Long term - are things actually bad?

[Tomo 21,733]

We keep hearing these days how our day is over and the only way is down from here but i cant honestly see how.

- Most of the players who played in the world cup last year will have the whole summer off to R+R and will come back fresh ready to kick off in August.

- We will still have Petr Cech.

- Terry, Alex, Yossi and Zhirkov surely wont have as bad injury problems next season and we will have better options.

- Ramires will be even better, he has been our best player lately but next season i think he will be even better, not mentioning Luiz aswell, will both be great players. Not to mention El Nino will be more adapted to london life.

- McEachran will be a year older and more expierenced.

- Van Aanholt, Sturridge, Bruma and Kakuta will more than likely come back from their loans better players.

- Both Cliffords, Delac, Deen-Conteh, Chalaboah amounst others will be knocking on the door of the 1st team squad.

- From what ive heard our U14-16's are sweeping all before them.

I dont really see anything but positivity long term, thoughts?

[zolayes 14,489]

read an article about Sheffield Wednesday .....15 years ago we had some real battles with them ..now they are in danger of going into Division 2.

10 years ago we were battling with Leeds . Look at the problems they have had . We ARE in a fight for a CL place next season . STILL have a chance

for our 3rd FA cup win on the trot ...never achieved since the 1800s ..still in the CL last 16 ...The next month will be massive ..Let's MARCH to glory.

KTBFFH

[LDN Blue 7,903]

It's like I said in my article we have a lot to look forward to. The board have learnt their mistakes, our spending in January reflects that. The youth are looking strong and able, Clifford is a prime example of a player taking his chances. I believe we'll see youth integration soon, perhaps not this season because of the high-stakes. Maybe next..

[steve5221 91]

I think we should all feel very positive for next year and my main basis for saying that is the young players. As you have just pointed out Josh Mc will be a year older and would have been in the setup of the first team squad for a season.

He is regarded as the best young English player coming through after Jack Wilshere - who is a year older (it is not just Chelsea sources saying this).

Secondly Sturridge, if he can maintain his form at Bolton till the end of the season he will be buzzing come start of next year. As has been pointed out on previous threads Carlo can ignore his reserve goals and against lower oppostion but he will NOT be able to ignore a proven PL consistent goalscorer and remember Bolton are not as good as us. Throw in the talents of Bruma and Kakuta and it is looking good.

In the recent interview with Arneson he stated that we he arrived at Chelsea we had a handful of youth players involved in international squads, now we only have a handful that are not. Sure this has taken time but it will be the future of Chelsea and is a business plan all long term succesful clubs adopt.

Torres, Luiz, Ramires will also improve next year having had the time to bed in with us. Yossi will hopefully get fit and will be like a new signing.

I dont want to sound to negative here, but the things that concern me is the potential loss of income should we not qualify for Champs league this season with UEFA's new rules coming in soon. Can we hit the required criteria without the CL money??

Sure we all want success now but if we want to be thought of along with the likes of Man Ure and Arsenal in 10 years we need to invest and have patience in youth.

[EskWeston 696]

The only question mark i can see is if Carlo can turn things around this season, we need to finish top 4 and we need to play with more intensity and ability. There are a lot of positives we have some cracking young players, Roman looks like investing as he needs to. But there is a lot of uncertainty for the rest of this season still.

[Krypt 241]

The question is can this club survive a season without CL football ? will this help development of the youngsters ? as there may be less top names joining the club? or will this push us down the pecking order of the Europe elite. Either way we have alot of promising players imagine if katuka can find his feet in this division we all agree the lad has something special. All we can do is continue to support this club in whatever happens. This season was bound to happen with the old guard getting older and maybe there best days behind them every team needs to re build at some point it’s just some re-builds are easier than others.

[EskWeston 696]

The question is can this club survive a season without CL football ? will this help development of the youngsters ? as there may be less top names joining the club? or will this push us down the pecking order of the Europe elite. Either way we have alot of promising players imagine if katuka can find his feet in this division we all agree the lad has something special. All we can do is continue to support this club in whatever happens. This season was bound to happen with the old guard getting older and maybe there best days behind them every team needs to re build at some point it's just some re-builds are easier than others.

