Chelsea Discussion

[Bluewolf]

7 minutes ago, Dr. Gonzo said:

Lol as if the media would ever turn against Fat Frank. Aside from being well “in” with the media as one of their darlings, he’s related to the Redknapps. If shit ever goes really wrong with his tenure, the media will never be screaming for the axe to come down on him.

Yea... we have connections in many places... also loot, lot's and lot's of loot

[Dr. Gonzo]

7 minutes ago, Bluewolf said:

Yea... we have connections in many places... also loot, lot's and lot's of loot

Tbh it’s a bit shit having a media darling at the helm when everything goes wrong. The media doubles down its support of their man and attacks the fans that are critical and then there’s this air of toxicity whenever you play.

But tbh I like Fat Frank and he’s a legend, even though I don’t really like Chelsea, so hopefully the time never comes when he’s lost the plot and the media will come out and try to gaslight Chelsea fans. Would be shit for everyone involved. Well except people who hate Chelsea, they’d love it.

[carefreeluke]

Jody Morris, Lampard's current number two, a few years ago:

"You've got to have a manager that, first and foremost, wants to look," he told Sky Sports.

"We've had managers at Chelsea where they'd be 50 yards away, there'd be a Champions League U19s game going on, and the manager's sat in his office, rather than coming out to watch. It's very disheartening.

"It's not my place to go over there and start talking to managers, but some managers aren't interested - they don't care about youth. They judge the first team and want to get their own players in.

"The thing about Chelsea is I don't think there's an academy in this country that's better, but it doesn't look like that on paper because of the amount of players who are not playing in the first team.

"The players are good enough, most definitely, but the managers are not, for one, aware of them. It's alright someone going in and talking up a player and saying 'this player's got European Player of the Year in an U19 tournament, won the World Cup, and is one of the best players at his age group' - if they don't see him, physically, that doesn't get you him.

"You need to see it - Claudio Ranieri's point of playing John Terry was the fact that he went to watch him. He saw him, said 'right, he's playing for me' - and in. There's nothing better than seeing players in the flesh. It's alright people talking them up but you have to see it in the flesh."

Edited July 28, 2020 by carefreeluke

[Bluewolf]

2 minutes ago, Dr. Gonzo said:

Tbh it’s a bit shit having a media darling at the helm when everything goes wrong. The media doubles down its support of their man and attacks the fans that are critical and then there’s this air of toxicity whenever you play.

But tbh I like Fat Frank and he’s a legend, even though I don’t really like Chelsea, so hopefully the time never comes when he’s lost the plot and the media will come out and try to gaslight Chelsea fans. Would be shit for everyone involved. Well except people who hate Chelsea, they’d love it.

I think if it all goes tits for any reason or we go on a bad run that goes on a bit too long they will show no mercy... they never do no matter who you are, and one things for sure Chelsea won't hesitate to get rid if he shows he can't progress with additional reinforcements so it's going to be a big season for him, that's why I am a bit worried about our defence, hopefully some serious thought has been put in about possible bolstering at the back if there is any money left to spend that is.. 

[Dr. Gonzo]

Just now, Bluewolf said:

I think if it all goes tits for any reason or we go on a bad run that goes on a bit too long they will show no mercy... they never do no matter who you are, and one things for sure Chelsea won't hesitate to get rid if he shows he can't progress with additional reinforcements so it's going to be a big season for him, that's why I am a bit worried about our defence, hopefully some serious thought has been put in about possible bolstering at the back if there is any money left to spend that is.. 

I see the “they never do no matter who you are” and then I remember every fucking pundit in England telling us Roy Hodgson wasn’t out of his depth with Liverpool and we should be happy to be right near the relegation spots. The media never turned on him, we were just lucky our American owners took a pulse of the fan base and did something to remedy the intense toxicity around the club.

Chelsea are so quick to sack though, it might not even matter if the media loves him

[The Liquidator]

17 hours ago, carefreeluke said:

Jody Morris, Lampard's current number two, a few years ago:

"You've got to have a manager that, first and foremost, wants to look," he told Sky Sports.

"We've had managers at Chelsea where they'd be 50 yards away, there'd be a Champions League U19s game going on, and the manager's sat in his office, rather than coming out to watch. It's very disheartening.

"It's not my place to go over there and start talking to managers, but some managers aren't interested - they don't care about youth. They judge the first team and want to get their own players in.

"The thing about Chelsea is I don't think there's an academy in this country that's better, but it doesn't look like that on paper because of the amount of players who are not playing in the first team.

