Words to describe this season- WHAT WAS THE BOARD THINKING!?!!!
Thin squad, so many players out on loan, 8 competitions, only one striker ( Torres) effectively till January 2013 ( when Ba joined), sacked club legend (RDM) and replaced with someone reviled by the fans, Rafa Benitez! What else could go wrong!! 69 games in total
Indeed players like Oscar have played more than 90 games (he's been playing an average of a game per week) since October 2012. Mata and Hazard are not far behind!! It is amazing that none of the trio has picked up a major injury since then ( Hazard missed the last 2 games with a thigh strain though)
The Lows-
Damn!! There were too many of these
Losing the Community Shield to Man City - 2-3 - the score line flattered us 'cos we were simply outplayed. Losing Ivanovic to a sending off didn't help. Indeed City was the superior side in the 4 meetings this year. They are on our 'To do' list for next season
Losing the UEFA SuperCup to Athletico Madrid- 1-4
We were humbled in this match. No, we were embarrassed. Chelsea was sluggish while Athletico were spritely. Gabi, Arda Turan and Adrian López supplied the jabs while Falcao delivered the killer blows- a hat trick delivered with ruthless aplomb. It should have been the reality check that RDM and his boys needed, It wasn't!
This was perhaps due to the bright start to the EPL
Losing 0-3 to Juve- CL Group stage
This effectively put paid to RDM's career as a Chelsea manager. Again our deficiencies were exposed with ease by a well- drilled side. It's difficult to say what part not starting Torrees played in his eventual sacking
Employing Rafa Benitez
A lot has been said about this 'brain fart' of a decision by the Board, so I'm not going to dwell on it anymore
His earlier stats at Chelsea were abysmal!
“His first 21 matches in charge have yielded the worst winning percentage of any of the Abramovich era managers.” Laughable cup performances, late-match collapses, inert tactics, head-scratching post-match comments, even worse substitutions and in-game management, and a measured drop in league performance -holding vouchers for free points for visitors to Stamford Bridge!!
Sissoko'd or Diame'd or Lambert'd or Puncheon'd or QPR'd or Le Fondre'd or Ivanovic'd or ballboy'd under Rafa! His Interim status probably prevented him from being sacked. We lost about 16 points from winning positions in the EPL -under Rafa
He had four trophies ( and the EPL title) available to him when he was employed
Here were his opponents:
Monterrey, Corinthians (x), Leeds, Swansea City (x), Southampton, Brentford, Manchester United, Manchester City (x), Sparta Prague, Steaua Bucharest, Rubin Kazan, Basel, Benfica.
Only once did Benitez advance against top draw opposition ( Man Utd), and then Chelsea were immediately knocked out by Man City. To claim that the results were good is blatantly false. To claim that ‘Rafa’s only fault was the team’s shitty performances against lower half teams and pathetic substitutions’ is similarly strange; his greatest fault was and remains a dogmatic adhesion to a team shape that suits a grand total of one player-Torres!! ( he may just have been obeying his Boss on this)
People are 'at pains' to say that Rafa’s job was to make Top Four but that’s not true. That became the objective only once he’d put Top Four in jeopardy-a situation created from losing/drawing to the likes of QPR, Reading, Southampton, West Ham, Newcastle, Swansea
He did steer the team to the Europa title though
Did I say I wasn't going to dwell on it. Okay, I lied!! Now, sue me!!
Losing the Club World Cup 0-1 to Corinthians
Who goes all the way to Japan, plays 2 matches and still come back empty- handed - losing to a very average Corinthians in the process?? Rafa!
Getting eliminated from the Group stage of the CL-as defending Champs
This sucks big time. It was a tough group but drawing 2-2 at home to Juventus (in a match we were leading 2-0) ultimately cost us. That's all I'm going to say about that.
