Reddish-Blue

Feel like the mystery candidate would be a safe bet like Mourinho, he knows how to get a team to win.

Well to be fair, even Brighton players have mentioned that Potter was always about man management and maintaining good relationships so getting angry at half time would be 'out of character'. It worked at Brighton as they were trying to establish themselves as a solid midtable side and I doubt there were that many egos in the dressing room as most of the players were value for money signings who were out to prove a point. Compare that to Chelsea where he walks into the dressing room and most of the team has a UCL medal to their name and they all have inflated egos thanks to that historic UCL run. Then you add on all the signings that weren't needed (Felix, Mudryk, Madueke, Cucurella)....and you begin to wonder what the f*ck the club were actually thinking as the transfer strategy just doesn't add up. Why bother bringing Madueke in January if he's not going to play a key role to finish off the season....surely a loan back to PSV would have made more sense (like Gusto at Lyon). Same can be said for Felix, how many goals/assists has he provided? He looks technically great but I'm not sure how he's actually improving our attack

Not sure why Colwill is being mentioned, he's an academy product doing quite well on loan in the Premier League. Similar things can be said for Gusto & Nkunku, they haven't even played a game for Chelsea and you're effectively writing off their careers by saying "they are a waste of money". I get the point of the post but to sum it all up, we're paying the price for signing players that other clubs were interested in. Joao Felix (was wanted by United/Arsenal before they heard the loan fee and they backed off....and for some reason we were stupid enough to pay Atletico to take a player they don't need). Mudryk (was begging to go to Arsenal and play with his best mate Zinchenko yet we paid an extra 10-15 million and Shaktar couldn't believe how easy it was to rob us) Cucurella (was wanted by City as a backup LB yet they never bid more than 35 million for him....and we somehow end up paying 55+ million, it just goes to show how strong City's football department is).

Hopefully it's not a one-sided game. Last chance for the players to actually show that they care on the pitch. Get the feeling that Madrid will just be in second gear for the whole game as they know we can't score and they don't really need to score.

Morata said himself that he didn't enjoy playing in the Premier League, Werner wasn't dragged down, he was just labelled a flop due to all the offsides/misses against his name (mentioned that his relationship with Tuchel broke down and he wanted to leave) and Lukaku wasn't dragged down, he's had a pretty successful career with his other clubs.

Thats why I wonder whether getting another talented young manager like Nagelsmann will actually help this club. You know he'll end up just like Villas Boas at Chelsea, he'll lose the dressing room within a month or two if he tries too many tactical changes.

With the reports of FFP issues on the horizon (especially with no UCL/Europa League football next season), I don't see how we can possibly get Osimhen and the defensive midfielder/controller that we need to fix this broken XI. I wouldn't be surprised to see Lukaku back here next season as you know Inter will try to ask for another cheap 1 season loan but that may fall short of the requirements to help balance the books in the summer.

Such a shame, went from Cech/Courtois to Kepa. Feel like we're stuck with Kepa though as no-one will pay his full wages (part of the reason why Lazio decided not to pursue a loan) Mendy will probably be sold back to a Ligue 1 team

Not sure if that's realistic with the likes of Nagelsmann (apparently lost the dressing room at Bayern, not sure if he'll survive at Chelsea if results don't go his way) & Enrique (takes time to understand & implement his tactics). Hate to say it but to get back to top 4 quickly, we need a manager like Conte/Mourinho.

Probably not next season but the season after (if we're able to sell off all these rubbish players who couldn't care less about the club). Give chances to the players who came through the academy or the players who actually want to prove a point at Chelsea. The players who should be given a shot with the new manager next season are: Kepa, Reece, Fofana, Badi, T.Silva, Colwill, Chilwell, Kante, Enzo, Mudryk, Havertz (if Bayern aren't interested), Madueke. Every other player should be allowed to go.

He wasn't hired at the wrong time, it was his choice to jump ship and leave Brighton. The funny part is, Brighton actually got a much better manager (where even players have said that Potter was more invested in relationships and managing players where as De Zerbi is more focused on ensuring the tactical approach is correct based on the opposition). The problem with Potter (from the beginning) was that he's never had to deal with so much pressure or money in his previous jobs and you could tell the players lost interest in his approach quite quickly. We had a few decent results with key players showing their individual class at times but even with the very few wins that we had under Potter, it was clear as day that there was no "team effort" left at Chelsea. The last half decent showing from this team was that 0-0 against Liverpool and that was with Bruno in charge and rather than build on that, the club decided to turn to Lampard for a farewell tour and honestly, it is just ruining his reputation and his small chances of managing in the PL again will take a massive hit as it'll very likely read as: "Let go by Everton in relegation zone", "Left Chelsea in the bottom 6 of the league".

Does he have the physicality to play in the Premier League? I do recall him being linked to Arsenal but apparently they are more interested in getting in someone like Caicedo/Declan Rice in the next transfer window.

Isn't that the whole point of the forum though? You watch the game as a passionate fan and you expect your team to at least put in the effort to make it a competitive match against arguably the best team in Europe.

From memory, Maatsen was keen on a squad role at Chelsea but Tuchel declined and preferred that he go out on a loan. As for Cucurella, he really wasn't that good for Brighton, he was just "another piece" in their machine. Normally when a "good" player leaves a decent side, they feel a bit of an impact but as of now, Brighton are actually stronger than last season without Cucurella in the side. Even young Colwill has looked better than Cucurella in that Brighton lineup when he has played (no wonder why Brighton originally wanted him on a permanent transfer as part of the Cucurella deal, they could of easily sold him for a nice 15-20 million profit). Best case scenario is we get a component manager in charge and maybe like Kepa, Cucurella has a decent season and we can sell him off for a decent fee the following season.