"The players are good enough, most definitely, but the managers are not, for one, aware of them. It's alright someone going in and talking up a player and saying 'this player's got European Player of the Year in an U19 tournament, won the World Cup, and is one of the best players at his age group' - if they don't see him, physically, that doesn't get you him.

"You need to see it - Claudio Ranieri's point of playing John Terry was the fact that he went to watch him. He saw him, said 'right, he's playing for me' - and in. There's nothing better than seeing players in the flesh. It's alright people talking them up but you have to see it in the flesh."

Lots of our fellow Chelsea fans singing the praises of Jody & I have written in the past we may find other clubs interested in him as their manager in the near future. The words you quote of his were brutally honest at the time and probably points towards the pressure those managers were under to deliver. Those of us who have been regulars at the club for 50 years know the youth team was always the life blood of the club. While the success Romans money has helped us to enjoy, seeing young guys come through under Frank & counting to 5 or 6 youth products on the pitch at one time in some games used to be what the club was all about. Long may it continue, but I do get the feeling, one or two maybe moved on to thin out the squad. Shame

What would you do with CHO next season?

[Danny]

On 27/07/2020 at 21:01, The Artful Dodger said:

This isn't some pub team he inherited, they were third last season and got a cup final. The rest of the teams around them have gotten worse mainly. They've haemorrhaged goals all season and he's shown no aptitude to sort it out. Don't get me wrong he doesn't deserve to be sacked but another manager would be getting pelters off the press for a pretty poor league campaign overall.  He's one of them though, he's as establishment England as you get.

This. If Sarri had done this Chelsea fans would be after his blood, but obviously it’s understandable why Chelsea fans would give Frank Lampard more leeway.

But I agree, Spurs are shit, United are shit, Arsenal are shit, Leicester’s second half of the season form dropped off...Lampard finishing where he has should be the bare minimum tbh. Fair play he lost Hazard but they signed Pulisic for £58m so it’s not like he was working miracles with what he had left.

As I’ve said before on this thread if there’s not a credible title challenge this season he has to go, Werner, Havertz and Zayech coming in has put Chelsea in the conversation with Liverpool and City

[Cicero]

1 hour ago, Danny said:

This. If Sarri had done this Chelsea fans would be after his blood, but obviously it’s understandable why Chelsea fans would give Frank Lampard more leeway.

But I agree, Spurs are shit, United are shit, Arsenal are shit, Leicester’s second half of the season form dropped off...Lampard finishing where he has should be the bare minimum tbh. Fair play he lost Hazard but they signed Pulisic for £58m so it’s not like he was working miracles with what he had left.

As I’ve said before on this thread if there’s not a credible title challenge this season he has to go, Werner, Havertz and Zayech coming in has put Chelsea in the conversation with Liverpool and City

This hindsight is 20/20  responses are sheer malarkey. No offence.

As if the majority of people didn't write off the likes of Mount and Abraham making as big as an impact as they have, and then the same people calling Pulisic to be a flop. Then in turn, state Chelsea now apparently should of finished where they are now and conveniently claiming the other top 6 clubs, who had transfer windows, were shit.

It's a shoddy use of hindsight-bias to completely discredit Lampard and his achievement. 

 

Edited July 29, 2020 by Cicero

[The Artful Dodger]

5 minutes ago, Cicero said:

This hindsight is 20/20  responses are sheer malarkey. No offence.

As if the majority of people didn't write off the likes of Mount and Abraham making as big as an impact as they have, and then the same people calling Pulisic to be a flop. Then in turn, state Chelsea now apparently should of finished where they are now and conveniently claiming the other top 6 clubs, who had transfer windows, were shit.

It's a shoddy use of hindsight-bias to completely discredit Lampard and his achievement. 

 

I'm not sure Abraham or Mount have been the raging successes you think they have, Abraham is very clearly not good enough and will surely be moved on in the near future. The jury is still out on Mount but given people were saying he should start for England at the start of this season, I'd say you've come back to down to earth.

This transfer ban excuse is hilarious, you bought Pulisic for 60 million. Contrast to Liverpool who bought nobody, what is Lampard's 'achievement' exactly? No other Chelsea coach would be getting the excuses he gets. Look at how you treated Sarri.

None of this is hindsight, at the beginning of the season I said Chelsea fans were crying it in about this season just to give Lampard some space. You didn't have it tough, you haven't fought against the tide. You've had a very average season.

