Chelsea can kiss goodbye to their hopes of winning the Carabao Cup, as they were eliminated by London rivals Arsenal last night. There were many things to blame for the Blues' being eliminated, but one of them could have easily been fixed by Todd Boehly in the summer transfer window.
Let's face it, Chelsea hasn't been shy to spend their fortunes under the Los Angeles Dodgers, Lakers and Sparks owner. Since Boehly took charge of Chelsea, they have been known as the shark of the transfer market.
However, despite their frivolous spending, the Blues were not able to acquire a half-decent left-winger to carry them forward.
The weakest position at Chelsea is clear as day after Arsenal's win
Against Arsenal, Chelsea didn't even start with a left winger. Instead, Marc Cucurella was asked to carry the burden of going forward. Frankly, that 'going forward' never happened, and Chelsea fans were instead forced to watch paint dry.
Liam Rosenior set up defensively, which was a bold call. In the end, that bold call was made to look like a stupid call.
Alejandro Garnacho came off the bench, and he at least tried to instil some life into the left wing. It was too little, too late, and frankly, the Argentine is not worthy of playing for a top-four club. That's just the harsh truth that Todd Boehly and company should have considered before signing him.
The summer transfer window and the January transfer window are both closed, and now Chelsea needs to wait until the summer before they can consider options to bring in.
Liam Rosenior doesn't know what his best left-wing option is, or whether he should set Chelsea up with a left-winger at all. Yesterday, he didn't start with one; he started with Alejandro Garnacho against West Ham, and he started with Pedro Neto against Napoli. In all three games, the left wing was either non-existent or Chelsea's worst position.
So, how does Chelsea fix this? Well, the unfortunate answer is that it remains unclear. Rosenior is still early in his Chelsea career, and while he's done a pretty splendid job all things considered, this is a consideration he is still making. If we know anything about Rosenior, he won't rush philosophy.
Liam Rosenior treated the semifinal of a legitimate shot at silverware as nothing more than an experiment. He is bound to get plenty of stick for this, but in all honesty, it's pretty deserved.