Superblue

Not ashamed to admit I've turned it off.

I've always preferred something that is wording as opposed to a logo. Samsung will always be the standard bearer for me.

Not sure where the right place for this would be, but the club are currently in talks with Allianz about being our shirt sponsor for next season.

Leicester still have Liverpool and Newcastle themselves but I would agree they are probably the 'most' likely out of the lot to pull off a chain of results. I think Forest's run in is the easiest though, although as mentioned earlier we play them at home and that is really our game to shut all of this talk off. Without wanting to jinx things, I think Leeds and Everton will both struggle getting near our current points total.

5,682 posts Fav Player: Thiago Silva Joined 29 Aug 2011 Posted 9 hours ago If you're tracking this, results went well tonight. With Southampton losing they can only match our points tally now at most with a 25 goal differential to make up so that is as good as one down. They also still play Forest so if they were to win all 5 games, it means Forest must drop 3 points and they themselves need 10 from 15. Everton's loss means they also now need 12 points from a possible 15 to go above us as their goal difference is equally poor like Southampton. Note that they still have to play City, and they also have Leicester away next. Leicester themselves need 10 points from a possible 15 to go level with us so a draw in that could near enough be that. Leeds also need 10 from 15 to overtake us and still have City and Newcastle to play in their next 3 games.

What is concerning is I believe we have the worst record in the whole league across the last 14-15 games. Lose the last 6 or only pick up a point or two and that stretches to beyond a whole half season of form being the very worst in the league. This isn't just a bad run of form, it's a rot that has set in and needs the season to end to draw a line under it. However, it is absolutely imperative that we start well next season because having experienced this season, I wouldn't be confident if we got caught in a similar position again of actually being able to fight our way out of it. The funny thing is with a settled squad, a better manager, getting this squad really fit in the summer, no european football and we can add a goalscorer in the summer, I'll actually be disappointed if we couldn't make top 4 next season.

It's incredibly unlikely because it's not just one of the clubs at the foot going on a miracle run but three of them. For starters, if Southampton lose tonight, the best they can manage is to reach our points and their goal difference is 24 worse than ours so that would be one that could be written off. If Everton draw or lose to Newcastle tonight they are staying second bottom and will need 11 or 12 points from a possible 15 to go above us (as again their goal difference is significantly worse). Leicester need 10 points to go level with us and to be fair their goal difference isn't much worse than ours, but again they only have a possible 15 points. Leeds and Forest would both likely need to get ahead of us rather than level, so they're both 10 from a possible 15. Leicester and Everton still have to play each other and Forest and Southampton likewise so someone or both will take points from each other. Everton and Leeds still have City to play, Leicester have Liverpool and are Newcastle's last home game of the season. It's also in our hands to effectively stop Forest from catching us as we play them at home (even a draw in that would suffice). It's not beyond the realm of possibility which in itself is a disgrace, but 3 of the above need to get those points hauls to reel us in which does make it even more unlikely. I think with five of them down there too, it opens up more chance that in some games these teams might set up to not lose as opposed to going for the win, especially in away fixtures as any points will be massive at this point in the season. It does not take away though that we're basing all of these what if scenarios on the assumption we take no points from our last 6 games, and those assumptions are very realistic that we could easily go and lose the rest of our games this season. It's embarrassing and pathetic.

The biggest issue above everything was adding so many players to the squad in the January window and not moving players out but I do think with that, we need to see how we fair next season. It's clear that the summer will see us move a lot of players out of the club and streamline this squad which immediately should improve the situation with regards to stability, morale, etc. The method to the madness may well be on the basis that they were able to bring players in on long contracts before the rule changes. I think a player such as Madueke could have waited to the summer, but I do think some of the activity was pushed by the changes coming in and it has left us with a bloated, unsettled squad but until we see how some of these players develop over the next season or two, we're not going to know whether these short term issues are worth it for the longer term gain of getting some top, young players into the club and locking them down on long term contracts. Like you alluded to, whilst the owners are businessmen, this isn't a situation like the Glazers or Kroenke or Joe Lewis where there's no passion to actually support and follow the club, which I do think will bode well for the longer term future. If anything they're probably too keen at present, and the whole situation needs calming down which hopefully it can by getting this season out of the way and settling the whole dynamic down in the summer. Lessons need to be learnt quickly though as we cannot afford another season similar to this one.

