or support right now, but our fans do deserve success. So in my personal opinion, we should give support to our team to get our season back on track, let them know we’re behind them and help give them the confidence to turn it around.

The Score