Couple of tiny trophies, two final losses and top 4. On top of that new owners, hurtful departures and a summer full of questions. 

Without key injuries and one interview I think we could have had a great season. Not this time...

Tuchel still deserves a praise. We can't really do much better with managers than him.

Remains to be seen if he is given a long extension and the club is seeking some sort of stability or do we continue on the path Roman has put us on. 

 

Glass half full:

- we became world champions

- we survived a war, and live to fight another day 

- top 4 achieved, giving us a basis for a reset

 

Glass half empty:

- 2 final losses, and generally appalling record in the biggest games

- a growing divide between us and the top 2

- Tuchel has been unable to stop the attacking rot, and we had car crash of a season in an attacking sense, with Questions marks around all of our attacking players. Not 1 positive stand out.

- Losing arguably our player of the season on a free.

 

 

 

44 minutes ago, nonotnowjim said:

Glass half full:

- we became world champions

- we survived a war, and live to fight another day 

- top 4 achieved, giving us a basis for a reset

 

Glass half empty:

- 2 final losses, and generally appalling record in the biggest games

- a growing divide between us and the top 2

- Tuchel has been unable to stop the attacking rot, and we had car crash of a season in an attacking sense, with Questions marks around all of our attacking players. Not 1 positive stand out.

- Losing arguably our player of the season on a free.

 

 

 

You missed out the appalling home record..

Big season up.. I love him on the touch line .. I think he will be hurting a lot and will turn it around next season.. he very honest coach .. 

I think he has made a few mistakes but remember he is only 18 months into the epl let’s hope he is here for another few seasons and then judge.. 

1 hour ago, nonotnowjim said:

Glass half full:

- we became world champions

- we survived a war, and live to fight another day 

- top 4 achieved, giving us a basis for a reset

 

Glass half empty:

- 2 final losses, and generally appalling record in the biggest games

- a growing divide between us and the top 2

- Tuchel has been unable to stop the attacking rot, and we had car crash of a season in an attacking sense, with Questions marks around all of our attacking players. Not 1 positive stand out.

- Losing arguably our player of the season on a free.

 

 

 

I think making two cup finals losing them as closely as possible against a AAA side is at least noteworthy? CL run was decent at least I'd say and I disagree a wee bit on the attacking player: Mount played a very good season despite having a slow start and that we know his ceiling is even higher. And I'm tempted to call James an attacking player for us and he was brilliant. As was Ben, unfortunately that was a short story this season. Hope he comes back in style soon.

But on the rest I'd agree. That said, I found it excellent - and this wasn't happening by accident - that we have such a diverse amount of scorers and I thought we did excellent on set pieces this season. Our main problem this year was that we gave away too many unforced goals after leading already. So our 'attacking rot' is just one way to look at it. We usually can score a goal, but we lost our uncompromising defensive rigidness from last season too often.

Edited May 17, 20224 yr by weetee

I would say if we get to 76 points or even 74 that represents a solid if unspectacular return under the circumstances and a marked improvement on every league season since the last title winning one.

30 minutes ago, weetee said:

But on the rest I'd agree. That said, I found it excellent - and this wasn't happening by accident - that we have such a diverse amount of scorers 

Yep, whats gone under the radar is despite the attacking issues we've already beaten two of Jose's title winning goal tally's and need one goal in two home games to beat the other. A stat padding game against Watford would see us not far behind Conte's tally aswell.

Edited May 17, 20224 yr by Argo

We should be nailing down a  long term contract for Tuchel. He's the best manager we have had since 2006. I can't imagine us without him now.

24 minutes ago, coco said:

We should be nailing down a  long term contract for Tuchel. He's the best manager we have had since 2006. I can't imagine us without him now.

Totally agree with this. I think Tuchel is the only manager who could go toe-to-toe with Pep and Klopp on a regular basis. If we didn't have key injuries to Chilwell and James at the same time I think we would be alot closer in the title race. Not necessarily winning it but closer than we are now. I also think we are the only team who did not have games postponed because of Covid when we had a good case for games to be postponed. Everton and Wolves pre Xmas I think are the ones we had a case for. 

