Who will the next permanent Chelsea manager be?

[McCreadie]

47 minutes ago, Max Fowler said:

 I believe he takes us top top 4-6 next season and then struggles to build on that the following season and then doubts start to creep in. But that's just a prediction. Of course I hope he can takes us further than that.

That’s not really a prediction is it. He is starting with the club in total disarray and is a full 7 years behind Pep. If anyone managed to get us anywhere near City in the next 3 years it would be a miracle of biblical proportions. Liverpool and Utd are always going to be there or thereabouts. Newcastle are not about to get worse. Arsenal and Tottenham are rubbish. Doing much better than top 4 is not going to be easy from this point on, regardless of who is the manager.

[Max Fowler]

36 minutes ago, ROTG said:

On the positive side, he seems to have the ability to identify decent players vs dross, which is a priority with the current squad. I am not his greatest fan, however as long as he is given control to structure the squad to his needs and identity without the TB sports dept interference, then i see no reason why there would not be a positive upward trend.

True - and I do like what I am hearing about how he runs training, his intensity etc. and how he is setting expectations with Boehly. Everything that is coming out is only making me like Poch more, although I will still maintain he is the most overrated manager of the last decade. Multiple things can be true at once.

[Max Fowler]

20 minutes ago, McCreadie said:

That’s not really a prediction is it. He is starting with the club in total disarray and is a full 7 years behind Pep. If anyone managed to get us anywhere near City in the next 3 years it would be a miracle of biblical proportions. Liverpool and Utd are always going to be there or thereabouts. Newcastle are not about to get worse. Arsenal and Tottenham are rubbish. Doing much better than top 4 is not going to be easy from this point on, regardless of who is the manager.

I mean there's a marked difference between just top four and what Arteta has done at Arsenal this season, for example. And another marked difference between Arteta's Arsenal and actually winning the league.

I don't buy that we are as far away as you think, given the talent we will have, although it's the amount of change and how much we are still prioritising Boehly's long-term success over short-term success (whatever that means) that will be telling.

In theory if we got an absolutely top manager now - say a Tuchel or Guardiola, and gave him 2-3 big signings in the summer (GK, DM like Rice, and a top CF) - we should absolutely expect to be challenging City at the top by 24/25.

IMO people on here massively underrate our squad because of how we've underperformed this season and once we have a good manager who brings it all together, and if we add the right experience, we are not that far away at all.

I just doubt we will get there under Poch - but maybe the brief is more to do with bringing young players on, improving talent and being the right fit for this transition as much as being a serial winner at all costs.

In which case I think he could be a great fit for right now - to be followed up by a really elite manager to help us dominate again. I just doubt he will be that guy to win trophy after trophy for us - nothing he's done so far in his career says he is.

Edited May 18, 2023 by Max Fowler

[xceleryx]

2 hours ago, Max Fowler said:

In theory if we got an absolutely top manager now - say a Tuchel or Guardiola, and gave him 2-3 big signings in the summer (GK, DM like Rice, and a top CF) - we should absolutely expect to be challenging City at the top by 24/25.

We're arguably a worse side now than we were when Pep famously said we'd need to buy 10 new players. 

[Ham]

3 hours ago, ROTG said:

Things like wasting £300m in January to try and support a nobody

Time will tell whether any money was wasted in January. 

[Sciatika]

Sensational Exclusive: According to a Football London report, we might or might not announce the new head coach before the end of the season.  Hope that helps.

[Blue Moon]

Helps me to assess the worth of pronouncements by Football London, @Sciatika. Thanks for that.

[Max Fowler]

2 hours ago, xceleryx said:

We're arguably a worse side now than we were when Pep famously said we'd need to buy 10 new players. 

I just don't buy it. We've got quality all over the park.

Too many young players though and not enough leaders - but if we get that spine right (GK, DM, CF) we could go far.

[ROTG]

2 hours ago, Ham said:

Time will tell whether any money was wasted in January. 

I think we will have a good idea by the end of July. 

[ROTG]

3 hours ago, xceleryx said:

We're arguably a worse side now than we were when Pep famously said we'd need to buy 10 new players. 

Remind me, how may times has pep won a European competition during his time at Chitty?

[boratsbrother]

1 hour ago, ROTG said:

Remind me, how may times has pep won a European competition during his time at Chitty?

Completely irrelevant to the point Pep made.

 

Let's look at the hard facts.

We currently have only two players who've been here and won the title and both are past their best. Not one other player has even challenged for the title at Chelsea.

By far our best player this season has been one who is nearing his 40th birthday.. Neither keeper is good enough  Chilly and James have become horribly injury prone and their backups are not good enough. Some promising CBs but nothing more than that at this moment in time. Still have an awful, unbalanced midfield with no defensive protection or creativity  Nothing out wide on either flank. No real quality in central striker positions.

