Chelsea's Social Media Mafia Is Achieving Nothing by Abusing Gary Cahill

Chelsea have a problem, and it isn't just a porous defence or soft underbelly in Antonio Conte's squad.

Instead it's a social media mafia that seems intent on targeting players and abusing them. It has to stop.

Since Conte's Stamford Bridge reign took a nose-dive in recent weeks, players have become targets and the noise has been just as unwanted as the goals Chelsea are conceding. It's been amplified more and more with every defeat or dropped point since September's international break.

Two players in particular have been subjected to some particularly vile abuse: Gary Cahill and Branislav Ivanovic.

The latter's form has been a subject of divided opinion for close to 18 months now. From the back end of Chelsea's title-winning campaign of 2014/15, right through to the present, Ivanovic's performances have raised big concerns.

"Ivanovic is a cancer of the club," read one recent tweet, while another described him as being "pure AIDS." Yes, they're real comments from real people. We're not making it up.

"

My last tweet till Cahill and Ivanovic are out of the team

Chelsea Football Club are officially finished to me.
Goodbye. #CFC

— ConteTweets (@ConteTweets) September 24, 2016"

That early criticism of the Serb has transformed into a nasty movement. Now Ivanovic is being lynched every week on various social media platforms. Any real critique is being lost among a deluge of keyboard warriors calling for his head and simply out to offend.

That alone has created an undercurrent of negativity that is now spreading across the Chelsea team. Pandora's box has been well and truly opened and Cahill now finds himself in the same category as Ivanovic. He's been labelled a "pillock," with one fan going so far as to suggest Cahill is "out of touch" with supporters on the back of his own poor form.

It's not criticism; it's outright abuse.

What purpose does this all actually serve? Other than very minor victories for those purporting as Chelsea supporters, what is being achieved by targeting football players on the back of bad performances?

The concern is how fans are using social media to drive home the very agendas the media are accused of plotting themselves.

It's not just Chelsea supporters, ask any fan about how their club is portrayed by the media and the response will be negative. There will be mention of players being targeted and treated unfairly, that the club doesn't get a fair deal.

Now that scenario has been flipped. It's the fans driving that level of negativity, and Cahill has become a target. One Twitter account—appearing neutral to club loyalties, we must add—has even gone so far as creating a two-minute gag reel from Cahill's recent career. Like that actually shows anything.

The Analysts Eye trades off on providing insight to football and the way teams play. Yet the Cahill highlights are a contradiction of that.

"[Cahill's] so uncomfortable and clumsy. Starts so many counter-attacks against himself," reads the tweet accompanying the video. We're then taken through two minutes of some hellish moments from the past few years in Cahill's Chelsea career.

Surprisingly, a foul from Leroy Fer on Cahill in the recent 2-2 draw with Swansea is used against the Chelsea man. Clattering Cahill from behind to win the ball, Fer went on to score Swansea's second as a result. But had the referee done his job, play would have been called back.

That moment in the game should have been a mere footnote, but instead it's being used as a stick with which to beat Cahill. And websites or social media accounts trading on being an authority on the game and offering insight should frankly have a higher editorial standard.

Instead they are attracting followers by feeding a false impression of a player. It's heightening the frenzy, knowingly manipulating content to feed an agenda. (Warning: Tweet contains NSFW language.)

Whittle down any player's career over the past few seasons into a two-minute highlight reel and anyone can create a perception of either greatness or mediocrity. Indeed, we could do the same for Cahill's teammates John Terry or Kurt Zouma. Going a few steps further, a highlight reel for this writer could make him appear of a Premier League standard, which is saying something.

OK, maybe not.

The truth is, Cahill has been at the heart of what Chelsea have achieved in the almost five years he has been at the club. The Englishman has won every major honour in club football in that time, outlining just how essential he has been.

Walking on one leg because of a hamstring injury, Cahill helped win Chelsea the Champions League in 2012. In 2014/15, he was part of the Premier League's meanest defence.

Of course, that doesn't absolve him from criticism in the here and now. Whether it's been the return of David Luiz or the absence of Terry, Cahill's form has hit a brick wall since the beginning of September. He's looked far from the player we have known and just by his expression in Chelsea's four matches in that time, we've witnessed his inner anguish.

Hands over his face, head sinking into his shirt after it was his error that allowed Arsenal to take the lead in last weekend's 3-0 loss for Chelsea at the Emirates Stadium, Cahill was suffering. A fortnight before that, when he did the brave thing and faced the TV cameras after Fer's goal at the Liberty Stadium, his tone told us what he was going through.

"

Iva and Cahill are useless. #CFC

— Araï (@sharulazraai) September 16, 2016"

"It's a clear foul. Come on, seriously. It was clear as day and seeing it back has made me even more angry," Cahill told BBC Sport at the time.

"[...] It's all fun and games for the fans—but it's the players who suffer. That kills me and kills my team."

The last part of Cahill's quote explains it well. While the Swansea fans were laughing and having fun at Cahill's expense, he was having to deal with the fallout. Fer's goal "killed" him because it inevitably weakened his position in the Chelsea defence and under his manager, Conte. Luiz had just been signed by the club, so the boss would have been looking for any reason to change things with fresh faces.

Still, the Twitter trolls or Twitterati—call them what you will—turn their views from criticism into abuse. They offer nothing in the way of constructive analysis, instead taking delight in a player—in this case Cahill—blocking them from tweeting him. In some instances, they take offence to it.

It's behaviour that serves very little purpose. As Chelsea's season continues, for better or worse, the negativity will continue to linger. Whether the tweets are coming from inside Stamford Bridge or overseas, they add to the woes of a club that is under the spotlight for all the wrong reasons.

Do the players deserve to be abused because of that fact?

Garry Hayes is Bleacher Report's lead Chelsea correspondent. Follow him on Twitter @garryhayes