Chelsea 0 Real Madrid 2 (0 - 4 on aggregate)

[Holymoly]

14 minutes ago, My Blood Is Blue said:

I’m not going to blame this season on one person, one moment or one single decision as it’s ultimately a build up of multiple things that have happened, some before the new owners even got here, however, looking at the players we have and the way they are playing with such little confidence, belief, fitness and sharpness, I cannot fathom what Graham Potter was doing here during his time as head coach. I’ve never seen a group of players quality drop off so significantly and so quickly over a season, it is shocking. The new head coach has a massive job to build some of these players back up.

As for last night, well, nothing other than what I expected I suppose. The players gave it a go for a bit, but when you don’t have players that can score, at this level or any level, you have very little chance. Look at how easy it was for Madrid to get each of those goals, partly down to our sloppy defending, but also down to them being very good, quick and well drilled in the final third. With this team, we’d never have scored either goal, even without defenders on the pitch.

The season is over now, which is worrying, only because I’m worried how these players will perform now they have absolutely nothing to play for and still need to turn up for 7 more matches. I just hope that for the rest of the season we don’t see any of the players who clearly have no future here.

It feels like Roman being taken out of our club in the way that he was has had the same impact as when Ferguson left Man United, as so much of the club was built by the man and around the man. Some parallels in there as well… The season after Ferguson leaving they appointed the ‘next big thing in British management’ and when it didn’t work out, they turned to a club legend to be interim manager for the rest of the season. After him they turned to a former international manager, so maybe we’ll go for Enrique and when that doesn’t work it’s a rivals old manager… Klopp maybe?

I avoided this thread after the game last night as I was expecting it to be a torrent of retribution directed towards the players, the manager and the owners but it seems that most thought like I and just went to bed. What was there to say? MBIB has summed it up rather well. It's a feeling of resignation, an overall lack of hope, no idea where we are headed, trepidation for next year.

I was initially surprised when I saw the lineup as I was honestly expecting a four at the back given the players available. Some people have called it conservative, defensive even, playing for the draw, but the more I thought about it given that Frank had literally no strikers available to him it allowed us to be as attacking as we were ever going to be. Yes it meant that Havertz had to play but what other option did the manager truly have? Kante and Gallagher playing behind him were the two players in the squad with any modicum of positivity albeit without any real goal threat.

We began on the front foot with James finally showing glimpses of the form that has eluded him this season however, when the crosses came in there was no-one attacking the front post to meet them. Cucurella did well getting up and down the pitch on the other side to balance things out and stretch the defense but that meant exposing Chalobah on occasions, ultimately leading to their first goal. That said, even after Trev missed his tackle there were other options in the move to snuff it out but a succesion of bad marking led to us going one nil behind. A microcosm of our season, one error leads to a few more. After the goal the players visibly gave up. They stopped running off the ball, they stopped showing for each other and Real had the game won. The second goal was superfluous but I hated the arrogant manner in which the Real players walked the ball into the net.

Things could have been different, Kante could have directed his shot at the goal from 10yds out, Cucurella could have taken his shot without taking a touch. We could have gone into half time one or even two nil up. All that said but Madrid were playing in second gear and when their goal went in they increased the pace as we ran out of juice.

Overall, disappointing but realistically expected. When you haven't scored as few goals as this in this many games for over100 years you realise the predicament we find ourselves. The club, and I guess the next manager, has a huge job on its hands now. We know we need to get rid of at least a dozen players but to be honest the make up of that is in no way cut and dried. Ask a hundred people and you will have a hundred different answers. What is agreed by all however is that it is not at all certain that the core of the squad next season, which is already here at Stamford Bridge, is capable of becoming competitive next season let alone challenge for top four.

We have been demanding root and branch reform of the squad ever since Conte left. Well we've seen it over the last year and the conclusion is that you have to be careful what you wish for as the results have shown this season. We've gone from World Champions to fifth best team in London. Roll on the summer.

[Holymoly]

9 hours ago, CarefreeMuratcan said:

Also next time we play CL the format will be as follows

Mate, at this rate the next time we play CL there will be colonies on Mars.

[Holymoly]

9 hours ago, boratsbrother said:

Maybe a bit strange to some, but I feel a bit relieved the dying embers of a glorious era have finally been extinguished. 

It has been a truly incredible ride over the past quarter of a century or so and I'm just thankful I lived through it!

That Chelsea is done and dusted. Time to build a new one and as crap as we are at the moment, I can't wait for the new manager to arrive and start us on that road to building another great Chelsea team and era.

 

 

So basically what you're saying is we are effectively back to the days of Ian Porterfield. Yeah, fair comment.

[CarefreeMuratcan]

54 minutes ago, My Blood Is Blue said:

It feels like Roman being taken out of our club in the way that he was has had the same impact as when Ferguson left Man United, as so much of the club was built by the man and around the man. 

