COMMENT: Yaya Toure. There he was. Darting and dashing around the Stamford Bridge pitch. Moving like a gazelle…

…Yeah, that’s how bad Chelsea’s midfield was on Saturday. Yaya, by his own admission, produced his best performance of the season as Manchester City turned over the fallen champs on their own turf.

Yaya was impressive. No doubt about it. But he might as well have been playing against training cones. In fact, training cones would be tougher in a contest compared with what the Blues support was offered by their players on Saturday.

Did Chelsea down tools? Graeme Souness said it was “bordering” on it in the post-match: “Some of the players were bordering on a disgrace today.”

There’s no Jose Mourinho to blame now. What we’re seeing is that it wasn’t Mourinho’s man-management that made Diego Costa a shadow of last season. Nor Cesc Fabregas, John Obi Mikel… not even Gary Cahill. Thibaut Courtois? The Belgian was (wrongly) recalled by Guus Hiddink for the game and conceded twice before getting himself sent off. It was pitiful. This lot had just delivered the worst game of Hiddink’s two spells as Blues manager.

And Chelsea fans are baffled. There’s no anger. Just despair. The players would do well to check the excellent Chelsea Fans Channel for the supporters’ reaction to what they’d just witnessed. It’s dejection. Utter dejection. You’ve kicked the passion out of them. You’ve betrayed the one thing that every fan treasures – hope.

What Saturday did offer was how important the presence of John Terry remains. On this evidence, talk of a board decision being made not to offer the captain a new deal appears questionable. Until official word suggests otherwise, it’s inexplicable that Terry won’t be handed the chance to play on next season.

How can Antonio Conte trust that XI on Saturday to be the bedrock of his incoming plans? He needs Terry. Chelsea needs Terry. As Leicester City and Tottenham have shown this season, Roman Abramovich can’t expect to fast-track Chelsea’s revival by flashing bucket loads of cash around. It’s going to take more than a big chequebook to dig themselves out of this hole. It’s going to take leadership, character and sacrifice – which on current form is in minute supply inside Cobham.

Success in the Premier League is being achieved more and more on merit. Fancy that? The reason why Leicester City are top of the tree is because Steve Walsh has performed better at his job than those in charge of recruiting at the other 19 clubs. And that includes Chelsea.

Michael Emenalo has done great things for Chelsea. You can still argue the club’s expansive loan policy has been successful. But there’s been holes, some would say chasms, in his squad building in terms of age, balance and personality.

It’s been largely glossed over, but Ramires’ sale to Jiangsu Suning was never in the script. As late as Christmas, Blues sources were insisting to Tribalfootball.com that the Brazilian had been earmarked as among the next generation of leaders to take the baton from Terry, Frank Lampard and Petr Cech. He was loved by the Brazilian contingent at Chelsea, who all, to a man, saw him as a big brother and an example to follow. That Emenalo and his staff could not convince Ramires of a fulfilling future as a Blues leader should be regarded as one of the big failures of the season.

The place has gone stale. Chelsea’s recruitment and squad building strategy needs a fresh set of eyes – which has been recognised. Conte has been granted total say on the running of all teams at Chelsea. From the first team to the juniors. No wonder he pushed for ten of his own hand-picked staff to kick things off!

That he’ll begin with five is a good compromise. You don’t want to see the likes of Eddie Newton and Steve Holland pushed out. Paulo Ferreira is now getting his feet under the table as a loan scout. And it’s understood, down the line, Conte could still find places for those who missed out.

So the shake-up has begun. But the battle isn’t over. Conte still wants Walter Sabatini, Roma’s departing sports director, to join him in London. There’s a reluctance on Chelsea’s side. But an argument is being made that a transfer policy, which has resembled an out of control scattergun these past 12 months, is in desperate need of a new hand.

And thanks to what was served up on the weekend, Conte’s case is gaining strength by the day.

Contributed by Chris Beattie of Tribalfootball.com