Edited July 29, 2020 by The Artful Dodger

[Cicero]

20 minutes ago, The Artful Dodger said:

I'm not sure Abraham or Mount have been the raging successes you think they have, Abraham is very clearly not good enough and will surely be moved on in the near future. The jury is still out on Mount but given people were saying he should start for England at the start of this season, I'd say you've come back to down to earth.

This transfer ban excuse is hilarious, you bought Pulisic for 60 million. Contrast to Liverpool who bought nobody, what is Lampard's 'achievement' exactly? No other Chelsea coach would be getting the excuses he gets. Look at how you treated Sarri.

None of this is hindsight, at the beginning of the season I said Chelsea fans were crying it in about this season just to give Lampard some space. You didn't have it tough, you haven't fought against the tide. You've had a very average season.

Except it is hindsight.

Those two have essentially led our attack all season and we've been in the Top 4 since October as a result. A position 99% of people claimed wouldn't happen. So yes, I would say they've had an impact. And before you claim we benefited from having the likes of United, Spurs, and Arsenal being shit, it's still hindsight bias given your position is being defended only after events have happened. 

Tammy's scored 17 goals all competition and Mount has been the most important element in our build up play.Tammy has outscored Drogba at that age and Mount has had a better debut season with us than Lampard as a player, and 2 years younger. It's more than evident to those who've watched us regularly that they've been a success this season when the majority written them off. Tammy is more than good enough to be a backup ala Welbeck. 

Nobody expected Pulisic to have the impact he had, especially when you consider there's an actual thread that predicted Pulisic would be a flop. Now there are some saying he will be better than Hazard. And Lampard can't take any credit for his development?

 

 it's apparently easier for members to try and save face by using hindsight bias to defend their previous predictions instead of actually giving Lampard credit for filling Hazard's void in three players many wrote off at the start of the season. 

 

 

[The Artful Dodger]

Just now, Cicero said:

Except it is hindsight.

Those two have essentially led our attack all season and we've been in the Top 4 since October as a result. A position 99% of people claimed wouldn't happen. So yes, I would say they've had an impact. And before you claim we benefited from having the likes of United, Spurs, and Arsenal being shit, it's still hindsight bias given your position is being defended only after events have happened. 

Tammy's scored 17 goals all competition and Mount has been the most important element in our build up play.Tammy has outscored Drogba at that age and Mount has had a better debut season with us than Lampard as a player, and 2 years younger. It's more than evident to those who've watched us regularly that they've been a success this season when the majority written them off. Tammy is more than good enough to be a backup ala Welbeck. 

Nobody expected Pulisic to have the impact he had, especially when you consider there's an actual thread that predicted Pulisic would be a flop. Now there are some saying he will be better than Hazard. And Lampard can't take any credit for his development?

 

 it's apparently easier for members to try and save face by using hindsight bias to defend their previous predictions instead of actually giving Lampard credit for filling Hazard's void in three players many wrote off at the start of the season. 

 

 

You're just throwing out random numbers now, which you know has no basis on reality and cannot be proven. I don't care about what anyone else said, I'm talking about what is the truth. This Chelsea side was well capable of top 4, this is something I've said right through, you are not in a weak position and you have in no way overachieved in what you've done. 

I have watched Tammy Abraham very frequently, he is just not good enough, no matter the stats and I said that right from the off too. If you're saying he's 'ala Welbeck' I'd suggest you know I'm right deep down. One of Lampard's good moves so far is realising he's awful, swapping him for Giroud and ultimately bringing in Werner.

I'm not sure why anyone would need to 'save face' on an internet forum. You're trying to say you've had a successful season, I disagree, your standards have been lowered because Lampard is a club icon and that's understandable, we all want a romantic story. But to say nobody thought you'd do so well is absolute nonsense, you've a better squad than any of the teams that finished behind you and I'd argue as good if not better than Manchester United's. You haven't overachieved in any sense.

[Cicero]

1 hour ago, The Artful Dodger said:

You're just throwing out random numbers now, which you know has no basis on reality and cannot be proven. I don't care about what anyone else said, I'm talking about what is the truth. This Chelsea side was well capable of top 4, this is something I've said right through, you are not in a weak position and you have in no way overachieved in what you've done. 

Interesting. Well, not only did you claim Lampard wouldn't do better than Sarri, (IE make top 4) you actually stated the potential difficulty Lampard had in taking the Chelsea job given the circumstances. So it's a bit amusing you now prefer to discredit Lampard's accomplishment in what you previously called as a  'difficult and risky circumstance'. 

