Football Manager 2018 Story, Chelsea's Faith.

What if Roman Abramovich the Russian billionaire at Chelsea had the foresight to find a manager to role with in the same way Manchester United did with Sir Alex Ferguson could this be the way to make Chelsea the biggest club in the world. I believe with the right backing not in money but in faith the right manager can lead Chelsea to domination and that is why I am here I am going to try and buck the trend of a manager lasting a mere 1-1/2 years under Ambramovic. Under the Abramovich era we have seen some of the biggest football managers come and go from Ranieri, Mourinho, Hiddick, Ancelotti and now Conte, all of which managed to win trophies but none never managed to nail down the job. Well this time it’s my turn and I am going in with the intention of staying I want captain this ship and sail it through the smooth seas as well as the choppy ones and I believe given the chance I can match some of Sir Alex Fergusons achievements and pass others.

I know what I am doing is extremely optimistic but the infrastructure is already in place at Chelsea which gets us off on the right foot. For this to work though there are a few challenges that we will have to overcome some of which Sir Alex did not:

1. We have a billionaire owner that is too quick to pull the trigger on under performing managers. (The way around this is to win something each year and qualify for the Champions League each year)
2. There is some Fierce competition not just from abroad but in England too as rich owners continue to plow money into their respective clubs meaning the top players are harder to obtain and more importantly keep. (My answer to this will be to focus on bringing in potential rather than the finished article)
3. With the new rules following BREXIT work permits are going to be harder to obtain. (With this in mind I will invest heavily in our youth recruitment system as well as our youth academy and aim to bring through at least 1 product of the youth system each season)

Format

First off I just want to say this is a hobby save and not meant for any other purpose I just thought it would be nice to know other people could see how I was getting on.

This save will be published in a diary format on a Monday with an outlook on how I have got on over the week. As I work full time I cannot guarantee how much I will do from 1 week to the next but I tend to get 2 hours a night in so there should be plenty to chat about.

Chelsea have some fantastic history already achieved but by the time i am finished i would like our trophy cabinet to match Manchester United's.

Week 1



This year I have gone with a system that sees 3 at the back and 3 out and out strikers. What this means is we are going to be heavily reliant on the 2 central midfielders for our transitional play as well as the wing backs who are going to have to be tireless in running the line. As far as the fullbacks go I will need players that have high attributes in work rate, acceleration, tackling and crossing.

Signing Koulibaly £22m


Although I was not looking at spending on big players after having a good look at the squad I decided a centre back was a must as I want to build a team starting this year. So the reason I decided on Koulibaly was I think he will be the ideal replacement for Cahill who I think is past it and will leave us with David Luiz as 4th choice CB. Also being just 26 we should get 4 good years out of him and by then Christensen and Zouma should be peaking too.



After a really good preseason I finally got my chance to try my hand in a competitive game in the seasons traditional curtain raiser in the Community Shield. We played Arsenal who set up in a 3-4-3 formation similar to ours except they were using a wide front 3. The game was an absolute thriller in which we took full advantage of some terrible play from Arsenal and hit them for 6. Morata marked his debut with a brace, also marking their debuts with goals were defenders Koulibaly and Rudiger with one each. Kenedy in for the injured Hazard also managed to take full advantage by grabbing a couple himself.

We received a bitter blow during the Man City game when Morata fell to injury after starting so well for us bagging goals and a great average rating. The one positive to take from the situation is we can use the under utilised Batshuayi in his place you never know it could be a blessing. Lucky for us the 4 week lay off also tied in with the international break so he only missed 2 games.



As we all know a good draw in the Champions League can be crucial to a good season and with the group we have been handed I can’t grumble. Yes it’s not the easiest group we could face and yes there is a strong Dortmund side in the mix but I can only feel anything less than 1st would be unacceptable. As far as the other 2 we have been drawn with I can’t see to many problems maybe the one thing we will have to be wary of is the away game to Basel as they seem to have a good history against English sides.