It would be possible to sign him depending upon how much money we would be able to raise from player sales. i.e. if we were able to offload the likes of Pulisic, Ziyech, Gallagher, Mount (if he's not keen on staying), possibly Sterling for good transfer fees....that would probably help balance the books.

I would be surprised if Santos wasn't loaned out for at least another season and Maatsen won't come back to play as 3rd choice behind Cucurella, watch us sell him for 15+ million in the summer.

They would have taken all 3 points (at the death) if it wasn't for Ramsdale. Liverpool are well ahead of us, they have a style of play in place and they have attackers in Salah/Jota who can make things happen in and around the box. If Klopp gets the funds to fix his midfield, they'll be back in the mix for top 3 once again. We just wasted a full season for nothing, could have gotten a more experienced manager at the helm instead of jumping aboard the Potter wagon and the 'squad' had enough quality to at least be around the top 6 this season. Right now, we're in relegation form, the players look afraid to score and the players generally look like they've given up and they're just going through the motions knowing that there's like 9 games left in the season. I was sort of shocked by the Lampard appointment as he isn't known for his tactical skills........and I get the feeling that the fans won't be too pleased if we continue to put in rubbish performances like the one against Wolves. If ownership is serious, they should announce the next manager as soon as possible. At least that way the players have a clear understanding of who is coming in and then hopefully some of the players try to impress the new boss in the remaining games.....as there should be a big clear out in the next transfer window (if we plan on regaining our spot in the top 4).

Has Carney been injured recently or is he just not being picked? Really feel like this would have been a golden chance to give Carney some proper minutes alongside Enzo/Kante/Kovacic. Watching RLC be passive and Gallagher run around like a headless chicken just isn't fun anymore. These final games of the season could have been used effectively by playing some of these youngsters and seeing what they have to offer. But instead of doing that, it'll be Havertz & Felix getting auto selections every game & Cucurella will somehow continue to be picked even though he has been absolutely horrible for the most part. Can't believe we actually let go of Alonso & Emerson to somehow downgrade at the LB spot with Cucurella.

When I say leadership, I mean understanding the context/situation of the game and making an impact. Go look at Arsenal and City again, interesting how their key midfielders in Odegaard, De Bruyne are in leadership roles for their national teams. The difference is, these guys can sense the moment to switch gears and they can control the tempo of the team's offense. Whereas look at our midfield and Kovacic looks like he's not that interested, Kante is still re-gaining his fitness and Felix was meant to be the player to help unlock our attack but it looks like his loan spell will go down as a massive flop (unless he finishes the season with multiple goals).

That's what happens when you keep buying individuals who don't fit a tactical system. You're telling me a combination of Havertz, Auba, Felix, Sterling, Mudryk, Madueke, Ziyech, Pulisic, Mount can't somehow combine to score 30 goals in the league? The problem is, we stockpiled players for no reason (Felix and Mudryk were not really needed in January and Madueke looks a young talent but quite raw) Grealish was laughed at for his big move to City but the sad thing is, he's better than our entire attack combined as he can at least create chances for Haaland/Alvarez/Mahrez.

Our attackers haven't been up for it the whole season, not sure how they'll suddenly flick a switch and turn it on against Madrid. If they don't win by 2+ goals, I'll be surprised. They got past Liverpool quite easily, wonder how much fun they'll have against Koulibaly, Cucurella and co.

You say that like he wasn't bailed out by Hazard's brilliance throughout the course of the season. What we have lacked for a number of seasons is leadership on the pitch and that is costing us massively this season. Other than Thiago Silva and Azpi, I can't name a single player in our first team who has shown any form of leadership this season. Sarri mentioned multiple times during his stay at Chelsea that he was never going to stay in England long term as he misses Italy too much.

You might be able to name 10 players who should leave before him but in all honesty, he should leave in the summer as well. That would give us a chance to rebuild the attack around a proper striker, rather than hoping that Kai somehow becomes a 20+ goal a season striker at Chelsea. He could probably achieve that in the Bundesliga with Bayern Munich but he won't get anywhere near those levels at Chelsea. As for replacing the guys with upgrades, Tammy for Lukaku (on paper) was meant to be a solid upgrade, no one could have predicted that Lukaku would have a mental breakdown about rejoining Inter Milan and then proceed to do an interview about it which would leave the club with no option but to loan him back to Inter Milan. Werner was a good sale but I still don't understand the reason behind buying Mudryk in January, he's had like 1 decent game so far and looked completely lost most of the time he's been on the pitch. That money should have been saved for the summer transfer market on a midfielder who we could pair with Enzo, Kante.

Why would he need to say any of that to the players? These last games of the season should just be about keeping it simple and scoring goals. This is the chance for some of the players to give Lampard a send-off at the Bridge. As for Everton, didn't they have Ancelotti and Koeman in charge? They had bad mentality back then as well.

A change was needed, just a shame that the club persisted with Potter for so long. Getting Lampard in for the remaining games of the season is just to keep the fans happy and possibly to convince Mount to stay at Chelsea rather than run off to Liverpool. I doubt he needs to change any tactics, probably just give a bit of motivation to some of the players and show them how to finish in front of goal. If Havertz could actually finish on a consistent basis, we wouldn't be in the bottom half of the table.