"The manager is not familiar with his best group.
Any manager who frequently makes adjustments to a team that is having trouble winning is frequently criticized for doing so.
Graham Potter, the manager of Chelsea, is likely to hear this criticism frequently unless his team goes on a winning streak and moves up the Premier League standings with his roster packed with expensive talent.
After Chelsea's soulless 0-0 draw with Fulham on Friday, which featured five of their new acquisitions from the over £300 million January spending spree authorized by the team's new owners, there were rumblings of it.
This expenditure came after almost the same sum was spent in the summer, when Stamford Bridge added 17 new players over the course of two transfer windows.
But after their first league game after the transfer window closed, they had only managed three shots on goal and no goals.
When questioned about his player search, Potter responded, "It's a team for the present and the future.
However, given the size of the investment, Potter must hope Todd Boehly and the new ownership group are less snappish than their infamously impatient predecessor at Stamford Bridge.
"Potter doesn't use the same starting XI every time".
For many of the Premier League's top teams, such as Manchester United in 1999, Arsenal's Invincibles in 2004, and Liverpool's peak Klopp years, the first-choice XI practically rolls off the tongue.
Right, consistency breeds continuity.
Is having the best team actually possible, though, given the wealth Chelsea possesses and the volume of competitive games played today?
Manchester City has repeatedly shown that changing the starting lineup can result in decisive victory. And with so many of their key players appearing worn out, Liverpool's recent reliance on a small core of players may be a factor in their season-long collapse.
According to former Chelsea forward Pat Nevin, "picking the best team is overly simplistic.". Unless you have a team that is so reliable and stable, you would never start the same lineup each time.
"Your team selection for a Champions League away game will be very different from the one you field at home against a team in the bottom half of the standings.
And Potter is known for frequently switching up his team's personnel and playing methods.
So, given that they have dispersed the eye-watering cost over lucrative long-term deals, is Chelsea's strategy of lavishly spending huge sums of money on the world's most promising young talents the right course to take?
Nevin concludes, "It's incredibly high risk.". "Some of the young, inexperienced players you sign to eight-year contracts will fail.
"However, if they do it correctly, it's a fantastic way to go about it, and I have a feeling they'll make for a fun team to watch.
Who is on Chelsea's starting lineup?
In a locker room full of talented football players with big egos, Potter has the difficult job of keeping peace. Nevin claims that this dance is part of the deal.
He counters, saying, "That's what he gets paid a lot of money for. It is the biggest first-world problem you will ever encounter. That should not be seen as a challenge, but rather as an opportunity.
Who would be in Nevin's first-choice Chelsea side if everyone is healthy?
"Let's think about who, but I think it'll change week to week. should. be amusing," he stated.
". Kante, N'Golo. is the first choice if everyone is fully fit, but that is a very big "if" in my opinion. He would play with. Emmanuel Fernandez.
"I think you should participate. It's Mykhailo Mudryk. and . Felix, Joao. Then, they are interchangeable in their roles. Michael Mount. must perform.
"I'd put . Kai Hasert. Currently up front, but eventually I believe he will move back to a deeper position and join the attacking trio.
The new center-back's appearance also appeals to Nevin. Badashile, Benoit. even if he did not fit into Chelsea's reorganized Champions League roster.
They are so weak in defense, he observed. "He has been outstanding in his first few games, and I anticipate that in about a year, he will be playing with Wesley Fofana and Trevoh Chalobah in a back three.
What about those who are excluded?
I must emphasize that this does not imply that everyone else is worthless, says Nevin. "It depends on the opposition you are facing.
It's never simple and cut-and-dry, so Raheem Sterling will fit perfectly in a lot of games, for example.
Sterling, a 27-year-old multiple title winner who was acquired from champions Manchester City, was the club's marquee acquisition last summer. He seemed destined to lead Chelsea's revolution.
Boehly likely had something different in mind when he approved a £50 million purchase than one goal and one assist since August.
Although he has a distinguished career, he might not be having a similar experience in west London after Pep Guardiola played squad roulette at Manchester City.
The excesses of January cast a shadowy picture of the summer window. Following the departures of Andreas Christensen and Antonio Rudiger, Kalidou Koulibaly and Marc Cucurella both paid high prices, but they are no longer guaranteed to start.
Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang completes the list. He was acquired by Potter's predecessor Thomas Tuchel to fill in a gaping hole in the team's jigsaw puzzle, but it's obvious that he doesn't fit the plan to bring in young, hungry players, and he doesn't even make Chelsea's starting lineup.
Nevin, on the other hand, thinks more favorably of last summer.
In hindsight, he claimed, "they only needed bodies.". They had to bring one in because they lost two center backs.
Although not a part of a larger plan, some people refer to it as panic buying. I believe it was security buying.
"We're currently viewing that one.
