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Gallagher played more than 5.000min in the EPL before he came back to the club he started as a kiddo to then get featured also quite a lot because of injuries. Not sure it's agreat example compared to a 20yo who is just about to move across the pond with a WC coming up as well. Portugal and its league is always a great station for a south american talent to get a grip here. Alvarez joined City not Chelsea. One is the best oiled machine in the football universe while the other....is not. Not sure there is much of a debate here actually though. I'm not saying he would have never joined Chelsea, that be an idiotic statement but all I'm saying is that even if you wanted him there were (and always are) good arguments against a move to a club of such magnitude for a talent.

Would he even be interested moving to a Chelsea side that would be risky to get minutes at when he can easily develop at Benfica as a starter, have the CL as a showcase and a WC coming up where he wouldn't feature if he's sitting on the bench at Chelsea waiting to get subbed in for Kanté or Kova? All I'm saying is it's all very theoretical. There will always be that talent that went under the radar and exploded at some club where it could rather freely develop without the limelight and pressure and competition within the squad. Don't know about your academy players atm but it seems also there is a lack in midfielders with the potential to be top class - otherwise I wouldn't criticise the missed opportunity to sign Enzo but rather why those aren't intergrated into the squad. Haven't seen Benfica in the CL - all I'm saying there is no guarantee. CL football with Benfica is likely quite different to EPL football with Chelsea I'd assume. Not saying he's not a player who can transform the midfield don't get me wrong, but Chelsea's a mess atm so that's also different to coming into a well organised Benfica team or well drilled Argentina NT side. Just saying though. Would be great to see what he could do at Chelsea.

Of course but I think it's quite simplistic and a lot of hindsight 20/20 accusing scouts for not bringing in Enzo before his move to Benfica. Casadei and Chukwumeka both look great talents, Chukwu could actually play as a starter soon as well so I wouldn't really complain about those two. Nobody could predict Enzo skyrocketing as he did (and let's not forget that there is still a risk he wouldn't immediately dictate play in the EPL although he'd be a great addition nonetheless). Also the 100+ pounds that are in talks for him are over the top anyway. I think Chelsea is stacked with very promising young talents, it's the middle block (regarding age) of players that are supposed to give structure is crumbling and not as reliable as they should be. Be it due injuries or lack of form.

Wasn't FdJ approached quite heavily? Not saying he was a good target (god knows if was actually available) but he was an elite midfield target.

He was challenging for #1 in the league around this time last year IIRC, (also featuring in basically all but one cup finals) and then the squad was hit by injuries and of course the whole Russian thingy with a new ownership that had jacksh*t of experience of Football and at least a plan to integrate experienced replacements for Marina and Petr that failed spectacularly - safe to say that the summer transfer window was always going to be hugely improvised. Sacking then a high level manager who at least showed before he could get Chelsea rolling (and just had his squad replacements finalised the day before he was sacked) looks bad. Really bad. Bringing in half of Brighton looking even worse afterwards looks like the next big question mark.

Rüdiger played long balls every now and then. But Koulibaly tried (at least under TT, don't know about nowadays) and it didn't work at all. Maybe a matter of training and getting used to one another but in theory you should always prefer someone who can pinpoint a long ball from the back because it makes playing it out from the back easier since the opposition can't read your game as well. Mandatory of course the new guy cannot only pinpoint long balls but is also sound at playing short passes under pressure 😉

While true of course it is always something extremely difficult and without guarantees to succeed but I say they had a couple of unfortunate events that weren't really in their hands while at the same time losing the plot and starting to make nonsensical decisions. IMO the first real ultra unfortunate event was the illness and death of Tito. He was meant to be Peps successor but lasted about .. a year as a coach? Into that timeframe (severe illness) fell also the "legendary" 2:8 against Bayern which was closer in reality as the result implies but made them lose their status as invulnerable (players of course knew at that time that their head coach was in dying in NYC which I think played its part). The remontada later on with heavy influence of the ref in favour of Paris (doesn't matter if you say they deserved it because of Ovebro) and of course PSG snatching Neymar right under their noses away. This was a crucial moment because a) Neymar was incredible important to them and could have easily their anchor while an aged Messi wouldn't be able to keep them on track on his own. b) The money they then received wasn't really helping them either because in their frenzy made grave mistakes and were also unlucky. Dembélé being injured most of the times and Coutinho, a world class player at that time, didn't work out at all. They never got back on track after that and the increasing financial instability just made it worse of course. Btw. at that time (after Enrique stepped back) I think they made a strategic mistake to not get Tuchel who went on the be successful at PSG. Valverde really was the nail into the coffin because he did keep them somewhat successful enough to stay a bit longer (ultimately failed) but they started to play extremely stale and pragmatic without developing any further.

