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If we come 4th then I would indeed call it a failure. 3rd? Not sure. Wouldn't be any improvement from last season after spending a lot and getting Mourinho back. I guess so tbh. 

 

This is also if we don't win anything btw. Only have the CL left really but that's unlikely. Not necessarily out of the title race but it's very difficult. Total joke how we somehow do so poorly against the weaker sides 

If we come 4th then I would indeed call it a failure. 3rd? Not sure. Wouldn't be any improvement from last season after spending a lot and getting Mourinho back. I guess so tbh. 

 

This is also if we don't win anything btw. Only have the CL left really but that's unlikely. Not necessarily out of the title race but it's very difficult. Total joke how we somehow do so poorly against the weaker sides 

 

You dont think if we finish behind Liverpool that's a failure?. We have a superior squad than they do apart from the CF department and have also spent alot more money than them too. 

Edited by jack_super_class

It is. It's not just liverpool really but the facet of finishing in a position where don't improve from last season. 

 

Thinking about more though, yeah, if Mourinho finishes third, it's poor managing for this season really. Granted, Mourinho has no great striker to speak of, but that is not an excuse. Chelsea have by and large survived major injuries as well whereas Arsenal have had half their squad injured, City & Pool have had key players missing for large parts. If he needed a striker, he should have bought one. Mourinho is a fantastic manager but given his methods and spending, he really needs to be producing results. Below second is not a result at all. 

 

Not trying to sound like a glory hunter here but with the resources available at the club is it not normal to have some expectations? 

Edited by MANoWAR

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You dont think if we finish behind Liverpool that's a failure?. We have a superior squad than they do apart from the CF department and have also spent alot more money than them too. 

Yeah that is where my train of thought is heading with this to be honest. City have spent a lot on quality in almost all departments. So fighting it out with them is to be expected, and we will win some and lose some with them.

 

But Liverpool have not spent the sort of money we have over recent years, and with having Jose back we should be expecting to finish above them in the league. Jose can deflect all he likes from that but even with a squad with only 1 decent option up top the rest of the side has good quality and we should be doing a whole lot better than losing to Villa and Palace.

 

Ultimately with a week to work with the side before those games, he should be getting them to do a whole lot better. To not match fight and desire with them is unacceptable. 

If we are knocked out by PSG and the bloody scousers win the League, yeah definitely.

I know this is Mourinho's first season of experimentation, but the way he handled the transfer windows leaves a lot to be desired.

Plus the fact that unlike all our rivals we were essentially injury free throughout the season. ( Aguero injured, Suarez banned, half of Arsenal injured).

The positive is IF we manage to get Costa in the summer, sell off the rest and recall Lukaku back to the squad, I would be happy with the season overall.

If we'd spent a fortune on a top striker, and found ourselves out in the CL at the quarters, and 3rd in the league, also with early exits in the domestic cups, it would be a failure...but being where we are without having a top striker isn't really a failure.

 

Not buying a top striker was a failure in itself....just a different kind.

Lets not jump the gun about Liverpool winning the title. I'm still confident Jose will play a master class against his student at Anfield. Liverpool winning the title would feel like some crooked criminal win a 100M lotto ticket in prison, I will blame God for that! :face_palm:

I didn't think we'd win the league or the Champions League this season, the most important thing for me is that we finally see some sort of plan and vision for how we're going to play and install confidence that we're going to be fighting for top honours next season and the seasons to come.

I think we do finally have an identity again. Our back 6 are rock solid and aside from JT have plenty of years ahead of them. Hazard has improved immensely, Schurrle, Willian and Salah I am all happy with and expect they'll also improve next season, Matic has been a wonderful signing, the only slight concern is Oscar's plummeting form and of course the striking position.

I think all in all if we do finish 3rd and either make the CL semi's or at least push PSG very close that this can't be considered failure. I'll only consider it a failure if we go into next season with Torres still being here and getting game time.

Seeing Jose fight our corner all season has made it great regardless of whether or not we win anything, it's been fantastic having him back.

I think it's harsh to say that, but when you look at it this way.

 

Trophyless season, and a finish 3rd... that doesn't even look like much of an improvement from last season, it's pointless challenging for the title if you aren't going to stick it out to the very end. So if we fail to do that and we crash out of the Champions League against PSG then I can see a lot of people classing this season as a failure.

Yes, it has been a failure if we fail to win the league or finish below Liverpool.

Our inability to get a better striker in has been the biggest failure of the season, especially considering the below.

 

We had the opportunity to keep Lukaku on and work him into the first team, but we sent him out on loan again and have been left relying on a rapidly ageing Samuel Eto'o. The fact that Lukaku has scored FIFTEEN GOALS this season with an undeniably weaker trio of attacking midfielders behind him and that he has STILL scored more goals than our three strikers combined just summarizes how f**king stupid it was to loan him. Mark my words, if Lukaku scores 5-10 goals at the World Cup and Belgium get the quarter/semi-finals his price will f**king sky-rocket and he will have us by the balls. What's stopping the likes of Real/Barca/Bayern/City from swooping and saying "We won't loan you, you're playing for the team you signed for"? Could you honestly blame Lukaku for taking a leaf out of Sturridge's book and moving to a club where he'll get first-team football for the actual team rather than be a serial-loanee? We f**ked up with Sturridge and I fear we're going to do the same again. 

 

Sturridge left because; (A) He was pissed at being loaned so much. (B) He was pissed that when he wasn't on loan he was a benchwarmer for the 'albatross-around-our-neck' Torres. © He is a young English player who needs first-team football for his World Cup aspirations.

