Chelsea 2021/22 - World and European Champions

Status
Not open for further replies.
Conceding very few goals is impressive in its own right but to me but it's just not something I particularly value as a Manchester United fan. I just don't find your particular brand of football entertaining, this I said I just don't find it impressive.

That's not me saying it's easy and everyone can do it, it's just personal preference.

Fair enough. Appreciate the chat mate!

Is Middlesbrough better then Man Utd just because they've won a game? Of course not. Credit to them but everyone knows the better team lost. Chelsea was like Middlesbrough.

:wenger:
 
Is Middlesbrough better then Man Utd just because they've won a game? Of course not. Credit to them but everyone knows the better team lost. Chelsea was like Middlesbrough.
In four weeks Chelsea did comfortably beat City three times, which means delayed their PL title, kicked them out of the FA Cup and won the CL.

I would agree that Chelsea really hit a purple patch at that time, but that is completely different to being a fluke. It was well deserved and Pep simply took far too long to find a solution against Chelsea, that cost them two cups last season.
 
In four weeks Chelsea did comfortably beat City three times, which means delayed their PL title, kicked them out of the FA Cup and won the CL.

I would agree that Chelsea really hit a purple patch at that time, but that is completely different to being a fluke. It was well deserved and Pep simply took far too long to find a solution against Chelsea, that cost them two cups last season.
I'm glad it happened. Imagine City winning the CL... I'll take a fluke from Chelsea then a deserved City win any day thank you.
 
No, I disagree with that personally. I don't think you fluked the win but I also don't really think you were the best team on merit. You just overperformed and the OTHER teams underperformed.

I fixed the underline so you can correctly describe what winning is. Thanks.
 
They give a little trophy, with some engraving at the bottom: Champions of Europe. It all looks very nice really. Some day maybe City will win it and you’ll get to know how it feels! The talent, planning, systems … all of that is for the sole purpose of winning those games that make you champion. If you are the “more talented, super awesome” team that loses … every year, then people clap politely and laugh at you at parties.
 
You won the CL under another manager. Where is he now? Credit to TT for the CL win of course, but cup competitions can be a fluke at times if not backed up by consistency. And Pep messed up the final imo.
The Tuchel and Di Matteo comparisons have got to be one of the most ridiculous comparisons I've ever seen.
 
No, I disagree with that personally. I don't think you fluked the win but I also don't really think you were the best team on merit. You just overperformed and the better teams underperformed.

Does it matters though?

United 99 weren't favorite to win CL that season, it was Bayern, Real Madrid, and Juventus.
Somehow United defeated Juventus in the semis, and Bayern in the final with 2 last minute goals by Ole, after getting dominated the whole game by the germans.

I'm pretty sure Man Utd fans celebrated anyway, and didn't give a crap that the rivals were considered better.

Luck will be always involved in Cup competitions, sometimes you benefit from it other times it hurts you.
 
Does it matters though?

United 99 weren't favorite to win CL that season, it was Bayern, Real Madrid, and Juventus.
Somehow United defeated Juventus in the semis, and Bayern in the final with 2 last minute goals by Ole, after getting dominated the whole game by the germans.

I'm pretty sure Man Utd fans celebrated anyway, and didn't give a crap that the rivals were considered better.

Luck will be always involved in Cup competitions, sometimes you benefit from it other times it hurts you.
Mate we won the treble, slightly different.
 
Depends how you would define a 'fluke' really.

If it's just something unlikely then yeah, I think it's pretty reasonable to suggest it was a fluke as you weren't the best team in the competition, making you winning it unlikely by definition.

United weren't the main favorites to win the UCL in 99 either, they were behind Juventus,Real Madrid, and Bayern Munich in the preview.

Didn't stop Man Utd fans to celebrate after winning the trophy, it didn't matter for them if Bayern dominated Man Utd for 90 minutes, as Ole scored two late winners in 3 minutes.

Nobody actually cares about winning a trophy being the best, at least not in real life, probably some football hipsters on Twitter do.
 
Mate we won the treble, slightly different.

It's correct you won the treble, but the thing is you are saying Chelsea weren't favorites to win the UCL, and other teams were better in the preview analysis, so it was arguably a fluke.
This can be applied to United in 99 as well, because the main favorites to win the UCL that season were Real Madrid,Juventus, and Bayern Munich, not United.

That didn't stop Man Utd fans from celebrating Ole late winners against Bayern, because nobody in real life cares about winning being the "best team of the competition", only football hipsters on social media do.
 
United weren't the main favorites to win the UCL in 99 either, they were behind Juventus,Real Madrid, and Bayern Munich in the preview.

