I am set my expectations for the next two seasons to not expect anything and look for progression and building an identity. The quicker the fan base accept that we are miles off the next teams better your weekends will be.

8 hours ago, El regreso said:

I am set my expectations for the next two seasons to not expect anything and look for progression and building an identity. The quicker the fan base accept that we are miles off the next teams better your weekends will be.

But we’re weren’t that far off them. Yes below them but not miles off. 

10 hours ago, JM7 said:

I actually think the CL win papered over alot of cracks. Yes we played well in the tournament and had a good “moment” but in reality, we were never one of the best teams in Europe. We won it because we happened to employ Tuchel who was excellent in cup competitions and there was an element of new manager bounce. 
 

We built nothing - and it’s showing 

I think our run was kinder than it could have been. City took out PSG and PSG took out Bayern. I think if we had played PSG or Bayern, we may not be sitting here calling ourselves champions. City was a good opponent in the final as we had good results against them previously. In a cup competition it's about the right draws, and I think we drew the right teams at the right time. 

50 minutes ago, JM7 said:

But we’re weren’t that far off them. Yes below them but not miles off. 

All of this talk of a rebuild is doing my head in. Chelsea fans have gotten so used to saying it now that it's their default position to go to when things go a bit wrong. 

We won the Champions League less than 2 years ago, then won the Super Cup and CWC, reached two cup finals and finished in the top 4. That isn't a squad that should need rebuilding, that is a squad that should need tweaking. 

Ripping this all up and starting over again isn't rebuilding, it's sabotage.

15 hours ago, enigma said:

raving about Potter at Brighton, but then he comes to Chelsea and now he's apparently "overrated" "average", "clueless" "tactically poor" "unsure of himself" "hyped up English manager" etc, etc.

Big fish, small pond. 

It was all based on sentiments and drinking the American's coolaid. 

It was very admirable that he could act without emotion and cut Tuchel out when he felt they weren't pulling in the same direction. 

The thing though was the timing was very stupid and appointing Potter a few days later to one of the top football clubs in the world without a very widespread and thorough recruitment process was amateurish to say the least. Like several other of his actions/decisions have been. 

If he had as much football sense as business sense, the smart money would have been to keep Marina and her squad in place till after the transfer market and embed their replacements  this season went on. 

He should have known that this is not the closed league system in US sports where just participating and being able to buy one or two big names will be enough to keep the income stream flowing. 

He would not go about Europe creating so called business relationships and sharing laughs over dinner whilst the so called people you are networking with have you bent over the table and pulling your pants down. 

He would know how to read the room and keep his opinions to himself about how to generate income for the league, when you have only just started your stewardship as a UK football club owner with literally nothing to show yet that you have a formula for success in place at your club. 

The more you look at things closely, the angrier you could get as there are shocking and alarming red flags all over the place. 

What would you do if you were GP and told that one of the top clubs in the country you could only ever think of managing in your wildest dream's dream wanted to sign you and your team, not only do that but overpay you and give you a long contract as long as you bought into the long term vision? 

Potter isn't a bad manger if you look at him in isolation as a football mnager, but there's a reason why the top clubs even ones that are the dominant club in their leagues go for the top mangers to take charge of their team. 

 

12 minutes ago, abister1 said:

Big fish, small pond. 

It was all based on sentiments and drinking the American's coolaid. 

It was very admirable that he could act without emotion and cut Tuchel out when he felt they weren't pulling in the same direction. 

The thing though was the timing was very stupid and appointing Potter a few days later to one of the top football clubs in the world without a very widespread and thorough recruitment process was amateurish to say the least. Like several other of his actions/decisions have been. 

If he had as much football sense as business sense, the smart money would have been to keep Marina and her squad in place till after the transfer market and embed their replacements  this season went on. 

He should have known that this is not the closed league system in US sports where just participating and being able to buy one or two big names will be enough to keep the income stream flowing. 

