Clockwork

I think top 4 is still possible. Extremely difficult? Yes.hopefully this season, will be a season of two halves; one really bad and one really good. At inter Leonardo started his reign with 27 points out of 30. We could use something like that. So it is possible.

I think Mourinho will manage Valencia, Jorge Mendes already controls the club, and I think Mourinho is a excellent fit for them. Valencia will strive with Mourinho underdog, and us vs the world mentality. I don't think he is a good fit for United, and if I was him I would avoid England. He has created a circus with his battle against the FA, media and refs. It is better to go somewhere else and start completely fresh. The similarity between Mourinho and Capello is quite uncanny. This season is almost replica of Capello second stint at Milan.

"Your brother sleeps with your wife"...A little dramatic don't you think?Why won't you just come out with it. Admit you don't like Cesc, he has been playing poorly, and you want him to be a traitor/rat/mole/snake so you can further vent your frusteration of Chelsea horrible season on him.

Yeah that is likely because Mourinho has pushed back this club 5-10 years, it will be a while before we compete again at the highest level. But hey at least we avoided regulation under Mou, so damage control.

Whoever is making these rants videos or planing on it needs to stop. It is incredibly embarrassing, looking like a complete fool. I feel embarrassed for these idiots. i litterally laugh my ass off every time I see a Arsenal, United, pool, etc rant videos on the other hand.

Ok I get what you are saying. Throughout his career Pochetino has taken things from Bielsa and crated his own managerial ways. AVB on the hand I can definitely see much more of a similarity. Sampaoli is pretty much almost replica of Bielsa, but more pragmatic some way. Sampaoli is definitely the manager I would love to see at Chelsea over anyone( pep included)

I am an avid follower of Bielsa, pochetino in noway is similar to Bielsa or comes from his school of thought.Jorge Sampaoli is the closest thing to Bielsa, but the pupil has surpassed the mentor. Mainly due to his personality, which allow him to be more flexible. Just want to point that out.

Short term yes, we need a manager who fits the players. Beyond this season the manager should bring players that fits what he wants. I don't know how the club operates at that level, i hope Roman has a counsel who makes the decision or something. We need someone like Hans- Joachim Watzke, Dortmund visionary CEO and great football mind. He got Dortmund out of bankruptcy, created a great scouting infrastructure, hired Klopp, then when he left he hired Tuchel to continue Dortmund success. Busby or SAF type managers are quite difficult in modern football, Barca foundation started when Cruyff arrived more then 30 years ago. That feat is also quite difficult. Yeah i agree about the pessimism toward our board.

Well he is not the CEO, he is a levels below that. But it doesn't change a thing. He is in charge of his players. Sure the board is to be blamed too, ultimately they hired Mourinho so his failing is their failing. Mourinho was very toxic in this whole situation so he had to go. Don't get me wrong i think there should be a change in hierarchy, like whos decision was it to hire mourinho and the direction the club has taken over the years. Usually in American sports the person who hires the coach/manager is also sacked when the coach is also sacked. They are both tied to their success and failures. I don't like that about Chelsea, managers get fired left and right but the person above him never take responsibility. What is the right direction? vaguely the right direction is getting a manager who is well suited to get the best out of his players. I can name a few managers, but i have no decision in this process. so pointless to throwout names.

You can't blame the players; just like you can't blame soldiers for revolting or underperforming due to a toxic military officer, or employees who are underperforming due to a toxic CEO. Its all the same; every solider, player, and employees wants to feel good about themselves, and that only happens when they are successful at their job. The manager always takes responsibility for their subordinates. Mourinho did not look like a leader to me this season at all. A leader takes responsibility for his team he never did in this situation. Blamed almost everyone players, media, ballboy, refs, medics, exterminators, etc. I was never a fan of his tenure, never wanted him back at Chelsea from the start. Great he is gone, the club can move in the right direction now.

It's weird we are a legit regulation threat, so we probably won't see many youngsters given a chance and build for the future. Disappointing to miss top 4 and not see youngsters development. Kinda the worst of the worst.

From what i have read so far, is that a partial of the Paris attackers were French and Belgium citizens. It is believed the Syrian passports were fake.

Oh I see the source of confusion. I have should been clear I meant La liga, I didn't think anyone would confuse EPL as the best league in the world.

You are right, but I could argue Cesc has looked more dire, but that is irrelevant. Neither are playing at a high level expected at Chelsea. Neither is Costa or Matic. I personally stay away from individual personal assessment, at times like this. We didn't sell KDB and Mata because of Oscar. It doesn't work like that. You are simply wishing you had either of them, since they are doing well and Oscar is not. It is more complicated then that. I remember in 2013 when we were linked with Schurrle, I felt we shouldn't sign him due to having KDB coming back from loan. I felt really good at the time about having Hazard, KDB, Oscar, Mata, and Moses for three position. But Schurrle was signed, then we signed Willian on the last day of the transfer window. You could argue Schurrle and Willian signing had a much bigger effect on KDB and Mata. Not to mention Mourinho, just not rating either of them. But I get it blaming Oscar is a nice, effective, and simplistic narrative since he is underperforming. You aren't going to fault Schurrle? He left a year ago. Certainly not Willian either, since he is performing well in most people view.

I don't care how loose your definition of "almost" is but 15 is nowhere near 30.

This guy is quality, banged in almost 30 goals in the best league in the world. Like everyone he would benefit from another manager.

Damn That sentence could apply to almost everyone tbh.

They are not Ferrari either.You missed the point. There will always be standout players in every league, everything is given important in a relative way. Everything can not be monotonous, there is no such thing as reality only a perception of reality exist. Are you still following me? The players you listed are standing out in comparison to others. I can not say they are good players, but I can say they are good in comparison to other players in the league. This phenomenon exsist everywhere. They just don't get the hype and media attention players in the EPL gets. The players you mentioned were almost in complete obscurity before arriving. They didn't become good or worse. What I can conclude is that these great EPL teams are sucking in CL and EL, this as certain I can be.

Buying better players does not always equal better product on the pitch. What good is a Ferrari if you use it like a fiat? I can't say if the mid table have gotten better, the drop off at the top gives a perception it has. It is not reality.

They prefer PL because it is more attainable. People with low standard will say PL. but you don't see Barca or Real fans saying the same thing, because their standard is higher. CL is the biggest club competition in the world, best of the best. The PL has incredibly declined over the years, it is not a great league anymore. We were the runaway Champion, and we got outplayed by a 10 men PSG side. Not to mention they had a lot of injuries heading into the tie. PSG is not the standard of European football, they got demolished by Barca. It was really shocking how easy it was for Barca, it was really a reality check for me. That we are going comfortably win the league, but we are far from being one of the best in Europe. I am kinda slowly but surely realizing that we have lost our ambition to be elite. First with our summer transfer window, now sticking with Mou in spite of being 16 with almost 1/3 of football being played. Btw why isn't it surprising Mou hardcore defendants are the one saying PL>CL.

That is seriously an annoying attempt at a rebuttal. Straw man argument.

Why am I not surprised Jorge Mandes is his agent.

Are we linked to Batshuayi? Only Belgium striker I actually rate.

If Aston Villa get relegated we should go for Jordan Amavi, even if Baba improves.

LMAO who could forget those Iniesta-Busquets-Xavi vs Alonso-Pepe-Khedira midfield battles. Then you look at Madrid bench seeing Ozil and Modric on the bench.