Is next year a transition year?

[Chelsea? 892]

it seems that's been the case for so many on here. I personally thought our only real transition years were the years after we won the double with Carlo and the year Eden and Oscar came in.

[José1893 89]

Salam u aleykum,

well, every coach has his own transition year. But Mou said, last season was a transition year and now it counts. And those are the words which he will be compared with.

[iseah100 5,612]

No. Ask Mou, he expects a treble next season.

[MrExcalibur100 7,124]

We've already had our transition with the influx of young, talented players in the last 2 years. It has ended. The next signings complete the side.

[Belgiannutt 3,201]

Wouldn't really call it a transition year. I think we're in the final stages of our "transition" (we still have a lot of players not at their peak yet and a couple of new signings that will need some time) but we will already be good enough to challenge and win the title.

[iseah100 5,612]

The reason we have a lot of transition years is cause we have a revolving door of managers, now we're stable so we are out of that stage.

[Henrique 9,133]

Why did you even put the "below top 4" as an option?

Actually I don't believe in the "transition year" term. What does transition means?

Take Manchester United as an example, they are in transition period. SAF era has ended, and they are in a transition period, but it can be transition from a period where they were the biggest winning club in England, to a period where they are no longer the country powerhouse.

The "transition" term in football, most of the time, is a fallacy, because it has the idea of the success behind it. I mean, transition can mean a lot of things. City is in a transition period, they are in a transition from being a decent club in England, to being a european powerhouse. Chelsea is also in a transition, from being a team that is winning things because it has a free spending billionaire behind it, to a self sufficient club with solid foundations.

If you have a company, you might have a transition, from focusing on personal computers, to focusing on smart devices, for example, in this case you can control a "transition", but when Mourinho is saying this season was transition, he is basically saying this season was a transition period from a non solid team to a solid winning one, but thats a fallacy. Mourinho himself doesn't know if Chelsea will win a single trophy next season, he doesn't know if the team will be more solid next season. If everything goes according to the plan and we do win big things next season, in high-sight we might come to conclusion that 2013/14 season was really a transition one, but, for example, if Mourinho is sacked at the end of next season, we might look back and realize 13/14 season was only another bad chapter in the history of a team seeking for a new identity.

People saying this season was "transition", they believe football is predictable and linear: if you let the manager do the job, naturally the good results will come, some people believe we will be better next season in terms of results, we WILL win things, this is the natural thing to happen, the same way some people believe in 2 years Hazard will become the best player in the world, because they believe the players have a linear progress, if they don't think he will be the best in the world, at least they believe in 2016 he will be better than right now.

I think we had a transition in recent years, from the team that had Drogba, Terry, Lampard and Cech as the spine, to a team with new actors playing the major roles, but that transition already ended. Drogba left in 2012, Lampard became a squad player, 90% of the fans want Curtois to replace Cech, and perhaps this season we saw the swan-song of Terry's career.

Perhaps the transition we had this season, was a transition from a team that was more of a collection of good talents, to a real team that has its own playing style and identity, but as I said, will Mourinho achieve that goal? Will he build a solid, strong, winning side?

A lot of people consider this season to be a success because they are thinking about what the team can do next season, but we don't know whats going to happen, all we know are the facts: the team struggled to create, struggled to score, struggled to beat smaller sides, was really effective against big teams until UCL semi-final, the defensive system was solid, no trophies, 3rd in PL, we lacked a prober striker, etc.

So I went "no", because I don't want more "transition" excuse next season.

[Vybz Kartel 1,613]

I hate that word transition we have been in transition for 5 years now, no if we fail to win the league its a failure and Mourinho deserves to be sacked, he sold Mata and bought Salah, an arguably worse player because he believed in a certain system, he regressed David Luiz, spent 100 million and still finished third and on top of that we park the bus??No more room for transition.

[Rom2013 446]

Next year we are favourites to win all the domestic competitions. We need a LB, a CM and a ST.

We will have a team like this::

----------------- Courtois-------------------

Iva/Azpi-----Terry/Zouma----Cahill--- LB

---------Matic/Ramires-----CM/Van Ginkel

Willian/Schurrle-Oscar/Lampard--Hazard/Salah

----------------Costa/Lukaku/Ba-------------

And I hope we will get very good or WorldClass players for the LB position (like Rodriguez or Shaw), and the CM (like Pogba for example).

Only with this we will have a great starting 11 and good backup.

We look at the team that Mourinho had when he came, and we had no Striker, for the wings only Hazard, at least 3 CAM (De Bruyne, Mata, and Oscar when in normal conditions only one of them would play),a miedfield with Lampard, Mikel, Ramires and Essien (for example for many of you Ramires is really bad, but at the beginning of the season hewas without any doubt the best midfielder of the team).... A big mess with not enough quality, with a lot of kids in key positions and really unbalanced.

