A year ago we were starting the season as holders of the Double, nailed-on to reclaim the title, hot favourites with the bookies.

We had the Golden Boot winner (Drogba) and we had just finished a campaign in which we had scored a record number of goals, as well as setting more records.

Fast forward 12 months and no-one fancies us for the title, not even our own fans, despite the fact we supplemented our squad in January to the tune of 80 million and despite the fact Sturridge has emerged as a player.

We even have the hottest young property in football management.

What's changed?

Have Utd significantly strengthened? No. They've added Young and Jones. They've lost an excellent keeper and Ferdinand is on his last legs.

Arsenal have weakened. Significantly. If Nasri goes to City it's fair to say our friends in the North have strengthened considerably, with the arrival of both him and Aguero, but I still don't fancy them for the title. Not one of their keeper and back four would get into our side, and the likes of De Jong, Barry and Milner hardly fill me with dread. While we're all salivating over Aguero it's worth remembering Tevez may leave them.

Sure, they have a healthy-looking front line, with Dzeko, Da Silva and Aguero, but 12 months ago Malouda, Drogba and Anelka had just come off the back of a great campaign in which they had hit top form and banged in the goals.

Is it simply the fact they have got older, along with Lampard?

It can't be the loss of Essien as he didn't feature in our double campaign, besides, in the last 12 months Ramires has emerged, and he's been a great signing.

As I watched us line-up against Stoke, I despaired of the fact Maouda and Kalou were the best we could field on the flanks, but what exactly is so radically different from 12 months ago, when this air of despair wasn't so prevalent?

Remember how we started the last campaign, no-one could see us dropping any points, we looked invincible.

12 months is an awfully long time.

Thoughts please ..

Brilliant, honest post which sums up some of my own thoughts. No one is dismissing the need for certain signings but these players have another level to reach. We were the best team outside Spain by some distance- until November

In January we lacked creativity , flair and pace on the wings and midfield. We proceeded to buy a defender and a striker to shore up our strongest positions. As it's transpired said shoring up of the strikeforce and the subsequent development of Sturridge and Lukaku has given us too many options, One game in and we're already questioning who should start etc. It's an issue, albeit one that hundreds of clubs wished they had

Defense and GK department look absolutely rock solid. Decision to loan out Courtois to the club where weakling De Gea was under no pressure from attackers is questionable, will he come to us in the same sorry state? Could do with better cover in the actual squad for Cech, but overall good.

Flair: Nobody in the Midfield has any flair, Lampard has a great strike no questions but he's slowing down, Ramires has improved immensely, Mikel remans solid defensively, Benayoun only midfielder with strong understanding of Torres game still.

Creativity: Kalou and Malouda are painful to watch, Malouda doesn't have the pace to beat defenders, Kalou doesn't have the composure to finish the chances his hard work creates. Area for improvement, noted by AVB

Pace: Cole has it, and can cross, Bossy has it and can't cross. Malouda has none, Lampard is losing his, Ramires has some surging runs. Romeu unknown quality, Benayoun tricky enough not to need it, Drogba strong enough not to need it, Torres rehabilitated.

In short we need a RW and LW with pace to stretch defenses, and someone in the Middle with the vision to be one step ahead of defenses. We're Rock solid defensively, have a great strike force. Imagine a girl with a great rear, a great rack but a flabby middle section.

At the moment we're the Snooki of the premier league.

Edited August 16, 201114 yr by Pride of London

Great post Davey Baby. 12 months is a long time and one season is long as well.

But I still think this matter is between people who are glass half-full(you) and glass half-empty(many here).

But it is good that you posted this as we have had more topic by the glass half-empty people.

great post but even at the start of last year we were all still lementing the fact that we had no natural wide players we havent had for a long time the main diffrence is that other teams hve clicked onto how to play us and indeed beat us.

i still have faith in the team but i dont think we have done enough to change our dynamic im hoping avb can change something but lets not give up on the season theres alot lot more to come

I think people are forgetting the relatively favourable start we had last season. Whilst we we thrilled with the results I think deep down we knew what could happen and what we lacked , and as soon as we played our first tough fixture, at City, it was there for all to see and we never really recovered.

12 months on it's still the same, and whilst I think AVB will reinvigorate the squad there is only so much he can do -again I worry that against the top teams , or just against a team happy to keep it tight we will struggle.

The signings in Jan were good fun, but given £75 million how many of us would have bought a CF and a CB? If Chelsea are to compete at the very top level this campaign then a couple of signings in the very obvious positions we lack in will be needed in the next 2 weeks.

That's not me being a moaning spoilt child , I couldn't care less really, I'll happily support any Chelsea team whoever plays, it's just a fact.

Edited August 16, 201114 yr by bjd

I can't really put my finger on any specific reason but I think its mainly because the likes of City, Barcelona and United have spent serious cash on first team players while all we've signed have been youngsters.

For me, I'm pessimistic as AVB is unlikely to do much better than Carletto given this squad. I'm not saying he won't do better, I'm saying yes he will but it still won't be enough to challenge on 4 fronts, or even 2. We're still good enough to give the big boys a run for their money when we meet head-to-head but we have lost the consistency to push them over 38 weeks.

Premiership managers got to grips with our 4-3-3 and forced us down the middle into a congested minefield that remains our problem to this day. Meaning the width and creativity was exposed and containing became easier.

On the positives Sturridge, Lukaku, Romeu makes our future look brighter, we have a modern day manager in the mourinho mould but with his own tactical nous to succeed. Ramires, Luiz and Torres to throw into the mix.

