12 hours ago, Ballack & Blu said:

Reece’s audition went well, Pochettino proving very tactile, I think it’s between him and Chilly, and Enzo as a dark horse?

Considering in the interview he said “he can be a captain in the future” I think that pretty much rules him out tbh, at least for this season.

My moneys on Silva as the primary captain, which is a bit uninspired but I understand it.

does anyone know what kind of icon Pochettino is wearing on that bracelet 

11 hours ago, Victor90 said:

Enzo??? He's probably the most creative player we've had since Fabregas left. 

I don’t see him as an assist creator though, Enzo so  Skilful without doubt, can tell he has played with the very very best, but I stick to my point…

7 hours ago, azpi28 said:

does anyone know what kind of icon Pochettino is wearing on that bracelet 

I love Messi??🤣

I am intrigued to see what Pochettino can do next season. There has been a bit of hype with him in previous years, especially with Tottenham. I've seen some in football media mention how he's overrated etc. Impossible to know at the moment. He's not a miracle worker, he'll need the right players going into next season. Can't expect him to pull off a Leicester and magic a title win out of nowhere. With no CL it should be far more possible for us to achieve top four, at least. But also going deep into the domestic cup tournaments (dependent on draws) would be another expectation. I am glad that we have a different style now though. For so long we've had pragmatic, more defensive type managers. That's fine for what we had, but I also felt we were being held back. Watching us in pre-season now is night and day.

 

We look threatening up top, we are creating chances, and we actually seem to have a ST who knows where the goal is. It's a far cry from where we have been in recent seasons. If Pochettino isn't as successful as we hoped, I do hope we end up going in for another attractive style coach, someone like Luis Enrique. Of course though, I do hope that Pochettino is mega successful and able to win the league with Chelsea, maybe an FA Cup too. But the board have to support the guy. Don't be Tottenham! For us to have won the league 5 seasons ago, then the CL a couple seasons ago, to then be content with making top 4/6 would be a travesty and wholly unacceptable. From what I've heard from Boehly and Clearlake, this doesn't seem to be the case at all, but who knows. 

5 hours ago, enigma said:

I am intrigued to see what Pochettino can do next season. There has been a bit of hype with him in previous years, especially with Tottenham. I've seen some in football media mention how he's overrated etc. Impossible to know at the moment. He's not a miracle worker, he'll need the right players going into next season. Can't expect him to pull off a Leicester and magic a title win out of nowhere. With no CL it should be far more possible for us to achieve top four, at least. But also going deep into the domestic cup tournaments (dependent on draws) would be another expectation. I am glad that we have a different style now though. For so long we've had pragmatic, more defensive type managers. That's fine for what we had, but I also felt we were being held back. Watching us in pre-season now is night and day.

 

We look threatening up top, we are creating chances, and we actually seem to have a ST who knows where the goal is. It's a far cry from where we have been in recent seasons. If Pochettino isn't as successful as we hoped, I do hope we end up going in for another attractive style coach, someone like Luis Enrique. Of course though, I do hope that Pochettino is mega successful and able to win the league with Chelsea, maybe an FA Cup too. But the board have to support the guy. Don't be Tottenham! For us to have won the league 5 seasons ago, then the CL a couple seasons ago, to then be content with making top 4/6 would be a travesty and wholly unacceptable. From what I've heard from Boehly and Clearlake, this doesn't seem to be the case at all, but who knows. 

Not sure what he can achieve....for me, this is the weakest Chelsea squad we have had for 25 years.

Lack of leaders, No world class keeper. Best CB is almost 40. 2 best players (reece and Chilly) are injury prone. Lack of proven spine. 2 senior CMs. 1 Striker  (jackson) who has had half a decent season in his career and another striker (broja) who is just coming back from an ACL. The list goes on....

I said it under Potter, but we have to be realistic. This is a long term project and I cant see us delivering anything much in the short term. Fans need to be patient, and not jump on the team and managers back at the first signs of struggle like we did last year.

The progress has been in who we have got rid of - so small positive steps.

 

22 minutes ago, nonotnowjim said:

Not sure what he can achieve....for me, this is the weakest Chelsea squad we have had for 25 years.

Lack of leaders, No world class keeper. Best CB is almost 40. 2 best players (reece and Chilly) are injury prone. Lack of proven spine. 2 senior CMs. 1 Striker  (jackson) who has had half a decent season in his career and another striker (broja) who is just coming back from an ACL. The list goes on....

I said it under Potter, but we have to be realistic. This is a long term project and I cant see us delivering anything much in the short term. Fans need to be patient, and not jump on the team and managers back at the first signs of struggle like we did last year.

The progress has been in who we have got rid of - so small positive steps.

 

I think, (hope) we should have more positives than negatives this season Jim. At least we have a few viable options up front now, we have brought the average age down and that means young, hungry players. We have shipped out a lot of the deadwood and has-beens. Surely, (fingers crossed), we can't have the huge injury list we had last year? 

I currently have us 6th-7th. Caicedo coming in I reckon we make a strong push at 4th-3rd. 

22 minutes ago, just said:

I think, (hope) we should have more positives than negatives this season Jim. At least we have a few viable options up front now, we have brought the average age down and that means young, hungry players. We have shipped out a lot of the deadwood and has-beens. Surely, (fingers crossed), we can't have the huge injury list we had last year? 

