08 Jan 2025 22:23:48
Teams should only get big accolades at the end of a season. Some of the things said about Liverpool was always a mystery to me!
As you know I love looking at other sites and tonight under "match posts" some Liverpool fans have gone completely over the top about there last two performances.
I would love us to be in there teams position!
09 Jan 2025 08:45:37
Tom. I agree with you. What counts is where you are at the end of May. Some Chelsea fans were were overexcited about our start to the season and now all doom and gloom about our recent displays. A Champions League place must be our goal and not to get that I would regard as a failure by all.
09 Jan 2025 09:12:41
Totally agree Tom,
I would like to be in Liverpool's position as well.
Both have new coaches this season so you have to say Slot is doing a great job.
09 Jan 2025 09:58:38
Slot is old school and picks a team to win. He could of started the likes of Elliot, Chiesa and Nunez last night to keep them happy but he wants to win and has no sentiments for happy faces at the training ground.
09 Jan 2025 10:35:13
I totally agree with both of your posts Tom and Jimbo, though in terms of last night LFC first leg defeat to Spurs clearly the EPL title is LFC's main goal this season while the Carabao Cup offers Spurs chance of UEFA Cup place if they win it. LFC draw with UNited was a draw against a team with possibly nothing left to achieve for their fans excfept a really good display at Anfield. LFC with Arsenal drawing to Brighton had/ have a matrgin of comfort at the top of the EPL.
I did make a long post in a long thread below about my thoughts on good managers and how CFC's fans' expectations have understandably risen and fallen over last 12 months. Will just repeat a bit about expectations here. For much of last season under Poch there was among many fans a sense of doom and gloom despite fact that he was dealing with highest inhury toll in EPL plus having to geel together large number of new signings with old ones and thus poor results not unh=justifiable. Towards end of last season they grew expnentially higher after the fine progress we made in final third of last season - and with Caicedo and CG partnership aiding Palmer in a flourishing midfield and goals flowing including large numbers from Palmer, haklf a dozen from CG and about the same number from Jackson - and we gained third most number of points in league from Feb onwards after onlt the two teams that finished first and second in the EPL. The understandable expectation was that we could/ would make ECL qualification this season if only especially we added a worldy GK, experienced CB (to replace TS and cos of Fofana injury proneness) and proven striker (both Jackson and Nkunku converted wide men - though Jackson doing a pretty good job at it - and offering little aerial threat) . Many of us also presumed it would be under the same manager as he still had a year to run on his contract and had ended last season with CFC so strongly.
But then there was the Poch/ SD fall out in part perhaps over transfer strategy. In comes the objectivel relatively very inexperienced EM whose early pre-season and start of proper season results seemed to justify reversal of optimism and return of doom and gloom. Until EM and the team - getting now far above expectations results (though losing to LFC and drawing at home v AFC) and playing some very attractive football - took us to 2nd place in the League amid growing media talk of a title challenge. Then we lose 10 ppoints out of 12 over festive period with manager's substitution tactics or apparent lack of them now under scrutiny by fans then media pundits and optimism fades again.
So I don't think most of us are back at doom and gloom yet or we certainly shouldn't be. But doubts about managers are always sown by string of poor reslts, it was ever thus. IN EM's case it will be about his relative EPL inexperience but also perceived or real inherited weaknesses of squad esp. re GK, expetienced CB and proven striker. I obviously really want - as surely all others do - EM to succeed. But the Bournemouth home game on Tuesday night - given Bournemouth have performed so well this season including but unluckily against us at their place - might well determine whether the swingometer of fan expectations shifts upowards again or further downwards next week. I am assuming we will breeze past the Shrimps on Saturday in the FA Cup of course hopefully a safe enough assumption in a competition we have progressed consistently well in.
09 Jan 2025 11:33:44
JBS, another most enjoyable post. I agree with the vast majority of your posted sentiments.
09 Jan 2025 12:39:43
The majority of Chelsea fans I know are 100% behind Enzo Maresca and see him as a great fit with our young squad. Match day fans are certainly behind him at present but results are all that matter. Lose a few more on the bounce and no doubt change will be called for! As a club we have recent history of constantly changing the manager and this has continued under the new owners. I, for one hope Maresca succeeds and at this point in time believe he is doing a good job. I do know a few gooners and they are not happy with Arteta and feel they are now treading water and will fall down the pack and certainly behind us unless he gets binned off. Last season they thought he was the best thing since slice bread!
09 Jan 2025 16:15:46
I agree most Chelsea fans want Maresca to succeed. He has an advantage of being unknown quantity, whereas most supporters knew what we were getting with Pottter and Poch: a pair of bullsh**ters. As for Potter I saw some of his press conference he said he needed his 20 month break to clear his mind ; strange I thought it was already empty. Mind you he could afford a break since we were presumably paying his wages.
