Ooops sorry, yes they were losses, I don't know why I put draw.
But agreed, we cannot take any team lightly, any sort of complacency and top 4 is gone. We are not in a position to give up any pressure.
Top 4 Race 19/20 | duffer: "We [Chelsea] are getting 3rd. Despite what the lunatics in here think, Man United are not all that."
- Thread starter Andy_Cole
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Ooops sorry, yes they were losses, I don't know why I put draw.
But agreed, we cannot take any team lightly, any sort of complacency and top 4 is gone. We are not in a position to give up any pressure.
Less of your Chelsea propaganda in here Duffer. I wonder if we could get a list of pundits who are incapable of criticizing your manager after a shit result. Lampard gets away with so much. You would think he has to work with the Norwich squad.
Come on that was when we didn't have bruno and pogba was injured. Those games are very easy and winnable. With our current form and new found 11 we should not have any problems securing the win.
But Spurs and Arsenal could finish 9th and 10th. Chelsea and United have been sub par this year, its the fact everybody has been shit for 90 percent of the season thats making a mockery of pre season predictions.
The point still stands though, these are the kind of games that even with Pogba we struggle with.
Villa on Thursday will be a tough match, any team struggling will be a tough match at this stage of the season.
Sure, but being a place out doesn't suggest Lampard overachieved as a manager. Take Arsenal and Spurs as an example - both managers completely and utterly imploded with mid-season sackings which gives more context than just assuming it was Lampard who overachieved in his own duties.
Yeah.. to be fair, Lampard got less expectation because of their transfer ban, and it's good for him. People forget that he still has the players who had won EPL few years ago.
Imagine if Ole got smashed 4-0 in the opening game.
Where are you getting "a place out" from?
If I'm not mistaken, most predictions in the table had Chelsea as 5th, and they are currently 4th. So they're only out in their prediction by one spot, and I think there's more context in pointing to Spurs and Arsenal imploding midseason than there is to Lampard's own achievements.
From Athletic, he's only the 2nd manager to lose 10 games in a Premier League season under Abramovic (after Conte who was sacked). Only Norwich have conceded more from corners and only Norwich/Villa have conceded more from crosses. There's an achievement from the fact that he's been above Ole for a bulk but I don't think he will end the season that way. He hasn't done well in big games and had quite an embarassing exit to Bayern who yes, are great side but you're expected to make a better account of yourself than to get whipped 3-0 at home. Sure he's in the FA Cup semi finals but again it's roughly as far as youd expect Chelsea to go. I dont think he's over achieved
And we lost our best player ever, and our direct rivals for top 4(Arse, Spurs and Man United) spent more than £400 million between them.
If Frank finishes in the top 4, it's not the greatest season ever but it is better than almost everyone expected.
Saying "but everyone else was shit" is as silly as saying "we've had injuries".
You're mistaken, those predictions I posted were for top 4.
Arsenal vs Leicester tonight is a massive game for our top 4 target. Hopefully Arsenal get the win.
How am I mistaken? The tweet says Lampard is overachieving because he's in the top 4 (ranked 4th). I'm saying most of these predictions had him as 5th so they're only out by one place. Moreover they predicted that he'll end 5th, and I think that's still more than plausible.
Also, there's more context to Arsenal/Spurs imploding more than there is about Lampard overachieving. There only managers I can see as overachieving outside Klopp are Rodgers/Nuno/Bruce.
The predictions are in the tweet that we are talking about. They didn't predict anything outside the top 4.
Chelsea spent £98m last year themselves. They pre empted the transfer ban with with Pulisic and making the Kovacic loan permanent.
They predicted who would end the season in the top 4. Lampard is 2 points from dropping outside the top 4 with Liverpool, Sheffield and Wolves yet to play. The suggestion that Lampard has overachieved with big games left to play is presumptious at best.
The fact that Arsenal and Spurs have underachieved doesn’t mean Chelsea have overachieved either.
Exactly, that's why I don't understand you saying "most predictions in the table had Chelsea as 5th".
We'll be 3rd in about 10 hours.
Well yeah that was my original point. As mentioned earlier the only thing I can genuinely point to Lampard and give credit on is the fact that he's been above Ole for a bulk of this season. But I don't think that's how the season will end so it's a bit redundant.
