Chelsea Have Become a Fugazi, and Being Humiliated by Arsenal Proves It

We need to revise Antonio Conte’s assessment of Chelsea.

“We are a great team only on paper,” he lamented to the BT Sport cameras at the conclusion of a humbling evening for his team against London rivals Arsenal on Saturday.

Soon after, Conte was repeating the sentiment to BBC Sport as he completed his post-match media duties. It was an agenda he wanted to push, a significant factor he knows is going to play a big part in deciding whether his spell in west London becomes a success or failure.

Conte’s most damning quote to BT: “I think that after today we must work a lot, because now we are a great team only on paper.” #cfc

— Liam Twomey (@liam_twomey) September 24, 2016

Chelsea weren’t just beaten 3-0 at the Emirates Stadium; they were humiliated. The manager had unknowingly led lambs to slaughter, believing he had inherited a group of players who represented something so much different.

The Blues have the big names, egos and salaries that tell us they shouldn’t be suffering like this. The reality is something so much different. Failure in the last four transfer windows is taking its toll; Chelsea’s unsuccessful policies are crippling the club.

Conte speaks about a great team on paper—it’s the same impression for the club. Chelsea come with all the trimmings that tell us how we should label them as being elite, yet it’s all a facade.

Chelsea are a fugazi.

The last two weeks have been a huge reality check. Last season’s problems nowhere near eradicated, and more deep rooted than I imagined.

— Kelvin Barker (@ChelseaKelv) September 24, 2016

The club has that elite exterior—the big-money shirt deals and other corporate attractions—but it is not behaving as such. Peel back the layers, and it’s all starting to look horribly amateur. Chelsea can no longer dictate the market in the ways they used to, and they are struggling to redefine themselves in a landscape they helped create by constantly making mistakes.

Failure on the pitch is being driven by negligence off it, and the power brokers who roam the corridors of Stamford Bridge are refusing to acknowledge the fact. Instead, managers are seeing their positions weakened and paying the price for failure.

The perspective has to change, otherwise this torture will continue. Chelsea have already lost one talented manager because of the ineptitude of others, and if the early trends of Conte’s reign continue, history tells us he will not see out the season.

That would be the tragedy here. Somehow among the melee, Chelsea have landed on their feet with the Italian. For all their mediocrity, Conte has planted himself at Stamford Bridge to save the day and drag the club from its slump.

Throughout his career, Conte’s shown himself to be a talented, methodical operator. Given time to sort through Chelsea’s mess, there’s every reason to expect him to repeat that success in the Premier League.

The first few months of his reign have been impressive despite this recent …

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