Was going to leave this round up of my thoughts until the season had officially finished, but it's over now bar the qualification for 4th place which in theory we should be able to hold onto.

Firstly, some awards:

BlueSkies' Player of the Season: Ramires - I was critical of him when he first joined as he was quite poor for the first few months, but recently he's been our best player by far. He is the only one with any drive or determination to actually pick up the ball and run at people, bursting into space. And he's not afraid to get back and hassle the opposition for the ball either. Made a mistake in the sending off tonight, but he's still young and he will learn from that.

BlueSkies' Flop of the Season: Lampard - It's a harsh one to give it to Frank, since he was out with injuries for several months and is getting on so he's not going to be able to recover as quickly nowadays. And maybe it's because he's been so wonderful for the past 4-5 seasons that this season it has been so noticeable when he's not been playing well. If you think it's too harsh to give to Frankie though, the runner up for this one was Malouda.

BlueSkies' Goal of the Season: Ramires vs Man City

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VW_KasBEllI

BlueSkies' Most Improved Player this Season: I was considering Ramires again, but I think it should go to someone who was with us last season who has improved this season, rather than improvement over a period of a few months. So in the end I went for McEachran. I racked my brain to see who from the first team has actually played consistantly well this year, and the results of this were few and far between, so I decided to go for young Josh. He was obviously with us last season, playing in the youth and reserve team, and in the few first team appearances he's made this term has shown what a really class act he is and I expect big things from him.

BlueSkies' Worst Decision of the Season: A few are up there, such as selling off 4-5 players and not really replacing them, starting the season with youth players and then loaning them all out, and various strange subsitutions such as waiting until the 80th minute to bring on Sturridge when we're chasing a game. But, with tonight still fresh in the mind, I'm handing it to Ferreira on for Alex, needing to score 2 goals.

Now, onto my analysis of this season. I'll break down the key points into bullet point form and then expand on them a little.

- Squad is too old - We probably have one of the oldest squads in the league this season, though i haven't checked for official stats to confirm this, we have a number of players 30+ such as Ferreira, Cole, Terry, Lampard, Drogba, Anelka, Malouda. Basically the spine of last season's squad. I know we moved out some older players like Ballack, Deco and Belletti in the summer, which was a step in the right direction, but a bigger clearout is going to be required in the summer.

- Something is missing or broken - By this I mean that something just doesn't seem right when you watch a Chelsea display recently. The players just don't look up for the match half the time, even hugely important ones. Either something is wrong in the coaching or the motivating of the players, or they need a serious kick up the arse because they earn more in a week than most of the fans in 5 years. The departure of Ray Wilkins was highlighted many times as a possible factor in this, maybe he had a big role in the motivation and preperation for matches, who knows. But it just doesn't sit right with me at the moment.

- Carlo has no idea what formation to play - Whether its 4-4-2, 4-5-1, 4-3-3 or any other variation, with Anelka up front, or Anelka and Drogba, or Torres, or Torres and Drogba, etc... he just doesn't know and it is not exactly helping our situation when every single game the players are having to adapt to a different line up, with different players who play in different ways.

- Drogba needs to go - Now before you jump on my back, I still like Drogba, he is a good player and tonight he came on and did very well, but the problem here isn't Drogba himself, it's how the team play with Drogba in the side. For years now we've been relying mostly on big long balls up to Drogba to control on the chest or in the air and muscle his way past the defenders. But he is the only striker in our squad who plays like this. Torres, Anelka, Kalou, Sturridge...they are all smaller, pacey players who play on the shoulder of the defenders and rely on through balls and decent service from the wings. But because the squad is so used to playing this way, these other strikers (Anelka aside who plays more deep anyway) do not get the service they need. Torres tonight was a perfect example. The first half he was just getting balls up to him to control with his back to goal and try and feed other plays in. This is not how Torres plays. He needs the midfielders to be sending balls through or over the top for him to run onto. He was totally isolated tonight and what did Carlo really expect him to be able to do? Control the ball on his chest, barge his way powerfully past Vidic and Ferdinand and smash it in? So the reason I say that Drogba has to go is so that we can get a fresh start and play with a more free flowing system, that plays the ball along the ground and plays to the strengths of the majority of our strikers instead of the minority.

