Chelsea 2023/24 season thread.

cyberman said:
I was thinking that yesterday, for a big game team 1 win isn’t enough to make up for their dropped points against lower sides. There’s a real danger they could be walking away with 1 win in 7 looking at their next three fixtures and then it’s back against low blocks
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It's only 6 pointer match, when two teams are close to each other in term of point. As much as it's great to perform well against top teams, it's only morale boost for future.

As it stands, even if it's still early in the season. 9-10+ points gap with top 5 is still a huge gap for Chelsea since they dropped too much points to teams in lower half of the table. Suddenly there are too many 6 pointers games with teams around them on top of tough games against teams at the top of the league. Teams still want those potential EL ECL spots, let alone the potential CL football 5th place.
 
Ahmer Baig said:
Chelsea versus the current top four...

Chelsea 1 - Liverpool 1
Chelsea 2 - Arsenal 2
Spurs 1 - Chelsea 4
Chelsea 4 - Man City 4
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All but Spurs were at Stamford Bridge as well. But you could argue that Chelsea were the better side in each of the draws.
 
Had a funny feeling they'd win yesterday - they are probably the only team in the league with the possible exception of Liverpool who has a midfield that can actually compete with Manchester City.

My thinking is they'll creep up the table sooner rather than later as injuries bite the teams above them who all have European football (and some with league cup fixtures still to play). Maybe including ourselves.
 
The score goals much easier than we do it seems. I think they will finish above us come the end of the season. Better squad than ours imo.
 
They are erratic but i have respect for them in big names. Unlike us, they play even game against big teams. Not sitting back and trying to hold for a draw. It is fun to watch.
 
They are a bit erratic and will lose a lot of points. However, they could finish within the Europa League places at the end of the season. They will also start scoring a lot more goals once Nkunku is fit (and if Sterling remains fit).That would be a decent finish for Poch considering how badly they started the season.
 
Kostov said:
The score goals much easier than we do it seems. I think they will finish above us come the end of the season. Better squad than ours imo.
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It's easily a better squad. Their midfield in particular is looking set for years while ours needs replacing.

Nkunku will only add more goals too.

I'd be shocked if they don't finish ahead of us.
 
Ahmer Baig said:
Chelsea versus the current top four...

Chelsea 1 - Liverpool 1
Chelsea 2 - Arsenal 2
Spurs 1 - Chelsea 4
Chelsea 4 - Man City 4
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One win thanks greatly to Spurs playing with 9 men. This time last season United beat Arsenal,Man City,Liverpool and Tottenham in Old Trafford the media didn't give the same type of praise to Ten Hag then as they are doing with Poch now..
 
always_hoping said:
One win thanks greatly to Spurs playing with 9 men. This time last season United beat Arsenal,Man City,Liverpool and Tottenham in Old Trafford the media didn't give the same type of praise to Ten Hag then as they are doing with Poch now..
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Well nobody gave them any chance against those teams this season, and they were arguably the better team in majority of those matches, but they were a bit unlucky and or inexperience cause they still are a very young team.
 
Ronaldinho's snakebite said:
Well nobody gave them any chance against those teams this season, and they were arguably the better team in majority of those matches, but they were a bit unlucky and or inexperience cause they still are a very young team.
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Nobody gave us any chance. Especially against City, Arsenal and Liverpool. We was the better team against city and Liverpool also.
 
Ahmer Baig said:
Chelsea versus the current top four...

Chelsea 1 - Liverpool 1
Chelsea 2 - Arsenal 2
Spurs 1 - Chelsea 4
Chelsea 4 - Man City 4
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3 points at home in 3 games vs. Top4 teams should be the aim for any top8 side. Winning away against a 9 men Tottenham should also be feasible for the likes of Brighton and Villa. Let’s see how they fare in those other away games.

This underdog storyline with Chelsea as if they were Luton.2 is ridiculous seeing as they spent the better part of a billion and have around the same age average in their first eleven as an Arsenal side that challenged for the title last year.
 
always_hoping said:
One win thanks greatly to Spurs playing with 9 men. This time last season United beat Arsenal,Man City,Liverpool and Tottenham in Old Trafford the media didn't give the same type of praise to Ten Hag then as they are doing with Poch now..
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Not sure you worded that correctly by saying this time last season. The Old Trafford game vs City didn’t come until January, and by this time you had lost the away fixture 6-3.
 
jadajos said:
This underdog storyline with Chelsea as if they were Luton.2 is ridiculous seeing as they spent the better part of a billion and have around the same age average in their first eleven as an Arsenal side that challenged for the title last year.
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The age part is largely true but isn't that basically where the similarities end?

