Jump to content

Reasons for why this season has been underwhelming?


enigma

Recommended Posts

I personally think it's a mix of

- Board's lack of vision and ruthlessness in the market, and selling Matic to a rival hasn't helped. As much as Matic wasn't that good here previous seasons, keeping him for this season would have been a better idea or sell abroad to Juventus and make a loss. We strengthened the team we're challenging for top four against now. 

- Injuries hampering us more than usual. We have had a fantastic injury record up until this season, and for some reason we were getting injuries every other week. 

- Signings not making the instant impact we expected. Many are new to the league and have been held back by injuries. 

- More fixtures = fatigue

- Conte's reluctance and stubbornness to change things up when they haven't been going rosy. Last season he was a tactical mastermind by many for changing things up, but this season he has been far from that and at times looked lost. He hasn't even once thought about quitting with the 3 at the back and making a change to see if it helps. 

Do you agree and would what be your reasons for this season's underwhelming success? 

Link to comment
Share on other sites



 - Conte's tactics and our inability to dominate the ball like City/Liverpool/Spurs, although we can dominate the ball we don't dominate in areas of the pitch that hurt the opposition - there seems to be an over reliance on defence and having one or two incisive moments during a game

 - lack of goals/creativity from midfield/wingbacks

 - selling Matic, personally I think people underestimate his creativity from midfield, for me the decision to sell him was worse than selling Salah/KdB - the mother of all f**k ups

Edited by the special one
Link to comment
Share on other sites

It's definitely a combination of many things. The most glaring one to me is that the players are simply not good enough. I don't think any other manager would have won the league convincingly with Cahill (last years version), Moses, Alonso, Luiz and Pedro as regular starters. The tactial switch to three at the back massively hid Cahill and Luiz' deficiencies. Moses and Alonso are rejects from clubs way worse than us, but performed very well due to Conte's (last years) tactical advantage over his opponents. Moses is simply a fundamentally poor footballer, his best (only?) ability being that he can cover 40-60 meters very fast and often, and Alonso is world class at everything a full back doesn't need to do well, and below par at things they need to do well. As for Pedro, he's never been particularly technical, and he's lost pace from his early Barcelona days, where he performed a very specific off the ball role, a role he doesn't get in our club due to the lack of a generational midfield (Busquets, Xavi, Iniesta) and the greatest footballer ever feeding him.

With three at the back being found out (or not having the advantage it did last year), players have regressed to their true level (which is way below what a club of our stature should aim for). I reckon we have four players that have the level required to keep us in contention for the biggest trophies, Courtois, Azpi, Kante and Hazard. Christensen will get there as well in time, but it still leaves 6 positions up for grabs. Where do we find those players, with our "in and out"-policy/0 net spend philosophy, and get them to our club with possibly losing out on the CL? And what about the insecurities around our managerial situation? Ampadu and Hudson Odoi could be two, but they are years away from being consistent performers at the highest level. Mount maybe, I like him a lot, but still years away. If we lose out on CL qualification, I'm fearing the worst for our summer, the worst being that we sell Hazard and Courtois, and keep the players not good enough.

Maybe a tactical switch, as you've said, is the right thing to do. If there ever was a time for it, now should be just about right. 1 full week until our match against City, where I think our three at the back formation will get made into mince meat anyway, and 1 full week until Palace. If we could play 4-3-3 or maybe 4-2-3-1, we could at least field 4 attacking players as opposed to 2 or 3 (3-5-2 or 3-4-3). That alone should make opponents fear us more, and give us more forward outlets in building from the back, because we've reached a point where opponents doesn't fear us anymore (not that they need to, either).

Edited by opinionsarelike
Link to comment
Share on other sites

We were poor with our transfers. didn't really improve our squad instead it got worsened. Morata for Costa and Bakayoko for Matic are poor replacements. Instead of spending a combined 75 million on Drinkwater,Zappacosta and Barkley we could have signed a world class player. 

 

Most of the teams including the likes of Norwich have found a way to counter our system yet Conte keeps sticking to it.

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites



-          Horrible summer. Failed to replace Matic and Costa with players of similar quality. Failed to strengthen either LWB or RWB. Failed to add another top-quality attacking player.

