Mauricio Pochettino has already had major Chelsea warning as owners make ambitions clear

New questions are being asked of Chelsea. Their blip of bad form towards the end of the 2021/22 season, a winter downfall, injury plague and unsettled group, has turned into club-wide disconnect.

The poor end to Thomas Tuchel's only full season in charge now looks a world away from the current state of things. That side at least went on to finish third, scraping into the top four in entirely unconvincing fashion having been top in November and part of a title challenge until the new year.

Getting out of the bottom half looks to be ambitious right now. Winning a game is a surprise and even scoring a goal is being treated as a shock. Chelsea just don't do these things right now.

£1billion worth of potential transfer fees — a number higher than the actual expenditure due to unfulfilled add-ons — for new players and things have got worse. It was 12 months ago that fans were told it would take time under Graham Potter. The patience, which has never been a strong point at Stamford Bridge, is wearing thin.

Mauricio Pochettino is bearing the brunt of the anger that has spread. His young side, which is as far away from the well-oiled, highly efficient and cohesive unit that won the 2021 Champions League as anything could be, are feeling the effects of a hangover so great it has clouded all logic.

Six games into a managerial tenure — one widely lauded before the season as being a step in the right direction and the first good decision made under Todd Boehly-Clearlake Capital — and some have seemingly had enough. It takes a severe level of cognitive dissonance to accept that Pochettino is working without at least 10 first team players due to injury as well as no proven striker but still give up that quickly. That's Chelsea though.

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