Dancing with our hands tied - Worked for Taylor Swift, not for Chelsea
Season 1 Roundup : A season to forget.
"WE WAITED SO LONG BUT WE'D WAIT FOREVER.
OUR BLOOD IS BLUE WE WOULD LEAVE YOU NEVER.
WHEN WE MAKE IT, IT WILL BE TOGETHER.
CHELSEA CHELSEA CHELSEA!"
-My mantra to keep watching Chelsea games.
pic credits- 5th Stand App
The heavy effects of last year's sanctions hit Chelsea very late and right where it hurts. New owners did not bat an eye to spend heavily in the transfer windows but did they spend right? The final position of the team (Talking about men's team only for now, we'll come to the overachieving women's team soon) proves otherwise. A record new low position for Chelsea to finish their season with; A rough hit, missing Europe by gigantic points- A harsh 12th place finish. From the best team in London to the worst in a matter of 365 days. Overall a 4/10 stinker of a season for the team. No wonder the fans are relieved for the season to be over.
The said life is a rollercoaster- full of ups and downs- but Chelsea only saw downs. Let's try to analyse the reasons for the downfall, in order of their impacts on the club.
1. Ownership's "Mismanagement"
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No wonder managing human resources is a complicated job. One mistake and the entire club could fall off the cliff. Typically what had happened at Chelsea. Fired the wrong "right" managers, stuck with the wrong manager for a long time, whose inconsistency took us to UCL quarters but knocked us out everywhere else. Firing Physios- another instance of mismanagement, led to too many significant injuries- with the likes of Reece James, Ben Chilwell staying out of the squad for half of the season as always stabbed us in the back. And then losing the only number 9 we had- Armando Broja. Another question that strikes us is whether proper scouting was done before splashing some immensely high amount of money on certain players in the transfer market- Many of them claimed to be overpaid and not even "negotiated"- Something Marina Granoviskaia would have never allowed to happen.
2. The sacking of Thomas Tuchel
The timing and nature of sacking has been heavily questioned by all fans, especially after Graham Potter was given so much time to settle with the team even after the worst run in the history of the club. Personal Issues were blamed for the sack and it is blatantly unacceptable for a club with such a high reputation. The Boehly-Igbali duo certainly could have and should have done better with regards to Tuchel.
3. Two words- Marc Cucurella
I took it to my hands to track down the movement of Marc Cucurella(literally held a camera and called it the cucu-cam) after hearing so many people criticize him for his awareness and skills and boy was I surprised. The worst awareness by any player. Have no clue how he won the best player award in Brighton the previous year but Chelsea was simply no match for him. Chilwell's boots were simply too big for him but Potter kept recklessly backing him and a series of matches could have been won if not for his absent minded-ness. NO Hate on the player is tolerated, regardless of how poor a player is. NEVER SHOW HATE. That's not Chelsea. We criticize and then we learn to cope with it because it is a game we love after all- played by humans and humans make mistakes. People have off-days and no one has the right to attack them just because of that. Lewis Hall however did try his best to fill the gap and for an 18 year old he was way better than Cucu.
4.STILL NO NUMBER 9
Kai Havertz is not a striker. He is a midfielder and is almost always absent for the final ball. Something Haaland never was absent to. Aubameyang wasn't enough for Potter. Broja got injured or he could have at least done something better- given how he performed initially before the injuries. Not enough chance was given to anybody else. AND YET- Chelsea always went and bought another winger/CAM and never a striker. Proper recruitment errors from the club this.
5. Injury Setbacks
| Player | Age | Reason | since | Expected return | Missed matches | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Injuries | ||||||||
| 21 | Cruciate Ligament Rupture | Dec 14, 2022 | Jun 30, 2023 | 29 | |||
| 24 | Muscle Injury | Apr 25, 2023 | ? | 7 | |||
| 23 | Hamstring Injury | Apr 25, 2023 | May 31, 2023 | 7 | |||
| 24 | Pelvis Injury | Apr 25, 2023 | May 31, 2023 | 7 | |||
| 26 | Hamstring Injury | May 6, 2023 | ? | 5 | |||
| 22 | Hamstring Injury | May 19, 2023 | ? | 3 | |||
Looking Ahead
Pochettino has been assigned the new job following the end of caretaker manager and legend Frank Lampard's journey is saving us from relegation. Definitely a lot to look forward to in terms of what Big 'Poch' can bring to the team. He is known for his high tempo gameplay- something Chelsea fans really would love watching . His constant pressure and possession based football can make existing players show up better. With Nkunku already confirmed to join, Joao Felix might not be able to stay in the squad- given the financial terms. But Chelsea really need to go all in on a proper striker if they wish to stand a chance at some silverware next season. Sad news though, being we could lose a bunch of players including MASON MOUNT this season and that really is bad news for the club because he is one of our own. Really hope we can convince him to stay.
As a Chelsea fan, I have been spoilt so much, expecting the best from the club always. This stinker season was a huge reality check and a big lesson in life. Things definitely do go wrong. Do you have the strength to pick everything and start over again? If you do- consider yourself to have won.
With that I gladly bring my blog's first season to and end. A brilliant start to my blogging "career mode" and I hope to have more happy articles next season because otherwise I would just be another Angry Rantman (GOAT BTW). Catch y'all next season. Happily saying goodbye to the old-timey baggage and moving on in BLUES STYLE.
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