Chelsea Are Champions. A round up Fan Perspective.

 

Courtesy of Getty Images.

Cc. Wilson Oluoch.

It has been five days since the end of the European club football campaign and it couldn’t have come better for Chelsea who were on the right side of history on Saturday night after being crowned Champions of Europe in the all English showdown in Porto.

Here is a build up all season long to that historic night in Portugal

 

THIS IS VERY MUCH LAMPARD’S CHELSEA

Before the start of this season, Chelsea begun a project that would see them return to European pedigree but midway through it, it was seen best that club legend Frank Lampard be relieved of his duties and Thomas Tuchel was given the top office …  “Same project, new project manager”

But he didn’t leave as a total disappointment. Perhaps his greatest legacy will be assembling this line up which as reports would have it at the time of Tuchel’s arrival , ‘every manager’s dream’

Handing first team debuts to Mason Mount and Reece James among other academy players in my opinion should be a great feat. Mount has just won the Premier League Academy Graduate award for 2020-21 adding to the Chelsea’s men’s player of the Year he won last month and is a nominee for the PFA men’s Young Player of the Year award and the Player of the Season award as well. Mount created the second-most chances (87) in the Premier League this season and 99 in the domestic league + CL , only Lionel Messi had more (100) finishing above Manchester City’s Kevin De Bruyne (95)

Both Mount and James made the cut deservingly for England’s Euro 2020 squad amidst high competition and will both be looking to start games.

Was the UCL final perhaps James’ biggest performance in a Chelsea shirt with the player making 7 tackles (most) and 5 clearances (most) while Mount’s 3 chances created were the most in the match and he misplaced only one pass in his 80 minutes on the pitch on that night. MADE IN CHELSEA, COMMISSIONED BY LAMPARD…COBHAM’S FINEST !!!

 

Another success story of Lampard that might go under the radar is the signing of Chilwell from Leicester. Chelsea were looking to improve on their left side of defense with Marcos Alonso failing to impress and while the likes of Nicolas Tagliafico (Ajax), Sergio Regulion (then Real Madrid) and Alex Telles (then FC Porto) being fan preferences and causing disunity among the fanbase, Lampard pushed for the signing of Chilwell who was a much more expensive signing than all the other options and boy did it pay well. Chilwell’s adaptation from LB to LWB role shouldn’t go unnoticed and his presence as a dressing room favorite is also a boost to squad morale. With Luke Shaw (Manchester United) having had a perhaps individually better campaign than Chilly, Southgate has a decision to make on who starts for England.

This was Thiago Silva’s message to the former gaffer after finally winning the Champions League ; “Tuchel has changed the team mentality, but it is also important to talk about Lampard. Without him I would not be here. So, thanks to him for letting me sign here. I’m very happy and I hope he is, too”

 

GOOD DEFENCE STARTED LONG BEFORE TUCHEL

Tuchel ball as many fans would have it, has been about being selfish with the ball, recovering possession of the ball as soon as it is lost and conceding less. Tuchel’s Chelsea have had the best defense in Europe this season (bring on the conversation, I am ready for it)

Last season Chelsea finished fourth and could have done a place better had it not been for the huge number of goals they conceded (54 – the most goals conceded in the top 10) and while Kepa was largely criticized for most of them, Chelsea’s defense was not good especially when defending set pieces. Summer signing Edouard Mendy has been an upgrade but one arrangement was made prior to his arrival for 22 million Rennes from French outfit Rennes.

Anthony Barry joined Chelsea’s backroom staff from Wigan Athletic in the summer of 2020 as a defensive coach and has been a big shout to Chelsea’s defensive improvement this term.  He also coaches the Republic of Ireland national football team and his work at the club is surely noticeable.

Hats off Coach Barry.

