For Chelsea, the experience of this season can almost be described as unbearable. At the beginning of the season, they were very optimistic, whether in the league or in the Champions League, they were considered to be one of the few teams with the most hope of winning the title. However, the team encountered a series of difficulties in the middle of the season, including injuries to the main players and poor performances by players such as Lukaku, which caused their record to take a sharp turn for the worse and gradually fall from the ranks of the title race. Judging from the situation in the standings, although the problem of locking in the top four is not big, it is almost impossible for them to win the championship.
In terms of player performance, Romelu Lukaku's performance did not meet expectations, making the forward line almost the most obvious shortcoming of the team this season. In terms of offensive efficiency, the team is quite far from the top two, scoring more than 20% fewer goals than the opponent. With similar defensive efficiency, such a clear gap in attack directly caused the team to lose the opportunity to compete for the championship early. Lukaku is to blame for the situation that the team has encountered. This season, the Belgian centre-forward has been given almost unconditional trust by Tuchel, designing tactics tailored to his technical characteristics to maximize the space and opportunities for him. However, Lukaku's performance completely betrayed Tuchel's trust, and he has not been able to be on the same pace as his teammates in attack. In terms of running without the ball, he has never been able to form enough tacit understanding with his teammates. Over time, his teammates also seemed to have lost confidence in his running position.
Objectively speaking, although he is tall, Lukaku still has his own characteristics in terms of breakthroughs, especially in the vertical breakthrough combined with the body, and when he successfully starts, he is very threatening. However, in the faster-paced Premier League, the main problem Lukaku faces is that his movements are too slow. Premier League defenders tend to defend him closely the moment he picks up the ball, which gives him very limited space and rare opportunities to drive straight in with the ball. In this case, Lukaku does not seem to have a very good response. And as the season progresses, there seems to be something wrong with his mentality while not performing well. His relationship with the team and the fans has also become less harmonious. This further increased the difficulty of Lukaku to find his form, and also made it impossible for Chelsea to get out of the trough, resulting in a "lose-lose" situation. However, in any case, as a player brought in by the team at a high price, Lukaku's contribution should not stop there.
The player's injury problem is another major problem facing Chelsea. In fact, Pulisic, Lukaku and other players have suffered from injuries this season, but these players are not indispensable players in the team. What really hurt Chelsea were the injuries of Chilwell and Rees James. This season, the two wing-backs have almost achieved some of the best in the league. Therefore, after losing the "two wings", Chelsea was completely caught in a situation of lack of attack. As their substitutes, Marcos Alonso and Azpilicueta are significantly less capable. In many games, Tuchel had to choose to change sides and adopt a more secure 4-back formation. As a result, although the team's defense is more solid, the efficiency and fluency on the offensive end are less than ideal.
While the team's injury problems will eventually get better, Chelsea are in even bigger trouble before the season is over. Compared with the team's results this season, this trouble can be called the "first blow" and is likely to affect the team's operation for many future seasons. According to British media, Chelsea's sale has been stopped. In addition, all transfer operations of the team and the renewal of players' contracts have also been stopped. If this situation continues, it means that Chelsea's players will not be able to transfer during the contract period. With no adjustments to the squad, Chelsea's future prospects are bound to be less optimistic.
However, there are also some players who are exceptions, and that is the player whose contract will expire at the end of the season. While they can't negotiate contracts with other teams before the end of the season and sign early, they will become free agents at the end of the season and will be able to communicate with any team about their contracts. It is reported that there are mainly 5 players in chelsea whose contracts are about to expire, namely Rudiger, Christensen, Azpilicueta in the back line, and Saul and Musunda in the midfield position. Of the five players, Rudiger and Christensen are the main players of the team, and Azpilicueta is also the main rotation player. Saul is a loan player, while Musunda is a marginal player with few chances to play. However, if the above 5 players leave the team at the same time, in the case of not being able to sign new players, Chelsea's strength next season is bound to drop significantly. (The picture comes from the Internet, if there is infringement, please contact to delete)