Chelsea 2024/25

Good luck to Chelsea. They do have several likeable players in the squad, and I would much rather they won the title before Liverpool, City or Arsenal

Chelsea should be the case study for giving players time to adjust to a system and new teammates. Every single one of these players was written off at one stage

Cucurella
Colwill
Badiashile
Enzo
Caicedo
Madueke
Jackson

Every single one of them performing consistently at high levels this season.
 
FriedClams said:
Good luck to Chelsea. They do have several likeable players in the squad, and I would much rather they won the title before Liverpool, City or Arsenal

Chelsea should be the case study for giving players time to adjust to a system and new teammates. Every single one of these players was written off at one stage

Cucurella
Colwill
Badiashile
Enzo
Caicedo
Madueke
Jackson

Every single one of them performing consistently at high levels this season.
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Written off by who though?

I would say most Chelsea fans have never stopped rating most of the players on that list very highly, the negativity was always the loudest with fans of other clubs who don't actually watch the games closely enough to form a proper opinion. Though it has to be said even most of us had just about given up on Cucurella before all of a sudden he became really good early into 2024.

I don't think Badiashile belongs in that group though, he's been far from convincing this season. He's done alright in the Conference League against lower level opposition but barely gets to play PL football and always seems to have a big mistake in him when he does.
 
UsualSuspect said:
Absolutely fair. Colwill, Fofana, and Gusto are very much a work in progress. Fofana has injury concerns as well and the backup options aren't at the same level. In attack if we replace Neto with Madueke, Sancho with Felix, the level maintains.

I can see us raiding a CB from City or following through with Murillo in the near future.
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I so hope so.
 
Shinjch said:
They are going very well, didn't see it coming.
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They are playing well, but only 3 clean sheets in 15 games must be a concern. Both their centre halves are quick, skilful, short and not the most convincing dealing with crosses while the goalie is way out of his depth compared to the rest of their squad.
 
amolbhatia50k said:
I’m quite jealous of their improvement this season. They were supposed to be the club that we pointed to as being even worse run. And improvement hasn’t even been been obvious and in stages. The same moves we mocked and thought were senile are suddenly looked good now.

I’m wondering what we can learn from this. We’ve also been signing young talent but is the main difference the quantity? As in, sign 10 instead of 3 so that that 4 instead of 1 work out and you’re good to go? We probably don’t have that sort of silly money.
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Same here. They’ve massively improved. I wish we could do so as well.
 
If Fofana and James weren’t so injury prone, Chelsea’s defense would be much much better
 
amolbhatia50k said:
I’m quite jealous of their improvement this season. They were supposed to be the club that we pointed to as being even worse run. And improvement hasn’t even been been obvious and in stages. The same moves we mocked and thought were senile are suddenly looked good now.

I’m wondering what we can learn from this. We’ve also been signing young talent but is the main difference the quantity? As in, sign 10 instead of 3 so that that 4 instead of 1 work out and you’re good to go? We probably don’t have that sort of silly money.
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For one, Ugarte is the first actual highly rated young midfield player we've brought in, and even he was never as highly regarded as the trio of Lavia/Caicedo/Enzo. That sort of platform of quality makes the entire team function much better. Getting Palmer was a masterstroke.

In general they've been very proactive in targeting the highest rated young players from anywhere in the world, and have been willing to spend to acquire them. Along with being willing to cut bait quickly and sell "promising players" that don't quite fit the team, it's meant they could reshape the squad moreso than what many football fans thought was possible very quickly.

Compare that to our past 3 years or so of transfers and attitude towards squad building: We are FAR too slow to ever move players on, and generally don't capitalize on players that might have high resale value still. We have sat trying to build around Rashford and Bruno (both flawed footballers to build around) for 5 years now without much more than a distant 2nd place finish and a couple of cups to show for it. We've refused to allocate significant funds to reinforce the midfield with the best midfield prospects, instead choosing to pursue a past his prime Casemiro and a bad squad fit in Mount. We opted to spend twice the money on a player that is easily more raw than Nicolas Jackson. I could keep going but you get the picture...

Put it this way: Lenny Yoro was considered a masterstroke from us in the summer by almost anyone that knows football because while we paid a big fee, we essentially got the best young CB prospect in the world before he hit his prime and went to another top club. Chelsea has been operating with that sort of strategy for 3 years now with far more players.
 
