Anyone looking for more answers behind Chelsea’s dramatic demise this season should just take a look at their team-sheet against Stoke in the Capital One Cup tonight.

The competition always provides a welcome opportunity to rest a few stars and give some of the fringe players an opportunity to impress. But herein lies the problem.

It takes a great squad to sustain a challenge on all four fronts and Chelsea’s has grown significantly weaker in the past 12 months.

This time last year, Chelsea were rightfully being heralded for their transfer business which had seen a number of players that manager Jose Mourinho didn’t want leave the club for significant sums.

CHELSEA'S BIG DEALS IN:

Andre Schurrle - £18m

Marco van Ginkel - £8m

Willian - £32m

Samuel Eto’o – free

Christian Atsu - £3.5m

Nemanja Matic - £21m

Mo Salah - £11m

Kurt Zouma £12.5m

Cesc Fabregas £30m

Diego Costa - £32m

Filipe Luis - £16m

Didier Drogba – free

Loic Remy - £8.5m

Juan Cuadrado - £26.1m

Nathan - £3m

Kenedy - £6m

Asmir Begovic - £8m

Baba Rahman - £17m

Pedro - £21m

Papy Djilobodji - £2.7m OUT:

Kevin de Bruyne - £18m

Juan Mata - £37.1m

David Luiz - £50m

Demba Ba - £8m

Romelu Lukaku - £28m

Andre Schurrle - £22m

Petr Cech - £10m

Filipe Luis - £16m

Didier Drogba - free

Talent such as Juan Mata, Kevin de Bruyne and David Luiz brought in around £105 million to the coffers, which allowed Mourinho to sign key personnel like Diego Costa, Cesc Fabregas and Nemanja Matic. Yet in 2015, Chelsea’s transfer business has been nothing short of a disaster and they’re now paying a heavy price for it.

Mourinho has to take some of the blame. But as he significantly pointed out in his infamous seven-minute post-match monologue after their defeat to Southampton earlier this month, others at the club have to take responsibility for their decline too.

He didn’t name names, but to many observers it was a reference to other influential members of the transfer committee — technical director Michael Emenalo and chief negotiator and director Marina Granovskaia. Owner Roman Abramovich was probably in his sights as well.

Mourinho no longer has as much say — or money — to make signings as he did first time around between 2004-07. Granted, the club acceded to his desire to bring in Radamel Falcao on loan from Monaco after he convinced them that he could get more out of the Colombian than Louis van Gaal did at Manchester United last term.

Chelsea had considered a more expensive option in Christian Benteke, who ended up joining Liverpool for £32.5m, but were happy to take Mourinho’s council on this occasion and save a few pennies.

Clearly they shouldn’t have listened. Falcao’s struggles have continued and he comes up short in many aspects compared to his predecessor Didier Drogba, whose presence in the dressing room has been sorely missed.

There have been other strange calls too. Mourinho was happy to sell England left-back Ryan Bertrand to Southampton. Filipe Luis was signed at great expense from Atletico Madrid in 2014 but is already back at his former club after barely being used.

In January, Andre Schurrle and Mohamed Salah were both allowed to leave, the former on a permanent basis to Wolfsburg and the latter on loan, firstly to Fiorentina and now Roma.

Some will argue that they just weren’t good enough, but no one can dispute they looked better in a Chelsea shirt than the man who took their spot in the squad — Juan Cuadrado, who started just four games after arriving from Fiorentina for £26.1m and is now on loan at Juventus.

It is believed there has been finger-pointing behind the scenes over that fiasco, with Mourinho suggesting it was Emenalo’s signing, and vice versa.

But what has really come back to haunt Chelsea is their woeful activity over the summer and this is where Mourinho deserves some sympathy.

Firstly he didn’t want Petr Cech to leave, let alone to Arsenal. Asmir Begovic has been one of Chelsea’s better performers but he is not as good or as experienced as Cech. Mourinho asked for big-name signings to bolster his title-winning squad, with Everton’s John Stones one of his main targets, as well as Juventus midfielder Paul Pogba.

Chelsea’s drawn out haggling over the fee for Stones backfired and he remained at Goodison Park, leaving Chelsea with the same options at centre- half as last term. That wouldn’t be a problem if the players maintained their level of performance, but they have all dipped.

Chelsea started bidding for Pogba so late in the window, they were never going to be taken seriously. Meanwhile, they forked out £17m for another left-back in Abdul Baba Rahman, seemingly on Emenalo’s recommendation.

After just three starts, the Ghana international looks out of his depth and Mourinho clearly doesn’t trust him.

The club beat Manchester United to Barcelona star Pedro, yet the latter had the last laugh by pipping them to the more exciting Anthony Martial. Pedro has shown only flashes so far, which is more than can be said for Emenalo’s deadline day panic buy Papy Djilobodji, who has spent just one minute on the pitch.

Of course no one could have foreseen that Eden Hazard, Diego Costa and Fabregas would go missing in action, but it has just compounded the failure to inject quality fresh blood.

Should the club sack Mourinho, it could cost Chelsea a fortune in compensation. But it will be a fraction of what they will have to pay to put right what’s gone wrong and make the squad the envy of the Premier League again.