Post-season review - Chelsea 2013/14

[yuvala 2,167]

Last Season vs. This season

* Knocked out of CL group stages - Made it to the semi-finals

* Out of the league by Jan - Fighting for the title untill the very end

* A manager who we all hated - A manager who we all love (and the players would die for him) + he's here to stay

[nadavTKL 1,787]

Last season we went out in the CL group stage, This year we made it to the Semi finals!

Last season we were out the title race in January, This season we will likely still be in the title race on the last day of the season! (something we haven't done in years)

All that in a Transition year with no world class striker and no prolific goalscorer in the entire squad!

Jose has put us in a position now where a few signings in the right areas and a few players out on loan returning, will make this squad good enough to walk the league next season!

We have a great base to build off for next season! Jose got us to that point in 6 months! it would take most other managers a few seasons!

Huge progress has been made! Jose has showed just how special he is!

Agree. The only question that always remains is- why didnt we brought a top CM and a top CF last summer? so they could help us right away?

Personally i dont think it was Jose's desicion, i think the club said "take one season to establish the philosophy with the current players, see whats good and whats wrong, and next season we'll get the right players to complete the squad" (Like Rooney was supposed to be the right striker).

Its hard for me to believe Jose thought this squad is good enough, i guess we'll understand things better in the summer... but i'd like to know what people here think- was Mou wrong to go with that squad or it wasnt his desicion?

[didierforever 7,349]

Agree. The only question that always remains is- why didnt we brought a top CM and a top CF last summer? so they could help us right away?

Personally i dont think it was Jose's desicion, i think the club said "take one season to establish the philosophy with the current players, see whats good and whats wrong, and next season we'll get the right players to complete the squad" (Like Rooney was supposed to be the right striker).

Its hard for me to believe Jose thought this squad is good enough, i guess we'll understand things better in the summer... but i'd like to know what people here think- was Mou wrong to go with that squad or it wasnt his desicion?

jose was not at all wrong to go with this squad. we had an objective which jose continously shouted over the roof tops. it was to achieve top 4, and then top 3. he, our board knew the squad's strengths.

with players like willian and schurrle everyone said that they were luxury signings. that could not have been any further from the truth. wilian and schurrle were jose players, not kdb and mata. like u said, jose wanted to set up a philosophy. we have a system to play in NOW. getting a good striker would have helped us definitely but in the end we would have had to sacrifice the players that jose had wanted.

as for CM, we got matic for a bargain simply cos benfica got knocked out of CL and needed money. if we had tried to get him at the start of the season, it would have cost us a fortune.

[nadavTKL 1,787]

jose was not at all wrong to go with this squad. we had an objective which jose continously shouted over the roof tops. it was to achieve top 4, and then top 3. he, our board knew the squad's strengths.

with players like willian and schurrle everyone said that they were luxury signings. that could not have been any further from the truth. wilian and schurrle were jose players, not kdb and mata. like u said, jose wanted to set up a philosophy. we have a system to play in NOW. getting a good striker would have helped us definitely but in the end we would have had to sacrifice the players that jose had wanted.

as for CM, we got matic for a bargain simply cos benfica got knocked out of CL and needed money. if we had tried to get him at the start of the season, it would have cost us a fortune.

Well its probably two CM', Matic and the one we should get this summer.

Im asking this question because a big argument against Mou in the last few weeks is that he apparently had millions to spend in the summer and he failed to build a better team.. people dont get that our objective was different for this season.

[MrBlueGuy 1,552]

Although unlikely, I swear this thread (and probably the Mourinho one) will take another 180 degrees turn from negative to positive comments if we win this weekend and both City and Liverpool lose...

And it will be rightly so because that means we might win the BPL and how can that mean this season is a failure in anyway? 360 degrees more like, anyone say otherwise is a troll.

[Fernando 6,463]

This is what I call success:

[kc_blue 265]

I guess it depends on what the expectations were at the beginning of the season. If someone really thought at the beginning of the season Chelsea was going to win the league or the CL then I guess the season is a failure. It has certainly been an improvement on last season and at least to what my expectation at the start of the season a success. Has the ending been disappointing? Yes it has, but that disappointment has been increased because we were in with a chance of winning a trophy. For those claiming last year was more successful because of winning the Europa you're missing a key point. We were only in Europa with a chance to win it last year because we couldn't make it out of the group stages of the CL. I'm glad we won it last year but I hope we aren't in a position to compete for that trophy again for a long while. In my opinion it's much better to advance to the knock out stages of the CL, in this case within a game of the final then win the Europa. Winning the Europa is a sign that you failed big time when you started in the season in the CL.