This is the best insight I have seen on our current woes. 

Roman's role was triviliased down to money by jealous rival fans and critics, and his hands on approach and fire and hire approach were also lambasted. 

He clearly had qualities beyond money, which made us the trophy winning juggernaut we were 2003-2022. 

[Holymoly]

6 hours ago, Michael Tucker said:

Or, indeed, a proper head coach! Sorry, but it's blatantly clear that Frank is way out of his depth. Not a clue what to do, or when to do it!

I think you're missing the point. Frank was never "the next manager". He was the quickest fix to allow the club to replace Saltor, the remains of Potter, and hopefully motivate and rebuild damaged confidence. I don't think he was ever expected to turn around the supertanker headed for the rocks but rather just paint the lifeboats a jolly colour as we awaited the inevitable. I think that is why a permanent appointment wasn't made at this point as the board realised just how much of a state the squad was in and results probably no better than we've seen would only undermine and damage the foundations for next season. I expect the off season to be brutal with a number of fan favourites being sold in order to fund a couple of strikers. We need to start from scratch.

[Mark Kelly]

I've just watched the highlights again and well....both goals were defensive calamities and easily avoidable if the players had a brain cell between them , I understand that there is a clamour for a coach with progressive ideas to mould this side into a decent one but I honestly don't think the majority of our players are "football savvy" enough to follow instruction , that defending would have been funny if we weren't on the receiving end of it.

I have a feeling that we will not win another game this season , not with this level of idiocy on board .

Our player acquisition has been awful for years now and it really doesn't seem to have improved under the new owners .

We need some experienced , clever , heads to lead this side from within and I don't think experience and intelligence is high on the radar for our procurement team .

We desperately need to clear the decks of the piles of dross we've either inherited or bought , play the kids for the rest of the season and into the next and fuck the others off , even if it means paying them to leave .

If we get a coach who has ability to shape the side into a better one we need to have a clean break with the same old suspects .

I will say despite our evident flaws as a side , they did try their best last night and Frank set them up reasonably well considering the lack of quality anywhere. 

Finally as we languish without a hope in the lower half of the table , we have our Chelsea back .

Thanks Roman , you were flawed but beautiful.

[Holymoly]

27 minutes ago, east lower said:

if we get 6 points out of the remaining games I’d genuinely be surprised. 

Ha ha! Good one. You optimistic fool you.

[CarefreeMuratcan]

10 minutes ago, Holymoly said:

Mate, at this rate the next time we play CL there will be colonies on Mars.

"We're the only team in the Local Group with a Milky Way Cup!"

[asvaberg]

7 minutes ago, Mark Kelly said:

I've just watched the highlights again and well....both goals were defensive calamities and easily avoidable if the players had a brain cell between them , I understand that there is a clamour for a coach with progressive ideas to mould this side into a decent one but I honestly don't think the majority of our players are "football savvy" enough to follow instruction , that defending would have been funny if we weren't on the receiving end of it.

I have a feeling that we will not win another game this season , not with this level of idiocy on board .

Our player acquisition has been awful for years now and it really doesn't seem to have improved under the new owners .

We need some experienced , clever , heads to lead this side from within and I don't think experience and intelligence is high on the radar for our procurement team .

We desperately need to clear the decks of the piles of dross we've either inherited or bought , play the kids for the rest of the season and into the next and fuck the others off , even if it means paying them to leave .

If we get a coach who has ability to shape the side into a better one we need to have a clean break with the same old suspects .

I will say despite our evident flaws as a side , they did try their best last night and Frank set them up reasonably well considering the lack of quality anywhere. 

Finally as we languish without a hope in the lower half of the table , we have our Chelsea back .

Thanks Roman , you were flawed but beautiful.

Well said. Even longnose Courtois admitted we were the better team in the 1.st half. Sadly, we didn't score and we didn't adapted to the minor change in midfield Ancelotti did at half time.

And(above all), we conceeded two easy goals with headless poor defending (at least their 1.st goal)

[McCreadie]

I thought we did well against the joint best team in Europe. We got unlucky, made a mistake and that’s it.
 

[Mark Kelly]

Season highlights video:

Edited April 19, 2023 by Mark Kelly

[east lower]

1 hour ago, Mark Kelly said:

Doesn't want to injure himself prior to joining Madrid.

Could be.

49 minutes ago, Holymoly said:

Ha ha! Good one. You optimistic fool you.

Man Utd - Nil points

Brentford - They might be on the beach, a point?

Man City - We might lose by so many, the PL may actually take points from us

Arsenal - Nil points,  see Man City

Bournemouth  - Possibly a draw

Forest - Best chance for a win

Plus God loves a trier and the hopelessly romantic

Edited April 19, 2023 by east lower

[Chelsea_Matt]

18 minutes ago, Mark Kelly said:

Season highlights video:

Mark 🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣 best poster here 

[paulw66]

I mean, the line up was a joke. Way to go out with a whimper.

