2023-2024 EPL Season

[Blender]

The biggest problem is that Chelsea spent a lot of money and brought in a lot of players with high potential and talent individually, but don't have a club identity or obvious plan for how to integrate that talent into a system. They're not even playing the same system they were playing during the preseason summer series. Which is ridiculous when you have a new manager coming in with a bunch of new players you should be using the preseason to set the foundation.

Heads should also roll at the executive level that the club spent like £350M on midfielders and the best midfielder they've had this season is the 23 year old academy player they want to sell for FFP.

 

[LOGiK]

So Anthony is one of those guys... not just one allegation, but three... and that is just what we know of. The only reason I'm mentioning this is because the guy gets paid full time full pay full everything to deal with beating up women. Lord only knows what else this weasel gets up to.

 

[Spring in Fialta]

There veterans sucked ass last year and are sucking this year. Chelsea stink transcends age and talent.

You simply cant buy this amount of players (regardless of individual talent) in that short of period and expect to play as a team. This isnt Fifa... someone should tell the American.

They should have brought some in.

 

[phisherman]

 

[Wee Baby Seamus]

only liverpool

 

[Jovavic]

Chelsea seems like pre cap Rangers where every off-season they went out and paid big in FA only to be terrible and disjointed

 

[bleedblue1223]

I do think that Chelsea would gain by having more veterans than just Silva/Chilwell (depending on how you want to define James you can add him too). Say what you will about the exits but that's a lot of experience/guys who won at a very high level (whether in England/other domestic leagues or internationally or in Europe) that went out the door.

Granted they're playing better than last year when you watch them on television but it's still not great and nothing's going right. Who can step up there?

In theory that was the idea with guys like Sterling, Koulibaly, and Aubameyang but they flopped, and they decided to go in the extreme the other way with youth.

 

[Savant]

Consistency is a good thing

https://x.com/fabrizioromano/status/1707056963173982303?s=46

Also, to paraphrase a quote from Friday, “How are you gonna get (suspended) on your day off?”

 

[Wee Baby Seamus]

The one critique I hate is when people point to the squad that beat City for UCL and how it was dismantled. Like the win against Bayern, it was a fluke, that team never should've won it, but that's sports, our squads that should've won it, didn't.

Bonkers take from a Chelsea fan. The team that beat City was genuinely the best team in Europe the back half of that season. Surprisingly okay squad building combined with very good coaching to dominate basically every UCL game once Tuchel took over. It wasn’t a fluke, and the dismantling of it is/was a massive problem.

I know that Tuchelball is a meme, but that team was very genuinely ripping top level clubs apart.

I do think that Chelsea would gain by having more veterans than just Silva/Chilwell (depending on how you want to define James you can add him too). Say what you will about the exits but that's a lot of experience/guys who won at a very high level (whether in England/other domestic leagues or internationally or in Europe) that went out the door.

Granted they're playing better than last year when you watch them on television but it's still not great and nothing's going right. Who can step up there?

The lack of veterans is, to me, a big big big issue. Conor Gallagher has played one season at Chelsea, is 23, and is THE SENIOR MIDFIELDER. That’s bonkers.

Another poster pointed to the purchase of veterans a few years back (Koulibaly and Sterling mainly), but ditching the vets who were crucial to the UCL win was the bigger problem. The dearth of experience is extremely apparent.

Would’ve been better to lose Kova on a free than to sell him this summer, but what did we do!

 

[bleedblue1223]

Bonkers take from a Chelsea fan. The team that beat City was genuinely the best team in Europe the back half of that season. Surprisingly okay squad building combined with very good coaching to dominate basically every UCL game once Tuchel took over. It wasn’t a fluke, and the dismantling of it is/was a massive problem.

I know that Tuchelball is a meme, but that team was very genuinely ripping top level clubs apart.


The lack of veterans is, to me, a big big big issue. Conor Gallagher has played one season at Chelsea, is 23, and is THE SENIOR MIDFIELDER. That’s bonkers.

Another poster pointed to the purchase of veterans a few years back (Koulibaly and Sterling mainly), but ditching the vets who were crucial to the UCL win was the bigger problem. The dearth of experience is extremely apparent.

Would’ve been better to lose Kova on a free than to sell him this summer, but what did we do!

They played great, no doubt, but it was always an unsustainable stretch. If we kept that team together, we'd be in a very similar place today.

 

[Peen]

Chelsea when Chilwell and Reece and Kante were fit under Tuchel… we were literally the best team in Europe. We outplayed everyone.

It was unsustainable yes, but I don’t think it takes away from how well that team did perform.

 

[bleedblue1223]

Chelsea when Chilwell and Reece and Kante were fit under Tuchel… we were literally the best team in Europe. We outplayed everyone.

It was unsustainable yes, but I don’t think it takes away from how well that team did perform.

My point isn't that the team didn't perform that year, it's arguing against the people at how we dismantled that team, and if we didn't, we'd be in a better position today. If we kept that team together, we'd have the exact same scoring issues that we've had the past couple seasons.

 

[Blender]

Chelsea when Chilwell and Reece and Kante were fit under Tuchel… we were literally the best team in Europe. We outplayed everyone.

It was unsustainable yes, but I don’t think it takes away from how well that team did perform.

