The "completed" Chelsea side and attractive football.

[OneMoSalah 8,614]

So what we lost? Its pre-season and Mourinho's side is always better in the second season. Always is.

He gave our team a balanced system last season, with clear instructions for the wide players to help the fullback and also off the ball work in a high block as well as a low block unlike what we seen from anyone before Rafa who vaguely set us up with 2 lines of 4, Mata free as well as Torres/Ba up top as a target man.

We conceded the least amount of goals in the PL. Sure if you want to outscore teams you can do that like Liverpool but personally I'd prefer us to keep clean sheets as well and you can't outscore teams forever. Look at Liverpool's balance last season, you could score goals against them for fun because they committed both fullbacks high up the park as well as having two central midfield players who could go forward as well as either two wingers and a CF or two CFs and a 10. Also Jose knew we were missing players last year, like Costa and Fabregas but also he was trying to improve the defensive side of our team and find his best team.

Anyway I think we will be a bit more useful with possession and in transitions with Costa and Fabregas in our team but that doesn't mean we are gonna see us playing 4-3-3 like Barcelona or Spain or Bayern or whoever else, with a very high line, both full backs very high and very little protection in midfield if we lose the ball. Not a chance but thats not a bad thing, Chelsea will always be very hard to beat under Jose and we all know that, he is in my eyes the best coach in Europe and tactically he usually gets it spot on. Even when we are chasing games he goes either 4-4-2 or 3-5-2 but its always got its defensive instructions as well as offensive ones (ok maybe not the 3-5-2 because that was usually Willian and Hazard as wingbacks but still).

Attractive football is really a term that annoys me sometimes, football is full of variety, there is not one way to play football and there never will be. People think if you play very very openly and have lots of passes and ball possession you are playing attractive but I watched a lot of Jose's Madrid team the season they broke the record for goals and Klopp's Dortmund side and the way they played intrigued me, maybe you won't consider that 'attractive' football but it was efficient and effective football. Also Jose's first spell here we were something different, 3 man midfield, very direct, very hard to beat, very physical and nobody could better us.

I just want us to go back to being a ruthless team that is very quick out of the blocks and will beat whoever the fuck is put out in front of us. We used to be like that, we've lost that 'ruthlessness' over the years that teams like Manchester United and now even Manchester City have got.

[ChelseaFC12 134]

So what we lost? Its pre-season and Mourinho's side is always better in the second season. Always is.

He gave our team a balanced system last season, with clear instructions for the wide players to help the fullback and also off the ball work in a high block as well as a low block unlike what we seen from anyone before Rafa who vaguely set us up with 2 lines of 4, Mata free as well as Torres/Ba up top as a target man.

We conceded the least amount of goals in the PL. Sure if you want to outscore teams you can do that like Liverpool but personally I'd prefer us to keep clean sheets as well and you can't outscore teams forever. Look at Liverpool's balance last season, you could score goals against them for fun because they committed both fullbacks high up the park as well as having two central midfield players who could go forward as well as either two wingers and a CF or two CFs and a 10. Also Jose knew we were missing players last year, like Costa and Fabregas but also he was trying to improve the defensive side of our team and find his best team.

Anyway I think we will be a bit more useful with possession and in transitions with Costa and Fabregas in our team but that doesn't mean we are gonna see us playing 4-3-3 like Barcelona or Spain or Bayern or whoever else, with a very high line, both full backs very high and very little protection in midfield if we lose the ball. Not a chance but thats not a bad thing, Chelsea will always be very hard to beat under Jose and we all know that, he is in my eyes the best coach in Europe and tactically he usually gets it spot on. Even when we are chasing games he goes either 4-4-2 or 3-5-2 but its always got its defensive instructions as well as offensive ones (ok maybe not the 3-5-2 because that was usually Willian and Hazard as wingbacks but still).

Attractive football is really a term that annoys me sometimes, football is full of variety, there is not one way to play football and there never will be. People think if you play very very openly and have lots of passes and ball possession you are playing attractive but I watched a lot of Jose's Madrid team the season they broke the record for goals and Klopp's Dortmund side and the way they played intrigued me, maybe you won't consider that 'attractive' football but it was efficient and effective football. Also Jose's first spell here we were something different, 3 man midfield, very direct, very hard to beat, very physical and nobody could better us.

I just want us to go back to being a ruthless team that is very quick out of the blocks and will beat whoever the fuck is put out in front of us. We used to be like that, we've lost that 'ruthlessness' over the years that teams like Manchester United and now even Manchester City have got.

Nah it's not about we've lost or we've won.

I'm talking about playing attractive football. We were playing so glum football against a team who have finished a merely 13th in the german league.

I could've accepted it if we were playing Dortmound, Bayer Leverkusen but against Bremen it was not acceptable..

If we play this way... yes we can win against team that attack us.. but we will struggle to beat those teams that will defend deep like what happened last season especially at Stamford Bridge...

And anyhow if team scores first against us we're even in more danger because their players won't even cross their half.

While on other hand teams like City, Liverpool just killed those oppositions in their home like 5-0 4-0 etc and yet we settled to a 0-0 at bridge. That's what the problem of negative football.

And yeah one more thing during Jose's first spell low table teams didn't used to park the bus like they do now. Now these teams just go and play with one objective just defend deep and don't concede and be happy with one point..

P.SThis is just my thoughts.. I have no hate towards Jose or anything. But we've got the squad to play some good attacking football(Well atleast against small teams). So why don't we do that? Our team can also kill these small teams just like City and Liverpool but they're not getting utilised.

Jose tactic of defend deep and hit on counters is very good I like it but it won't work against small teams..

[MrBlueGuy 1,552]

So...attractive enough for you guys so far?

