Chelsea Banter

04 May 2024 11:16:57
Now the season is nearly over what are your thoughts on.

Player of the season.
Most improved player.
Must keep player.
Best signing.
Unsung hero.
Flop of the season.

04 May 2024 11:44:40
Cole Palmer
Jackson
Big Trev
Cole Palmer
Moises C
Mudryk.

04 May 2024 12:26:00
Cole Palmer
Connor Gallagher
Trev
Cole Palmer - Gusto close second
Moises Caceido
Disasi.

04 May 2024 12:37:50
Conor Gallagher (100% a force in everygame. CP occasionally not)
Moises C (he had a pretty disastrous start)
TC
Cole Palmer
Malo Gusto
Sanchez.

03 May 2024 21:08:36
Ed002
I noticed that you have said the club are experiencing difficulties in signing some of the key targets.
Is that related to not being in the CL or financial limitations or both/ neither?
Many thanks.

{Ed002's Note - Neither.}

04 May 2024 09:44:10
Sorry but I feel it could be our targets choosing or preferring other clubs over us and even the supposed selling clubs not willing to sell the player.

04 May 2024 08:49:28
Is it the project or the owners Ed?

{Ed002's Note - It is a difficult "project" to sell. The Champions League situation impacts one target.}

04 May 2024 11:59:53
Thank you for your response ED, much appreciated.

03 May 2024 19:18:00
For those that are interested in transfer rumours, Ed has given a very extensive transfer summary on the Spurs rumour site.

Thanks Ed.

03 May 2024 09:18:21
We now move on to the happy hammers on Sunday. I have sold my MH upper season ticket via CFC resale site but as luck would have it and given my next round of treatment has been postponed yet again, I have been invited along with my son to sample the best corporate hospitality Chelsea have to offer. So, happy days!

Anyway, I think me might struggle on Sunday for a couple of reasons. 1) because some of our players last night looked knackered 2) we haven't always performed well with just a few days to recover.

On the other hand we could have two or three players back from injury and able to at least be on the bench.

03 May 2024 09:42:12
Good to know you will be there on Sunday Tom and hope the hospitality on offer will enable you to toast victory not drown sorrows!

Yes I also think we may struggle on Sunday after the heroics of last night and because West Ham have far longer to rest and prepare and are coming off a morale boosting draw v Liverpool. Also because we've seldom strung more than a couole of good performances together this season.

But though tired our players morale should be high too, and if we do have a few players back from injury to strengthen the bench we may be ok. Another home win now could be massive in terms of European qualification and of course to stay ahead of the Hammers!

03 May 2024 12:13:24
JBS, I’m hardly touching alcohol at the moment so at the moment I am the archetypal “cheep date. ”

I agree about the happy hammers being fresh ish but as you say we are putting in some good performances so I live in hope.

03 May 2024 08:56:13
I have to say it now that tempers are calm so it doesn't seem it's because we lost. I still think Chelsea must review the managerial position for next season. Poch can be good on occasions but will always melt away when it matters most when trophy is at stake. he's average. It's only a winner coach that can get us back on top . No matter the amount we spend on players we will still not win with pochetino imo. Just that we are no longer shrewd in recruiting for the club when pull out a hidden or not so obvious manager/ players that can deliver. I guess tge eds will know better the kind of manager capable of bringing us back to the top again.

03 May 2024 09:27:25
I’m sure all the Ed’s have an educated view on who will start as our manager next season.

I’m sure pundits/ ex players and all Chelsea fans have a view on whoever is our manager for next season and whoever that person is there will be a lot of people who will be unhappy with the owners decision.

03 May 2024 09:30:13
Have to stick with him we cannot keep changing these thing take time we are playing some good stuff with a couple of experienced additions this squad will be challengers again.

03 May 2024 09:54:40
Interesting that the manager is blamed for young players inconsistencies when it's a common characteristic along with concentration.

03 May 2024 09:56:37
I think Poch has improved most of ouyr players in the course of this hs first seasom - of course we've seen very little of many in the squad incluing highly rated and high cost signings like Nkunku and Lavia - and had to gel a deeply EPL inexperienced and largely v young squad togther from scratch. With a vast injury list throughout. Yet they have generally been playing an exciting brand of football . high risk though it is and with many disappointments. So far though, the second half of the season has seen a gradual improvement on the first though with no possibility of ritation for Sunday v Hammers we may seen a drop from last night's levels.

