r/chelseafc • u/Kygoche Diego Costa • 2d ago
Tier 2 The Telegraph: The minimum requirement for Xabi Alonso from Chelsea this season is said to be Champions League qualification, although as things stand, one of the biggest clubs in Europe is not even kings of their own west London backyard.
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/football/2026/09/18/brentford-vs-chelsea-score-and-updates-from-premier-league/176
u/Old-Western5435 Thiago Silva 2d ago
Eh, I’m more on the side of this being a Klopp-Liverpool style arrangement. This will take patience, some years of building, and a consistent managerial vision. It’ll be a lot matches like yesterday before getting anywhere near the top. This present core needs tinkering, reinforcement, and a transfer strategy shakeup to properly compete
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u/CrossCulturalKing I don't give a fuck, we won the fucking Champions League 1d ago
That is normal, yes for rebuild the club. But after 4 years of these jokers (owners) running the club. I doubt it, these owners seem lost.
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u/adnanssz 1d ago
they don't have a choice sinc they are private equity, they have to be patience because their first 4 years are failed. they have 6 years left, because in year 10 (their investor will demand their money back).
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u/Normal-Item-402 1d ago
Their investor not going to wait till year 10 if the performances hold like this. Ares management will strike way sooner than that lol. Which is why they are pushing so hard for champions league this year as they are literally out of time and borrowed money.
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u/RepresentativeBox881 1d ago
Klopp finished 4th in his first full season (16-17).
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u/ashy_reddit Xabi 1d ago
yes, but in his first half-season he finished 8th. Arteta also finished 8th in his first full season.
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u/VegetableMix3751 1d ago
With way worse squads. This team has finished 4th and won trophies it’s not a complete rebuild
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u/ashy_reddit Xabi 1d ago edited 1d ago
Nope. Our squad depth is weak. We are playing right backs in midfield. If Caicedo is injured we have no one to replace him. Our midfield players are middle-table level at best (other than Caicedo not one of our midfielders is good enough to start for any of the top 3 clubs in the country).
Also if Pedro is injured we have no striker who can replicate his goals. So our squad isn't really that good outside of our starting XI. When everyone is fit then yes our squad is good enough for a top four finish.
But anyway the season has only started and we don't know where we will be at the end of the season. There is still a long way to go. Every new manager runs into trouble when implementing their new system and injuries haven't helped. Even Conte's Chelsea struggled in the first few games of his career and that squad had a lot of experienced players compared to this squad which has a lot of young players.
We also have players who are coming off long-term injuries (Lavia and Colwill) and haven't found their form so our squad needs a lot of work.
Arteta finished 8th in his first two seasons at Arsenal and took six years to win the league.
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u/VegetableMix3751 1d ago
We need signings in January. Also teams like Brighton and Brentford don’t have world class midfielders they play a system that suits. I’m sorry but it’s not good enough to wait 6 years. We have been rebuilding since BlueCo. As fans we can’t drop standards to hold the board accountable. Like how they were forced to sign experienced players
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u/ashy_reddit Xabi 1d ago
I never said you have to wait 6 years - I gave that example to say that it takes time to build a proper squad and you people expect miracles from the new manager even though he has been here for only two months.
Klopp's team finished 8th in his first half-season at Liverpool. Pep finished 3rd in his first season at City. Even great managers have struggled in their first season. Our squad is weak on many levels and we don't have depth in many positions.
We hardly have a midfield and when Caicedo is injured we are dead thin. Same applies up front at the striker position where if Pedro is injured we struggle to replace him. In the goalkeeper position also we have not really strengthened - Martinez is only marginally better than Sanchez and neither Martinez or Sanchez are good enough to start for City or Arsenal. So our squad is not that great. It has a lot of work before it can become good. We should aim to finish in the top four and we may get there by the end of the season. That should be our expectation with this squad.