Txiki Begiristain, I'd say the most crucial figure to hire, left for City late 2012. Pretty sure Barca's spening spree and downright ridiculous wage structure came afterwards. Roughly around the time PSG snatched Neymar from them. Who was also signed after Txiki left.

Impossible to say though if we'd look as lost as we do now. Tuchel got fired the second he got "his" squad finally assembled by Todd. And was he really incapable of working with hierarchies? His time alongside Marina and Petr give me a different impression. "But he wasn't the right man for Boehly." That's the thing though: Boehly as a non-football related CEO should have never put a foot into daily football matters. Then Tuchel would have had a competent guy to report to / work together with -> they don't come along together at all? Fair paly to sack the manager, although the timing should be considered as well. But as it stands I can't imagine it being fun nor yielding positive results working out football related matters - like building an elite squad - with Todd while at the same time being under great pressure to deliver results on and off the pitch. I don't see any way to spin this into something that doesn't look foolish.

Think he is a good squad player who has some useful versatility in him and is good enough to start every once in a while when the main team is stable and performing well. But as the main figure in a midfield of two? No way. But that is not really his fault either.

Good write up and that‘s exactly as I feel about it too. I do assume though that Tuchel was well aware of his situation internally right after the sacking of Cech at least - as were most probable the players too which resulted in him becoming a lame duck immediately . Just my theory but I doubt anyone was really that surprised within the club . And that says a lot about still paying top dollar for new players till the very last minute. Very erratic and strangely disconnected behavior. Will be interesting to see where clearlake is heading.

When was this a thing in Tuchel's "honeymoon phase" that ended with us winning the CL?* Let's talk again when Potter actually accomplished something major with this squad just to see them repeatedly slacking off afterwards. *edit: it ended much later in reality because I remember us playing some great football with good results and top league spot until injuries hit us hard.

Of course it's not based on three games - that would be a ridiculous assumption. Nagelsmann had a very strong (eventually the best ever?) first half of a season last year but the second half was quite bad. So bad the he was already on the watchlist. Losing deservedly to a mediocre Spanish side in the CL and also a 0:5 in the national cup alongside bad result in the second part of the season made him vulnerable.

Big step up. Have!‘t followed him but many, not only on this forum, rate him very high. Will be interesting to see how he handles mid-week matches week in week out hence much less prep time before matches, the necessity of rotating elite divas and players and one hell of a lot more limelight. All that with next to no CV which may be a problem down the line with players that at times look like they tool the CL win a bit too personal.

For all we know maybe he got sacked for that. That said, I'm a true TT follower since his start at Dortmund, love the guy - but there were indeed a couple of decisions I found weird. Lately: playing Azpi yesterday, giving Pulisic that many minutes.. nothing to sack him for, not at all but he seemed to have lost the plot a bit and I guess Boehly wasn't in the mood to help him out of that (well, he did actually quite literally.). Why he lost it is a good question and I don't expect to get THE answer to it, divorce, sanctions, early CL win with all the added baggage, Covid, Lukaku, goalkeeper slapsticks, new owner without any references regarding football ... maybe a blessing in disguise.

Yep, celebrating in the "Tuchel: sacked" thread! lol

I know you didn't advocate this - just pointing out that the Roman way, imho, isn't going to win aleague title here and there - the one but very strong argument that gave his erratic approach some sense. Not sure I'd agree with the last point though. City won't chew out 90+ points campaigns every single year but the one off season they get only 80+ points you gotta be there. Even this season: let Haaland and 1-2 other key players get heavily injured in a couple of weeks and let's see how they cope with that. Stuff like that can always happen. But within the current league with a lot of hard to beat sides and about 6 teams that battle for the CL spots, Newcastle looming around, etc.pp. you won't do well with a short termish approach. Maybe they want Potter to build this squad and give him time: it's still so utterly stupid to waste that much time/money/energy before and even if he'd come now: he'd have no pre-season, no transfers, no time to train since there's a game every other day + a lot of pressure to deliver right away. edit: ninja'd by reality. Good luck to Potter I guess.