So I think Poch should be given a second season to continue the process he was tasked with and while having a say in who stays and who we bring in. If we are not in Top 4 by end of next season or at least vastly more competitive in the league then I expect his contract would not be renewed but we woulodn't have to fork out another vasy severance payment and the players seem to like and trust him. This is key for me.

To pay Poch out now - how much? - and have yet another magaerial change will be no guarnatee of success, it never is. Ed002's pick of Slot has gone to LFC. He has suggested there are other options like bringing JM back but if we can finish with close to 60 points this season and, just a importantly, playing this high paced attacking brand of football I for omne reckon he will have done a better job than any reasonable pundit could have expected if particularly considering the injury woes.

03 May 2024 11:12:27
JBS, I don’t think paying off Poch the last year of his contract is relevant given the money we have spent on players and might spend in the summer. The issue is can we afford to give him another chance which in itself implies failure. A third season without CL football, leaving aside the financial and other consequences would firmly cement us as has-beens. The other isuse is that if Poch stays and we have a poor start to the season we might be stuck with him due to the lack of alternatives.

03 May 2024 11:51:29
To characterise us as “has beens” IF we miss out on champions league football is view I do not share. There are many recent examples of so called “big clubs having protracted periods of no champions league football and I would personally ever refer to the likes of Arsenal, Liverpool or Utd as being “has been clubs. ”

If we start with Poch as our manager and the team has a bad start is in my opinion no different to having a new manager and him having a bad start. Whoever the manager is will get criticised and pressure if results aren’t good.

I’m not sure how giving Poch another season in I.

03 May 2024 12:01:21
I have no idea how allowing Pich to continue as manager next season “in itself implies failure. ” I guess it depends what a fans expectations were for this season.

IF we had a third season without champions league football would not “firmly cement us as has-beens” no more than it has other so called “big clubs. ”

There is no difference between Poch starting as our manager or a newly appointed manager. If results are crap all managers get criticism and pressure and we could be “stuck” with a new manager for a longer contracted manager.

Any cost in sacking Poch could also bring around costs associated to other members of the coaching team.

03 May 2024 12:06:49
Sorry, fat finger but you get the idea.

03 May 2024 12:52:19
Jimbo you may be right about cost of sacking Poch not relevant to woners - though clearly we need to be careful to balance books and if it would be a lot might mean either selling someone we would rather not or being unable to get someone we might want to - but I have always thought it would take more than a season to rebuild. Rather have the same manager if possible work with group of players to this end. I reckon that under Poch we have been moving in the right direction and are play8ng far more attractive footbal than under TT say, who did great in cups but not so great in the EPL given squad we had at the time.

Whether Poch is able like Klopp (after several seasons at LFC) or Pep (also took a while I think) to turn this gelling process and attacking (high risk though) style into trophies I don't know. But I also don't know who is out there that we could realistically get - given our rebuilding situation and without champions league football -who would be guaranteed to be better?

03 May 2024 13:23:45
I believe due to improves performance, working with young payers and not least the the ricidilous injury situation all season, Poch should be given another season.

I believe we should judge him once we have a few e perienced players along the spine together with a vast improvement in the injury situation.

03 May 2024 14:01:18
JBS, if paying off Poch and his staff makes the difference between buying players or forcing us to sell players, we really are in a precarious financial position. In any event, we both have different views and we will see how things unfold in the summer.

{Ed002's Note - Not after June 30.}

03 May 2024 14:04:38
Bill, Seymns, King Drog and JBS, I agree with you all that Poch should start next season as our manager and you have all put forward arguments that I agree with for that continuation.

03 May 2024 16:47:22
Okay Tom we all know what your opinion is- don’t over do it.

03 May 2024 18:40:01
True but I will still give it, even if it is overdoing it.

03 May 2024 18:42:27
You move poch in when there’s an elite manager available, there isn’t, his doing ok considering we still need a st and gk and had no less than 10 first team players out all season, we all wanted a project manager until we got one, we can’t swap managers like under Roman becuase we haven’t got 28yr old leaders in Terry Lampard drogba ballack cech cole Mikel ivanovic carvalho, almost every player was there national team captain, that’s not us anymore, we’ve seen in spells it’s just about consistently which is as much on the players than manager.

04 May 2024 09:02:38
Matt, good points particularly about the leaders we have been fortunate to have over the last twenty years.