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Chelsea 2023-24

Wow, that must be the latest comeback ever. Losing 2-3 on 99 minutes to then score 2 goals and end up winning 4-3.
 
Shameful from Noni Madueke and, particularly, Nicolas Jackson - embarrassing the manager and the club in front of millions. Hopefully, the club will fine both of them - there must be some well-deserving local charities that could make better use of the money right now than either of these young men:

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(Source: as stated in image)

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(Source: as stated in image)

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(Source: as stated in image)

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(Source: as stated in image)




Furious Chelsea star refuses to celebrate Cole Palmer goal after angry penalty confrontation
 
My stepdad is a Chelsea fan with an Evertonian stepson, so he's feeling a bit awkward right now.

WTF were Madueke and Jackson playing at? He's your best player, he's scored a hat trick, let him take it, you absolute babies. Pochettino was not impressed.
 
Certainly stand by this. You finish top six and willingly lose your (good) manager?

Top 6 and making the Carabao Cup Final and the FA Cup semifinal.

I pretty much assumed he would be given another year tbh . Reading between the lines and the 'mutual consent' it may not have been a 'you are just not good enough, thanks and goodbye' situation.

A couple of thoughts. Firstly the management structure at clubs has evolved from one where the manager who would have responsibility for management to that of being a coach. The proliferation of well paid sporting directors , heads of development etc and the use of data bases and analysts have shifted the role of recruitment away from the manager/coach. Brighton with its very successful database and algorithm ( originally developed for use by the owners' betting company to do players' odds) and Brentford were seen are being at the cutting edge whereby the manager/coach has little or no input into recruitment and sales. What was financial fair play, now sustainability rules also help drive this particular model away from the, for example, Mourinho one which is often about getting the chequebook open only for that particular manager's benefit at the time rather than for the club's future.

In someways Pocchettino fitted that role, he had worked with little money at Espanol, although he had had disputes about transfer spending, and at Southampton and had had to endure Levy at Spurs , although in the latter case Spurs recruitment following the Bale sale was questionable. Pocchetino also had a reputation for some youth development. However I think it was obvious from Poch's remarks that he wanted more input into transfers, he also understandably felt that any criticism of the clubs progress should apply across all parties, including the recruitment people. This is tension that could imo be managed. Whatever Poch's temperament is the other side of the equation is a group of owners who want to do it their way or the highway.

Finally the age old conundrum of do you buy players to suit the coach's preferred style or so you find a coach to bring out the best in the squad that you have. Some analysts have suggested that the playing and skills profile of the Chelsea squad don't suit Poch's tactical style and also that he is slow to make tactical changes.

I thought he could be frustrating but that he did a good job of bringing together a group of very young and in some cases very inexperienced players , improving a number of them and in the last part of the season enabled Caciedo to start looking something like the record transfer fee that we paid for him. I would have stuck with him for another season and wish him well.
 
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Runners and riders according to the press:

Apparently, we are looking for someone with an attacking identity and is obsessed with possession and controlling games. Also someone who can keep players fit and reduce injuries would be a blessing.

Tuchel - I can't see it mainly because of his previous relationship with owners and his transfer demands. Scores well on the last two qualities mind.

De Zerbi- attacking, possession based , personally knows half the Chelsea team and staff lol, but left Brighton after falling out over transfers

Sebastian Hoeness - had a good season to get VfB Stuttgart into second place counter-pressing, high backline, loads of goals said to be focussed on Stuttgart.

Kieran McKenna- 92 goals at Ipswich , high level possession and passing , short-passing style using double pivot which would suit Caciedo and Fernandes

Enzo Maresca - won the Championship with Leicester, gave us a difficult game in the cup, possession based , plays out from back, inverts the two full backs , single pivot .

Thomas Frank- attacking but not possession based , more positional I think and I don't think they control games

Michel - has had a great season at Girona, possession based , plays from the back, good movement and an exciting prospect . Inverts one wide defender like Poch does and uses the other like Poch did with Gusto and Madueke. Tbf has also benefited from the club being part of Man City's global set up.

Thank heavens Lampard hasn't been mentioned , although Vincent Kompany has .

Any more riders and runners?
 
I don't want Hayes coaching a men's team, not because I think she's a shit manager but because you know exactly how a certain type of male fan will react, and the amount of shit she will have to deal with won't be worth it. Too many men who think women shouldn't be allowed in the men's game on any level. Look at what happened when Forest Green had a female coach.

Getting rid of Pochettino is immensely fucking stupid and I have no idea why Boehly did it, they won their last game and finished higher than expected, and the team were starting to click. Cole Palmer has more than earned his place in the England team. It's such a stupid waste of a decent manager. Who knows why Boehly does things.
 
Funnily enough Amorim at Sporting who couple of months ago was being touted as the next big thing hasn’t been mentioned . The West Ham interview must have put him off .
 
The Brighton owner, Tony Bloom, used to be Brentford owner, Matthew Benham boss back in the day.

Benham, left after they fell out because he was making more money than him using Money ball type stats to get an edge over betting odds when Bloom owned Premier Bet.

So, whilst both De Zerbi and Frank have experience at working with a structured transfer policy, I'm not sure how well either will work with a loose cannon that buys young players for insane fees on insane contracts.

On the surface (for me), it looks like Boehly is using Chelsea as a farm. Bring young players in on insane fees, farm them out to other clubs, and in a few years sell them for a profit. There's no real player signing policy like Arsenal, Liverpool or Man City (or even Villa), where they go "this player will improve the team", more a "This kid will be worth a fortune at 25/26 so let's sign him now".

Whoever takes over is going to have to be strong enough to deal with this.
 
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