CHELSEA fans fear their “managerless” side are “actually finished” after a clip of Kepa Arrizabalaga went viral.
Interim boss Frank Lampard yesterday suffered his third defeat out of three since replacing Graham Potter until the end of the season.
Kepa Arrizabalaga resorted to giving out instructions as Chelsea were outplayed by Brighton
Raheem Sterling also joined in during the impromptu team meeting
The Blues were comprehensively outplayed by Brighton at Stamford Bridge.
Conor Gallagher’s deflected strike gave the hosts an undeserved lead but Danny Welbeck’s header and a stunner from Julio Enciso secured a 2-1 win for the Seagulls, who completed the double over Chelsea.
And a video from the 27th minute had many supporters concerned about the lack of leadership and tactics under Lampard.
As Brighton defender Joel Veltman received treatment for an injury, skipper Arrizabalaga called together his team-mates.
And the goalkeeper, the only Chelsea player to walk away from any credit yesterday, appears to be giving out some instructions to Trevoh Chalobah, Denis Zakaria and Wesley Fofana.
Fellow senior star Raheem Sterling heads over to join in the conversation and add his input.
Christian Pulisic also arrives on the scene while Benoit Badiashile stands nearby but does not get involved.
The mini team meeting on the pitch failed to have the desired effect though as Chelsea, leading at the time, succumbed to their 12th Premier League defeat of the season.
And fans on Twitter could barely believe what they were seeing.
One said: “Nah we might actually be finished our players are giving themselves tactics.”
Another wrote: “We are managerless.”
A third added: “This ridiculous and it’s a shame on the manager.”
Another typed: “You know its bad when Kepa is giving out the tactics.”
And a final user commented: “Kepa Arrizabalaga as a player/Manager until the end of the season, who says no?”
Brighton fans taunted temporary boss Lampard and his predecessor Potter, who left the Amex for Stamford Bridge in September.
The jubilant away supporters labelled the temporary Blues boss as a “s*** Graham Potter” and chanted: “You’re getting sacked in the morning.”
Tensions appeared to boil over for co-owner Todd Boehly as he remonstrated and seemingly argued with frustrated supporters.
A group of disgruntled fans leaned over the barrier from the tier above and made their feelings known to Boehly.
The American billionaire is on to his third manager of the season and has spent more than £600million on signings since buying the club from Roman Abramovich for £4.25billion last May.
Chelsea look set to be without European football next term, too, as they sit 11th in the table and need to overturn a 2-0 deficit against Real Madrid in their Champions League quarter-final.
Frank Lampard’s nightmare return to Chelsea continued with a third straight defeat