Let's hope so. Fully agree that the starting point was getting rid of the deadwood. Jorgi, Auba, K2, were all a start. Next we need to continue it and make sure the likes of Ziyech and Lukaku go.

I do think we have made some mistakes - personally I would have kept Kai and played him in his proper position (as Arsenal have been). In his place I would have shipped Sterling.

Anyway - lets see..... fingers crossed it is a progression in our style.  Results can come later.

Hasn't Havertz been a clown this preseason and only looked somewhat decent against an unfit Barcelona?

23 minutes ago, Sconnie Blue said:

Hasn't Havertz been a clown this preseason and only looked somewhat decent against an unfit Barcelona?

No idea. Pre-season is largely irrelevant for form. The point is playing him in a deeper position - which I think will benefit him in time.

3 hours ago, nonotnowjim said:

Not sure what he can achieve....for me, this is the weakest Chelsea squad we have had for 25 years.

Lack of leaders, No world class keeper. Best CB is almost 40. 2 best players (reece and Chilly) are injury prone. Lack of proven spine. 2 senior CMs. 1 Striker  (jackson) who has had half a decent season in his career and another striker (broja) who is just coming back from an ACL. The list goes on....

I said it under Potter, but we have to be realistic. This is a long term project and I cant see us delivering anything much in the short term. Fans need to be patient, and not jump on the team and managers back at the first signs of struggle like we did last year.

The progress has been in who we have got rid of - so small positive steps.

 

You won't see me jumping on his back after bad results, because this manager is actually good and knows what he's doing. 

2 hours ago, Victor90 said:

You won't see me jumping on his back after bad results, because this manager is actually good and knows what he's doing. 

And then the season started....

1 hour ago, Valerie said:

And then the season started....

 HILARIOUS!!  

Pochettino: I still need experience in the midfield and hopefully quick.

The club: buys 19 year old midfielder from France.

One month at Chelsea and Pochettino has already won more trophies than at the Spuds.

10 hours ago, RMH said:

One month at Chelsea and Pochettino has already won more trophies than at the Spuds.

The season didn't even start and it looks like we already have the comment of the year right here, this can be pinned well done @RMH

On 28/07/2023 at 17:09, nonotnowjim said:

Let's hope so. Fully agree that the starting point was getting rid of the deadwood. Jorgi, Auba, K2, were all a start. Next we need to continue it and make sure the likes of Ziyech and Lukaku go.

I do think we have made some mistakes - personally I would have kept Kai and played him in his proper position (as Arsenal have been). In his place I would have shipped Sterling.

Anyway - lets see..... fingers crossed it is a progression in our style.  Results can come later.

Go on then, what's his proper position? Because i'll tell you when he played there for us and how sh*t he was in it. 

I think we will end up that 6-9th spot which last season was 62-59 points. It meant 15-18 wins and 9-14 losses in 38 games. That sounds very doeable with our Premier Leagues youngest squad. 

That is 19 home games which we win maybe half of and same goes to away games. Some draws here and there. 

 

I genuinely see us getting top 4. City, Arsenal, Villa, us, Liverpool and Utd battling it out for those top 6 places. 

Can see Newcastle and Brighton dropping off this year.

4 minutes ago, RIP Mourinho said:

I genuinely see us getting top 4. City, Arsenal, Villa, us, Liverpool and Utd battling it out for those top 6 places. 

Can see Newcastle and Brighton dropping off this year.

Very optimistic RIP given the circumstances but I like your glass half full positive thinking. On the other side we have the @OriginalS view with the glass completely empty and smashed on the floor, all the  young players are rubbish, Boehly and Clearlake arrested for war crimes, Stamford Bridge going to be demolished etc.

 I'm somewhere in-between myself. 

3 minutes ago, just said:

Very optimistic RIP given the circumstances but I like your glass half full positive thinking. On the other side we have the @OriginalS view with the glass completely empty and smashed on the floor, all the  young players are rubbish, Boehly and Clearlake arrested for war crimes, Stamford Bridge going to be demolished etc.

 I'm somewhere in-between myself. 

Genuinely had a laugh just so thanks 🤣

I was right about last season though (Sept onwards) , hopefully I don't go 2/2.

 

 

3 hours ago, RIP Mourinho said:

Go on then, what's his proper position? Because i'll tell you when he played there for us and how sh*t he was in it. 

For me, his best position is Lamps esque. CM, arriving late in the box. Not a winger. Not a striker. Not a standard ATM.

You are right - he played deeper for us a handful of times. But not often. Those occasions were also in a team that either was imploding and unbalanced (end of Lamps first period) - or under an ultra conservative, slow sideways backwards game we played under Tuchel.

We never saw him playing the deeper role, in a settled, stable or progressive team that moved the ball forward quickly.

 

He has gone. And we have moved on. But if I could choose between him or Sterling, I know my pick.

1 hour ago, OriginalS said:

Genuinely had a laugh just so thanks 🤣

I was right about last season though (Sept onwards) , hopefully I don't go 2/2.

Whenever you get those depressive thoughts OS just play Shaft by Issac Hayes.