1 hour ago, Sconnie Blue said:

De Zerbi doing the rounds yet again. 

 

We will be totally rinsed by Brighton again if we attempt to recruit De Zerbi. Given current PSR situation we will likely be looking for cheaper options.

The disappointing thing is that outside of Palmer and Gusto, no-one else in the squad is really excelling. They are all very average. Jackson has done fairly well but it’s hard to see him ever being “elite” - I.e Salah, Saka, Son etc. 

Its just massively disappointing that they are not making that step up. 

1 minute ago, Sconnie Blue said:

Can't see it being past him or Amorim. 

 

Haven’t both got high release clauses?

Just now, JM7 said:

The disappointing thing is that outside of Palmer and Gusto, no-one else in the squad is really excelling. They are all very average. Jackson has done fairly well but it’s hard to see him ever being “elite” - I.e Salah, Saka, Son etc. 

Its just massively disappointing that they are not making that step up. 

Isn't that pretty typical when you sign a bunch of youth on potential though? You are always going to get a mixed bag. For one reason or another, very few players who show promise at a young age will go on to be world beaters. A few years back we produced an excellent crop of talent from our academy. But how many of those players actually went on to fulfil their potential?

That is the risk with setting a transfer policy based entirely on young players with potential. There should have been some balance to the approach.

7 minutes ago, JM7 said:

Haven’t both got high release clauses?

Amorim - £17m (Paul Joyce)

De Zerbi - £13m (Telegraph)

23 hours ago, WhiteWall said:

Perhaps, although I'm not totally sure where we can pinpoint the nucleus of the downfall.  Maybe it was that 51st game, having won 32 and lost just 7 of his previous 50 games. Or maybe it was at the point of holding the Champions league trophy aloft in May 2021, or maybe winning the Super Cup, or maybe winning the World Club Cup. Its hard to see when the writing really was on the wall. Nothing to do with these idiot venture capitalists binning off virtually every remnant of the very fabric of our club, and replacing it with clowns to the left of us, jokers to the right.

 

Chelsea - Juventus, November 2021 - the exact moment when everything started to fall apart being Chilwell's injury. The irony is it's definitely one of the best performances I've ever seen from us.

Around that period, I genuinely thought not only we were legitimate title contenders, but that Tuchel was developing us into a dominant force of a team, which had yet to reach its peak in years to come. And I still think it could've happened if it wasn't for the takeover.

Couple of weeks later the series of unfortunate events begins: Mendy giving away 3 points at West Ham, injury crisis, covid crisis, Lukaku interview, sanctions, takeover...it hasn't ended to this day it seems. 

But really given the circumstances, what Tuchel did that season is a result that should be respected. A comfortable top four finish, two cup finals and outclassing Real at Bernabeu, all while you could sense nothing but uncertainty around the club...

Edited April 1, 20242 yr by wizardous

3 hours ago, forbzy said:

Isn't that pretty typical when you sign a bunch of youth on potential though? You are always going to get a mixed bag. For one reason or another, very few players who show promise at a young age will go on to be world beaters. A few years back we produced an excellent crop of talent from our academy. But how many of those players actually went on to fulfil their potential?

That is the risk with setting a transfer policy based entirely on young players with potential. There should have been some balance to the approach.

Yeah you’re right. The club have bought too many raw players who need developing. How is a manager meant to win games when his focus has to be working on development? 

1 hour ago, wizardous said:

Chelsea - Juventus, November 2021 - the exact moment when everything started to fall apart being Chilwell's injury. The irony is it's definitely one of the best performances I've ever seen from us.

Around that period, I genuinely thought not only we were legitimate title contenders, but that Tuchel was developing us into a dominant force of a team, which had yet to reach its peak in years to come. And I still think it could've happened if it wasn't for the takeover.

Couple of weeks later the series of unfortunate events begins: Mendy giving away 3 points at West Ham, injury crisis, covid crisis, Lukaku interview, sanctions, takeover...it hasn't ended to this day it seems. 

But really given the circumstances, what Tuchel did that season is a result that should be respected. A comfortable top four finish, two cup finals and outclassing Real at Bernabeu, all while you could sense nothing but uncertainty around the club...

Great post.

On 31/03/2024 at 18:07, Sconnie Blue said:

Lukaku signing 

Ah yes, the " Final piece of the Jigsaw" 

14 hours ago, bisright1 said:

I think Sarris talent with Hazard was giving him the freedom to perform. 

You need to watch jt interview about Hazard, Hazard doesn't care about tactic or instruction. 

 

 

11 hours ago, forbzy said:

Isn't that pretty typical when you sign a bunch of youth on potential though? You are always going to get a mixed bag. For one reason or another, very few players who show promise at a young age will go on to be world beaters. A few years back we produced an excellent crop of talent from our academy. But how many of those players actually went on to fulfil their potential?

That is the risk with setting a transfer policy based entirely on young players with potential. There should have been some balance to the approach.

This is why no big team do this. Why bother taking the risk and allocating resources to do this when you can ask smaller team to do so. 

4 hours ago, Bob stark said:

You need to watch jt interview about Hazard, Hazard doesn't care about tactic or instruction. 