- We need at least 4-5 new players in the summer - Before I get to who we need, I will quickly address who I think should leave:

Hilario - Old and not exactly the best backup keeper we could have. I would rather promote a youngster to fill the 3rd choice spot.

Ferreira - Old, not particularly good, although he is a good crosser. No more than a squad player anyway.

Malouda - Has done okay in glimpses this year, but he is getting on as well and I can't see him having any major improvement next year really.

Drogba - See previous paragraph.

Kalou - Too wasteful and inconsistant. Never going to be a first choice here.

Now, who do we need to replace these players? Well, we need firstly to bring back the youngster we loaned out, I think players like Sturridge, PVA, Bruma and Borini have a decent shot at making it, plus McEachran of course to be given a bigger role than this year. The main area that we need to strengthen is the wings, we have Malouda and Zhirkov at the moment. One who is inconsistent and selfish, the other who is okay and injury prone. If we look back at our title winning squad a few years ago we had Robben, Duff and Joey Cole (+ SWP later). Those are 2 fast, tricky wingers for both sides of the pitch. This is what we need to be aiming for again.

My first addition (if Man City would sell to us) would be Adam Johnson as a replacement for Malouda. He's young, fast, got a great left foot and could freshen up our attack. For the right side..in all honesty I'm not sure. There are youngsters we have been linked with like De Bruyne (who I think could do well, though he tends to play on the left more I believe) and Hazard, etc... But we could also look at players in the premiership now, like we did with Duff, Cole and SWP. Obviously the top sides aren't going to want to sell to us without offering Torres-esque amounts of money, but someone proven in the league would certainly be an advantage.

Defensively I think we should bring in Seamus Coleman from Everton to fill the RB slot. Another young, promising player. Other than that, I would be fairly happy if our squad next year looked something like:

Cech, Turnbull, Walker

Cole, PVA

Terry, Alex, Bruma

Luiz, Ivanovic

Coleman, Bosingwa, Clifford

Ramires, Mikel, Clifford

Essien, Benayoun, Mellis

Lampard, McEachran

Johnson, Zhirkov, Kakuta

De Bruyne, (???)

Torres, Anelka, Lalkovic

Sturrige, Borini

That gives us 2 senior players for each position, with a 3rd promising youngster for several of the positions, which is how I believe a squad should be set up, especially when you have the resources that we have.

It would be a much younger, fresher, faster and more creative squad than we have now and I think we could start to push for the title again with a squad like this and a decent system of play that allows our attackers to play to their strengths.

So, those are my end of season thoughts. I could have rambled on for even longer, but I have coursework to do now so I'd better stop. I just hope we see the changes in the summer that we desperately need, if we have to go into another campaign with the same aging squad I am going to be very disappointed.

The season isn't over yet.

Pointless until the last game is played.

Still a top 4 place to play for yet. Maybe the earlier we secure it we might get a chance to see Josh. Shame some of the other young guys are out on loan.

Edited April 12, 201115 yr by Scooby Blue

The season isn't over yet.

I'd be happy if it could finish now with us safely in third. The next few games are massive for us.

Oh and Paulo for Alex tonight was the right thing to do, in fact it shouldve happened earlier. Paulo should also have started last week.

My first addition (if Man City would sell to us) would be Adam Johnson as a replacement for Malouda. He's young, fast, got a great left foot and could freshen up our attack.

Did you see him play yesterday against Liverpool? He was absolutely anonymous.

Don't agree drogba should go so were left with one type of striker. Surely he should stay and anelka should leave. At least then we'd have another option. There's no chance of us getting Johnson, not unless we pay 30m or something stupid. De bruyne will not go to a top 6 side, because he's not that good. I agree we probably need 4 players, but if we don't replace quality with quality wel end up like arsenal.

In: neymar, hazard, hamsik, van der wiel

out: hilario, ferreira, bosingwa, malouda, kalou, anelka.

Seasons Not over yet! and Even if it is Over its not as Bad as Liverpool or Arsenal's Seasons in the past 6-7 Seasons we should be smiling that We are The Chels not The Scum

Since Roman's Taken Over we have Won 10 Trophies in 6 Seasons thats 4 more then projected per year apart from the UCL on 4 Stupid Occassions i.e Refs and The Cheating Players Starting from Luis Garcia,

04/05 - Premier League, Carling Cup

05/06 - Premier League, Community Shield

06/07 - FA Cup,Carling Cup

07/08 - Lost The Carling Cup Final & Champions League Final

08/09 - FA Cup

09/10 - Premier League,FA Cup, Community Shield (English Treble)

10/11 - 2nd Or 3rd Place for Automatic Champions League Qualification!