Last year Arsenal had more or less a settled team with so many of their key players having been there for at least a couple of years and the manager Arterta being on his 4th season as well. Players like Martinelli, Saka, Ödegaard, Partey, Xhaka, Gabriel, White and Ramsdale basically started all their games and were fully settled at the club with only a handful of key additions being made into the team for the 22/23 season like Jesus, Zinchenko and Saliba. This was a squad who'd grown together as a team under the same leadership and had been allowed the time to overcome some initial struggles to reach the level they were playing at last season (and still are now).

Of our current team only Silva, James and Chilwell were even part of the squad pre-2022 and everyone else has come in sometime in the last year, not to mention the manager being new as well. It's not an underdog storyline but I said it in the summer and still stand by it that no matter how much money has been spent it would be harsh to expect a newly-built team with a newly-appointed manager to immediately look like world beaters because that's just not how it works in football. A manager implementing his ideas can take time, and the players building some chemistry between them on the pitch can take time as well. So far this season I've seen enough glimpses of quality to believe things will eventually click and the results will start going in our favor sooner or later. Whether that comes to fruition or not is another question.
 
Zaphod2319 said:
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Not that I don't think it's very much plausible our salary bill is currently 5th highest in the league but the numbers seem way off for everyone.

For example, City's latest financial report was released just last week for the 22/23 season and their wages overall were around £423M. Though that number includes all club staff from the tea lady all the way to the very top and not just the players, but I'm under the impression the playing staff still makes up for the vast majority of that figure.
 
Haven't seen us play that badly since City away under Conte in 2018, this one maybe even more tragic. For Poch to watch it continue to get worse and worse , going on 20 minutes into the 2nd half and do absolutely nothing is inexcusable.

The easiest match Utd will have all season.
 
1905 said:
Haven't seen us play that badly since City away under Conte in 2018, this one maybe even more tragic. For Poch to watch it continue to get worse and worse , going on 20 minutes into the 2nd half and do absolutely nothing is inexcusable.

The easiest match Utd will have all season.
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Yet we still made a meal of it. :lol:

What's happened then? Is Poch just not good enough?
 
Reece James tonight, disgraceful performance when he came on, talk about not giving a shit, felt like he was almost playing for Utd with some of the stuff he was doing. What has happened to him?
 
Berbasbullet said:
Yet we still made a meal of it. :lol:

What's happened then? Is Poch just not good enough?
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A mixture of the players being inexperienced and often shite and Poch not implementing any clear style or pattern of play continuously. We've played well in one off matches, but then the next week we are somehow worse than our last worst performance. We lack any sort of identity and cohesion, which isn't surprising given the amount of changes but Poch still has to do better in matches when clearly things aren't working.
 
1905 said:
Haven't seen us play that badly since City away under Conte in 2018, this one maybe even more tragic. For Poch to watch it continue to get worse and worse , going on 20 minutes into the 2nd half and do absolutely nothing is inexcusable.

The easiest match Utd will have all season.
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That was genuinely pathetic from us. The lack of effort and lackadaisical trotting around was unforgivable. It’s been years since I’ve seen us play this badly.
 
WeePat said:
That was genuinely pathetic from us. The lack of effort and lackadaisical trotting around was unforgivable. It’s been years since I’ve seen us play this badly.
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You made us look like a force. You're really, really bad. Like, easiest game we've had this season, bad.
 
We're 10th for a reason... Bang average mid table side. That cost $1 billion odd.

Maybe with Nkunku, Lavia, Chilwell and others back we might be a lot better.
 
Fortitude said:
You made us look like a force. You're really, really bad. Like, easiest game we've had this season, bad.
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It’s literally been at least 5 years since I’ve seen a performance this bad. Tonight feels more like an outlier than the actual level of this team. The inconsistency is maddening. The fact that United were there for the taking and we don’t bother laying a finger on you is extra annoying.
 
WeePat said:
It’s literally been at least 5 years since I’ve seen a performance this bad. Tonight feels more like an outlier than the actual level of this team. The inconsistency is maddening. The fact that United were there for the taking and we don’t bother laying a finger on you is extra annoying.
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Haven't watched you with any attention this season. Couldn't believe what I was seeing. You've a midfield pairing we'd want here and yet they got outplayed by our much maligned midfield. Very surreal from this side of the fence!

I'll take your word that's an outlier performance; why the hell have they served it up on such a big stage?

You've given us a much needed boost, so I'm happy for that, but I don't think we'll have an easier game than that all season.
 
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