Any team with a fit and in form Kante was going to play well really, it was like having 13 players on the pitch. Combine that with Kovacic being able to progress the ball better than almost any midfielder in the world that season and James and Chilwell destroying the wings, and we were extremely hard to play against.

 

[Peen]

Palmer looks like something

Really think Enzo needs to be playing deeper.

 

[Savant]

Liverpool owners agree to sell minority stake to pay down debts

The Liverpool owner Fenway Sports Group (FSG) has ended its search for new investment by agreeing to sell a minority stake in the club for between £80 million a

www.thetimes.co.uk

 

[Chimaera]

It’s a good move for FSG. They get a high valuation, clear any debts they rang up, and can work with a new equity group on opportunities.

 

[Savant]

People will complain because it’s not going to boost the Transfer Kitty, but it’s is the low risk investment FSG was probably looking for the whole time. The good news is more of the same. The bad news is more of the same.

 

[Live in the Now]

The good news is that every signing they made this summer looks great so now they only need to bring in two defenders and with the club being as cheap as it is, that's all they'd do anyway.

 

[Savant]

The good news is that every signing they made this summer looks great so now they only need to bring in two defenders and with the club being as cheap as it is, that's all they'd do anyway.

I don’t know man, two sounds like a lot. But yeah I mean I think one in January and at least one in the summer has this group set up really well. They’ve got just about everything else.

 

[JeffreyLFC]

LFC still need a proper world class DM but no need to overpay for any average player, wait for the perfect fit.

 

[KJS14]

LFC still need a proper world class DM but no need to overpay for any average player, wait for the perfect fit.

I don't think you can afford to wait for the perfect fit, and that's been one of Klopp's main shortcomings. There's not many proper world class DMs out there. Even bringing in a slightly above average quality player that's a good fit would be a big plus.

Arsenal spent a decade without a proper DM post-Vieira/Silva and it was constantly their biggest issue. So much so that even having a player of Coquelin's quality in the team was a massive improvement.

 

[JeffreyLFC]

I don't think you can afford to wait for the perfect fit, and that's been one of Klopp's main shortcomings. There's not many proper world class DMs out there. Even bringing in a slightly above average quality player that's a good fit would be a big plus.

Arsenal spent a decade without a proper DM post-Vieira/Silva and it was constantly their biggest issue. So much so that even having a player of Coquelin's quality in the team was a massive improvement.

There are world class DM just the past 3 seasons : Tchouameni, Camavinga, Caicedo, Enzo, Ugarte and Rice have been transferred.

They have Edo as stop gap for now, they can re-assess next summer and they also have Bajcetic who also has immense potential. I never claimed it would be easy to fill but there are always good players available every year, you just have to scout and get them.

The thing with LFC is that they won't spend +200M in one window to fill their need so they have to take a more longterm approach. Getting Mac Allister and Szoboszlai this summer has been a huge difference and boost. It's sometime better to get what is available then to "overpay" to fill a need.

For instance, they could target Guimarães next summer if Newcastle miss CL who is a bit older than ideal but he could fill that need. TBD

 

[KJS14]

There are world class DM just the past 3 seasons : Tchouameni, Camavinga, Caicedo, Enzo, Ugarte and Rice have been transferred.

Liverpool showed interest in at least three of those players and got outbid or the player preferred Madrid / Chelsea. And Enzo isn't a proper DM / 6, he's an 8.

They have Edo as stop gap for now, they can re-assess next summer and they also have Bajcetic who also has immense potential. I never claimed it would be easy to fill but there are always good players available every year, you just have to scout and get them.

I'm not saying there aren't good players available every year. You said "world class" and "perfect fit," and I think waiting for the perfect fit has been Klopp's achilles heel. Liverpool have waited for the small opportunity to get that perfect fit (e.g., waiting for Bellingham) rather than bringing in other quality players.

 

[JeffreyLFC]

Liverpool showed interest in at least three of those players and got outbid or the player preferred Madrid / Chelsea. And Enzo isn't a proper DM / 6, he's an 8.


I'm not saying there aren't good players available every year. You said "world class" and "perfect fit," and I think waiting for the perfect fit has been Klopp's achilles heel. Liverpool have waited for the small opportunity to get that perfect fit (e.g., waiting for Bellingham) rather than bringing in other quality players.

They got outbid or players refused to join, that sucks but there is nothing to do about it. The player that make me the most angry is not Tchouameni or Caicedo, it's Ugarte they should have got him for his release clause but for some unknown reason they did not put any effort to get him which is baffling but to be fair they probably did not plan to sell Henderson and Fabinho either.

I never understood this fixation from Klopp about Bellingham to be honest. They wasted a full year waiting for him but this year is very different than last summer. They got two potential world class midfielder who are 24 and 22 years old. The team can afford to be more selective with their DM as the other midfield positions are fixed for many years.

 

[Savant]

LFC still need a proper world class DM but no need to overpay for any average player, wait for the perfect fit.

No they don’t. They don’t play with one anymore. unless someone falls into their lap there isn’t a guy. They will just develop Jones and/or Bajcetic which is fine. We aren’t going to see another Fabinho type there. Those days are gone. Maybe if the market goes back but that’s not happening either. I think This team going to start being very 442 maybe 4231 ish going forward. I think the fact that Szoboszlai is excellent deeper changes things A LOT too