Just a wee correction to your original post.
Chelsea 2023/24 season thread.
- Thread starter duffer
- Start date
Just a wee correction to your original post.
Yeah really good points. I was surprised in the gulf between the two teams all things considered.
Jackson taking that extra touch before shooting in the first half sums up their issues, no killer instinct in the big games these days.
Guessing Nkunku return is imminent so we'll see if he's better at converting those type of chances.
Yes that’s true (though pen counted for nearly 1xg). I wasn’t trying to say we deserved something out of the game or anything. We were thoroughly outplayed and honestly our performance deserved a battering. I said in a different thread I think but a more confident team probably shreds us to pieces and beats us 5-1.
My gut feeling is Chelsea won’t renew his contract beyond this season (he’s been signing 1 year extensions every season since 2020). We have to start phasing him out now though. When Conte arrived, he started the season with Terry in the team, but one day he started leaving him out and that was it for him at Chelsea. He sat on the bench the rest of the season and then signed for you lot in the summer. The phasing out period gave Luiz and Cahill the time to play without Terry holding their hand.
It was one of the worst performances I’ve seen from us in years. Probably the worst since the Conte years. I don’t think what you saw last night was a good representation of the level of our team.
That’s a big call. I don’t blame you for trying to wipe it from your memory but last season did actually happen.
Genuine question, did this £1.75 billion pledge have to be spent inside a certain amount of time? As they can't have had enough time to assess the sqaud properly, and do proper due diligence on all the players they bought, and are now paying the price for been so slap dash.
It just seems they wanted to burn through as much of this money as quickly as possible for whatever reason.
It just seems they wanted to burn through as much of this money as quickly as possible for whatever reason.
I was absolutely amazed that I saw a team who were actually worse than United.
I know that's a general statement, but from the five or six chances you created, you never really looked confident of scoring, in fact the hardest chance was the one taken. Defensively you were very poor, and realistically, United should have scored five or six.
Not sure if the problem is Poch, or whether the players just don't have confidence in him.
I think perhaps expectations being different skews perceptions a little. I had fully checked out of last season by the end of February and my expectations for every remaining game were in the mud. I suppose I should have qualified it with ‘relative to expectations’. I was more disappointed last night than any game post Christmas last season.
Appreciate it
Did he spend a billion? Have you not seen how spending ungodly money can actually be more of a hindrance than a help?
The results haven't been good enough but much like Arteta's first 2 seasons you can see clear signs of development. Results can lie for short periods of time, it's pretty easy to tell when a team is moving in the right direction to change results and do it in a fashion that can be sustainable due to the football they play.
No? Almost certainly the opposite is true.
I’m not disputing the general quality of their performances though. The level of expectation at Chelsea is much higher than midtable though and I, and many others, would have expected a much greater showing in the table after 15 games.
With that in mind, there’s no way we can constitute his performance as manager as ‘excellent’. I just find this thinking ludicrous and reflects the ridiculous media scrutiny of certain clubs.
United are far ahead (points wise) and the media clamour for his head. Even City are in a supposed ‘mini crisis’, yet very little is actually made of Chelsea - perhaps it’s just because they’ve been shite for so long.
United dominated the game, missed a penalty and had an xG of almost 5 to Chelsea’s 1.
It should have been 3/4/5 goals to one in United’s favour and if the likes of Martinez, Casemiro, Eriksen, Mount, Varane etc were all available then possibly even more comfortable.
Poch should be getting more from this team in my opinion. There’s a number of players in it that have experience in the PL and should have hit the ground running, especially playing one game per week without any other commitments or travel.
Caceido, Sterling, Silva, Colwill, James, Chilwell, Sanchez, Gallagher, Broja all know what the PL is about and shouldn’t need as long to adapt. Even the likes of Mudryk and Enzo have been at the club almost 12 months now.
I don’t think their performances in general have been horrendous but I also don’t think it’s asking too much to be expecting more at this stage.