If the young players don't significantly improve the team then we are buggered for the next several years and wil have to start all over again with another squad rebuild.

[Bob Singleton]

12 minutes ago, boratsbrother said:

[SNIP]

We currently have only two players who've been here and won the title and both are past their best. Not one other player has even challenged for the title at Chelsea.

[SNIP]

Technically it's actually three... Ruben Loftus-Cheek has two PL Winners medals (though he didn't play much in either campaign)  😉

Seems he may be off to A C Milan

[ROTG]

49 minutes ago, boratsbrother said:

Completely irrelevant to the point Pep made.

 

Let's look at the hard facts.

We currently have only two players who've been here and won the title and both are past their best. Not one other player has even challenged for the title at Chelsea.

By far our best player this season has been one who is nearing his 40th birthday.. Neither keeper is good enough  Chilly and James have become horribly injury prone and their backups are not good enough. Some promising CBs but nothing more than that at this moment in time. Still have an awful, unbalanced midfield with no defensive protection or creativity  Nothing out wide on either flank. No real quality in central striker positions.

If the young players don't significantly improve the team then we are buggered for the next several years and wil have to start all over again with another squad rebuild.

Hard Facts 

two disastrous transfer windows compilatning in the most bloated and unbalanced squad in the club’s history  along with  sacking  a top draw coach and replacing him with a nobody and consequently the demise of the club from top 3 to mid table team within in 6 months.

Rebuild No,

Path forward bring in a top coach and let him work with the sports dept to decide who comes and goes, regardless of when they were signed, with the target of top 4 spot next season.

 

[paulw66]

18 hours ago, ROTG said:

I think we will have a good idea by the end of July. 

No, we wont. 

you think we can judge whether Santos, Gusto and Slonina (to name just 3) were good singings by July?

[Rob B]

On 18/05/2023 at 10:52, Max Fowler said:

I don't buy that we are as far away as you think, given the talent we will have, although it's the amount of change and how much we are still prioritising Boehly's long-term success over short-term success (whatever that means) that will be telling.

In theory if we got an absolutely top manager now - say a Tuchel or Guardiola, and gave him 2-3 big signings in the summer (GK, DM like Rice, and a top CF) - we should absolutely expect to be challenging City at the top by 24/25.

IMO people on here massively underrate our squad because of how we've underperformed this season and once we have a good manager who brings it all together, and if we add the right experience, we are not that far away at all.

Agree with this.  One thing we are certainly not short on, is talent.  

On paper, we easily have a squad somewhere within the best 4 in the country, and comfortably better than Newcastle, Man United and Brighton who make up 3 of the top 6.

What we have lacked this season is squad harmony,  balance, stability, leadership etc.  All things a good manager and a settled structure in place should be able to address quite quickly. 

And let’s not forgot, at certain points in the season, we were absolutely decimated by injury.

Reduce the squad size, playing a settled team with a clear plan / philosophy,  with one of two additions in key areas and there’s no reason why we can’t be right up there next year.   No European football either. 

[McCreadie]

On 18/05/2023 at 10:52, Max Fowler said:

I don't buy that we are as far away as you think, given the talent we will have, although it's the amount of change and how much we are still prioritising Boehly's long-term success over short-term success (whatever that means) that will be telling.

In theory if we got an absolutely top manager now - say a Tuchel or Guardiola, and gave him 2-3 big signings in the summer (GK, DM like Rice, and a top CF) - we should absolutely expect to be challenging City at the top by 24/25.

Did you manage to watch any of City vs Real Madrid on Wednesday? The 1st half was probably the best performance from any team I have seen ever. It's taken Pep 7 years and about £2 billion to get there. That was after having swatted Arsenal like a mildly annoying fly the previous week. I accept it is all cycles, but we are going to have to just  hope they are coming to the end of theirs and that Pep will win the treble and disappear up his own backside in a puff of smoke. 

[Mark Kelly]

21 minutes ago, McCreadie said:

Did you manage to watch any of City vs Real Madrid on Wednesday? The 1st half was probably the best performance from any team I have seen ever. It's taken Pep 7 years and about £2 billion to get there. That was after having swatted Arsenal like a mildly annoying fly the previous week. I accept it is all cycles, but we are going to have to just  hope they are coming to the end of theirs and that Pep will win the treble and disappear up his own backside in a puff of smoke. 

I read a stat and in the first fifteen minutes Madrid touched the ball 23 times and City 125 or something very similar , if it wasn't for Courtois they'd have been really whooped. 

[Backbiter]

8 minutes ago, Mark Kelly said:

I read a stat and in the first fifteen minutes Madrid touched the ball 23 times and City 125 or something very similar , if it wasn't for Courtois they'd have been really whooped. 

They were.

