Enzo Maresca is unwell - and his Chelsea side are also sick.
The Blues have dropped 15 points from winning positions this season and are on a run of one win in seven. The good will of the Club World Cup has dried up and at the midpoint of 2025/26, Chelsea are five points worse off than at the same point last season.
At the end of that campaign it felt as though there was a chance to build something, as head coach Maresca led a young Chelsea squad back to the Champions League, then the Conference League and Club World Cup titles.
It was still not the glory years of old, but winning breeds winning and promised better times to come after the chaotic early Todd Boehly-Clearlake years and an ongoing unhelpful turnover of managers.
How much of that progress has been made six months on? Judging by the boos at the end of the Blues' latest poor result against Bournemouth - after which Maresca missed his post-match media duties due to a virus - not a great deal.
Looking at the Premier League table, this seems a harsh assessment with Chelsea well in the mix for a Champions League spot.
But much like when Frank Lampard became the final managerial casualty of the Roman Abramovich era, it is the direction of travel which is the problem.
Maresca finds himself held responsible for most, though not all of the underlying issues. Over-rotation has been a long-term bugbear - Chelsea have made 55 line-up changes this season, with rock-bottom Wolves the only other side with more than 50.
Managing a young squad across multiple competitions does require delicate squad balancing but Maresca has missed the mark on too many occasions. Even across the last week - against Aston Villa, Benoit Badiashile was trusted from the off but was directly at fault for Ollie Watkins' equaliser.
Maresca made five more changes to face Bournemouth on Tuesday night but was forced into a pair of half-time substitutions with Chelsea's midfield cut apart at will.
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Not all of that is due to his own faults. The squad remains woefully short of strength in depth in certain areas, and short of experience almost throughout - the starting line-up against Bournemouth was the youngest named in any Premier League match this season.
For all of Chelsea's spending, a hit-and-miss summer has not particularly helped with Liam Delap, Jamie Gittens and Alejandro Garnacho failing to impress consistently.
Reece James' introduction as one of those two substitutes allowed the Blues to shift their captain into midfield when required - but also brought one of few natural, experienced leaders onto the pitch.
"When I think of the Chelsea teams that have won titles, that have won Champions Leagues, they're probably the most experienced teams you'll ever see," said Sky Sports' Gary Neville on the latest edition of his podcast.
Maresca was rightly lauded for his tactics to win the Club World Cup in the summer, but little progress has been made on that front more widely. He has referred to himself as a big-game manager - and victories against Liverpool and Barcelona at Stamford Bridge this season, plus a creditable 10-man draw with Arsenal, are fair testament.
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But this run of seven points from 21 has included a defeat to Leeds and four points dropped against a Bournemouth side winless in nine. It would likely have also counted a loss at Newcastle had Trevoh Chalobah been penalised for what appeared a blatant penalty.
Maresca won himself few friends with his complaints last season about the difficulty of facing low blocks, a puzzle he looked to crack with a squad costing hundreds of millions of pounds. In one-off games he has shown plenty of promise - but the same tactical deficiencies and lack of Plan B which burdened him even during his Championship season at Leicester remain more generally.
A section of Chelsea fans remain lukewarm on Maresca. The chants of "you don't know what you're doing" aimed at him when Cole Palmer was withdrawn against Bournemouth - the second time in as many games Chelsea's star player was hooked with a game in the balance - felt as much personal as they did analytical.
There have been moments where a connection looked to be building between Maresca and the fanbase. The two trophies last season and the jubilant scenes after the win at Tottenham earlier this season spring to mind.
But prickly comments in public have not helped create the us-against-the-world mindset these fans have felt under Jose Mourinho, Thomas Tuchel and even Frank Lampard in the last two decades.
But ultimately results alone will be what can turn this around for Maresca. That is the cold hard currency which buys coaches time at Chelsea.