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.

 

[Vialli98]

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.

Maybe but quite clearly the media, rival fans and Chelsea fans won't expect the same results from Madueke, Jackson, Lavia, Colwill, Gusto etc as they would from players like Mbappe, Haaland, Leao, Rice, Marquinhos. It's natural to not expect the first group of players to fire Chelsea to the title as they would from the second group. If City sign Vini, I'm expecting him to lead City win the title and CL, but if City sign a 20 year old from Belgium, I'm expecting City to help him develop and improve and maybe potentially get to a point where he can lead City to the title.

Money has been spent, definitely. Very recklessly imo. But it seems to be the owners have chosen to accept short term pain for potential long term gain. We definitely suffered the short term pain. Remains to be seen if we get to enjoy any long term gains.

 

[Vialli98]

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.

I don't think it's that. I think the noise around the club has quietened after a decent, okay-ish start to the season. We were getting pelters from all corners the year before last when we finished 12th. United finished 3rd that year.

 

[waspish]

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.

Think top five for champs league is a shoe in with how the premier clubs are doing we top of the coefficient points

 

[BlueTG]

Have we all finally accepted that Enzo Fernandez is a waste of cash?

 

[supercity88]

Maybe but quite clearly the media, rival fans and Chelsea fans won't expect the same results from Madueke, Jackson, Lavia, Colwill, Gusto etc as they would from players like Mbappe, Haaland, Leao, Rice, Marquinhos. It's natural to not expect the first group of players to fire Chelsea to the title as they would from the second group. If City sign Vini, I'm expecting him to lead City win the title and CL, but if City sign a 20 year old from Belgium, I'm expecting City to help him develop and improve and maybe potentially get to a point where he can lead City to the title.

Money has been spent, definitely. Very recklessly imo. But it seems to be the owners have chosen to accept short term pain for potential long term gain. We definitely suffered the short term pain. Remains to be seen if we get to enjoy any long term gains.

You had a lot of media attention initially and maybe it's just because the rags are still a shitshow that you're not getting that much focus. But whilst there was turmoil with Abramovich's era ending and you lost some key players, you didn't look that far off being a side capable of challenging for the title. You won the CL (bastards) and got to the FA Cup final and were showing yourselves as a good cup team needing a bit more consistency in the league. The decision to spend that much money on that number of young players was clearly a business one - looking at future value and protecting the club long term. It was absolutely bonkers, but there is some evidence now that it was perhaps more sensible than it initially looked. Having said that, if you had have gone and bought ready made players, which you could have with the money you've blown on emerging talent, you'd have been a lot closer to winning things. And I'd have thought there'd still be a bit more questioning on the strategy.

One positive from your approach is that if you need a goalkeeper to replace Sanchez or someone in another position, you're loaded with options who are young and developing elsewhere. Rather than buy them for £50-100m in a few years, you've got them on the books already and they're loaned out and developing. There's a lot of sense to that.

 

[KS55]

Whether your strategy is to buy one ready made player for £100m or 4 younger players, the trick is the same: recruit the right stuff. That is a very difficult art. Mercer bought Bell, Book, Summerbee, Lee and Heslop. Nobody after that was particularly good at it until Txiki came along. The new guy has a rep for spotting players at lower levels. We shall see.

 

[Gone for a Burton]

Whether your strategy is to buy one ready made player for £100m or 4 younger players, the trick is the same: recruit the right stuff. That is a very difficult art. Mercer bought Bell, Book, Summerbee, Lee and Heslop. Nobody after that was particularly good at it until Txiki came along. The new guy has a rep for spotting players at lower levels. We shall see.

Tony Book bought Dave Watson , Asa Hartford, Denis Tuart, Brian Kidd, Joe Royle etc and mixed them with Peter Barnes, Gary Owen, Willie Donachie etc.

Skip knew a player and football !!

 

[KentBlue]

Skip knew a player and football !!

Indeed. We had a bloody good side in the early to mid-70's - I idolised Dennis Tueart.

 

[LangleyBlue1970]

Looks like Sancho is about as popular as Savile in a nursery by all accounts. They’re looking at ways to send him back to the rags.

Another wise, but unsurprising decision by Pep.

 

[waspish]

Looks like Sancho is about as popular as Savile in a nursery by all accounts. They’re looking at ways to send him back to the rags.

Another wise, but unsurprising decision by Pep.

They can't Chelsea agreed a fee if 25m at end of this season