1 hour ago, Sindre said:

"I won't shout from the rooftops because it's top 4 and we're Chelsea"

Loved that line from Lampard after the game yesterday. He's still the winner we know from his days as a player and this is just the start for him at the club.

I think if there was ever a doubt about that the Pool incident solidified it in my mind.. I guess he was just angry from having to give a guard of honor to these scousers and in that moment also taught his young team the standards at CFC wherein they are expected to go toe to toe with the best in the business...

I hope you guys don't turn on him after couple of bad months. I mean.. I've seen all these comments not once or twice addressing previous managers.. things can got hot pretty quickly and huge part of our fans are among the most inpatient in the world, including many here. 

Happy Champions League qualification day Brutos!!!
Com'on give Frankie a bit of your Sarri lurve. It will help cheer you up

Hes done well however like said previously we really shouldn't have been in this position being 10 points ahead of United.

Now win the FA Cup and it's a good season.

20/21 We absolutely need to cut the gap to City and Liverpool no excuses then.

Despite the transfer ban, it has been a hugely positive season for Frank. I'm looking forward to seeing how the next season pans out.

Here's hoping we win the FA Cup this Saturday!

 

6 hours ago, Brutos said:

20/21 We absolutely need to cut the gap to City and Liverpool no excuses then.

I don't think our squad is up to that, yet. We need more players, Lampard hinted at that in the post match interview and I hope he gets them.

I hope Frank doesn’t fall into the trap of not planning set plays/routines for when the opposition sits deep and are static like José is famed for. He seems too smart for it and surely he realises we need some variations to break teams down. At points we have struggled this season and with better players coming in next season I hope they’re not wasted. 

This season was always going to be one of transition. Hopefully now we are seeing stability coming to the club in a playing and managerial sense.

Frank by bringing in younger players and if you like re trying certain players has done this.

The players he’s played this season have shown him and their strengths and weaknesses.

We obviously need strengthening at the back.

By gaining the Champions League spot, we are more attractive to potential signings . And it would be amazing to win the FA Cup this weekend.
That would be a trophy winning start to Franks first season.

What a season! I think people need to cut the pundits a bit of slack. Not a lot of people on here had faith in us making top 4 either and we’re fans of the club! Not to keep harping on about that, but the votes from the beginning of the season by everyone on this board really highlight just how big an achievement this was from Frank. I think everyone wanted him to succeed but realistically he had a massive task on his hands and personally I think I said we’d finish 5/6th. I never expected us to be in the battle for 3rd going in to the final day and only miss out by GD.

 

Frank & Jody (who I believe will have played an integral role, particularly with the young players) have had a terrific debut season at the club. He’s integrated the youth which a lot of us have been screaming for, for years. There’s been ups and downs along the road this year of course as should have been expected, but Franks an intelligent man, he’ll have learnt a lot through this season. We lost our best player last summer who was involved in 50% of our goals, the significance of that loss can’t be overlooked when looking at the season.

 

Hopefully the club are backing Frank and so far it looks like they are with the signings of Ziyech, Werner & Havertz (pending). I don’t think it will stop there and it shouldn’t, after all - Frank has saved the club hundreds of millions with the introduction of the likes of Reece, Tammy, Mason, Gilmour, Tomori etc. Even if they don’t all start every week they will be good, high level squad players which cuts costs of buying the Zappacosta’s, Bakayokos and Bats of this world.

 

As Frank says, I don’t want to get too carried away about 4th as we’re Chelsea but under the exceptional circumstances of this season including the Covid break and adjusting to that as a young manager - he’s done a terrific job and there’s no one I’d rather have leading the club in to the future. Regardless of what happens in the Cup Final... having said that, let’s smash them and ensure there’s no European football at the Emirates next season and Frank gets his first silverware as a manager. Success breeds success!

Edited July 29, 20205 yr by EdinburghBlue

One thing to observe for next season, which will be completely different for Frank, is how much pragmatism will in instill to his approach. The maiden season, where he had some sort of freedom to fail, is almost done and dusted. There is no room for failure. He needs to achieve top 4 and the team needs to be better in every aspect.

