Fucking Huddersfield at home with Champions League football on the line, and we fold. Don't even know what to say.
Well that was a pathetic game but a really exciting last 30 minutes. Don't deserve to play with the champs if you can't pick up 3 from Huddersfield at home, don't care what they're playing for. Team has been really weird this year. Today was a perfect microcosm of this season. No real identity, pretty indifferent play all around. Last 30 minutes today were the team I'm used to seeing who played with purpose and intent. This season has been way too much "throw 11 guys out there and see what happens." That's on Conte for checking out but it was an issue with this team in Mourinho's last year too (with a lot of the same players), and I think it has more to do with the Board giving up so quickly on a manager and the team following suit.
Pedro has always been fucking useless in my eyes. I've never been happy to see him on the team sheet. Play literally anyone else. Fabregas was one of my favorite players when we signed him but he contributes nothing now. He's a black hole in the midfield. Give RLC 100% of his minutes. Morata is so fucking soft, especially mentally. So easily frustrated and unable to reel himself in and control it. Not to mention going to ground at every opportunity. Not against keeping him as we won't net anywhere close to what we paid but done making excuses for him. Giroud aside, can't think of a signing we made either last summer or in January that has contributed meaningfully (sure I'm forgetting someone).
Emerson was pretty good in Alonso's brief absence and Rudiger has done well overall. Still, Morata, Bakayoko, Zappacosta, Drinkwater, Barkley have all sucked. 28 fucking million for Zappacosta is just mind boggling.
Morata is also such a whiny bitch, allothers touched on it but he does nothing but complain with a Berbatov like demeanor that I'm sure teammates hate. Giroud wasn't great today but he clearly gave it his all and didn't look to the ref after every bit of contact. Bats got sent to Dortmund because his lack of holdup play, Morata's is no better.
Morata is my least favorite chelsea player in a long, long time. He’s just meant to be a backup for Real Madrid. Doesn’t have the balls to be “the guy” and I couldn’t have been more wrong about him. Hopefully juve gives us what we paid and we get out of that mistake. Barkley, drinkwater and zappacosta won’t be as easy to sell.
Guess I'll be buying another kit considering the two I have impulse ordered are Fabregas and Morata. I'll go with a blank one this time.
Game doesn’t really matter anyway. Probably trying something out with regards to something he could use against United tactically speaking
Really need someone to explain this lineup to me This whole match seems like a fuck you to the board?
Glad we didn’t win midweek so I didn’t watch this game. Can’t say I didn’t see it coming. 3 at the back shocked the premier league last year during our unbeaten run but in reality it typical only works if you have great players who can play as wingbacks. We don’t have one on either side. Just ready for this season to be over and see what the next iteration of the squad looks like.
Ready for a complete overhaul. Youth movement and rebuild the squad. Inexcusable how we capitulated down the stretch when given a second life
Really hope the board takes a different approach with the next manager but have little faith. It’s getting old.
The majority of the team has just looked deflated, listless, and apathetic this season. Conte seems a shell of his former self, the body language on the pitch from the majority of our starting XI has been atrocious, and our attack has the potency of a Byzantine eunuch. I've been reading that practically the whole team walked straight off the pitch when the final whistle blew. Only Dave was standing near the away fans, applauding and making apologies. Hazard had to dress the rest of the players down to go out there and acknowledge the fans, it's pathetic. I think yes, we have mediocre depth in terms of player quality, but frankly the problem seems to be deeper than that. This is more of a mental issue than anything. We're getting fucking stymied by teams whose rosters don't hold a candle to ours, and it's because they're up for it and we're not. We need to bring someone like Lampard, Terry, or Drogba back into the club in some capacity; to remind our players how to acquit themselves with respect for the club. This season was the very definition of phoning it in. New players aren't going to save us if our mentality is this fucked.
I think the answer might be also playing youth. Players like mason mount who grew up inside the club will care more than some overpaid shithead we bring in from overseas.
Somewhere along the way whether it was because of the transfer issues or losing the type of leadership the old guard provided, this club became dysfunctional. I dont blame Conte for feeling betrayed or lied to when it comes to transfers. I understand though he has a job to do with the resources provided too. Also, I dont blame the players for not wanting to play for a guy who no longer believes in their talent. This club used to be ambitious, it's funny how that is long gone it seems. Of course they expect the same results without the top to bottom effort to achieve the results they became accustomed to. This offseason is huge, it will show where the priorities lie with the powers that be. Without champs league we will have to pay through the nose for high level talent but I dont care. It must be done while ridding us of the cancers, and we have some, that plague this club now. And it's a dead horse but Jose Mourinho did more to hurt this club than improve it the 2nd go around.
Well, at least we have massive amounts of transfer rumors to look forward to. It was an immensely frustrating season, but it's not all doom and gloom. We still got the FA Cup final and a lot of reasons to look forward to next season. Here's a video to make everybody feel better.
Dave seemingly checks all the boxes in terms of leadership but for whatever reason it hasn't really shown up on the pitch. Also wouldn't surprise me if a lot of players don't like Morata, just speculating but he's so petulant with the refs and I'm guessing it's similar with teammates in training.
I hope we can find someone to pair with Hazard and Giroud. That was a huge issue this season. Willian comes to mind but hasn’t paired well with Hazard either. Morata was garbage with feet and didn’t mesh well with anyone it seemed. The transfer window will be something.
Just dont think Dave has that demeanor to be a captain. To pull a guy to the side and straighten them out for being a jackass. I read that Hazard had to stop players from walking off the field yesterday without giving thanks to the away supporters.
The roster is a hodgepodge of different manager preferences, scheme specific players, “value” buys and promising youth. Emanalo has gotten shit from a lot of people myself included but mourinho really fucked up his squad build and emanalo gets the last laugh and KDB and salah have dominated. Since mourinho came back it was him vs emanalo and he won a lot. Emanalo then left and the board has not replaced him. I can’t be optimistic until I see what we are trying to do. Do we extend and build around hazard? What would that even entail? Team has a lack of direction and leadership. That’s not a good recipe for success.
Selling Hazard without some semblance of a building strategy implemented will result in nothing but us acquiring more spare parts that don't fit in any of our holes.
I’m not advocating that strategy. Just saying that his contract is winding down and if he chooses to move on he will be sold this summer or next.
Paid more for Drinkwater than Kante one year apart. I know the market changed but what the fucking shit. I don't know if the club even bothered negotiating or just asked teams to name their price for Drinkwater, Zappacosta, and Barkley. The fees for Morata, Bakayoko, and Rudiger at least somewhat made sense at the time.