I understand the Madrid game, and considering we had 3 or 4 really good chances before they scored, I think the way we were set up for that return leg was justified. But there's simply no argument for tonight. With the greatest respect, this was home against Brentford. Having had 10 days since the Madrid game, to roll that team out for this game is embarrassing. What was particularly damning was after the game Thomas Frank saying he was surprised we gave them that much respect and set up that defensively in the first half.

As you've pointed out, we're likely to just about stay up on the basis of teams below us just running out of games, but besides from the bottom 5, the other teams below us will almost certainly pick a few more points up between now and the end of the season and as a result could very easily go above us. I believe in the last 14-15 league games, we have the worst record in the whole league. That's how pathetic the current situation is. Hopefully the teams below us drop a few more points over the next 2 - 3 games and do our job for us, because IF there became a situation where we could still be caught with 2 or 3 games left, the whole situation around the club could become beyond toxic.

I genuinely think we're now beyond the thought process of protecting Poch and not bringing him in immediately. Get him in now and let him assess this squad, try and get a jolt out of them to at least pick up a win or few points before the end of the season and he can really kick on from next season. Whilst it's incredibly unlikely we'll get relegated as teams below us are running out of games and a few still have to play each other, we don't want to still be in with a chance of getting caught with 2 or 3 games left because there's no fight amongst this group going through the motions.

Let's have it right, us Chelsea fans love a bit of passion. If Poch gets a big win early on next season and is jumping around chest thumping and fist pumping the crowd, any Spurs history reservations will evaporate very quickly.

Not sure, he was probably the first to really push the Boehly consortium as serious contenders to buy the club and I'm pretty sure was in contact throughout with someone as a mouthpiece (Jonathan Goldstein I think). Probably doesn't quite have the same contacts as he did before, but I'd still rank him as highly reliable over most. Irrespective of this, he also reports on Spurs and reportedly has built up a strong relationship with Poch over the years as a result, so in this instance I would expect him to be very reliable. He was the first one to really break just how much of a contender Poch was last week before the likes of Romano, etc did their usual thing.

It's an easy and understandable stick to beat the ownership with at present that they want a 'yes' man. In fairness though, what are the other options? We've been there with the likes of Conte and Jose and although it's great at the time, they consistently leave a club in a worse position needing to be built back up again. When we're looking at what were the original fancied names for this post, all have some form of question marks hanging over them. Luis Enrique will always have the "can he win without that Barca team" thrown at him until he proves he can, and Poch and Nagelsmann's successes I would argue are pretty comparable. I've said a few times over the months and years I wouldn't want Poch here, but I have warmed to the idea in the here and now to feel he's the right fit and I do think in the current situation he's probably the safest and most sensible option we could opt for, which hopefully will bode well for this ownership to start taking a more mindful and measured approach to their decision making moving forward.

I think especially considering we won't be in Europe at all next season, top 4 should be the minimum aim and a real strong effort in the domestic cups. We can go stronger throughout the league cup campaign for example - would be an ideal trophy to target mid season.

This is reportedly because they played a 'weakened' side having been promoted. This charge is beyond ridiculous. Every club has a squad of players that they must register for the season, it's a disgrace that the FA/Premier League/Football League have the arrogance to question the quality of a side being put out. On the same argument we should have been charged for playing a 'weakened' team all those years back against Liverpool, despite beating them at Anfield and stopping them winning the league.

We might want to get Poch wrapped up ASAP before Spurs approach him and leave him with a decision to make.

