Chelsea's defence over the past few days have been uncharacteristically poor, with seven goals conceded in their past two matches against Brentford and Real Madrid. Ever since Thomas Tuchel was appointed as manager over 12 months ago, the German has transformed the Blues' fortunes at the back.
However, Wednesday evening, albeit against a very strong Real Madrid side with perhaps the best striker in the world right now in Karim Benzema, the Chelsea back three were torn apart in the first-half. Tuchel then changed the team's shape at half-time and went to a back four.
The Blues did improve in the second period, but that was always going to be the case considering how poor they were in the first-half. Andreas Christensen was the man pulled at half-time as Tuchel moved to a more orthodox back four.
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The Dane, whose contract at Chelsea is due to expire at the end of the season, really struggled in the first-half, with Vinicius Jr clearly targeting the central defender. The Brazilian winger, who was the most direct player out there on the Stamford Bridge pitch, was simply too quick and clever for Christensen.
The Chelsea centre-back has shown throughout his time in the Premier League that he has all the makings to become a top defender, but recently, things have not been going his way. Could his form be impacted by his uncertain future in west London? Perhaps.
No matter how many times footballers insist they are not thinking about their future right now, or that they're focused on their football and nothing else, that cannot always be the case. Of course a player is going to have his future on his mind, especially when clubs like Barcelona are trying to strike a deal with the player's agent.
The same can be said with Antonio Rudiger. There are several European clubs chasing the German defender's signature and that surely has been playing on his mind as we approach the summer transfer window.
The 29-year-old has been imperious under Tuchel, establishing himself as one of the best central defenders in the Premier League, but he was not on it on Wednesday night. Rudiger, very uncharacteristically, was rather timid as Benzema completed his hat-trick.
The blame has to go to Edouard Mendy, whose short pass was intercepted by Benzema, but Rudiger, albeit already on a yellow card, almost backed out of the tackle on the Frenchman. "It’s a poor tackle from Rudiger. He has to go through him there, but he’s been booked," Glenn Hoddle said on co-commentary duty for BT Sport on Wednesday.
"He’s almost gone in half-heartedly, shied away from it. You usually see him go into tackles full throttle, ball and man. Goes with his left foot, tepid."
It is unusual to see Chelsea this leaky at the back. As mentioned earlier, Tuchel has properly sorted the defence out since his arrival - making them one of the most solid units in the Premier League.
"They’ve had more clean sheets in the Premier League since Tuchel has come in compared to anybody," Rio Ferdinand said on BT Sport. "Liverpool, [Manchester] City. It’s unusual what we’ve seen with just seven goals conceded in two games."
It's the basics Tuchel needs to sort out once again in the Chelsea back line. The German will be well aware that they will not be facing someone who has the quality of Benzema every week, though.