-          Our three at the back system is not new anymore and teams have figured out a template to beat it.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

It's signings, that's it really. 

Like I said in the other thread we've been awful in the market for the past 3 season. People might see it as an exaggeration but if you compare our transfer activity to the rest of the top 6 you'll change your mind. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Our teams not very good. Simple as that. This is compounded by our recent transfer which have actively weakened the side.

Matic is squad player quality for a top European club. We replace him with Bakayoko who is absolutely terrible with very little redeeming qualities. 

Costa is a good European striker. Roughly in the same bracket as Aubameyang and Higuain below the best. Morata has potential to be better but doesn't look like he even wants to play for Chelsea.

Rudiger was a decent CB in Italy. Not a standout player by any means and not even the best CB at Roma.

Drinkwater is mid table squad player level who had one good season. He wouldn't even make the bench for Man City.

Zappacosta. Mid table Serie A player.

Palmieri. Injured constantly.

Barkley. Mid table first team player. Top 4 bench player at best.

Alonso. Star player for mid table sides. Squad player for a top European club.

David Luiz. Bench player for PSG when we bought him. Was decent in Ligue 1 but shown up at the higher levels. 

Kante. Only world class player we have bought who could make most teams.

Giroud. Bench player for Arsenal.

Then let's look at the rest of the team:

Hazard: World Class.

Courtois: Very good. Overrated and stagnated as a player.

Fabregas: World class 5 years a go. Now a good squad option off the bench.

Willian: Squad player. Blows hot and cold and is a bit dumb with the ball.

Pedro: Squad player for Barca. Now much worse and would ba rely make their bench. 

Moses: Couldn't make West Hams team. At best a bench player for a top four side.

Christensen: Potential world class player. Still a long way to go but a decent first team option.

Cahill: Mid table at best. 

 

The team is really lacking in actual first team quality for a side that wants to compete and win trophies.

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites



  • Poor summer transfer window:
    • Letting players go without replacements lined up
    • Wasting time making low bids on players
    • Waiting until the last moment to sign option E, who no other "top" sides were interested in
  • Terrible start - sendings off and a shambles of a performance, plus the charity shield defeat
  • Poor performances of players
  • Stubborn tactics and team selections
  • Unhappy manager
  • Lots of injuries - Training regime too hard?
  • Poor winter transfer window:
    • Seeing the need for reinforcements to help the squad, we sign 3 injured players
  • And in general, just having a squad of a few quality players, but mostly average ones.

 

Take your pick.

Edited by Zeta
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Conte has made too many mistakes this season, like I explained in the Conte thread. Too many games I have thought Conte lost us that game, constant moaning about transfers must have made the new players feel great, making Wenger look energetic on the touchline shows how lost he has been at times. 2 very bad months might just be too much to recover from this season.

Signings doesn't explain the simple errors Conte has made, more like stubbornness.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

38 minutes ago, Slojo said:

It's signings, that's it really. 

Like I said in the other thread we've been awful in the market for the past 3 season. People might see it as an exaggeration but if you compare our transfer activity to the rest of the top 6 you'll change your mind. 

It's actually embarrassing how pathetic our transfers are. Even mid table sides have a bit more ambition with their signings. To compare with the other top four sides:

Man City:

Bernardo Silva - Monaco best player. Player of the season in ligue 1.

Mendy - Monaco's best defender. One of the standout LB's last season.

Walker - England's best RB and best RB in the league last season.

Danilo - Backup Real Madrid Full back.

 

Arsenal:

Aubameyang - Dortmunds best player. Bundesliga top scorer last season and scored 41 goals in all competitions last season.

Mkhitaryan - Dortmunds best player with years a go and Bundesliga player of the year.

Lacazette - Lyons best forward last season. Scored 28 goals in the league and has averaged 30 goals a season for the last 3 years.

 

Liverpool:

Van Dijk - Standout CB in the league for the last 2 seasons.

Keita - Best player for the 2nd placed Bundesliga side. One of the best midfielders in the league last season.

Salah - One of the best forwards in Serie A last year. Scored 15 league goals (Same as Hazard).