How the feck have Chelsea managed to con people into viewing them as a likeable team :lol:
 
We need a Thiago Silva style of CB to stabilize us at the back. Someone who is an organizer, a leader, and is super calm and composed. A no nonsense guy who is perhaps 30+ years old.

There’s gotta be someone like that around Europe who we could get in January if needed.
 
RedC said:
How the feck have Chelsea managed to con people into viewing them as a likeable team :lol:
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A team of professional seal clubbers coached by the ghost of Mussolini would suddenly seem quite likeable if they looked like they might be able to stop Liverpool winning a title.
 
FriedClams said:
Good luck to Chelsea. They do have several likeable players in the squad, and I would much rather they won the title before Liverpool, City or Arsenal

Chelsea should be the case study for giving players time to adjust to a system and new teammates. Every single one of these players was written off at one stage

Cucurella
Colwill
Badiashile
Enzo
Caicedo
Madueke
Jackson

Every single one of them performing consistently at high levels this season.
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I mean I can’t say I agree with this.

They are doing really well this season but I wouldn’t say all those players listed are playing at consistently high levels or time and patience has been the Clearlake way.

If anything they have been quite robust in their decision making and in moving people on.

Maresca has done well in making it clear who he wanted, who who didn’t and the club have supported him to form those boundaries which seems to have helped squad cohesion.
 
WeePat said:
This place will be flooding with newbie Chelsea fans if we're top of the league in March :lol:
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Surely you mean returning? Once you get all the ones back that left for City :lol:

As for me, I'd rather you lot won than the other 3, until your fans repeat Arsenal fans becoming uppty that is :lol:
 
RedC said:
How the feck have Chelsea managed to con people into viewing them as a likeable team :lol:
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I absolutely detest Chelsea, but as a United fan at the minutes it’s like asking if I’d rather die by being burned, drowned or buried alive.
 
TheReligion said:
I mean I can’t say I agree with this.

They are doing really well this season but I wouldn’t say all those players listed are playing at consistently high levels or time and patience has been the Clearlake way.

If anything they have been quite robust in their decision making and in moving people on.

Maresca has done well in making it clear who he wanted, who who didn’t and the club have supported him to form those boundaries which seems to have helped squad cohesion.
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I think what he's saying is that, in general, sometimes, players need time to work through their inconsistencies. Not all the time of course, but sometimes it's worth sticking with a player. Cucurella is a prime example of this because the entire Chelsea fanbase was pretty much ready to sell him at a huge loss just to get rid of him and Chelsea were seemingly ready to loan him to United last winter. So he's come from the depth of football hell and resurrected his career at Chelsea. I don't really think the likes of Caicedo and Jackson belong in a conversation like this because they were actually playing pretty well last season, they just weren't getting the flowers they deserved, and the likes of Madueke and Colwill had up and down seasons but they weren't outright bad like Cucurella was.

You are right though, that although I'm glad we finally look like we can put some consistent results together, I'm not a fan of the process it took to get here. There was no need to sign 40 players in 2 years. Just on the surface that's absurdly ridiculous, even before you get to the practical and logistical issues a squad of that size created. I read in the Guardian the other day that there was approx £500m worth of talent signed by Clearlake (24 players) that have started fewer than 3 games for us this season. Obviously some of that is kids like Estevao and Paez who legally cannot join Chelsea until 2025 but most of them are players that will never ever sniff the first team at Chelsea.

So yeah, Maresca deserves a lot of praise. He's managed to quieten all the noise around the club by just winning matches but I don't think anybody should be looking at the process Clearlake took to get here with envy or ideas that should be copied.
 
Bartondale said:
They are playing well, but only 3 clean sheets in 15 games must be a concern. Both their centre halves are quick, skilful, short and not the most convincing dealing with crosses while the goalie is way out of his depth compared to the rest of their squad.
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I don't think it's as much a concern when you're the youngest team in the league, and by that all I mean is that everyone (fans, players, staff, owners) expects imperfection. Colwill and Fofana are about the same size as Terry and Carvalho. Both super talented but at the moment there is always a little tactical mistake happening. The overall size of the XI is a little concerning - Cucu, Gusto, Caicedo, Enzo, Sancho, Neto are all short.
 
