Are we actually heading in the right direction?

A lot of transfer business has been done. Some of our deadweight has been cut, and by cut I mean loaned out and our injured players seem to be coming back to fitness.

On the pitch we looked pretty good against Palace but there are sterner tests to come. It’s so difficult to tell at this early stage of the season if we are actually improving.

So, my question is, are we actually heading in the right direction?

 

The answer has to be yes. Interesting we were unable to offload so many players and it's often because they are on ridiculous wages, making them un- sellable.
RLC on alleged 150,000per week !!! And all he has done for 2 years is hobble on crutches. .Shows how incredibly stupid our recruiting has been in the past.
Putting that aside, we have a squad that was overflowing with mediocrity, Drinkwater, Baba Rahman, Emerson, Alonso, Victor Moses, Christensen, Batshuayi, Jorginho, Barkley, Van Ginkel, each and every one a dud for different reasons Van Ginkel in particular a brilliant career destroyed by injury ( in my opinion). And just those I can remember. Then there's CHO on 150ish pw as well, not because he's earned it, but because Bayern came a looking. Brain dead management.
Frank has finally put the foot down and is only interested is real, serious, proven talent. Havertz last night ran the German midfield, Ziyech ran us ragged at our place with Ajax, Werner scores for fun, and I must admit, Chilwell looks the goods that I couldn't see. All of them light years better than we had.Frank though needs to use them properly. Havertz and Werner are proper centre of field players, not wingers. So Tammy on the bench, CHO on the bench. No point buying a dog and barking yourself.
We are moving in the right direction, but the Manager needs to find his best 11, play them in their best positions, and don't change unless someone becomes so impressive he can't be ignored.Not much sign of that happening yet, so in my book, Frank, who I know quite well personally and really rate, needs to step up tactically and get some mongrel from within. Nice guys rarely finish first.

 

Don’t agree with your treatment of Jorginho, every time you slag him off he plays a blinder and scores goals.

 

Fair enough. Ive never seen him play a blinder, and only ever seen him score from penalties. Worst midfielder Ive personally seen since I started watching Chelsea in 1969.

 

I started in 58 and he isn’t bad but hey let’s agree to disagree yeah!

 

Done ! Happy to change my mind when he plays his next blinder !! Just to be clear, I think he just doesn't suit our style of play. When he plays for Italy, he's far more effective, cause they play slower and he's in the game more.

 

Excuse my ramblings, but I'm really interested in Chelsea before I discovered them, and nothings going on in the PL anyway !
1958 must have been a totally different ballgame, being just before the 60s' Youth revolution, which changed everything for everybody, and football for ever.
When I first came to London from Sydney in 1968, I was just turned 22 and from a household whose grandfather had played for Arsenal. My Dad was from Wallasey, Mum an Aussie daughter of parents with Irish origins , but lately from St Marys Cray in Kent. Her Dad had been on Arsenals' books when they were still in Greenwnich.
What a different world that was.
I arrived just at the end of the Beatles era, but Kings Road was still awash with mini skirts and Chelsea footballers, chasing the mini skirts or vice versa.
So I became a Chelsea fan. In 1976 I went back to Sydney, and in 1985 came back to London, this time lured by a really well paid job, and I bought a house in Chelsea, in Oakfield St, just near the Hollywood Arms. Spent the next 27 years in the area, in my second Chelsea house in Cathcart Road, just around the corner from Franks place in Tregunter Road. So I've lived 37 of my 74 years in Chelsea, and revisit every year (except this one).
Followed us through the ups and downs, and this looks like another up one to me.
Please tell me what it was like to support Chelsea in 1958.

 

I lived in Ealing (north west London) my Dad was a massive Chelsea fan and used to take me and my elder brother to some of the home games. My first if my memory serves me right was probably the Everton game which we won 3-1 with Jimmy Greaves netting two. Been a fan since, I think we finished mid table but had some well known names in the team in Greaves, Matthews, Bentley, Mortimer, Braybrook & the Sillet Brothers. Terrible stadium back then but I often wondered if the peanut man was a pro cricketer as he had a great arm.

 

Your signings have been excellent - you have a big squad with some very good youngsters.

If I'm honest its hard to judge Lampard at this point.

When Arteta took over Arsenal we were on a an awful run of performances midway through the Season - after 4-5 games you could see a clear improvement. The win percentage has gone up - and we are playing better football.

Lampards win % soo far is 50% - whereas Sarri was 63%. He finished 3rd in his first Season as Chelsea manager with 72pts 2 places above Sarri's team (17-18) which finished with 70pts.

I want to see how Lampard does after a run of poor results can he pick the side up when confidence is low? Much like Arteta he's an inexperienced manager and we dont really know what his ceiling is at this point.

 

It's a tricky situation for every team with these Covid problems. Liverpool, ManU and City have all had weird results, Spurs look pretty good one week and poor the next, but so do everyone else. Arsenal I haven't seen much of yet while we are still undercooked and waiting for key players to recover from injuries.
Not sure how we can judge anyone yet, and it is looking even money that the entire European football machine might be stopped again unless someone gets a grip on the increasing Covid toll. Here in Oz covid is spluttering away though we have been luckier than most, apart from where I am in Melbourne. We're in week 11 of lockdown , nothing open except Chemists and Supermarkets. We get 2 hrs per day outside for exercise, masks compulsory, 1 visit per day for shopping and cannot travel anywhere for any reason beyond 5 kms from home. Supposed to loosen up in 1 week ,but cases still not dropping enough, so may be extended again !!

 

I think the second half against Palace showed that the overall fitness of the group had improved no end. Good management from Frank changing it up at half time made all the difference. Palace are a resilient team and had started well this term with 6 points but we blew them away. We are definitely making progress and exciting times ahead as injured players become available again.