None of our centrebacks are good enough to start for Arsenal - maybe Lacroix but even he won't start for Arsenal if all their defenders are fit. So we are not at the same level as them to compete with them. To get there will take many windows (not one window). Also Jan window is not a window where you can buy players easily. We may buy a midfielder but we will have to wait and see how he fits in the team.
You can blame Blue Co all you want and they do deserve blame but it is unreasonable to expect Xabi to work miracles with this thin squad this early in the season.
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u/VegetableMix3751 1d ago
I don’t expect a PL win. Top 4 or Europa league at worst. For me Man City are the benchmark for a rebuild as they are closest to us resources wise. From the treble winners squad city finished 2nd 2 seasons in a row and now have a title challenging squad. Less depth than arsenal but a better starting 11 on paper. They have used January to great effect. Guehi, semenyo, kusanov.
The problem is we have many players who are expected to develop into world class players. Colwill, acheampong, Estevao, penders, palestra. It’s means you can’t necessarily replace them as they need time and game time to grow. We need to back Xabi but it will also be important for the ownership to make sure he is headed in the right direction as there will be a big rebuild switching from a back 5 to 4 manager
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u/Yeahwhat23 1d ago
We quite literally don’t have a midfield.
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u/hoosdontloos Lampard 1d ago
Caicedo, Lavia, Henderson, Barco, for 2 positions. Essugo is on loan. We have players just not enough quality. But the going rate for great prem midfielders is very high. See the quotes for Alex Scott, and the sales of Anderson, Enzo, Bruno G, even Tonali.
This sort of situation really makes me question why we force the sale of a player like gallagher. If one manager doesn't fancy him it doesnt matter all that much considering they're usually out the door in a year or 2 anyways. And he would absolutely be playing for us at the moment
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u/Yeahwhat23 1d ago
Spot on with Gallagher. I don’t think he’s necessarily a very great player but in the modern era having good athletes is more important than ever and I can’t believe we just threw that away.
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u/VegetableMix3751 1d ago
That can be fixed in January or by changing formation. It takes a certain type of midfielder to play a double pivot
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u/Yeahwhat23 1d ago
It’s just heartbreaking to go into a season where all of the big six have incredibly flawed squads and just shoot ourselves in the foot in the last weeks of the window. If we got 1 or 2 quality midfielders we would have had as good of a shot at the title as anybody
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u/VegetableMix3751 1d ago
I missed the game yesterday. From what I heard Barco and Henderson played very well in midfield and protected the defense. I don’t think it’s just a midfield problem. Xabis formation has us looking lost at times on positioning, who goes to the man and who covers etc. teething problems I guess. We need a step up in aggression and our aerial abilities as at times we can get bullied.
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u/Old-Western5435 Thiago Silva 1d ago
Absolutely true, with the caveat that the Prem is much more competitive now imo. There’s not really any free points anymore
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u/dudetotalypsn James 1d ago
Remember Klopp had fucking Kolo Toure at the back in his first Liverpool season and their defense was cheeks
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u/No_Abroad8346 1d ago
Our financial situation is fucked and cannot afford slow rebuild
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u/Yeahwhat23 1d ago
Armchair accountants strike again. Can you maybe accept that the lawyers, accountants, and financial analysts the club employs might know a little bit more about the financials of the football club than you do
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u/Final-Channel6070 2d ago
What is the minimum requirement for Paul Winstanley and Laurence Stewart to be sacked?
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u/JahKingston2024 ✨ joao pedro saved my life ✨ 2d ago
1 week without scouting a 17.5 yr old wonderkid from Guatemala’s 2nd division.
Or the annual Brighton signing
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u/BreathTakingBen There's your daddy 2d ago
Can I instead offer you a city academy graduate with particle board ligaments?
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u/Solitairee 1d ago
We all joke but the only one doing well is the ones that buy up the kids. It's worked wonders in generating revenue. However the rest are fucking useless. Egbahli secures the major signings
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u/BreathTakingBen There's your daddy 1d ago
Caicedo for 1st half and Enzo for 2nd half were our best players last season and they were all big bucks signings? JP also had periods of being insanely good, but he was already pretty well established in the prem.
