Superblue

Regarding Sterling I think he'd potentially be an excellent signing, the main reason being the way he has been drilled by pep the last few years to attack the goal and especially the back post. In the wing back formation someone whether it's the attackers or the wing back should always be attacking the back post and its something our players don't seem to do well enough. Our players prefer to drift wide where there's more space whereas Sterling has a knack of staying on the fringes of a game then suddenly come alive when an opportunity arises. With the way we play I think we'd benefit so much from a player capable of doing so and there would probably be a fair few 'easy' goals available to them. He isn't the best player but he could be a very good fit.

If Kounde and Gvardiol end up being the two main centre back targets we are getting a much younger profile of player, especially considering the age profile of some of the players most expect us to rebuild around. It could be the start of a more patient building plan with a longer term in mind.

If Bayern lose Lewandowski, would they be interested in Lukaku?

Looking forward to switching off for a bit now and recharging for next season. The sanctions, etc have really deflated the season and to be honest it's all reached a point weeks ago where I was wishing the season to be over and done with and as much as people will say it doesn't or it shouldn't, I'm positive it's had a similar affect on everyone around the club too, including Tuchel and the players. We got the minimum we needed to get considering the position we've been in all season and whilst things are still raw I think we can look back on a pretty decent year which could have been outstanding with some small things going our way. 2 cup finals lost on penalties, the better side knocked out in the champions league due to mistakes, and 2 trophies one of which I personally was desperate to win as we've never won it before. No idea what the summer will hold for the club and the incomings and outgoings that will take place but I'll start worrying about that in a couple of weeks time.

It will be a bigger football disaster than that Mbappe deal. We will never, ever, ever hear the end of it.

City are behind

All reports seem to suggest Poch and Leonardo will both be leaving so there is definitely legs to this rumour. There's also talk he wants PSG to sign Dembele and to let Neymar leave. Again, I guess we'll have a better idea as the summer maps out. It's an horrendous position PSG have put themselves in though if it's indeed true.

If any of this stuff is true then they have set a very dangerous precedent for the future. He's 23 years old. What are they going to give him in 2 years time and this starts back up again? The funny thing is if they took that money and built a team instead of this obsession with superstar signings, they might have a more solid and sustainable base from which to challenge for the Champions League. I was disappointed losing Courtois, heartbroken to lose Hazard, and frustrated we're now losing Rudiger but I'd much rather the club draw a line in the sand with how far they're willing to push.

In all honesty I'd love a player with his individual brilliance because we've sorely lacked a player of that ilk since Hazard left, I'd just rather go without the other drama that would come with a player like him. His fitness record has been questionable his whole PSG career too, he averages less than 20 league games a year.

I don't know why but I have a feeling we might end up getting linked with Neymar this summer.

Perisic, Kamara and Dembele would all be superb signings that fill gaps and provide quality in our squad for free transfers, helping to maximise time and resources on other pressing needs such as centre back. It's a shame that it looks like the sanctions are going to leave us in a position where we can't pursue these opportunities.

I don't know if we'll ever know the full story regarding Lukaku, maybe when parties are no longer at the club but I'm reluctant to put more than partial blame on Tuchel for that move because I think there were people within the boardroom or scouting department who wanted him more. PSG similarly, I've no idea the level of influence he had on transfers but I'm pretty sure Leonardo has a greater influence. Dortmund I agree was hit and miss, but I believe he did oversee them buy Dembele and Isak for reasonable fees which would suggest that he does have an eye for younger talent and to be honest that is rather the route I would see us go down in the future as opposed to buying the ready made product for huge money because we inevitably seem to get that always wrong.

The point is though he hasn't bought those players. They might have freshened up the squad but they're players that the board and/or Lampard have chosen. Those players Pep and Klopp have bought in within the first 2 years of their reigns are their own players that they've hand picked to help build the squad they want. It's completely different.

