Post-season review - Chelsea 2013/14

[communicate 2,703]

I will say success because all I care is progress and we finally play with some kind of system.

In term of result, I think we have been fine. I wanted us to at least compete for EPL and we are, it is kinda hard to judge our UCL progress because we have been very lucky with our draw (arguable the weakest group +gala)

I am pretty sure we are going to be better next season, the question is how much better because next season my expectation is no longer competing for EPL but win EPL and go deep in UCL.

[communicate 2,703]

All we need is a 2-0 victory to go through. Wonder how many might change their drastic opinions after that...

and I think everyone forget it is against PSG, if it is against Real, I probably will give us no chance but PSG it is going to be difficult because we will come out attacking (not our strong suite) but 2-0 is achievable.

[psgfanxx 18]

and I think everyone forget it is against PSG, if it is against Real, I probably will give us no chance but PSG it is going to be difficult because we will come out attacking (not our strong suite) but 2-0 is achievable.

PSG is stronger than Real

Real is all hype

[Liquidator 5,176]

A bit of both for me. It's probably a bit more success than failure but there have been some issues this year.

It will feel like a bit of a failure no matter what we expected at the start of the season because of how we led the league for a considerable period of time but ultimately won't win it. We were showing some qualities of potential champions at the start of 2014 and there seemed to be a genuine belief at Stamford Bridge that we could actually do it. The last minute win against Everton was extremely satisfying because playing so poorly like that but still getting the 3 points in the way we did was a real hallmark of champions. The next few weeks we were singing that we were going to win the league because we did think we could. Why couldn't we? We were top of the league, beating the big teams, had a lot of confidence. If we had been in and around but never actually top for such a long time it probably wouldn't have hurt as much, but we do have to be realistic: Man City have a better team than us.

Another negative from this year is our failure to buy a striker in the Summer transfer window. Was it not obvious at the end of 2011/12 that we didn't have a world class striker? We have done absolute fuck all about it for 2 seasons, which for a club which should consistently be competing for the top honours is nothing short of a disgrace in my opinion. Whether it was the board's decision or Jose's, it was blindingly obvious that our progress this season would be extremely limited with Torres, Ba and Eto'o as our strikers. The pursuit of Rooney was overdone in my opinion. There were other targets we could have gone after, which we may well have done behind closed doors but we obviously didn't do enough.

Final negative is promotion of youth. There has been absolutely none and please don't tell me playing Lewis Baker for 2 minutes against Derby and Swindon counts. We have some very talented young players and several are good enough to have at least made the bench for the near pointless Champions League game against Steaua or Swindon. How on earth are our most exciting youth prospects meant to have a future at the club if they can't get a sniff of the subs bench for Capital One Cup games, let alone train with the first team. Ake, Boga, Loftus Cheek and Baker at least should be training with the first team. You learn in Sport by coming up against the best. What will they get from rotting in the reserves? Unfortunately Rafa has outdone Mourinho on this. He put faith in Ake and it paid off- he gave some very solid performances and deserved more chances this season. Don't get me started on how Kalas, the best defender in the Dutch league last season has been given the patronizing 5 minute cameo appearance treatment. How much did we spend on our state of the art youth training ground? Enough to get some good future players, which I believe we have if we bother to show any faith in them. If there is one thing Mourinho suffers with, it is integrating young players.

On a more positive note our defence has been nothing short of solid this season. Terry has been brilliant and Cahill has come on leaps and bounds this year. He has been very impressive. Azpilicueta has got his head down and worked his bollocks off on his wrong side of defence and has done magnificently. We are conceding less and less stupid goals, which will be vital for years to come for sustained success.

Stamford Bridge is a fortress again. Still unbeaten at home under Mourinho and only 4 points dropped at home this season I think. 14 wins from 16 and against all the big teams too. It is refreshing because we haven't been so solid at home since Ancelotti's first season in my opinion. No stupid losses against Swansea, QPR, Villa etc. like the past 2 seasons.

Final positive because I'm getting bored of writing this now is how good Hazard has been. Gone to a whole new level this year.

[LukakutoStamford 779]

Success because to me the key was demonstrating the path to becoming a top notch team which Mourinho has done. It's fairly clear he's done as much as he can with the current personnel but he needs better materials. That being said I think he's made some mistakes which likely will cost Chelsea the league title, but the margin for error was quite small.