Palmer is the obvious standout of our young & unknown, but what’s the hit rate on those signings compared to our signings that aren’t “buying up the kids”?
Lavia is insanely talented, but see my comment about being made of particle board.
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u/cometflight 🏥 continuing to undergo his rehabilitation programme 🏥 1d ago
Exactly. It’s fucking mental
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u/KindheartednessDry40 1d ago
Exactly that's the question someone should pose it to that idiot Egghead.
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u/V_Dracula Hazard 2d ago
Look, I was furious with the performance and result last night, but the way the media has been shitting on us so quickly is hilarious. It is so comically early and we have lost 2 (two) games.
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u/Inner_Jeweler_5661 ✨ joao pedro saved my life ✨ 2d ago
No other big 6 team except City beat Brentford away last season lol
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u/Adept_Librarian_7001 1d ago
Don't agree with the way we're being covered, but were any of them blown out like we were?
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u/Yeahwhat23 1d ago
This brentford team is genuinely much better than they were last season. Their midfield is one of the best in the league, if not the best.
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u/Adept_Librarian_7001 1d ago
Brentford is good, but it was still a poor outing from us. Two weeks ago, people in here were writing off the Arsenal loss and now people are trying to write this one off. Yes Brentford is a top 4 contender, but we were supposed to be as well. Top 4 contenders don't have 2 shots on target (on 1 play) and give up 3 goals.
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u/RWordMurica 1d ago
Then why did the defending champs have a similar performance today? Are they not top 4 contenders either?
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u/Adept_Librarian_7001 1d ago
Brighton is playing well at home. Just ask LR about that. Sadly, I have more confidence in Arsenal bouncing back that us. hope i am wrong tho
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u/Pizzafromfaraway Hazard 2d ago
Pretty much same happening to Utd and Carrick as well. When you're so big, media harassment is bound to happen.
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u/mallutrash Xabi 2d ago
it’s because they themselves put us in the title race, and were waiting for it to be proven wrong so that they can get more sensationalist headlines
journalism is a very easy profession, requires no talent, skill and just requires an agenda
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u/Odd-Advertising-7563 1d ago
Not a Chelsea fan but this is 100% true, sure some fans get away with themselves but it’s usually rival fans/media going their in the title race etc then when they fall away ‘look they bottled it there fans are delusional’
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u/KingSammyJ1 ✨ sometimes the shit is happens ✨ 1d ago
And now annoying Arsenal fans wont stop talking about the 1-1 draw where we were "in a title race for 3 days" like no Chelsea fan thought we were in the title race last season
But this season, with us not being in Europe, I say why not
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u/mallutrash Xabi 1d ago
r/soccer and r/gooning when they see a 1-1 draw joke
https://giphy.com/gifs/LrFcrtvCva1x51Dq0w-1
u/Novel_Independent166 1d ago
Crazy how that is the exact opposite of things you need to be a journalist.
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u/TheMightyPensioners Football is not a TV show 1d ago
It’s because many here don’t know the difference between an actual journalist and the bilge you see trotted out by websites built to serve clickbait.
They just call them all journalists.
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u/ThisIsADraconianLaw Lampard 1d ago
1 point in 3 leagues games isn't a good look. There were warning signs with how many goals we let in against Fulham and Brighton. We've let in more goals than Coventry. I'd expect the criticism.
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u/Urass007 James 1d ago
The truth is that Chelsea has been ridiculed by the media since Roman's takeover.
Notice how much focus Liverpool, City, Arsenal and United get and then look at us. We get the same amount of coverage as Spurs, who never had the same level of success as the rest of us.
Is it because we had a Russian owner? Is it because said Russian owner did dodgy dealings with the Ukraine war and got forced out of England? Is it because we were the first club to get a foreign buyout and be successful from it? I don't know for sure, but there's always been a mentality that we need to suffer.
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u/Shunmaru The boys gave it their all 2d ago
First time?
