CheLOLsea

[Winston Biscuit]

I do find Chelsea fans so perplexing. Spoke to one at work today, forever defending club, owners, managers etc - always has done and totally plays down their run of form. Latest angle is "what do you expect when we are playing kids, and developing them etc etc" - is that true? Not been paying much attention but have they thrown all that money on kids?

they have definitely had a focus on buying up youngsters to lock down future talent, but I think a lot of those are not even playing.

research shows they have the lowest average squad age in the PL at 23.7 years old, but they have one of the biggest registered squads while also only using 20 players so far which is among the fewest of any club. So basically they do have a bunch of youngsters in their squad, but they don't play them

their starting XI at the weekend were 25, 20, 25, 39, 20, 21, 22, 23, 28, 22, 22

[RFCMod]

Everyone knows that Pochettino builds for success and he won't be an immediate success
Which begs the question a) why he took the poisoned chalice and b) why the board got him in as CFC just want to be back at the top in the quickest time possible

You either get the Chelsea fans brought up in the 70's & 80's (and the 90's really) who watched Chelsea struggle for years or you get the Abramovich era Chelsea fans who expect nothing less than top 3 finish every season

[From Despair To Where?]

I quite like the fact that they replaced a player nicknamed Dave with Thiago Silva.

Having said that, complaining about having to play youngsters is bit moot when one of the youngsters in question is a World Cup winner and cost £105m and another cost £110m.

[Sanguine]

Everyone knows that Pochettino builds for success and he won't be an immediate success
Which begs the question a) why he took the poisoned chalice and b) why the board got him in as CFC just want to be back at the top in the quickest time possible

You either get the Chelsea fans brought up in the 70's & 80's (and the 90's really) who watched Chelsea struggle for years or you get the Abramovich era Chelsea fans who expect nothing less than top 3 finish every season

Good start at Southampton, in his first eight games they beat City, Liverpool and Chelsea. But yeah, his first Spurs sides were a bit wonky.

But as I've expressed here before - it's one thing not to have Chelsea in the CL spots, but quite another to have such a dismal record (I know most of it other managers) for nearly a year, with the squad at their disposal.

[Sanguine]

Dominos having some fun with Chelsea's goalscoring troubles this morning.

It's an astonishing run though. Since they beat Villa just under a year ago, they have scored more than once in just six out of 35 league games. Under three different managers.

[Sanguine]

Fulham 0-2 Chelsea. Of course this happened.

[South Coast Royal]

Fulham 0-2 Chelsea. Of course this happened.

Didn't you at one time have some sort of connection at Fulham?
this is the sangers effect working once more and my Chelsea supporting son will be delighted.

[Hendo]

Fulham 0-2 Chelsea. Of course this happened.

2 in under a minute, wasn’t it?

[Sanguine]

Fulham 0-2 Chelsea. Of course this happened.

2 in under a minute, wasn’t it?

Yep. I went for a pee when the first goal went in, and when I came back they were celebrating the second. Strangely flat performance from Fulham. Chelsea were better, but weren't great.

[Zammo]

It's times like these that I wish Kes was still around.

Agreed

[Sanguine]

It's times like these that I wish Kes was still around.

Agreed

It's sums the tw@t up that he isn't around now, down to a tee.

[LUX]

Who’s their manager now?

Doubt he will be tomorrow.

[Brum Royal]

Who’s their manager now?

Doubt he will be tomorrow.

Pochettino currently. Though there's talk of him being replaced soon too.

[WestYorksRoyal]

Got to wonder if they'll end up in a situation similar to Everton. They don't have much FFP wiggle room to rebuild the squad; they bet big on signings made so far. Due to accounting rules and amortisation, their 8 year contracts make selling a player like Mudryk or Fernandez of no use, as any transfer fee would likely be less than their accounting value.

I doubt they'll encounter the same problems of a major funder/sponsor being sanctioned, but at some point they'll have to make a call on taking big FFP risks or accepting an unbalanced, mediocre squad. Mid table obscurity likely awaits.

[Sanguine]

Got to wonder if they'll end up in a situation similar to Everton. They don't have much FFP wiggle room to rebuild the squad; they bet big on signings made so far. Due to accounting rules and amortisation, their 8 year contracts make selling a player like Mudryk or Fernandez of no use, as any transfer fee would likely be less than their accounting value.

I doubt they'll encounter the same problems of a major funder/sponsor being sanctioned, but at some point they'll have to make a call on taking big FFP risks or accepting an unbalanced, mediocre squad. Mid table obscurity likely awaits.

Yep. Flagged this a few months ago - it's why the likes of Lukaku (two and a bit years into a five year deal, £97.5m fee) are on permanent loan. And that is the future for some of their recent signings too. It's all very 'clever' spreading the cost of these deals out, but it makes players impossible to move on.

They need these signings to come good - albeit frankly Pochettino has been disappointing. The squad might be young, but can you imagine the tune Klopp would be getting out of a midfield of Enzo, Caicedo and Palmer?

[BRO_BOT]

Got to wonder if they'll end up in a situation similar to Everton. They don't have much FFP wiggle room to rebuild the squad; they bet big on signings made so far. Due to accounting rules and amortisation, their 8 year contracts make selling a player like Mudryk or Fernandez of no use, as any transfer fee would likely be less than their accounting value.

I doubt they'll encounter the same problems of a major funder/sponsor being sanctioned, but at some point they'll have to make a call on taking big FFP risks or accepting an unbalanced, mediocre squad. Mid table obscurity likely awaits.

It's all very 'clever' spreading the cost of these deals out, but it makes players impossible to move on.

+1

This is the position Utd has been in for several years. Underperforming players with huge contracts and overinflated fees that no other club will touch.

[Sutekh]

Got to wonder if they'll end up in a situation similar to Everton. They don't have much FFP wiggle room to rebuild the squad; they bet big on signings made so far. Due to accounting rules and amortisation, their 8 year contracts make selling a player like Mudryk or Fernandez of no use, as any transfer fee would likely be less than their accounting value.

I doubt they'll encounter the same problems of a major funder/sponsor being sanctioned, but at some point they'll have to make a call on taking big FFP risks or accepting an unbalanced, mediocre squad. Mid table obscurity likely awaits.

It's all very 'clever' spreading the cost of these deals out, but it makes players impossible to move on.

+1

This is the position Utd has been in for several years. Underperforming players with huge contracts and overinflated fees that no other club will touch.

Which could be a real problem in the summer and be a cue for a ton of indignation and whining from much of their wonderful support about how poor little Chelsea are so hard done by and FFP is so unfair.