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Following the Blues’ latest loss to Arsenal, Cesar Azpilicueta appears to be aiming a dig at Chelsea co-owner Todd Boehly.
Following the Blues’ most recent loss to Arsenal, Cesar Azpilicueta appeared to take a dig at Chelsea owner Todd Boehly by referring to “off-the-pitch” things.
The Blues suffered their sixth straight loss under Frank Lampard on Tuesday night at the Emirates as the title challengers Arsenal defeated them 3-1.
With goals from Gabriel Jesus and Martin Odegaard, Chelsea fell behind 3-0 inside 34 minutes. However, the Blues improved in the second half, and Noni Madueke pulled one goal back after an hour.
Azpilicueta, the team’s captain and the player who started in place of Reece James, acknowledged that they were “passive” in the first half and spoke of working on “off the pitch” issues, which might be a jab at Chelsea owner Boehly.
“It’s the worst run since I’ve been at the club. We’re the ones playing on the pitch and we have to turn this around. It’s hard for everybody and we have to come through these moments. Off the pitch we have a lot of things to work on,” he stated after the match to Sky Sports.
“The first half we were quite passive. We know they are a dangerous team and will bring a lot of people forward but we should’ve done better with the ball. In the second half we showed a bit of a reaction, in the first half we were far from there.
It’s tough for everybody, we’re not in a good position. The reality is what we have now. We have to go through it. We are all disappointed, the fans at the club. We have to take responsibility and that’s the only way. It’s very hard, we didn’t expect to be here but that’s where we are. We have five games left, we have to show positive energy and win games,” he added.
Chelsea spent about £600 million on transfers since Boehly’s consortium took over the club from Roman Abramovich last summer. They also paid a record fee to hire Graham Potter after sacking Thomas Tuchel but the coach did not last the full season after Chelsea won just 12 of the matches they played under the ex-Brighton boss, losing 11.
Now the club is staring at mass clear-out to balance their books and meet Financial Fair Play regulations following a loss of £121 million ($149m) in the club’s annual accounts for 2021-22.
Chelsea is currently in 12th place after losing to Arsenal, making a top-four finish unlikely. When they play Bournemouth next on Saturday in the Premier League, they will try to regain some of their damaged pride.