Chelsea Thread | 2024/25

[jimharri]

For that sort of outlay, you would expect a decent keeper. Sanchez is poor. Didn’t they have 5 at one time?

Haven't checked his stats, but on a podcast I was listening to, they were saying he's prone to giving away penalties.

 

[supercity88]

It's a weird situation with Chelsea. The amount they've spent means they should be challenging for the title and fighting for the CL. But because of how poor they've been in recent seasons the media and fanbase are fairly relaxed and they're getting quite an easy ride. They should win the Conference league, the top 4 is definitely a possibility based on their results so far as well. That's a good season.

Then comes the pressure and the challenge of making that next step up and a result like yesterday suggests they're still quite far off that. They're probably still a good 4-5 players off becoming challengers. But they've got a lot of squad depth so it might not take much to transform them. Arsenal for all they've spent still look a completely different side when one or two are missing.

 

[Vienna_70]

Haven't checked his stats, but on a podcast I was listening to, they were saying he's prone to giving away penalties.

As was proved yesterday.

 

[Vialli98]

As was proved yesterday.

Don’t know what the stats say but I suppose it doesn’t factor in the context, for example Sanchez was completely stitched up by Fofana in the penalty we conceded vs Bournemouth. There was nothing he could do, I think he even tried to get out of the way.

He was a bit rash yesterday but I still think it was Fofana’s error that left Hojlund all alone in front of the goal.

 

[supercity88]

Don’t know what the stats say but I suppose it doesn’t factor in the context, for example Sanchez was completely stitched up by Fofana in the penalty we conceded vs Bournemouth. There was nothing he could do, I think he even tried to get out of the way.

He was a bit rash yesterday but I still think it was Fofana’s error that left Hojlund all alone in front of the goal.

Awful defending but Sanchez shouldn't have committed, as it turned out Hojlund was going to just control the ball wide and probably have no opportunity to shoot! Easy in hindsight.

 

[Nethermoor]

It's a weird situation with Chelsea. The amount they've spent means they should be challenging for the title and fighting for the CL. But because of how poor they've been in recent seasons the media and fanbase are fairly relaxed and they're getting quite an easy ride. They should win the Conference league, the top 4 is definitely a possibility based on their results so far as well. That's a good season.

Then comes the pressure and the challenge of making that next step up and a result like yesterday suggests they're still quite far off that. They're probably still a good 4-5 players off becoming challengers. But they've got a lot of squad depth so it might not take much to transform them. Arsenal for all they've spent still look a completely different side when one or two are missing.

Great points.

I think people write them off quickly, but the players they've bought are on the whole really young and if they can coach them correctly they could become a major force.

Be interesting to see how they do over the next 5 years.

 

[Nethermoor]

Don’t know what the stats say but I suppose it doesn’t factor in the context, for example Sanchez was completely stitched up by Fofana in the penalty we conceded vs Bournemouth. There was nothing he could do, I think he even tried to get out of the way.

He was a bit rash yesterday but I still think it was Fofana’s error that left Hojlund all alone in front of the goal.

They could have just let Hojlund have try, he usually misses.

 

[Vialli98]

It's a weird situation with Chelsea. The amount they've spent means they should be challenging for the title and fighting for the CL. But because of how poor they've been in recent seasons the media and fanbase are fairly relaxed and they're getting quite an easy ride. They should win the Conference league, the top 4 is definitely a possibility based on their results so far as well. That's a good season.

Then comes the pressure and the challenge of making that next step up and a result like yesterday suggests they're still quite far off that. They're probably still a good 4-5 players off becoming challengers. But they've got a lot of squad depth so it might not take much to transform them. Arsenal for all they've spent still look a completely different side when one or two are missing.

The standards have been lowered for Chelsea, partly because of how rubbish we've been since 2022, and partly because the clear strategy, rightly or wrongly, have been to buy youth, youth and more youth. After the first window in which Boehly himself was doing the transfers, the only key players we've signed that over 22 have been Tosin, Neto and Nkunku (there have been others like KDH, Felix and Disasi but they hardly get on the pitch in any meaningful game).

I think we are 4-5 players away from challenging but those 4-5 could come from the players already have developing/maturing into top players. Colwill, Lavia, Madueke, Jackson, Caicedo, Enzo, Fofana, Palmer etc. That's 8 young, very talented players. Some of them are already so good they're difference makers now, like Caicedo and Palmer. The others have shown flashes of how good they could become but they're essentially still young and inconsistent and then there's Fofana who we're basically just hoping he isn't a complete dud after missing 2 years with back to back season ending injuries.

We are getting an easy ride but I think it's because of the above two reasons. If we had spent the millions signing players of the quality and status of Haaland, Mbappe or even Osimhen, Kvara, Leao, Rice etc, basically more ready made, almost the finished product and big names already, the expectations and scrutiny would be way higher. But our front 4 currently is Neto, Jackson, Madueke, Palmer, two of which didn't have a single England cap before joining Chelsea, Jackson was scouted, I certainly had no idea who he was when we signed him, and Neto, a very good PL winger but by no means a world beater.

 

[supercity88]

The standards have been lowered for Chelsea, partly because of how rubbish we've been since 2022, and partly because the clear strategy, rightly or wrongly, have been to buy youth, youth and more youth. After the first window in which Boehly himself was doing the transfers, the only key players we've signed that over 22 have been Tosin, Neto and Nkunku (there have been others like KDH, Felix and Disasi but they hardly get on the pitch in any meaningful game).

I think we are 4-5 players away from challenging but those 4-5 could come from the players already have developing/maturing into top players. Colwill, Lavia, Madueke, Jackson, Caicedo, Enzo, Fofana, Palmer etc. That's 8 young, very talented players. Some of them are already so good they're difference makers now, like Caicedo and Palmer. The others have shown flashes of how good they could become but they're essentially still young and inconsistent and then there's Fofana who we're basically just hoping he isn't a complete dud after missing 2 years with back to back season ending injuries.

We are getting an easy ride but I think it's because of the above two reasons. If we had spent the millions signing players of the quality and status of Haaland, Mbappe or even Osimhen, Kvara, Leao, Rice etc, basically more ready made, almost the finished product and big names already, the expectations and scrutiny would be way higher. But our front 4 currently is Neto, Jackson, Madueke, Palmer, two of which didn't have a single England cap before joining Chelsea, Jackson was scouted, I certainly had no idea who he was when we signed him, and Neto, a very good PL winger but by no means a world beater.

It's an interesting strategy and clearly plenty will increase in value just from having Chelsea on their CV. The Conference league is a great way for the second string to emerge too.

You shouldn't really get an easy ride just because you've chosen to invest in young players. You could have spent that money on a number of proven world class talents and you'd have been in a much better position.

We will see how it works out. The chaos has probably been quite fun as a fan, especially when you see London rivals Progress FC and Spuds win fuck all still.

 

[malg]

It's an interesting strategy and clearly plenty will increase in value just from having Chelsea on their CV. The Conference league is a great way for the second string to emerge too.

You shouldn't really get an easy ride just because you've chosen to invest in young players. You could have spent that money on a number of proven world class talents and you'd have been in a much better position.

We will see how it works out. The chaos has probably been quite fun as a fan, especially when you see London rivals Progress FC and Spuds win fuck all still.

I think the easy ride might be because of the ongoing fiasco at the Rags and Arsenal pushing us close for two seasons. If Arsenal weren't near us maybe the press would have some column inches left to have a dig at Chelsea.