 

Man United:

Lukaku - Second top scorer last season. 24 league goals and Evertons best player.

Lindelof - First team player. Average. Crap signing.

Sanchez - Third top scorer last season. Arsenals best player and arguably the best player in the league last season (I would put him second behind Hazard).

Matic - First team regular of the champions (Chelsea). Arguably one of the worse performers in the first team.

 

Chelsea:

Morata - Bench player for Real Madrid. Scored 20 goals in 45 games and got double figures in the league for the first time in his whole career.

Rudiger - First team regular for 2nd place Serie A side.

Zappacosta - First team regular for a mid table sides in Serie A. Was not a standout in that team (Belotti was).

Bakayoko - First team regular in the French champions. Was widely accepted as the worst first team player in that side by any pundit who watched Ligue 1 properly. 

Drinkwater - First team regular in mid table side (finished 12th last year). Not a standout player.

Barkley - First team regular in midtable side. Was one of their better performers.

Giroud - Sub for side who came 5th. 

Palmieri - Injured all of last season. 

 

At least three of our opponents signings are direct improvements upon the players that they were bought to replace. Only Rudiger can be considered an improvement for Chelsea. The rest are worse then the players they replaced.

 

 

 

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites



16 minutes ago, Total-Football said:

It's actually embarrassing how pathetic our transfers are. Even mid table sides have a bit more ambition with their signings. To compare with the other top four sides:

Man City:

Bernardo Silva - Monaco best player. Player of the season in ligue 1.

Mendy - Monaco's best defender. One of the standout LB's last season.

Walker - England's best RB and best RB in the league last season.

Danilo - Backup Real Madrid Full back.

 

Arsenal:

Aubameyang - Dortmunds best player. Bundesliga top scorer last season and scored 41 goals in all competitions last season.

Mkhitaryan - Dortmunds best player with years a go and Bundesliga player of the year.

Lacazette - Lyons best forward last season. Scored 28 goals in the league and has averaged 30 goals a season for the last 3 years.

 

Liverpool:

Van Dijk - Standout CB in the league for the last 2 seasons.

Keita - Best player for the 2nd placed Bundesliga side. One of the best midfielders in the league last season.

Salah - One of the best forwards in Serie A last year. Scored 15 league goals (Same as Hazard).

 

Man United:

Lukaku - Second top scorer last season. 24 league goals and Evertons best player.

Lindelof - First team player. Average. Crap signing.

Sanchez - Third top scorer last season. Arsenals best player and arguably the best player in the league last season (I would put him second behind Hazard).

Matic - First team regular of the champions (Chelsea). Arguably one of the worse performers in the first team.

 

Chelsea:

Morata - Bench player for Real Madrid. Scored 20 goals in 45 games and got double figures in the league for the first time in his whole career.

Rudiger - First team regular for 2nd place Serie A side.

Zappacosta - First team regular for a mid table sides in Serie A. Was not a standout in that team (Belotti was).

Bakayoko - First team regular in the French champions. Was widely accepted as the worst first team player in that side by any pundit who watched Ligue 1 properly. 

Drinkwater - First team regular in mid table side (finished 12th last year). Not a standout player.

Barkley - First team regular in midtable side. Was one of their better performers.

Giroud - Sub for side who came 5th. 

Palmieri - Injured all of last season. 

 

At least three of our opponents signings are direct improvements upon the players that they were bought to replace. Only Rudiger can be considered an improvement for Chelsea. The rest are worse then the players they replaced.

 

 

 

 

You are overpraising some rival signings while being very negative of our own, anybody can do that but I still see your point, our transfers have been god awful. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Chelsea Megastore Away Shirt
Chelsea Megastore Away Shirt

Chelsea Megastore Away Shirt

Trying to integrate the number of players we bought into cohesive unit was always going to be a monumental task. When the players you've bought improve the first team 'not a jot' , don't be surprised when you fail. t

Our overall transfer strategy has been flawed in recent times, success on the trophy front has been in spite of this, hence the success has been sporadic. 

 

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites



While the club may have got some things wrong, a lot of the blame has to fall at Conte’s feet unfortunately. Since the Burnley game, he has been moody and negative. 