[Jase 43,479]

Luiz on this season as a whole..

http://www.theguardian.com/football/2014/may/01/david-luiz-chelsea-empty-handed?CMP=twt_gu

"It could be that we are heading for a shit season," David Luiz said. "We are a big club and we want to win trophies. The most important thing for me is the personalities. We need to fight in many situations. But everyone speaks about results and you can say it is a shit season if you don't have trophies in a season at a big club.

"In the end you need to remember that everyone here is human. Everyone gave their best all season and everyone can make mistakes – that is normal. But you cannot hide yourself from any situation. We will keep fighting in the league but we cannot win it automatically. It will be difficult."

One of the abiding images of the second leg against Atlético was that of John Terry, the Chelsea captain, in tears at full-time. "Everyone is crying," David Luiz said.

"Nobody likes to lose a Champions League semi-final. It's not just John. We have to remember that we are lucky people who have the best job in the world. We have to respect that people at home do not have the same life as us."

As ever, David Luiz mixed candour, positivity and a little wackiness with the readiness to see the bigger picture. The Brazil international faces an uncertain future at club level, with his place in Mourinho's best XI not assured. He has found himself behind Terry and Gary Cahill in the central defensive pecking order while Nemanja Matic appears to be first choice in defensive midfield. Matic will not be cup-tied in Europe next season.

David Luiz brings energy and undoubted quality but Chelsea, who intend to tweak the squad in the summer, could be tempted to use him as a high-value bargaining chip. "I'm not the president," David Luiz said, with a shrug. "My future is about God."

The 27-year-old hit the post with a header against Atlético, as the visitors led 2-1 on the night and by the same scoreline on aggregate, and he was left to reflect on the fine margins that are in play at the highest level. Moments before Atlético's second goal, the penalty from Diego Costa, Terry had been denied by Thibaut Courtois's fantastic save.

"We controlled the game in the first half and we conceded [the equaliser] in the last minute of it, which was difficult for us," David Luiz said. "They played as we did in the first leg, defending well and counter-attacking. In the second half – one penalty. Then we almost scored and at 2-2 it would have been a different game. We lost our organisation a bit after that.

"It is football. We need to be men and it's not always possible to win. The season we won [the Champions League in 2011-12], it was a shit season until the end and then we won two titles [including the FA Cup].

"Last season I played 73 games, including with the national team, so sometimes, when you don't see a lot of running from me on the pitch, that is why. But I do my job every day and I give everything. We all do. If there were many shit games when you didn't run, then fine. But we have given our best in many, many games, like against Atlético. Sometimes it's possible to win, sometimes it's not."

[Chelsea? 892]

what's funny about finding this season disappointing

[Chelsea? 892]

Success. Top 4 in the world, top 3 finish in England. Only a success.

lol, you don't spend the money we have and consider this year (as of today) a success. Its not really a failure, but hoped for better.

[Pacquiao 1,834]

lol, you don't spend the money we have and consider this year (as of today) a success. Its not really a failure, but hoped for better.

This season has been a result of an average Transfer window after we won the CL! you see we let experienced player go like Drogba, Kalou, Bosingwa, Meireles Malouda, Essien plus Lukaku out on loan and then a bad injury for Romeu which left us very short on numbers in CM! then Sturridge sold the following January. and replaced them with too much mediocrity! Hazard, Oscar and Azpi were of course great signings, but all 3 are young and are still developing! then the mediocre signings of Marin, Moses and recalling Benayoun!

Then the Interim one comes in and was just looking to beef up his Cv! he didnt care about the long term and only focused on the short term success! So this season Jose has been cleaning up Rafa's mess, Jose inherited a team with no balance! and no identity! Jose came in got rid of the dead wood and signed Schurrle, Van Ginkel, Willian and Eto'o! and recalled De Bruyne who had no impact, Van Ginkel got a bad injury and the other 3 all took months to adapt and settle into the team! We then sold Mata in January (who our team was built around under Rafa, so that shows how much Jose had to change the team) then we signed Matic and Salah, both cup tied for the CL and Jose said himself they are signings for next season!