It was obvious 2 seasons ago that rebuilding should have started, we have left it late and it has cost us. Although the form of the majority of the team cannot be put down to lack of rebuilding and that is my biggest concern at the moment.

[steve5221 91]

I'm liking how our team could look next year:

Cech

Ivanovic Luiz Terry Cole

Ramires or Essien or Josh Mc or Maluda or

Essien Mikel Yossi Zhikov

Torres Anelka or Sturridge

[zolayes 14,489]

without sounding like a gooner or scouser I am optimistic about the future ...The young players will come through Im sure. As someone said ..we must be patient . If we can get through this season with 4th place things will look much better.

[steve5221 91]

Yes agreed. We have to have a bit of patience thats all, next year we could reap the rewards of our youth setup......

without sounding like a gooner or scouser I am optimistic about the future ...The young players will come through Im sure. As someone said ..we must be patient . If we can get through this season with 4th place things will look much better.

[Krypt 241]

Think this summer will be a big one , with alot of a big players the worng side of 30 we need some youthful reinforcments. though i think we have some great prospects already in Josh , Danny and Gael and i guess we can count Luiz as he is only 23. i just dont want to turn into a club who says "next year will be our year" we have things to look forward to , but we must retain a CL place this season for things to work out right

[steve5221 91]

Not getting in the top4 does not even bear thinking about, it HAS to happen.....12 games left though guys we can still manage it comfortably....

Think this summer will be a big one , with alot of a big players the worng side of 30 we need some youthful reinforcments. though i think we have some great prospects already in Josh , Danny and Gael and i guess we can count Luiz as he is only 23. i just dont want to turn into a club who says "next year will be our year" we have things to look forward to , but we must retain a CL place this season for things to work out right

[BlueLion. 21,491]

I'm not worried about top four.

I'm actually certain we'll finish third. Why? Win our game in hand and we're on point behind City, with both them and the Spuds to play at the Bridge. Granted our game in hand is against Manchester United, but if we can somehow get two or three wins out of those fixtures, and we'll be laughing. I personally think we can get seven points from the nine available; and that will do very nicely.

[ElNinoSemper 18]

I'm not worried about top four.

I'm actually certain we'll finish third. Why? Win our game in hand and we're on point behind City, with both them and the Spuds to play at the Bridge. Granted our game in hand is against Manchester United, but if we can somehow get two or three wins out of those fixtures, and we'll be laughing. I personally think we can get seven points from the nine available; and that will do very nicely.

Actually agree with this. Spurs can't keep it up and Man City will slip I think.

[LDN Blue 7,903]

I'm not worried about top four.

I'm actually certain we'll finish third. Why? Win our game in hand and we're on point behind City, with both them and the Spuds to play at the Bridge. Granted our game in hand is against Manchester United, but if we can somehow get two or three wins out of those fixtures, and we'll be laughing. I personally think we can get seven points from the nine available; and that will do very nicely.

Wish I could agree, but lack of consistency in the league this season has meant we've literally screwed up every window we've ever had on closing in on a good finish. For example, we play our game in hand vs United and have a chance to go 1pt clear, and 2 off City. I just can't see us picking up enough points to solidify 4th and get a cheeky look in at 3rd, we're simply too inconsistent.

[Milan 17,854]

- Terry, Alex, Yossi and Zhirkov surely wont have as bad injury problems next season and we will have better options.

Well actually, this is something you can never predict. You simply never know what could happen. I wish you were right though.

[LDN Blue 7,903]

Well actually, this is something you can never predict. You simply never know what could happen. I wish you were right though.

It'll also be important to remember, one season on, means one year on. Their performances will start to be on the decline, so we have to start preparing their replacements.

[Milan 17,854]

It'll also be important to remember, one season on, means one year on. Their performances will start to be on the decline, so we have to start preparing their replacements.

Sad, but true. Therefore talking about no injuries is pointless. There is always something. Wenger could tell us