Heads up 10 Trophies Is Not Bad At All for a Club of Our Level People Seem To forget before Roman came in we was just about reaching 3rd in the premier league

To finish 2nd or 3rd is still an achievement within itself considering the bad run's we have had this season.

I Think next season will see some new faces in and some experienced chelsea players such as drogba malouda Kalou anelka Ferriera Bosingwa Mikel leaving

Maybe we will bring in Ribery Forlan Aguero Sanchez Neymar (Possibly) fingers crossed don't worry we will prove we our the Best in this Country next season!

Ribery? Forlan? I hope not..

And just because i've posted this now instead of posting the exact same thing in a month doesn't change the opinions in it at all, so does it really matter for goodness sake.

Ribery? Forlan? I hope not..

And just because i've posted this now instead of posting the exact same thing in a month doesn't change the opinions in it at all, so does it really matter for goodness sake.

I can't agree with that. We need to secure third place for this season before we even begin thinking about the future.

Your attackers are worse than this year. We would still be missing a playmaker.

Borini and Lalkovic? Cmon. Really?

Edited April 13, 201115 yr by BrewCrew

Whilst I do agree with most that this is too early for this thread you do raise some very good points. One that stuck for me and something I have been thinking about for a while is malouda's likely departure and replacement. The two that I was thinking was Adam Johnson as you mentioned (on that note to zewisteroi that is one of the most ridiculous comments i have seen on this site, also noted that you did one in the united thread stating that Lampard is a disgrace) the only problem with johnson is that he will cost far too much to lure away from citeh, they wont sell their backup keeper to rivals so i hardly see them selling a dangerous attacking force. He is a young, English class act.

The other player I have been thinking about is Ashley Young, he has one year left on his contract so will be available for a cut price not to mention in the unlikely event that villa get relegated we could pretty much steal him. He has gone from strength to strength this season and would be a great addition to our team.

Agreed with a lot of what you said, but a few parts are way out... Drogba needing to go? Surely if anything last night must have shown you what an absolute handful he is, still our best striker and I don't want to lose him yet. Also the Ferreira decision, as much as it was far too late, wasn't a bad decision considering Alex was massively rusty and tbh shouldn't have even been on the pitch last night. The bad decision was to not start Ferreira, not to bring him on late in the game.

i cant see how getting rid of drogba could every be a good thing when he clearly brings drive and passion to a team that havent shown much togetherness at times this season.

Your attackers are worse than this year. We would still be missing a playmaker.

Borini and Lalkovic? Cmon. Really?

Like I said, they would be the young players who get a few chances in the cup competitions and such. Not first team starters. Do read things in future.

Agreed with a lot of what you said, but a few parts are way out... Drogba needing to go? Surely if anything last night must have shown you what an absolute handful he is, still our best striker and I don't want to lose him yet. Also the Ferreira decision, as much as it was far too late, wasn't a bad decision considering Alex was massively rusty and tbh shouldn't have even been on the pitch last night. The bad decision was to not start Ferreira, not to bring him on late in the game.

Yes, Drogba is a good player, but I believe I made my reasoning for this opinion quite clear.

BlueSkies , Very candid opinion about the state of affairs and on some of the players and I have to agree with you on most of them .

Also I won't agree to some people saying the season isn't over yet and not the time to think about the future. If we looked at match threads over the past 4-5 months each of us would have mentioned about the lack of good players in certain positions or about shipping out some poor performers . I think this is time we planned for the future .

Though Drogba has been a great player for us , your point on him was spot on . Our midfielders/defenders are so much used to Drogba's style that our other forwards struggle due to lack of service or some sort of do it all yourself expectation on them. when did we last see a player cut inside or beat a defender for pace and score a goal . Those are very very rare . But instead of seeing Drogba off , what we can do is utilise creative players in the middle and change our way of play. Because Drogba is not just the physical forward , he can also burst into open areas and score goals . we need creativity in the middle and a strong manager to make us change the way we play !

i cant see how getting rid of drogba could every be a good thing when he clearly brings drive and passion to a team that havent shown much togetherness at times this season.

I subscribe to the "Drogba needs to go" theory.

