London is Blue Dispatch #083

Dire, diabolical, despicable. Pick your poison. Only once in two decades have Chelsea embarked on a sequence of 3 wins in 11 games. Only this time they spent a billion to do it. Against a side that were slapped for seven two weeks ago, the blues managed zero shots on target; for the first time in 1,239 days.

What was the scariest part of this game, you ask? It's when the flock of Seagulls cackled, chanted, "can we play you every week?" and it evoked absolutely no response from the XI Chelsea shirts floating pleasantly across the green despite being 2-0 down. From being bad in the last 15 minutes of games, to being bad in second halves, to being bad on either side of half-time… one wonders if rock bottom has a basement.

Maresca's masterplan, after all, isn't very hard to decipher after all. These days, opposition teams bring a back 5, let our wingers run themselves into cul-de-sacs and wait for the eventual implosion. What is Maresca’s Plan B, the all-out assault, you ask? It is crossing from 25 metres into a box with no bonafide aerial threats and leaving three players at the back. It sounds as unhinged as it looks when it plays out.

The players don’t cover themselves in glory either, with most of them failing miserably at trying to muster up an average performance. Colwill’s abysmal season continued with another mistake gifting the opposition a goal, Jorgensen was very fortunate to do the same favour for Joao Pedro. Pedro Neto completed 1 dribble out of 8 against a 33 year old Veltman and Tariq Lamptey playing on his weak side. Nkunku’s movement improved this game, but his overall impact carried as much weight as a fart in a cyclone. That the players are underperforming and undermotivated is explicitly clear. It is the the answer to why they’re doing so that will yield all the right solutions.

At this point, Maresca could as well be a sock puppet - lips moving, but the words floating out of his mouth coming from people that hide from plain sight. Briefs were flying out after the radio silence during the January window, when the squad was screaming out for reinforcements. Every gamble to wait till summer has blown up spectacularly in the face of the sporting directors and there is absolutely no hiding away from it. It is no surprise that an alarming drop off in performance has coincided with Palmer and Caicedo’s lull; both undoubtedly feeling the brunt of graveyard shifts to dig out mere passengers to the cause. Caicedo in particular looked strangely incensed today against his former team, picking up a yellow in the 42nd minute.

In the absence of Nicolas Jackson, the frontline’s fangs become a pup’s canines - a playful nibble at best compared to rabid jaws snapping away all game. While Maresca can be blamed for botching the sculpture he was asked to create, an overwhelming amount of blame lies with those that were trusted with millions to buy marble and chisels but bought limestone and toothpicks instead.

The problem for a manager begins when his bosses think too many players are underperforming for it to be down to individuals. Last season showed in high definition that tactics are caviar and not the actual meal. What got Pochettino through the season, despite the gaping flaws in his game model, was the near total buy in he had from his players. The intensity, industry and application was relentless, irrespective of the result, a key indicator of support for their manager. Maresca finds himself in the highly unenviable position of having out-of-form or disinterested players and a bench that gives these players the confidence to play on battery-saver mode.

Whether he is able to climb out this hold or unwittingly dig it deeper could well define his fate in the summer, or well before it. If he is looking for help from above, it will not come; the involvement of those above seems to have quite the opposite effect. So he must keep his head down and fight to keep his hands on reins that could slip away from him any moment.