COMMENT: Wait a minute. Wait a minute. Wasn't all this supposed to have followed Jose Mourinho out of Chelsea?
Y'know, the nastiness. The anger... The biting?! (Though for all the antics of Diego Costa during Mourinho's time in charge, the firebrand never actually shaped to bite someone) Wasn't cool hand Guus supposed to calm all this down?
In the space of just a few days, Chelsea's players displayed everything that Mourinho, at the backend of last season, had warned Roman Abramovich was looming unless he over-ruled football chief Michael Emenalo and went with the changes he was recommending.
Against PSG, Chelsea were simply out-classed, barely laying a glove on their opponents at Stamford Bridge. A team out of their depth - and a squad out of depth. Against Everton, they were tired, bad-tempered and ill-disciplined. With Mourinho a distant memory, Costa still had his meltdown. Guus Hiddink had stated he liked his striker playing on the edge. But surely not like this? Costa was fortunate it was Gareth Barry he confronted. Another player. A different character... and you can just imagine the images splashed around the world.
And on the night Costa was shown his red card, the man he forced out of Chelsea - Romelu Lukaku - was hitting a famous double. The first of his brace as good any goal seen in the FA Cup's modern era. A goal to grace any stage - and for any club. As Costa trudged off the Goodison Park pitch, allegedly flicking two fingers at the home crowd, Lukaku laid bare the failings of Chelsea's transfer policy.
Yes, Emenalo will point to the £28 million raised from Lukaku's sale - and the title won with Diego Costa leading the line. But today, with Costa now desperately being hawked around Europe by intermediaries, which of the two clubs are getting the better end of this deal? Lukaku is still only 22. That's right, 22! If Farhad Moshiri can convince him to stay, Everton fans will see everything that Chelsea gambled away betting on Costa. And even if they must sell - it will be for a profit. Chelsea's dealmakers have been done like a kipper by Bill Kenwright and Robert Elstone. How else could you slice it?
Saturday at Goodison Park - and to a lesser extent the collapse to PSG - simply confirmed what both Mourinho and the Chelsea support had been united in saying this season. It doesn't matter the personality inside the dugout. Mourinho and Hiddink are polar opposites. But neither could get a tune out of this group of players. The fall has been dramatic. For many of us, it's still absolutely bizarre. But it's happened - and even Hiddink acknowledged how far the club had fallen on Saturday night.
"Everyone knows where Chelsea were," said the Dutchman. "The first task was to get out of the relegation zone and we did that fast, we went from 16th to 10th. Then there were two cups at stake. It is important now that we have the pride to play when there is nothing much at stake."
That's right. The best spin Hiddink could put on a disastrous week was that 'at least we're not going to be relegated'. This is Chelsea. Abramovich's Chelsea. And the best the manager can offer is at least they won't be relegated? They made Mourinho the scapegoat before Christmas. But nothing's changed. Who's accountable for this?
It was a disastrous week for Chelsea. But there were some speckles of hope - and some reinforcement that the club's loan strategy does actually work. Andreas Christensen, in his first season of first team football, has been pulling up trees at Borussia Monchengladbach. So much so, it broke last week that Robert Fernandez, Barcelona's sporting director, is making tentative enquiries about the Dane's situation. And in Spain, Charly Musonda has stunned staff at both Real Betis and Chelsea with the way he's handled his transition into senior football. Two of Europe's brightest young prospects - and they're on Chelsea's books. Proof that Emenalo's loan system does actually work.
But we knew that already. Just look at Kevin de Bruyne, now with Manchester City. Or Lukaku, himself. The question is: after seeing all this planning and development away from the club come back to haunt them - as Lukaku did on Saturday - will anything change at Cobham?
Antonio Conte's arrival heralds a new era at Chelsea. But a new dawn? A change for the better? That will only come when those upstairs afford the manager time to bring on the likes of Christensen, Musonda and Ruben Loftus-Cheek.
The pay-off can be spectacular - as Lukaku was on Saturday. But do those inside Chelsea have the bottle to hold their nerve? Or two years down the track will it be Charly Musonda taking his revenge on Chelsea, just as Lukaku did so brilliantly at Goodison.
INJURY TIME
They're collecting titles for fun, but there is definite discontent inside Chelsea's youth squads.
The publicity around Ola Aina's contract status has been running since before Christmas. But with Arsenal and Liverpool ready to pounce, there's still been little movement over a new deal. Aina appears likely to walk out on a club he joined as a ten year-old.
Meanwhile, Matt Miazga made his debut for Chelsea U21 last week against Leicester City. The American started alongside Kasey Palmer and Josimar Quintero, both of whom questioned his January signing in reference to defensive teammate Jake Clarke-Salter's chances of progress.
For now, everyone is staying buttoned. But without any hint of a first team path, all the work and investment below the first team is destined to benefit only rival teams.