Didn't stop Man Utd fans to celebrate after winning the trophy, it didn't matter for them if Bayern dominated Man Utd for 90 minutes, as Ole scored two late winners in 3 minutes.

Nobody actually cares about winning a trophy being the best, at least not in real life, probably some football hipsters on Twitter do.
Ole didn't score 2 late winners
 
It's correct you won the treble, but the thing is you are saying Chelsea weren't favorites to win the UCL, and other teams were better in the preview analysis, so it was arguably a fluke.
This can be applied to United in 99 as well, because the main favorites to win the UCL that season were Real Madrid,Juventus, and Bayern Munich, not United.

That didn't stop Man Utd fans from celebrating Ole late winners against Bayern, because nobody in real life cares about winning being the "best team of the competition", only football hipsters on social media do.

In fact it's much more enjoyable to win - and fully deserved at that - against the "favorites" rather than steamrolling each and everything. Pep had everything at hand and didn't find a solution - easy as that. Was Bayern really the best team in Europe last time they won the CL? Real with all the luck they had (no VAR / late goals /no Salah but Karius etc pp) in their CL runs while they never won the national league in those years? That's not how cup competitions work or how the general perception works. And just because United won two national titles in '99 doesn't make them Europa's best team because they positively fluked against Bayern in the CL.
 
Was Bayern really the best team in Europe last time they won the CL?
Yes. There are examples for CL runs and even wins that aren't backed by performances, especially when you look at the team in different competitions (like you mention Chelsea last year in the PL were good, but nothing compared to their CL form, Real's run of three CLs was similar), but Bayern absolutely smashed everyone in every competition while breaking records in that season.
 
Interesting to see how much funds they have for transfers and how much is allocated to invading Ukraine.
 
Yes. There are examples for CL runs and even wins that aren't backed by performances, especially when you look at the team in different competitions (like you mention Chelsea last year in the PL were good, but nothing compared to their CL form, Real's run of three CLs was similar), but Bayern absolutely smashed everyone in every competition while breaking records in that season.
Still the only international big dog they faced that year was PSG, injury ridden at that too and the huge covid bonus that all the other leagues had either a heavy rotation program right up to the start of that little tourney (England / Spain) or a huuuge pause (without being able to at least train collectively as well) with only two games before (Lyon and Paris) - at least with PSG those two were finals. While Bayern had a roundabout 4 week pause before the headed to Lisboa - so basically a nice resting pause and then even a little pre-season like phase and the bonus on top to still have a second leg against Lampard's Chelsea (which was basically already done and dusted after the first leg months before). There is a reason Flick didn't work that well in his second season. Not saying they didn't deserve it btw. but were they the very best team? Who knows. Would have been nice to see them perform against Pool / City at least once.
 
The Tuchel and Di Matteo comparisons have got to be one of the most ridiculous comparisons I've ever seen.

They love that comparison on this forum, baffles me too.
 
Still the only international big dog they faced that year was PSG, injury ridden at that too and the huge covid bonus that all the other leagues had either a heavy rotation program right up to the start of that little tourney (England / Spain) or a huuuge pause (without being able to at least train collectively as well) with only two games before (Lyon and Paris) - at least with PSG those two were finals. While Bayern had a roundabout 4 week pause before the headed to Lisboa - so basically a nice resting pause and then even a little pre-season like phase and the bonus on top to still have a second leg against Lampard's Chelsea (which was basically already done and dusted after the first leg months before). There is a reason Flick didn't work that well in his second season. Not saying they didn't deserve it btw. but were they the very best team? Who knows. Would have been nice to see them perform against Pool / City at least once.
Surely Covid created a lot of chaos that season which makes it a bit difficult to rate that season, that's true.

Also it sounds a bit like you use the point that the return leg against Chelsea was easy against Bayern - but it was easy because of the job they did in the first leg.

Additionally Barcelona was still considered a top team at the time. After the 8-2 not so much...

And regarding your last point: They sold Thiago to Liverpool and to this day are searching a midfielder who controls the game in front of the defense like he often did.
 
Surely Covid created a lot of chaos that season which makes it a bit difficult to rate that season, that's true.

Also it sounds a bit like you use the point that the return leg against Chelsea was easy against Bayern - but it was easy because of the job they did in the first leg.

Additionally Barcelona was still considered a top team at the time. After the 8-2 not so much...

And regarding your last point: They sold Thiago to Liverpool and to this day are searching a midfielder who controls the game in front of the defense like he often did.

Chelsea wasn't a big dog that season, right? I think we all can agree to that. So having a second leg after a 4 week pause against a lesser team with a, what, 4:0 result from the first encounter is surely beneficial to get back into the rhythm opposed to not having a second leg and start right away with a do or die game.

