Blue Armour

Blaming Pochettino is so short sighted. Maybe he can do better. But in less than two years we have gone from a top 4 team to below midtable. That's not down to Poch.

That's my biggest worry if the season ends up being mediocre. The one positive is that all our top players James, Enzo are on long term contracts, so they will have less negotiating power to jump ship.

The pressure on a young player like Jackson, and others in the starting 11 is too much. Youngsters like Haaland or Mbappe are the exception, not the rule. They're all too soft, with good guy mentalities. Maybe a coach like Mourinho was what this young group needed, BUT that would have meant shitty football, even if results improved. This is all down to the brute force approach this management has taken in the past two years. Chelsea had a top 4 team. Instead of just revitalizing the squad, they opted for massive surgery and this is what we have. First they gave the squad to mediocre managers, and now they've given a very young squad to a decent manager.

The lack of leadership in the starting 11 is harming us big time at the moment. My only hope is James makes a return soon, and we can build a foundation at the back with him and Enzo, and power through the fixtures until Nkunku returns.

Yep, and they didn't even have to go through a period of transition. Poor Chelsea, having to start from scratch and build from the ground up after being recently promoted to the league.

Would have made far more sense and cost far less to allocate money for a stronger away game support than dump more millions into the another youth talent that might never play for the first team. Especially when Chelsea has had one of strongest away support in the country. Hopefully they'll come to their senses and reverse this decision.

Yep - I've had that feeling of numbness in the legs. Especially the first time. It feels like everyone's watching your every move - which to be fair, is exactly what happens when you're on the ball. I've often thought about how professional players manage it, but I'd go back to a quote from Michael Essien. He said that in the most games, they pretty much blank out the crowds and don't even feel they're there - such is their focus on the game. But players like Drogba & Essien are among the topmost of professionals. I think younger players would feel the weight of the crowds even more. Especially when they have a lot more to prove at this level. Talent means nothing, if you don't have the mentality to cope. IMO, that's probably what even affected a player like Mount. He was probably more confident at 21 than he is now. All those finals choking with missed penalties, can't have done him any favors. That's why I also sympathize with the current squad. Too young and too much responsibility. You can have the most talented squad but still get mentally destroyed in games.

Top scoring CB!! The days when we were always a threat from setpieces

If this ends up being another mediocre season, we will likely lose him if they come calling. And Enzo not too soon after. All these pie in the sky ideas of having a super young squad and allowing it to develop in 2 to 3 years without achieving anything on the way, is just pure fantasy. Top players in the squad won't stick around that long to waste the best years of their career in a 'project'.

It was a clickbait article that created the rumor Same article has a quote from Enzo saying how grateful he is to be part of Chelsea’s project. Sounds ironic, yes.

Is this striker also under 25 years of age?

You can tell that he had Abramovich on his mind when he said that. Roman is like the ideal owner, and there won't be too many like him. Very naive to think that every owner should follow that model.

What I meant is that if the club already had him on a long term contract like James, he wouldn't have been able to push for a move so easily. With all our new signings on long term contracts, the club is making sure they don't jump ship easily if the season becomes worse.

Have most hope for Jackson among the 3, as long as his confidence doesn't become shot like Werner's. Madueke - I don't know. The same problems from last season persist. Doesn't release the ball when he's supposed to, doesn't lift his head up when dribbling. He can make an impact against very low level opposition, but his ability atm is hardly at Malouda or even Kalou level IMO. Mudryk seems to have lost all composure to play at this level. Can see why Poch is shielding him. Ever since that controversy over the rap song last season, right after his debut against Liverpool, he hasn't looked like the same player. He was fantastic on his debut, full of invention and confidence, that he wooed all pundits and fans. Now, he looks like a U21 kid trying to make the step up. All the endless mocking from opposition fans over his price tag hasn't helped either.

It was a gamble on their part, as is the case with ours. It may pay off eventually, but boy is it going to be painful along the way. I guess that's where all the long term contracts come in. To prevent our development players from jumping ship the moment things go to shit. Case in point, Mr. Mount.

You mean Poch?

That focus on pure youth is a very high risk gamble. Hopefully they'll come to their senses sooner rather than later. Nothing against youth signings, but they need to mix it up.

And now Tottenham apparently, as well. All these past years laughing at the pair of them. Well if it's anything, they didn't win anything last season. And Tottenham already got dumped out of the EFL cup.

Lifted this off another forum, but can't help but feel it's applicable here.Their cavalier approach to tearing down and rebuilding the squad (and the club for that matter), is what has led us here. Maybe given more time, it will pay off, but who knows what that means for success on the pitch. My suspicion is that they are trying to run Chelsea the same way they ran the Dodgers. In the first couple of years under Boehly, the Dodgers invested wildly and unsustainably into their team, were hit with financial penalties, paid them, and won the World Series. Move fast and break things. In baseball, a much more individualistic sport than football, high levels of squad churn doesn't really matter if you're fielding better pitchers and better hitters than you had last year. Team chemistry and tactics are much less important than the raw ability of the players. In football, not so much.

It's not just about talent. It's about experience. Because of the lack of it, a team like this will blow hot and cold. When it clicks, it can be fantastic, but it can also easily churn up embarrassing results like this. Then there's the mentality. If the team goes on a losing run, we could be in for a repeat of last season., because there aren't enough leaders on the pitch to take control of the game. Ironically in today's game, one of the few leaders we have in Silva was also embarrassed for the goal we conceded. Hopefully Poch can arrest this slide after the international break., with a couple of more players potentially returning from injury.

But apparently, the manager is to blame for the young inexperienced squad. Smh. Edit: I don't really believe the club had an agenda against older players, else we wouldn't have Nkunku. But this transfer window in particular has been all about chasing the next big thing. I just hope these new incomings aren't here to just use Chelsea as a stepping stone to for a bigger payday. We need players to who want and know how to compete.

This. I'm surprised that more people are turning on Poch, when the root cause has been the same problem that it's always been for the past year. It's the new administration. The lack of experience is what makes for results like these. Colwill, Caicedo are all great players that can fulfill their potential in a few years. But there will be mistakes, and without leaders to control the game on the pitch., this will continue to happen. And the inexperienced squad is down to the club, not Poch I keep bringing up Arsenal from Wengers last few seasons and after, because that's a good example for where we are right now. A factory of youth players that won fuck all. Hopefully players like Enzo can be molded into leaders, that is, if they stick around with us after back to back seasons like this one.

The 3 atb is mostly to accommodate Silva. Else we have little experience on the pitch Maybe when James returns, we may see a change in formation. The lack of leaders in the squad is down to the club, not Poch. There's no one to take control of the game and prevent things from breaking down completely. The Caicedo-Gallagher mixup today typifies that. And once a young side goes behind, their heads drop. For now, I'm glad for the international break. Hopefully this gives the squad a chance to reset.

The 3 atb formation is also to accommodate Silva IMO. Bit of a dilemma here, he's our most experienced player and best defender. But his slowing reactions and loss of physicality is being exposed these days Think Poch has to look at dropping him and trusting our younger CBs. They might concede more, but at least we might look a better team moving forward

Yes, maybe Poch shouldn't be so cautious. But what do you expect? The side is very inexperienced. Even with a back 5, it still conceded because of a mixup in central midfield. Those kind of mistakes will continue to happen this season with this lot, regardless of the manager. If anything, you should be looking at the administration that decided it was okay to flood the squad with talented youth and barely any players from the upper age brackets. It's a gamble, which would be excellent if it pays off - but the risks are always there. So yes, you will see more of these see saw performances.