They have spent over a billion since Boehly took over. They had two central midfielders worth over £100m a piece on the pitch against United v Amrabat and Mctominay.
Ten Hag gets criticised for having spent 400m and he is still having to play a shed load of players he didn’t even sign that don’t fit his system (Lindelof, Maguire, Mctominay, Martial etc). He also has to make signings like Weghorst, Sabitzer and Evans because of the Glazers whilst Chelsea have been essentially spending through the nose at whoever they desire.
I can see why people think Poch should be doing more.
I think people hugely underrate how hard it is to come into a club where there has clearly been a rot and turn things around. Especially once with issues above the manager and huge squad changes.
He has come in and in less than 6 months they look like a team that will do well. Certainly still issues and for instance I would have dropped Silva 6 weeks ago at least but you can tell there is a good side forming there.
That is impressive considering how messy the job he walked into was.
The opposite may be true if a club as a good structure for buying the right profile of player.
Spending hand over fist haphazardly under the stewardship of inexperienced ownership is a recipe for mediocrity.
Yeah, that match was a disasterclass from Chelsea, as was the Newcastle match. This United side has struggled to score all season and they put up an xG >4.
Playing away to top 6/7 sides is never easy but those two matches would worry me as a Chelsea supporter in terms of where this is going. Probably their two worst matches of the season.
Chelsea's defensive organization was terrible all match. United do not have a good midfield or set of ball players at the back and yet were cutting through them with ease.
Look at the second goal, its a disaster all around. The front three are bypassed by a slow rolled pass to Maguire, and even a supertanker like him has acres of space to turn and start carrying forward unimpeded. Rather than recognizing the danger and falling into a line with the central midfielders or trying to help cut off Maguire's passing options, Palmer just ambles up and marks nobody. Meanwhile, Sterling is jogging back despite Dalot being ahead of him and running into a huge empty space in front of the defense on the left. James gets sucked in so Dalot passes to Garnacho to tee up a completely unmarked cross at his leisure. United has an overload on the back post because Mudryk is too lazy or confused to run back and mark his man. The overload doesn't even matter in the end because Silva loses his marker, Colwill weakly just falls down, and United has three free players at the back post to nod home a cross that Garnacho had all day to pick out.
Could've signed Endrick
Will they regret this?
https://www.theguardian.com/footbal...g-football-thats-what-i-want-to-do-in-my-life
His father, Douglas, picks up the story. “I have to admit I do not like the cold but my wife and Endrick do. Endrick really likes playing in the rain. So we received an invitation from Chelsea, from the owner, and we went there to see the club and the country. We watched Chelsea play Arsenal and we got to see the coach, the facilities, Jorginho, César Azpilicueta and Thiago Silva.
“They explained everything to us. They introduced us to the person who would help us settle in. She showed us the house we would live in, the school Endrick would go to, the church we would attend. Everything was right with us and Chelsea
“I can’t say 100% because I hadn’t signed, but the deal was agreed. I had already got it into my head that I would live in London with all that cold weather. But then at night, my son’s manager phoned and said that the Chelsea owner had backed out of the deal because the price they would have to pay for Endrick would inflate the market. It was €60m [£51.4m] for a 16-year-old boy who would only arrive in the country almost two years later.”
Will they regret this?
https://www.theguardian.com/footbal...g-football-thats-what-i-want-to-do-in-my-life
His father, Douglas, picks up the story. “I have to admit I do not like the cold but my wife and Endrick do. Endrick really likes playing in the rain. So we received an invitation from Chelsea, from the owner, and we went there to see the club and the country. We watched Chelsea play Arsenal and we got to see the coach, the facilities, Jorginho, César Azpilicueta and Thiago Silva.