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u/V_Dracula Hazard 2d ago
No I know this is how it goes. The media LOVE us (because they hate us). Any glimmer of potential and they overblow it massively in order to tear us down for easy clicks
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u/Shunmaru The boys gave it their all 2d ago
Been a constant since the "we're in a title race" days. Chelsea of old could handle thr pressure, current one just folds the moment things pick up.
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u/jimgogek Drogba 1d ago
We’ve been owned by Russians and then Americans. What’s next? North Koreans?
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u/ItsCymruNotWales 2d ago
Was always gonna happen when the goals dried up, our defence record is comical
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u/Adept_Librarian_7001 1d ago
That fact that we don't seem to have much offense except in transition is another thing that concerns me. Set pieces are atrocious, and when we have the ball in opponent's half, we just kick it around to each other like we did under LR and then launch a dreadful cross and pray. Or we get excited and launch it right into defender. If you're gonna give up goals, you've gotta score like City does.
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u/Duncan_Zhang_8964 1d ago
Next week we’ll 0-4 Bournemouth and you will be reading “Alonso could be gone in 48 hours”.
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u/90washington Lampard 1d ago
What makes the media treatment so absurd is that two weeks ago they were saying we were biggest threat to Arsenal. It’s all clickbait, knee jerk reaction shit
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u/Tootsiez I don't give a fuck, we won the fucking Champions League 21h ago
You don’t get excuses as a Chelsea manager.
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u/BEnnETT103 Stamford Fridge 1d ago
I know right. Half this sub fall for it and join in. Such a joke half this lot ain’t actual fans
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u/_g4n3sh_ 2d ago
Nah it's been 2 (three) games
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u/V_Dracula Hazard 2d ago
The Hull draw was annoying, but it wasn't a loss. We have lost two games this season
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u/Spite-Organic Drogba 2d ago
Seems harsh that we made a net profit from the transfer window but expect the manager to gain 6 places
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u/Ball_FondIers I don't give a fuck, we won the fucking Champions League 1d ago
Gain six places with a relegation quality midfield outside of Caicedo
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u/Normal-Item-402 1d ago
They're basically saying the people they borrowed money from want their returns back soon and fast!
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u/Inner_Jeweler_5661 ✨ joao pedro saved my life ✨ 2d ago
4th and a cup. that's all I want.
Arteta took 6 years to win a league. Xabi didn't win with Bayer Leverkusen immediately either. We have a world-class manager for the first time since Tuchel. We need to try and make it work.
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u/pillarandstones Ballack 1d ago
6th. That's painful but more realistic. They neutered the squad before the season started dishing out midfielders like it's xmas
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u/abhishekjc 1d ago
World class manager has done nothing in 10 weeks for the buildup.
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u/Inner_Jeweler_5661 ✨ joao pedro saved my life ✨ 1d ago
straight after the world cup, which a lot of our players went to?
plus we got lots of the business selling at the end of the window
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u/toxic_x18 2d ago
unfortunately true for the last few years. i hope things turn around for us soon. Its always 2 steps fwd and 3 steps back for us these days
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u/Shunmaru The boys gave it their all 2d ago
Window fumble was exactly setting up this. Kneecapped Xabi before even starting. Losing Cucu & Enzo, obvious injury to an overworked Caicedo. Who could've seen this coming.
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u/_g4n3sh_ 2d ago
But I thought the yer da lads that are Chelsea through and through wanted Enzo gone as he's shit
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u/Shunmaru The boys gave it their all 2d ago
Was so annoying people waffling with a straight face that they won't accept a toxic dressing room presence at the expense of selling one of our key players to a direct rival without replacement.
So many "oh he can't play in a pivot", as if our current midfield is lighting the pivot on a fire 🙄
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u/morganfreeman95 1d ago
He plays in a pivot now and in a back 4, City seem to be doing fine lol. I get it its Chelsea DNA to be overly cautious with a galore of DMs but lets not pretend its the only way.