He would not go about Europe creating so called business relationships and sharing laughs over dinner whilst the so called people you are networking with have you bent over the table and pulling your pants down. 

He would know how to read the room and keep his opinions to himself about how to generate income for the league, when you have only just started your stewardship as a UK football club owner with literally nothing to show yet that you have a formula for success in place at your club. 

The more you look at things closely, the angrier you could get as there are shocking and alarming red flags all over the place. 

What would you do if you were GP and told that one of the top clubs in the country you could only ever think of managing in your wildest dream's dream wanted to sign you and your team, not only do that but overpay you and give you a long contract as long as you bought into the long term vision? 

Potter isn't a bad manger if you look at him in isolation as a football mnager, but there's a reason why the top clubs even ones that are the dominant club in their leagues go for the top mangers to take charge of their team. 

 

That's all well and good, but how many top managers have we had that did very little with us? Mourinho achieved 3 title wins, but then you could say that was due to Roman spending a lot on good players, but also having the likes of Terry, Lampard etc already at the club who were world class at the time.

Conte had the fortune of Hazard  Fabregas, Costa to create goals for us, as well as perfect time for us to win the league as City/Pep and Liverpool with Klopp were not what they would become. Sarri won the Europa league, but domestically we still lagged behind top place.

In between all that we had top class managers, but they all failed to live up to their ability. The only managers we've had who did great with us were Mourinho, Ancelotti, Conte. We saw how Ancelotti looked at Everton without world class players.

Those fans pointing fingers at Potter need a reality check as he is certainly not the problem right now. If he is still under achieving after a transfer window or two then I'd agree, but he's inherited a side that is older, more injury prone, and in general needs a clear out.

Let's just see what happens after the world cup and during the winter window. When Boehly brings in a new board, I believe things will start to look brighter. For me, the biggest problem has been our previous board and terrible decisions made towards transfers and replacing aging players/old guard. 

6 hours ago, JM7 said:

But we’re weren’t that far off them. Yes below them but not miles off. 

Yesterday we didn’t put a glove on Arsenal they controlled the game from start to finish they were miles ahead yesterday of us. 
They are 13 points ahead of us, when was the last time that happened?

At this present time in history they are miles ahead, come the end of the season that can all change but if anyone believes we are on the same level at this present time then in my opinion it’s denial and I completely get that. You don’t want to see your arch rivals blowing the league away while you struggle.

Now until the end of the season will determine whether they stay ahead of us or whether we pull it back.

If by May we can definitely see a mark improvement in style and play but you know we still need a couple additions then by next season I have no doubt we will go back ahead of them easily and they will be back in their place.

I was Tuchel in, but I do hope potter can solve the issues as he seem to have done a good job at Brighton, they didn’t become one of the most exciting teams by accident or LUCK!!
 

He just seems to not know who to play and what framework all these players can fit into but it’s still very early and I hope he can fix it.

Yeah this 'rebuild' talk is a bit of a piss take given our expenditure the last few years. 

You can make a case now that with Boehly in and this new recruitment team/technical advisor, our expenditure may now have some direction, but this rebuild talk in a sense that this current squad isn't capable of finishing Top 4 is nonsense. 

Yesterday was a shambles. 

1 hour ago, Sconnie Blue said:

Yeah this 'rebuild' talk is a bit of a piss take given our expenditure the last few years. 

You can make a case now that with Boehly in and this new recruitment team/technical advisor, our expenditure may now have some direction, but this rebuild talk in a sense that this current squad isn't capable of finishing Top 4 is nonsense. 

Yesterday was a shambles. 

The only times in recent years it was an acceptable excuse was under Sarri (change of style) and Lampards first season (loss of Hazard and transfer ban). And even then it was only so far.

2 hours ago, Argo said:

The only times in recent years it was an acceptable excuse was under Sarri (change of style) and Lampards first season (loss of Hazard and transfer ban). And even then it was only so far.

Shame we wasted 300mill including sacking and hiring managers.

