Chelsea recorded their fourth Premier League defeat of the season on Sunday after losing 1-0 to Sunderland.

Last weekend, the Blues were able to beat Manchester United 2-0, but that was only after they lost to Tottenham Hotspur by the same scoreline the Saturday before that. Ultimately, Xabi Alonso’s men have been really inconsistent this term.

Chelsea are lacking a bit of structure and identity in attack. Right now, it looks as though Alonso just tells Cole Palmer, Morgan Rogers and Joao Pedro they can do what they want and hopes the trio’s individual quality will shine through. As good as Palmer, Rogers and Pedro are, we have not really seen any consistent attacking patterns and combinations, which falls on the manager.

However, another issue that does seem to go under the radar is how many average players Chelsea have in key positions. It is something that at least one football fan on TalkingPoints has noticed.

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dantowen81951

This is why I was never getting carried away with the decent start under Alonso It’s simply a team with too many holes in it. Extremely unbalanced and full of very average players in key positions That Henderson is starting sort of sums it up. And I don’t mean that to be disrespectful to him

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Antonio Conte’s 2017 Premier League champions had Thibaut Courtois in goal, Cesar Azpilicueta as one of the centre-backs, N’Golo Kante in midfield and Diego Costa leading the line. Those are four world-class players in four positions that usually tend to decide a game of football: goalkeeper, centre-back, midfielder and striker.

What would Chelsea’s equivalent be today? Well, against Sunderland, Mike Penders, Wesley Fofana, Jordan Henderson and Pedro Neto all occupied those roles.

Of course, Fofana and Henderson were obviously not alone in defence and midfield. But the point is Chelsea have average players in crucial positions on the football pitch or players who still need to develop. If you look at Neto, he is not even a striker to begin with!

Yes, Joao Pedro is injured, but do Chelsea not have a more suitable option than a 5’8″ winger who has mostly been playing as a right wing-back this season? It all leads back to Chelsea’s squad building being an issue. That is why they have far too many average players in the first place.

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kyle.dimond

I think when Alonso’s teams click they’re really fun to watch. I do wonder though whether Chelsea have the team to do it and whether it’ll consistently work in a league where teams will figure it out and drop deep etc. If the forwards don’t deliver, they don’t have the stability elsewhere to bail them out

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Chelsea spend such big fees on players that it definitely skews reality and how good a player is in our eyes. Marco Palestra cost almost £50m during the summer. Is he a £50m full-back? No, and while the Italian impressed on loan at Cagliari last season, nothing he did there nor anything he has done at Chelsea so far suggests he is one.

So, what happens when a signing like Palestra arrives? You see the price tag and automatically think Chelsea have signed a top player who is going to help them improve. The reality is a lot of these signings are average footballers who have just gone for an overinflated fee and have a decent reputation.

BlueCo have assembled a very average Chelsea squad right under everyone’s noses. It has gone under the radar. At the moment, Chelsea’s prestige is based on their club name and recent history, not anything this team have done.

Alonso cannot solve this problem on his own. Chelsea need to start recruiting better in the transfer market and solve key positions in their side. Doing so will help Chelsea beat low blocks and become a team to be feared again.