Personally I think what he wants is to make Chelsea the Barcelona of England. I.e a team to dominate domestically and in Europe and be playing the best football. It aint gonna happen but one C.L doesn't alter that plan. We're still being linked with many world class stars so can't see him not putting money in just yet.
I've lost count of the number of times I have heard people say that a measure of a team's quality lies in their final league position and that "the league table never lies". The fact that Chelski won a couple of cup competitions doesn't change that. Therefore conclusion is that Chelski are the 3rd best team in London and the 6th best team in England!
Fair point. Marin's arriving next season and Hazard's been linked (mind you, who hasn't he been linked with, prostituting himself to the highest bidder/ wage payer) so it would suggest what you're saying is right. I just think that's the only caution/ downside with these mega rich owners, when they've actually got what they've wanted, what do they do next? Same applies to City, PSG, Malaga & Anzhi.
I'd agree IF...that was the only competition each side entered. Fact is, Chelsea out performed Spurs and Arsenal in every other competition this year, winning 2 in the process. If Spurs actually tried in Europe it would have effected their league form like it did last year.
True enough. Depends on whether as a man, winning something once is enough or whether it fuels the passion to keep repeating success. Look at Fergie for instance, he could never win enough trophies and be satisfied 100%.
The biggest problem for clubs with mega rich owners is that they demand and expect instant success, and when they don't get it, heads roll. Also, the mega rich often have mega egos, and they don't like to be upstaged. That causes a massive conflict, because the more successful a club becomes the more attention is focused on star players and the manager. How else can anyone explain Mourhinio leaving the Chavs?
He ain't going anywhere IMO. Most of us saw him wriggling and writhing around during the game. Not the actions of someone that just wants the cup. It may have been a pet project (we don't know for sure) at the start but i believe now he is an actual chelsea fan.
spot on,que the if and buts and the 'aaah but's'...from the chelsea fans...like you said...and like all the chelsea fans believe...'the league doesnt lie'. if it does then im sure the Chelsea fans will tell us that we deserved to finish maybe 3rd?..i believe we got 4th and Arsenal earned 3rd..however...lets see how the Chelsea fans move these goalposts. 3rd best team in England...forget your cup competitions because only a fool would say your team is better than Barca's or Madrid's or even Bayern's....however since you won it you think your team is the best there...by the same logic your the 3rd team in London and 6th in PL....minnows never win leagues...but minnows can go all the way in cups.
Difference with Fergie and these owners is Fergie's a football man, he lives for football. Abramovich, Sheikh Mansour & co probably don't know what the offside rule is.
See reply 64 above. You can claim we're only the 3rd best team in London but that is using only the league as a guide. In all comps we were by far the best. Only one team can win the league but there are many more competitions on offer and if you want to win trophies regularly you have to give them all respect and attention. Man U aside we have been by far the best at this in the last 10 years having won multiple trophies and constantly competed at the highest level in Europe.
It is impossible to make anything foolproof, because fools are so ingenious. (Not my quote, but a goody!)
I agree that it makes it difficult to gauge who is the best for example, I dont think anyone could argue that Barca, Real and City are the top 3 right now, closely followed by United. Then for fourth you could argue that its Chelsea or Arsenal. Chelsea because we have finished in the top 3 for 8 of the last 9 seasons and won numerous cups in the process, or Arsenal because of the fact they ALWAYS get in the top 4, but they have won nothing since 2005. Its only this season our league performance is bad, you cant say Chelsea have dropped off completely due to one "bad" season (if you call winning the CL and FA cup a bad season). Our league placings and trophy haul still far outweighs Arsenal and Spurs for the best part of a decade and we have just won the biggest club trophy in Europe, this year has been one of major instability and transition for Chelsea, mostly due to Abramovich's manager merry go round and the off field antics of bell ends like John Terry (sorry JT, you are our captain, but still a bell end) and the fact our best players are all in their 30's. I think next season will show us where Chelsea are going and whether we can build on this CL win. Ditto with Spurs, I hope they dust themselves off from this unfair ruling and continue to challenge for a place in Europes elite.
I watched Bilbao tear Utd apart. I'm not sure i'd put City and Utd that high up in the "best" list. I still think Bayern are better than them too.
You are judging from one tie? Bilbao are NOT better than Utd. I forgot about Bayern though, they would be up there with a shout. I still think that El Classico aside, few teams would have been able to match City this season. They got some big results in the league, they also tore United a new one. Ok so they flopped in Europe but it was their first time in the CL as a team and I think they were more focused on the league.
I have to judge them on 1 tie. They play in different leagues so you can't compare that way. At least my way is objective, albeit flawed. The only way to really gauge who is the best is by who won the champs league. Not many will agree that chelsea are the best team though (me being 1). Also, the actual best team might not have even been in the champs league.
Again, you cant judge who is best by the result when playing each other. Chelsea have a great record against Barca VS each other, but I wouldnt for one second claim we are better. Chelsea beat Man City this season, but their league performances were light years ahead of ours this season. But then there is cup football to consider aswell....arrrgh feck it, Im getting a head ache
My point is that you can't definitively gauge who the best team is across multiple leagues. Its either done subjectively by saying "barca are better than chelsea" or objectively using a 1 tie basis. Neither works.
The thing with the league is for 38 games, teams give 100% in every match. You play everyone you possibly can and therefore test yourself against the country's finest while trying to accumulate as many points as possbile. With our league being regarded as one of, if not the best, finishing as high up as possbile is an achievement in itself, albeit you can't get a trophy for 2nd/ 3rd/ 4th and so on. With cup competitions (European and domestic), you're playing a variety of teams in which the majority don't play at a standard that you're team does. Granted the CL is THE competition to be in, hence why we as Spurs fans are gutted to miss out, especially the way we have, but at the same time, in cups, anything can happen, the minnows can shock the favourites (Tottenham 3-1 Inter Milan!!! ) and games are generally based on 2 legs (bar the groups). For instance, we beat AC Milan over two legs, that determined whether we went through or not, where as if we beat Man Utd twice in the league, it only determines 6 points out of a possible 114 (I think, Maths was never a strong point). Utd could still finish 40 points above us and thus far prove they were the better team. What I'm trying to get at is, in a league, it shows who's been better throughout a whole season, in the cups, anything can happen in a 2-legged game and therefore judging yourselves on cups is jumping the gun a bit, in my opinion. Still a great achievement none the less, albeit if I feel it was more luck than anything.
You gave yourself a chance because RDM was smart enough to realise that you won't last long in Europe if you can't defend properly. I didn't expect it to be taken to those extremes, but nevertheless...defending seems to have become a little bit of a lost art in the Prem this season - hence some very bizarre results and scorelines. It seems that you can get away with it domestically, providing you have the firepower up front. In Europe it's a different matter, as all the other EPL teams found out!