1 hour ago, The Artful Dodger said:

I have watched Tammy Abraham very frequently, he is just not good enough, no matter the stats and I said that right from the off too. If you're saying he's 'ala Welbeck' I'd suggest you know I'm right deep down. One of Lampard's good moves so far is realising he's awful, swapping him for Giroud and ultimately bringing in Werner.

What's wrong with Welbeck? He was an impact player when he came off the bench? Giroud isn't getting any younger either. 

1 hour ago, The Artful Dodger said:

I'm not sure why anyone would need to 'save face' on an internet forum. You're trying to say you've had a successful season, I disagree, your standards have been lowered because Lampard is a club icon and that's understandable, we all want a romantic story. But to say nobody thought you'd do so well is absolute nonsense, you've a better squad than any of the teams that finished behind you and I'd argue as good if not better than Manchester United's. You haven't overachieved in any sense.

We have the worse defence out of the top 10 clubs in the league, statistically the worse GK out of the top 5 European leagues, yet have finished in the Top 4 and also stayed in the Top 4 since October with a striker you deem not good enough. On top of that, an FA Cup final. 

Right. You would now rather discredit the accomplishments of a manager that was in a situation you yourself claimed to be a difficult one. Beyond a tune change. 

 

 

Edited July 29, 2020 by Cicero

[Danny]

2 hours ago, Cicero said:

This hindsight is 20/20  responses are sheer malarkey. No offence.

As if the majority of people didn't write off the likes of Mount and Abraham making as big as an impact as they have, and then the same people calling Pulisic to be a flop. Then in turn, state Chelsea now apparently should of finished where they are now and conveniently claiming the other top 6 clubs, who had transfer windows, were shit.

It's a shoddy use of hindsight-bias to completely discredit Lampard and his achievement. 

 

Just think you’re waffling mate, all season you’ve spoken about how Mount was this saviour at every age level and now it’s Mount was written off. OK. I remember German supporters on here being underwhelmed by Pulisic, I also remember a lot of people excited by his potential. But if there’s one thing Germans do on this forum is moan about transfer fees.

Lampard should be praised for what he done with Tammy, but you’ve still got a side pumped with first team talent and enough academy talent to fill your boots with. Your defence has been shite and that’s on Lampard. Spurs and Arsenal have been shite, the bare minimum you should be doing is finishing above Wolves and Sheffield Utd

[Cicero]

19 minutes ago, Danny said:

Just think you’re waffling mate, all season you’ve spoken about how Mount was this saviour at every age level and now it’s Mount was written off. OK. I remember German supporters on here being underwhelmed by Pulisic, I also remember a lot of people excited by his potential. But if there’s one thing Germans do on this forum is moan about transfer fees.

Lampard should be praised for what he done with Tammy, but you’ve still got a side pumped with first team talent and enough academy talent to fill your boots with. Your defence has been shite and that’s on Lampard. Spurs and Arsenal have been shite, the bare minimum you should be doing is finishing above Wolves and Sheffield Utd

What's my perception of Mount have to do with people writing us off? Again, the majority of people didn't think the likes of Mount, Abraham, or Pulisic would have the impact they've had.

12 months ago you had people claiming Chelsea won't make top 4 because they lost Hazard and are relying on youth products and a Dortmund player which many considered a reject and laughed at the price. 

12 months later, these same people are now saying Chelsea should of made Top 4 given their squad quality and the fact they spent 60 million on Pulisic.

It's sheer hindsight bias and I'm not having any of that. 

Edited July 29, 2020 by Cicero

[Stan]

1 hour ago, Danny said:

Just think you’re waffling mate, all season you’ve spoken about how Mount was this saviour at every age level and now it’s Mount was written off. OK. I remember German supporters on here being underwhelmed by Pulisic, I also remember a lot of people excited by his potential. But if there’s one thing Germans do on this forum is moan about transfer fees.

Lampard should be praised for what he done with Tammy, but you’ve still got a side pumped with first team talent and enough academy talent to fill your boots with. Your defence has been shite and that’s on Lampard. Spurs and Arsenal have been shite, the bare minimum you should be doing is finishing above Wolves and Sheffield Utd

This makes no sense.

One is @Cicero's opinion and the other is everyone else writing him off?

