Chelsea’s Christmas report card – Potter still yet to work his magic as Blues’ season already looks in crisis mode

Paul Lagan assesses Chelsea’s start, grades the boss, picks out the best performer and which player needs to deliver more as the Premier League season gets set to resume on Boxing Day.

GRADE THE START: D-

Sixteen points adrift of leaders Arsenal, and eight points off a top four place, Chelsea are languishing in eighth place and outside any possible European slot for next season. The Blues are in crisis and it appears the top brass think it’s okay.

A quarter of a billion pounds was thrown at the side in the summer to challenge for the title, then the club sack the man who won them their second Champions League trophy – Thomas Tuchel. Rumours abound as to why, but clearly a serious breakdown in working relations with co-owner Todd Boehly, over transfers in particular, played a major part. In comes Graham Potter, and if his current 50 per cent win ratio continues it’s unlikely the former powerhouse Premier League side will be playing with the big boys of Europe next term.

GRADE THE BOSS: C+

What is Graham Potter’s USP?

That’s the question haunting many a Chelsea watcher as he tries to lift a club that should never even be in a transition period but now finds itself in one. What is the end result going to look like in terms of playing style, personnel and league position?

With just seven wins from 14 league games since he took charge at SW6 on September 8, Potter has a major task on his hands.

Can he coax a tune out of striker Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang or get winger Christian Pulisic to snatch a late winner, a trait of a winning side? Can he stabilise the defence? And what can you do about a player called Hakim Ziyech?

So many questions and just four months into the job, we’re nowhere closer to finding out, just who is the real Graham Potter.

BEST SIGNING: RAHEEM STERLING

The so-called statement signing of the summer has yet to feel totally at home at Stamford Bridge, but he is the best performer of the bunch.

Aubameyang, pictured above right, is a fits and starts player, who you never know how he is going to play in any particular game.

Senegal skipper Kalidou Koulibaly looks a decent defender, while there must have been a good reason why then Brighton boss Potter was happy to see left-back Marc Cucurella, exit the Amex for the Bridge.

None of the top signings have set the pitch on fire yet.

KEY PERFORMER: THIAGO SILVA

Without doubt the class act of this current incarnation of Chelsea.

Silva is the only player who could find a way into the previous title-winning sides of Jose Mourinho, and to be fair, at 38, he’s old enough to have played for them.

Calm and assured on the ball, he has experienced and triumphed against the very best operatives in the world – can the rest of the team learn from him, that’s the question.

NEEDS TO PRODUCE MORE: MASON MOUNT

Where does one start? Quite simply with the exception of Silva, the whole squad needs to up its game several notches.

If you merged Kepa and Edouard Mendy together, you would have a more than decent goalkeeper. Separately they are prone to avoidable and too many costly errors.

With strikers who don’t like to operate in the opposition box to wingers who fail to take on opponents, Chelsea has issues all over the pitch.

The mental shape of Mason Mount after the disappointment of the World Cup exit for England will determine the midfield make-up this season. It’s pivitol for any Chelsea revival that Mount is 100 per cent back to his best.

INJURED PLAYERS

The loss of Reece James and Wesley Forfana has put tremendous pressure on Chelsea’s defensive capabilities so far.

Both are edging back to full fitness, and when match ready, should provide the steel to protection to give Potter some comfort and confidence to start developing a more attacking profile.

The sooner N’Golo Kante is back on the pitch – even half fit – the better. Because even at 50 per cent, he is still better than all the rest at full tilt.

IDEAL TRANSFER ACTIVITY:

Chelsea have not had a decent centre-forward since Diego Costa.

A marauding, powerful hitman is part of Chelsea’s attacking DNA.

Portugal’s and AC Milan’s Rafael Leao fits that profile.

While essentially used as a wide man for the Italian outfit, he could easily follow in the footsteps of Thierry Henry when he came to Arsenal from Juventus to lead the line with incredible success. Arsene Wenger saw a world-class centre-forward in the former winger and his versatility ensured he became one of the Premier League’s iconic strikers. Leao could follow suit.

NEXT FOUR LEAGUE FIXTURES:

December 27 Bournemouth H, January 5 Manchester City H, January 12 Fulham A, January 15 Crystal Palace H