Post-season review - Chelsea 2013/14

[Muzchap 8,966]

Did people really think it was a walk in the park for us tonight ..

I thought we had a chance ,, thought a better chance when Torres scored ,,, But they deserved their win tho I didnt agree with the penalty .

I just win fans on here could learn to take defeat as well as they can celebrate victory . Ive played competitive sport for over SIXTY years

some at professional level other sports at a high level and one at international level . You win some ,, you lose some .. Show respect to your

opponents and support to your colleagues

Great post

Maturity is a mindset - our players will learn more from defeat than winning - this is all part of building a team! Win together, Lose together...

We achieved lots this season and progress is success - next year we can build on this and take another step towards our destiny. The future's bright, the future is blue!!!

[didierforever 7,349]

Complete failure of a season. One I hope to forget.

brilliant analysis. :confused:

[Henrique 9,133]

It's a success cause at the beginning of the season most of us asked a top 3 with a Quarter/semis cl.

Objective reach.

Next season is when we need to challenge for all.

If next season we are in the same shit, like can't attack for shit then that will be a massive failure and Mourinho would have lost it.

But until we have not started next season, the team, the manager still deserved their shot for a second season.

Really? People asked for a top 3 finish in PL? The same position we ended up with RDM+Benitez?

Also doesn't happen like that. In the beginning of the season you might set targets, but sometimes the targets change in the course of the season. We are finishing in 3rd in PL because we lost games against people like Sunderland, Crystal Palace, Aston Villa and couldn't win home games against some small sides, and you should realized that Liverpool doesn't have the same amount of money and ending in front of us.

About next season: do you really believe we will challenge for all? Do you believe Jose saw this season as only a transition one? So, Azpilicueta is really our LB? Ivanovic is really our RB? We spend money on young players like Schurle and Oscar just to starts a semi-final leg at home with 6 defenders? Jose made those changes because he is not thinking about this transition thing. Jose wanted results this season. He made those changes because he thought the team could win a UCL, or the PL.

Can you even name our starting XI? Do you think our defense (back four) is really THAT good? Do you believe JT is as good as 10 years ago? Do you think we have a playing style?

Actually this season looked like a season of a team that used to be superb in the past, full of ageing players, but somehow the manager used that experience to get some results of a now very limited squad. This season looked nothing like a season of an exciting team with a brilliant future ahead.

One thing is for sure: Mourinho won't survive another season like that, and this is not what I want, this is how football works.

[didierforever 7,349]

I dont know why people are trying to convince themselves it was a success. Failure is part of football, and failure happens all the time in our lives. This season was a failure in so many aspects, but lets move one, we can take some positive things from what happened in last months, but it does not turn the season into successful one.

LOL. we know about failure but u need to learn a thing or few about objectives.

[Ainsley Harriott 2,732]

Success if you look at our expectations in the beggining of the season.

Failure if you look at how close we were to achieving two trophies but coming up empty-handed.

[Henrique 9,133]

brilliant analysis. :confused:

Im looking forward you post. A post where you can explain why this season is a success, with better arguments than "before the season the targets were top 3 in PL, and QF in UCL". Lets discuss about it.

[zolayes 14,489]

LOL. we know about failure but u need to learn a thing or few about objectives.

he needs to learn a lot about a lot

[Beepu 1,714]

I said it was a success a couple of weeks ago when we were still fighting for 2 trophies, and now that we are practically looking at 0 trophies I still say it is a success.

It will always be a glass half empty and half full kind of thing anyway with a part of the supporters saying "Bah, how is it a success we lost bla bla bla bla" and the rest the opposite.

I personally think we achieved more than expected with this team.

[zolayes 14,489]

Im looking forward you post. A post where you can explain why this season is a success, with better arguments than "before the season the targets were top 3 in PL, and QF in UCL". Lets discuss about it.

Well I understood his post ,, Objectives stated and met . Success.

[MrBlueGuy 1,552]

Im looking forward you post. A post where you can explain why this season is a success, with better arguments than "before the season the targets were top 3 in PL, and QF in UCL". Lets discuss about it.

In simple straight term yes if you just look from outside it is a failure of a season, a complete one because we ended up with nothing. But you can't just do that, the hardcore fans would really know there are things good here that will help the future too and was developed over this season. Hazard went from a great to a world class player under Mou, Dave went from a good RB to one of the best fullback in the league now. Oscar also stepped up at the start too albeit now he is a bit off form.