It is too early to make judgements about Maresca until the end of the season but as I said missing out on a CL place again would be a failure.
09 Jan 2025 17:44:43
Jimbo I agree about not leaping to judgment on Maresca until the end of the season.
09 Jan 2025 21:33:38
Jimbo, I totally agree with you about Poch being a total bullsh--ter.
10 Jan 2025 10:37:34
Well Poch may have been a bullsh**tter JImbo/ EM - presumably in saying that he knew he was coming to a club that expected to win things and not delivering, unlike EM who has said all he wants to see is improvement -but that bullsh**tter only lost one of his last fifteen games as CFC manager in the EPL albeit that one loss away to AFC was dire. Plus the bullsh**tter took the side to a Carabao Cup final - but yes lost it late on and I did blame his tactics/ substitutions for that - and an FA Cup semi-final. This with a squad reduced by half through injury for much of the season.
Unfortunately getting only 5th place in the league last season = when no 5th place qualification on offer - has condemned us to the Conference League that largely consists of teams who wouldn't make it in our Championship division and possibly not even in our Division 1. This cos United won the FA Cup against a clearly very below par (hungover? ) City so got the UEFA league place.
This has meant though that we had easy games midweek in which we could play a B team and EM could see if any confined to that categorydesrved to be in first team squad or starting line-up. Not many (as yet anyway) it seems. In other words this should gave us some advantage against rival teams for top 4 who had to player some harder games in ECL or UEFA cup and was evident in our best display of the season imho in demolition of a tired looking Villa at the Bridge. Yes Lavia and Fofana and James have been injured for many games this season though the first two played in more than they did last season but nothing less that ECL qualification would be acceptable by club management this season I'd think.
So I repeat that like all of us I hugely want EM to succeed by getting us this qualification which we are odds on to do given our squad and first half of season form. EM should certainly be able to do this. There may also as Tom has pointed out be a fifth place qualification this time round that would make the task that much easier.
Winning the Conference League trophy should be a given for EM - and it brings automatic UEFA qualification I think - and we are odds on favourites of course to do so. Second favouriter Fiorentina at 5-1 (then bookies suspended bets on the winner some time ago I think? ) . Most of the current stars in our squad - Caicedo and Palmer foremost among them - were bedded in last season, with Caicedo improving enormously in the course of it. We also supposedly strengthened last transfer window via considerable investment again in the squad this season (and EM must have had a say in recruitment of KDH at least) albeit some of us lamented the departures of CG (permanent) and TC on loan and fact that we hadn't addreesed the more obvious positional weaknesses.
EM has to succeed. He seems serious and decent and is hopefully learning on the job. He will surely now pick the players up from recent poor results and get them firing again. Perhaps there will be a key signing or a key recall from loan to help us in last 18 games -- needed perghaps if EM doesn't think Viega, Madueke, Nunkunku, Felix have either the right attitude or ability to do so. The signs for much of the first half of the season were very promising indeed and had us all believing in him. EM and coaching staff got the team playing attractive and largely winning football if especially in dispatching many lower sides we might have struggled to beat in redent seasons. We know we have many players with great talent with Palmer currently have created the most chances of any player in the EPL this season . ten more than any other.
So come on EM get us clicking and more clinical in front of goal again - as we were for quite a while - and going on another strong run. Then ECL qualification will never have seemed in doubt. Another season at the Bridge will be your prize and we will all be delighted.
In the meantime crusing past the Shrimps tomorrow - 7-0? - would be good.
10 Jan 2025 12:25:42
JBS, fingers crossed mate.
11 Jan 2025 00:00:13
JBS, I always enjoy your posts: please carry on. However, I must respond to EM learning on on the job: I don’t want Chelsea coaches to learn on the job, they should be the finished article ; otherwise it’s like someone starting their flying lessons on an F15. As for the Conference League, not winning that would be an abject failure . As for the FA cup tomorrow, I would love to see some academy players plus some first teamers .
11 Jan 2025 10:15:52
Thanks Jimbo and I always enjoy your posts. In fact I agree with you about problem of having managers learning on the job but have to hope EM can. Like quite a few others I was shocked last summer after Poch sacking when the club appointed EM rather than a more established, proven and experienced manager. Ed02 thought Slot would have been good. Apart from EM managing the City youth team for a season, assisting Pep for another and then the promotion winning one with Leicester, he was so relatively inexperienced and completely so at EPL level and the appointment seemed a massive gamble. Oh yes, and there was the brief stint managing a club in Portugal that led to him being sacked after 14 games I think.
But EM/ CFC did better than I (many of us? ) expected in first half of season so have to hope he will learn from EPL experience rapidly and mature in a matter of a season into a battle hardened EPL manager having taken us to ECL qualification and won the Conference League. We'll know come May sure enough!