He IS still on his day one of the best (if not THE best) strikers in world football. But if we want to move on as a club, sometimes getting rid of key players who still have something to offer is a tough but unavoidable decision. Look at Man Utd and Arsenal with RVN and Henry. Holding onto Drogba for another season, when he will become 34, would be a huge mistake IMO. Of course there will be times when we miss him, any club would, but let's not also forget that in our double winning season, the times we played arguably our best football and knocked 7 past teams, Drogba was not playing.

I want next season to be a new chapter, not a repeat.

BlueSkies , Very candid opinion about the state of affairs and on some of the players and I have to agree with you on most of them .

Also I won't agree to some people saying the season isn't over yet and not the time to think about the future. If we looked at match threads over the past 4-5 months each of us would have mentioned about the lack of good players in certain positions or about shipping out some poor performers . I think this is time we planned for the future .

Though Drogba has been a great player for us , your point on him was spot on . Our midfielders/defenders are so much used to Drogba's style that our other forwards struggle due to lack of service or some sort of do it all yourself expectation on them. when did we last see a player cut inside or beat a defender for pace and score a goal . Those are very very rare . But instead of seeing Drogba off , what we can do is utilise creative players in the middle and change our way of play. Because Drogba is not just the physical forward , he can also burst into open areas and score goals . we need creativity in the middle and a strong manager to make us change the way we play !

agree with alot of what blueskies + sizzler above have laid out-----hopefully the management/directors/selectors/roman are in talks about same...

we will get a place in champs lge, so time is right to look forward and put this poor season behind....

most of all we need a couple of creative players in the middle, as unfortunately its come to pass that, Lamps is at a stage in his career, that he is only a squad player now....(maybe essien is not far behind) and possibly a winger/wingers that can take on defences ala duff/robben to create for torres/studge etc...also a right back with pace and ability to get forward and put in a decent cross..

Also we have to start using more of the youth so that they are ready to step up to the plate when injuries like this year occur........look at bluenose/wenger.....how easy is it for them to have confidence in the youth to fill a spot when injuries occur or have big games coming up that they need to rest players.....surely enough was invested in them for interest to stert paying off now!!

As stated, not the time for this thread.

However biggest mistake of the season simply has to be the sacking of Wilkins. Before hsi depature we were walking to the title sining a pretty tune and in a form that could topple the best in Europe...... The sub was illogical to many but to be fair to Carlo, Ferreira did put in the 2 best crosses of the game....

I think people ae getting too hung up on the ages of a few players whilst forgetting about what an exciting young core we have. We have a lot of world class talent well below 30 and plenty of the youth with the potential to become world class. We need some tweaking, not a huge over haul. The right player or 2 could transform this squad back into a Champion side.

As stated, not the time for this thread.

However biggest mistake of the season simply has to be the sacking of Wilkins. Before hsi depature we were walking to the title sining a pretty tune and in a form that could topple the best in Europe...... The sub was illogical to many but to be fair to Carlo, Ferreira did put in the 2 best crosses of the game...

Well, immediately before Wilkins' sacking we were losing 2-0 to Liverpool, so it's not quite that simple - the wobble had already started. I will agree that having him around might've helped us bounce back more quickly than we did.

I subscribe to the "Drogba needs to go" theory.

He IS still on his day one of the best (if not THE best) strikers in world football. But if we want to move on as a club, sometimes getting rid of key players who still have something to offer is a tough but unavoidable decision. Look at Man Utd and Arsenal with RVN and Henry. Holding onto Drogba for another season, when he will become 34, would be a huge mistake IMO. Of course there will be times when we miss him, any club would, but let's not also forget that in our double winning season, the times we played arguably our best football and knocked 7 past teams, Drogba was not playing.

I want next season to be a new chapter, not a repeat.

Reminds me a little of Keane at United. He was such a dominating presence in the dressing room and on the pitch (even if he was getting past his prime). Fergie decided he needed to leave because it was best for the team. Is it better to move a player on a season early or a season late?

Still a few more games to go, but, thought I would post this 'Blog'. Although, it is a post Chelsea v Birmingham analysis, it is relevant to the title of this post.

I thought it was a pretty objective piece of writing, nice to see someone looking for answers without grinding an axe.

What Might Have Been

Edited April 21, 201115 yr by RegRabid

The fat lady's not singing just yet.