Its Time to Discuss the Future of CFC

We suck hard, worried about this top 4 spot now especially since we are going into our cursed month of November

Not as worried about November now as I have been in seasons past as I can't see any conceivable way we could possibly get any worse.

Thoughts on Jorge Sampaoli?

Can't we lure him away from Chilie? I would love to see Chelsea play like Chilie.

Guys, this season is over. No point worrying about top 4 since we won't get it.

The only question is, how much money will we lose by not being in the CL next season? Or can we win either the CL or EL to confirm our CL spot for next year?

beyond winning either, we won't be in the CL next season.


And by the sounds of it, we're going all out for Pep at season's end. I can't see us going for someone like Jorge Sampaoli when Pep is potentially available.

Top 4 is still possibility though, Lecister and West Ham are not going to be there toward the end of the season. The usual suspect Liverpool and Spuds, are not that strong.

FFs though Mou needs to go, he is literally worst in situation like this, when there is a massive dark cloud over the team. Why does he keep pouring oil over the fire? Ejected from the game and consistently spouting blame on everyone else. Just shut up, and focus on football.

It's not quite out of the question yet, guess we should panic come January if we are really far of the pace.

Let's see though, title is defo out of the question.

Apart from what you think SHOULD happen, do you think Mourinho is close to getting fired?
Or was the backing he received recently fundamental, not just an ultimatum?
I ask because I have no clue how to judge the situation.

I've been going back and forth on that myself. On one hand, I look at the fact that he was just handed a 4-year contract over the summer (though I would stress that I'm not naive enough to think contracts in and of themselves mean anything in football), and that the sentiment, outlook and motivations that fueled the club's offering that to him (stability, long-termism, etc.) surely can't have been altered or negated by a few months of poor form, as well as the fact that there's really no one overtly better who could replace him, combined with the public backing the club gave him not too long ago (to my recollection unprecedented in the Abramovich era, especially when in such a poor and precarious footballing situation), makes me think he's got some time and wiggle-room.

On the other hand, if we were to crash out of the cup tomorrow to Stoke and lose to Liverpool on Saturday, it wouldn't shock me at all to see the ax wielded; and even looking at things longer term, as I pointed out a week or two ago in this same thread I believe, surely there will come a point — if our form doesn't pick up, if we stay off the pace or fall even farther behind Top 4 in the League, if our Champions League situation deteriorates even further (at this point even winning all 3 remaining games wouldn't guarantee finishing top now) — then the club assuredly will feel compelled and required to act.

Basically, the situation is just about as poor a one as he's gotten himself into in his entire career, and next to everything he's tried thus far to turn it around and dig himself and us out of the hole it's driven us into has failed. The mathematical clock is ticking, louder and louder by the week, and his relationship with the players surely can't help but being strained during/by such a despondent period either, and his antics (castigating Carneiro and Fearn for doing their jobs, perpetual attention-deflecting, excuse-manufacturing and blame-dodging, tired referee criticisms after every loss, FA charges and red cards, trying to get into the referees room at halftime, etc.) must make it doubly damaging for him with them. There's no question there's overwhelmingly more stacked against him than for him, but it goes without saying that only time will tell if the former column accrues one card too many and the whole deck collapses.
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It would be disappointing to see the club drop him. I feel the fact that this tenure was regarded as long-term in the beginning and I really was looking forward to see him do this. I feel for Mou and want to see him solve it, but just seeing crappy play game after game is very questioning. It doesn't seem right to axe him though, chelsea were always strong under him before this.

I think the question is more and more becoming; if we do sack Mou, who will take his place both for the rest of the season and from next season onwards.

Just about any manager in the world is a downgrade from Mou, and when you've burned as many bridges as Chelsea have, there arent many options available to you.

I will float this here: In the book Pep Confidential (a really good read btw), Pep confides in the author that after Bayern he wants to coach in England next. Of course this was said in his first season at Bayern and his sentiment may have changed since then (especially if he doesn't win a CL there), but certainly is food for thought.

The impending media circus if Mou is replaced by Pep would be near unbearable though.

On the idea of Pep, how do you think he would go with our squad?
I imagine players like Cesc, Pedro, Matic (probably at CB ), Oscar, Hazard and (to an extent) Willian would suit the style of play he would want to play. But then players like Cahil and Costa really would be square pegs for round holes

The emerging powers in the other campaigns (City, United, Arsenal, liverpool), you cant topple them with conventional methods. Attractive football will not cut it against those teams. All of them play attractive football.

But, everyone wants to try Pep, Abra is very tempted for sure. He wont rest until this happens. It's one of those things that you have to try at least once.

It's not only the fans, the owner, the media. Everyone

So go ahead, I say. Try him.

