Officiating nightmare or self-inflicted woes? Chelsea fans react to Chelsea’s recent poor form

Nicolas Jackson
Photo: Jacques Feeney/Offside/Offside via Getty Images

Chelsea’s recent poor form has sparked heated debate among fans, with many pointing fingers at questionable officiating while others believe the team must shoulder the blame for their struggles.

A Reddit user summed up the frustration: “We’ve been poor in this recent run, but the officiating has been nothing short of a joke. Four huge, match-changing decisions against us, potentially costing us 9 points.” The controversial episodes occurred in games against Everton, Ipswich, Crystal Palace, and Bournemouth, leading fans to voice their discontent online.

Anger at Officiating

The sense of injustice was palpable among Chelsea supporters, with sabershirou venting: “I swear it’s Groundhog Day. We go a goal up. Ref fucks us in the ass. We lose our spirit. We concede and miss out on a win.”

Similarly, hipcheck23 reflected on the pattern of decisions going against the team: “Two and it feels like bad luck, and every club in the league will say it’s happening to them. Three and you start to feel like luck is against us. Four and it’s hard not to think that Mou was right.”

Arkie1927 echoed the sentiment, stating: “Yes, decisions didn’t go our way at all. No lucky break.”

Fans Calls for Accountability

However, not all fans placed the blame solely on officiating. Some pointed to Chelsea’s inability to capitalise on opportunities and their defensive frailties as the real culprits.

GC_235 stressed: “Meh, we can’t be forced to hold onto 1-goal leads all the time. We need to finish chances. We miss way too many chances from inside the box and a lot from inside the 6.”

Ryan97CFC added: “The decisions are a problem, but the biggest issue is that our run wasn’t sustainable. We were scoring for fun but were shit at the back. Now we struggle to score more than once and we’re still shit at the back. Need to stop leaking cheap goals first and foremost.”

tomc34 dismissed conspiracy theories, stating: “We’ve not been good enough, don’t need to call conspiracy.”