I see a bunch of folk saying Tuchel will be gone at the end of his contract in 18 months. That may be but I don’t think it has to be that way anymore that the honeymoon of not letting in any goals and never losing can go on for ever.

‘but actually I don’t care, I’ll just be taking it game by game until the train goes off the rails.  

. 

1 hour ago, ozboy said:

I see a bunch of folk saying Tuchel will be gone at the end of his contract in 18 months. That may be but I don’t think it has to be that way anymore that the honeymoon of not letting in any goals and never losing can go on for ever.

‘but actually I don’t care, I’ll just be taking it game by game until the train goes off the rails.  

. 

This is just a very probable thing to happen. Look at the stats. 18 months is probably the average of Roman era managers. Could be less. It has nothing to do with Tuchel even. 

We hit a slump, players freeze and wait for the new manager. Circus goes on. 

Not saying that it is a bad thing per say but that is Roman era in a nutshell. 

The only team I can’t see us going past is Bayern they are too good. We need one of city or PSG to take them out, anyone else I give us a chance. 
 

In order of preference: Porto, Dortmund, Liverpool, Real, City, PSG, Bayern 

Really, really hope we draw Real.

No Italian teams made the quarter finals. A reflection on the current standard of Serie A football?

Hope we draw Porto myself.

Would leave us with a great chance to reach the semifinals. I fancy our chances against anyone left in the competition but easiest route possible to the final is my cup of tea.

2 minutes ago, just said:

Really, really hope we draw Real.

No Italian teams made the quarter finals. A reflection on the current standard of Serie A football?

Also want Real. Re Serie A definitely to an extent, but did it get worse this year? I mean the halcyon days when I used to watch Football Italia on channel 4 religiously are long gone but that’s been the case for  well over a decade.

City

Bayern / PSG

Liverpool

Real

Dortmund / Porto

 

That'd be my list from best to "worst". Haven't seen much of Porto though. Real I can't really see them scoring against us tbh and Dortmund is shaky / Liverpool in poor form+injuries. Bayern concede a ton of goals this season. PSG with everyboy on board will just as tough imho - but Tuchel knows them inside out so that's a small advantage. City is defensively just as sound as we are so I have a hard time to see us score there + they have the much better offensive power. Doubt Guardiola will out-trick himself in the CL this year as well so there is that too.

 

Just now, Dean said:

Also want Real. Re Serie A definitely to an extent, but did it get worse this year? I mean the halcyon days when I used to watch Football Italia on channel 4 religiously are long gone but that’s been the case for  well over a decade.

Agree with that Dean. I'm definitely going to watch the Milan v Man U Europa League 2nd leg tonight. Beautifully poised at 1 - 1.

I think people are underestimating Porto, I watched them across the 2 legs against Juve and they are a well-organized & disciplined team who outplayed and frustrated Juve across the 2 legs. I would much rather play Real Madrid or Dortmund over Porto, both look a lot more open defensively and also seem like bigger and more achievable scalps.

11 minutes ago, Imran_CFC said:

I think people are underestimating Porto, I watched them across the 2 legs against Juve and they are a well-organized & disciplined team who outplayed and frustrated Juve across the 2 legs. I would much rather play Real Madrid or Dortmund over Porto, both look a lot more open defensively and also seem like bigger and more achievable scalps.

We watched Porto also and I was talking with my son that they will be very dangerous if they play as well as they did in those games. Juve did not play good football, but Porto never lowered their play or lost concentration.

Porto is unpredictable, I would rather go against anyone else except Bayern, even vs Man City I think we have a chance over 2 games since Pep's team isn't really a cup team they are great in the league but they may lose to a lot of teams in a knockout round.

1 hour ago, just said:

Really, really hope we draw Real.

No Italian teams made the quarter finals. A reflection on the current standard of Serie A football?

Real for me too. A true glamour tie we have not had in a long time.

