14 Comments

Couple of observations - how sustainable is it for any manager to remain at a club where his opinions are being ignored by the club?

Secondly, yesterday's performance at the etihad was along the lines of the Chelsea DNA - fighting for every ball, blocking shots, winning duels. Everyone gets caught up in "high blocks" and possession based football but, the reality is, defences win titles

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I think that's a very generous interpretation of our squad building, Scorio.

I'm not sure there's a universe where some of these players can be considered a great fit for a high energy, high pressing passing side.

The squad has been constructed along financial lines not footballing lines. It's an investment portfolio to realise future ROI through sales and - best case - relatively low salaries for players that train on to be top tier players.

There's no footballing cohesion to it at all. So whilst I agree it hasn't been built for Poch I don't think this is phase one of a clever plan and I'm not sure there is a manager out there who is a great fit for the still-imbalanced squad that we have.

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Feb 20·edited Feb 20Author

With respect this is simply not true my friend.

The owners make very little money from selling on players, in comparison to the potential billions they make turning Chelsea into a winning machine. The idea we’re just buying to sell is ridiculous. No serious investor makes much return on their investment or even maxlmises profits that way. We’ve had to sell some HG players due to PSR rules, like many other clubs do, including City. Last summer we had a mass clear out of which we all knew was needed.

Success on the pitch equals huge commercial deals, equals huge revenue streams, prize money, sponsorships, merch etc, and could double or treble the value of their original investment. That makes sales of players look like pennies.

The owners clearly want us to be a possession based team, with largely technical players. We’re more suited to a Slot, Amorim, Nagelsmann than we are to Poch. Poch’s role was player development.

In terms of no balance: well we have four CBs, 4 deeper mids (2DM, two 6/8), 2/3 8/10, two RW and two LW, two LB and two RB, so the idea it’s not balanced is nonsense to me. There are profiles still missing of course, it’s not perfect yet at all, but you can’t rebuild near enough an entire squad in 12 months.

The players are investments only in the sense that they will mean we don’t need to spend as much on transfer fees in years to come, and the wages can stay relatively low. If all they wanted was to sell players, they’d not have invested such big fees, and genuinely it’s an awful way to make money from a football club, and they know that, they have even said the best way to make money is to win.

I get why some are skeptical, but to me that makes no sense.

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Nonsense? Ooh, Score you've quite put me off my porridge!

Let's see. Time will tell. I think they are going to learn the hard way that to make a small fortune in football you need to start with a large fortune. That won't be what investors are after so they'll do whatever they have to make a decent return. Financiers are gonna finance.

So I think it's a mistake to look at what they are doing through a sporting lens. Do they want to win? Of course! Better for everyone. But I think the considerations are money-sport-money and not sport-money-sport.

My mind might change depending on how they handle the stadium issue. Any sniff of 'realising value' in the real estate market and I'll be making homemade signs and writing to the King.

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very well said! people want to give these owners and SDs way too much credit then they actually deserve. Defending the club does not mean you close your eyes to the issues that are there and dont criticize.

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Love this comment. Not sure how we are meant to trust the acumen of folks that are building a squad to be Mid- Table. I am not saying all signings are average, but this idea of potential is really annoying man. Folks think getting a technical manager is suddenly going to Sky 🚀 our position. It's just a false reality, wasn't that meant to be Potter. Recruitment has been at best average. Need to hire a competent director of football before faith can be restore in this regime.

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founding

Many good points and a couple of not so good points.

Is there really a plan? Wouldn’t it be good if the SD’s weren’t acting like a couple of kids with the keys to the sweet shop?

Only time will tell if that interpretation is correct but let me ask the following question?

If we need players that have premiership experience and have a manager that does have competitive premiership experience why would we not support him with the players he is saying he needs?

Additionally if the reality is that as supporters we can see an upward curve to the way the team is gelling and performances, results and belief are all there why oh why would we get rid of a manager that turns this around and install a manager without premiership experience from an obscure 2nd rate European league.

Btw I was about to say a non English manager but then thought well after all Poche is Argentinian but he is starting to feel he belongs.

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you forgot about De zerbi, my joint pick with amorim il take either of those two. I do think de zerbi doesnt get enough credit for what hes having to deal with at brighton, losing your best midfielders, yet still being 7th in the league and finishing top of their europa league group aswell as going through an injury crisis. needs credit.

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Strangely, he is working in an environment, where the sporting directors, and the like are setting out the vision, buying the players et cetera. Sounds familiar!

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10000% ahaha

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Personally i think this is as simple as a new manager building a team with lots of new players and whole new recruitment team, who have barely worked with each other add new owners new ceo medical etc for any given time, i find it hard to believe the recruitment team is building for another manager, and tbh Raneri’s does build for the future like a lot of great managers, and then let's

Look at the Squad Poch inherited, these whole sale changes at Chelsea are going to take a lot of time, but good times will start to return the green shoots are starting to appear, we got to be patient and get behind the team and the manager but that's just my

Opinion KTBFFH

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When I read reviews of this nature and I totally understand the basis I worry about some of the comments it creates. Perhaps I’m too long in the tooth and I’ve seen some seriously bad days at the bridge. This is nothing like it and I said many times before, we’ve all got to show more patience. Rome wasn’t built in a day. The new owners and the new sporting directors took over a shit show. The football side of the men’s team have been deteriorating for the 2 to 3 years prior to the sale and had a direct impact on what we’re watching today , I just hope that most Chelsea supporters can see the vision (they clearly stated they have a 10 year plan), be patient and get behind the blues irrespective of some of the bad performances. Poch also deserves respect and time as replacing him will just move us back 12 to 24 months .

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Feb 18·edited Feb 18

this myth that tall players cant be technical does my head in.

'Our sporting directors clearly have a very specific footballing philosophy they are building around. Most of our players have strong technical ability and are good in possession'

So players like Onana or Rice who are physically imposing are not technical or good in possession and Caicedo is? The guy cost 100m but cant cover space, tackle properly & gets knocked off the ball easily....

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I guess I am watching a different Caicedo

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