It was all beginning to look up for Maurizio Sarri and Chelsea going into Sunday’s visit to Goodison Park. After a tepid 2-0 loss at home to Manchester United that saw Chelsea end their FA Cup title defense, the Blues put together a string of positive results culminating in a 5-0 clinic away at Dynamo Kiev in the Europa League on Thursday. An away trip to Everton, a team who had failed to beat any one of the supposed ‘Big 6” in over two years and who just last week threw away 3 points in the space of 5 minutes against relegation dwellers Newcastle, seemed like a rather straightforward task.

But this is Chelsea. And Chelsea just do not believe in straightforward.

In fairness to Chelsea, the first half was not all that bad. Hazard was unlucky to find the post early on and Higuain probably should have edged out his South American counterpart Yerry Mina to Joringho’s brilliant ball over the top to put Chelsea ahead.

But how many times have we seen this movie before? Chelsea were also not “so bad” against Bournemouth several weeks ago before capitulating in the second half. They were arguably even the better side against United two weeks later before falling behind, switching off, and failing threaten again. To Sarri’s credit, he does at least appear to understand the presence of a psychological issue at play. He’s alluded to this as early as the 1-0 defeat at home to Leicester and again after defeats to City, Arsenal, and United, claiming that he does, “not know how to motivate these players”.

There is also a lack of consensus among the supporters over who to blame for the current predicament. Many have predictably called for Chelsea’s illustrious tradition of sacking managers to continue while others have turned against the players, namely the likes of Marcos Alonso, Cesar Azpilicueta, Jorginho, Ross Barkley, Willian, and Pedro. Some have barred the players and managers from blame altogether and pointed fingers at the upper-level management of the club. Whatever the immediate action the club takes may be, this pattern of uninspired displays coupled with an inability to properly address what exactly has gone wrong points to deeper problems within the club.

If Chelsea’s golden boy Eden Hazard leaves this summer, which he is widely expected to do, Chelsea will be left without their finest player of the last 7 years entering into a two window transfer ban. If Chelsea opt to part ways with Maurizio Sarri, it would mark the 3rd manager in 4 seasons to get the sack before the close of the campaign. If Roman Abramovic fails to sort out his Visa issues, Chelsea fans can expect to see an increasingly distant Roman Abramovic- a far-cry from the Mourinho, Ancelotti days where the animated Russian could be seen at the bridge living every moment from his Presidential Suite as if he were partnering Mourinho in his famous touchline dashes, setting up Branislav Ivanovic for another classic late winner, or going at it with Arsene Wenger, Tom Henning Ovrebo, Pep Guardiola, Steven Gerrard, or any of Chelsea’s past adversaries.

Chelsea’s fans need not debate any longer. They are all right to an extent. Maurizio Sarri is very one dimensional, largely unproven, incredibly stubborn and predictable in his tactics and rotation policy. Players such as Marcos Alonso, Azpilicueta, Willian, and Pedro haven’t been good enough for a while now. And Chelsea’s management has been extremely poor, making a series of ill-advised managerial and transfer decisions in the period after the Chelsea 2012 Champions League success. Every one of these shortcoming has lead to fractured rebuilds and then subsequently the widening of the gap between them and the likes of Liverpool and Man City.

So what is the solution?

I remember watching the old Chelsea sides of 10 or so years ago. Chelsea had just gone to Anfield for a Champions League Quarter Final First Leg and absolutely pummeled the Reds 3-1 at Anfield. The tie seemingly decided. Before the return leg, Chelsea hosted Bolton in the Premier League. 4- nil up with 70 minutes gone, this appeared to be an easy, straightforward victory. Bolton then managed to claw 3 goals back to the shoch of the Stamford Bridge faithful. Luckily for Chelsea, Guus Hiddink and co. held on and came away with all three points. This wake-up call came at the best possible time. Bolton had shown just how easily a 3 goal deficit could be erased. Chelsea could now set up with extra caution, coolly dispatch of Liverpool and ease their way into the Semi-Final. Logical enough. Wrong. Of course Chelsea didn’t do that. In vintage Chelsea fashion, the emotional, personality- driven, unpredictable Chelsea side of 2009 produced an absolute classic, allowing Liverpool back into the game on 4 separate occasions before gifting the crowd 4 moments of brilliance of their own, assuring that Chelsea did in fact advance into the semi-finals.

