As Raheem Sterling and Christian Pulisic deputised under Reece James' absence in Graham Potter's plan against Brighton, the true extent of how muddled things had become was apparent.
Chelsea have tied themselves in knots over a course of five years and now familiar grumbles are being heard once again. How exactly does Potter prove his worth over a long period of time and convince Blues fans that he is the man, when he is trying to keep his head above water first and foremost?
The simple answer to this would be that he doesn't have to. Todd Boehly's backing of Potter - demonstrated by sacking a Champions League-winning fan favourite of a manager in order to appoint him - with a five-year contract should be enough to show Chelsea are in this for the long run. This is football though, that's not how we do it here.
READ MORE: Four things learned as Graham Potter falls to first Chelsea defeat versus Brighton
Boehly's challenge, as well as Potter's, is to convince fans that there is a) a change of direction, b) that the destination is actually achievable and c) that progress is being made on this journey. These are all extremely tough on their own, let alone grouped together, especially in the club's current circumstances. Call them excuses, but the context around Chelsea is important.
This isn't a Chelsea side expected to win the league, it's not a squad ready to fight for the title and it is shouldn't be compared to those that have reached these heights. Potter is a new appointment for a new time. This may not sit well with those that have lived and breathed Roman Abramovich steamrolling English football by any means necessary, but those means eventually started to fail and it has contributed to the patch of nothingness that the club is now in.
Chelsea are, by very definition, a group of better players than Newcastle and Brighton. They're comparable to Tottenham, arguably man-for-man better than Arsenal and closer to Liverpool than they have been for years past. They aren't consistent title challengers though. The recent seasons have been disappointing but everything that they have deserved.
Whereas other sides have prioritised long-term growth and trust, Chelsea have looked for immediate results and lost sight of the bigger picture. The best way to get back to the top isn't to scramble and do it now, but to plan for how to do it in two years. This has been apparent for a while, but it seems that because Potter is in charge, people expected a different outcome. Maybe he is the Messiah that can transform and compete at the same time. No? Sack him and find someone who can then.
There has been little time for self-reflection at Chelsea for too long. It has always been the players, the managers or something else. It's never been the structure that fell miles behind whilst others moved on. Paper over the cracks, it's easier than admitting you're wrong.
After £250m spent you would expect Chelsea to have improved, but would any of the clubs just mentioned sign Sterling -a winger with over 100 Premier League goals - just to have him shifted to wingback because there isn't enough backup elsewhere? He's a good signing and a very good player, though his poor touch and decision-making in recent performances don't help the point, but at Chelsea he looks out of sorts. Where have we heard that one before. It's not that he's suddenly bad, so why isn't it working?
Potter's answer to the question left by Reece James' absence has been to go for the attack with wingers at wingback. Without James though, the balance goes, but the club knew about his fitness worries last season and did nothing about it. Mateo Kovacic and N'Golo Kante the same. Jorginho's weaknesses have been apparent since 2018. Good players, good signings, but without the organisation from above. Potter is still working in this atmosphere, what is really going to change?
The very image of Potter's selection against Brighton tells so many age-old tales. Firstly, why the back three? It's his prefered system, that alone doesn't contribute to the humiliating 4-1 loss. Why the lack of true wingbacks? To take the game to Brighton and peg them back as they managed against Salzburg. Why didn't it work? In a nutshell, a bad start, no midfield cover and an ultimately flawed plan. Potter isn't scot-free but rather than throw the manager under the bus, ask why the manager is making questionable choices in the first place.
Potter got it wrong, but his alternative options weren't as glamorous. In effect, he took a risk and it backfired. Chelsea could have gone with Ben Chilwell and Cesar Azpilicueta - the more pragmatic choice - but chose to take the game in an attacking sense to their opponents. They also wanted to push the opposition back but couldn't due to a lack of midfield pressure and presence.
Here is another transfer failing. No defensive midfielder in the squad, it's not a new issue but it's still relevant and as Potter is punished for it, it's worth highlighting. Potter, like Thomas Tuchel and Frank Lampard, is having to make up for the absence of an enforcer, shield and ball player by partnering two players. Ruben Loftus-Cheek and Kovacic provide bodies but not exactly cover. They don't help to defend against Leandro Trossard in a one-on-one or provide the tempo for a game.
On their own, Chelsea have a lot of talented players, but too many that need others around them. This has been an issue holding the squad back for five seasons, it's nothing new and it's unfair to judge Potter on his way out of this. If the only way Potter can prove to fans his worth is to get a knackered tune out of a broken guitar then expect disappointment.
The better way to go about it, and we won't see this until January and summer 2023, is to allow Potter to make changes and then start to form a better basis of expectation. For now, he's trying to repair things. Tuchel was stuck in a cycle of repairing, proving he could sort the short-term and eventually never made the transition to longer-term thinking. Potter's appointment by its very nature is a movement along that scale.
The situation has been made tough because of away matches, World Cup thoughts, injuries to key players and previous failures. Perceptions formed of a manager in the worst circumstances are no way to go about it. Boehly is creating structural changes that will take time. Potter is trying the same. Until Boehly has a recruitment and strategic model in place he won't expect the transfers to get any better. Until Potter gets a backup wingback and a defensive midfielder, he won't be holding out for serious improvement in results either.
Losing to Brighton doesn't teach Chelsea much they didn't already know, it just hammers home what they were already aware of. It's become a tiring cycle but that's a long-term failure for you. Brighton were tired of mediocrity under Chris Hughton and turned to Potter. Chelsea are tired of mediocrity, but it doesn't change overnight.
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