[boratsbrother]

39 minutes ago, Mark Kelly said:

I read a stat and in the first fifteen minutes Madrid touched the ball 23 times and City 125 or something very similar , if it wasn't for Courtois they'd have been really whooped. 

Judgement day is coming for these disgusting cheats! No club can be innocent of 111 charges of fraud  and when found guilty they should be dumped into the Conference and make their way back from there.

Remember that Pep was twice found guilty as a player for using PEDs so I have no doubt he's known all along what's been going on at that club.

[ROTG]

2 hours ago, paulw66 said:

No, we wont. 

you think we can judge whether Santos, Gusto and Slonina (to name just 3) were good singings by July?

Bit a non related answer really,

due to one can’t get a visa and will probably go on loan again, the GK will be loaned again and I would say there is a good possibility Gutso will be judged in July.  If the rumours are true the about the new coach and the size of the squad he likes. 
 

it’s just an opinion. 

[FrankLampard8]

1 hour ago, Mark Kelly said:

I read a stat and in the first fifteen minutes Madrid touched the ball 23 times and City 125 or something very similar , if it wasn't for Courtois they'd have been really whooped. 

Every time I see Thibaut play I can't help but think what would have happened if we'd loaned him to some proper sh*t hole where he wouldn't have wanted to go back to 😂 I know he isn't popular but he's world class and we'd be so much better off with him in goal.

[martin1905]

2 hours ago, McCreadie said:

Did you manage to watch any of City vs Real Madrid on Wednesday? The 1st half was probably the best performance from any team I have seen ever. It's taken Pep 7 years and about £2 billion to get there. That was after having swatted Arsenal like a mildly annoying fly the previous week. I accept it is all cycles, but we are going to have to just  hope they are coming to the end of theirs and that Pep will win the treble and disappear up his own backside in a puff of smoke. 

Watching it with my boys I said exactly this. I've always thought the best premier league teams ever, Ferguson's United, Jose's Chelsea and the Arsenal invincible team are better than City but that performance was as good as anything I have ever seen and I don't believe there has ever been a team that could have coped. 

They were exceptional with the ball but that press was staggering. Literal perfection.

How could anyone compete with a team that it is almost impossible to win the ball from and when you do actually impossible to keep hold of it?

[martin1905]

13 minutes ago, FrankLampard8 said:

Every time I see Thibaut play I can't help but think what would have happened if we'd loaned him to some proper sh*t hole where he wouldn't have wanted to go back to 😂 I know he isn't popular but he's world class and we'd be so much better off with him in goal.

He's the best in the world from what I have seen. The big thing with him, and all the very best is not only does he pull off saves that only the very elite can he does it when it really matters.

The reason I have always put  Cech as the best ever, slightly biased I know but the margins are incredibly fine when discussing the level of the very best goalkeepers, is that he would do nothing for weeks. Literally not make a save for weeks, we were that good defensively. Then he would make a save that he had no right to, that not many others would be able to, in big moments, in big games. That is what always stood out about him and puts him at the very, very top for me.  Courtois is similar at Madrid.

[paulw66]

1 hour ago, ROTG said:

Bit a non related answer really,

due to one can’t get a visa and will probably go on loan again, the GK will be loaned again and I would say there is a good possibility Gutso will be judged in July.  If the rumours are true the about the new coach and the size of the squad he likes. 
 

it’s just an opinion. 

Judged by whom?

They can't be judged as a good signing or not for a long time. 

They will be judged by the staff in July as to whether they stay here, or go on loan, sure.

1 hour ago, FrankLampard8 said:

Every time I see Thibaut play I can't help but think what would have happened if we'd loaned him to some proper sh*t hole where he wouldn't have wanted to go back to 😂 I know he isn't popular but he's world class and we'd be so much better off with him in goal.

 

1 hour ago, martin1905 said:

He's the best in the world from what I have seen. The big thing with him, and all the very best is not only does he pull off saves that only the very elite can he does it when it really matters.

The reason I have always put  Cech as the best ever, slightly biased I know but the margins are incredibly fine when discussing the level of the very best goalkeepers, is that he would do nothing for weeks. Literally not make a save for weeks, we were that good defensively. Then he would make a save that he had no right to, that not many others would be able to, in big moments, in big games. That is what always stood out about him and puts him at the very, very top for me.  Courtois is similar at Madrid.

Ironically, he was hugely underappreciated here, probably because he ousted a legend. 

His game has come on at Real. He's an absolute monster. 

[Backbiter]

24 minutes ago, paulw66 said:

Judged by whom?

They can't be judged as a good signing or not for a long time. 

They will be judged by the staff in July as to whether they stay here, or go on loan, sure.

 

Ironically, he was hugely underappreciated here, probably because he ousted a legend. 

His game has come on at Real. He's an absolute monster. 

Definitely. He was good with us (most of the time) but nowhere near the level he is now.