There was symbolism to the Chelsea project reaching a reckoning at the Amex Stadium. Behdad Eghbali, one of the club’s co-owners, looked ashen-faced in the directors’ box. Enzo Fernández stared into the distance. Liam Rosenior apologised to the few supporters left in the away end and then went on to rip into his players for their performance during the team’s latest humbling by Brighton.

Rosenior’s position as head coach looked untenable long before Chelsea’s fifth straight league defeat was over. The optics were harsh. As a measure of where Todd Boehly and Clearlake Capital’s BlueCo consortium have struggled since buying Chelsea in 2022, it does not get much starker than them having a losing record against Brighton, given how often they have nabbed one of Tony Bloom’s players or staff members.

Part of the problem with trying to follow Brighton’s data path is there is no way of replicating Bloom’s closely guarded analytics model. But there is another core element missing. The data-led recruitment at Chelsea has been relentless, causing a constant churn. They have scoured the globe for young players and handed out heavily incentivised wages, and there is a certain logic to the plan. Carried out properly, it ends with a brilliant team developing together in a sustainable way, led by a clever coach flourishing in collaboration with a multi-pronged recruitment department.

It is, of course, tough to see that vision playing out when Chelsea have just lost five league games without scoring for the first time since 1912, all but shattering their hopes of Champions League qualification. This is where the obvious pitfalls appear. This is the moment to reflect on how this young squad has been assembled. A young player joining Brighton can lean on seasoned professionals such as 35-year-old Danny Welbeck and 40-year-old James Milner. Who in the Chelsea dressing room is of similar stature?

The five sporting directors at Chelsea need to take stock. They retain the support of the owners but external pressure is growing. Some footballing norms are inescapable. People with Chelsea’s best interests at heart have long said young players need help from wiser heads. It is a fundamental part of building a stable team and an area that Chelsea must address in the summer.

Chelsea were a rabble on Tuesday. There was no heart. Fernández wore the captain’s armband less than a month after being dropped for two games after hinting at his desire to move to Real Madrid. Why? Marc Cucurella, another of Chelsea’s more experienced players, has also spoken out. The culture is off. Indiscipline has hurt Chelsea all season and they will continue to flounder unless there is a drastic change in the team’s mentality. But that begins with empowering a manager who can command the respect of a group of expensive internationals. For all the data, Chelsea need to recognise the unquantifiable extra push given to a team by the very best coaches.

There will be tweaks to the approach. Chelsea do not intend to hire a manager without top-level experience again. Convincing a big name to join could be a challenge, though. There are admirers of Como’s Cesc Fàbregas, a former Chelsea player, at Stamford Bridge. Andoni Iraola and Xabi Alonso are available. But when managers of that type look at how others have fared under this ownership they will need to be convinced that working for it would be the best career move.

There is also the thorny issue of whether managerial and transfer targets will be harder to land if Chelsea, who could be in the bottom half by the time they next play in the league, fail to qualify for Europe. Fears that missing out on the Champions League will impact the budget after losses of £262.4m must be allayed. It starts to feel like a defining moment for BlueCo.

It looked like Chelsea had cracked it when Enzo Maresca led them to the Club World Cup last summer and then thrashed Barcelona in November. Yet relations with Maresca soon became strained. Chelsea did not sack the Italian, who admitted to the club that he had held talks with City over replacing Pep Guardiola, but moving on from his messy exit has been harder than anticipated.

Rosenior had experience of the system. The 41-year-old worked at Chelsea’s partner club, Strasbourg, and knew the recruitment team well.

But while he started well and was regarded as a promising young coach, it was not a surprise that he was in over his head. Players who were close to Maresca did not take to Rosenior. Sources say the Spanish speakers in the dressing room did not rate him. Rosenior’s authority quickly disappeared. A day after he talked about behavioural improvement, his lineup against Brighton was leaked by Cucurella’s barber in a deleted social media post.

There was also Wesley Fofana reacting badly to being substituted during Saturday’s 1-0 defeat to Manchester United. There were stupid red cards, bookings for dissent and whispers about the players struggling to connect with Rosenior’s LinkedIn vibe. Ultimately any semblance of clout slipped away after Rosenior dropped Robert Sánchez and started Filip Jörgensen in goal against Paris Saint-Germain in the Champions League last 16. It was an unforced error. The No 1 goalkeeper’s confidence was hit and Chelsea have not recovered from Jörgensen’s costly error at 2-2 in the first leg.

One source has pinned the blame on Rosenior. Chelsea have been too open –no clean sheet in the league since January is inexcusable – the muscle injuries have piled up and the attack has faltered. The same players looked better under Maresca. Even then, Rosenior’s plight is merely symbolic. He is a good man and should go on to have a fine career, but he was not qualified for this job. He was thrown in at the deep end and although he had to go, the people who hired him have real food for thought.