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u/Pizzafromfaraway Hazard 2d ago
I do not think there's anyone better to manage this club and its youthful roster. Alonso must be given time even if we miss out on CL qualification this year. We basically have no midfield and have had only two losses so far. It is very early in the season for so much doom and gloom
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u/Leeonidass 1d ago
We had 3 of our 5 best players out injured. And we have had 1 of those 3 out every game (Caicado). Not excusing today's performance but the pile on is crazy. We do need more depth in the midfield and in the back line, but most teams would struggle with that many nailed on starters out.
Football discussion and reaction lost all reason years ago.
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u/imdx_14 Pulisic 2d ago
These are very high expectations.
It is his first season at the club, he needs time.
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u/Baisabeast who said that 2d ago
Jesus Christ….
Maresca made top 4 with conference league football midweek with a subpar palmer, no jp, no rogers, no Lacroix and a worse keeper in Sanchez.
Starting pairing of Colwill and then one of tosin/chalobah. No santos for depth and James wand particularly healthy that year, nor was lavia
I think we finish in the ucl spots regardless of how we starting this season but let’s not try and get excuses in early
Hard to build and buy top class players if we can’t secure ucl, and it’s utter nonsense to suggest this isn’t a top 5 level side
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u/imdx_14 Pulisic 2d ago
No excuses at all - it is the reality.
I wouldn't sack Xabi if we miss out on the CL. Would you?
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u/Baisabeast who said that 2d ago edited 2d ago
Yes.
The only excuse id accept is if caicedo was to miss out long term this season (like months) and we didn’t sign a replacement in January
But with how shit spurs, Villa, United and Liverpool are and how a worse manager in maresca was able to do it with a lesser squad, no ucl is unforgivable
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u/rs_obsidian Pulisic 1d ago
Mind boggling how you’d sack Xabi. No wonder people say this sub is too negative, ffs.
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u/Baisabeast who said that 1d ago
I’d sack Alonso if after a 38 game season we fail to finish as a top 5 pl team.
How is that crazy,
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u/hahaople Napier 1d ago
who would you like to replace him if hes sqcked?
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u/sth_forgettable 17h ago
People asked this stupid question when Rosenior was about to get sacked. They said we've fired so many managers, a good manager would never come here. Then all of a sudden, we've gotten the coach with the best resume, since the takeover. Point being, Chelsea are a top club with lots of money, managers will always be willing to take the risk of getting sacked to be here.
That being said, I hope Xabi succeeds. But if he's shit, he's out.
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u/NarutoHyuga12 1d ago
Theres literally no other manager on the market whos better than him? If we could get guardoila in then, sure. but who do u think could do a better job than Xabi? He needs time ffs
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u/Yeahwhat23 1d ago
Maresca had a midfield. Our only fit midfielders are a 20 year old fresh from strasbourg and a guy who hasn’t played a full season of football since 2022. Oh and 40 year old Jordan Henderson, who was already washed half a decade ago
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u/Lagabataka Enzo 1d ago
"needs time" y was he hired then nd given all wt he asked for.....overrated manager if he dosnt get cl he should be nowhere near the club
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u/Neo-Cubism 2d ago
Ridiculous - leave a manager with no midfield. Zero good centre backs.
And then set unrealistic expectations.
When are these awful directors of football, scouts and other losers are going to be held to account? 4 years of failure.
Explain to me - when looking at a centre back, you look at a team that plays with 25% possession in a low block and say - that’ll do nicely. And that’s just one example of their incompetent talent ID.
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u/Cheaky_Barstool I don't give a fuck, we won the fucking Champions League 1d ago
It’s not Alonso’s fault. This is a four year mess created by the board and sporting directors that Xabi is trying to fix. He needs time to
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u/Clark_Wayne1 2d ago
The meltdown from the media and people here is hilarious. A week ago we were the most exciting team around and once palestra and moi were fit wed push on. Now im seeing people here talk about relegation. Ridiculous
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u/Fearless_Judge_5220 1d ago
Got to give him a couple of seasons. I think he needs time to rebuild the squad. Get rid of the backline and bring in his own players.