However, the frailties in United's defence in our double year have been rectified by the emergence of Smalling and the purchase of Jones. With the first real pre-season in years for Rooney and the extra width with Young even though Valencia murdered Cole in key games last season.

Of course City have added Aquero with more to follow and have a years experience as a unit behind them and a trophy to build upon albeit a FA Cup.

It's a three horse race, at the moment we are dusty bin 3 - 2 - 1 from odds on fav's to 3/1 outsiders ... The bookies don't often get it wrong but they did last season !

Still , 31st Aug will be our transfer day, yellow bar on sky Chelsea this Chelsea that City this City that Arsenal this Tottenham that !

my real worry is that this mood of despondency hasn't really shifted. we'll find out in our next game but if this forum is reflective of the wider / match going chelsea support (which isn't always the case) then we are not in a healthy position. if we go in at HT against west brom at 0-0 or 0-1 down will the players get booed off? I think that is a big concern, because it transmits to the players and could set the tone. I think there is enough to close the gap from 9 points, though perhaps not enough to win the title. but is that really the end of the world?

when you go from being delighted about winning trophies to a mixture of fury and despair when you don't, then there is a real problem. I've always pitied manchester united fans for this attitude, but slowly but surely this pervasive mindset seems to be strangling the chelsea support, year on year.

Edited August 16, 201114 yr by gullit4

I reckon we'll win the title, being a bit old in the tooth, I know players get injured in all sides and perhaps that's where our OAPs might just help out by having experience and a cool head at the right time as well as motivation to prove their are not past it. Sure we need to buy two wingers, left and right and a midfield general and I feel confident that they'll come. I also expect Josh to take a step up same applies to Connor Clifford and Mellis if they don't go out on loan. The glass on this table is half full and not since JM do I feel that we have a manager/coach who can make a difference.

My main reason for thinking that united will win the title is because fergie has absolutely mastered the philosophy of evolution rather revolution with his team. When we were lining up against united last year in the title decider i was looking at both the teams and individually i felt for the most part our players were superior, however united may not have our individual talents but there is no doubting that they are more of a team than we are.

With any luck AVB will bring some fluidity to the team but he still needs to impose his style which will take time, Fergie is taking his title winning side, made small but important improvements and is just building and building. Their squad, besides the lack of creativity in the middle has very few deficiencies. I firmly believe we are more than capable of winning the title, we have a very gifted manager and a great squad but at this stage there is no doubting in my mind who the favorites are.

Personally I will see this season as a success if we can blood our younger players like Josh, studge, PVA, lukaku and really see AVB's philosophies coming through in our match performances, would put us in a great position for next year. Any trophies will be a very welcome bonus!!

Oh and my last problem with the current team, as mentioned by everybody, in every single post, in every single thread in this forum is that we need a creative mid in the mould of sneijder or luka. Praying that either happens or we put our faith in Josh, a wonderfully talented player and if he could handle that pressure on his shoulders at such a young age then we would see some serious results.

Agreed about the evolution at ManU but I see their defence as struggling this season due to injuries of senior players and new GK. They are not the same team without RIO. Still don't have a RB.

ManC are a strong team. They may have defensive weakness but we never seem to find it out. Attacking wise they are very powerful this year.

Liverpool are a stronger side, although defensively still weak.

I think we will be hard to beat. We will probably concede fewest goals this year. The question is whether we can score enough. However having a great defence is a fantastic starting point in a long season.

Great post Davey and nice topic.

Yes, we were mostly optimistic at the start of last season following our double and that optimism escalated following a series of good results at the beginning of the campaign. Of course it went downhill from there and despite picking up a few results during Feb/March and April we never really looked all that convincing.

Personally i am not all that optimistic this year for the following reasons:

- For me there has not been enough done to address the problems which have been building for a few years but which became more evident last year. That being the over reliance on older players who are past their best and more importantly (for me) no discernible change in our style of play which has become predictable and easy to play against. Many of the teams in the EPL when playing against us set up with a very deep defense and invite us to break them down safe in the knowledge that we have little pace or width to get behind them and cause problems. The truth is that since october/november last season we have struggled to break down teams who we were previously bulldozing.

- We have tried to address the issue by spending huge amounts of investment in Luiz and Torres, however there has been little change. I am no longer confident in our ability to knick a goal when we need it. Our slow build up style of play doesnt really suit torres, and until we start stretching defenses and playing him into space, i think he will struggle.

-Lamps and Drogba are in the twilight of their careers and other regularly supporting cast members (Malouda, Kalou, Essien, Bossingwa and Mikel) have been off form, injured or ineffectual.

- There has been little success to date in our youth development and great young hopes have been loaned out, sold or just not given a regular chance.

- I have little faith at board room level anymore. This faith has been eroded over the years with a series of bad investments. Drogba, Ash and Essien aside our large spending does truly not reap enough rewards and our big money spends rarely perform as we expect. Players like Veron, Mutu, Crespo, Zhirkov, Bossingwa, Torres and Sheva have left me with little faith in our transfer dealings. We pay over the odds and get too little in return. For example, we spent 18 mill on yuri, 16 mill (ish) for ramires, circa 10 mill for kalou and 16 mill for bossingwa, yet miss out on players like ageuro, modric (when we were linked first time round at a much cheaper price than we are being quoted now) and adam johnson etc.

These points all add to my current lack of optimism. However i live in hope that AVB and roman will between them action the concerns and turn my frown around!