Post-season review - Chelsea 2013/14

[bushman 2,043]

Won Respect from who?

Every top team in the PL. Citeh, Arsenal, Manures, Tottenham, Liverpoops, defeated them all.

Good enough for you?

[BlueLyon 9,359]

Is it just me but I thinik Oscar realy should do better. Not that he did bad or is fault for whole team, but after superb #10 last year in Mata, Oscar displaced Mata and was amazing in first few weeks, but he completely lost it after...he isnt typical #10, but still is #10 and quite average at that. Also cant stand up and drive team forward in bad moments. If others play bad, he cant make spark and I miss that in him.

By no meaning he is bad player and will improve, but he kind of dissapointed me this season after high start.

[BlueLion. 21,491]

For me trophies are the one thing we all want, but looking at our situation from the start of the season with everything happening, a trophy for me would of been a huge bonus. If we don't win the league or CL I will personally still class it as a success. New manager, new players and new philosophy.

No shame here.

Trophies are a barometer rather than an accurate measurement of success, in my view. You can have a very successful season by closing the gap on the league winners from 25 (2011/12), to 14 (2012/12), to currently just two points in 2013/14. That denotes improvement. There was no improvement in Chelsea as a team between winning the league in 2010 and winning the Europa League last May. In fact I think we regressed between that point. We are now at the beginning of the upwards oscillation and I for one am hugely excited by it. Trophies will follow.

[Special Juan 28,090]

Trophies are a barometer rather than an accurate measurement of success, in my view. You can have a very successful season by closing the gap on the league winners from 25 (2011/12), to 14 (2012/12), to currently just two points in 2013/14. That denotes improvement. There was no improvement in Chelsea as a team between winning the league in 2010 and winning the Europa League last May. In fact I think we regressed between that point. We are now at the beginning of the upwards oscillation and I for one am hugely excited by it. Trophies will follow.

Agreed. You have said what my brain could not transmit to my fingers.

Monday, love em.

[Reddish-Blue 2,489]

Every top team in the PL. Citeh, Arsenal, Manures, Tottenham, Liverpoops, defeated them all.

Good enough for you?

Spurs have been a joke this season and Manure...well they were always going to fall after Fergie retired...and to make things worse, they hired MOYES, i'm sure they had BETTER options.

But yea, I get your point Bushman.

[The only place to be 11,313]

Progress has been made in terms of bringing back a quality DM in Matic and winning key games against the big boys....but our struggles against the lower-half of the EPL continues..

Overall...without any trophies*, the season is a failure.

You can't call another manager a specialist in failure and then in the same season, fail to win anything with your own club.

It's amazing how we all seem to recognise that the desire for instant success and trophies is what ultimately led to the fucked up situation where we hired Rafa Benitez as our manager and had the worst atmosphere at the Bridge for many a year, yet some still think trophies are the be all and end all.

If trophies mean that much then go to a trophy shop and buy one - it means about as much as the Europa League in all honesty.

And Wenger went 8 years without a trophy whilst losing his top players and failing to put together a team capable of making a serious title challenge in that time. Why that has even been brought up when Jose has been back barely 9 months and has made us a better team already is beyond me.

We're trying to achieve something that takes time yet people are judging everything by trophies - this is a more successful season than the 2012 season in my opinion because it's building towards something.

[bushman 2,043]

Spurs have been a joke this season and Manure...well they were always going to fall after Fergie retired...and to make things worse, they hired MOYES, i'm sure they had BETTER options.

But yea, I get your point Bushman.

OK a tint of Reddish.

Come next season, Chelsea is first out of the gate. Set, on your mark, bang & the races are on.

[BlueLion. 21,491]

It's amazing how we all seem to recognise that the desire for instant success and trophies is what ultimately led to the fucked up situation where we hired Rafa Benitez as our manager and had the worst atmosphere at the Bridge for many a year, yet some still think trophies are the be all and end all.

If trophies mean that much then go to a trophy shop and buy one - it means about as much as the Europa League in all honesty.

And Wenger went 8 years without a trophy whilst losing his top players and failing to put together a team capable of making a serious title challenge in that time. Why that has even been brought up when Jose has been back barely 9 months and has made us a better team already is beyond me.

We're trying to achieve something that takes time yet people are judging everything by trophies - this is a more successful season than the 2012 season in my opinion because it's building towards something.

Brilliant point. Over the last 2/3 seasons we've sacrificed our long term success by spunking out millions on hiring and firing managers because there was no immediate success. Now the powers at the club seem to have matured. In two-three years they will have reaped the rewards of their patience. I can't promise how many trophies we'll win between now and then because City will only keep improving, Arsenal will one day eventually get there and Liverpool will attract big names against with CL football. But we're doing our long-term prospects the world of good by filling the cracks with heavy investment in young talent, rather than merely papering them over by chopping and changing the management and playing personnel in the slim hope it'll inspire a trophy return.

[Amblève. 4,995]

Progress has been made in terms of bringing back a quality DM in Matic and winning key games against the big boys....but our struggles against the lower-half of the EPL continues..

Overall...without any trophies*, the season is a failure.

You can't call another manager a specialist in failure and then in the same season, fail to win anything with your own club.

*The season isn't over...but I don't see us winning the PL or UCL this season.

Exactly. The FA Cup, the Capital One Cup plus the European Supercup were up for grabs for us, too, people shouldn't forget those when they're talking about trophies. We missed out on them as well, despite the depth and quality of our squad.

[The only place to be 11,313]

Exactly. The FA Cup, the Capital One Cup plus the European Supercup were up for grabs for us, too, people shouldn't forget those when they're talking about trophies. We missed out on them as well, despite the depth and quality of our squad.

So winning the Capital One Cup would've made the season a success?

[NishC300 1,865]

Its a success because;

1. we have re-instilled respect and fear factor back to stamford bridge.

2. Our defense is stable and we have a good CDM for years to come.

3. Hazard, Oscar, schurrle are contributing a very good no. of goals which will be exception when we have a great striker to lead us.

4. Stability in management, Mourinho is hooked to chelsea for years no MATA what.

5. We actually challenged for Epl after a while despite numerous new signings in the last 2 years and can only get better.

6. I expected more but with Torres in front we will always be limited therefore qualifying comfortably for europe and doing well in europe will always be a success as far as torres is in front.

7. We attack and defend as a team unlike previous seasons which means we have only lost games by the odd solitary goal in Epl and Ucl

8. Torres is a year closer to the end of his contract(if he doesn't get sold)

9. We have the best manager in the world finally

10. The general feeling of a successful transition season

(Bolded part) for real? We're extremely reliant on Hazard providing the odd moment of brilliance to score. In reality we're a really boring side and are usually quite terrible in games where we dominate possession.

Top 3 chances created

Hazard- 86 chances created, Willian- 43, Oscar 41 (Via Squawka)

Don't really think that shows attacking as a team....

[boshman 1,073]

How many more times.... It hasn't been a faliure!!