There has become a point in the Star Wars franchise where filmmakers and producers have seemingly lost a clear idea of where to turn next.
One of the most successful series of films ever created has become a victim of its own success, burdened by the expectations of different generations of fans all walking into the next instalment with their own idea of what a "Star Wars film" should be.
Some purely want a nostalgia trip, some want progressive ideas, and others are just done with the whole thing. Nothing better encapsulated that confusion than the trilogy that began with The Force Awakens and ended with Rise of Skywalker. Two directors with clashing ideologies wanted to take the story in two contrasting paths, the collateral damage was highly predictable.
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Now dear reader, four paragraphs in and I bet you are wondering what Star Wars has to do with the current events at Stamford Bridge; some may have seen the parallels, others may think it's pompous pseudo-intellectualism – for that I'm sorry.
But there are links to how people look with puzzled expressions at Star Wars and the current conversations amongst Chelsea supporters about the direction the club is headed.
Things are not going well for Graham Potter of late. Chelsea are without a win in the league in four, losing their last two and three of their last four in all competitions. Wednesday night's defeat to Manchester City knocked them out of the League Cup in the third round, the earliest they have exited the competition since 2011.
Any incumbent of the Chelsea hot seat is going to feel the heat when that happens, particularly one who only took the role in September.
"I'd be lying if I said I didn't expect it at all. When you take this job and take this challenge on, of course, there are going to be times where it's not a pleasant road, should we say," Potter honestly admitted before the City game. "You have to deal with that and be honest and say, 'okay, we need to do better', and that's my responsibility.
"We've had a six-week period in the end where we've played 13 matches, eight of them away. It has a toll on everything, injuries to key players, it can get messy, It's part of the process. I've been through it at Brighton, been through it at Swansea, been through it at my club in Sweden. It is what it is. That's part of what the job is, to deal with it."
Potter does not have a large credit in the bank yet to stem the tide of doubts from a highly demanding group of supporters who have been trained in consistent success. His predecessor not only came with a grander CV but quickly wrote his name in the club's folklore within four months by winning the Champions League. Potter does not have the time to do that with a giant pause about to hit on an already turbulent domestic season.
On the pitch, Chelsea look like a team in transition, but I could argue they have for most of the last decade. Chaos and trophies became the mantra of the previous ownership, even through poor runs, there would be light at the end of the tunnel. Sometimes it was an FA Cup, others it was a Champions League. A lot of that was linked to frequent change in the head coach.
If you scan the social media reaction to recent results and see questions about Potter's position already, it might be easy to question the sanity of fans. But in reality, how can we be stunned when this has been the modus operandi at the club set by the Roman Abramovich era? Chelsea fans have been conditioned to see the head coach position as almost an irrelevant factor in consistent success.
Just because the ownership has changed and Todd Boehly has placed faith in Potter with a five-year deal it would be silly to expect that conditioning to be wiped out within mere months.
As you will probably see aimed at Potter should results continue to disappoint, many will reference the winning of titles and results as the be-all and end-all. Again, because this has been the status quo, and who doesn't want that? It's lovely.
But to frame this recent poor run as an anomaly and unique to Potter's reign is just disingenuous. There is already a lot of revisionism surrounding the sacking of Thomas Tuchel, most of which is connected to a lack of common ground with the new owners rather than merely results. But if we are talking about results and performances, they were undeniably on a downward trend since the start of 2022.
This is not a short-term problem Chelsea are facing and to act like a short-term fix is going to solve it overnight is arguably where the club has been going wrong since the last title win. Chasing its own tail with (some incredible) short dopamine hits of success, but no tangible improvement in the Premier League and a muddled squad filled with players bought for different coaches.
When I referenced Star Wars at the beginning, this is why there is probably such a feeling of confusion and negativity. Some see Chelsea as merely a club about short-term results; that the Abramovich reign should just continue even in a different guise. Much of Chelsea's success rejected the idea of trust in a long-term idea and scoffed at patience.
Some are clamouring for the opposite. They have seen the value in that patience rewarded with Pep Guardiola at Manchester City, Jurgen Klopp at Liverpool and now begrudgingly, the improvement of Mikel Arteta with Arsenal. They have seen how despite small bursts of good form, Chelsea's clamour for superstars in the transfer market is no longer enough to shoot you back up to the top of the domestic mountain.
And then there are those who probably feel just completely exhausted by the madness of 2022, and probably bored by the repetitive cycles and similar failings seen under the last four coaches.
Potter needs time, Chelsea need time. The World Cup provides an imperfect but necessary breather and moment of reflection. The conflicts that have arisen recently are not going to be resolved quickly, because, in complete opposition to the norm in SW6, they have been culturally engrained for 20 years.
To change that, Boehly cannot lean on the tools of the past. Rejecting nostalgia is something Disney failed to do with Star Wars. Maybe Rian Johnson's divisive The Last Jedi is actually what Potter's reign should aspire to be: let the past die.
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