Well after what was an incredible start to the season winning our first 3 prem games I have been rewarded with a manager of the month award, what a way to start my career.



After picking up just 2 wins in 7 games something was going to have to change so I decided to do some tweaking with the tactics which seemed to work a treat. In what was a crucial game we finally managed to turn out the result that was needed a 2-0 victory which on reflection could have been a whole lot better. There was a negative to this victory and that was the injury that Willian sustained.

As I just made reference too Willian did indeed pick up an injury against Bournemouth and after closer inspection by our medical team it turns out is worse than first fearedas Willian has suffered Damaged Cruciate Ligaments which will see him out anywhere between 6 and 7 months which means he will likely miss the season.

After the game with WBA we had another casualty as Zappacosta sustained some Sprained Knee Ligaments that will keep him out for a month. I must admit I do feel rather unlucky with the injuries we are getting but I guess that’s football.

After being pretty much guaranteeing Qualification to the next stage of the Champions League I decided to give one of our youth prospects a chance so up stepped Trevoh Chalobah. Trevoh Chalobah is a central defender aged 18 with some very strong physical attributes with some good mentals too. As for his debut it went very well as we were able to obliterate Basel 5-0.



After a great start to my career at Chelsea I have already been offered my first contract extension which will see me here for at least 3 more years. I am delighted that the board have already recognised the effort I have put in and are buying in to what I am trying to do.



The day has come that all English teams look forward to, the FA Cup 3rd round draw. This year we got a away tie against Championship side Preston North End to be played on the 6th January. After going out of the Carabao cup in the early rounds I feel it’s important we go a long way in this cup competition.



We had a great preseason with 4 wins in 5 games which have given me a good gauge on what we have amongst our players. As for our competitive games I have managed to get 13 played this week starting with the 6-1 charity shield win. From our first 4 Premier League games we took maximum points which inclued a battering of Manchester City with all four front players scoring on the day, we also played Liverpool after losing Morata to injury but it wasn’t enough to stop us as we had Batshuayi who bagged 2. Up next we traveled to Basil for our first Champions League game of the season where we got our first 3 points on the board with a difficult 2-0 victory, they were very tough to break down. Up next we played another 2 prem games with a Carabao cup game planted between which happens to be the most interesting game out of the 3. In this game we travelled to Wolves to see if we could progress to the next round. Luckily after fielding an extremely weakened side with just 3 first teamers starting we ran out 1-0 winners thanks to a 6th minute Musonda goal. The next test we faced was in the Champions League and it was also our first defeat as a manager. We ended up on the wrong end of a 3-0 whooping and I have to take all responsibility for it as we were just terrible on the night from start to finish and I just didn’t change anything. After defeat to Dortmund it was important we got back to winning ways but we suffered another defeat this time to Crystal Palace 0-1. After the next 3 games it looked like we may have got back on track with 2 wins and a draw but then we travelled to Old Trafford in the Carabao Cup and it fell apart again as we fell to a Lukaku goal. Since then we have gone on a run of 12 straight wins in all competition scoring 34 while conceding just 2.

My player of the week has to be Eden Hazard with 16 goals and 4 assists from just 19 starts says all it needs too.

Update 2

Season 1 2nd half

We started this week off with 3 Premier League games all at home and as it turned out all wins. The games saw us score 7 goals and keep 3 clean sheets.

Goalkeeper of the year

We had some great news when Thibaut Courtois was named the World Goalkeeper Of The Year. Having made 25 appearances and conceding just 10 with 17 clean sheets I feel he deserves it. With this announcement we can now look at our squad and know we have the strongest squad available to world football.

As well as Courtois being named Keeper Of The Year 2 of our other players have made the team of the year. First there is centre back David Luiz who has shown some great form and along with him was N’Golo Kante.

Young player of the month

While on the subject of players winning awards I have to mention Andreas Christensen who was named Young Player Of The Month after playing 7 games with an incredible average rating of 7.51. A special mention to runner up Izzy Brown another one of our youngsters out on loan to Brighton, I am looking forward to bringing him in to the side next season.

