Boehly, Pochettino Top 5 Problems at Chelsea After Embarrassing Defeat to Liverpool

• Liverpool thrashed Chelsea 4-1 in a poor performance from the Blues
• Mauricio Pochettino’s team returned to tenth on the Premier League table
• The club continues to sink as the problems refuse to go despite big money

Chelsea returned to tenth on the Premier League table after an embarrassing 4-1 defeat at Anfield – one of their worst performances of the season under Mauricio Pochettino.

The match laid bare all of the club’s problems, though it has been evident, but fans were only living in denial, with many calling for Pochettino to be relieved of his duties.

Every element at Chelsea, from top to bottom, is a problem, but the biggest is those overseeing the club. The fans won't look back kindly on the day Vladimir Putin invaded Ukraine, and the effect leading to Roman Abramovich relinquishing ownership of the club.

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It ushered in American owners led by billionaire businessman Todd Boehly, backed by Clearlake Capital. They were handed a club that won the European treble months before, debt free and with £1.75 billion to invest in the club per Evening Standard.

Sports Brief looks at some problems facing the two-time UEFA Champions League winners.

Five problems facing Chelsea

1. Todd Boehly and co

A year on into their ownership, the club is set for a second midtable finish after spending over £1bil on expensive signings like Enzo Fernandez, Moises Caicedo, Wesley Fofana, Marc Cucurella, Mykhailo Mudryk, amongst others, none of which has yielded needed result.

They sacked fan favourite manager Thomas Tuchel and displayed a weird obsession to copy Brighton’s blueprint, a club that has never won a trophy - hiring their former director, appointing former manager Graham Potter and his staff while signing multiple players from there.

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Using Brighton's model in wishing to emulate Manchester City’s 100-point team needs no time traveller to tell that it is bound to fail. So far, so good; it is failing and doesn't look like it will work.

2. Sporting directors

One of the early obsessions of the new owners was to have a ‘structure’, something they claimed the club lacked under the Russian oligarch. They hired four men in the sporting group: Paul Winstanley, Laurence Stewart, Joe Shields, and Christopher Vivell.

Vivell quit months later, while the first two have overseen the overhauling of the squad in a way that's obvious even to fans; some of the revamping was bound to fail and was unnecessary. Per Mirror UK, they have admitted that some of their new recruits need replacements in less than a year.

3. Mauricio Pochettino

The former Tottenham manager cannot be absolved of blame for the current mess the club find itself in. He is handed a young squad of mostly players signed within the last year, but the current output is not the best he can get out of the team.

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He has been guilty of being heavily reliant on physicality, work rate and height to the extent of playing players out of position – playing centre-backs as full-backs while playing full-backs as wingers. He risks losing his job at the end of the season if specific objectives are unmet.

He struggled with an attacking trio of Lionel Messi, Kylian Mbappe, and Neymar Jr at Paris Saint-Germain; he won't do any better with Raheem Sterling, Nicolas Jackson, Christopher Nkunku, Cole Palmer and others.

4. The players

Pochettino has not covered himself in glory with how he has managed the team, but the players have a good share of the fault. Most have struggled with lack of form, inconsistency, and fitness issues.

Per PL Stats, the team has missed a combined 42 big chances this season, with only league leaders Liverpool missing more with 43. Nicolas Jackson has missed 12 of those.

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5. The fans

They are primarily powerless in the decision-making, but the fanbase that used to have high standards have dropped to accepting mediocrity and praising poor players for doing the basics of football.

The growth of ‘football Twitter’ and fans running stan accounts for players have become so lucrative that they peddle agendas for payday. Most Chelsea fans admit most of their players are not good enough, yet they want the club flying.

Pochettino pinpoints Chelsea's problems

Sports Brief reported on Pochettino naming Chelsea's problem in away games after another embarrassing outing away from home at Anfield.

The manager cited the team’s lack of belief, which has become an identity and the major reason for their poor results on the road.