When a club has four different head coaches in a season, supporters can be forgiven for struggling to form an understanding of the team's identity.
Under Graham Potter, who was the Chelsea head coach for the majority of this season, the 47 year-old was trying to implement his playing style on his squad but struggled to that as well as pick up positive results. It's something that ultimately led to the termination of his contract earlier in the month.
Potter was trying to play with a possession-based style while on the ball and was eager for his team to perform a fierce press to try and retrieve possession back from the opposition. However, when Todd Boehly and the club's ownership group decided to part company with Potter on April 2, all of that work was pretty much undone.
READ MORE: Frank Lampard's Chelsea plan backfires vs Real Madrid as critical moment brutally changes tie
Chelsea then appointed Bruno Saltor to take charge of the Liverpool game, but the goalless draw at Stamford Bridge turned out to be the Spaniard's only match in charge. Then the club turned to the familiar face of Frank Lampard who returned to the Blues for a second time as head coach, but this time on an interim basis.
Lampard has taken charge of two matches so far since returning to Chelsea; a 1-0 defeat to Wolves and the 2-0 loss to Real Madrid on Wednesday evening in the Champions League. In both matches, Chelsea have been poor, with similar problems that have faced them all season still ever present.
But one thing that struck massively in the defeat at the Santiago Bernabeu was the lack of identity in the XI that played. This is by no means Lampard's issue. He's been there two games, this isn't on him, but it's more on the club's board who, despite being at Stamford Bridge for almost 12 months now, are no closer to finding a clear identity for their football team.
Chelsea went with what on paper was a 3-5-2 setup in Madrid but because of the hosts dominating the match, it was more of a 5-3-2. The wing-backs, who are so essential to how the side attack, were pinned back and not allowed to venture forward, really, at any point of the game.
Because Chelsea were pinned so far back into their half, with Madrid having 57 per cent of the ball, it created so much space for Los Blancos' technicians to get to work in the visitors' half. The likes of Toni Kroos, Luka Modric and Federico Valverde were given so much space to work their magic from deep.
It's then up to Chelsea to decide if they want to press the opposition or not. But because they were so deep, their best course of action would've been to let Madrid have it in some areas and try to cover the spaces they could exploit. Unfortunately for Chelsea, they got caught in the middle of both throughout the game and that ended up with Madrid having plenty of opportunities and was even the reason for Karim Benzema's opening goal of the night.
The image above shows Dani Carvajal (at the bottom of the picture) finding himself in so much space because all three of Chelsea's midfielders chose to press the ball on the left-hand side. However, the press was nowhere near quick enough. Real are the masters at playing out of pressure and Kroos was allowed to find Carvajal on the far side in plenty of space.
The Spanish right-back then clipped a wonderful cross to Vinicius Jr, whose volley was saved by Kepa Arrizabalaga but it only fell straight to Benzema for a tap-in and Real were underway. In an ideal situation, Chelsea's midfield would be higher up the pitch there and more in the face of Carvajal and Kroos who pulled the strings. Instead, they were pressing from a really deep starting position and therefore less effective.
Above is another example of the Chelsea players getting caught in two minds. This time, there was virtually no pressure on the ball and the Blues allowed Madrid to play forward with ease. In this instance, Kroos found Eduardo Camavinga in tonnes of space, who then crossed the ball in to no avail.
There were plenty of occasions where some of Chelsea's players would press and others wouldn't. There needs to be a clear plan in place in every game but especially in matches of such magnitude.
It's not on Lampard. He's been here a week. But the owners have to take some blame. Four different managers since they've come in is not good enough. The club needs more stability, it needs an identity and that's why the significance of the summer, in terms of recruiting the right man as the next permanent head coach, cannot be underestimated.
READ NEXT:
Real Madrid showed Chelsea have already lost the player Frank Lampard needs to fix key problem
Four things learned as Thibaut Courtois reveals Chelsea regret and Thiago Silva left furious
Ben Chilwell breaks silence after Chelsea red card with heartfelt message to fans and teammates
Chelsea sent Mason Mount and N'Golo Kante contract advice amid shock Premier League title claim
Real Madrid defeat serves as Chelsea reminder for Todd Boehly not to rush huge transfer decision