Now we will have a balanced team with a lot more quality, and with less money spent than anyone would expect.

That's the transition needed, the team was horrible. Mourinho corrected some things like the wingers, the 3 CAM problem, partially the pivot, but we didn't have money and time to do all of that in one summer.

No matter who we will buy in CM position (Modric, Pogba, Vidal, Fabregas or even Paulinho), and no matter who we will buy for the LB, no matter if we spend 70M£, or 120M£ we will have quality in all the positions, we will have a balanced team, and a team that can fight in England and in Europe for everything.

I don't think anyone can garantee the win in the Premier League because for example Man City is also really good, but I think we will have the best team and I think we will win.

[boshman 1,073]

No.....

[The only place to be 11,313]

Not really. Last season saw the groundwork being laid, a foundation for next season and the establishing of a new core of players.

I think a transition season is essentially one where you not only change systems, but establish a core group of 7-8 players who probably start every match. We quite conceivably have that now (Cech, Ivanovic, Azpi, Terry, Cahill, Matic, Hazard, Oscar.....maybe Costa even) and these players know exactly what is required of them. We won't be making radical changes but simply looking to improve in certain areas.

If you look off the pitch we've also gone from being a 'sugar-daddy' club to a club who are becoming quite self-sufficient.

So if that's your definition of a transition season then next season definitely isn't one.

[The_Flash 1,144]

This year was supposed to transition but is losing or selling all out players will surely make next season even more of a transition?

I actually thought just add a striker to the team we had and we'd win title as we bloody nearly did it with the three stooges we had.

Now no Luiz, probably no Cole and Lampard and we start losing Oscar and Hazard we will be lucky to get in top four. We are supposed to add to our own squad not take away.

So far we lost Sturridge, Mata and Luiz

Why did poor ol' Mark get released?

[Wxgba 306]

Clubs and fans alike tend to hide behind their respective "transitions" and often use it as an excuse after underachieving. As Henrique has stated already, if you are to look at the grand scheme of things, most clubs could claim to be in a transition period most of the time. There's always players and managers in and out of the door that leads to this word continually being brought up: "transition".

I don't want to direct all of my post at just how misleading "transition periods" can be though so I'll try to stay on track.

We are going to be in a transition for another season or two yet while Mourinho gets settled; buys the players he wants and gets rid of all the players he deems to be unnecessary. That being said, this season was the biggest transition as it was his first back at the club and there has been a lot of changes at the club since he was last in charge. He's started to release players that don't fit in with his style of play/management but is yet to make big signings that are his choices. Eto'o was brought in rather rashly and I think that was blatant - he's obviously not wanting to find himself in a predicament such as that again in a hurry.

This summer he has some funds to target the players he wants for the positions he deems most necessary. Last season was the biggest hurdle and although we lost some big players (Luiz: big character; Mata: special player; most likely Cole: reliable, experienced defender), it means that José has the summer to focus on putting together a team that he believes will work well and fit in with his philosophies. We may have had a good squad at the start of last season, but quite a few of our players don't fit into Mourinho's way of playing and that is being shown, firstly with the sale of Mata and now with the apparent departure of David Luiz.

We should be starting next season with a strong team catered to José's wants and needs so, in theory, we should be aiming for the league title next season although that is not what I'm expecting. I'm expecting top four and hopefully a title of some form, winning the league will be a bonus especially given the fact that our main competitors will all be strengthening their squads over the summer, too.

[Jase 43,479]

It probably shouldn't be at all though I won't be surprised if this notion were to be thrown up at some point during next season. It's arguably quite an overused word and something people fall back on when things don't go well.

[Viper22 2,418]

No it won't be a transition year.

Title has to be expected. No excuses.

Can't see how anyone can think differently tbh.

[Duppy Conqueror 1,494]

I don't use the term transistion for us.we are just a top side doing what top sides do,always trying to find ways of getting better.no top side just keeps the exact same squad.

There will be changes to our squad but i only see a maximum of 4 new players + loan players returning.i see atleast 6 or 7 leaving but ones where replacements are already here in most cases..e.g Moses,Marin,Eto'o..

[MrBlueGuy 1,552]

Transition in term of becoming the best team in the world so yes it is one. We will be transitioning into England champion or European champion.

[yuvala 2,167]

Wouldn't really call it a transition year. I think we're in the final stages of our "transition" (we still have a lot of players not at their peak yet and a couple of new signings that will need some time) but we will already be good enough to challenge and win the title.

I agree.

It's not exacly a transition year but it's kinda the end of the transition. (It also isn't "definately not a transition year")