 

 

Yes I know. And I anticipate Sarri knew that more than any other manager we had. Which is why Hazard did so well under him. 

Edited April 2, 20242 yr by bisright1

16 hours ago, JM7 said:

Jackson has done fairly well but it’s hard to see him ever being “elite” - I.e Salah, Saka, Son etc. 

That's a call that's not as easy to make as you do. I remember what Salah was like playing for us and even at Fiorentina and Roma whilst better he wasn't looking like Salah of Liverpool. Do you not? 

Saka is in his 6th season of Premier league football, only the last three including current has he returned better output than Jackson. 

Son has done considerably well especially playing behind Kane for most of his time here but his first season in Premier league he returned 4 goals and a single assist. 

Conceded 10 goals in the last 5 games against Burnley (19th), Leicester (Championship), Newcastle (8th), Brentford (13th), Leeds (Championship).

That's shocking, shouldn't be conceding more than 3 or 4 at the most. Even conceding to Championship opposition at all is shameful. 

Attack letting us down last season now the defence is letting us down this season....

I blame Poch tactics... Would we be THIS bad under Tuchel? 

I think one thing is clear from the Forbes interview with Ted Lasso they are not going to sack Poch because arrogantly they believe their project will work. 

21 minutes ago, El regreso said:

I think one thing is clear from the Forbes interview with Ted Lasso they are not going to sack Poch because arrogantly they believe their project will work. 

Why is it arrogant to believe in the project?

“Arrogance the quality of being unpleasantly proud and behaving as if you are more important than or know ,ore than other people”. 

I think the project with less injuries and the right manager can work. I’ve always thought that and I still do. But the evidence is against me. 

What Ted Lasso didn't get is unlike American sports, time is not on your side, you can't have a couple of poor seasons without some consequences. You don't go up, you quickly go down, there were so many examples in the last decade. That's why we don't see top teams build around youth. A healthy team would have helped, but coincidentally the huge injury tolls come along with the take over. We don't even play in Europe this season, we shouldn't have this amount of injuries, period. As for Poch, my feeling is he's going from I'm trying to just going through the motions in the past few weeks. Just like some of the players, he may show up on a specific day, but for most days he's just doing enough to stay in the job. I'm sure he's aware he could be sacked, but not going to happen because...

Chelsea are 5pts off 7th (West Ham) with 3 games in hand and are 4pts off 8th (Newcastle) with 2 games in hand. #cfc
 

So frustrating that this team can’t put a run of wins together. The mountain isn’t hard to climb at all. 

11 minutes ago, JM7 said:

Chelsea are 5pts off 7th (West Ham) with 3 games in hand and are 4pts off 8th (Newcastle) with 2 games in hand. #cfc
 

So frustrating that this team can’t put a run of wins together. The mountain isn’t hard to climb at all. 

There have been a couple of times this season when we've got close enough to teams above us to climb a few places if we can string a few wins together, and up to now it has been frustrating that we have failed to take advantage. The gap now is closer than it's been all season, so fingers crossed that a few more players can step up and help get it done. We really do need to beat Manchester United though !

10 League games left, @ChelseaFC need 4 points to equal last season, 10 to equal 2015/16, previous lowest this century, & 21 to equal 2000/01, next lowest. So likely best for this ownership is 2 of 3 worst finishes this century

3 hours ago, JM7 said:

Chelsea are 5pts off 7th (West Ham) with 3 games in hand and are 4pts off 8th (Newcastle) with 2 games in hand. #cfc
 

So frustrating that this team can’t put a run of wins together. The mountain isn’t hard to climb at all. 

This has been the case all season - we get within touching distance and then screw it up. Either missing easy chances, conceding stupid goals or making baffling managerial decisions. Occasionally we've just been absolutely walloped.

14 hours ago, ozboy said:

Why is it arrogant to believe in the project?

“Arrogance the quality of being unpleasantly proud and behaving as if you are more important than or know ,ore than other people”. 

I think the project with less injuries and the right manager can work. I’ve always thought that and I still do. But the evidence is against me. 

When Boehly took over we were reigning European champions, now we are midtable mediocrity for the second season in a row.

Most importantly, nothing suggests that things are going to get better anytime soon. With FFP looming over us it could only get worse. 

You might be right though, at this point I wouldn't say it's arrogant to believe in this "project". More like delusional.

Edited April 3, 20242 yr by wizardous
edit : "project"

15 hours ago, ozboy said:

Why is it arrogant to believe in the project?

“Arrogance the quality of being unpleasantly proud and behaving as if you are more important than or know ,ore than other people”. 

I think the project with less injuries and the right manager can work. I’ve always thought that and I still do. But the evidence is against me. 

You answered your question they believe they have the right manger and squad so yes arrogantly they will let this run because they think they got the pieces right and it will work.

1 hour ago, El regreso said:

You answered your question they believe they have the right manger and squad so yes arrogantly they will let this run because they think they got the pieces right and it will work.

By all means. Let's see if they still believe he's the right answer when we finish the season in a non-European place again. 

If it doesn't work, again, the fans have the right to call them out.