It says a lot about Chelsea's season that for an entirely pointless game, some 200 miles from home, the Blues sold out their allocation of 2,000 tickets in 10 minutes.

With no disrespect to the city of Swansea, as good as any a place to spend a Saturday in April, the location was not the draw here.

And neither, for anyone who has seen Chelsea play of late, was the team.

But somehow the club's support has revelled, displaying that gramme of gallows humour that many will see as being 'Proper Chels', in this worst season for a generation.

If only such vim and vigour was displayed on-pitch, where Chelsea from the off looked far from bothered about winning this.

There were conspiracy theories doing the rounds: certainly a US tour in late July, taking in Pasadena and Minneapolis, will be more lucrative for the club than a Europa League qualifier that same week against perhaps Ordabasy Shymkent of Kazakhstan.

Chelsea might have been more inclined to go with the flow of UEFA's slightly tarnished Thursday Cup had entry come as a consequence of winning domestic silverware – and automatic entry to September's group stages.

Cancelling the commercial and branding opportunities, as well as the team-building potential of an overseas training camp for a new boss, is unlikely to seem worth it to scramble through the preliminary stages of a competition that seldom makes financial sense.

But to believe in such a conspiracy would be to undervalue the efforts put in here by Swansea – who secured Premier League safety thanks to this win, and shortly afterwards announced advanced negotiations with a potential new owner.

Swansea 1-0 Chelsea in pictures:

They played with energy and commitment, width and pace – things largely invisible in Guus Hiddink's side here.

The Dutchman touched afterwards on the problems with both motivation and focus: essentially, the squad is without any clear objective at this stage, and it shows.

Hiddink has committed to experiment, giving more time to fringe players, but that also brings its own issues.

He was reluctant to heap praise on Matt Miazga for a competent debut against Aston Villa last week, and we saw why here as he struggled against Swansea's superior attacking play.

He was most to blame for the goal, though it was truly a group effort including several players.

And, though Hiddink insisted he was taken off at the break due to his earlier booking, it seemed at least in part a bid to save the 20-year-old's blushes.

He was far from the sole underperformer at the back – stand-up Cesar Azpilicueta and Branislav Ivanovic.

After that change, and with John Obi Mikel slotted unconventionally in at centre half, it fell to Oscar – who failed to provide right wing cover in the first half – to fail to provide central holding cover in the second.

At the other end, Alexandre Pato gave a further indication of why he simply has no Chelsea future beyond the end of this forgettable loan period.

Winning goal: Gylfi Sigurdsson of Swansea City scores

The list of those missing in action was extensive: Cesc Fabregas and Pedro deserve a mention too.

An exception to the rule was Ruben Loftus-Cheek: who combined efficient midfield play with goalward forays which showed promise, if lacking in accuracy.

Thus, when Hiddink decided to remove him for the much-derided overblown expense of Radamel Falcao, it was not well received by the visiting fans.

To be fair here to Hiddink, Loftus-Cheek had shown signs of his usual terminal drop-off in energy levels in the moments before the switch. And Chelsea needed to chase a goal.

Falcao gave little more to the match than Pato had, and with Diego Costa returning from suspension next week, it seems unlikely either will get much more playing time for the rest of the campaign, and thus their Chelsea careers.

Though Charlie Colkett, Ola Aina and Kasey Palmer got no match time off the bench, their social media accounts later suggested the experience of making the trip had at least been of value.

So with the last of those objectives seemingly lapsed for Chelsea, it really is now a case of offering chances to those who represent long-term capital investment opportunities.

With six matches to go, Hiddink's little experiments could well become a recurring theme.

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