Barcelona was already heavy on the decline. The 8:2 wasn't the cause but a result of that (and Bayern being on fire). Although IIRC Barca was quite unlucky no to go in front 2:0; like Lyon who had 2 fat chances before Bayern got going and PSG had the better chances in the first half as well so it was also quite lucky for Bayern never having to fight their way back into a match. Just saying though, it's not their fault how covid regulations worked or who they had to face but things turned out very fortunate for them as well so there is always a very distinct flavor of luck involved - and shouldn't keep anyone from celebrating those things. Surely nobody mocks the Greeks celebrating when they won the Europa. I mean sure, some pleople certainly did so but it tells more about them than about those celebrating..
 
Some of the posts here calling Chelsea’s win in the CL last year a fluke and comparing Tuchel to Di Matteo are just laughable:lol:
“They clearly overperformed last year given how they are struggling now or dont play better than last year” well how about some context? They had injuries to many of thier key players (kante, kova, chiwell, james etc) along with players going in and out of the squad because of covid and a very congested schedule with no postponements even with covid unlike some other teams (Chelsea played the most games out of every other team this season till now and they are still in other competitions as well).
When they had all of their starters especially Chilwell and James they were playing some good football and basically winning games easily then it all went down once their key players got injured in my opinion.
 
Ole didn't score 2 late winners
Sheringham scored the equalizer. And Olé scored the winner. Maybe we owe Teddy the right to manage the club for 3 years. :confused:

And regarding your last point: They sold Thiago to Liverpool and to this day are searching a midfielder who controls the game in front of the defense like he often did.
I might be wrong but I don't remember Thiago being that important in Flick's first season. Actually, Kimmich did that job in the midfield and Thiago got to play the final 8 of the CL because of Pavard's injury that made Kimmich play as a right back.

There is a reason Flick didn't work that well in his second season. Not saying they didn't deserve it btw. but were they the very best team? Who knows. Would have been nice to see them perform against Pool / City at least once.
Only the combination of Lewa's injury, the wastefulness of Bayern on the first leg, Neymar's outragious talent with PSG's unbeleivable luck prevented Bayern from cruising into the semis and most likely beat both City and Chelsea...
.
 
Only the combination of Lewa's injury, the wastefulness of Bayern on the first leg, Neymar's outragious talent with PSG's unbeleivable luck prevented Bayern from cruising into the semis and most likely beat both City and Chelsea...

Nah, Lewa's injury wasn't the reason they conceded that many goals. More like: playing that relentless - almost kamikaze style like - pressing for a whole season without lockdown - breaks or a nice 4 weeks pause before a tourney when everybody else has a tight schedule or no season altogether makes a huge impact. But you are right of course: having a fit Neymar, Mbappé and Verratti in the CL final would have made a more interesting game, I agree.

But I'm out now, this is the Chelsea thread - and I hope they'll smash Lille with a couple of goals by big Rom just because.
 
Nah, Lewa's injury wasn't the reason they conceded that many goals.

Bayern didn't concede too many. PSG knocked them out with away goals. So yes, Lewa's finishing would definitely have impacted that tie.

That first leg is Bayern's only loss in their last 30ish CL games. They are winning 90 % of their CL games. They won the CL in 2019/20 by winning every single one of their games. In comparison, the majestic Liverpool of 2019 that was crowned CL champions only made it out of the group stage on general goal difference, having marginally outscored Napoli against Red Star.


Bayern-1.png
Bayern-2.png
 
I might be wrong but I don't remember Thiago being that important in Flick's first season. Actually, Kimmich did that job in the midfield and Thiago got to play the final 8 of the CL because of Pavard's injury that made Kimmich play as a right back.
Thiago played whenever he was fit, started every CL game under Flick, only missed the last BL games due to injury. Kimmich Was more spectacular and dominant in his performances, but Thiago gave them the necessary control.

But I'm out now, this is the Chelsea thread -
To get back on topic: The only manager who came close to stopping an unstoppable Bayern was the current Chelsea manager, aided by a current Chelsea CB, and they proved their ability (not luck) to do this to dominant teams by beating City last season in CL and FA cup.
 
Seems like Roman has been banned from the UK. Wonder what would that mean for Chelsea long term.

It's interesting situation to follow. At the moment he's been in this situation before, when his visa was denied and he moved out to Israel. That decision scuppered Chelsea's stadium rebuild project, but the team continued to compete as normal.

I wondered about what would happen if the UK government froze his assets (do they have the power to do that?), of which Chelsea is included. It would be a big problem for the PL and UEFA, as it would be kind of unprecedented for a government to prevent a club from competing.
 
Last edited:
Status
Not open for further replies.