[The Artful Dodger]

2 hours ago, Cicero said:

Interesting. Well, not only did you claim Lampard wouldn't do better than Sarri, (IE make top 4) you actually stated the potential difficulty Lampard had in taking the Chelsea job given the circumstances. So it's a bit amusing you now prefer to discredit Lampard's accomplishment in what you previously called as a  'difficult and risky circumstance'. 

What's wrong with Welbeck? He was an impact player when he came off the bench? Giroud isn't getting any younger either. 

We have the worse defence out of the top 10 clubs in the league, statistically the worse GK out of the top 5 European leagues, yet have finished in the Top 4 and also stayed in the Top 4 since October with a striker you deem not good enough. On top of that, an FA Cup final. 

Right. You would now rather discredit the accomplishments of a manager that was in a situation you yourself claimed to be a difficult one. Beyond a tune change. 

 

 

Trailed through all my posts for that haha. Not really the gotcha you were hoping for. I state it's a risky job because it is, Chelsea is demanding. Nowhere do I say Lampard will do well to get 4th. I thought Lampard might work and he still might, but he's worked less well than I thought he would. I thought you should have been comfortably top 4 and not losing 12, that's right 12, games in one season. That post by me actually highlights the opposite of what you're trying to prove, I'm trying to say give him a go because he could be the unifying force you need and push you onto good things. Ergo, I think the squad has the ability to do good things under the right manager. Is Lampard that man? The jury is still out but this season isn't this great success you seem to be making out it is.

Welbeck is a dreadful player, rightfully discarded by Manchester United after they got over the 'he came through our youth so he must be good blindness'. He will he plying his trade in the Championship next year, if that's the bar you set then no wonder you're happy with Abraham.

For context, Conte was hounded out of the club for finish with 4 more points than Lampard and winning the cup. Now Lampard may well go on to do that but I'm just objecting to this idea this season has been a great success when by Chelsea's very own standards it has not been. You have lowered these expectations for sentimental reasons, don't get me wrong, I think all clubs do the same with legend, Liverpool had that bizarre affair with a washed up Dalglish for instance but it's best to look at things with a critical eye rather than an adoring one. 

Your squad is better than all those you finished above and arguably the team above you. At the most you can say Lampard has achieved par.

 

Edited July 29, 2020 by The Artful Dodger

[Danny]

35 minutes ago, Stan said:

This makes no sense.

One is @Cicero's opinion and the other is everyone else writing him off?

And how does everyone else’s opinion relate back to my view of Lampard?

[Stan]

1 minute ago, Danny said:

And how does everyone else’s opinion relate back to my view of Lampard?

How does it mean @Cicero was waffling ?!

[Danny]

8 minutes ago, Stan said:

How does it mean @Cicero was waffling ?!

Because what he responded with had zero relevance to what I was saying 

[Cicero]

1 hour ago, The Artful Dodger said:

Trailed through all my posts for that haha. Not really the gotcha you were hoping for. I state it's a risky job because it is, Chelsea is demanding. Nowhere do I say Lampard will do well to get 4th. I thought Lampard might work and he still might, but he's worked less well than I thought he would. I thought you should have been comfortably top 4 and not losing 12, that's right 12, games in one season. That post by me actually highlights the opposite of what you're trying to prove, I'm trying to say give him a go because he could be the unifying force you need and push you onto good things. Ergo, I think the squad has the ability to do good things under the right manager. Is Lampard that man? The jury is still out but this season isn't this great success you seem to be making out it is

This post simply shows your contradiction.

You claimed the job would be difficult given the circumstances, which can only be assumed you took the transfer ban and losing Hazard into consideration. 

We finished Top 4, remained in the top 4 since October, beat everyone in the Top 6 at least once, and are 1 victory away from winning the FA Cup. How is this not, as you call it, pushing us onto good things? Especially when you even labeled the difficulty of this job?  

1 hour ago, The Artful Dodger said:

For context, Conte was hounded out of the club for finish with 4 more points than Lampard and winning the cup.

Conte was hounded out of the club because he threw his toys out the pram and constantly blamed the board for poor recruitment when it was later found out he actually wanted those players. 

1 hour ago, The Artful Dodger said:

Now Lampard may well go on to do that but I'm just objecting to this idea this season has been a great success when by Chelsea's very own standards it has not been. You have lowered these expectations for sentimental reasons, don't get me wrong, I think all clubs do the same with legend, Liverpool had that bizarre affair with a washed up Dalglish for instance but it's best to look at things with a critical eye rather than an adoring one. 

