Chelsea: From champions of Europe to borderline banter club… and back?

Sunday’s defeat to Manchester City was the first time Chelsea had lost by a six-goal margin in the Roman Abramovich era. It was also Chelsea’s worst away defeat in their 27-year stay in the Premier League.

Put simply, Chelsea were humbled and humiliated in a way they have not experienced in decades.

This unprecedented loss is a clear but sad reminder to Chelsea fans of how far the club has regressed since their 2012 Champions League triumph. Since becoming the champions of Europe, the club’s poorly run state of affairs saw the premature departure of current superstars like Kevin De Bruyne and Mohamed Salah.

The cyclical sack-and-hire managerial approach has finally caught up with the club and Chelsea fans these days cannot even consider themselves part of the “best club in London.” The recent 3-1 drubbings against Spurs and then again versus Arsenal at crucial junctions of the season are testaments to a shifting tide in London. Chelsea fans are rightly embarrassed at their club’s failings both on and off the pitch.

Chelsea have always been revered as a club founded upon players who prided themselves as leaders on an international or club level. The likes of Didier Drogba, Petr Cech and John Terry were fiercely loyal to their managers and the club. That spirit carried the club through many difficult times.

Chelsea’s Champions League victory over Bayern Munich at their home ground is proof enough of the massive characters then in the club. At the highest levels of club football, talent more often than not is insufficient to achieve success. As Olivier Giroud himself said in a recent interview, football is played 90% in the head, and a player’s mentality is what will truly define his career.

To see Chelsea go 4-0 down after just 28 minutes was unimaginable before Sunday. The team that walked out onto the pitch at the Etihad did not represent Chelsea Football Club. No team that ever wore the Chelsea blue would fail so spectacularly nor collapse so miserably.

Sunday’s game was an absolute disgrace to the generation of Chelsea legends that had guided the club to their first and only European glory just seven years prior. It was an embarrassment to the players who had fought so hard to establish Chelsea as one of Europe’s elite.

One certainly wonders if the current group of players even understands what it means to don the royal blue of Chelsea.

An even clearer reflection of Chelsea’s failing group mentality is the inconsistency of their performances in recent weeks. In three Premier League match weeks, Chelsea went from losing 4-0 away to Bournemouth to winning 5-0 against Huddersfield at home before the 6-0 loss to Manchester City. Any team whose performances can fluctuate to such a degree over such a short span of time certainly has questions to answer over their mentality as individuals and then as a collective body.

The fans have been very unsettled this season amid many discussions over who should take the blame for Chelsea’s dramatic fall from grace in less than a decade. However, no one really knows what is really going on at the club. Chelsea have always operated with little to no fan involvement, and this has contributed to unpleasant sentiments on various social media platforms. The club has always been said to be “toxic” and “full of tension” as a direct consequence of this decision.

More importantly, however, the club’s inability to accurately identify what exactly is wrong with their business model is severely hindering the process of finding a concise solution to their problems. The identification of a problem is fundamental to any problem solving. The club’s failure to do something as crucial as finding a new director of football is key in highlighting just how much trouble Chelsea is in.

The board clearly does not even see the lack of a director of football as a problem. This is what Chelsea fans should be worried about.

At the end of the day, Chelsea are becoming what they used to mock others for. The 6-0 loss to Manchester City is but a result of too many unresolved problems on various levels at the club. What used to be the exception (losing 6-0, losing the best players) could quickly become the norm.

If the club does not want us to become the next “banter club,” then they really have to get their act together.