Now, why does that sound familiar?

 

We've shot ourselves in the foot spectacularly in the summer transfer window.

I'm not even being funny; if we had kept Lukaku and shoved Ba out the door we'd have won this league already. 

 

Rant Over

Yes, it has been a failure if we fail to win the league or finish below Liverpool.

Our inability to get a better striker in has been the biggest failure of the season, especially considering the below.

 

We had the opportunity to keep Lukaku on and work him into the first team, but we sent him out on loan again and have been left relying on a rapidly ageing Samuel Eto'o. The fact that Lukaku has scored FIFTEEN GOALS this season with an undeniably weaker trio of attacking midfielders behind him and that he has STILL scored more goals than our three strikers combined just summarizes how f**king stupid it was to loan him. Mark my words, if Lukaku scores 5-10 goals at the World Cup and Belgium get the quarter/semi-finals his price will f**king sky-rocket and he will have us by the balls. What's stopping the likes of Real/Barca/Bayern/City from swooping and saying "We won't loan you, you're playing for the team you signed for"? Could you honestly blame Lukaku for taking a leaf out of Sturridge's book and moving to a club where he'll get first-team football for the actual team rather than be a serial-loanee? We f**ked up with Sturridge and I fear we're going to do the same again. 

 

Sturridge left because; (A) He was pissed at being loaned so much. (B) He was pissed that when he wasn't on loan he was a benchwarmer for the 'albatross-around-our-neck' Torres. © He is a young English player who needs first-team football for his World Cup aspirations.

Now, why does that sound familiar?

 

We've shot ourselves in the foot spectacularly in the summer transfer window.

I'm not even being funny; if we had kept Lukaku and shoved Ba out the door we'd have won this league already. 

 

Rant Over

He wouldn't play for any of those teams as their first striker

The league was there to be won but silly defeats at Villa and Palace will probably cost us.Annoying when you know how much better we are than those teams.Oh well onwards and upwards,UP THE CHELS!

"I would take a few trophyless seasons if it meant having some stability"

 

TROPHYLESS SEASON WOULD BE A FAILURE.

A lot If black and white comments on here, to add a shade of grey, we haven't really challenged for the league since 2011 So in that respect the season is a success... We have become real contenders again for the title rather then scrambling for 4th place.

We have also done it with out a striker and often going on to the pitch a man down. (Torres)

The most important thing is that We can start to see major improvements in the team and that We now seem to have a philosophy in terms of the way We play.

No, it's a bloody miracle we are even challenging with a Team with no strikers ... The Jose factor has definitely made the difference. However, the League Cup was there for the taking ... Losing to Sunderland away woz disappointing ... Plus, we have thrown the League away considering the miraculous position we found ourselves in ... The CL group stages were good. Any progression from this point onwards will be an unexpected bonus ... Our buying policy in recent times of trying to create an English Barcelona doesn't work in the Prem. Hopefully, that will be addressed under Jose's watch ... Torres continues to hold this club back ...

Wouldn't call this season a failure at all. Played basically the whole season without a striker. If we don't win something next year, I'd say it would be a failure as I expect Jose to have a clear out in the summer and bring in some fresh faces. Anyway, the season isn't over yet, crazier things have happened, we could still win the league AND the Champions League! C'mon Chels!

Jose was saying from the beginning that we wouldn't win the league this season. I didn't expect much more than a top 3 finish so it's a sign of good progress that we were challenging for the title at all. People saying that third wouldn't be any kind of improvement need to look beyond just the final league position. People saying that the transfer windows have been handled badly need to get a clue; our squad is much better balanced than it was at this time last year. We still need a striker but the manager is well aware of this so we can expect the problem to be addressed in the summer, which would put us in a fantastic position for next season. Also, Liverpool are having a remarkable season and nobody (except maybe their own ridiculously optimistic fans) expected them to be where they are.

As for the CL, we've made better progress and stand a better chance than any other English club, and cup competitions are such a lottery that, while winning is great, not winning can never be considered a failure.

I wouldn't call it a failure - a wasted campaign? perhaps!

Overall in the league we have improved. The race is not done yet, but it is highly unlikely we will win it. What is frustrating for me is that we have somewhat wasted a campaign because we completely neglected to fix the area that needed most fixing - the striking department. We did so well to fix the anchor in midfield in Matic, but bringing in Eto'o was clearly not enough. We let Ba and Torres hang about when they are both clearly pathetically poor. We have our identity back though, which is fantastic.

If we have a great end to the champions league no one will give a toss. But next year we have to be fighting all the way to the end, and scoring a lot more goals up front.

We finished 14 points off of 1st place last season and 25 the year before that. 

 

The fact that we were even in the running this year is obviously a massive improvement but because of our failings to address the strikers for a 2nd successive year we've been playing with our boot laces tied together, we unnecessarily went into the season at a clear disadvantage to our rivals. 

 

Having a solid defense is always a good foundation but you need to stick the ball in the onion bag to win games (and titles). 

 

The club felt the need to invest £50m on attacking midfielders (Schurrle and Willian) and it could be argued that although they have improved our options, neither of them have improved the team. 

 

With their combined transfer fees and wages could we have signed one of the big movers of strikers in Europe this season? Falcao, Cavani, Higuain, Gomez?

 

All it's ifs and buts obviously but after seeing us once again fail to score against a team playing two banks of 4 you have to wonder if mistakes were made with the transfer policy this year. 

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