 

HEY LEICESTER, WE HAD THE LAST LAUGH

On Saturday 15^th May, Leicester beat Chelsea at Wembley Stadium for the FA Cup title casting doubts to the impressive season the Chelsea supporters thought they had. This came just three days after Chelsea’s home loss to Arsenal leaving our top 4 finish hopes in the air and just two weeks to the showdown in Porto. Deservingly the better team won and what a way to score a cup winning goal !!! PS Chelsea fans, no way Mendy would have saved that strike. Not even prime Cech .Give Kepa some breathing space !!!

Three days after that painful final to lose and both sides met again at Stamford Bridge and was this the final that mattered most ? I believe yes. I will not take away Leicester’s FA Cup win as any lesser but that top 4 finish would have meant more in terms of revenue to the club (15 million euros is the base fee for the group stage, each group stage victory worth over 2.7 million euros and a draw worth 900,00 euros compared to the FA Cup final prize money of 1.8 million euros). As much as Chelsea slipped again against Aston Villa in the final day, one would feel the real six pointer was this second leg match that Chelsea won over Leicester seeing them miss out on Champions League participation on the very last moments of their campaign.

So yes Leicester, we had the last laugh. “Money talks”

 

IS CHELSEA THE BEST RUN CLUB IN THE PREM

If not the best, then we are one of the best run clubs.

Thank you Roman.

Ever since his takeover no English team has had the success Chelsea has enjoyed. (16 honors since 2003 )

Abramovich’s penchant for change alongside a substantial amount of investment has paved the way for the most successful period in Chelsea’s history.

Record winning stints by Chelsea Youth and Chelsea Women teams also add to the brand success under the Russian owner.

The loan system has also proven to be another good aspect to the day to day running of Chelsea giving quality game time to upcoming talents rather than having them play in the development leagues (big shout to Armando Broja, 19 years who spent the season on loan at Vitesse and Marc Guehi who was such a sensation in the Championship with Swansea). This season alone, Chelsea had 5 players getting first team premier league action ( Ross Barkley, Michy Batshuayi, Loftus-Cheek, Conor Gallagher and Ethan Ampadu) This goes a long way in player development as well as increasing the value of players for the transfer market.

 

YOU KEEP YOUR STATS, WE’LL KEEP OUR PLAYERS

An aspect of the game that has come to play overtime is the increase of online activity amongst fans and game players as well and with Chelsea spending big last summer, this only fueled high expectations and major comparisons by fans from different camps. The online battles have not been a good place for CFC hopefuls as our players have not been high up there in terms of appreciated individual performers. Jorginho finished as our PL top scorer on 7 goals followed by a second tie among Tammy Abraham, Mason Mount and Timo Werner with 6 goals. In a campaign that saw Kane finish on 23 goals this was far off the mark. In fact, no team had finished in the top 4 for  very long time without a 10+ goal haul.

Well, we did and I will take a team win over player success any day.

Food for thought ; Did our non reliance on a single player help us out this campaign or it’s a mistake to correct come next season ?

 

41:57

“…HAVERTZ IN A POCKET OF SPACE

EDERSON CAME AND DIDN’T GET THERE

CHANCE FOR CHELSEA

GOAL FOR CHELSEA

KAI HAVERTZ IN THE CHAMPIONS LEAGUE FINAL…”

41:57 … the exact time of the match that made Chelsea the Champions of Europe, again !!

My 3 takes on that moment

1. That’s just Havertz.

It wasn’t a moment of redemption for our young German attacker. It was his moment. That is his level. Class is permanent and Kai is class, don’t be fooled by the bad season he had. He didn’t lose the generational talent title he had before boarding that plane to London. Expect more from him.

