Would missing out on the top four be the worst thing in the world?

[Laylabelle 9,539]

Any astute Chelsea fan wants to see the Blues compete against the top clubs in Europe.

Where else can one see it if not playing in CL ?

I want Chelsea to go forward, playing, being tested against the Barcas, Reals & not some second tier team from boon-locks in FA Cup.

Thank god we missed this season!Wouldnt be tested would completly get walked all over we're bearly managing against Europa teams

[BlueLyon 9,359]

We should sort few things out first.

1.) get a new manager. A motivator, tactic and loyal to club with some experience. Mou would be ideal, but there are other choices, just board needs to find them.

2.) once we get manager, we should take deep look into our backstaff. From support coaches, technical team, etc. Im sure Mou would bring a man or two he worked before with.

3.) get right formation and style of play. It depends on how we want to play. Possesion football or counter attacks? Then manager should pick right formation to suit our style and players.

4.) once we have formation, we know who we need to bring in. New players should be taken serious check before signed, I dont want any more ''dead wood'' here like Marin or Torres who are just not usefull or too expensive.

5.) Then ultimately comes down to players. Current team has 24 players. With loanees (that are possible part of next season) we get 12 more players.

But from current team, Malouda, Hilario, Benayoun, Marin, possibly Lamps, Turnbull, Torres and Ferreira will leave. They should. Then we have 16 players + KDB, Lukaku, and maybe Essien, van Aanholt who can return to this team. 21 then. Courtois, Chalobah, Kakuta, Piazon, Bruma, Hutchinson, Wallace, Kalas, Josh should stay on loan. Personaly, I would extend Lamps contract, just because he can still add some experience to the side. 2/3 players more and we have 25 players for next year.

GK: Cech, Turnbull, Blackman

DF: Luiz, Terry, Cahill, Iva, Azpi, Cole, Van Aanholt, Bertrand

CM: Mikel, Essien, NEW DLP, Ramires, Romeu, Lamps

AM: Hazard, Mata, Oscar, Kdb, Moses, NEW WINGER? (even Lamps, Rambo can fill the gap here)

ST: Lukaku, Ba, NEW STRIKER

Other positions required are

CB: we can wait for Kalas or buy Papadopoulos/Howedes/Okore/Zouma/...next year

DM: we have Chalobah who will be ready in two years

LB: Luke Shaw eventualy

LW/RW: we dont have genuine winger in our team, neither in youth departments realy. If anyone it should be a cheaper winger, definately not someone like DiMaria, Sanchez, James, but someone like Ayew, Payet who can wait on bench and do impact from game.

Main players would play PL and CL, youth players should play cup games. And I mean all of them. Even if we play vs City or United, they should play. It will give them experience and regular players will get the much needed rest. There we can be sucessful and evolve youth players at same time.

[zolayes 14,489]

The worst thing would be finishing in the top 4 and keeping Benitez and Torres

[Hutcho 8,443]

To the people talking about being able to rebuild if we don't make it... We have a great squad and we don't need to go crazy in the transfer window. But if we don't get it this year, theres no guarentee we would get it next year. It's not our God given right. We are good enough and should hopefully be challenging for the title soon, but we want to be making forward strides not backwards.

Can you imagine if a player says, they are not gonna join us but arsenal instead because they can play champions league football. We are the top dogs in London, and we want to stay that way, and not have 2 seasons in a row where they have finished ahead of us in the league. I can't see players just wanting to go because of no champions league football, but this is a young talneted team that deserves to be playing in the champions league.

So there are worse things that could happen to this club, but missing top 4 would still be very bad.

Game vs tottenham will be extremely crucial.

[Beepu 1,714]

I think what the club needs to look out for is to not be like liverpool. the only place to be, you mentioned that bayern has turned their failure to qualify for CL to a huge change and success, I think what most of us here are scared of is that we become the new liverpool. I agree that 1 year without CL wouldnt be the end of the world, althought i dont believe it would be massively beneficial as you said.

People write that players might leave, but only if we fail to qualify again the next season. I dont think key players would leave the first season, but i can see them getting disillusioned by the clubs ambition the second time. Transfers would be effected as this season has proved, we wouldnt have been able to sign hazard if we didnt qualify for CL by winning it, but rather players in the quality of marin.

[Blue Gino 377]

Was the point of this article to get the youth a chance by missing a top four spot? If they're good enough they will play in the first team bottom line. If Chelsea miss the top four and struggle to achieve it again next season say goodbye to Hazard, Oscar and Mata. They have their place in the NT to think about as well and they need exposure at the highest levels to keep their place. If you want to argue that they are safe in the NT is one thing but it's embarrassing to see these great players want out. I have faith in Chalobah, Cortouis, KDB, Lukaku and a few others claiming spots on the roster next season anyways.

[bushman 2,043]

Thank god we missed this season!Wouldnt be tested would completly get walked all over we're bearly managing against Europa teams

Quite the contrary. Even though, Chelsea are not competing in CL, I still would have liked to see the team playing the top teams in Europe. That way, we could have seen where the team is at.

Chelsea have made a name for themselves. Everyone is expecting them to play against the best in Europe.

What other competition can offer the best than CL ?

[Guest FullEnglishBreakfast]

Imagine relegation isn't very nice.

[bushman 2,043]

Imagine relegation isn't very nice.

Perhaps, the one who started this thread might tune us in on it ?

[Stingray 9,441]

We should sort few things out first.

DF: Luiz, Terry, Cahill, Iva, Azpi, Cole, Van Aanholt, Bertrand

CM: Mikel, Essien, NEW DLP, Ramires, Romeu, Lamps

I think with 2 lines - defence and midfield- like this we will get our asses kicked next year as well. A team has to be built up from a solid foundation.

1. Defence: Cahill (errors + positioning), Iva (in current form), Bertrand (cannot cut it imo), Van Aanholt (unproven - a risk in defence)

2. Midfield: Mikel (too slow in build up, no 'momentum' going forward and defensive lapses under pressure), Essien (i dont think he can fill that crucial gap anymore in midfield), Ramires (squadplayer), Romeu (a lil optimistic to think he will pull that pivot), Lamps (Sigh - as much as I hate it ... He is going this summer)

Conclusion: this is in NO WAY good enough to compete for top 3 spot and enter the CL next year. We will be made fun of.

We really need an huge quality injection in those two lines. No squad players but real additions with experience. The HUGE shortcoming is our pivot I believe ..... We need to rebuild that from scratch even .....