Are we going to finish in the top 4? - Achieved!

[communicate 2,703]

Whilst I think we need to make the top four, finishing outside might not be the worst thing in the world. It would give us a chance to restart and build things properly. What we have at the moment is a result of spending money on the wrong players for about three years.

It might force us to give the youngsters we have a chance in the first team rather than looking at the likes of Falcao. Financially it would be bad but the Premier League tv revenue is increasing from next year and we'd have a season without the pressure of winning the Champions League. It might also give a manager the chance to build something as well.

Long-term I don't know if it wouldn't be exactly what we need.

I am not sure we have spent money on the wrong person other than you know who. We just started our rebuilding process a little bit late. We should have started during ancelotti era. All of our key players were in their late prime and by the time they moved past their prime we didn't have anybody to replace them so we have to buy ready player (they are usually more expensive). Now what we have is a imbalance squad with very young key players.

I actually believe that torres is supposed to be the guy for our team since last year but we all know it is not going to happen

[Zone 290]

Get Azpi, Terry back in the starting 11.

Save Mata only for league games.

Ba should start as many games as possible to get back on goal scoring form because Torres never will.

Stop changing positions for every player in every game. Stick to one damn position and just finish the season and with all this said, the only way we finish top 4 is if Spurs bottle it like they usually do.

Arsenal will finish top 4.

[CMS 382]

With Rafa in charge, who knows?

[Stats 6,987]

Being in the Europa League is a hindrance to our season and it is something that other rivals such as Arsenal, similar to last season might capitalize on, albeit that this time we have no opportunity to turn to the Champions League if we do not finish top 4. The extra games of the Europa League is making players more tired and just adding congested fixtures which is not good for us as our depth is not brilliant. It is vital we finish top 4 this season. Major consequences if we do not. Good that Spurs and Arsenal are playing each other next week. We can take advantage on one of them, if not both of them. We cannot take anything for granted because we have slipped up in games we should have won before but on paper our next set of fixtures are definitely ones where I would say we are better than our opponent and should be winning.

West Brom, Fulham, West Ham, Southampton, Sunderland, Spurs at home (our record at home against them is excellent) are our next set of fixtures. Realistically we can get maximum points from every single game here, however we are so inconsistent and there is bound to be some slip up in one of these games unfortunately.

[Mufassir08 2,400]

West Brom, Fulham, West Ham, Southampton, Sunderland, Spurs

15 points from this set of games is an absolute must.I dont care if we play our youth team in the europa league we just have to finish in the top 4.

[Styles 9,790]

Whilst I think we need to make the top four, finishing outside might not be the worst thing in the world. It would give us a chance to restart and build things properly. What we have at the moment is a result of spending money on the wrong players for about three years.

It might force us to give the youngsters we have a chance in the first team rather than looking at the likes of Falcao. Financially it would be bad but the Premier League tv revenue is increasing from next year and we'd have a season without the pressure of winning the Champions League. It might also give a manager the chance to build something as well.

Long-term I don't know if it wouldn't be exactly what we need.

Just imagine there's no Champions League football and then next season descends into a farce just like this one. It won't be long before the better players in the squad start thinking about moving on to other clubs (if they aren't already).

[Buffalo talks Blue 85]

To judge on basis of the City game, :banghead:

[CHOULO19 24,332]

I reckon, looking at Arsenal's tough run in they'll drop around 10-12 points; meaning we'll need 21-23 points from the remaining 33 to secure top four. This computes to roughly 6 wins, 3 draws and 2 losses. From our remaining matches I think the results will be:

Wins: WBA(H), Westham(H), Southampton(A), Sunderland(H), Swansea(H), Villa(A)

Draws: Fulham(A), Tottenham(H), Everton(H)

Losses: Utd (A), Liverpool (A)

It'll be tight, but if we manage not to make some serious f*** ups we should be able to stay in top 4.

[English Freak 456]

Being in the Europa League is a hindrance to our season and it is something that other rivals such as Arsenal, similar to last season might capitalize on, albeit that this time we have no opportunity to turn to the Champions League if we do not finish top 4. The extra games of the Europa League is making players more tired and just adding congested fixtures which is not good for us as our depth is not brilliant. It is vital we finish top 4 this season.

West Brom, Fulham, West Ham, Southampton, Sunderland, Spurs at home are our next set of fixtures. Realistically we can get maximum points from every single game here, however we are so inconsistent and there is bound to be some slip up in one of these games unfortunately.

Out of those games, only Sunderland and Southampton seems like a definite 3 points.

West Brom could easily take a point away from us, Big Sam will get West Ham motivated, Fulham will probably play for the draw & AvB would love nothing more than to beat Chelsea.

[Amblève. 4,995]

To judge on basis of the City game, :banghead:

No, nobody is doing so.

0-1 vs QPR

0-2 vs Swansea

2-2 vs Southampton

0-0 @ Swansea

2-2 @ Brentford

2-2 @ Reading

2-3 @ Newcastle

1-1 vs Sparta Prague

0-2 @ City

Keep in mind: These are 9 out of 15 games from January and February so far. We've been dropping points or been playing badly in games that we could have, sometimes even should have won.

You can look at these result the way you want but you can't deny that this team is far from having a secure spot in the Top-4. We simply lack the depth and quality to be sure about reaching a CL spot.

[The only place to be 11,313]

Just imagine there's no Champions League football and then next season descends into a farce just like this one. It won't be long before the better players in the squad start thinking about moving on to other clubs (if they aren't already).