Frank had that freedom to put in Gilmour, start with Tomori and so on because he had no one else fit nor did he have the pressure of 'must win'.

We will bring in 3-5 new big names this window. This adds pressure from the media and Roman as well. We saw what big signings did for OGS.

I still think we will go up and down but a bit less and I think we will have a more fixed system than we did this season.

Concede 20 goals less, score 10 more and lose half the matches we did and we are pretty nicely up in the mix. Not an easy task by any means.

On 27/07/2020 at 13:19, Droopy said:

I hope you guys don't turn on him after couple of bad months. I mean.. I've seen all these comments not once or twice addressing previous managers.. things can got hot pretty quickly and huge part of our fans are among the most inpatient in the world, including many here. 

I worry about this too. 

Fact is, we are going to be signing 5-6 first team players this summer. There would be teething problems with any manager after that. It's a big reason why I am reluctant to sign a centre back. 

He’s used players that others without a transfer ban,would very probably have sold or extended their loan at another club.

The fact that Frank has done it all with us and is a club Legend also helps him. In my humble opinion.

5 hours ago, bisright1 said:

I worry about this too. 

Fact is, we are going to be signing 5-6 first team players this summer. There would be teething problems with any manager after that. It's a big reason why I am reluctant to sign a centre back. 

This is a big worry for me as well. With the league starting again so soon we wont really have a full pre season to integrate the new players into the squad. Ziyech hasn't played since march so he will take a while. I think that's one of the reason we could be looking at Pope, Henderson and Rice as they won't take as much time to settle in and know the league. 

There isn't a host of World class centre backs available who can lead a defence. We are really missing a leader at the back and any of the current centres backs would improve with a leader beside them. 

The good thing is that Werner and Ziyech are at the club and already training with the rest. At the same time I wonder if players will burn out faster once the new season starts because of this shorter summer that everyone had.

It feels like we have been having more than just a couple of players on the injury list non stop for the past 2 seasons so it looks like it's going to be a challenge to keep our key players healthy.

Footy365's take on who we should sell this summer.

Not surprised on the 5 though would keep Rudiger until we get reinforcements and also because he might help the others from the Bundesliga settle better.

I would also keep Alonso as back up.

https://www.football365.com/news/five-players-chelsea-sell-kepa-rudiger-jorginho

17 hours ago, Gol15 said:

At the same time I wonder if players will burn out faster once the new season starts because of this shorter summer that everyone had.

 

Not sure about that as, lets be honest here they had an extra 3 month break in the year so you would expect them to be fairly rested and had time to switch off from football

28 minutes ago, Bonzodog29 said:

Not sure about that as, lets be honest here they had an extra 3 month break in the year so you would expect them to be fairly rested and had time to switch off from football

I agree, I think the players looking tired was due to lack of fitness.

3 hours ago, Bonzodog29 said:

Not sure about that as, lets be honest here they had an extra 3 month break in the year so you would expect them to be fairly rested and had time to switch off from football

They haven't really had three months "off" though, they were given a club training programme they had to follow and were stuck in national lockdown like the rest of us.

By the end of next season we will be looking at two years until a high number of players have been able to have a proper break where they can go where they want and mentally switch off, I wouldn't underestimate the impact of that.

Marina apparently telling Frank they can't conclude the Havertz deal until CFC offload players and Frank saying he won't do that until after the FA final due to dressing room harmony.

https://www.express.co.uk/sport/football/1316075/Chelsea-news-Frank-Lampard-Kai-Havertz-transfer-decision

 

16 minutes ago, Strider6003 said:

Marina apparently telling Frank they can't conclude the Havertz deal until CFC offload players and Frank saying he won't do that until after the FA final due to dressing room harmony.

https://www.express.co.uk/sport/football/1316075/Chelsea-news-Frank-Lampard-Kai-Havertz-transfer-decision

 

Most clubs will be really short on funds for transfers. Only the super rich like Real, United, City etc can afford to spend still. 

