Chelsea's pre-season hasn't gone smoothly. Things might have been scraping by and the squad getting away with some average preparation in America before playing Arsenal, but an ugly head reared itself during a torrid 90 minutes in Florida.
The Blues were uncovered and left isolated against the Gunners, they were exposed and left bare. Only structural and tactical weaknesses remained. Thomas Tuchel had to deal with the aftermath.
His honest post-match interview was, whilst refreshing in some senses, a window to a dark past in which Jose Mourinho has made similar damning comments before the eve of a new season has even arrived. It felt like a pleading message from Tuchel, a man who has been through so much in the last seven months but rarely lets down his guard.
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Although Tuchel has clashed with previous boards at PSG and Borussia Dortmund over transfers it doesn't feel like that is on the cards at Stamford Bridge.
The tangle that Chelsea find themselves in isn't entirely transfer related but Tuchel would still rather ignore it. It was with an exhaustive groan that the German said, "we have the same issues because we have the same players." He saw this all coming before it happened.
Instead of being the fresh and energetic squad that it promised to by this stage, Chelsea already look fed up. They look fractured and it appears to be tough work. A real slog. Tuchel needs this week at Cobham to go well, to transform the attitude and nature of the squad or they might be in trouble.
With just one match left before the Blues enter their own version of hell - they have lost seven of the last nine trips to Goodison Park - Tuchel has a lot to sort out. He has players to bring in but more importantly a lot of players to get rid of or sort out. Now that the squad is back in London that might become easier, but it will still take a lot of work to gloss up a set of ageing and underperforming players on huge wages, even if both parties want the same thing.
Maybe Tuchel has never had so much to do with just one 90-minute game, as Chelsea prepare to play Serie A outfit Udinese on Friday and it might be the most important of his reign so far. The German manager has formations to try, relationships to spark, fitness to build, players to test, and all whilst keeping the task of Frank Lampard's Everton in his mind.
He will be simultaneously wanting to play a squad that will resemble the one that travels to Merseyside but to do that he needs to give chances for other players to state their case, because right now it's hard to see what his ideal XI might be, who will be at the club, who won't be and where they fit into the various systems he wants to use.
With all of this in mind, the result against Udinese won't matter in the long run though it would be encouraging and vital for confidence, to see improvements everywhere. Moves that look like they've been rehearsed, tactical patterns that resemble an organised unit, but really, Chelsea's preparation in the build-up is much more important than the game of football itself. There needs to be decisive breakthroughs for incomings and outgoings, player futures being confirmed and some clearer thinking from Tuchel.
His choices to select a senior group of players that will likely not have a future at the club looks poorly judged, the statement of making his playing group stronger by cutting it down only to be dismantled by Arsenal looks misguided, his substitutions and tactical changes look fatigued. Going back to a familiar setting should bring back a sense of good feeling because Tuchel is approaching his biggest and hardest week in the job so far.
It's a new experience for him too. Last summer he was a European champion coming off the back of a remarkable mid-season turnaround. Now there are serious expectations and questions. Just like with his management of senior players, third season struggles and pre-season issues, Tuchel will need to put Chelsea's blotted recent past on the pitch behind him if he is to succeed, and it all starts with Udinese. A game that has grown exponentially in importance overnight.
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