Graham Potter described Chelsea's performance as "not good enough" after a 1-1 draw at Nottingham Forest – as Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink warned the Blues face Champions League misery.
Hasselbaink believes his former club are destined to miss out on a top-four finish after they slipped up at the City Ground on New Year's Day.
Chelsea won the Champions League only two seasons ago, and head coach Potter may find himself under pressure if they are not playing in Europe's premier club competition in the 2023-24 campaign.
The London club are eighth in the Premier League, seven points behind fourth-placed Manchester United.
Ex-Blues striker Hasselbaink told Sky Sports: "I think they are too far from the top four. Yes, they do miss some really important players – [Reece] James, [N'Golo] Kante, [Ben] Chilwell – but they are defensive-orientated players.
"He [Potter] needs to win matches, he needs to win as many matches as possible. Chelsea need to be in the Champions League. That's not going to happen.
"He's had a lot of injuries and you need to give him time. You need to give him time to mould his team."
Potter saw Chelsea squander an early lead on Sunday, with Raheem Sterling's strike countered by a fine second-half reply from Serge Aurier.
Former Brighton and Hove Albion boss Potter described it as "a hard-earned point against a team that's set up well", and he praised the spirit in the Forest ranks that saw them raise the tempo after half-time.
But that may not wash with the Chelsea supporters who expect their team to be able to ride out such pressure against teams battling to avoid relegation.
Forest, who are 18th in the table, could easily have secured all three points, as they had the better chances in a lively game.
Chelsea have won just one of their last seven Premier League games, losing three and drawing three in that run.
"Our performance level wasn't good enough, I don't think, to take the three points," Potter said.
"When we had control of the game we didn't move the ball fast enough, there wasn't enough movement for us, and when we lost control of the game we struggled a bit."
Potter said it "would have been unfair" if Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang had converted a late chance. As it happened, the striker failed to get his head on a cross from Hakim Ziyech.
The Chelsea boss said his side "didn't deserve to win the game with that", and he refused to discuss possible new signings, amid claims defender Benoit Badiashile is poised to sign from Monaco.
Asked about Champions League qualification, Potter said: "We've got a long way to go in terms of how we want the team to look and the performance level. It would be a mistake for us to worry about what can happen in five months' time.
"We need to focus on the next match and get our performance level better and more consistent."
The next match is a Premier League home game against reigning champions Manchester City on Thursday, and the game after that is another clash with City on Sunday in the FA Cup third round.
It gets no easier for Potter who said his team's midweek win against Bournemouth had been "a step forward".
"Today was a little bit of a backwards one," he added.
Inzaghi expecting Arsenal reaction after Newcastle defeat
Inter boss Simone Inzaghi is expecting a difficult test against "one of the best teams in Europe" when Arsenal visit the San Siro in the Champions League on Wednesday.
Arsenal come into the encounter against the reigning Serie A champions on the back of a defeat to Newcastle United in the Premier League last weekend.
Mikel Arteta's side have now lost two of their last three league games, having tasted defeat just once in their 25 games in the top-flight (W21 D3) in 2024.
But Inzaghi, who helped Inter keep pace at the Serie A summit with a controversial 1-0 win over Venezia, is expecting a reaction from the Gunners.
"We are facing one of the best teams in Europe, very recognisable with a great coach," Inzaghi said.
"We all know how the big teams react after a defeat. Look at us after the derby... You find teams out for redress.
"I saw the match between Arsenal and Newcastle. Playing at Newcastle's home is not easy, but it was an open and fascinating match.
"We will find a team that lost two-and-a-half days ago, they will want to play a great game at San Siro."
Inter lost the Derby della Madonnina 2-1 to Milan in September, but have since gone on to win seven of their eight games in all competitions.
Inzaghi's side are just ahead of Arsenal in the Champions League table, with both teams picking up seven points from their opening three games.
The two sides have only met previously in the 2003-04 Champions League – both games were away wins (Arsenal 0-3 Inter, Inter 1-5 Arsenal).
While history favours the visiting side, Inzaghi has said his side will try to dominate possession against Arsenal in order to remain unbeaten in the competition.
"If you see Arsenal among 100 teams, without knowing the name, you recognise them. They played for the last two English titles, point for point with Manchester City," he said.
"We will have to try to keep the ball as much as possible, we know that we are facing a team that put on a lot of offensive pressure.
"We know that it will be a problem for us when they have the ball but the opposite is also true."
Arsenal have also struggled in recent games in the Champions League in Italy, failing to find the back of the net in their last four away games in the country.
Emmanuel Adebayor was the last Gunners player to score there in a 2-0 win over Milan in March 2008, and Inter will be confident of keeping it that way.
Although only five teams have faced more shots in the Champions League this season than Inter (53), they have kept three clean sheets so far.
Neymar suffers fresh injury blow
Neymar sustained a new injury as he was forced off during Al-Hilal's AFC Champions League Elite win over Esteghlal.
Aleksandar Mitrovic plundered a hat-trick on Monday to seal a 3-0 win.
But Al-Hilal's victory was soured by an injury to Neymar, who had to make way just 29 minutes after he came on as a second-half substitute.
The Brazilian, who has just returned from over a year out of action following a serious knee injury, was forced off with what appeared to be a thigh issue.
Indeed, Monday's appearance was only the 32-year-old's second for Al-Hilal since his comeback.
He has featured just seven times for the Saudi Pro League champions in all competitions since his big-money move from Paris Saint-Germain in 2023.
Rodgers delighted as Celtic rout Aberdeen in semi-final
Celtic booked their place in the Scottish League Cup final after hammering Aberdeen 6-0 at Hampden Park on Saturday.
The 21-time winners of the tournament were inspired by a Daizen Maeda hat-trick in a near-perfect performance against the Scottish Premiership's second-placed side.
Manager Brendan Rodgers was delighted with the result and performance from his side.
"It was a testament to our players and the demands they have. They play every week in big games. We have to manage this group through every game," he told Premier Sports.
"It was up to us to decide the game and the players did that. They were brilliant today. We were more aggressive in the second half.
"Aberdeen have had an excellent season, they will continue to work well I'm sure."
The result was Aberdeen's first defeat in 17 matches in all competitions this season, with a 2-2 draw at Celtic Park last month the only time they had previously failed to win.
Cameron Carter-Vickers got the scoring under way with a header 29 minutes in, before the brilliant Maeda sat down goalkeeper Dimitar Mitov to set up Kyogo Furuhashi for a second three minutes later.
Maeda then got in on the act himself on 40 minutes before the game briefly descended into farce on the stroke of half-time, with Rodgers shown a yellow card for kicking away a ball that had gone out before slipping over.
"To be fair, I was raging because we had given the ball away," he said.
"I have my moments, like every manager. It was just the game, even though we were comfortable at 3-0.
"It was a deserved yellow card. The speed of the ball [was the issue]. I just wanted to keep the tempo of the game."
Celtic and Maeda picked up where they left off in the second half to make it 4-0 in the 50th minute before Nicolas Kuhn hammered in a fifth on the hour.
The rout was complete when Maeda wrapped up his hat-trick as he finished off a flowing attacking move with five minutes to go.
After the match, Rodgers continued to be effusive about his team, who will face either Rangers or Motherwell in the final.
"An outstanding team performance. You come up against a team that has been so, so good. We knew it would be a challenge," he told BBC Scotland.
"We had to bring our A-game and the players did that, in particular during the second half.
"We were ruthless. We worked the ball really well to create the space and made good runs.
"It's a beautiful pitch here at Hampden. It's perfect for the football we want to play."
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