That makes offloading our dead wood for a price Marina will accept difficult as none of those clubs would want our players.

So far we have been spending the Hazard and Morata monies. When that dries up either Roman swallows the cost or we dont buy asni struggle to see us getting even a quarter of what we want for players to be sold.

1 minute ago, axman2526 said:

Most clubs will be really short on funds for transfers. Only the super rich like Real, United, City etc can afford to spend still. 

That makes offloading our dead wood for a price Marina will accept difficult as none of those clubs would want our players.

So far we have been spending the Hazard and Morata monies. When that dries up either Roman swallows the cost or we dont buy asni struggle to see us getting even a quarter of what we want for players to be sold.

If there is truth in that I am a little shocked as its obvious Frank wants Havertz yet clear we also need a better keeper and strengthening in other defensive places.

The only thing I think is we will offload a number to get the other deals done. 

23 minutes ago, Strider6003 said:

If there is truth in that I am a little shocked as its obvious Frank wants Havertz yet clear we also need a better keeper and strengthening in other defensive places.

The only thing I think is we will offload a number to get the other deals done. 

Is only logically right? How hard have most clubs been hit with no fans and still paying g huge PL wages. Even Liverpool talked about the need for a quite summer.

13 minutes ago, axman2526 said:

Is only logically right? How hard have most clubs been hit with no fans and still paying g huge PL wages. Even Liverpool talked about the need for a quite summer.

If it is a quiet summer this could work in our favour although on the flip side we might not get much for the players we offload. 

9 minutes ago, Strider6003 said:

If it is a quiet summer this could work in our favour although on the flip side we might not get much for the players we offload. 

Aye but it means Roman has to dig deeper and invest to get the players we want. So far we are using the Hazard funds we did not spend on transfers and the Morata money we are due. That combined is around 150mill.

Pays the 40mill for Kova, 32mill for Hakim and 50mill for werner with a little over.

if Marina thinks she can raise decent money for the dross we are looking at selling she is having a laugh.

Edited July 30, 20205 yr by axman2526

2 hours ago, Strider6003 said:

Marina apparently telling Frank they can't conclude the Havertz deal until CFC offload players and Frank saying he won't do that until after the FA final due to dressing room harmony.

https://www.express.co.uk/sport/football/1316075/Chelsea-news-Frank-Lampard-Kai-Havertz-transfer-decision

 

No offence to you strider but I wouldn’t believe anything express say. The rags always make up daft stories.

I only use reliable spokesperson for rumours, the tier 1 and 2’s etc.

Theres no way we’re going after Havertz this strongly only at last minute to realise we can’t afford him. That’s a load of bollocks.

12 hours ago, dansubrosa said:

No offence to you strider but I wouldn’t believe anything express say. The rags always make up daft stories.

I only use reliable spokesperson for rumours, the tier 1 and 2’s etc.

Theres no way we’re going after Havertz this strongly only at last minute to realise we can’t afford him. That’s a load of bollocks.

 

Not sure anybody has said the bolded part.

I'm no advocate for the Express but a lot of transfer news in the media is either Chinese whispers or speculation. I'm not sure who tier 1 and 2 are. Maybe that beacon of morality the Sun or the The Times perhaps. I take all media reports with a pinch of salt until the club make an official announcement.

Having said that we all love a bit of football speculation and it seems entirely plausible that Frank has been told to sell to generate funds. The Havertz deal has been protracted and the hold up is reported to be over the size of fee. Apparently Chelsea want £70m and BL want £90m. Despite popular belief the transfer fund isn't a bottomless pit and if they are also after a goalkeeper and/or a left back I don't see why the club wouldn't want to delay and generate more funds. There's two months of the transfer window left so there is no hurry anyway. Havertz has already agreed terms so Chelsea can negotiate slightly harder on the fee and if that takes a bit more time then so be it. Especially if it allows us to get some other players in.