Losing a two-legged semi final Capital One Cup tie to Swansea 0-2
This still sucks 'cos the boys just didn't play like they cared. The first leg was a low point in Ivanovic's career- he gifted Swansea both goals. Hazard also managed to get red-carded for kicking a ball from beneath a ballboy!!
Losing in the semi final of the FA Cup to Man City 1-2
City again!!! We were bullied for 60 mins in this game. A late rally was too little too late. Wigan got the last laugh though! One word- Schadenfreude!! *wicked laugh*
Finishing 14 points behind the eventual EPL Champs- Man Utd
Still scratching my head to find meaning in this- particularly 'cos the Utd team was a very average one. Never Again!!
The highs
Winning the Europa League Cup
It eventually turned out to be the only silverware in a poor season
Kudos to Chelsea for turning this lemon to Lemonade! Would we like to defend it? Thanks, but no thanks!!
Beating Man Utd 3ce and Outplaying them 4 times this season
It was more than enough consolation for the 'robbery' at Stamford Bridge- abetted by a certain Mark Clattenburg earlier in the season.
One word- Woof!!
The future-
Abramovich is reported to be ready to splurge the cash again this summer- a £100million War Chest
Priorities
A new Manager, Central Midfielder, One or two top-class strikers, Recall the Kraken, Romelu Lukaku and give a few Academy players a chance in the first team ( eg Capital One Cup)
If Lukaku is recalled ( please, please, don't send this lad on loan again) then we need to buy only one striker. I don't think we'll be able to sell Torres with his high wages and Ba is still a decent addition.
Manager- it has to be Jose Mourinho now init? Florentino Perez has announced that he is leaving Real Madrid at the end of this season. Madrid was mission unaccomplished, this makes for a very hungry -for -more -success man. A good thing for Chelsea. Age should have dampened that itinerant itch, his family loves London and his second coming has to be for the long haul.
Players we should possibly buy-
Strikers - Torres scored a total of 1 goal in the EPL ( since December 2012) This alone tells the story of our season in the Striker's department .How we ended up starting this busy campaign with only him is not only baffling, but deeply worrying!!
This great faux pax must be corrected this summer. On Chelsea's radar should be- Robert Lewandowski, Edison Cavani and Radamel Falcao. I don't really care who we buy out of this lot. I just don't want Torres to be our main striker next season. ( he was decent in theEuropa league but he's not just good enough to be Chelsea's main man)
Central Midfielder - Our pivot is weak in our preferred 4-2-3-1 . Both Ramirez and Mikel have been found wanting in this critical position. We need a player in the mold of Bayern's Javi Martinez- imposing his physicality on the game with a dominant midfield performance. Rarely losing the ball and with an eye for a pass and the odd goal. Neither of our current duo tick all these boxes. That's why physical teams got the better of us this season
Fellaini had a blistering start to this season, he could do a job in this role too.
Or perhaps Xabi Alonso/Sami Khedira will come with Mourinho from Madrid
The David Luiz experiment in the midfield should stop. He is a CB, full stop. I'm not sold on Gary Cahill yet- he plays with a lot of heart but he doesn't look like very intelligent defender- in the mode of Hummels. Such defenders who create attacks from the back rather than just hoofing the ball up field. If the CB pairing is not often rotated perhaps the stability will ensure that we concede less goals.
Luke Shaw-I love this Southampton wizzkid and he'd be a decent understudy for Cole at LB.
Players that should leave-Paolo Ferreira, Florent Malouda, Marko Marin. Yossi Benayoun, Ross Turnbull, Henrique Hilario,
Players that should be sent on loan- Oriol Romeu, Josh McEachran, Andreas Christensen and Ruben Loftus-Cheek ( the latter duo are academy players who have impressed alongside Nathan Ake this season) Ake deserves more chance in the first team
I don't really fancy Andre Schurrle and I'm gutted that we are losing Kevin De Bruyne to Dortmund. But if this means we get a first mention for Lewandowski, then Woof!!
This was a season of transition, next season should be about consolidation. Blues for life!!
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