Your squad is better than all those you finished above and arguably the team above you. At the most you can say Lampard has achieved par.

 

WE LOST HAZARD FFS 

Of course expectations will be lowered when you lose your best player and arguably the best player in the league. We just finished off a season, barely making Top 4, where yet again we were entirely dependent on Hazard up top. Our closest rivals being Spurs, Arsenal, and United strengthened, whereas we lost our best player and had a transfer ban. We brought in academy players who had zero experience in the premier league, bar a poor showing from Tammy with Swansea, and you genuinely expect us to keep the same standards?

This conversation is done mate 

[Stan]

6 minutes ago, Cicero said:

beat everyone in the Top 6 at least once

Not in the league you didn't

[LFCMadLad]

23 minutes ago, Stan said:

Not in the league you didn't

I think he's taking into account that Chelsea beat our under 16's in the nobody wants Cup to be bonest. 

[The Artful Dodger]

13 hours ago, Cicero said:

This post simply shows your contradiction.

You claimed the job would be difficult given the circumstances, which can only be assumed you took the transfer ban and losing Hazard into consideration. 

We finished Top 4, remained in the top 4 since October, beat everyone in the Top 6 at least once, and are 1 victory away from winning the FA Cup. How is this not, as you call it, pushing us onto good things? Especially when you even labeled the difficulty of this job?  

Conte was hounded out of the club because he threw his toys out the pram and constantly blamed the board for poor recruitment when it was later found out he actually wanted those players. 

WE LOST HAZARD FFS 

Of course expectations will be lowered when you lose your best player and arguably the best player in the league. We just finished off a season, barely making Top 4, where yet again we were entirely dependent on Hazard up top. Our closest rivals being Spurs, Arsenal, and United strengthened, whereas we lost our best player and had a transfer ban. We brought in academy players who had zero experience in the premier league, bar a poor showing from Tammy with Swansea, and you geSytonuinely expect us to keep the same standards?

 This conversation is done mate 

Stop going on about this supposed transfer ban, you signed a 60 million player in the January to circumvent it. The way you go on about it you'd think it's some rags to riches tale. Your squad is better than any you finished above and managed to lose a massive12 games (the same as that disaster year under Mourinho). I'm not having this has been some great season, the standards have definitely lowered. Any other Chelsea manager would be getting some serious stick right now. Let's hope for your sake that this year has been preparing the groundwork for a title challenge next year, that's the minimum I'd expect with the spending you've done already.

Edited July 30, 2020 by The Artful Dodger

[Cicero]

5 hours ago, The Artful Dodger said:

Stop going on about this supposed transfer ban, you signed a 60 million player in the January to circumvent it. The way you go on about it you'd think it's some rags to riches tale. Your squad is better than any you finished above and managed to lose a massive12 games (the same as that disaster year under Mourinho). I'm not having this has been some great season, the standards have definitely lowered. Any other Chelsea manager would be getting some serious stick right now. Let's hope for your sake that this year has been preparing the groundwork for a title challenge next year, that's the minimum I'd expect with the spending you've done already.

If our squad is better than any club that finished below us, then why did practically 98% of people not have us make Top 4? Was it because of the circumstances and factors we found ourselves in prior to the start of the season? Something twelve months ago you even said would be difficult, not to mention the possibility of us finishing mid table? 

Your argument wouldn't scream hindsight bias if 12 months ago you were saying the exact thing you are now. 

 

Edited July 30, 2020 by Cicero

[The Artful Dodger]

1 minute ago, Cicero said:

If our squad is better than any club that finished below us, then why did practically 98% of people not have us make Top 4? Was it because of the circumstances and factors we found ourselves in prior to the start of the season? Something twelve months ago you even said would be difficult, not to mention the possibility of us finishing mid table? 

Your argument wouldn't scream hindsight bias if 12 months ago you were saying the exact thing you are now. 

 

You keep saying this meaningless 'hindsight bias', repeating something doesn't make it any less nonsensical. 'Practically 98%', more random numbers that you can't prove etc. 

What did I say would be difficult? I made no prediction on what Chelsea could or couldn't do, I said it's a difficult job. As Chelsea is for anybody because of the pressure and expectation, if you're not successful quickly you'll be out. Clearly that tallies with what I'm now saying, you have lowered your standards because of who is the manager, if Sarri had had this season there would be a lot more questions being asked. Your squad is full of talented players, it should be finishing top 4. Making out this season has been some feat for ages is just a little bewildering.