1 hour ago, weetee said:

City

Bayern / PSG

Liverpool

Real

Dortmund / Porto

 

That'd be my list from best to "worst". Haven't seen much of Porto though. Real I can't really see them scoring against us tbh and Dortmund is shaky / Liverpool in poor form+injuries. Bayern concede a ton of goals this season. PSG with everyboy on board will just as tough imho - but Tuchel knows them inside out so that's a small advantage. City is defensively just as sound as we are so I have a hard time to see us score there + they have the much better offensive power. Doubt Guardiola will out-trick himself in the CL this year as well so there is that too.

 

For me it is always the English sides at the top regardless as we play them every year so is boring facing them again in Europe. Mine would be, preferences at the top:

 

Real

Dortmund

Porto

PSG

Bayern

Man City 

Liverpool 

What I'm impressed with most so far is that we've conceded just one goal in 13 matches outside of Rudiger's brainfart, and we've come up against Atletico twice, Liverpool, Man Utd, Everton and Spurs all in the space of a few weeks. Forget pre-season, he's literally had one training session with the players before his first competitive game in charge.

Whether or not we manage to keep this up remains to be seen , however up until this point  it's looking more and more likely that he's the real deal.

He has done 2 things that I love, the first is getting our defenders looking rock solid. How many times did we beg Lampard to do some defence coaching and get them organised? Over and over again, over the course of 1.5 seasons. But tickle has come in and got it organised immediately, and making our players look a million dollars. How many of us were calling for Christensen, rudi and kurt to be sold? A fair few, if not all! How many still feel that way? I would guess a fair few less, and even if we did sell, the value of these players has probably increased from 3 mths back.

 

the second thing is squad unity. There feels a distinct change in the air. Previously banished players contributing and being involved, genuine warmth and togetherness. I guess it is easier to build that when we are winning, but again, from where we were at the end of lamps reign, tickle has improved this a lot.

 

I still have concerns over square pegs in round holes, but there has been sufficient evolution and improvements to have confidence that we are going in the right direction.

Before I forget, tickles game management also is much better. Cho subbed on/off debacle aside!

 

 

33 minutes ago, axman2526 said:

Real for me too. A true glamour tie we have not had in a long time.

For me it is always the English sides at the top regardless as we play them every year so is boring facing them again in Europe. Mine would be, preferences at the top:

 

Real

Dortmund

Porto

PSG

Bayern

Man City 

Liverpool 

Agreed - I meant it regarding a "power"ranking. Never been a fan of national draws when playing international cups in general, kinda defeats the purpose. Real would be prolly my best bet too since they appear quite poor and Tuchel shut them down before with PSG.

Meehhh wouldnt mind Porto, Juve looked clueless because they have a terrible manager with no game plan.

I love Frank, but what Tuchel has done with the squad really shows that Lampard has a ways to go to be a top level manager. I think he will be a really good manager eventually and hopefully he can manage Chelsea again. I'll be honest I wasn't thrilled with the switch at first but I couldn't have been more wrong about it. 

 

1 hour ago, chiefBlueCFC said:

I love Frank, but what Tuchel has done with the squad really shows that Lampard has a ways to go to be a top level manager. I think he will be a really good manager eventually and hopefully he can manage Chelsea again. I'll be honest I wasn't thrilled with the switch at first but I couldn't have been more wrong about it. 

 

I was the same, I thought Allegri would have been the right choice. How wrong I was,  not to say Max couldn't have done this but TT has and therefore deserves all the credit. For me the Frank situation will always remain tricky. In theory he could have gotten similar results but,  I doubt we would have the swagger that we have about us now. Let alone the defensive record.

I've said it before I've always cared about our defense first and foremost. Every team wants to have the best attack in the world and assume that is the only way to win. As Chelsea fans we know this isn't always the case, our title winning DNA is built on defensive fortitude. 

We have just beaten the so called best defensive team in Europe and with Juve out we now appear to be the best defense in Europe, this is backed up with our recent stats.

