Barbara

Who cares about the players that make the list? TC guys talking about men openly like that show how top you all are. Thumbs up you all You deserve some (female) porn, but last time I was challenged to post that I came across terrible, terrible, unforgettable, can't-unsee pics on Google. Azpili definitely the prettiest though to keep in topic

What word you think describes you best and what word you like people to compliment you with the most. Football (or sports) wise, what would be your biggest dream came true Your biggest flaw and biggest quality

Which players - a Brazilian and a non-Brazilian - would like to see at Chelsea? In the same terms, which ones would you like to leave the club? Who is your favorite ever player to play for Palmeiras? How do you fancy Brazil's chances at the World Cup? If not the winners, who do you think it might be? What do you like the most and the least about TC? Why always so grumpy, man? kiddddddddding

Okay guys, let's get it organized and done. Henrique is the first in the hot seat. 1) where to open the thread? In the community forum? Should we have one thread for each member or have all members get it done in the same thread? 2) Henrique opens the thread with a short summary of who he is - as per his own suggestion 3) People submit questions (on thread or through PMs? I think in the thread makes more sense as no question - unless stupid and disrespectful - should be left unanswered) 4) Determine how many questions could be asked 5) Next in line takes the seat 6) Rinse and repeat

I still have no idea what you guys meant. And I have a feeling that I'm better off not knowing

I like the hot seat idea, although I like the podcast thing the best. Maybe we could have both? The podcast more directed to Chelsea things and the hotseat a very personal thing? I volunteer to do both interviewer or interviewee doesn't make a difference for me. I like both ways