For me Tuchel has a lot of goodwill in the bank and I truly believe if he is given the time, and signings that Klopp and Pep have been given that he can go on to win alot more with us.

ANY manager that comes into replace Tuchel would be a step backwards and therefore making that gap to City and Liverpool even bigger than it is now. 

Edited May 17, 20224 yr by drjonesy1994
Missed out a word.

See the effort that PSG and City have make these years and how important is to real Madrid win the UCL make me see how incredible was won last year

won a single ucl has the same value that won several league titles 

Offer Tuchel a contract extension after the sale is done be a good start for the new era. We were never going to win the league this season, finish third ( unless we threw the next 2 games) is the expected outcome at the start of the season. Tuchel faced so many dramas this season, the Covid, the contract rebels, the war enforced sanction, not even going to talk about Lukaku,  it could have been a lot worse.

the problem was the 2 cup finals

if we came out in the first stage of the competitions, maybe we see the things in a different way

let's see how we do next season and after that we can make a better avaliation of tuchel work

it was a very difficult season from us. lot of problems

What doesn't get mentioned enough is his tactical nous. There is a video from the Pool game where Mane was getting spaces but he switched to a back 4 to completely nullify him. He is able to change systems with players he has available. An example was Christensen bailing on him at the last minute and no Werner/Havertz. And we still kept Pool at bay and created chances on our own.

I really want to see him with his players and I have no doubt we will be right up there with City/Pool.

1 hour ago, RomansRoubles said:

What doesn't get mentioned enough is his tactical nous. There is a video from the Pool game where Mane was getting spaces but he switched to a back 4 to completely nullify him. He is able to change systems with players he has available. An example was Christensen bailing on him at the last minute and no Werner/Havertz. And we still kept Pool at bay and created chances on our own.

I really want to see him with his players and I have no doubt we will be right up there with City/Pool.

The annoying thing is he's completely sussed Klopp out but it's going totally under the radar because he lost the tiebreakers.

If the Women's Team is anything to go by, sticking with a top tier manager is something Chelsea FC can do long-term. If anything it makes Todd's job easier, he knows all he has to do is back his current managers since one has just won the league for the 3rd time on the trot and the other is the current world champion. 

With Tuchel here the future only looks up, successfully coached a team from 9th place (10th by time we kicked off at wolves) to back to back top 4 finishes in 16 months and made the world and Europen champions.

Now his task is to make us domestic champions, would anyone seriously bet against him to do it at least once in a similar time span to what Pep (took him 2 seasons to be a champion but they were full seasons not like TT on 1 and a half) and Klopp (took 5 seasons or 4 and a half). 

1 hour ago, LongtimerLurker said:

If the Women's Team is anything to go by, sticking with a top tier manager is something Chelsea FC can do long-term. If anything it makes Todd's job easier, he knows all he has to do is back his current managers since one has just won the league for the 3rd time on the trot and the other is the current world champion. 

With Tuchel here the future only looks up, successfully coached a team from 9th place (10th by time we kicked off at wolves) to back to back top 4 finishes in 16 months and made the world and Europen champions.

Now his task is to make us domestic champions, would anyone seriously bet against him to do it at least once in a similar time span to what Pep (took him 2 seasons to be a champion but they were full seasons not like TT on 1 and a half) and Klopp (took 5 seasons or 4 and a half). 

Plus pep took a team that had already won the league a season or two back.. they had world class players all over the pitch in kompany aguero kdb and yaya.. I don’t want to discount his achievement but rather our journey is different.

I think Klopp is the example I like and yet he has only won it once but he has built a team from scratch over a longer time frame.

I think next season would be defining for us, we will free up a lot of the wage bill too. Players like DD, Bakyako, zappacosta, many others. 
 

we just need to get the deal done and buy a few first team players in mid field and defence and I think our starting 11 can be really good and we can challenge.

7 hours ago, dkw said:

You missed out the appalling home record..

Good point - we have lost our fortress

6 hours ago, Argo said:

I would say if we get to 76 points or even 74 that represents a solid if unspectacular return under the circumstances and a marked improvement on every league season since the last title winning one.