So farce and Champions League football is preferable?

We need to remove the farce altogether and a lack of CL football might enable us to rebuild under slightly less pressure. We need to be a bit honest about ourselves and admit we didn't build this club from the bottom up - we tried to build without solid foundations and then when the walls started crumbling we simply tried to paper over the cracks.

Now we're doing the right thing with the academy and transfer dealings, but there's a gap between what we've got at the moment and what we'll have in the future which is a breeding ground for turmoil.

In retrospect this clusterfuck was somewhat inevitable.

[edetarod 2,155]

So farce and Champions League football is preferable?

We need to remove the farce altogether and a lack of CL football might enable us to rebuild under slightly less pressure. We need to be a bit honest about ourselves and admit we didn't build this club from the bottom up - we tried to build without solid foundations and then when the walls started crumbling we simply tried to paper over the cracks.

Now we're doing the right thing with the academy and transfer dealings, but there's a gap between what we've got at the moment and what we'll have in the future which is a breeding ground for turmoil.

In retrospect this clusterfuck was somewhat inevitable.

like Liverpool?

[The only place to be 11,313]

like Liverpool?

No, not like Liverpool. Their problems were and are much worse than our's.

Missing out on the CL for one season might not be the worst thing in the world. Going by league form last season, we should've missed out. Maybe this is the wake-up call we need.

Edited February 25, 2013 by The only place to be

[Stats 6,987]

Out of those games, only Sunderland and Southampton seems like a definite 3 points.

West Brom could easily take a point away from us, Big Sam will get West Ham motivated, Fulham will probably play for the draw & AvB would love nothing more than to beat Chelsea.

We are at home to WBA. I expect a win 100%, nothing else. We are at home to West Ham as well. Definite wins, from all thems games I mentioned. Our record against them motivates me to think we will win them games.

[Estagon 0]

I reckon, looking at Arsenal's tough run in they'll drop around 10-12 points; meaning we'll need 21-23 points from the remaining 33 to secure top four. This computes to roughly 6 wins, 3 draws and 2 losses. From our remaining matches I think the results will be:

Wins: WBA(H), Westham(H), Southampton(A), Sunderland(H), Swansea(H), Villa(A)

Draws: Fulham(A), Tottenham(H), Everton(H)

Losses: Utd (A), Liverpool (A)

It'll be tight, but if we manage not to make some serious f*** ups we should be able to stay in top 4.

That's optimistic ! We lost to Swansea in the League Cup. We lost to WBA,without Lukaku, so maybe yes, there is a chance of winning that game at home. West Ham United will be very tough. I think we'll win against Tottenham and Fulham though.

I don't really care about Top4 or anything this season. I just want some stability back and I think a year without Champions League can give us that. However, the players won't like that and with those Financial Fair Play rules it will be hard to strengthen our forces up front.

[bushman 2,043]

On Sunday Chelsea played their 46th game this season. Meanwhile, Arsenal 41st, Spurs & Citeh 38th, Everton 32nd.

Of course it takes its toll. They have not had a clear week for 29 weeks.

Why Chelsea´s management not accounted for all these games & not provided the team with adequate players ?

[Peace. 4,352]

On Sunday Chelsea played their 46th game this season. Meanwhile, Arsenal 41st, Spurs & Citeh 38th, Everton 32nd.

Of course it takes its toll. They have not had a clear week for 29 weeks.

Why Chelsea´s management not accounted for all these games & not provided the team with adequate players ?

That's clear, at the start of the season we were bound to play a lot of games — even more than usual. It was plain to see, since we were engaged in 7 competitions.

So why did they not provided a squad good enough to compete for all those games ? Actually they did — at least into their opinion. The board is compound of yes-men coming from the business world. They know their shit when it comes to win money ; but they don't know jack when it comes to football matters. And unfortunately, the guys who are deciding which players to purchase are the members of the board.

So that means they'll see everything at the club with their eyes of businessmen ; not through football eyes like we do. I'll try and illustrate what I mean. When they buy a player for £40m, they considere that he will play right away like a £40m player, no matter what. They do not take into consideration that this player could only be potential and that we pay for what he can be in the future. They do not take into consideration that he could need time to be used to the league, the team, to the play we play. They do not take into consideration that if he's out of position, then he will underperform. They do not take into consideration that he could not be suited to our other players. And I could go on...

Hence, this summer they spend around £80m on four players. That's a big amount of money. The team have been heavily strengthened especially in term of money spend. So, to their eyes, that should be enough. Furthermore we already have a £50m wonder-horse in the team. That squad is expensive — so in term of money-money, the team is good enough to compete in all those competitions. But they did forgot to take into consideration that players are human beings. They are humans who evolve ; who can have some days off ; who can flop or be a hit ; etc...They are managing this club as if it was a FIFA game.

That's wherein lies the problem. The club is run by non-football people. That is why they failed to conceive that our squad was not good enough to compete in 7 competitions but above all they failed to conceive that this squad didn't have enough depth. This is also the reason why three summers ago, they failed to replace Carvalho, Deco, Ballack and Belleti — for them Bruma, Kakuta, Van Aaholt and Borini where good enough to take over those very good players. This is why we started the season with only striker — well, if we could name that a "striker".

We do need to get ride of those yes-men. We need to hire football men. That's all.

[Yasser 63]

with Rafa? sorry, i don't think so!