It took Jose 6 months of the season to make this team evolve into a much better defensive unit and counter attacking team! which is remarkable as i really doubt any other manager could have sorted us out that quickly!

You see this whole season has really been a clean up mission from the Rafa era! Jose has transformed this team and has a great base to build off next season! our main problems dont need another year of transition to fix now, a few signings and sales and some players on loan returning and we will have a squad capable of doing great things next season!

A world class Striker - Costa or Cavani

A very good back up - Mandzukic or Doumbia

A top class CM - Vidal, Rakitic, Kroos or Paulinho

A Top Class LB - Rodriguez or Moreno

Maybe another AM if one leaves like Reus, Hamsik or Lavezzi

Then a few out on loan returning

Courtois, Zouma, Lukaku

and maybe one of Bertrand Traore/T.Hazard/Atsu/Piazon coming in to make the step up.

[The Rising Sun 710]

Its been a good season defensively, but a massive failure offensively.

We have been able to create a system of counter attack that only works against the big teams, but falters so often against smaller sides.

A striker not being WC must be mentioned, and that might change certain dynamics next season.

We have become slower paced throughout the game, this season, which is a massive negative.

Counter attacks rely on alot of things happening simultaneously, which makes this style wrong as a sole approach to a game.

People should be saying we play really good football, and then saying that when we counter attack, we are an unstoppable force.

At the moment, Jose's style is to try and be both, an immovable object, and then transition into an unstoppable force on the counter.

You cant have both, A bus and a ferrari.

OK. Bottomline for me. The questions that will be answered next season are 1. Does Jose even want to play attacking good football 2. Roman wants good football 3. When we come up against a top team, will we always sit back or actually beat them well, not only tactically.

Its not wrong in a few games to take a certain approach, but please god, i dont want to watch any more buses being parked, we are a billion pound team, surely we can play footy, to beat someone without buses being involved. That is my only wish.

Simply because of that, this season is neither. Benefit of Doubt goes to Jose. Next season, no benefit of doubt. If we keep parking buses, then thats a failure for me.

[Special Juan 27,429]

Nobody will brainwash me into thinking it's been a poor season, not one bit. Jose is back, the foundations are in place for another great season next year. Jose needs this window to nail the players he wants and doesn't, he is the man that will get it right.

Still in the league and to the SF of a CL is a great effort in my eyes. Big changes aren't needed, big players are.

[Belgiannutt 3,201]

Pickle ? Looks more like an exotic dildo to me.

[kobematabryant 400]

Another good question is, have we done better this season or was last season better? I can see two ends of the stick. We got 3rd spot last year, very similar to this year and we won the Europa League, compared to this year we are trophyless. So my question is, is this year's performance better than what we did last year? I can see this year being better as we have developed a more stable team.

[BlueLyon 9,359]

Cant complain overall, maybe I expected at least 2nd place in PL, but we will be extremely close to that, points vise, so it doesnt matter.

Getting into semis of CL, I didnt believe we can get this far, but yet we did. No failure there.

Results vise, I am not disappointed at all. We had chance to win title and blew it vs fuckin' sunderland, but it happens.

What Im more disappointed is the way we play, we cant break small teams, we cant pass, we cant execute proper attacks. I dont mind playing bit more defensive, but our attack has been dreadful this season with few exceptions and individual skill.

The sad part is that we actualy played better attacking football at start of season than now. It should be vice versa, Mou will have to work on that.

Im sure no one will complain here over ''parking the bus'', should we win titles, but Im also sure everyone would love to see more attacking mentality in our game, for example last year BVB.

If Mou can take that style here, I wont ever complain about anything. Im just not sure if Mou can make our team counter attack as connected and ''nice'' as Klopp did with BVB.

[zolayes 14,489]

I keep saying success ,,, but if we lose Hazard and Oscar it will have been a Titanic season

[Henrique 9,133]

Is this a transitions season as Mourinho is saying?

We just dont know. We will get this answer next season. We just dont know if we are going to play a better football next season, better results, if we will improve from our 3rd place in PL and semi-finas in UCL, if our problems will get fixed.