Is like the Todd thought "so you thought signing Lukaku was an awful summer, hold my beer".

Like seriously how can several of the fan base point out Sterling, Cucurella, Koulibaly and Auba are bad signings and also point out the line ups against United and Arsenal were terrible and the people running the club/side not know it?

Is just a joke approach and we see what we result of it is.

Any club in Europe would have wanted to play us out of all the English contenders. 

Shows the difference. Tuchel was the nightmare of European teams as win or lose he was sure to throw you a curve ball and have your team sweating. 

12 hours ago, abister1 said:

Big fish, small pond. 

It was all based on sentiments and drinking the American's coolaid. 

It was very admirable that he could act without emotion and cut Tuchel out when he felt they weren't pulling in the same direction. 

The thing though was the timing was very stupid and appointing Potter a few days later to one of the top football clubs in the world without a very widespread and thorough recruitment process was amateurish to say the least. Like several other of his actions/decisions have been. 

If he had as much football sense as business sense, the smart money would have been to keep Marina and her squad in place till after the transfer market and embed their replacements  this season went on. 

He should have known that this is not the closed league system in US sports where just participating and being able to buy one or two big names will be enough to keep the income stream flowing. 

He would not go about Europe creating so called business relationships and sharing laughs over dinner whilst the so called people you are networking with have you bent over the table and pulling your pants down. 

He would know how to read the room and keep his opinions to himself about how to generate income for the league, when you have only just started your stewardship as a UK football club owner with literally nothing to show yet that you have a formula for success in place at your club. 

The more you look at things closely, the angrier you could get as there are shocking and alarming red flags all over the place. 

What would you do if you were GP and told that one of the top clubs in the country you could only ever think of managing in your wildest dream's dream wanted to sign you and your team, not only do that but overpay you and give you a long contract as long as you bought into the long term vision? 

Potter isn't a bad manger if you look at him in isolation as a football mnager, but there's a reason why the top clubs even ones that are the dominant club in their leagues go for the top mangers to take charge of their team. 

 

Had to smile at this abister as there certainly are a good number of similarities between your old icon Sarri and Potter.

Sarri was brought over having won nothing but came with a reputation for having built a side that played attractive, attacking football albeit in a significantly weaker league than the EPL. It's a fact some people on these forums didn't even know who he was.

Similarly with Potter. Not a world superstar name but had built a solid reputation for spotting good players on a budget and producing attractive football. 

As we know Sarri wasn't able to reproduce entertaining "Sarriball" in the EPL despite having our most gifted player of the decade in prime Eden Hazard at his disposal. The fans swiftly turned on him. Will Potter go the same way? I hope not but there sure are a lot of parallels there.

With Sarri you could see what he wanted to do. 

With Potter f**k knows. 

3 minutes ago, Sconnie Blue said:

With Sarri you could see what he wanted to do. 

With Potter f**k knows. 

I couldn't. Neither could most of the players either it seems.

27 minutes ago, just said:

Had to smile at this abister as there certainly are a good number of similarities between your old icon Sarri and Potter.

Sarri was brought over having won nothing but came with a reputation for having built a side that played attractive, attacking football albeit in a significantly weaker league than the EPL. It's a fact some people on these forums didn't even know who he was.

Similarly with Potter. Not a world superstar name but had built a solid reputation for spotting good players on a budget and producing attractive football. 

As we know Sarri wasn't able to reproduce entertaining "Sarriball" in the EPL despite having our most gifted player of the decade in prime Eden Hazard at his disposal. The fans swiftly turned on him. Will Potter go the same way? I hope not but there sure are a lot of parallels there.

Oh so now we are just going to compare Sarri and Potter with a straight face? 

Oh wait, you said you had smile on your face, maybe you're joking I hope. 

Sarri was not just brought from obscurity, he was billed to get a big job, Chelsea or some other club. He hadn't won anything but was on a clear upward trajectory with Sarriball consuming world football and becoming a part of football lexicon and culture. 

