“Science hands up” can easily be said of Chelsea, a team that has spent more than €600m on transfer reinforcements since last summer and instead of taking off is languishing in the middle of the Premier League standings. educated fans to an annoying degree.

Its new American owners shoved their hand deeper into their pockets, but the result would have been “zero in private” were it not for a respite over Dortmund in the Champions League quarter-finals on Tuesday night, a rather unexpected 1. Success based on the team’s image throughout the year.

Football is inherently an absurd sport precisely because it’s like a mutual fund, with all the good and bad that comes with it: past earnings do not guarantee future earnings! On top of that, over the centuries it has provided countless proof that money does not bring happiness. Yes, it is necessary to bring high-quality and fast solutions that would otherwise come only with hard and organized work over many years through a productive and evolutionary process, but in practice this causes nothing has been achieved unless a way is found so that all the pieces of the puzzle fit harmoniously and form a beautiful picture.

The Chelsea case is further evidence that success, especially in football, depends more on chemistry than mathematics. A player with a multi-million dollar fortune is in danger of going bankrupt precisely because he has not found a way to tie all the shiny pieces together and build a stable and strong team.

Is this foreign image the responsibility of the coach? It is difficult to say, even if only from his position, that the coach bears the greatest share of objective responsibility for the ups and downs of teamwork, where he plays the role of a conductor.

Graham Potter’s task was difficult from the start, as he had to jump right into the shoes of Thomas Tuchel – the manager who, thanks to his idiosyncrasies, managed to give Chelsea a second Champions League title – in a year that started with less expectations.

The first concern of Chelsea’s new owners, led by tycoon Todd Boly, was to burn off Tuchel’s option a year after his unexpected Champions League win and his contract extension until 2024.

With Roman Abramovich on the run due to the complications of Russia’s war with Ukraine, the American newcomers have invested a mythical sum of 5.5 billion euros and wanted to do their part by pulling the sweater off by pulling the string. start from the coach’s seat. Instead of the experienced Tuchel, Graham Potter was chosen, who presented a successful project in Brighton, only he did not develop into the same miracle worker along the way as his namesake, Harry Potter!

The 47-year-old English manager’s obsession with analysis and data has led to a significant change in Chelsea’s approach to games, with an apparent improvement in many statistics other than the main one: wins! There, the treasury is very unprofitable, and the calculation looks depressing for a team that spent more than 600 million euros on transfers in 6-7 months. The Blues are currently in 10th place in the Premier League, right in the middle of the table, 11 points behind 4th place which leads to the Champions League and only 12 points behind relegation!

With 13 games left until the end of the road, as much time as there is for a place in the sun, as much time for an all-out disaster scenario, not as extreme as a painful relegation scenario, as realistic as one not to get out of European competition, even in a modest Conference League. And all this while in a very demanding Champions League, Chelsea are coming with broken brakes, using every opportunity that a very competitive and quality tournament offers in a cynical way.

Having break all records in the last two transfer windows, with over €600m poured into the well, Chelsea have the lowest points harvest in the league in 20 years since Roman Abramovich pushed them to froth, and the numbers are relentless: just one scored in February goal, one in the last six matches of the championship – a negative result for the island, they have only 3 wins in the last 16 matches, three times in a season they have suffered three defeats in a row, and rarely close the game without a goal conceded!

Recent league win over Leeds and qualification against Borussia Dortmund in the Champions League gives life extension Potter and put aside, at least for the time being, the next day’s scenario, which seems very ironic: Potter was the manager at Brighton when he was chosen to replace Tuchel and the man considered the favorite to succeed him at the Blues is 43 -year-old Italian Roberto De Guerbi, the one who replaced him at Brighton when he left for Chelsea!

Despite pressure from fans and the media, Boeli believes Potter deserves another chance, working with the team in his own way in preparation for the summer, based on a plan to invest in young talent. He insists on it because his resilience in the face of adversity and his disregard for self-interest won him over, such as when he decided not to risk any of their star players for last-place Southampton’s injury, although he knew that with a possible defeat which eventually came, he was in grave danger of losing his position.

The future is uncertain, and despite good intentions, the results will logically judge the final decisions…