Mauricio Pochettino is earnestly requesting additional time as he searches for remedies to Chelsea's escalating predicament. However, the question lingers: how tolerant will the owners prove to be?
The Blues, who were crowned European champions just a mere two years ago, currently find themselves in a modest 14th place in the Premier League standings, with only four points separating them from the relegation zone, following just one victory in their initial six matches.
Their most recent setback came in the form of a 1-0 loss against Aston Villa on Sunday. Ollie Watkins secured the winning goal following the expulsion of Chelsea defender Malo Gusto.
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Last year, Chelsea mustered their lowest points tally of the Premier League era but they have made an even more dire start to the current campaign.
"Give me time," Pochettino pleaded after Sunday's match, urging the club's American owners to back him.
"They (the owners) are disappointed, they arrived at the club and are so excited to build a project.
"Of course they feel disappointed but at the same time they need to support the plan."
Pochettino was confirmed as the new man in the Stamford Bridge hot seat in May – becoming the third permanent boss since Todd Boehly's consortium bought the west London club from Roman Abramovich in 2022.
Chelsea hailed the Argentine as a "winning coach, who has worked at the highest levels".
Boehly backed his manager by bankrolling another huge spending spree during the summer transfer window, taking Chelsea's outlay on new players in just over a year beyond £1 billion ($1.2 billion).
But the return on their investment has been pitiful during a period of churn and upheaval on and off the pitch.
Chelsea have only managed to score five goals in their initial six league matches, with three of those attributed to their 3-0 victory against newly promoted Luton.
In 2023, they have encountered goal droughts in 13 Premier League matches, surpassing all other teams in this regard.
An exasperated Pochettino lamented his team's misfortune in the defeat against Villa, remarking that the only element lacking was goals.
"We need to be aware about what is going on but in some way we need to be calm because the team is creating, the team is alive, the team is fighting every single action," he said.
Pochettino can point to a lengthy injury list as a partial explanation for Chelsea's blunt attack.
He lost France forward Christopher Nkunku to a serious knee injury in a pre-season friendly, but others including Mykhailo Mudryk, Nicolas Jackson, Raheem Sterling and Cole Palmer have failed to deliver.
The former Tottenham and Paris Saint-Germain boss will be painfully aware that Chelsea are not a patient club – the hire-and-fire culture of the Abramovich era persists under Boehly's leadership.
Chelsea sacked Thomas Tuchel in the early weeks of last season, and Graham Potter suffered the same fate in April, axed after less than seven months in charge when the club were 11th in the table.
Pochettino enhanced his reputation during his five-year stint at Tottenham, subsequently taking charge at PSG, where he won the Ligue 1 title.
However, he failed to meet PSG's primary goal of winning the Champions League, leaving his managerial CV still relatively light on silverware compared with some of his Premier League counterparts.
Up next for Chelsea is a League Cup third-round clash against the in-form Brighton, set to take place at Stamford Bridge on Wednesday. Following this, they'll go head-to-head with local rivals Fulham in the Premier League, and looming on the horizon are matches against Arsenal, Tottenham, and reigning champions Manchester City.
During the weekend, Villa fans took pleasure in the Chelsea boss's discomfort, chanting taunts that he would face dismissal in the morning. While there are currently no overt indications that the club's leadership is poised to take drastic action, they may find themselves compelled to act swiftly unless there's a marked upswing in performance.