Now that the season is over for real, I'll give my final two cents about it. I'm more disappointed at our players than I am at Mourinho, though Mourinho also had his bad moments. I'm not a big Mourinho moaner - that's clear in all my posts and my member title. One because whoever is the manager - except Benitez - I give them the benefit of the doubt in their first season. If I'd do that to anyone, let alone to Mourinho. Two because I don't think we could have a better manager at the moment. He's a True Blue, he's passionate about this club and the support gives him the same love. As I said, the season has been a success imo, but with a few low aspects that should be mentioned. I think results wise we made serious progress. An UCL SF is way more important and relevant than a Europa League title that we barely scrapped btw. I think fighting for the title until the last week (at least mathematically) is much better than being out of the race in January, even if in both instances we finish 3rd. I think those two aspects aren't up to discussion. One has to be very stupid/blind to say otherwise. So results wise, we improved considerably, but there's still room for improvement, of course, as we didn't scrap even one of the cups (not that it would make much difference, it wouldn't). I don't have big issues with a trophy-less season. It happens, especially in a team that is in transition. Given the lack of stability we had in the last few years and how young our players are, it's not even fair to compare City's stability to ours. All of their starting XI players are at the peak of their careers, they had manager stability up to last season and they had a style that Pelegrini carried on because it fit the team. Mancini is a terrible manager imo, so they upgraded the weak link in their team and continued the philosophy and style from seasons ago, only polishing it with a better manager and tactics. We on the other hand, have been a mess. There's no trademark, because even our defense that is so famous was a mess under di Matteo and just went the extra mile in our UCL title campaign. They were terrible playing the league. I won't comment on AVB or Benitez, but we don't have a philosophy like City (nor the players for said philosophy) that Mourinho just had to continue and polish. We were in deep transition. We had no style, we had few consolidated players and we had a new manager. Now onto the issues we did have. Mourinho insisted with some players and was stubborn about a few things that really weren't that much necessary. He should have known we needed Matic in the summer window. He made a mistake there. He didn't seem to have offered solutions to our deficient attack. We look clueless attacking and that shows it seems it lacks drills in the training sessions. I'll cover the players in a bit, but no matter how many other problems our AMs have and how bad our strikers are, we showed no pattern, we showed no understanding between them and the strikers. It seemed like the attacking part of our training sessions doesn't exist. I can't say it for sure as I'm not there, but we're so clueless attacking, we have no unit, no understanding, no conscious movement, no capitalizing of our players flair and we have plenty of flair with Hazard, Willian and Schurrle. Salah, Willian and Schurrle offer us incredible pace and acceleration but we underused it too. That's my biggest complain about Mourinho and his staff. They worked hard to solve our issues in the defense and I think we have a solid defense now, but they seemed to have used the excuse of not having good strikers to justify their lack of work to improve our attack pattern - which is nonexistent. That's all on Mourinho. Cech - had ups and downs this season, but in the end when he got injured we could see how much our defense actually misses his leadership, guidance and voice. Iva - one can't deny his passion and commitment and in all honesty I'm not a big critic of him as others around him. I think he doesn't compromise with his awful crosses. I'd rather Azpili in the right if we had a better player to replace him in the left Terry + Cahill - they had a great season, not only technically, but also showed a lot of commitment and passion Luiz - as a CB he lacked a lot, as a DM he filled the gap better than our other very limited options. So while he makes the best partnership in the pivot with Matic imo, it's still not what we need Azpili - my player of the season (although I may have voted for Eden in the poll, don't remember). I do think some here overrate his cross (he isn't much better than Iva at all), but he links up better and he's a beast. He gives everything, he's the kind of player we need, too bad we only have those in defense... Cole - our best FB attacking because he has decent crosses and he links up better than any other. But early the season he was displaced by Azpili because he was a liability defending. He could be easily overran by opponents, and despite his epic goal clearances, he was the weak link in the defense and I support Mourinho bringing Azpili for him. Ramires - awful second half of the season that for me completely erased his 2013 run. He had a good run in the beginning just like Oscar, but not to the same extent and imo he was even worse than Oscar in the second half. It seems like Mourinho rates him, but I do hope Mourinho finally realizes what a liability to any successful system Ramires is. He's a squad member player suitable for some kind of matches. That's it. Matic - too late by our board/manager, but at last here. The best signing we did. Lampard - squad member at most. Just like Ramires there are some matches that suit him (note I'm not comparing anything else between them). His age is what compromises the most, as he still has the same class he's always had, but he lacks the 'legs' or the 'lungs'. Mikel - can go now that we have Matic, Ramires, and van Ginkel. Now here's where I think we really had problems. Yeah, as I said I blame Mourinho and his team for not making our attack improve - regardless of our strikers, but in all honesty those are the players that let me down the most as well with their attitude. Hazard - had a great spell in the middle of the season. He still takes way too long to get things going. His first months are forgettable and then he peaks and then it's up and down. I think he has attitude/spirit issues that I'll cover in a bit. Oscar - had great months and then just became flat. Mourinho hinted he hides from big matches, or isn't much trustful, I really didn't understand well what he meant, but it's clear that he's lacking attitude and character Willian - he's transitioning, it's not fair to judge him technically yet, but tactically/mentally he's been our best AM in the last two months. The commitment he has with the manager and the team as a whole is second to none and he's on his peak, so it helps him. He just needs more confidence but I think that comes from the difficult transition to English football he had undergoing. Schürrle - my second signing of the season. I just love this man and his attitude. Comparing him to others AMs he's the less talented (even compared to Oscar, although he's more offensive than Oscar), but he's the one who gives the most - maybe tied with Willian. He gives his everything and he also went through a difficult transition. Not only he had to adapt to the style but he had to make some fitness work. Still he shined in many moment and this guy never fails to go the extra mile. He has the right spirit that I think Eden and Oscar lack. Salah - have been here for too little, and of course had ups and downs, and of course is also transitioning, but he seems to have the right spirit and attitude. He's the youngest of the bunch, but I think it's a very good addition to the team. Eto'o - is the only striker I'll bother to comment. The other two are below criticism, but Grandpa Eto'o gave everything he could and he was very important for Hazard improvement imo. He added a lot of experience, of instinct and if injuries didn't hit him so often at the second half of the season, I think we would have had better luck in EPL and UCL. Now about Eden and Oscar. I'm not saying they absolutely lack character and attitude. They're very young, they were supposed to be the most important players in this team and I think it's okay for them to struggle at their little age doing so. Oscar was supposed to be an improvement to Mata, not creatively, of course, they're two different kind of players, but he was supposed to be our #10 that didn't offer liabilities and while he was successful for a while, he failed when it really mattered. Eden was supposed to be this team biggest star and for a stretch of time he was, but he lacks attitude and spirit imo. He doesn't lack commitment - neither does Oscar - but it seems like calling him (and Oscar) boys isn't far fetched. They have yet to become men - something I think Schürrle doesn't lack being only a few months older than him - and they let down in that imo. But read this as an observation, not a criticism. They are too young, they're just barely older than being literally boys, they have time in their favor, but it doesn't mean that when we needed them the most they both failed. They had physical issues at the end, but I think they also had attitude issues. So that's my take. We made progress in the results, we made progress in the football defensively, but it was a disappointment (or maybe even failure) to develop an attacking pattern, to improve mentally some of our young players and we made a capital mistake by not bringing Matic earlier. All in all, I still think it was progress, it was successful as I consider success the ability to reach or not goals and we reached most attainable goals. I'll now write in the expectations thread and, boy, do I have big expectations and goals next season that I think this team must reach and that goes from players we'll sign to the tactics we'll employ to how we'll develop our young players.