[didierforever 7,349]

the answer is simple - SUCCESS.

at the start of the season, there was a thread which asked about your expectations. mine was

1. title challenge

2.QF CL

3. domestic cup.

we have achieved all of that. i can understand that people would call it a failure cos of the situation we found ourselves in but it was a brilliant performance from us to get into that position. a double over city, a double of pool, wins at home to arsenal, united, spurs, draws away against the same teams.

everyone knew what our problems were in the start of the season. and it showed. everton loss, stoke loss, whu draw, wba draw, villa defeat, palace defeat, sundeland loss. except for villa and palace, all of those dropped points come down to a lack of clinical striker. a striker who can score 20+ goals for us. there have been a couple of games where we came unstuck but a couple of those are expected.

CL was a definite success. we were pretty good in the competition and lost to the best team in europe at the moment without a doubt.

what people forget that this WAS transitional season for us. transition but still fighting for the title or rather titlles.

[didierforever 7,349]

Im looking forward you post. A post where you can explain why this season is a success, with better arguments than "before the season the targets were top 3 in PL, and QF in UCL". Lets discuss about it.

i just did.

[didierforever 7,349]

he needs to learn a lot about a lot

atleast he is better than "lionsden". i am dreading coming to the forum tomorrow. he is going to go on a "this is poor, that sucks, blah blah blah" spree.

[Henrique 9,133]

i just did.

You don't. You used the same arguments about "targets", you just missed that we got no "Domestic Cup" at all. Targets YOU set, and you are saying our problems this season relied on the lack of a clinical striker that could score 20 goals in season, but you just forget that between 04 and 06 the team won 2 PL with no "clinical striker than can score 20 goals in a season".

[Gilvorak 3,734]

We bottled the League and CL in disastrous fashion. No idea how anyone can claim this season was a success.

Dropping 13 points against WBA, West Ham, Sunderland, Aston Villa and Crystal Palace and losing a CL semi-final you were leading at home isn't a success in any fashion.

[Gilvorak 3,734]

You don't. You used the same arguments about "targets", you just missed that we got no "Domestic Cup" at all. Targets YOU set, and you are saying our problems this season relied on the lack of a clinical striker that could score 20 goals in season, but you just forget that between 04 and 06 the team won 2 PL with no "clinical striker than can score 20 goals in a season".

Yeah that seems to be the go-to excuse. Everything is our strikers fault.

As if the 04-05 and 05-06 seasons didn't happen.

[didierforever 7,349]

You don't. You used the same arguments about "targets", you just missed that we got no "Domestic Cup" at all. Targets YOU set, and you are saying our problems this season relied on the lack of a clinical striker that could score 20 goals in season, but you just forget that between 04 and 06 the team won 2 PL with no "clinical striker than can score 20 goals in a season".

yes, we just had a lampard who could score 20+ goals a season. or was it 15-ish. plus we already had a system back then. we had players in their prime, JT, lamps, DD, duff,etc etc. right now we needed to play in a system which we have done for the majority of the season. the fact that we had to go away to united and psg and play schurrle as a CF is PROOF of our striker situation.

only after matic came in did we find some solidity in the mid too (oh what am i saying, u think he sucks too). we had a squad at the start of the season which would lack 7/8 players at the start of the next season. mata, kdb, essien, bertrand, etoo, torres (?), ba(?), mikel, lamps (?), luiz (?), cole (?) maybe even rambo(?). if this was not a transition period that please tell me what is.

if u dont define success according to the objectives set at the start of the season, then how do u? oh wait, thats right, whenever chelsea lose a match, bump this thread and right the same things over and over again.

as for domestic cup, u want me to say that our season is a failure cos essien had a dreadul 40 odd minutes against sunderland, or cos we lost to city at etihad in an FA cup match which at that time, none of us seemed to care about since league and CL were the priority.

so how is this season a failure? cos for me its a success cos we have achieved our targets or even bettered it in one case in the 2 most important things for us PL and CL. we have players who fit our system better than the players we had before (schurrle, salah, willian, matic). we have already shown that we can go toe to toe against the best teams/squads in the world (city, psg, bayern, pool). we need to clear out some problems, which we definitely will during this summer.

[Barbara 15,149]

the thread some members were dying to post again and yell at the four winds how much a failure mourinho, this club and these players are.

I stand by my words. It's been successful enough, we surpassed a bit my expectations, but we did let down in a bad way imo. The way we lost to the minor sides in the EPL and how we couldn't give a proper answer today just show this team still needs a lot of maturing to do and work some character as well. Mourinho isn't completely exempt from fault, but I think he took the most from this squad, even a little bit more than I thought he could.