Slojo

Not exactly, Sarri really struggled around December-January time, that 6-0 thrashing to City comes to mind. Conte in his next season struggled around the same period, when we lost 4-1 to Watford and Bakayoko was having an absolute mare. Carlo in his 2nd season at one point was outside the top 4, for Chelsea that was practically unheard of at the time and Spurs looked like they were going to steal our spot. We luckily hit a good run of form with about 10 games left and somehow finished 2nd that season, but I remember it looking very grim at the fact that we could be finishing behind Spurs and coming 5th.

A bit of both then sure, Juventus came knocking and he saw an opportunity to jump ship. Come on, he can't exactly have been looking forward to next season, having a transfer ban and losing your star player who did just about everything for us. Hazard was massive here, I was sh*tting a brick after he left, luckily the young players stepped up. But either way, the club has acted, they've made their opinion clear on the Lampard situation. I don't subscribe to the theory that it was due to social media pressure, it's because they had little faith that Lampard could turn it around, our club is already harsh as it is, it doesn't help when you've got little managerial experience to back it up.

Hazard gone, injuries galore, transfer ban? Come on, no top gaffer wanted to touch us last season, that's not a stupid opinion. The job at the time appeared impossible to take, Frank coming in was great for the youngsters and it seemed to really help with the progress of the season, it's possible he's kickstarted our success bringing in the likes of James, Abraham, Mount then Pulisic. We chose Frank because of his familiarity with the club, and with it being very rare circumstances at the time. I don't know why he got 3 years but I don't think that's something you can fixate on because we don't know the full details of that contract. Wasn't Robbie also given 3 years? And he was on the chopping block ASAP as soon as things took a bad turn. Without a transfer ban and losing Hazard all in the same season, Frank doesn't get that job, someone else would've had it or Sarri probably would've stayed on for another year.

Maybe, but I don't think the board listen to the fans that much. They still hired Benitez despite all the protests. Jose, Conte, Ancelotti, Sarri, they all had terrible slumps and they were given more time.

Personally I didn't get that impression, I don't know what his wages were or clauses etc. But when does a manager jump ship after a year in the job after winning a trophy? Especially from here? Besides an Interim like Hiddink, it doesn't happen. Sarri like many others, saw a sinking ship and bolted. Hazard leaving, Transfer ban, no top gaffer wanted to touch this job. Under any other circumstances do you genuinely believe the club gives Frank the job? I don't. Believe me when I say this, I fully believed in the Lampard project, even though I was very pessimistic with his arrival. I think he did a great job in his first season, but ultimately I think the club made the right decision, just like they did with Di Matteo, the circumstances are quite similar.

Come on, you can't just believe reports you want to believe. It's all bollocks as far as we know. I mean yeah, it's obvious he wanted to move those players on for sure, but there's more too it than that, finding the right buyers was extremely difficult during the summer, hardly anyone but us was buying, especially the smaller clubs.

He got the job under rare circumstances, because nobody wanted it at the time. Last season was a complete anomaly, and a club doesn't have to honour a contract, you're fixated with the contract despite knowing the likes of Conte, Jose and Ancelotti never saw out theirs, much better managers who won big things at Chelsea. In what other time other than last season does Frank get the job? Never, and you know it. There was a big reason the club were very reluctant to give Di Matteo a new contract and he just won the Champions League in the space of 5 months. And as soon as Di Matteo hit a snag, BOOM, he was instantly out of the door. Was that a terrible decision? Look at it now, I don't think so, the club made the right move, I wasn't happy at the time as a fan, but from the Boards perspective it makes sense and it's making even more sense now.

Don't... That incident had me outraged for days. The worst penalty decision I've seen in a long time, all while under VAR. Absolutely disgusting. Not only that, it changed the game, Villa were getting into it and looked the most likely to score.

Well that's where you're going wrong. I'm sorry but Lampard being a club legend should be irrelevant when it comes to his role as manager, or at the very least a tiny bit relevant. What matters is that he's capable of doing his job and he's making good progress. Unfortunately for him, he hit a big snag and he had no bargaining power to buy himself more time because of his lack of experience and past accomplishments. People need to see this from the boards perspective not just see this as a fan. Lampard being a legend has nothing to do with his managerial ability, it shouldn't be viewed that way. We're a club, there's millions of pounds at stake, we can't hinder progress and waste money for the sake of giving a legend more time just because he's a legend, that makes no sense from a business point of view. Other managers have had more time while being in a similar slump, the reason they got more time is because they had more credibility. Are we harsh as a club? Absolutely, there's criticism to be handed out, but I'm not going to draw the line now because they sacked a manager who's only previous experience was a year at Derby. I'm sorry if that sounds harsh but it's true, people need to look at it from the Boards perspective.