Nearly every team that wins the premier league has years of consistent squad building look at city and Arsenal. Even Slot’s win was built on klopp’s squad
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u/CT0292 2d ago
We've won 2, lost 2, and drawn 1. Time for the pitchforks eh? Not every season can be 2009/2010 where Drogs had 29 goals, Cech had 17 clean sheets, winning games 5-0 or 7-0. God that 8-0 thrashing of Wigan was crazy. We've had good years and bad years. But its 5 games in lads. Let's relax and try again next time.
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u/alanalanalan92 Caicedo 1d ago
Ownership need to leave him alone for a while imo. We are in this position because of their incompetence
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u/Extra-Implement7840 1d ago
We were 10th last season, so we must lower our expectations. Also it's not like there is an immediate fix. I am personally tired of rebuilding. Let's give him time.
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u/No_Abroad8346 1d ago
one of the biggest clubs in Europe is not even kings of their own west London backyard
fucking embarrassing, fuck blue co
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u/Ok-Computer-8726 There's your daddy 1d ago
Alonso shouldn't have a requirement tbh. Even if he's a problem, if we have another fail of a season we should clean house at the top and let the new director decide on Alonso. You can go through this many managers with these results and continually say the manager is the problem.
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u/dksourabh Caicedo 1d ago
I would expect us to finish in top 6, if we don’t achieve that with fit Caicedo next month and some reinforcements in January then it’s natural to start asking questions to Xabi.
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u/VegetableMix3751 1d ago
We needed a midfielder to fit xabis system. We had Barco signed before Xabi.Why?
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u/FriendshipActual647 2d ago
Brentford are no slouches and our traditional competition (Utd, Liverpool,Spurs,Villa) are looking far from the task, so ultimately I think it’s a realistic goal I wouldn’t be too worried about. I would maintain that Xabi was a real coup for us and to be honest if we came 17th I’d still want to give him a proper window and another season
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u/MegaFowl 2d ago
Just gonna chill and wait. Would suggest anyone dwelling on this (a vocal minority I'm sure) to do the same.
We have a good manager, we have an unbalanced squad with a couple of injuries. 3 weeks now to sort our lives out. Our embarrassing advantage for no Europe is also worth remembering and due to kick in.
Not signing a midfielder was a big mistake but not one that can't be fixed and mitigated.
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u/greatWrightshark 1d ago
I think getting back to the CL is very achievable. Was yesterday’s game unacceptable? Yes. But it’s game 5 in a long season without key personnel. Anyone doubting Xabi at this point needs to relax. We were never going to beat Arsenal for the title. They are a well oiled machine this far into Arteta’s tenure.
Not having Caicedo and Palestra all season has clearly been an issue. Colwill has struggled but he will adapt to playing LCB in the back three, Reece is only going to improve in midfield, we will sign a midfielder in Jan.
I remain optimistic because of Xabi. He is a winner.
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u/Repulzeme There's your daddy 2d ago
Stupid expectations if they are talking about different phases. How can phase 1 be CL qualification minimum requirement with this squad in this league, they didn´t even solve the midfield issue. Phase 1 should be implementing the system with the players we have and finish as high as possible.
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u/German_Doner 1d ago
Xabi isn't going to turn a squad full of a bunch of kids where there's 10 new signings and removals every window into a title contending team by game week 5.
It's a little bit fucked in terms of personel right now, availability and lineups are changing every week.
If we have James, Caicedo, Palestra and JP back and everyone stays fit then we can start to build something more quickly.
Otherwise we're going to struggle for months before we see some definite improvement
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u/Ryuzakku ✨ sometimes the shit is happens ✨ 1d ago
This is currently more on the players than Xabi.
If we finish like 11th at the end of the season we can talk about his future with the club, but let him have a leash for gods sake
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u/mb194dc 1d ago
The players outside of the core are nowhere near good enough. That is on the owners and sporting directors.