Ba is the equivalent of Ramires in the striker position, isn't he? He frustrates more than I can say

Why is it so hard for our players to understand Eden? Get inside the BLOODY BOX. He will pass by his markers and he will try a cross or a an assist but all those fuckers except useless Ba aren't there to capitalize. It's too much stupidity

I knew he would play another striker with Ba instead of for Ba. I don't like it. Ba shouldn't be in the pitch now. Shouldn't have even started.

Demba Ba is compromising our attack. His positioning is awful, there's only one play he can do. We call it pivot in Portuguese - in a reference to basketball - where the player keeps his back to the goal, protects it and pass to someone else or turns and shoot. That's awful useless in this match. Torres or Eto'o is a must and not WITH Ba, but replacing Ba.

hence why I said not ideal. It's the lesser evil

That wasn't a pen at all. The guy didn't even touch Eden, although he tried. Some performance by Eden though

The difference Hazard makes... it's a different match altogether

not ideal, but Matic + Luiz has been by far our best pivot this season.

Salah was anonymous. Willian alternated between very good plays and awful plays and Schurrle tried everything and was a bit unlucky with that post shot. I don't get what Ba is doing there, Torres would have been better, although I think José was trying to give him some (late) confidence. But really isn't the kind of striker I like neither the kind I think fits better matches like this. His positioning can be shocking sometimes.

Zola

I don't understand much of this interview actually. What did he mean about Willian? That he's lacking professionalism, commitment and the quality he had in Shakhtar or is it the opposite? As for the Oscar part, does he mean Oscar was scared of playing big games? I don't get he made himself a doubt becoming a doubtful player. Does it mean not trustful? I completely agree about him making mistakes. My whole point wasn't to analyze his performance, but his position through all this and how it had been clearly communicate to us. He announced all things he was going to do before doing them. So people act surprise we played more pragmatic and defensive than we should with such a squad, but he's tried and didn't work much. The big question will always be: why continue through a path your team may not be ready for and risk the biggest goal of the season? What would fans say if we continued that path and developed better the football offensively and we failed to quality to UCL. The losses in December were very telling imo... If anything I think he was judging Ramires... When a manager doesn't defend the player from being banned in 8 matches in a 38 rounds league, it means he doesn't (or can't) trust said player. Maybe I'm hoping against hope and it's wishful thinking. But it doesn't feel like Mourinho is defending Ramires rather than judging him for getting himself out of so many matches because he can't be disciplined. I think it's a criticism and he maybe he meant he can't count on that player. I really hope that's the case.

Mauro Silva is almost the antonym of what flair is, man. The guy didn't have one flair pass on him, although he was a wall and in the 90's when he played, modern football wasn't here yet, and he was the typical pivot player that would give your midfielders nightmare, but he isn't a flair player at all. I only agree about your assessment on Ramires. He doesn't belong in this club imo, much less in Brazil NT, but Oscar fits just fine both and Luiz is another level of player for the NT. Definitely makes the best defense partnership in the NT world imo alongside Thiago Silva.

I LOVED IT!!!!!! It's so nice to put a voice in the id We should continue doing that! We just have to keep it attainable. Instead of starting with a weekly thing, we could maybe trying it monthly and from there get it more often as we get used to it. I loved those podcasts above, I think we could try something that way in a frequency we can afford to keep

I'm using your post, but I could have quoted many others. Mourinho said himself early in December, before the Arsenal game (I don't remember in which post-match conference, I guess against Sunderland in the COC or against Stoke) that he felt like he needed to change the style and go a little more defensive and pragmatic because the team wasn't ready for the kind of football he wanted them to play otherwise it'd jeopardize the goals in the season and he was saying constantly the main goal this season was qualifying to next UCL (as well as qualifying to round of 16 in the UCL, I just don't remember if this specific interview was before or after we confirmed our place in round of 16). So why are people acting surprised now (don't mean you)? He said it BEFORE he did it and he justified it and a few of us have been reminding everyone about it for a few weeks now. But people are so ready to blame someone, to disregard the manager that changed us a lot this season. We weren't lucky winners (or losers) through the competitions we played. We reached UCL semifinal deservingly getting passed Gala and PSG and we lost deservingly too when a team was better than us. We won the double of the two possible EPL champions and we played better than them in half those matches. we were competitive against the other 'big sides', but our inability to break down defenses led us to drop points against smaller sides. That's also a problem Mourinho, Hazard and others addressed and I'm positive they're aware something needs to be done. Mourinho wanted us to play a more attractive or at least offensive style, we weren't ready for that, he took a couple of steps back and set up in a way we would reach the seasons' objectives that have been broadcast by him since the season started which I mentioned above. But there's also another thing he's been saying for a long time now and we are entitled to ask for results not only based on his words, but also because it means we gave him time to settle and assess the real situation: he's been saying next season we'll fight for the titles, we'll be favorites, we'll be big horses, etc... Mourinho said that and therefore we can come here this time next season and question him if he doesn't reach it (even then we need to be sober enough to know that sometimes you just lose for a small detail, some races are tight). If we present the same football a year from now, he's failed to his own words. If we still struggle against smaller sides, he's failed his own words too. But if we make progress and become real contenders for EPL and UCL (even if for some tragedy we don't win), then it's mission accomplished and titles will come (I'm positive they'll already come next season). So he announced to the whole world what were the club's goals this season, when he realized he had to stop the work to move to the style he wanted otherwise those objectives would be jeopardized he again announced to the whole world he was taking a step back (what's the point of continuing the evolution of having a more attractive football if we miss our spot in the UCL and can only be able to show such style in Europa League? Arsenal just didn't miss their UCL spot because Everton chocked hard). And lastly, he's been putting a lot of pressure on himself and in the team admitting and taking the role of protagonist next season. He's saying his team will be one of the top dogs next season. His communication has been clear and fine and I think he's been very fair in the objectives he set for the team this season and the next as those objectives seem coherent,realistic and attainable.

