Difficult transition period?

[BlueLyon 9,359]

I was wondering how long will transition period last? We are not realy doing any progress since 2009/10 season and it looks that major team changes are yet to come. Drogba era is over, but remains of it in Lamps,Terry, Cole,... are still there. Mou said that second season is always best, but I doubt it will be the same case here next year. There are several players leaving or should leave, which means several players will have to come in. And teams always need TIME to gel together.

Players that will probably leave in max 2 years:

Lamps, Essien, Cole, Ba, Etoo, Kdb, Moses, Terry, Torres, Mikel

Players that could leave aswell:

Cech (because of Courtois), Mata/Oscar, Luiz, Bertrand

With all those players who might leave due to their age or lack of play time, we will need to buy dozen of new players to keep squad depth and obviously strong first eleven.

My point is that we will face big team change with most older leaders leaving and we have no new established ones here. I very much doubt we can afford to spend on 5 world class players in january and next summer. That means we will have very uncomplete team for next season and possibly season after aswell. This could be chance for youth players to step up.

Most important is that we make team plan. Dont just buy players because you can (Schurrle, Willian, Etoo,...) but because they fit EXACTLY to the team formation. If we need CM or RW sing fucking CM or RW and not another CAM or LW who never played on right side in career...

[Special Juan 27,428]

The transition will take as long as needed for Jose to get the exact players he wants into this team, grow a team fluidity and adapt his style that is then transmitted into his group.

A lot has been said of late of how bad we are playing etc, I know it isn't great but I think half of the problem is the fact we are so shit in front of goal teams are closer to us than they should be at the final whistle because we have failed to convert 5-6 clear cut chances in a game, with that you become hugely susceptible. This team needs three positions covered between now and summer, that's left-back, holding midfielder and a top class striker.

Jose was brought back and has inherited a boat load of new players including young kids, surely the fact we are right up there in the race for the title, still in a good position in the CL and whilst all that being shit in front of goal, we ain't doing to bad.

This isn't directed at you @BlueLyon but I think people are far too impatient and are far too quick to moan. We need to allow this team to grow under Jose's guidance, sacking manager after manager is no good what so ever, it isn't Jose's fault that Eto'o, Ba and Torres are all mince, once they cross that white line there is little he can do.

[Strike 7,217]

Villas-Boas started with the ground-work. He introduced Mata, Romeu, Sturridge to the first team but then that went south for various reasons, including psychological factors, and caused delay in this transition. We're getting there though. Hazard, Oscar are improving their consistency and others like Willian, Schurrle, Azpilicueta are hitting their prime. As for replacing the mentioned players, there is a lot of talent on loan at a club like Vitesse around Europe. Courtois, Lukaku will hopefully be part of the squad next year and with a few signings - CM, LB, ST - the team will be a strong one. It's true that having spent so much money already, the club should be a lot further along in completing the team. I thought this summer was wasted but regardless, there is a lot to be optimistic about and if Jose is here for the next few, he'd mould a great team

[hjperdeath 2,226]

Transition is different with every manager. No matter how many times it has started before, new manager means a new beginning of transition...

[Mufassir08 2,400]

I agree with Strike that we pretty much wasted the summer window.I think we need to strengthen in 4 positions a striker,couple of central mids,left back and a CB.We address these problematic positions and I believe we'll be right back among Europe's elite.

[CHOULO19 24,332]

We've done more progress over the past 5 months of the season than we've done in 3 years in terms of implementing a relevant gameplan whichisn't a short term one.

the Swansea game shows how good we've become after only a couple of months. Playing Hazar, Oscar and Mata altogether ; team presses for over 70mn, we create loads of chances. Really not anything to worry about. Apart from the striker situation

I couldn't agree more. I think that we have made huge progress this season, but unfortunately the ineffectiveness in the final third is eclipsing this progress a lot of the time. And it's not our strikers, it's also the three behind them failing to turn very good positions and situations into chances.

[sutro 1,026]

I agree with Strike that we pretty much wasted the summer window.I think we need to strengthen in 4 positions a striker,couple of central mids,left back and a CB.We address these problematic positions and I believe we'll be right back among Europe's elite.

I kind of disagree with the wasted summer window.

