Are Chelsea out of it?

[Tim777]

The points that are being made generally are that it is looking unlikely and not that they are out of it.
No-one can say for sure that they are out of the title race until it is mathematically a reality, obviously.
The opinions posed are just banter.

I'd get the popcorn, but there'll probably be an issue about whether it should be done in a pot or a microwave.

[Original Dub]

Are they really our closest rival though? Coming in to the season youd obviously say so but now?
I wouldnt say theyre out of it but I would say its time for us to start trying to determine who our real challenger is.

So to sum things up, we should wait until the very end of the season before determining who will win the league?

Interesting.

[Piccsnumberoneblue]

Do people have short memories or what? It's been five bloody games and we have 33 left!

We were 8 points behind rags with six to go and we did it. now they have 33 games time to claw back 11.

or, another example. Last season, after 21 games & after 32 games:
Chelsea 49 -> 73p
City 47 -> 61p
rags 37 -> 66p
arse 36. -> 65p

so, arse took 16 points more than us, rags took 15 points more than us. and bloody no-one predicted after those 21 rounds that arse would then win 10/11 and especially that City would be as shite as we were.


Good teams can suddenly go on an amazing run. Good teams can suddenly hit a rough patch.
IT HAS BEEN ONLY FIVE ROUNDS FFS.

It's not looking likely and I wouldnt put money on them, but far too early to rule them out.

I'm certainly not getting the bunting out already, and I don't think the title is as good as ours. Yesterday we were without Silva, Sterling and Serg, if that continues even for a few weeks it will undoubtedly take its toll.
I'm also mindful of the fact the when the filth last won the league they were pretty average for a large part of the season.
I think Arsenal look a very decent side, despite Wenger not buying another striker ( they would look very serious rivals if they had)
But this is about Chelsea and their start to the season.
Here is some of my reasoning
They have coughed up a lead that will take them many weeks/ months of winning performances to close that gap EVEN IF they sort out their many problems immediately.
There will be no resting players to get that kind of level and that will take a toll.
The pressure to win is on every game.
The points they have lost are against teams they really wouldn't expect to. The only fixture they would have thought might be a defeat would have been against us. Those home results are a disaster at any stage of the season.
There are now only 99 pts up for grabs and they would probably need at least 81 of them, that's very little wriggle room especially when they have seven of the traditionally tough eight fixtures to play still.
Stats and history are against them.
yes we caught up points on them last season by New Year but we stretched ourselves so much to do it, that we ran out of steam.
We've made a good start but that's all, and if we get much further ahead we will put ourselves in a strong position to rest and rotate players for certain opposition, but Chelsea's opening has all but ruled them out of the race.

[Blue Since 76]

One of the reasons given for Chelsea's poor start is that they started pre-season training later so they wouldn't be as tired at the end of the season. I'd guess they weren't supposed to start this badly but they may not tire as much as others.

Basically, let's just concentrate on getting to 40 points and then see what happens afterwards

[South Stand Balti]

Didn't we lose 4 of our first 11 last time we won the league? Maybe I dreamt that but I think it was the season we lost early doors at Cardiff. All still to play for but we can't do anymore than we have at the mo.

[Piccsnumberoneblue]

[quote="South Stand Balti"]Didn't we lose 4 of our first 11 last time we won the league? Maybe I dreamt that but I think it was the season we lost early doors at Cardiff. All still to play for but we can't do anymore than we have at the mo.[/quote

Yes but that is a bit different.
After five games we had ten points. And even after 11 we had 19 points. We had some big scores, and were playing well, but hadn't quite worked out how to convert that into wins.
And we weren't eleven points off the top.
There wasn't that much wrong with us.

[AG7]

Basically, let's just concentrate on getting to 40 points and then see what happens afterwards

I think we'll get to 42 points this time and not 40 ;)

[WhyAlwaysMe?]

If Newcastle can defeat West Ham tomorrow, Chelsea could actually be dumped into the relegation spots, for at least a week!... Being title holders of the bottom of the table, will definitely unsettle Chelsea & Mourinho!