Leicester's expected goal stat last night was apparently 0.08. Ours despite a hardly vintage performance was still healthy at 1.68. It's ultimately not just the story of the season but a theme that has been regular for a while now. We have regularly performed under our expected goals. And whilst in Tuchel's first 12 months he had us in line or even out performing our expected goals against, in recent times we've gone back a little to what it was like under Lampard. Few shots being offered to opposition but them scoring regularly from them. Part of that is down to I think Mendy hasn't been as good consistently for a while. The other part is chances are being offered generally from mistakes. Even last night, good strike from Maddison but it should never have been a chance in the first place. The lack of effort from Alonso was awful, and Rudigers reaction after Alonso wasn't much better. Hopefully some of this can be attributed to the sanctions, half full Stamford Bridge, players knowing they're on the way out and the league season being arguably done and dusted in most people's eyes for weeks. It does seem coincidental that the wheels well and truly fell off in our league form when we came back from an international break. Time to draw a line under this season on Sunday (hopefully with a win, but more than likely a draw) and hope some clarity very shortly to allow Tuchel and the players who will be staying here to renew focus going into pre season.

Excellent piece.

Huge turnover of players for both managers. To give it further context, we have a lot of players still at the club in some capacity who were here under Conte, and most were at least here under Sarri. 3 or 4 managers have come and gone and that's a big reason why some players get a fresh start, new lease of life, for the short term but ultimately for the long term they're simply not good enough. Our recruitment has never been the strongest and it's rarely followed a pattern with regards to the type of players we're bringing in for a particular style. We'll regularly go for the player that's 'flavour of the month' without a real plan for how that player might fit in and it's the main reason why we're left with a talented but imbalanced squad. You can argue Klopp and Liverpool were behind the curve and needed more rebuilding, although he was afforded a lot more time before Liverpool actually started mounting challenges. But Pep had a talented squad at City. They'd won the league just 12 months prior to him coming on board, and it's easy to forget that first season was a real adjustment period for him. They were miles off the pace we set. Tuchel coming in and getting an immediate response was very impressive. The issue Tuchel has faced like so many before him is the Chelsea job is so short term. If he knew he would have been afforded the time to build something here, would he have sanctioned the Lukaku deal? Would he be prepared to evolve and completely rip up the back 3 which gave that initial success for a more longer term change that if results don't go well he'll likely not be here to see through. The pressures here are completely different to what Klopp and Pep experience at City and Liverpool. Klopp wouldn't have had that time he enjoyed at Liverpool to get things right. The key here is from what reports suggest, the new ownership is very high on Tuchel and although we won't know until they're in the door, I think they'll show more patience to a project. The American owners are generally much more patient in their approach. Tuchel should be given not just the resources but the time to get things right and build something here now which wouldn't have been possible under Roman. We don't have hindsight and will have to maybe look back in 18 - 24 months time to see how we've progressed but I am quietly confident that we've got the right man at the helm to start this rebuilding process.

I'll actually take that. Guarantees 3rd now. It was barely much more than a friendly in the way it was played and we never got out of first or second gear yet still restricted them to a long range goal and missed a couple of good chances to win. Story of the season but I'm just glad we're nearly at the end of it now. Looking forward to going away next week, turning off my Wifi so I don't have to think about the Champions League final and just having a break because the last couple of months have been so stressful and frustrating as a Chelsea fan.

Ironically after some of the players that seem to want out, he does seem to be one that actually wants to stay and would probably actually just take a year's extension on his contract from now on in. I think if we made him available for transfer though and he is willing to leave, PSG would definitely fancy picking him up.

I think Jorginho out of the two is more likely to move on in the summer, but if I had a choice out of keeping one of the two I'd keep Jorginho over Kante. He no longer looks the same player, and once those physical abilities wane his technical ability isn't good enough to keep him at the highest level.

Lovely goal, Alonso had to do something after the Leicester goal.

Boehly is there again. We actually need to win a game soon with him in the stands.

That was pathetic from Alonso. Pathetic.

You'd think the season was over with how long it's taken tonight! 😉

Any streams?

As I said though look at some of the situations the club has had to experience in the second half of this season. There's absolutely no doubt that the club has to become more consistent, and with City and Liverpool showing no signs of slowing down at present, you can't afford many slip ups to keep pace with them. But this didn't happen over night for either of them too. They've had the time and resources to build at their clubs. As a club we weren't title challenging before Tuchel, and with the greatest respect to Lampard, we had absolutely no direction. Despite all the drama in recent months around the club he has been a constant settling presence. Can Tuchel replicate Klopp and Pep? I don't know. So far I'd say he's made enough improvement in 18 months to suggest he's worth holding on to and finding out with over the next couple of seasons. Klopp took a lot of time to get things right at Liverpool and Pep took a lot of money. Neither had immediate success with squads they inherited, like Tuchel has had. If he's given a longer term project to build the club/squad in his image who's to say he can't make it a big success?