2. Werner’s role in that goal.

In a layman’s view, it was their (Manchester City) back 4 against our  front 3 leaving ideally 2 defenders on one of our attacker at any given time in transitional play. We caught the off guard and that Werner’s run to the left pulling with him Ruben Dias ensured Kai Havertz was left on a 1v1 situation that if you look keenly had Ederson panicking that he was outside the box while he made that tackle. If that ball didn’t go in that would definitely be a shout for a foul, a red card foul on Ederson. Werner’s contribution to Chelsea has been immense. He might not have found his scoring form yet, but as a fan I am not at all worried. We play better when he is on the pitch. His pace, dribbling, movement and effort will come good for Chelsea and it did at 41:57

3. They act like two legends cannot co-exist.

Oh what a pass from Mount that was ! The weight of the pass and his vision and timing was perfection. A thing of beauty. Upon the arrival of Havertz, Mount’s game time was put to doubt and even with the change of managers mid season, Mount still proved that he is proper Chels. Not here to take part...here to take over. What a time to show that we can appreciate both talents.

 

WHAT UCL GLORY MEANS TO THIS CROP OF CHELSEA PLAYERS

The belief, hunger, confidence and team spirit this achievement brings to any dressing room is unmatched and to Chelsea it would mean so much more considering just how young most of our squad is. Pulisic, Havertz, Chilwell, Mount, Reece James, Odoi are all yet to turn 24.

Add a manager that will put his arms around these players then the mental aspect of Chelsea’s game just went up a big mile.

 

Speaking to his father, Tony Mount, moments after the final whistle when he went down the stands to embrace his son and Champion of Europe, Mason Mount had this to say : “You’ve won it. You’ve won the Champions League, can you believe it” Mason’s reply :”Yeah, I’m gonna win the Premier League now”

 

That is the sound of a motivated serial winner and my bet, he is gonna win the Prem. That is Mason (my future captain and you can easily see why) and that is the future of this Chelsea side.

 

PEP DID NOT OVERTHINK THE GAME, HE LOST THE GAME

Rival fans, give Tuchel his credits.

Twice already, Tuchel had already outdone Pep, why wouldn’t he a third time ?

Pep Guardiola is arguably the best manager out there currently, he has been in this big situations more times than Tuchel. I argue he arrived in the final better prepared than our manager was and to quote his post game thoughts ... he picked a starting 11 he felt would have won the match.

City played 2 holding midfielders (Rodri and Fernandinho) in the FA Cup semis and lost, they played 1 holding midfielder (Rodri) in our second leg league match and lost. I completely discredit the claims that City lost because they did not start a holding midfielder in the UCL Final.

 

I have mad respect and admiration for Pep Guardiola. His work at Barcelona, Bayern Munich and Manchester City is nothing short of amazing. To date, I still enjoy watching his teams play and that one night will not take away his achievements so far. Pep is clear of Tuchel but let us all agree that Tuchel came good over him deservingly.

Pep is ahead, Tuchel will hunt him from the opening week of next season. Game on !!!

                                                                             

SUMMER TRANSFERS

Like every team, Chelsea will look to sharpen their squad ahead of a new season and being crowned Champions of Europe as well as the investment Roman Abramovich puts into this team and recent transfer market activity only feels like it may be yet another exciting transfer window.

I would not read much into most rumours as of yet with the Euros being played In the summer. I personally feel that most deals will have to happen before or after the Euros and with the names linked with us being high profile names from high profile teams, these deals tend to be more complicated. I just don’t see any happening before the tournament.

Most noise has been made around striker acquisitions with Halaand, Lukaku and Kane all mentioned.

Manchester United target Jadon Sancho is also gaining traction at Chelsea if a striker is unattainable. There has been reports of an incoming CDM, Westham’s Declan Rice making a comeback on transfer rumours at the bridge with alternatives being Benfica’s Julian Weigl and Monaco’s Aurelien Tchouameni. A new center back is also in the conversation so fans can be sure to feed off a lot of transfer speculation.

To note is that there will have to be so many outgoings for this incomings to be realistically attained... Emerson to Inter Milan, Giroud to AC Milan, Tammy Abraham to make a PL switch, Kepa to make a La Liga return are just a few of the expected moves making rounds with many loan outgoings expected, as usual.

 

That has been part of Chelsea’s 2020-21 campaign for you.