COMMENT: Back on home soil. With a familiar face. Speaking in his native language. Kepa let rip. Chelsea's Spanish goalkeeper let it all hang out after defeat at Real Madrid midweek...
But there was no bombshells. Nothing sensational. Instead it was stark. Honest... brutally so. No platitudes. No real clichés. Instead, Kepa offered Blues fans a genuine insight on how the dressing room was coping. The flux. The instability. He didn't say it out loud - but he didn't have to. In terms of confidence - of self-belief - this Chelsea group are at rock bottom.
"It's a bad season," Kepa began, when speaking with a Movistar+ reporter in the aftermath of their first-leg Champions League quarterfinal defeat. "In the League we're in mid-table and in the Champions League we're in the quarterfinals, but it's 2-0."
And then the kicker, Kepa laying out the mood that has been created by so much change so soon.
"The feeling is that we are not at our level," he continued. "The players are primarily responsible. We have had three coaches and many changes in the squad. It is costing us."
A new message. A new system. We can talk about the instability the dismissals of Thomas Tuchel and Graham Potter inevitably bring. But what of the mental state of the players? The relationships. The guilt. How are these sweeping staff changes affecting the players' confidence?
Kepa, for one, is a good point in all this. From being basically Tuchel's No2 to Edouard Mendy. The Spaniard was clearly Potter's No1. But now with Frank Lampard back, he's scrambling. Indeed, there's a belief that Mendy will be recalled for Saturday's clash with Brighton. And should the Senegalese impress, he'll keep his place for Tuesday and Real Madrid.
And for Kepa, you can say the same for any number of Blues players. Building relationships with their manager. With his staff. Then for it all to be pulled away and everything to start again. Even now we have the case of Anthony Barry being told to stay away as his compensation fee is negotiated with Bayern Munich. It's going to take a toll. Particularly when essentially it is the players who are being blamed for the demise of both managers.
Now, there is truth to that. This column isn't seeking to portray these Chelsea players as victims. But it would be wrong to suggest they were fully to blame. Tuchel, we know, was a dead man walking as soon as Todd Boehly took charge. The German's personality didn't fit. He wasn't the 'company man' Boehly and Begdad Eghali wanted in the dugout. And so at the first opportunity, they acted. It was an axing that was always going to happen.
In Potter's case, again, we would argue this had more to do with a chaotic transfer policy than coaching ability. And certainly demanding instant success from a team thrown together so haphazardly was never going to happen. No matter the efforts of the players. Nor the coaching staff. The laws of football dictate that no team assembled as Chelsea has been, instantly clicks. The decision to remove Potter owes more to the lack of football nous from the club's top brass than any lack of effort from the players.
Which is exactly what we're now witnessing under Frank Lampard. Two defeats from the first two games of his return wasn't in the script. But this is the reality of Chelsea in 2023. A group of players thrown together. Who are now onto a THIRD group of coaching staff. Who are still learning about eachother - both on the off the pitch. All the while, they're losing. Errors are being made. Form is falling away. And confidence is at rock bottom.
It's what hit Lampard as soon as he walked back through Cobham's gates. There's talent at his disposal. Some of which is potentially world class. But the belief isn't there. It's been shattered. And while the caretaker manager's critics will continue to poke holes in his system, in his choices, none of that matters if the players selected don't believe in themselves.
That's the biggest problem Lampard and his staff need to overcome: confidence. Self-belief. He said as much in his post-match presser at the Bernabeu on Wednesday evening: "There is a lot there for us, as good a team as they are.
"There's a bit of a lack of belief. The players don't know how good they are. There are some details and mindset stuff, we have to be more positive."
Lampard basically reinforcing what Kepa hold told his friend from Movistar+ in another part of the stadium moments earlier. Though he didn't go quite as far as his goalkeeper. It's all upstairs. They both agree on that. But as Kepa stated, all these changes "is costing us".
No matter what was discussed with his chairman, this must be Lampard's priority. It's all about confidence and rebuilding that self-belief. The tone of Kepa's Bernabeu interview confirmed as much. These Chelsea players - literally - don't know whether they're coming or going.