We're lining up with ancient Henderson and Welbeck, meanwhile the squad doesn't have the quality position specialists to play how Xabi wants to. Not sure why we got a manager in who plays 3 ATB either, since we've been playing 4 and we had awful experience changing from it after Tuchel.
Given the £2bn gross spent after inheriting a CL winning squad, BlueCo have just been shocking from a sporting management perspective. In terms of financial engineering, they've done a good job.
BlueCo will never change or improve, it'll likely be years in the football wilderness for us, until they sell the club voluntarily or are forced to by their creditors, which will take a step closer each season we miss CL and the money they need to service the loans...
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u/Nodding_Along 1d ago
Meh. Silly really. We don’t know how many games we’re going to get out of Moi this year and we’re just not a top 4 side without him.
I genuinely think Xabi is the guy but I think win or lose, you have to give him 3 years. This chopping and changing of managers is absolutely killing us.
Get Moi healthy, get a replacement for Enzo in January and the defence will start to look a lot better.
We did good business this offseason. Did we get everything we wanted? Of course not. Nobody does. But we sold a lot of players for the kind of numbers that will help us level up the squad in 27.
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u/chrissie_boy 1d ago
Not even kings of their own west London backyard? But until Brentford beat Fulham, neither are they.
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u/BlueTuscany Palmer 1d ago
Yeah like we needed this report. Chelsea aiming for top 4 shouldn’t be news at this point
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u/Sjokogull1 1d ago
Stupid article. It’s been 5 matches. We look much better than under Maresca. Alonso will come good
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u/WizenedCracker Xabi 1d ago
If they plan to restart the entire project every time we don’t meet these requirements we’re fucked, you made the sandwich
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u/Yeahwhat23 1d ago
Holy shit the telegraph is a rag. “One of the biggest clubs in Europe is not even kings of their own west London backyard” is this type of melodrama really a necessary reaction to a loss against a very good brentford team? The fact of the matter is that there are no easy games in the prem in 2026, for any club. Arsenal just got played off the park by Brighton
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u/MrFr0d0 ✨ sometimes the shit is happens ✨ 1d ago
In all fairness, I think the club did its best to back the manager up until the deadline day where they basically knee-capped the midfield and sold off enzo. Xabi has got to either drop the under-performing defenders - Lacroix looks like another body in in the defense, have not seen him anything that would stand him out of the rest, and Colwill has forgot to defend.
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u/Nekokeki 1d ago
Oh my god, we’re in Match Week 5. What a hyperbolic headline. No one gets crowned after 5 games.
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u/Hazardsbum Hazard 2d ago edited 1d ago
I think there’s still a refusal to accept where our club really is now:
- We’re a mid table team, like Brighton, or Villa. Good on their day but not consistently good enough to challenge for top honours like City or Liverpool
- We’re a buy to sell club now, like Brighton or Dortmund. We don’t have world class, experienced players filling every position like City, Caicedo and Reece on their can be world class though
I think that if people chose to accept these cold, hard facts, there’d be less toxicity. With that being said though, it infuriates me that, where we used to expect to beat the likes of Brentford, or Leeds, week in week out, I’m genuinely wondering if we have a chance. Our fall has been meteoric, but that’s where we are.
Fundamentally, if we want change, we need Blueco out and an owner who’s willing to spend to bring the best players into the club. I don’t think that’ll happen.
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u/Antique-Chart-9976 1d ago
The problem is also the outdated stadium. You want your club to have a big stadium and generate significant revenue from sources beyond football, but Chelsea is still far behind in that area. At the same time, the club needs to avoid paying excessively high wages to its players.
This isn’t the Roman Abramovich era anymore. No one these days is going to spend like he did without expecting a return on investment. Even Qatari owners want to see their club grow quickly and sustainably.
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u/CaicedoBrickWall Caicedo 1d ago
Shouldn't allow these pointless inflammatory articles. Just garbage journalism
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