But in my opinion, and I have no doubt about it, the best solution to this predicament would be, to stick with Mourinho, and forget about the CL, the League and the Top 4 for now. This will pay dividends very soon.

fatman123 wrote:I think the question is more and more becoming; if we do sack Mou, who will take his place both for the rest of the season and from next season onwards.

Just about any manager in the world is a downgrade from Mou, and when you've burned as many bridges as Chelsea have, there arent many options available to you.

I will float this here: In the book Pep Confidential (a really good read btw), Pep confides in the author that after Bayern he wants to coach in England next. Of course this was said in his first season at Bayern and his sentiment may have changed since then (especially if he doesn't win a CL there), but certainly is food for thought.

The impending media circus if Mou is replaced by Pep would be near unbearable though.

On the idea of Pep, how do you think he would go with our squad?
I imagine players like Cesc, Pedro, Matic (probably at CB ), Oscar, Hazard and (to an extent) Willian would suit the style of play he would want to play. But then players like Cahil and Costa really would be square pegs for round holes

Haha I honestly can't imagine the level of change that Pep's going to bring. But more importantly, if that's going to a positive one.

Ancelotti could come back possibly but don't forget how his last season was. It was an ageing squad but still, we played like crap.

I think the board will keep Mou until reinforcements arrive in January and if things don't improve, Steve Holland may take over as interim and lead us to CL victory and finish 16th in the League.

Getting harder and harder by the week to say a way we turn this around.

Klopp should have been our manager...

Abramovich wrote:Klopp should have been our manager...

Abramovich wrote:Klopp should have been our manager...

It doesn't matter, klopps last season with Dortmund had him at relagation over Christmas break, it's all relative.

If you remove the idea that we should finish 4th and qualify to the CL then the situation is not that bad.

Abramovich wrote:Klopp should have been our manager...

Mourinho is not the problem.
Mourinho is now a victim though he dug himself into this situation.

One of the problems is the player who is receiving offers from Real Madrid, Barcelona, and PSG.

There should be balance in the team. The manager represents the club in the end. Whether he is right or wrong, he deserves to be heard / followed.

Those players are supposed to be professionals. They are paid to do what the manager tells them to do.

If you give someone too much power, he might end up using it against you as a Club. Especially if he doesnt care anymore about the club.

If you remove Terry, none of the players really cares about the Club as much as Mourinho does.

Even Willian doesnt. Willian is just a humble Professional.

The players the majority are playing hard, but I am a firm believer if you are not playing well, executing, and put in a position to succeed you are not going to succeed no matter how hard you try. The margin between a win and a lose is small at this level of football.

The biggest issue against Liverpool was Classic Mou, deciding to stay back and being contempt with a one goal lead. We cannot defend this season, we should have stayed aggressive and went for a second goal.

never mind

I have to say, regardless of who the club want as the next manager (Pep, Simeone, Ancelotti et al.) I think we have to sign a CM (Koke, pls) and a RB in January.

I'd love to see us go all out for Koke and one of Coleman, De Marcos or Florenzi

As with any January transfer window, any player worth having (i.e. that would significantly improve us) is not going to be available mid-season. After similarly rose-tinted winter window talk in the past and equivalent expectations for blowout spending on allegedly necessary players (Jan 2014 comes to mind), I'm keeping my hopes low.

Its getting to the point now where we're going to struggle to get into the CL, this season is more or less a write off already

There's no point going after the player who we shouldve bought at the start of the season in Jan, they'l cost a stupid amount more than they normally could, plus they might be CL cup tied ie Koke.

Its getting to the point where this season is about restoring some respect and hoping we sneak into 4th

And on the principle of it, as I mentioned somewhere else in the section, we shouldn't be needing a handful more mega-signings to topple the might of heavyweights like Stoke, Newcastle and Crystal Palace.

Also true, on paper the only teams that should be pushing us are the Manchester clubs. Of course football isnt played on paper, but it shouldnt take a new batch of 50mil signings to get our current squad into top four contention.

Irrespective of what happens the rest of this season; you cant see there not being a fat player clean out in the next off season

fatman123 wrote:Also true, on paper the only teams that should be pushing us are the Manchester clubs. Of course football isnt played on paper, but it shouldnt take a new batch of 50mil signings to get our current squad into top four contention.

Irrespective of what happens the rest of this season; you cant see there not being a fat player clean out in the next off season

please don't use that figure.. the scars are still fresh

Shed wrote:And on the principle of it, as I mentioned somewhere else in the section, we shouldn't be needing a handful more mega-signings to topple the might of heavyweights like Stoke, Newcastle and Crystal Palace.

that's what worries me honestly. But what other choice do we have? We can't really afford to do a huge overhaul