Don't think this model is working out anymore to lead to any league title though - not as long as City is backed and run like they are currently. And the competition seems to get tighter as well, truck loads of money alone isn't enough anymore, not for the league. That doesn't mean you can't sack a manager anymore, that'd be ridiculous of course. But a club owner running into the locker room every day to talk to the players is a receipt for disaster and will sooner than later cause trouble for every manager, and if said manager gets fired sooner than later once trouble appears it's a viscious circle and not the "that's how football works" routine.

Or, having them win the FA + PL title convincingly in the first year or two but having a hard time directly afterwards with tons of arguments that it's not necessarily manager related to be sacked and start a new cycle (after spending hundreds of millions once again of course).

Why is it seen as some sort of benefit for being in charge with a lot of transfer related work for Tuchel? He must have hard one hell of a hard time if he had to discuss all this stuff with somebody who had no - NO - experience with football or European sports at all a couple of months ago? I mean, if you're happy he's gone, all right, but that argument is just nonsense. If done correctly you'd have a DoF, a competent one, in charge to build the squad - also to bring in players that would fit into the managers idea. That should be a no-brainer and not some sort of bonus. Really feeling for the guy, first his Dortmund stint which was literally bombed apart, then the genius Leonardo at PSG who barely outlasted Tuchel himself (and also his appointed manager Poch..) and now this. First last season where you find yourself within a club in free fall with Marina and Cech ducking away leaving ALL the communication relating to the very existence of the club tho the manager + now a clueless owner that has the pockets full of money (now a bit less than before) but hardly any strategy to boot.

Pep plays players out of position all the time in case you didn't notice. Klopp has turgid games just as well but got bailed out by actual world class players more than once (and some refs as well). None of them had to work within a free fall club losing half their defense and about to lose half their midfield (not that we'd notice since they are mostly injured or half-fit anyway). Also begs the question who's really on par with those two managers? None I'd say. If you want to challenge for a title against those juggernauts (mostly City this year I guess) you have to appoint a manager to last and build a squad to fit him - just like those two clubs actually did. So either they should have done their homework before pre-season and appoint someone they think more capable of this to invest heavily afterwards or actually back the manager you got and who showed that he is capable of winning stuff - and back him not only with new shiny toys but in the actual dressing room.

How have they fully backed the manager if the manager has to do a stupid PR tour in the US which looks like it really cost us and didn't have a DoF in line so made the manager work on stuff he initially openly said he's happy that he's not concerned with these type of duties so he can concentrate on his work as a manager. Let's hope Boehly has actually really someone in line already - not like all the rest that appears to be super clueless in retrospect.

phew..not really surprised but disappointing nonetheless. I was arguing with someone here that I didn't think our squad had a mentality problem but yesterday made me re-think that. We look good in patches but overall it appears as if we're running around with heavy moon boots. Not sure he still had the locker room behind him so to some extent it's to be expected. But why is a whole other question. Last season was tough on anybody inside the club almost in all regards so there may have happened a break although we were still doing ok (regarding the overall circumstances). Gotta be careful with giving too much power to the players - sometimes you have to back your manager even if its a heavy slump we're going through. But thanks a ton for exciting cup runs and keeping the ship sailing during hard times. Guess the new owner not only wants a new DoF, a new squad but also a new manager. We'll know better in half a year if that's been a sensible move.

Maybe it‘s the wording, but imho being bullied by an excellent Leeds side doesn‘t equal a mentality problem per se. We were set up badly and had tremendous problems in midfield but it wasn‘t due lack of trying imho. Our team hasn‘t really clicked well yet - and I think part of it is just down having that many new players + a couple of injuries that hit our midfield hard (and if you want also resulted in some bad calls by the coach tactical wise): that can also result in some players looking apathetic but isn‘t caused by a lack of motivation. And a newly built side will always take longer to implement attacking patterns and understandings than it takes for defensive systems. that‘s just my thinking though.

I don‘t think we habe mentality problem per se. When we were one man down for more than 2/3 of a game we also crawled back into the game and even managed a win - that was after a very frustrating 2:2 against Spurs where we got robbed of two points. some players imho should have a look into the mirror, I agree but as a group I think we don‘t have that problem. Also people seem to expect the team to function already at top level despite us having major changes in personell (defense/midfield/forwards) with the only constant is the goalkeeper position - who unfortunately hasn‘t had a game without a major mistake this season amd got bailed out twice big time already by the refs. If Koulibaly, Fofana, Cucurella settled in and Kova stays fit + finds form we‘re going to look much better by default and more fluid which should help our forwards. having a ‚new’ team playing against ultra defensive sides was always going to be an ugly affair - if our manager has to do part of the work of a DoF at the same time it‘s only getting worse.