Perhaps mou wanted to see what kind of players he really had before splashing out big cash, the next summer window will tell us alot more

[Reddish-Blue 2,347]

I agree with Strike that we pretty much wasted the summer window.I think we need to strengthen in 4 positions a striker,couple of central mids,left back and a CB.We address these problematic positions and I believe we'll be right back among Europe's elite.

Our summer window wasn't wasted...we just spent too much on Willian (he's a good AM...but definitely not worth 30 million)

[Strike 7,217]

Our summer window wasn't wasted...we just spent too much on Willian (he's a good AM...but definitely not worth 30 million)

May have added depth for the attacking midfield but the club did not upgrade any position.The transfer window was wasted for me.

[Mufassir08 2,400]

I kind of disagree with the wasted summer window.

Perhaps mou wanted to see what kind of players he really had before splashing out big cash, the next summer window will tell us alot more

Our summer window wasn't wasted...we just spent too much on Willian (he's a good AM...but definitely not worth 30 million)

We needed to strengthen two positions,Striker and Midfield yet we only signed MVG who was hardly going to be our Midfield saviour this season.We needed a World Class player in there not someone with Potential and the less said about our striker situation the better.So yeah it's pretty much a wasted summer for me but of course you can disagree.

[sutro 1,026]

I think the whole lukaku thing turned out different than mou expected and perhaps he hoped that he could bring torres back to his old self( wishfull thinking)

In the midfield we had the mvg injury and to much faith in Lamps considering his age?

[BlueLyon 9,359]

I didnt want to look impatient, but just pointing out that the transition is taking some time already and we spend soo much money, but still we are way back than where we should be. For instance, we splashed around 60mio eur for basicaly squad players this summer. I think Willian is good enough to start for top team, but not here. He isnt natural RW and we need that more than we need another AM mould.

It is normal that transition period is taking quite some time, m

I only wanted to hit at board for not bringing exact players we required in past few years. There were deals that didnt realy suceeded, at least not yet (Luiz, Torres) and then there were deals that were completely unnecessary (Schurrle and Willian for 60mio).

[Alan Partridge 1,124]

Like I said before, if AVB stayed we would be out of it by now.

It doesn't mean we would be the top team in the league. AVB was an imposter and had to go.

Jose will build one of the best teams in Europe. I would say next season is still a transitional season because we have a lot of players coming to the end of their career, too many players not good enough for us.

2015/2016

We should be seeing the transition coming to an end.

Looks like we have a lot of buying to do in the summer.

Look how quick City became a force. Hart, Kompany, Toure. Aguero, they built a good team around those key players.

[Blue Warrior 109]

We need to promote from within. Tough decisions need to be taken on the ageing members of the squad. The future is still blue. A new era, will Abramovich stick to financial fair play.

[drog.ba 239]

I dont think any of those players would be a major loss, I think signing a striker would make the 'transition' smoother, someone to partner Ramires. Oscar and Hazard already seem to be adapting well, Schrulle and Willian will settle in. Hopefully Lukaku comes in and rotates with a new striker. This season will be tough, I dont think we'll win anything, after next season with better strikers and a few other changes in the squad I'd expect us to be in a strong position to win the league

[zolayes 14,489]

I didnt want to look impatient, but just pointing out that the transition is taking some time already and we spend soo much money, but still we are way back than where we should be. For instance, we splashed around 60mio eur for basicaly squad players this summer. I think Willian is good enough to start for top team, but not here. He isnt natural RW and we need that more than we need another AM mould.

It is normal that transition period is taking quite some time, m

I only wanted to hit at board for not bringing exact players we required in past few years. There were deals that didnt realy suceeded, at least not yet (Luiz, Torres) and then there were deals that were completely unnecessary (Schurrle and Willian for 60mio).

It took thousands of years for man to become civilized and less than 2 generations to revert to animals

[Mouri_Matic 560]

TRANSITION? WHAT TRANSITION?

[ZanSnake 1,211]

With Mourinho, the transition will be supported around a good foundation - and with money incoming from players that are deemed unneeded (ie. Marin, Moses, KdB, etc.) maybe then we can promote from within and then buy for the actual eras within the squad that needs more depth and quality. We have more depth now then we did last season, and players are finding the consistency they will need in order to become 'elite'.

With Jose, we have a great transition potential that can keep pace short-term as well as building for the future