There was a rumour that I heard that Conte basically told the club that he was leaving which is what caused the delay in summer transfers. Hardly good planning by Conte. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites



7 hours ago, Total-Football said:

It's actually embarrassing how pathetic our transfers are. Even mid table sides have a bit more ambition with their signings. To compare with the other top four sides:

Man City:

Bernardo Silva - Monaco best player. Player of the season in ligue 1.

Mendy - Monaco's best defender. One of the standout LB's last season.

Walker - England's best RB and best RB in the league last season.

Danilo - Backup Real Madrid Full back.

 

Arsenal:

Aubameyang - Dortmunds best player. Bundesliga top scorer last season and scored 41 goals in all competitions last season.

Mkhitaryan - Dortmunds best player with years a go and Bundesliga player of the year.

Lacazette - Lyons best forward last season. Scored 28 goals in the league and has averaged 30 goals a season for the last 3 years.

 

At least three of our opponents signings are direct improvements upon the players that they were bought to replace. Only Rudiger can be considered an improvement for Chelsea. The rest are worse then the players they replaced.

 

 

 

 

Arsenal are not a top 4 team anymore. Wenger has destroyed everything he has built. Spurs are the ones to watch. I wont be suprised to see them finish 2nd again. Arsenal have no pace in the team and the way they set up its no reason lacazatte and aubamayang are going to struggle getting chances.

We have struggled this season because we have replaced quality with average and we have not strengthened the squad enough for 4 competitions. You don't sell your best players to rivals.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

A combination of things for me.

 

Transfers 

the quality of the signings hasn't taken us forward while the other top clubs around us are buying players to make them stronger.

You can almost imagine Conte saying to the board "we're going to need more players for this season",  and the board going "here you go then, here's some players you can have".

Conte would of meant quality, while the board are just thinking about quantity.

we haven't bought anyone to really challenge the first 11 (other than Rudiger IMO) and I think the old saying that a team is only as good as it's weakest link is certainly true when it comes to our squad.

 

Conte

He has made a lot of mistakes for me this year.

- moaning in public has brought the whole club down at times.

- being tactically found out by Wenger of all people.

- not being flexible enough with formations, personnel or the timing of substitutes.

- I think he is struggling when we play the top teams - we sometimes play well in fits and starts, but we are not clinical or attack minded enough to get a 2 goal lead against a top team and really take charge of a game.

- too cautious in these big matches, most of the time he relies on us giving up possession and playing the perfect game on the counter attack.

 

The Players

- not enough leaders on the pitch.

- happy to give up when things are not going our way.

 

The bottom line is we really need to somehow beat Man City at the weekend or we are relying on no more slip ups from us and slip ups from our rivals if we want to finish in the top 4.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

36 minutes ago, strangebutblue said:

Arsenal are not a top 4 team anymore. Wenger has destroyed everything he has built. Spurs are the ones to watch. I wont be suprised to see them finish 2nd again. Arsenal have no pace in the team and the way they set up its no reason lacazatte and aubamayang are going to struggle getting chances.

We have struggled this season because we have replaced quality with average and we have not strengthened the squad enough for 4 competitions. You don't sell your best players to rivals.

Spurs will be interesting for me, they have the PL's best defender in Alderweireld and there are problems with the contract, seems like money, he can leave for 25m in the summer of 2019. His 28 so his next move/contract is big for deal for him. Spurs have to decide are they willing to pay their stars nearer to other what other clubs offer. How long will their top players want to be on less money and not winning trophies.

Liverpool at the moment are willing to pay big in fees and contracts. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites


Let’s not be too dejected, if we were playing fantastic, winning 13 games in row like last season I doubt the likes of Christensen, Hudson Odoi, Ampadu would have had a look in.

Our season isn’t going too great, but at least a few youth players are starting to see more minutes and Christensen has already established himself as one of our best defenders. Personally I’m happy to have this season as a transition season, while youth players turn into squad players and new signings get used to the league, especially Morata and Bakayoko.

Link to comment
Share on other sites



Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
  • Recently Browsing   0 members

    • No registered users viewing this page.
×
×
  • Create New...
Please Sign In or Sign Up