Straight to the point. The squad is too thin and the stadium issue has become a joke. The stadium. Who are the 'elite' clubs? Barca, Real, Man Utd, Bayern, PSG, Man City. Compared to Chelsea, all of those clubs have stadiums that are much bigger and stadiums that can also be expanded if required. The Nou Camp has a 99,000 capacity, the Bernabeau, 81,000 and Old Trafford 75,000. Bayern have a capacity of 69,000. Stamford Bridge has a capacity of 41,000, and the new stadium if it ever gets built is projected to cost around £1 billion, and will have a capacity of 60,000. Still much lower than other top level clubs, and that capacity will be set in stone and could not be increased due to its west London location surrounded by prime real estate and a train station. The cost will equate to £52,600 per additional seat! Crazy, utterly crazy. On that basis alone, the club are going to struggle to compete at the elite level in the future. The board talk about bringing youth through, and anyone with any degree of intelligence knows that too many young players who are not quite ready will turn the club into a Southampton, a Tottenham or a Monaco. I.e. a feeder club for bigger clubs. There is already talk of Luiz leaving if another defender arrives, and again that will leave the club with a wafer thin squad that will not be able to compete effectively in the PL, CL and other cups. Man City's current squad: Manchester City Players | Men's Team Squad 2017/18 | MCFC. Chelsea's current squad: First Team The club are 3 or 4 players short of being able to compete in all competitions where regular rotation is required re' tiredness, injury and form. I don't know what the vision of the Board is, but it might be that a new board is needed if Chelsea are to continue at the elite level. Thoughts?
After reading your OP it’s pretty clear we’re doomed for relegation in the next few years. Thanks for the heads up. I’ll ask Santa for a City shirt for Christmas.
On a positive note, at least one attacking player in January. Lemar would be ideal, and NO departures. Plus Sandro for left wing back and NO departures. That would come to around £130 million, which the club can afford. Who knows, the CL might then be a definite maybe, as opposed to a probably not.
We do have a continuing habit of never strengthening after a title win. Also known for spending huge amounts on average players rather than spending more for higher quality. A change in the technical director is what we needed in my opinion. Still don't know who is to blame for not even strengthening our wing backs as well as leaving everything so late in the summer. A high quality LWB, CB, CM, ST and RW and I'd say we are ready.
Agreed with Cicero. There is a conservative element at the club that has to change. Attacking players are reluctant to join, and last night especially against Arsenal, we were crying out for an Oxlade Chamberlain to come on and inject some creativity. Having said that, Zapacosta did very well. Missed Costa last night, and he would have buried at least two of Morata's chances and maybe more. He wanted to leave however and the club were right to sell an unhappy player. Wenger has obviously failed to learn that lesson, and keeps players who want away. Stupid. Conte is a fantastic coach but talking about 'luck' is stupid talk. Barcelona are not 'lucky' to have won a huge number of trophies over the last 10 years. They bought the right attacking players. Beckham wasn't 'lucky' to score all of those free kicks. He stayed behind and practised his technique relentlessly. Morata and Batshuayi should be staying behind practising one on ones over and over again. It's got nothing to do with luck. If Conte honestly thinks that luck plays a big part in success he's not going to last long. That's what happened to Ancelotti. You make your own 'luck', that's it. We need Alex Sandro, Alexis Sanchez or Lemar (probably too expensive and would prefer Liverpool) and Luiz needs to stay. Otherwise there will be no progress in the CL, and Liverpool will overtake us to become the main challengers to Man City. The board need to move much more quickly and decisively in the transfer market or the club risk getting left behind. The conservative element needs to be ditched very quickly.
The club has massive appeal in Thailand. Lots and lots and lots of retired chelsea fans over here. They are generally well known in the far east.
