Champions League: Chelsea's scoring woes continue at Dortmund; Todd Boehly's spending spree yet to deliver

The English club fell 1-0 at Dortmund in their round of 16 first leg on Wednesday

Chelsea may have lost to Dortmund on Wednesday, but this was one of their better performances under Graham Potter. The Blues ripped off 21 shots for an xG of 2.13 compared to Dortmund's 1.41, even turning up the heat to create plenty of chances in the second half. But running into goalkeeper Gregor Kobel in form, the only number that matters is the 1-0 advantage to Dortmund on the score sheet ahead of next month's second leg. Most teams would be able to take a moral victory from this performance but with Chelsea's recent form, do moral victories under Potter matter anymore?

He was expected to have growing pains in the role but after being appointed in September, Potter has had time to instill some of his ideas in the squad. The board has also backed him heavily in the transfer market but at some point returns are also expected on that investment. On one hand, the fact that Joao Felix hit the post twice will give them confidence in the second leg but the Black and Yellow also didn't have to get out of first gear for much of the match outside of Karim Adeyemi's counterattack goal and Kobel's defense.

Finding new ways to not put the ball in the back of the net is a common issue for Chelsea and one that is only capitalized by their limited choices in registering their new signings for Champions League play. Only Enzo Fernandez, Joao Felix, and Mykailo Mudryk were registered for the completion when David Dataro Fofana has been their only new signing that is somewhat of a true number nine. Chelsea have scored just five goals in their last nine games, failing to record multiple goals in a game even once in 2023.