2 hours ago, Zeta said:

Deleted for space
 

Great post Zeta, pretty much all of it is exactly how i would like things to go. It doesn't need a complete overhaul, just a few tweaks to the formation, a couple of new players, and sell / loan players that aren't good enough for us.

16 hours ago, Sparkz said:

From the 2011-2012 season and the 2013-2014 season these are some of the players we signed...

 

Musonda, Christensen, Hazard, Oscar, Azpi, Schurrle, Willian, Matic, Salah, Zouma, Courtois, De Bruyne, Lukaku, Cahill and Mata

 

What a ridiculous list of talented players. Now imagine if we had a manager that wasn't under extreme pressure to win trophies and was given time to actually integrate these players and build a team. Imagine what kind of position we would be in now? 

Also, whoever was in charge of transfers in those years needs to come back. Funnily enough, it might have been Emenalo and look at how much hate he received? 

Which still baffles me to this day, he was excellent in his job. Monaco snapped him up quickly which shows his reputation in the game, im sure he will do well there too.

I want us to find another director of football, im not 100% sure on who though.

8 minutes ago, jack_super_class said:

I want us to find another director of football, im not 100% sure on who though.

I've read in a couple of places that the club hasn't decided on the nature of a replacement yet. 

Apparently they might not make the role a like for like replacement but instead have the job more focused on being a liaison between the different departments within the club. Presumably this has come about because of how fractured Conte's relationship with the club has become over transfers... He's maybe highlighted a disconnect between the board and coach that needs fixing. 

There were rumours of Juliano Belletti being lined up as Technical Director... Not sure why him though. 

30 minutes ago, Scott Harris said:

Great post Zeta, pretty much all of it is exactly how i would like things to go. It doesn't need a complete overhaul, just a few tweaks to the formation, a couple of new players, and sell / loan players that aren't good enough for us.

Agree, it doesn't need a complete overhaul. I see 3 - 4 really top class players, in the spine of the team, and replacing others who leave.

Duncan Castles saying we want Jardim to replace Conte

We seem to revert back to the managers who play the "soak up pressure and hit them on the break" style and that turns us into a team that only plays for one half of a football match.

I used to watch other top team's matches and think that opposition teams roll over for them, but it isn't as simple as that, they seem to have more energetic players who press from the front and force teams into mistakes.

And when they do score they keep up the intensity and look to score again asap, and they normally start home games fast and on the front foot as they know a early goal can put any defensive plans out the window as long as you follow it up with a 2nd goal.

Even a energetic ball playing midfielder and a change of formation could make a difference. 

Maybe looking at the Italian league for managers isn't the answer anymore.

Having a Italian style in the premier league is risky as our league is totally different and played with a different intensity.

Even our youth teams even seem to play with a different football philosophy.

Our next managerial appointment is going to be one of the most pivotal moments at this club for a number of years.

 

To be honest Chelsea needs to change from the top down -

 

At present the dead wood is not on the field its in the board room. I'm tired of the way this club operates, constantly overrunning managers and implementing a transfer policy that does not fit he club's stated ambitions. 

Chelsea is a club that is not matching ambition to action. It is supposedly a club that is supposed to compete for all competitions yet the transfer policy is one more befitting of a top 6 team that may or may not be in the CL and may or may not get passed the round of 16.

It is simply not realistic when other teams (Madrid, Barca, PSG, City, Bayern) are spending much more on their teams, especially in net spend. 

Conte won the league last season with a team that probably shouldn't have won it. He knew that feat would not happen again and rightly asked for reinforcements only to be denied and on top of that the board sells Matic to a rival and replaces him with a player that should have been an addition not a replacement. 

Other requests to add to the back line and striker were also clearly denied in the summer when we could have strengthened for a title defence and a run at the CL. Now that the inevitable has happened they want to fire Conte?

Enough is enough, we have lost Ancelotti, Mourinho and now Conte for the same reasons. 

The way football is going at the moment, its the blistering attacking play that is proppeling teams to the top, look at City and Liverpool this season. We've been a defensive side for the majority of the last 15 years, focussing on grinding out results, never blowing oppositoins away, apart from Carlo's season. But we can't even defend any more. So we don't create much going forward, we've got very little presence in the midfield, and we can't defend. It's no wonder we're ranked 15th in the league since the turn of 2018.

Buy Mo Salah and Kevin De Bruyne back.
We should be fine after that.
 

10 minutes ago, Zeta said:

The way football is going at the moment, its the blistering attacking play that is proppeling teams to the top, look at City and Liverpool this season. We've been a defensive side for the majority of the last 15 years, focussing on grinding out results, never blowing oppositoins away, apart from Carlo's season. But we can't even defend any more. So we don't create much going forward, we've got very little presence in the midfield, and we can't defend. It's no wonder we're ranked 15th in the league since the turn of 2018.

Quite right, watching Liverpool v city this evening we are light years away, football moved on, managers like Mourinho and his like are dinosaurs.

27 minutes ago, chi blue said:

Quite right, watching Liverpool v city this evening we are light years away, football moved on, managers like Mourinho and his like are dinosaurs.

I'd like us to have a more attacking approach but I still think a good defense makes a huge difference. None of the Premier League teams in Europe have particularly good defenses at the moment and that is why I think ultimately they will fall short in the Champions League. Liverpool blitzed City tonight for at least the first half, but they were fortunate with 2 key decisions from the linesman that went their way. Not to mention the fact that the City team was probably still rattled after having their bus attacked on the way in.

I'm not sure they will be so fortunate against Barca or Real. 

38 minutes ago, forbzy said:

I'd like us to have a more attacking approach but I still think a good defense makes a huge difference. None of the Premier League teams in Europe have particularly good defenses at the moment and that is why I think ultimately they will fall short in the Champions League. Liverpool blitzed City tonight for at least the first half, but they were fortunate with 2 key decisions from the linesman that went their way. Not to mention the fact that the City team was probably still rattled after having their bus attacked on the way in.

I'm not sure they will be so fortunate against Barca or Real. 

I can't agree with that. If an English team doesn't win the champions league this season, it will be because they have been out gunned by 1 of the best 3 teams in the world, barca, madrid, or Bayern. 

Atlético and juventus have made to the final with outstanding defences, probably the best in Europe, but it hasn't been enough to win the champions league. 

I think it's about balance, which Liverpool showed tonight, and obviously in any knock out game, you need to have a little luck along the way. 

 

4 hours ago, big blue said:

I can't agree with that. If an English team doesn't win the champions league this season, it will be because they have been out gunned by 1 of the best 3 teams in the world, barca, madrid, or Bayern. 

Atlético and juventus have made to the final with outstanding defences, probably the best in Europe, but it hasn't been enough to win the champions league. 

I think it's about balance, which Liverpool showed tonight, and obviously in any knock out game, you need to have a little luck along the way. 

 

I don't disagree about the big 3 or 4 teams being much better than all the others. But then again many would have included City along with the likes of Barca before tonight. 

I just don't think managers like Conte are dinosaurs. Yes he has thrown the toys out of the pram this season and acted unprofessionally. But last season the same manager had largely the same team playing some great football and winning the league. I have no doubt he will do well if he moves on to PSG for example.

At this point I am pretty resigned to Conte leaving so I am now focused on who will be next and what strategy the club plans for the next few seasons. Will they hire somebody to promote the talented youth team players into the first team? If so we need patience and to manage expectations. Alternatively if we expect a quick return to Champs League then we need another hugh profile coach backed with quality signings that they actually want. An interesting summer ahead no doubt.