“They explained everything to us. They introduced us to the person who would help us settle in. She showed us the house we would live in, the school Endrick would go to, the church we would attend. Everything was right with us and Chelsea
“I can’t say 100% because I hadn’t signed, but the deal was agreed. I had already got it into my head that I would live in London with all that cold weather. But then at night, my son’s manager phoned and said that the Chelsea owner had backed out of the deal because the price they would have to pay for Endrick would inflate the market. It was €60m [£51.4m] for a 16-year-old boy who would only arrive in the country almost two years later.”
We’re in the business of winning transfer windows these days. As back to back to back transfer window winners, it’s only fair we decided to back out to give the competition a chance.
Reece James must be a candidate for early retirement.
I have officially checked out of this season. Feck this team.
Horrible result
This has the potential to be the very worst project in the history of the game, when you look at the money spent and the squad that has been assembled.
It is looking like a massive oversight by Boehly and co. to think they could apply the same principals to a team in the premier league.
They have hamstrung themselves for the next 7-8 years with an extremely average core squad.
It is looking like a massive oversight by Boehly and co. to think they could apply the same principals to a team in the premier league.
They have hamstrung themselves for the next 7-8 years with an extremely average core squad.
Boehly & Co. arrived thinking they were the smartest guys in the room. "The old guard were dinosaurs! We know better!" It turns out having no experience and endless hubris leads to this calamity.
They inherited one of the most successful clubs in Europe over the last 2 decades and have left them in shambles within 2 years, having spent hundreds of millions in the process. Baffling.
They inherited one of the most successful clubs in Europe over the last 2 decades and have left them in shambles within 2 years, having spent hundreds of millions in the process. Baffling.
I like you and @duffer so feel bad for you but it's funny to compile the misery on certain Poch lovers.
Your transfers are crap though - you're back to being 90s Chelsea and I love it
Lover - singularI like you and @duffer so feel bad for you but it's funny to compile the misery on certain Poch lovers.
Would we really be calling this a season? Seems a bit harsh on the word season tbh.
I like you and @duffer so feel bad for you but it's funny to compile the misery on certain Poch lovers.
Indeed. Not just Poch lovers, 1 or 2 Boehly / Clearlake ones as well.
Pat and the others at least call it like they see it.
They've been peppered a few times to leave a bit of salt in their eyes so I'd say so.
I like you and @duffer so feel bad for you but it's funny to compile the misery on certain Poch lovers.
Thanks. We deserve the pile on to be honest. The ownership, the manager, the players, the lot of them deserve all the stick. Feck them. They’re embarrassing.
By comparison to us, United fans know pretty well the deadwood that have been around for years that we never shift
Chelsea fans, who’s the deadwood in your squad? It doesn’t feel like you’ve had most of these players very long (so maybe different scenario tbf)
Chelsea fans, who’s the deadwood in your squad? It doesn’t feel like you’ve had most of these players very long (so maybe different scenario tbf)
They’re basically the opposite scenario to us.
Major surgery required to the squad.
We still need a striker. We need a new captain, James is injured too much and to replace Raheem.
Experienced players need to come in, not just kids.
1.3 PPG or worse is our level at the moment and a new manager won't change that.
We still need a striker. We need a new captain, James is injured too much and to replace Raheem.
Experienced players need to come in, not just kids.
1.3 PPG or worse is our level at the moment and a new manager won't change that.
Too many shit new players?
Can’t pinpoint any particular deadwood. Each individual is decent enough. We got rid of all the supposed deadwood last summer and the remaining deadwood aren’t really playing anyway (Sarr) or on loan (Lukaku).
I really don’t think the problem lies with the playing squad. 85% of them are new players signed in the last 12-18 months. They’re mostly talented young players who have the potential to blossom into excellent top players.
The owners and I’m sorry to say it, Poch, are the biggest problems.
Who would have thought signing a bunch of average players for crazy amounts of money would lead to a failure?
Probably easier to solve than our problems then - who’s the fans pick to come in if Poch gets the boot?
Gallagher isn't deadwood but I think everyone knows they're not going to be challenging for CL and cups with him as a midfield regular anytime soon. He's their McTominay pretty much.