Not at all. Tuchel accepted these terms, I think it's obvious that Tuchel wants another chance at top after his reputation was damaged from getting the sack at PSG, which definitely lowers a managers stock. He's not in a position to bargain for a 3 year contract when we can just say no, and get an interim and look for other options in the Summer. If anything, this is a great move by the club, if it doesn't work out with Tuchel, I doubt we'll have to compensate him as much as other managers, and if it does, then great?? We've got a good manager. I must admit he wasn't my first choice at all, I wanted an interim then I wanted us to push for Zidane in the summer because I don't think he's going stay at Madrid and I think he's a very capable manager. But Tuchel all things considered, did a good job at Dortmund, and to his credit he got PSG into their first CL final (Or first final since the new owners took over, I'm not sure), so he has to get some credit for that. I think the biggest thing people are looking at though is down the line, if he does well, him falling out with the board could be a possibility, given his track record at Dortmund and PSG.

JFC lack of self awareness

I'm thinking it's definitely Klopp making those transfers. Because remember how bad the signings were before Klopp under Rogers and even Dalglish? Absolutely dreadful.

He was in team of the year last season before the COVID break when they were considering scrapping the season, and he was only there for 6-7 weeks... He's ridiculously overhyped, his record is padded with penalties, he's scored over 20 since being there. That's unheard of in such a small amount of time.

As it happens, that was our good friend Anthony Taylor.

If Tottenham are overruning our midfield and giving us problems, we can shot Kante on, he's usually very effective when coming off the bench.

You have to take experience into account though Yorkley. I get it, some of us are fickle bastards and are spoilt. Frank came here with minimal experience or CV, as much as we love him, we must accept the facts that Frank had nothing to fall back on when the going got tough. If Tuchel comes into a sticky patch, we can say, he took PSG into their first CL final when no other manager could. He took Klopps defeated Dortmund that were headed to relegation and made them back into a title challenging side and a force to be reckoned with, all while bringing in youth players through the ranks that went for hundreds of millions in the transfer window. Pulisic for example, excelled under Tuchel. It's all good pointing out how much we overachieved last season, but for all we know, we would be putting all of our chips on the line for a man who was never capable of turning this team into title winners in the first place. Ultimately that's what our goal is, to win the league. Out of all our past managers who got the boot, why do give our most inexperienced one the luxury of longevity? Like I was telling others on this forum who were pointing at Ole, look at United now, it's very likely United put all their chips on the wrong man and have wasted time sticking with Ole when they could've gotten a proper competent manager in that would've actually won something during that time. Resumes are very important.

Can we really trust this inside info?

Like @bisright1 said, it's only good news if he plays.

As a wing back I would have him over Chilwell, I think Chilwell has been piss poor since his injury and has turned into a slightly better version of Emerson. Back 3, we should stick with playing Alonso.

Now give Kovacic his dues 😉

I prefer Werner to Morata, but Morata was better for a longer period, first 4-5 months he was scoring consistently and playing well. Werner has had what? A good few weeks with us. Even before we had that dip in form Werner kept missing valuable chances. That chance against Liverpool for example would've gotten us back into the game and he f**ked it right up. It's the story of the season with him. And I wouldn't write this season off just yet, don't be hasty, we're in two cups and still have a chance to get top 4. Plenty to play for still.

That's fair enough, but let's not pretend you don't also have your own agenda's like people do with Jorginho. For example, Kovacic, you take an absolute sh*t on Kovacic probably in spite of me and numerous others, which is just ridiculous. I'll always admit when a player is not having the best of seasons or when they are. At the beginning I praised Kante because he was playing well, despite all the criticism I gave him last season and the argument of selling him. And Kovacic I was very disappointed with this season, last two games he looks a different player, like the one we saw last season, but it's still no excuse. Same with Jorginho. I'll even agree with you people go way overboard with Jorginho on here.

Do you not feel it's similar to the Morata situation? Or Torres and Sturridge. We persisted with Torres as our main man just for the sake of his transfer fee and to get his confidence back when Sturridge should've been the one we trusted with in the middle. I remember me and you going at it over Morata for a while, although tbf then we had no choice but to play Morata since we had no backup. Now we do, we have Abraham who still has potential, and Giroud who is usually very reliable and scores. I don't know... The more I see Werner play the worse he gets, I wouldn't want to waste that striker spot for him when there are currently two better options. And on top of that, a spot out wide when there are again better options.

They're vulnerable, they look absolutely sh*t, got to take advantage. Now it's time to step up and stop being so bloody fragile in these games.

I actually rate Jorginho, but I do it to wind Gol up I'll even admit it. However, he has been sh*t for quite a while, so I tend to agree with a lot of the anti-Jorginho camp a lot lately, even though I think many posters go overboard of their criticisms with him.