Manager for the chop

There has been the first major casualty for a manager this season as Liverpool have decided to sack Jürgen Klopp after finding there self’s 9th in the league. This has just reaffirmed my fears of underperforming could lead to this story ending soon if I don’t get to winning.

Man City 0-0 Chelsea

The game against Man City turned out to be a bit of a stale affair with no real clear cut chances made. It is worth mentioning that during the game we did have a goal chalked off for a very dubious offside decision. In general there was no real stand out players but there was definitely a player that needs to perform better and that is Morata who seemed to just go into hiding during the match.

Transfer window (January)

The January Transfer window opened with the major rumour being the potential move of Mauro Icardi to us for £94m. Icardi does look like an extremely good prospect with 79 goals in jus 142 appearances. Just to let you know I have no intention of making this rumour a reality as I feel there are enough prospects already at the club or out on loan, in particular Izzy Brown.

Contract signed

Kurt Zouma has committed his future to us by signing a 4 year deal that will see him pick up a cool £84k per week. For me I think this is a pretty good deal when I feel he will be the centre piece of the defence starting next year.

Liverpool next

We went into the next game at home against Liverpool after 2 straight victories and also on a run of 7 straight clean sheets as you can imagine with them sitting a distant 6th we felt the wind blowing in our favour. For the game I decided to drop Hazard who was struggling to work with Morata so in cake Kenedy who had a good game being war marked MOTM and assisting our first goal. In the end it was a nice win that keeps our march going in the league.

Musonda off (Burnley 6 month loan)

The Musonda loan deal was definitely not something I went into lightly but after some long discussions with the players I felt it would be best all round to send him out on loan. By loaning him to Burnley it will give him the opportunity to play regularly in the Premier League and not only that but fight in the Premier League which will help build his character. This is just a short term loan as Charly is one of the players already at the club I want to start building around.

5 games

We then played another 5 games first was a 3-0 win against Sunderland in the FA Cup which means we progress to the 5th round where we will face Man City. We then took on the only team to have beaten us in the league this season Crystal Palace where we ran out 3-0 winners. The result was a little flattering as we really struggled to break them down but finally after 75 minutes substitute Batshuayi set up Kante for our first and from there on we found out shooting boots. Finally we travelled to St James Park to take on Newcastle. I decided to go strong for this game with a slight twist, after Morata poor form and Hazard not working well with him I swapped them over so Hazard is now central. After finishing the game 2-0 winners you would have thought my twist would have worked but that couldn’t be further from the truth as this was probably the worst game Hazard has played for me. The next game we had was against Man Utd in a game where we wanted to get even with them after being knocked out of the Carabao Cup earlier in the season by them. In the end the game ended as a 1-1 draw which was a very respectable result with all things considered. We ended this run of games with a 2-0 win over Arsenal that sent us 6 points clear in the league. The result it’s self was the right one when you consider shots 21-5 and possession 59-41 stats we got, however Arsenal will feel a little unlucky after missing 2 penalties.



We had a fairly decent game in the end against Barcelona, let’s face it anytime you go to the Camp Nou you are lucky to leave with anything. The game was sent in to turmoil on the 27th minute after a huge mistake from Koulibaly allowed Suarez to bury one. Throughout the whole of the second half we pushed and pushed but the final product just was not there, I remember shouting to move the wingbacks further forward which worked a treat as Batshuayi managed to convert 2 goals which lead to a 2-1 win for us.

FA Cup heartbreak

We then tumbled out of another cup competition this time the FA Cup when Man City punished our what can only be described as a lack of effort and beat us 1-0. It was a bitter blow to our season as everything had been going so well but on the other side of the coin we have less games to play in the final run in which could work to our advantage.

Fabregas OUT

We then sustained what could be a crucial injury to one of our best playmakers in Fabregas when he picked up a Torn Thigh Muscle which will see him out for 2 months. Although this would usually be seen as a bitter blow it does give me a chance to give Danny Drinkwater a few starts after he has been banging the drum, so who knows it could be a blessing.