Yep, whats gone under the radar is despite the attacking issues we've already beaten two of Jose's title winning goal tally's and need one goal in two home games to beat the other. A stat padding game against Watford would see us not far behind Conte's tally aswell.

Whilst we may have scored more than in 2004/05 and 2005/06, we have also conceded almost as many this season (31) as in both of those seasons combined, 15 and 22 respectively! This leaves us with a much worse goal difference (+42 this season, vs +57 in 2004/05 and+50 in 2005/06).

The sides are not comparable. Chelsea in those days were a winning machine, with a personality and winning mentality. This team is a little too Andreas Christensen in comparison - a bit meek, a bit timid, a bit of a nervous wreak.

 

14 minutes ago, nonotnowjim said:

Whilst we may have scored more than in 2004/05 and 2005/06, we have also conceded almost as many this season (31) as in both of those seasons combined, 15 and 22 respectively! This leaves us with a much worse goal difference (+42 this season, vs +57 in 2004/05 and+50 in 2005/06).

The sides are not comparable. Chelsea in those days were a winning machine, with a personality and winning mentality. This team is a little too Andreas Christensen in comparison - a bit meek, a bit timid, a bit of a nervous wreak.

 

Ofcourse I'm not saying those sides are comparable in terms of the overall I'm just trying to put a bit of context on the goalscoring problems.

While we lack a 25-30 goal player we have a lot of goals all over the team, probably as much as we have have in terms of variety.

Edited May 17, 20224 yr by Argo

If you're Tuchel who do you definitely keep?

 

1 hour ago, LongtimerLurker said:

If you're Tuchel who do you definitely keep?

 

None of the attackers have pulled their weight this season. Quite simply I'd keep anyone still young and developing - Kai, Mount, Odoi, Pulisic. The rest can leave with my blessing.

1 hour ago, LongtimerLurker said:

If you're Tuchel who do you definitely keep?

 

Pulisic. Let the other 3 go. Along with Lukaku.

Werner defintely go. Lukaku go. CHO can either go or go on loan.

I'd like to see a 4-3-3 or similar next season. So could have something like:

Mendy

James  Silva  [NEW - CB]  Chilwell

[NEW - Holding Midfielder]

Kovacic    Mount

Ziyech  [NEW - ST]  Pulisic

 

Give Ziyech and Pulisic a real run of games and see what they can produce. Get a new striker, who can actually move and score goals. Let mount drop back to more of an attacking midfield role, rather than wide player. Basically, Lampard's old position, with Kovacic being the box-to-box Essien type.

7 hours ago, LongtimerLurker said:

If you're Tuchel who do you definitely keep?

 

It is impossible to answer this question without knowing who we can get because prett much everyone except Mount n kai are expendable. 

Even if we want sell Lukaku, if we can't get a cf then it is dumb because Havertz won't last playing as 9 the whole season. 

Edited May 18, 20224 yr by Bob stark

8 hours ago, LongtimerLurker said:

If you're Tuchel who do you definitely keep?

 

Pulisic should be the first out of the door but I fear American owners may make him untouchable.

17 minutes ago, Argo said:

Pulisic should be the first out of the door but I fear American owners may make him untouchable.

Pulisic has been rumoured by some sources, alongside Mount and James to receive new deals once the ownership is sorted. Personally I'd put Pulisic in the same bracket as Kai and Mount in the don't sell. He's young enough for it to generally make us look like mugs again if he starts performing at a top level in a couple/few seasons somewhere else. 

I think both Pep and Jurgen appreciate him and Juve are linked. He managed to stay injury free for a season, great! He didn't get as many mins in his favoured position this season yet he still has one of the higher non pen xg for forwards under 25 in the league.  

We're gonna need wingers so at least one of CHO and Pulisic needs to stays as we bring in another wide forward. I'd personally keep both. CHO can play more as wingback cover for James, if we bring Perisic in and lets say Emerson stays. We would have Chilly B, James, Perisic, Emerson and CHO as wingback options. 

Or we just loan CHO for 2 seasons to a prem team. Back to Christian I've seen enough to know he has the dribbling he just needs to make better decisions in possession like learning to release sooner and he'll have so many more assists. Keep working on his finishing, which is already one of his key skills and really kick on as he approaches his mid 20s.