Chelsea

[K]

"Brighton deservedly earned a first-ever league point against Chelsea thanks to a spectacular strike from substitute Alireza Jakanbakhsh that must rank, so far, as the goal of the decade.
...

Frank Lampard had revealed on the eve of the match that he had studied Brighton’s play, and his knowledge of their methods was obvious. Chelsea were pressing the Seagulls high up the pitch and refusing to allow them to play their passing game with any comfort."

(The Telegraph)


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H8Ve3Smsl8c
[Starts 1:48]

[K]

Antonio Conte sacking cost Chelsea £26.6m, accounts show

Premier League club has paid more than £90m in compensation to sacked managers since 2004

"The Premier League club's latest accounts show they paid a total of £26.6m in compensation to former head coach Conte and his backroom staff and legal costs.
...

Former Italy midfielder Conte steered Chelsea to the 2017 Premier League title but was dismissed a year later with 12 months left on his contract as the team finished fifth and failed to qualify for the Champions League.

Conte, who is currently in charge of Inter Milan, also led Chelsea to victory in the 2018 FA Cup, with a 1-0 win over Manchester United in the final."

(Sky Sports)

[Jezza]

Key points:

- Turnover figure grew to £446.7m from £443.4m the previous year.
- Loss of £96.6m ending 30 June 2019.
- The loss relates to player acquisitions and related costs, the lack of Champions League football and the change in first team management.
- Revenue from commercial activities grew by £14.5m.
- Broadcasting and matchday revenue decreased due to us playing Europa League rather than Champions League football.
- The club invested a record £280.6m in the playing squad.

https://www.chelseafc.com/en/news/2019/ ... dIndex=6-4

While not revealed in the official club statement, it was reported that sacking Conte cost us £26.6m.

https://www.theguardian.com/football/20 ... drinkwater

[K]

Lampard disappointed in 'same old story' as Chelsea drop points against Arsenal

https://www.goal.com/en-au/news/lampard ... 27vcbpv3bn



[Yeah, drawing 2-2 against a 10-man opponent is not great.]

[K]

Chelsea 0-2 Man United.

Oops...

"Headed goals from Anthony Martial and Harry Maguire either side of half-time ... helped United complete the league double over the Blues for the first time since the 1987-88 campaign." (DPA)

[Jezza]

This is the first time I've started fearing for Frank's future.

He's done a lot right to have us contending for a Champions League spot, blooding youth and to be in the knockout stages of the CL considering the issues he inherited as coach, but our form since late November has been worrying and we have a board that does not a history of patience though maybe this is finally changing.

The form slump seem to coincide when Kante returned from injury which disrupted the Jorginho-Kovacic partnership that was functioning beautifully in his absence. Frank needs to identify a solution to maximize Kante's potential without disrupting the above partnership.

Frank has now coached 37 games with the club and his record is not too dissimilar to Klopp's first 37 games with Liverpool and Solskjaer's first 37 games with United.

- Lampard = 37 (18-8-11)
- Klopp = 37 (17-12-8]
- Solskjaer = 37 (19-7-11)

I was disappointed with our performance for a variety of reasons. I was optimistic that the winter break would recharge the batteries of the playing squad and have us ready to fire for the last third of the season but the same problems resurfaced again. We allow too much space for opposition teams to kill us on the counter, hence the large number of goals we've been conceding this season.

Further, Frank needs to make a definitive call on Kepa and Caballero. I understood his reason to drop Kepa, but Caballero's weaknesses are evident and have arguably cost us points against both Leicester City and Manchester United.

[Jezza]

Good week for Frank beating Liverpool in the FA Cup and backing up with a 4-0 victory against Everton last night.

Carlo Ancelotti endured a miserable return to Stamford Bridge as Chelsea thrashed his Everton side to boost their top-four Premier League hopes.

https://www.bbc.com/sport/football/51693759

[K]

Wonder how Ancelotti will react.

[K]

Timo Werner: How Chelsea move happened, how he will fit in and what happened to Liverpool deal?

https://www.bbc.com/sport/football/52970103

[Chic131]

Shame for Tammy who was kickin on but they needed more than 1 option and Giroud was a poor signing from the start.

[Jezza]

Very happy to have signed Werner. The inclusions of Werner and Ziyech will excite the club.

If we can add at least two defenders, we could be contending for the title next season.

[K]

Chelsea 2-1 Man City.

The most significant Chelsea win of the season!

Or so say Liverpool fans.

[Jezza]

Don't care about Liverpool

It's further evidence that Frank is growing as a coach. He's outwitted Klopp, Ancelotti and Pep in three of our last four games

[K]

Huge upset:

West Ham 3-2 Chelsea

"Andriy Yarmolenko's last-gasp winner settled an eventful London derby with Chelsea and delivered a huge boost to West Ham United's hopes of avoiding relegation.

In a topsy-turvy game, which saw West Ham infuriated when Tomas Soucek's first-half goal was ruled out by VAR, substitute Yarmolenko made the decisive contribution when the finished off a superb counter attack with a classic left-foot finish"

https://www.bbc.com/sport/football/52080261

And this:

"It is hard to escape the sense that Kepa still faces a fight to secure his future at Stamford Bridge after an uncertain season that even saw the £71m signing dropped for Willy Caballero shortly before the season went into hiatus.

And he did nothing to dispel doubts here. When Chelsea came under pressure in the first half, he failed to command his area and they were fortunate to see Soucek's goal chalked off by VAR before the Czech rose to head West Ham in front from another corner."

[Jezza]

5 wins in the last 6 PL games for Super Frankie.

Considering we lost Hazard, had a transfer ban hovering over us and a new inexperienced coach took over, we've done remarkably well to be in the top 4. Hopefully, we can bring it home now and secure a CL spot for next season.'

Winning the FA Cup would be the icing on the cake.