Chelsea's victory against Fulham overshadowed by ironic erasure of their winning culture

FROM STAMFORD BRIDGE - Chelsea managed to put their Carabao Cup disappointment behind them with a 1-0 win at home to west London neighbours Fulham on Saturday.

Mauricio Pochettino came in for heavy criticism after his side were beaten 1-0 at Championship side Middlesbrough in the first leg of their semi-final in midweek. He desperately needed a victory back in Premier League action to stave off talk of the sack.

His Blues side chalked up three points as hoped for and expected, but only by means of a Cole Palmer penalty. Fulham scarcely threatened, but Chelsea's biggest battle was with themselves.

The benefit of lacking a European campaign and a slowly-clearing injury list (or at least the same faces are out at any given time rather than a rotating cast) is Chelsea have been afforded some continuity over the last couple of months. Pochettino sides typically waken from early-season slumber in the festive period, and his boys in blue have now won four home Premier League games on the spin and climbed to eighth above Manchester United.

On the face of it, that's progress. Chelsea needed wins from somewhere just to ensure the season didn't slip away from them. A larger power threatens to derail them in the long-term, though.

Far too often over the last two seasons, punters have come away from Stamford Bridge wondering what sort of footballing nonsense they had just been served up. BlueCo's ownership have faced a gauntlet of questions already, but one stands above all else - why are Chelsea embarking on an unprecedented youth project when they were European champions just over two years ago?

The club's new owners are hardly strapped for cash, but they have decided to rip up the old Galactico-lite model to move in a completely new direction. This might just be to differentiate from the Roman Abramovich regime, but the contrast in projects didn't need to be so stark.

There used to be a fear and inevitability about Chelsea even when the chips were down and they seemed to be heading towards crisis. The opposite is now true.

You can understand why Chelsea fans are so frustrated and why there is now a permanent, palpable tension around Stamford Bridge. Supporters who are used to winning have essentially been told to wait a few years for the stars of tomorrow to mature, their finest players moved on for subpar replacements as of today. The playing of Freed From Desire at full-time was not met with subdued fanfare, but total and complete disinterest.

Shortly before kick-off on Saturday, the club confirmed 21-year-old striker David Datro Fofana had joined Burnley on loan for the rest of the season after an unsuccessful spell at Union Berlin. Chelsea really need these younger assets to start producing the good even while away from west London just in order for them to have any potential re-sale value.

Financial regulations will breathe down Chelsea's neck should they again fail to qualify for Europe, while the sale of academy product Conor Gallagher for pure profit on the books has not been ruled out this month. With rivals Tottenham Hotspur a likely destination for the stand-in skipper, fans are right to question where the heart and soul of their club is going.

The strangest event on Saturday came from the seats between the press box and Pochettino's dugout. On occasion, a row of men dressed in green blazers would stand. They were spotted pretending to brush their teeth, reading books and pointing to imaginary watches.

It turns out they were promoting the Hollywood film Argylle, which is due to hit cinemas next month and is produced by one of Todd Boehly's companies. The confusion and bewilderment overshadowed a rather drab game of football and fittingly leant towards the opinion that Chelsea are not focused on winning in the here and now. At this rate, they won't be winning much in the future either.

Wanting to win hasn't been lost on Pochettino, who was uncharacteristically fiery and tetchy along the touchline as his team went in search of a pressure-relieving win. As 90min revealed earlier this month, he will also be desperate to keep hold of Gallagher for similar win-now purposes.

There is a ceiling on Chelsea's current project because of the scrutiny they have and will continue to come under. Those upstairs still need to win over fans and prove this endeavour is worth sticking with.

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