He came to Chelsea and whilst he was never a fan favourite, his team played some really good football at points and started the shift from our previous defensive and holding nature to a possession team which made Lampard's job a lot easier when he came in. Let's not forget he spent only one season and with all the fan hate and ridicule he and Jorgi got, obviously making his job more difficult than it should have been, he still managed third in league, carling Cup runners and slaughtered Arsenal in Baku to win Europa. Impressive return for a single season I'm sure you will agree. 

Went back to Italy and won the last Scudetto Juventus have won, and whilst naysayers may say that was as per the natural order, let's not forget their club legend Pirlo after him turned in a less than suitable performance and erstwhile managerial legend with 5 to his name has been struggling to get them back on track. 

Sarri is currently at Lazio in third, 2nd best defensive record, second most goals scored in a position they've not been in for about 7 seasons. 

He turned his hobby and passion into a successful managerial career and though started late at top level, in his last 10 to 12 seasons he has managed clubs some don't even know to Empoli, Napoli, Chelsea, Juventus and now Lazio. 

GP in same time has had the pleasure of taking Ostersund, Swansea and Brighton from wherever he found them to highs of beating Arsenal in group stages in a competition they went no further than the group, Swansea to a high of 10th,and Brighton a high of 9th.

Should I go on? 

Put some respect on Sarri's name. Just put some respect on that man's name when you compare him alongside GP, Just saying. 

5 hours ago, axman2526 said:

so you thought signing Lukaku was an awful summer, hold my beer

🤣🤣

1 hour ago, just said:

Similarly with Potter. Not a world superstar name but had built a solid reputation for spotting good players on a budget and producing attractive football. 

If this is our criteria for Chelsea managers now, we may as well just sit back, grab some beers and enjoy football without the burden of expectation of winning things. 

 

 

12 hours ago, just said:

I couldn't. Neither could most of the players either it seems.

www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/football/article-6902789/amp/Chelsea-star-Eden-Hazard-backs-fantastic-manager-Maurizio-Sarri.html

Super-agent Haydn Dodge: "Todd Boehly is about to put an executive board together consisting of three people. The three people are Stuart Webber, Christian Vivel, and Joe Shields.

"One of the players at the top of their list to bring in, in January will be Romeo Lavia." pic.twitter.com/edP5EgfAOG

— Simon Phillips (@siphillipssport) November 8, 2022

50 minutes ago, Sconnie Blue said:

Super-agent Haydn Dodge: "Todd Boehly is about to put an executive board together consisting of three people. The three people are Stuart Webber, Christian Vivel, and Joe Shields.

"One of the players at the top of their list to bring in, in January will be Romeo Lavia." pic.twitter.com/edP5EgfAOG

— Simon Phillips (@siphillipssport) November 8, 2022

Can we go after him ? Did city leave any clauses in his deal with Southampton, like first refusal on resigning him ?

@Munkworth What do you think of this ?

1 hour ago, Sconnie Blue said:

Super-agent Haydn Dodge: "Todd Boehly is about to put an executive board together consisting of three people. The three people are Stuart Webber, Christian Vivel, and Joe Shields.

"One of the players at the top of their list to bring in, in January will be Romeo Lavia." pic.twitter.com/edP5EgfAOG

— Simon Phillips (@siphillipssport) November 8, 2022

I understand the other two for their experiences but what has Stuart Webber done to make us think he is the right man for the task?

13 minutes ago, coco said:

Can we go after him ? Did city leave any clauses in his deal with Southampton, like first refusal on resigning him ?

@Munkworth What do you think of this ?

@cocoI would take you and Munk over RLC in our midfield...

With this new executive board coming in were going to have a lot of transfer activity in the next 2-3 windows. 

 

Just now, coco said:

With this new executive board coming in were going to have a lot of transfer activity in the next 2-3 windows. 

 

Could well be, I just hope we don't have a window like this one again. Such a waste of resources.