WeePat said:
I think what he's saying is that, in general, sometimes, players need time to work through their inconsistencies. Not all the time of course, but sometimes it's worth sticking with a player. Cucurella is a prime example of this because the entire Chelsea fanbase was pretty much ready to sell him at a huge loss just to get rid of him and Chelsea were seemingly ready to loan him to United last winter. So he's come from the depth of football hell and resurrected his career at Chelsea. I don't really think the likes of Caicedo and Jackson belong in a conversation like this because they were actually playing pretty well last season, they just weren't getting the flowers they deserved, and the likes of Madueke and Colwill had up and down seasons but they weren't outright bad like Cucurella was.

You are right though, that although I'm glad we finally look like we can put some consistent results together, I'm not a fan of the process it took to get here. There was no need to sign 40 players in 2 years. Just on the surface that's absurdly ridiculous, even before you get to the practical and logistical issues a squad of that size created. I read in the Guardian the other day that there was approx £500m worth of talent signed by Clearlake (24 players) that have started fewer than 3 games for us this season. Obviously some of that is kids like Estevao and Paez who legally cannot join Chelsea until 2025 but most of them are players that will never ever sniff the first team at Chelsea.

So yeah, Maresca deserves a lot of praise. He's managed to quieten all the noise around the club by just winning matches but I don't think anybody should be looking at the process Clearlake took to get here with envy or ideas that should be copied.
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That’s a good, honest, assessment.
 
WeePat said:
You are right though, that although I'm glad we finally look like we can put some consistent results together, I'm not a fan of the process it took to get here. There was no need to sign 40 players in 2 years. Just on the surface that's absurdly ridiculous, even before you get to the practical and logistical issues a squad of that size created. I read in the Guardian the other day that there was approx £500m worth of talent signed by Clearlake (24 players) that have started fewer than 3 games for us this season. Obviously some of that is kids like Estevao and Paez who legally cannot join Chelsea until 2025 but most of them are players that will never ever sniff the first team at Chelsea.
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I’m the opposite. Couldn't care less that the media and other trolls couldn't fathom the process. Not one of them ever played devil's advocate and asked - why it would be good/needed for this specific club to sign 40 players.

It was clear that they favoured Brighton's model but that is scant guarantee of on-field success. Chelsea are behind their rivals in terms of revenue and stadium potential so need to find some other competitive advantage. The solution was to split the process into two - sign Brightonesque bargains for profit (loan/multiclub) and sign burgeoning talent for the first team. Casadei, Santos, Wiley, Guiu, Anselmino, Ogochukwu, Angelo, Penders, Carney, Omari, Moreira, Datro Fofana, Washington, Slonina - none of them were signed for the first team but for profit/potential so why report them as such?

Then, and again another thing almost never mentioned. 3...3!!! seasons at the top of the injury charts for major clubs in Europe. It was absolutely insane - started under Tuchel and continued until Poch. Look at City without Rodri, KDB, Stones, Akanji. Chelsea had 4-5 starters and a handful of rotational options continuously out of the team. So a complete refresh was needed, and players to cover the work load. Most clubs still operate on outdated principles of squad building and it may be time for clubs to actually have 2 XIs. How long do you think it will be before Yamal is crocked?
 
Chelsea should win the conference league with ease. Only Betis or Fiorentina I see as possible stumbling blocks in the competition.

Also, them getting Guiu for £5M was an absolute steal. He’ll go for at least £15M+ by the summer
 
Really impressed with guiu,rak-sakyi and acheampong yesterday. Guiu has all the ingredients to become Aguero type striker. He has work rate, technical ability and physical attributes to become great striker. Hope he develops well and grab the chances when it comes.
 
We're gonna win the fecking league lads!!!
 
I'm not completely comfortable with so many of you liking us at the moment.

Yes, a manc is our best player and we are seemingly this season's best hope of stopping Liverpool but still.
 
duffer said:
I'm not completely comfortable with so many of you liking us at the moment.

Yes, a manc is our best player and we are seemingly this season's best hope of stopping Liverpool but still.
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Are you just a bit surprised at how well you are doing, especially under a new coach?
 
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