A run of games

The next couple of fixtures came in the league where we picked up a cool 6 points to send us an impressive 9 points clear with just 8 to play. The next fixture came in the 2nd leg of the Champions League when we took on Barcelona at Stamford Bridge and although we went in to the game with a 2-1 aggregate lead I knew it was always going to be tough. In the end it was the complete opposite to what I thought as we ran out comfortable 3-0 winners meaning we won 5-1 on aggregate. Before our next game in the Champions League which happens to be against Man City the side that knocked us out of the FA Cup there were a few Premier League games to get out of the way. As far as the league games went it was 3 games 3 wins with 7 goals and 3 clean sheets. Next it’s Man City at home in the 1st leg of the Champions League and it’s not going to be easy so far it’s played 3, win 1, drew 1 and lost 1 so I am not underestimating them I want to make the semi’s. We had a really good game in the end where we were on top in every aspect, Batshuayi managed to grab a hat trick before Rudiger finished off the rout for the 1st leg to finish 4-2. We then played Leicester in the league in a game that could have seen us secure the title and although we got the victory we wanted Arsenal also won meaning we will have to wait 1 more game. We went in to the next game against Man City in the Champions League quarter final 2nd leg knowing all we needed to do was set up defensively strong to progress. That’s exactly what we done and it was working a treat whatever they tried failed until Aguero showed his magic on the 71st minute by chipping Courtois which reduced our aggregate lead to 4-3. After reassuring the side we began playing our football again and with the last touch of the game Morata levelled giving us a 5-3 aggregate win.

Chelsea Under 18s win the league (P22 W18 D2 L2 F63 A13 Pts56)

This was some really good news to me as I want to build using our youth system and by the commanding way we won the league I think some of the players may be ready to step up. There is one player in particular I will have to have a look at and that is Callum Hudson-Odoi who has Played 36, Scored 28, Assisted 19 and got and average rating of 7.42.

Champions (Premier League)

As we only needed 1 point against West Ham to win the league I set up with our strongest possible squad bringing in all of the big guns. We started a little more conservative than usual knowing that it was such a crucial game. It just so happens the man that has made all the difference this year Eden Hazard was the man that gave us the win by scoring 2 first half goals the game ended 2-0. We are now on 94 points with 3 games to go so I will do a full end of season once all games are played.

The home run of games

The final run of games we had started with a visit to the Liberty Stadium where it was the preamble that was the talking point when Swansea manager Javier Aguirre declared I am “overrated” which left me craving the win which didn’t happen in the end after a boring 0-0. Our next 2 games were against Man Utd in the semi finals of the Champions League. The first leg finished 2-1 to us at Old Trafford and the second leg was 4-2 to us at Stamford Bridge, a special mention has to go out to Batshuayi who scored all 4 in the second leg. Our final 2 games of the season saw us play host to Spurs who were still trying to break into the top 4 and finally go up against Huddersfield in what was our official crowning match as champions. The Spurs game ended in a 1-1 draw which was flattering on there part as we had so many chances to finish the game off. Our final outing in the league see us travel to Huddersfield where we picked up a nice 1-0 win, it’s nothing to really write home about but I managed to get the result when starting with just 3 first teamers.

The axe falls on another manager

Another high profile manager has fell to the axe today and this is a very high profile manager none other than Pep Guardiola. After a poor run of results in the league that saw them finish 4th 19 points away from us in the league Pep has been given his marching orders.

Premier League AWARDS

Manager of the year - Justin Daly (Chelsea)
Player of the year - N’Golo Kante (Chelsea)
Players’ player of the year - N’Golo Kante (Chelsea)
Young player of the year - Michy Batshuayi (Chelsea)
Golden glove - Thibaut Courtois
Top goalscorer -
1. 20 goals = Oliver Giroud (Arsenal)
2. 18 goals = Romelu Lukaku (Man Utd)
3. 18 goals = Eden Hazard (Chelsea)

Champions (Champions League)



The final was a very competing game between Tottenham and ourselves. