We have the 'what League position so you expect' thread, but what would you see as as a decent season for Lampard and the current set of players.

In other words, what would keep you from grumbling?(!)

For myself:

As long as the younger players are given a chance to shine and there is some good attacking football played, I wouldn't mind so much what happens even if it's sixth place at the end of season. 

Challenging for the cups, semis/finals and quarter final in the champions' league or beyond would be nice too. 

Minmum requirement is top 4 challenge with the young player's well integrated. We should be looking at a solid run in the CL too, we haven't won a knockout CL tie for 5 years which simply isn't good enough for a club our size.

No big injuries and no hard losses so that our young players get a full season together.

For me the position isn't important, I take top 6 right now if I can and see it as a great first season for Frankie easy.

11 minutes ago, Gol15 said:

No big injuries and no hard losses so that our young players get a full season together.

For me the position isn't important, I take top 6 right now if I can and see it as a great first season for Frankie easy.

By the sounds of it Lampard is targeting the league, not because he thinks it's likely (i think even our version of AFTV Ty will accept it's 99% not happening) but because we are Chelsea. I like that approach tbh, i can't imagine it will be easy to switch back on the winning desire like a switch if we go through a season of telling the lads the results aren't the end of the world, case in point 00's Arsenal.

45 minutes ago, Argo said:

By the sounds of it Lampard is targeting the league, not because he thinks it's likely (i think even our version of AFTV Ty will accept it's 99% not happening) but because we are Chelsea. I like that approach tbh, i can't imagine it will be easy to switch back on the winning desire like a switch if we go through a season of telling the lads the results aren't the end of the world, case in point 00's Arsenal.

I do think that everyone at the club has a big winning desire, specially under Frankie Lampard and that's how it should be but from my point of view, as a fan I can be more relaxed I guess.

I just can't ignore that the squad is in a transition, our players that are talented are still young and don't have the experience to carry the team and win the league. So it will take a full year of development for some players and if it goes right we could witness the likes of CHO,RLC,Pulisic,Mount,Abraham becoming the best players in the league, that means a process of not winning anything but building up for the big picture.

On top of that process that is now recognized by the club, our defense just looks too shaky. Attack wins games but defense wins you titles and we don't have a good enough defensive team right now. Add to that, we lost depth with David Luiz leaving the team.

Most of our rivals got new signings, even Spurs got some new players, yes we're Chelsea but I'm personally not worried if we look like Arsenal for a year.

Quadruple. 

Some kind of European qualification would be great. It would be stupid to expect top four in our current situation, although it's not beyond the realm of possibility.

Ultimately I'd just like to see us make it through the season playing football at a decent level, with the youngsters given proper chances, and the club and fans to sticking behind Frank even if things are not going our way. I want us to have a good platform this time next year to build upon and hopefully be back in the top four in 2020-2021. This could  be the most challenging season we've had since the pre-Abramovic years, so we need to keep calm and avoid any of the usual knee-jerk short-termism that we are so often guilty of.

in the top 6 at xmas , get out of the group stage in the cl and some nice attacking football 

Bad season - Bottom 3.

Not good - 9th - 17th

Not as bad as it looks - 7th - 8th 

Not a bad season at all - 5th - 6th

Good - 4th

Brilliant - top 4 and a cup

 

I think it's only fair that top 4 is the main aim considering the quality in this team. We may not have hazard, but as a team we should be able to replace his goals. We bought Pulisic for a large fee, have RLC and Hudson-Odoi returning soon too. On paper we have just as good a team as Arsenal and Utd. We don't have a top quality striker, but the goals have to come from all over the field imo. 

My worry has always been that if we miss out on top four will players want to leave the club or will top players want to come? We can't afford huge wages to pay for top players so we will have to remain as an attractive option, which will be difficult outside of top 4. 

Get out of group stage - CL

Quarterfinalist - FA Cup

Round of 32 - League Cup

Top 6 or thereabouts

That's a good season for me considering what's happened.

Anything less is a mediocre season.

If we achieve further than quarterfinals and top 4 is a great season for me.

4 minutes ago, enigma said:

My worry has always been that if we miss out on top four will players want to leave the club or will top players want to come? We can't afford huge wages to pay for top players so we will have to remain as an attractive option, which will be difficult outside of top 4. 

Given Arsenal can pull of Lacazette, Auba and Pepe while being a Europa club who haven't won the league for a decade I'm fairly confident we will be able attract players to improve us.

1 hour ago, Argo said:

Given Arsenal can pull of Lacazette, Auba and Pepe while being a Europa club who haven't won the league for a decade I'm fairly confident we will be able attract players to improve us.

Good point. 

Top four is the aim. But more realistically, we're looking at a top 6 battle I think. We just don't have the fire power up front to get games won and our defending has been very worrisome in preseason.

Make a good fist of the league, try to be in it to win it as long as possible but top 6 will be a good season. Couple of cheeky cup runs and a good showing in the Champions League wouldn’t go amiss!

If a couple of the youngsters have good seasons and save us a bit of cash when we can buy again that’d be amazing. 

considering how difficult a situation Lampard has landed in, I think a good season will be us finishing in top 6 and our manager not getting fired.

A high intensity game of pressing, quick passing and rapid movement off the ball. Enterprising, energetic football that is a mixture of possession and direct attacking.

A pattern. Imprinting the DNA of Lampard's and Morris's philosophy into the team. I don't want all this negative press bollox. I want everyone purring about Lampard's Kids. A fresh dynamic pleasing level of football and the development of a nucleas that in 1-2-3 years will be the best in europe.

Deliver that this season and fck the position, i'll be more than happy.

Creating a team, not spending a quarter of a billion on four defenders and then have the world's press spout how wonderful a manager you are.

No humiliations, please!

I'll be happy if we don't go take 26 passes, mostly from Jorginho, to move the ball 10 yards sideways and back again in midfield. 

 

We still have a very good well balanced squad which is now complimented by some of the best youth players in the country.I don't think getting in the top four is do or die but challenging for it is absolute minimum requirement.

2 out of Mount, CHO, Tomori, Christensen, RLC and Abraham need to become real standout players by the end of the season. If a couple of those develop we'll be in good shape. Especially CHO and Abraham. 

The veteran players need to put in a full season of hard work. No downing tools bc we aren't winning trophies or they don't like the manager. 

Those two things mean success for me. 9th, 4th, 11th I don't care. I'll be happy if we know who sinks and who swims by the end of May so we can move on accordingly in the summer. 

Edited August 11, 20195 yr by TheChelseaBlues

1 hour ago, TheChelseaBlues said:

2 out of Mount, CHO, Tomori, Christensen, RLC and Abraham need to become real standout players by the end of the season. If a couple of those develop we'll be in good shape. Especially CHO and Abraham. 

The veteran players need to put in a full season of hard work. No downing tools bc we aren't winning trophies or they don't like the manager. 

Those two things mean success for me. 9th, 4th, 11th I don't care. I'll be happy if we know who sinks and who swims by the end of May so we can move on accordingly in the summer. 

I disagree, we have a bunch of experienced serial winners and now some of the best youngsters in world football complimenting them, in absolutely no world will finishing 9th behind a Wolves team with Europa distractions and Leicester/Everton sides who have lost key players be a success. Furthermore if we are finishing in that position that would suggest the young boys are nowhere near ready for us which will likely result in a Roman supermarket sweep (possibly alongside an Allegri appointment) to avoid a repeat.

We should minimum be competitive in the top 4 race, if we make a fight of it and miss out (ala Arsenal last season) then fair enough, anything less then it's a major under performance given the quality of our squad.

Edited August 11, 20195 yr by Argo

Personally for me it’ll be maximum loyalty points and lots of games attended! Hopefully a CL away game falls in the half term so I can get over. 

We won't win the league or be relegated, but apart from that I have no idea how good or bad we'll be.

The defence has been poor against mediocre teams in the pre- season games and who knows how well the strikers will do, so at this moment in time it's completely up in the air in terms of what to expect.

In ever other season under Roman, a season without a trophy and top four would be judged a failure, but imho, that would be unfair this season.

This will be 3 consecutive seasons without a title challenge, No way will Roman be willing to wait years more for our youngsters to progress to the level needed to be the level of players we need, so it's crucial the young players take their chances this season, otherwise I fear Roman will splash the cash and bring in big money players in their positions.

What I hope for is to see us start building a team that plays with pace and movement. Playing without fear home and away against every team. No more setting out trying not to lose.

So. top 7 with a couple of our youngsters really making their mark, looking good enough to go forward with next season, would be fine by me!

 

 

I just want to be smashing teams 4/5/6 - 0, just like City and pool seem to do with ease. Depressing watching Liverpool smashing Norwich by 4 goals when you know we'll scrape a 2-1 win after struggling with Norwich's high press for most of the game.