Going into the two-week international break, there was some rare optimism around Chelsea Football Club.
The Blues went into the break winning three of their last four matches, with Everton scoring a late equaliser to stop that being four from four. So when Chelsea took to the field against Aston Villa on Saturday evening, there was genuine excitement.
But that was all gone when on 18 minutes Ollie Watkins lobbed Kepa Arrizabalaga and silence Stamford Bridge. Some poor defending from Kalidou Koulibaly and Marc Cucurella, who headed the ball loosely towards his own goal, led to Watkins being clean through on goal and he continued his electric run of form.
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It was a make-shift back-three that Graham Potter fielded with Cucurella and Reece James playing on either side of Koulibaly in the middle of the defence. The early indications were that it was a risk from Potter that did not pay off at all.
In the second-half, John McGinn scored a wonderful goal from outside of the box to double Villa's lead and pile even more misery on Potter and Chelsea. "Sacked in the morning," were the chants coming from the away end at the Bridge in Potter's direction and while that will almost definitely not be the case, it was another reminder – it wasn't really needed – that Chelsea are some way off where they want and need to be.
The Blues are too wasteful in front of goal. It hadn't really been the case in recent games but on Saturday the same old problems resurfaced. The likes of Joao Felix and Kai Havertz had been superb in games before the international break but the duo were too wasteful in front of goal.
Mykhailo Mudryk, as well. We have all been very patient with Mudryk because he hasn't played a lot of football but he has been given chances, albeit not in every game, but he is yet to show his true brilliance since moving to England at the start of the year.
Mudryk has two absolutely golden chances in his cameo against Villa. The first one he wins the ball back brilliantly with a fierce press and should pass it to Havertz for an easier chance, but shoots and has it saved by Emiliano Martinez. The second is a lot more clear-cut. He's played through and has all the time in the world but he rushes his shot and it's a tame effort in the end.
The Ukraine international is clearly lacking so much confidence. The term "he needs a goal" is used so often in football but it doesn't usually apply to a player more than it does to Mudryk right now.
Back to Potter. He took too many risks today. He's not there yet in his long-term project to be taking these risks. He needs to do the basics right this season, get the pre-season under your belt and then look to experiment a bit more. There's no excuses for that performance.
It was the same old issues again for Chelsea, ones that cannot seem to be resolved no matter how much time they put on the training field. Boos rang out at the end of the match at Stamford Bridge and we will inevitably hear much more about Potter's future before Chelsea host Liverpool, who also lost on Saturday, on Tuesday evening.
Despite the Reds being a shadow of their former selves this season, they still have the players to hurt Chelsea next week. So if the Blues continue to be so wasteful on Tuesday then it could be a humiliating game for the hosts at Stamford Bridge.
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