CL or PL? For me I want that PL crown back, 2010 was 4 years ago and having won the CL in 2012 we really need to establish ourselves solidly in England then consider mounting a big CL challenge. With Mourinho at the helm I think anything is possible including a PL and CL double in a couple of seasons providing we strengthen in 2 or 3 key areas.
Premier League is the bread and butter for me. We need to take it back or I fear City will become dominant. If we get far enough in CL, with the luck that is needed then I will want to win that too, but a good run like this year would be just as great.
For my money PL and CL should both be our focus, the rest should be squad comps. I'd focus on why we can't beat poor teams, why our best players get grief from the manager, who is going to score the goals, who is going to create the goals and who is going to reinforce the back 4 who stop the goals. Then I'd focus on team spirit, a more attacking style and staying out of trouble with the authorities. If theres any focus left, focus on bring through some young players.
There's so many things to focus on. Like why we can only score against teams that attack us, yet against Minnows who park the bus, we cannot unlock them for toffee. Then address our own bus, and the fact that, Lets face it, with the team we have, everytime we come up against a decent team in the CL we let them have all the possession and defend in droves and then try to counter attack. Watching us play on TV is like walking a tight rope, im constantly sweating and getting heart palpatations. By playing like this all the time I feel we are selling ourselves short, with the talent and flair we have especially in our attacking midfielders such as Hazard, Oscar, Willian, Schurrle. We should atleast TRY to dictate some of the play. Against teams like Barca it is suicide to play an open game granted, because you wont beat them like that, but when you see us do it to teams like Benfica (such as in the EL final, which they should have won), its makes me scratch my head. First up, become more dynamic up front with some new talent and avoid complacency against smaller teams. We smashed the head to heads against our title rivals this year (6 points vs City and Pool, 4 points from L'Arse), but then seeing us draw at home to West Ham and Norwich......made me want to flip my coffee table.
We have some players who want to attack than defend like Schurrle, Salah, Hazard and Oscar. Ideally play all four of them with Matic and Costa against the lesser sides, outscore the opposition to win instead of hoping for a lucky break. But I have no complaints about the way we have conducted ourselves against the big teams. If we fix the former and continue the latter then we may as well start celebrating now.
Hopefully but can't see us doing as well against the big sides next year so we'll really have to improve elsewhere. What are the chances of 6 points v city and Liverpool again?
Nicked from the Arsenal board: The table amongst the top 7, and the table of the top 7 vs everyone else: Top 7 Mini League 1. Chelsea..... 8W - 3D - 1L - 27pts 2. Man City.... 8W - 1D - 3L - 25pts 3. Liverpool.... 7W - 1D - 4L - 22pts 4. Everton..... 4W - 3D - 5L - 15pts 5. Arsenal...... 3W - 4D - 5L - 13pts 6. Spurs........ 2W - 3D - 7L - 9pts 7. Man Utd.... 1W - 3D - 8L - 6pts Top 7 vs. Everyone Else 1. Arsenal..... 21W - 3D - 2L - 66pts 2. Liverpool... 19W - 5D - 2L - 62pts 3. Man City... 19W - 4D - 3L - 61pts 4. Spurs....... 19W - 3D - 4L - 60pts 5. Man Utd... 18W - 4D - 4L - 58pts 6. Everton.... 17W - 6D - 3L - 57pts 7. Chelsea.... 17W - 4D - 5L - 55pts Shocking really, against teams outside the top 7, even United and Spurs performed better than us!! This needs sorting immediately.
Summary: Chelsea are important game bottlers who can raise their performance against big clubs like other small clubs tend to do
Liverpool have epitomised important game bottling in the last few weeks (Against us and Palace). Im still shocked by that second table though, we really were **** against lower teams this year!!
Surely that table says they are unimportant game bottlers? Maybe their manager's arrogance rubs off and the attitude in those games is wrong?
If you beat a rival it is more important because it stops them getting points. Not sure of your logic. Bad wummery.
Whether its arrogance, attitude or a bit of both, it is both the teams' and the managers achilles heel. Some really serious soul searching needed off season.
It was lack of creativity and striker. jose's record of beating leser teams is the superb. Check his record with us, Inter and Real
agreed. Striker is the main reason - we find difficult to carve open lesser teams, when they sitback. Jose's arrogance is his strength and not achilles heel.