The betting firms have now changed the odds for Mourinho, Rodgers & Advocaat to get sacked, before the end of the season.

Mourinho's latest rant was at Roberto Martinez:
http://www.express.co.uk/sport/football ... n-unravels

[Piccsnumberoneblue]

I still wonder whether the shite might keep scrawking their way along and staying in contention. At the same time, logically I look at their side, and like Scouse 2, I don't think they have the guile or creativity to break teams down week after week, which you need to compete for the title. I think the shit will be out of it before the Derby at the swamp.
So that leaves Arse.
Come on Blues!

[Foreverinbluedreams]

I still wonder whether the shite might keep scrawking their way along and staying in contention. At the same time, logically I look at their side, and like Scouse 2, I don't think they have the guile or creativity to break teams down week after week, which you need to compete for the title. I think the shit will be out of it before the Derby at the swamp.
So that leaves Arse.
Come on Blues!

I think they'll keep grinding results whilst playing their turgid football, wouldn't be surprised if they're our closest challengers.

[iwasthere2012]

I still wonder whether the shite might keep scrawking their way along and staying in contention. At the same time, logically I look at their side, and like Scouse 2, I don't think they have the guile or creativity to break teams down week after week, which you need to compete for the title. I think the shit will be out of it before the Derby at the swamp.
So that leaves Arse.
Come on Blues!

I think they'll keep grinding results whilst playing their turgid football, wouldn't be surprised if they're our closest challengers.

Gives them false hope until we give them a football lesson they'll not forget in a hurry.
I believe we'll wipe the floor with them if they try to take us on this year.

[branny]

I'm gonna go all stato now. Since we won the league in 2012 (pretty much the first season we became genuine contenders) the lowest winning points total has been 86. To even reach that Chelsea's margin for error is only 17 points (from 33 games). They've already dropped 11 points so even at this early stage they are going to have to put a ridiculous run together to get close to challenging.

[Dimples]

I think Chelsea are out of the race.
As previous posters highlighted they need to have a fantastic run over 33 games.
Can't see how that is possible because:

1. their defensive midfielders are not protecting their back four - leaving the back four open to direct attack
2. the back four are suspect under direct attack - to slow(JT), bad at defending(BI), to rigid(GC), inexperienced (KZ), etc...
3. they cannot buy until January

[Beefymcfc]

They're not out of it but their manager is surely off it

[Bianchi on Ice]

I wouldnt say they are out of it, but due to our start and their poor one the margin for error has reduced greatly, and to be saying that after just five games, well, its a welcome suprise

[london blue 2]

They're still in it for now. a decent cup and chumps cup run for them would play into our hands ;)

[Piccsnumberoneblue]

They're still in it for now. a decent cup and chumps cup run for them would play into our hands ;)

It did cross my mind that cup exits could allow them to do Scouse2 type run in the league. But they would have to be proper shit to not get through that group in Europe

[london blue 2]

They're still in it for now. a decent cup and chumps cup run for them would play into our hands ;)

It did cross my mind that cup exits could allow them to do Scouse2 type run in the league. But they would have to be proper shit to not get through that group in Europe

Tough one for Jose. After their start a cup or at least a final is a must. Where to focus the resources in the "big" games....

[Slim]

They're still in it for now. a decent cup and chumps cup run for them would play into our hands ;)

It did cross my mind that cup exits could allow them to do Scouse2 type run in the league. But they would have to be proper shit to not get through that group in Europe

Tough one for Jose. After their start a cup or at least a final is a must. Where to focus the resources in the "big" games....

I think he'd ditch both domestic cups if he wasn't so fucking arrogant as to think he could still do it all.

[Hutch's Shoulder]

Of course they are not out of it. They look to have a dodgy defence, and failed to buy the player they wanted to fix that, but I'm sure Maureen will come up with a tactic to compensate for it. We should just concentrate on getting as many points as we can to maximise the advantage before he does.

Are Rags and Arsenal out of it - no. Are Scouse out of it, yes :-)