Lampard has done well, transfer ban has been tough and losing Hazard. They look like they will be in the champions league. Very similar to Ole in the sense they're both building their teams.
If Man United finish 3rd this season, do you think they'd have overachieved? Or will you think it's an as expected season because Spurs and Arsenal have shat the bed?
£400 million? I really hope United had that money so we can buy Sancho now. In fact Arsenal, Spurs, and United was just doing sell and buy players just like normal transfer business.
Football is not just one player, remember when we lost Ronaldo and Tevez? we still won the title. It's funny how chelsea fans moaning about other clubs transfer business after what you did in the past decades.
No I won’t. Because outside of the top two everybody has been a bit shit really. And even City have underachieved. But if other teams shit the bed then obviously you should be expected to finish above them. It will take a maximum of 65 points to finish above those two teams. That isn’t a great achievement.
Not moaning at all, just adding some context. I've posted on here many, many times that I liked our transfer ban!
Nobody is saying it would be a "great achievement" for Christ sake but it will be better than expected.
I don't really care about points total, it's where you finish in the table that counts. If Chelsea won the league with 65 points I'd celebrate just as much as I did when we got 95.
A lot of rival fans online seem to think we'll lose to Southampton and I'd fully see that if we were talking about the United of the first half of the season that were fielding Lingard, James and Andreas. Now? I really can't see United actually losing to these teams with a fully fit eleven, maybe a Spurs esque draw. If anyone is going to take points off us though I'd bet it's West Ham, the bustards.
Who are more likely to slip up tonight in their fixture? Do we see dropped points?
Crystal Palace - Chelsea
or
Arsenal - Leicester
Crystal Palace - Chelsea
or
Arsenal - Leicester
So next season is Lampard's real test then.
In my previous post, I also said the tranfer ban is good for you.
Definitely Leicester, we're looking at a draw at the worst probably. Chelsea will probably blow away Palace, although I think they've lost their last three so may be due a performance.
It’s not really indicative of how well your manager has done though. It’s more a sign of how poorly others have done. And the transfer ban isn’t really a hindrance when Chelsea knew it was coming and pre loaded.
Leicester are definitely in danger of losing today. Arsenal are in good form.
Chelsea have been very unstable and can drop points in any game. And can win in any game. I'm not putting money on this match.
Reminder that if Chelsea drop points, we are in the drivers seat for the CL spot as our goal difference is much better.
Leicester needs to drop points from 2 games. Chelsea needs to drop points from 1 game.
Go Crystal Palace!
I get what you mean, sort of splitting hairs isn't it?
Probably, for nowWe'll be 3rd in about 10 hours.
No. Didnt liverpool beat arsenal at anfield already i mean ? In the league.
How did they have Arsenal top 4? If it was one team that would not end there among the "big" clubs, it was them.
Come on mate! Irrespective of Spurs having had a poor season, Chelsea have done well to be where they are. They lost Hazard and hired Lampard as their manager. No one expected Tammy Abraham and Mount and the likes to even get close to the points total they had last year (72). By most predictions, most people were of the opinion that they'd finish 6th-7th with around 60-62 points, and the voices became louder after they lost 4-0 to us.
Sure, Chelsea may still drop out of top 4, but let's give them credit that they've performed slightly above expectations
Palace have lost three on the bounce, conceding 8 and scoring zero - I think Chelsea will beat them.
Arsenal have a chance against Leicester, but even if Leicester lose and we beat Villa, we'll still be left sat in 5th. GD is a killer.
A Leicester win would be a big blow for our top 4 chances.
You just need to stay within three points of them till the final day. Looking at both sets of fixtures thats the minimum you can do
Unfortunately, that won't be good enough. Assuming no significant swings in GD in the interim, if the results progress as you describe, Leicester will likely finish ahead of us, even if we beat them at their place on the final day.
It's a given that we will have to beat them, but we also really need them to drop points (relative to United), in one of their other four games.
I think you will be fine.
According to Twitter, Chillwell,Perez and Madison out for Leicester
Kante and Kovacic for Chelsea..
Let's hope the opposition take advantage of this.
Kante and Kovacic for Chelsea..
Let's hope the opposition take advantage of this.