Tomo

Papers linking us with AVBs return

Who's your favroite person that has represented Chelsea for a longish period of time? Can be a player or manager.

Tbh that doesn't sound a bad idea in theory, but can you imagine that idea being put to Jose to take a year or two off and come back in summer 2017? Not to mention the fact that the 'stand in' could (unlikely but possible) revolutionise the club like Jose himself did in the mid 00's, how could we let him go. It would take an expert negotiator for him to potentially even consider it for a second.

Yes we were, after beating City in December we won 4 games in 15 in the league, in 10/11 we won 4 in 14 which included a 1 in 9 run in that spell, 12/13 we went SEVEN games without a league win and only 2 wins in 12 in all comps, one of which was after extra time vs United ressies, so if we count 90 minutes we only won once in 12, and to extend further that was a last minute winner. The only difference now is the run is happening at the start so it's showing in the table, but those runs mentioned were just as catastrophic and damaging as this one, and that was with all the old guard in (bar Drogba on 12/13).

No one is saying Jose is the best in the world in that regard but people go over the top at how "bad" he is. If Pellegrini gave Patrick Roberts 3 starts and regularly include him in the 18 at this stage like Mou has done for RLC, the same people slating Mou would be in the English football thread prasing Pellegrini to high heaven for slowly introducing a gem. If any other manager threw on a 17 year old in a title decider like Mou did, constant praise. He was the one who integrated Mikel, Varane and Zouma, yes they cost but price tag didn't make AVB play Lukaku or Fergie play Zaha. He also played Hugh despite having Terry, Gallas and Carvalho, if Pel played a young CB semi regularly with Kompany, Mangala and Otemendi available he would again get constant praise. He could have done better regarding youth in his career for sure, but people widely exaggerate it.

I have seen Liverpool this year and last a fair bit and they are awful, there's literally nothing to their team, rubbish in defence, clueless in attack,Klopp has a lot of work there and the result this weekend will boil down to who makes the less errors, and I think that might just be us.

November was the best month of Mourinhos second coming purely because of the West Brim and Schalke games, we played breathtaking football in those two.

Performances are getting better but we can't ignore the results, one win in seven games is absolutely horrendous, even worse that the one win was against Sherwood managed side. Although Liverpool are also crap, and unlike us it ain't form its their level, so I think we can scrape this.

Also to add, he's done well, very well, in terms of shot stopping, but I can't help but wonder why he hasn't organised the defense by now. I know we were a defensive mess with Tibo at the start too, but I feel he would have had some sort of control on the defence by now.

Performances have got better but we can't ignore the results. One win in seven and even that was against a manager without the proper coaching badges is truly horrendous.

Every manager has preferences, like say Pep for example didn't fancy Bojan. With Schurrle we may have fuked up with his replacement but letting him go was anything but the wrong decision taking the emotional side out of it (i appreciate fans felt a personal connection with him), he was terrible in his last six months here and if anything has got worse back in Germany, unfortunately his illness has affected his career more than anyone could have imagined, which is a shame. Mata had good play with Hazard at his best, like say Cesc does with Costa when he is playing well, but a top form Mata hasn't been seen (consistently) for years, his decline since early 2013 has been just as steep as Cesc's since the turn of this year has been, which is why it makes me laugh that the same people that (rightly) lay into Cesc want Mata back. Lukaku would have been a decent #2 but he didn't want that, we got a very good deal for him (meaning we effectively only payed £4m for Costa) and he got the first team footy he wanted, everyone's happy. Thorgan was a clever bit of business, gives him a sense of stability but also the knowledge we will consider bringing him back if he does well, we should insert buy back clauses more often imo.

I'm sorry but out of all those players KDB and to a lesser extent Luiz are the only ones that are errors. Schurrle has completely lost it, Mata has been bang average ever since early 2013, Lukaku just isn't as good as Costa and Thorgan has a buy back clause.

A bit like I said in the Drogba thread, Lampard was with us through horrible runs similar to this circa 10-13, Im not sure how much influence their mere presence can have on turning this around. Maybe a short honeymoon period at best.

Assuming the top 3 is done and dusted, the only teams capable of taking 4th of us are Spurs, Liverpool and maybe Saints. Liverpool are awful and unlike us aren't a top team severely off form, 6th to 8th is their level, Saints have the first team but squad depth will likely bite them in the ass and Spurs is the one I am worried about, they have found their mojo under Poch and are a seriously tough nut to crack. Keeping those 3 in a respectable distance has to he priority, I think we will get 4th, will be more by default than anything else, but does it really matter right now? Speaking of Spurs tho, I know we thought we were getting Stones but how handy would Alderwierld have been for us?

It's works the other way some times aswell, usually City are ultra attacking which exposes their defense, that's why I never joined the universal laughing at Mangala last season, because even Kompany has looked a shadow of his best self since Greenie took over, even Otamendi before Sunday looked horrible. Imagine Mou or even Rafa with those 3, our 04/05 record would be under threat.

While I'm not for a second doubting Drogbas dressing room influence, he was at the club during equally disastrous spells of form in 10/11 and 11/12.

Last season 3-3-4 Season before 8-1-1 So overall in two seasons 11-4-5

I wouldn't complain if we ever got Pep, but one word I wouldn't associate with that man is class.

RDM rallied the troops in the cups but I'm the league there was no real improvement, if anything we were worse, although that is kind off understandable since we fuked the league off to focus on the CL. The way I see the top 4 race this season is only Liverpool, Spurs and possibly Saints are strong enough to take it from us, the rest just don't have the quality to keep runs going, so for aslong as we keep those bunch to a respectable distance (maximum seven points) we have a chance.

Who predicted this? I know there were many (me included) that thought this season would be a bit of a let down but I don't think even Lionsden and Mr Blue Guy would have predicted this.

I'm not dismissing him merely playing devils advocate and this would be a similar job to Valencia for him, he took over there at this time off the season. Furthermore he seems completely dedicated to Saints.

His last big job was with Valencia when he didn't last the season, had them fighting relegation and alienated and froze out key figures like Canizares and Albeda.

It is,.but in reality, who is a long term coach these days? People are too invested in the romantic picture of Fergie and too a lesser extent Wenger to see the realities of the modern game. Dortmund looked shot in Klopps last season and a different team since he left, Pep himself admitted he would have had to have left Barca after a few years because players would tire of his ideas. No more than 5 years is really possible for managers at top clubs these days for a variety of reasons.

Steve Holland as far as I can remember had one manager job at Crewe and fluffed it big time, at least RDM had PL expierence as a #1.Furthermore we need Holland to be the "Chelsea number two", because if Jose leaves Louro and Faria will follow suit, unless the latter is as good as Mou suggests and gets the gig himself.

That's a thing, an on song Carlo I'm a massive fan off, but his weaknesses are off putting. The Stoke game in 09/10 is hands down the best and most complete performance we have ever had, but 10/11 sums up every thing I don't like about his sides, they get complacent at awfully inappropriate times, we did it and so did Real last season and I still cringe at his naming line up in pressures.