Bale getting a free role at Madrid? Now I've got enough of your bullshit. That's a lie as many other wrong assumptions that you've written in the past couple of days. If you want to blame it all at Mourinho do it, but at least get your facts straight. And watch football before saying stuff you clearly don't know and don't pretend you've watched Madrid x Bayern. You can fool the ones who didn't but it's a capital mistake to think you can get away with it in a football forum...

what does this generation that is used to Football Manager actually knows about the difference between building a team and buying a squad? Of course, not all people who play it are like that, but the enormous amount of people using a squad value to justify things just prove they don't know the first thing about football...

What a bitter end of season (not even bittersweet, plain bitter instead). Instead of feeling proud - even if disappointed by the way things panned out in the EPL losses and the UCL elimination - we're taking sides between our most important player (at least in theory) and our manager. I read somewhere the whole interview translated (many, many, many pages back in this thread there's the entire thing in French in video and printed) and at least the version I read Eden implied something about playing alone - which is ALWAYS a bad statement to do because I think it's very disregarding towards your teammates. I don't think it was a jab at Mourinho's tactics, but I think it's unfair to the rest of the team - IF that was the original statement at all, my French is too rusty for me to try to figure it out myself). While I don't appreciate Mourinho for pointing out Eden made a mistake because seems like he's showcasing him alone (and we had a lot of problems that match), I won't make a fuzz about it. The same way I didn't about the 'my wife' comments, or the 'Chelsea don't play football - which should be translated with the ball' things. The media is trying to make a circus out of it and it's sad our own fans are buying it. Hazard made a few mistakes in the match, so did many others, including in the goals. I do think the first Atletico goal was a capital one and why we lost, I do think Schurrle or Willian would have done better if they were at Hazard's position because they've been doing exactly that in the last few matches, including against Liverpool and the first leg in Madrid. So the kid made a mistake. Get over it, Terry also made one in the PSG first leg, so did Cech, Luiz, etc... Mistakes are part of football and we don't need to crucify the boy and I don't think Mourinho was crucifying him either. I do think though he could have handled it better. Mourinho bit the bait the media planted to him. They want to make a mess in out dressing room and I do hope Mourinho learned from the Spanish media gate. While the journos there are disgusting, Mourinho isn't a saint himself and although the main reason things got out of hand in Madrid was because of player power, he handled the media poorly. So at the end of the day we lost a UCL SF in a frustrating way. We were outplayed, we had a shot when it was 1x0 for us, but we weren't good enough in the end. It's time to regroup and get over, but instead the media - at least in this forum and I hope that's not how it is inside the club - is successful in creating an unnecessary crisis. 30 teams were eliminated in the UCL. We were the last ones. It happens. Next year I have no doubts we'll be fighting for it again. No need to point fingers to our manager - who made mistakes; or to any of our players - who also made mistakes, when in the end collectively we just weren't good enough. A bad atmosphere only makes this elimination worse than it really is and creates a lot of unnecessary issues.

Oh, so he has had an injury for 9 months and opted along with Chelsea medical staff not to play all matches we played this season because of bloody WC? Get your facts straight. He said he'd play if the manager needed him - reason why he was in the bench, available if Mourinho wanted. But Mourinho didn't want to risk to have yet another not 100% fit player in the pitch. Of course he has to worry about the WC in his own country while he's Brazil - one of the most important NTs in the world - when he could be worsening an injury, in addition to not being fit. I don't give a fuck about the WC, I don't care if he plays or not, but what you said MAKES NO SENSE and I respect any player that INJURED makes a decision, although in this case it was clearly made by Mourinho, not Oscar. that was specifically at the haranc (or whatever) guy. He's been a nuisance with the Eden worship. It's hard to be around him when you can't say anything and he calls you all names in the dictionary.