[zolayes 14,489]

So...attractive enough for you guys so far?

YES

[Myself 793]

Yeah.

[Bluelsthecolour 61]

Oh 100%. Schurrles goal against burnley - that was a really nice goal. Costas second against swansea to.

[The Skipper 20,593]

So...attractive enough for you guys so far?

Apart from the City game we've been very entertaining yeah.

[OhForAGreavsie 5,775]

This squad is far from 'completed'. Whether from the existing set of development/loan players or through the transfer market, we need further serious strengthening at CB, CM, AM & striker.

- Up top we need a high quality 'technical' striker for balance. That player would replace Didier in next year's squad.

- At AM the "he's tired" excuse ain't gonna keep working for Oscar. He's great at part of the job but we are playing at the very highest level of football so we need a '10' who is great at the whole job.

- Also at AM we need someone who demands selection on the right in the same way that Hazard demands to be picked on the left. The reason we rotate people on that flank is that none of our current options is quite up to it.

- At CM we need a player who can match Rami's lungs and attitude but who is better in possession.

- At CB we need pace, power and poise.

[Tomo 21,681]

The thing is like greavsie said, this squad is not close to complete in fact this is just the start.

In Diego, Cesc, Matic and Eden we have key players for atleast the next 6 years, longer in Edens case, and there is still room for further improvement in the team and squad.

If we are prudent enough in evolving the team we will dominate for the next decade under Jose, City will always be around to keep us on our toes and will still win a couple, but Jose will always give us the edge on Pellegrini, lets say Jose is the new Fergie and Pellegrini is the new Wenger in that regard.

We should have dominated the recent decade but started screwing up in market, then Mou left and we appointed shit managers, learn from those mistakes and I can honestly see 6/7 more titles to our name by this time in 2024.

[BlueLyon 9,359]

The thing is like greavsie said, this squad is not close to complete in fact this is just the start.

In Diego, Cesc, Matic and Eden we have key players for atleast the next 6 years, longer in Edens case, and there is still room for further improvement in the team and squad.

If we are prudent enough in evolving the team we will dominate for the next decade under Jose, City will always be around to keep us on our toes and will still win a couple, but Jose will always give us the edge on Pellegrini, lets say Jose is the new Fergie and Pellegrini is the new Wenger in that regard.

We should have dominated the recent decade but started screwing up in market, then Mou left and we appointed shit managers, learn from those mistakes and I can honestly see 6/7 more titles to our name by this time in 2024.

Well lets stay on ground. Ball is round and football is...football. even barca or bayern cant win all the time for 10 straight years and they had amazing squads.

I even doubt Mou will stay here for that long. He will stay for awhile, but eventualy will move on. I know he loves the club but he is kind of personality. He wants challenges and imo at certain point will return to Inter.

The current side is still a world class CB (or two), CM like Pogba and top RW away from being complete. Not to say two of our fullbacks (Luis and iva) are already close or in 30s.

That said, the potential of this team is quite scary though.

[meetdoscar 335]

This squad is far from 'completed'. Whether from the existing set of development/loan players or through the transfer market, we need further serious strengthening at CB, CM, AM & striker.

- Up top we need a high quality 'technical' striker for balance. That player would replace Didier in next year's squad.

- At AM the "he's tired" excuse ain't gonna keep working for Oscar. He's great at part of the job but we are playing at the very highest level of football so we need a '10' who is great at the whole job.

- Also at AM we need someone who demands selection on the right in the same way that Hazard demands to be picked on the left. The reason we rotate people on that flank is that none of our current options is quite up to it.

- At CM we need a player who can match Rami's lungs and attitude but who is better in possession.

- At CB we need pace, power and poise.

Its good that you suggest areas for percieved strengthening but you will do even better by mentioning names of players we could buy at a reasonable price to strengthen this areas because as far as I am concerned we could strengthen our team with messi, robben, Di maria, CR7, neuer, alaba, suarez, bale and the list goes on but at what price.

[OhForAGreavsie 5,775]

Its good that you suggest areas for percieved strengthening but you will do even better by mentioning names of players we could buy at a reasonable price to strengthen this areas because as far as I am concerned we could strengthen our team with messi, robben, Di maria, CR7, neuer, alaba, suarez, bale and the list goes on but at what price.

You may be too young to have memories of one-time Arsenal manager, Terry Neil. After leaving the game he appeared regularly as co-host of a football phone in, where he frequently issued the same challenge to callers that you've issued to me. Whenever a caller suggested that his or her team needed reinforcements Neil delighted in telling them that their point of view meant nothing* unless they were able to name the players who might fill their team's needs. I have to say that I always found Neil's view on this to be a profoundly stupid one. Let me tell you why.

I watch every game Chelsea play; live or on Television and sometimes both. Just like everyone else here, I therefore can hardly help but form an opinion about the qualities of our squad and where it might be strengthened. I do not however have limitless time to watch football coverage from around the world. Nor do I have access to scouting reports, or the ability to direct areas in which Chelsea's scouts should concentrate their efforts. Any inability on my part to do as you ask therefore does not invalidate, or even slightly diminish the validity of, my opinions.

All of us here have a passionate interest in Chelsea so we all could, and from time-to-time do, name players we'd like to add to the squad. Could I name any such players that you or others have not already thought of? Probably not, but so what? I happen to think my opinions on the subject are well observed and accurate, others think I talk a load of crap. That's the way it goes.

* I'm not accusing you of saying my opinion means nothing, I'm describing the attitude Terry Neil used to take.

[Victor Von Doom 258]

Idk if this has been said or not but one thing that's annoying is that Atletico (for e.g) will be praised for their defensive style of play, while we on the other hand are lambasted for it.