[Hutcho 8,443]

Success. We spent the last 2 years challenging for top 4. Perhaps it gets overshadowed because of our European glory. But this season we have been fully challenging for the title without a decent striker. Definitely a Success. And hey weirder things have happenned than us beating PSG 2-0 for example, and we are still in the race for the title.

[Laylabelle 9,534]

Was never going to be a easy season anyway.He won it first time with us before but times have changed and other teams have got stronger and we've gone a bit weird.That and we had decent strikers back then and now they're hit and miss.It isnt a case of fighting for 4th spot,we're ish in with a shot with the Champions League..may not be the case Tuesday and the way we lost it is annoying but it happens.Be nice for him to have a whole summer to bring in players,once the team is more his then be better to judge come the end of next season.We havent done a Man U at least

[SoBlues 4]

Success for sure. Most players are just getting to know Mourinho's system and so far they've really developed and up'd their game. Think next season will be much better in terms of team play.

[nofacej 132]

Without a trophy I don't think it could be called a success, but a lot of the groundwork for future success has been laid this season.

If City and Liverpool both slip up and we manage to take the league then it will have been a huge success.

[BlueLion. 21,491]

PSG is stronger than Real

Real is all hype

[BlueLion. 21,491]

Success. We spent the last 2 years challenging for top 4. Perhaps it gets overshadowed because of our European glory. But this season we have been fully challenging for the title without a decent striker. Definitely a Success. And hey weirder things have happenned than us beating PSG 2-0 for example, and we are still in the race for the title.

Spot on. Imagine if we had a striker... we'd be 4/5 points clear at the top by now.

[psgfanxx 18]

Yeah Real is overrated

Was supposed to trash Dortmund last year, but got destroyed instead

Was supposed to destroy la Liga but gets beaten everytime by Atletico and Barca

They flex their muscles against midgets like Shalke and a weakened Dortmund

PSG is a much more dominant team, i'm pretty confident we'll bitchslap them after we finish you off

[BlueLion. 21,491]

Yeah Real is overrated

Was supposed to trash Dortmund last year, but got destroyed instead

Was supposed to destroy la Liga but gets beaten everytime by Atletico and Barca

They flex their muscles against midgets like Shalke and a weakened Dortmund

PSG is a much more dominant team, i'm pretty confident we'll bitchslap them after we finish you off

You need to win the second leg against us yet. Napoli in 2012 were a far more impressive team than your side. If you go through it'll be because of our goalkeeper having an incredibly poor goal and the fact we don't have a suitable striker to play. Your weaknesses will be exposed against a side with forwards.

[psgfanxx 18]

You need to win the second leg against us yet. Napoli in 2012 were a far more impressive team than your side. If you go through it'll be because of our goalkeeper having an incredibly poor goal and the fact we don't have a suitable striker to play. Your weaknesses will be exposed against a side with forwards.

stop trolling

we'll go through ( i'm 99% sure it will happen ) because we completely dominated the second half, we were defensively solid, the only chance you had was hazard hitting the post and a pen generously offered by Silva

Mark my words, only Barca and Bayern can defeat us, overrated Real will fail again in the semis

[BlueLion. 21,491]

stop trolling

we'll go through ( i'm 99% sure it will happen ) because we completely dominated the second half, we were defensively solid, the only chance you had was hazard hitting the post and a pen generously offered by Ibra

Mark my words, only Barca and Bayern can defeat us, overrated Real will fail again in the semis

You are right, there is a very good chance you will go through, but if you think it will be easy at Stamford Bridge you are wrong. I am confident you will lose on Tuesday, but I doubt we will beat you by the requisite number of goals.

If you progress, you will be exposed by whichever team you come up against. The best team you can hope for will be Barcelona or Atletico, because Bayern or Real will quite comfortably dispatch you.

[Yeboii 1,844]

stop trolling

we'll go through ( i'm 99% sure it will happen ) because we completely dominated the second half, we were defensively solid, the only chance you had was hazard hitting the post and a pen generously offered by Silva

Mark my words, only Barca and Bayern can defeat us, overrated Real will fail again in the semis

Turn off your Playstation please

[didierforever 7,349]

so is this thread used ONLY when we lose?

where are the haters now?

[BlueLion. 21,491]

stop trolling

we'll go through ( i'm 99% sure it will happen ) because we completely dominated the second half, we were defensively solid, the only chance you had was hazard hitting the post and a pen generously offered by Silva

Mark my words, only Barca and Bayern can defeat us, overrated Real will fail again in the semis