I use this example to show the difference exactly between a problematic night for Chelsea in 2009 and a problematic night for Chelsea in 2019. That Chelsea side of 2009 was a side with ambition, leadership, and, above all, an identity. Even on nights where Chelsea were dreadful, they still managed to find a way. After all, this was the side of Cech, Cole, Terry, Lampard, Drogba, Ferriera, Carvalho, Joe Cole, Anelka, Essien, Ballack. This was the side that had 9 international captains and 17 participants in the 2006 World Cup. After all, this was a team with a manager in Guus Hiddink who had achieved the unprecedented task of taking a non European or South American nation to the World Cup Semi Final in South Korea only to go one 4 years later and qualify Australia for their first World Cup in 30 years and then the round of 16. After all, this was the Chelsea lead by the young, hungry, and ruthless Roman Abramovic who had accumulated 6 trophies in his past 4 seasons and was to stop at nothing for a Champions League crown.

That was the past, however. Today, Chelsea do not have any of those things, including most crucially, an identity. That being said, what Chelsea do have is potential. Blessed with an array of academy talent, Chelsea have all the tools to build world class team over the next decade. The likes of Callum Hudson-Odoi, Mason Mount, Ruben Loftus-Cheek, Reece James, Tammy Abraham, and Andreas Christensen serve as foundations for the next great Chelsea story.

Sarri warned at the beginning of the season that “Sarri-ball” would lead to some growing pains, suggesting that it may take over a season before we see Chelsea playing the kind of football that saw Napoli almost break down Juventus’ Serie A monopoly. Sarri should still not be immune to criticism, though. There have been moments this season like the altercation with Kepa, the monotonous, scripted substitutions of Barkley and Kovacic, and the over-reliance on Jorginho where Sarri’s capacity to succeed has been rightfully called into question. On the other end, there have been the home results against Spurs, City, and Liverpool where Chelsea’s performances have hinted at something promising. For now, sacking Sarri is not the answer. Another sacking now and Chelsea are only sending the same old message that they are unwilling to rebuild.

What instead should be done before anything else is redefine this Chelsea side. Slowly phase out the under-performers and gamble on youth. As hard as it is for many Chelsea supporters to admit, gone are the days of the immortal “Old Guard”. Chelsea must stop trying to recreate midfielders that will score 20+ a season like Frank Lampard or a striker who will score 9 goals in 8 cup finals like Didier Drogba. Chelsea need players that bring their own, unique quality to the table. Maybe this won’t be a team stock full of leaders like the past but when a group of young players are given the opportunity to play at a high level and grow together, leaders do emerge.

Chelsea’s greatest quality over the years has always been their love for the unconventional. You’d never know which Chelsea would show up. Chelsea could finish 6th in the league but defeat Barcelona and Bayern en route to a Champions League title. Chelsea could be competing on all four fronts but then crash out of the FA Cup away to Barnsley only to go knock Liverpool out of the Champions League a couple weeks later.

Like I said, Chelsea just do not like straightforward. There’s something different about this particular Chelsea team, however. The big games are over in 20 minutes, a 0-0 first half usually means a loss in the second, and if Chelsea score it is probably only by virtue of Eden Hazard in some way.

Maybe a 2-0 defeat to a team that sets up to stop Jorginho, stifle Hazard, and exploit Alonso is not so surprising.

Suddenly, that feeling of unpredictability, which has become somewhat of a cult value for the club over the past 20 years, does not seem so fitting any more.

Now more than ever, Chelsea are close to an abyss. What is imperative now is to throw away the script, subscribe to a new Chelsea, and ensure that the tradition of unpredictability does not get lost in the process.

But at the moment, Chelsea are predictable. They’re boring, uninspired, and uncreative, making them, dare I say, straightforward.