Last night we saw a glimpse of the devastating counter attack our squad is capable of. If we can bring this out more often not only will we have defensive solidity and good possession. We will also have another string to our bow, and this is all without the players really showcasing their individual brilliance which can win games. If all goes according to the script. I think within 3 years assuming we still have TT we could win the Premier League and the Chanpions League. 

2 hours ago, nonotnowjim said:

He has done 2 things that I love, the first is getting our defenders looking rock solid. How many times did we beg Lampard to do some defence coaching and get them organised? Over and over again, over the course of 1.5 seasons. But tickle has come in and got it organised immediately, and making our players look a million dollars. How many of us were calling for Christensen, rudi and kurt to be sold? A fair few, if not all! How many still feel that way? I would guess a fair few less, and even if we did sell, the value of these players has probably increased from 3 mths back.

 

the second thing is squad unity. There feels a distinct change in the air. Previously banished players contributing and being involved, genuine warmth and togetherness. I guess it is easier to build that when we are winning, but again, from where we were at the end of lamps reign, tickle has improved this a lot.

 

I still have concerns over square pegs in round holes, but there has been sufficient evolution and improvements to have confidence that we are going in the right direction.

Before I forget, tickles game management also is much better. Cho subbed on/off debacle aside!

 

 

The interesting thing about all that is that he didn't really have any time to do anything else but to try to make us more secure defensively and to build up a team spirit and team unity.

That shows that he knew exactly in what situation he took over, he "diagnosed" everyone's expectations properly and he was able to set a reachable goal for the near future.

That in turn makes him look like a really smart manager and also it begs the question - if this is how good we can be today, how much more can we improve in the future after Tuchel has worked with the team and has had a full pre-season, how big is our potential and Tuchel's potential?

On 14/03/2021 at 22:55, axman2526 said:

Depends, is our aim 4th place? As we used to joke the Arsenal cup lol. 

If it is then hos gamble paid off perfectly IF we get past Atletico as the 3 main sides chasing us, Hammers, Toffees and Spuds, all lost. So we technically gained a point on them.

If we want to catch Leicester or United...not so much. However again I think it comes down to IF we get past Madrid. I am pretty sure TT and the team focused on the CL when considering the Leeds game.

I would take 4th happily for this season as we were staring at 8th or 10th few games ago...

But we need to challenge for title next season and atleast come close...

With some luck in draw (and penalty shootouts) if we avoid PSG or Bayern till finals there is a chance of european glory..

Not getting carried away. Just to beat Athletico so well and make the quarter finals is kind of a bonus.

But would love to meet Real Madrid now and beat them as convincingly as we did Athletico.

Then beat the Dippers in the semi final just to make their miserable season a lot more miserable.

And then PSG in the final and TT to give a tactical masterclass and Silva to lift the trophy and they both win the CL with the "by far the greatest team that the world has ever seen. And we're Super Chelsea....................................................!"  

1 hour ago, Nibs said:

Not getting carried away. Just to beat Athletico so well and make the quarter finals is kind of a bonus.

But would love to meet Real Madrid now and beat them as convincingly as we did Athletico.

Then beat the Dippers in the semi final just to make their miserable season a lot more miserable.

And then PSG in the final and TT to give a tactical masterclass and Silva to lift the trophy and they both win the CL with the "by far the greatest team that the world has ever seen. And we're Super Chelsea....................................................!"  

Nah that’s not getting carried away. Totally on the cards. 

5 hours ago, Nibs said:

Not getting carried away. Just to beat Athletico so well and make the quarter finals is kind of a bonus.

But would love to meet Real Madrid now and beat them as convincingly as we did Athletico.

Then beat the Dippers in the semi final just to make their miserable season a lot more miserable.

And then PSG in the final and TT to give a tactical masterclass and Silva to lift the trophy and they both win the CL with the "by far the greatest team that the world has ever seen. And we're Super Chelsea....................................................!"  

Lol very much a dream scenario.

Few hours away from the draw.

Real Madrid or Liverpool please.