Fair enough, as I said I haven't watched enough to make a judgement call myself on him but I'd seen him have a couple of big games from highlights so wasn't sure if he was still at a high enough level that would work for us. I think the problem this summer is going to be getting a top striker - this could blow up most of whatever budget we might have which could restrict what can be spent in other areas of the pitch.

Obviously not a long term solution, but what do people think of Keylor Navas as a stop gap solution for a year or two at goalkeeper? I'm not an avid watcher of Forest games, but from what I've seen and heard he's been playing very well there, and although not a physically imposing keeper, he has been and still is significantly better than Kepa.

City do reportedly have a buy back on him for somewhere in the £40m range but I believe it's not active until the summer of 2024. Although not exactly the same profile of player, ironically our best chance of getting Lavia might be to make a move this summer if Southampton were to get relegated and we sold Kova to City. Would people accept that if say, we could sell Kova for £20m and buy Lavia for £30-40m?

I think one of the bigger problems Poch and the ownership might face is him not being afforded much time by the fans due to that Spurs connection. He will have to hit the ground running I think. Although some of that stance with some may soften somewhat with how bad a season we've experienced. Not going to lie, but if it is indeed Poch, there may be nothing sweeter than him coming here and winning us some trophies to ram home the problem was always Spurs and not him.

I'd actually agree with this. I've been lukewarm on Poch links for a long time, but he does have a track record of being given raw materials and building something with it. This is a largely young squad, so someone with that track record of developing young stars is important. Hopefully the PSG experience will have toughened his mentality up a little and given him some experience of winning some trophies which he can take on. Also following this season and the last 6 months of last season in particular, if we're going to be in transition for a bit, I'd much rather be watching brave, attacking football with pace, high fitness levels and a united press. Something to at least enjoy and you'd feel pretty confident that he'd provide this. Like you said, whether he's the manager to really take us past that first stage or two of a rebuild, and into a team competing and winning trophies regularly I'm not sure, but if he can do the first part properly, he'd get that opportunity first to prove if he can or not.

It's all speculation but going off Tuchel's previous comments when he was here and previous reports of the old ownership, I get the impression Chelsea under Roman and Tuchel was just a perfect fit. Chelsea got themselves an elite manager that just wanted to coach and not keep trying to play power games with them which were issues in the past with the likes of Jose and Conte, whilst Tuchel got to be able to focus on being a coach and not have to worry about managing upwards because he was insulated by Marina and Cech. I think it's less about a yes man for these owners, and more about someone who can manage upwards in the hierarchy, getting more involved in overall discussions regarding how the club progresses, etc. Tuchel quite simply wouldn't have wanted that, and has always eventually had problems dealing with owners, sporting directors, etc at previous clubs. I just wish a bit of time and patience over the whole situation would have been done, but that works both ways. The ownership should have known that once they had that management structure in place above Tuchel, he wouldn't have needed to be as involved as he had been in the summer. Likewise Tuchel should have given some slack to the new owners coming in and having to take on everything with Buck, Marina and Cech all leaving pretty much immediately. But ultimately that wasn't the case. The new owners made a wrong managerial appointment, and unfortunately being their first one isn't a great start. But we made mistakes under Roman too, particularly in the earlier days with Scolari and AVB. At least this time, some time is being taken and the sporting directors are the ones doing the ground work. The January window so far, with their influence, was significantly stronger than the summer one so hopefully this next managerial appointment is too.

I think Broja would have played quite a bit in the second half of this season, not necessarily starting every game but a different alternative to Havertz as a bona fide striking option, and in doing so, we'd have a much better idea then of his progression and where he'd fit into the squad overall. However he went down before the January window so a decision should have been made on our striking options at that point. I'm not sure when Potter has decided that Auba wasn't for him, and perhaps they anticipated using Fofana more than he was, but the lack of striking options and goals have been the biggest problem on the pitch this season that must be addressed. Completely agree on the three positions needed but the keeper and striker are absolutely critical and I think if we sorted those two positions in particular in the summer then I do think you're looking at a completely different prospect.