We had two chances in the first half, and inevitably fell to defensive minded players, because Havertz aside, that's what the rest of the team was.

 

Oh, and Courtois is an absolute world class keeper. That save from Sterling last week, and from Cucurella last night. Potential tie-changers. 

[CarefreeMuratcan]

1 hour ago, east lower said:

if we get 6 points out of the remaining games I’d genuinely be surprised. 

Forest and Bournemouth = 3 points at home against Forest. Maybe 1 at best away at Bournemouth. 

United A, City A, Arsenal A, Newcastle H and Brentford H = 2 points at best in the home games, 0 points from the away games.

6 points 😉

[CarefreeMuratcan]

4 minutes ago, paulw66 said:

I mean, the line up was a joke. Way to go out with a whimper.

We had two chances in the first half, and inevitably fell to defensive minded players, because Havertz aside, that's what the rest of the team was.

 

Oh, and Courtois is an absolute world class keeper. That save from Sterling last week, and from Cucurella last night. Potential tie-changers. 

Why did he leave back in the day? Were we not willing to give him the salary he wants? Or did he just want to go to the prestige and lifestyle of Madrid regardless? 

[Max Fowler]

3 minutes ago, paulw66 said:

I mean, the line up was a joke. Way to go out with a whimper.

We had two chances in the first half, and inevitably fell to defensive minded players, because Havertz aside, that's what the rest of the team was.

 

Oh, and Courtois is an absolute world class keeper. That save from Sterling last week, and from Cucurella last night. Potential tie-changers. 

Disagree Paul. We could have got trounced if we went more attacking early on. Frank‘s gameplan largely worked and we just didn’t finish our key chances and made crucial mistakes at the other end.

Oh and people criticising Reece? I thought he was the best player on the pitch for at least the first 60 minutes. Huge influence.

[Max Fowler]

Actually I thought we should’ve have taken Havertz off. As inconsistent as he can be, he’s our top goalscorer and easily our best finisher this season.

[thevelourfog]

1 minute ago, CarefreeMuratcan said:

Forest and Bournemouth = 3 points at home against Forest. Maybe 1 at best away at Bournemouth. 

United A, City A, Arsenal A, Newcastle H and Brentford H = 2 points at best in the home games, 0 points from the away games.

6 points 😉

I don't think we have a hope in hell of beating the teams below us who will really desperately need and fight for points. City and Arsenal will go down to the wire. Newcastle are likely to be in a battle for CL qualification until the very last day, too. That leaves Brentford, and next week is probably too early for them to be on holiday.

I think 1-4 points is what we're getting.

[Mark Kelly]

10 minutes ago, paulw66 said:

I mean, the line up was a joke. Way to go out with a whimper.

We had two chances in the first half, and inevitably fell to defensive minded players, because Havertz aside, that's what the rest of the team was.

 

Oh, and Courtois is an absolute world class keeper. That save from Sterling last week, and from Cucurella last night. Potential tie-changers. 

That Cucurella chance falls to Alonso and we score there , that's the difference.

[Mark Kelly]

Look at this screen shot shortly before they score , Cucurella goes shooting forward stupidly but he's trying to mark two players on his own as the rest of the side are drawn to the ball like schoolboys , just like in the Brighton game , for a top level side this is truly shocking.

[Backbiter]

23 minutes ago, Mark Kelly said:

Look at this screen shot shortly before they score , Cucurella goes shooting forward stupidly but he's trying to mark two players on his own as the rest of the side are drawn to the ball like schoolboys , just like in the Brighton game , for a top level side this is truly shocking.

Yes, clueless 'defending'.  He did the same idiotic charge in Madrid, which led directly to Chilwell's red card. And of course, Chilwell would have buried the chance last night.

[Mark Kelly]

Just now, Backbiter said:

Yes, clueless 'defending'.  He did the same idiotic charge in Madrid, which led directly to Chilwell's red card. And of course, Chilwell would have buried the chance last night.

Indeed but it's the eight Chelsea players on the opposite side of the pitch that is even more worrying , they're following the ball like a dog chasing a balloon around a garden

[paulw66]

1 hour ago, Max Fowler said:

Disagree Paul. We could have got trounced if we went more attacking early on.

You don't have to go guns blazing, but you can't start with 5 defenders, and 4 largely defensive midfielders. We had to score at least twice to stand a chance. 

And those chances we didn't take might have fallen to attackers, if we'd had any on the pitch.

We then bring on Felix, Sterling, Mudryk........then 5 minutes later take off the one CF we did have!

[paulw66]

2 hours ago, CarefreeMuratcan said:

Why did he leave back in the day? Were we not willing to give him the salary he wants? Or did he just want to go to the prestige and lifestyle of Madrid regardless? 

he split up with the mother of his child, and she moved back to Madrid with the child. completely get it.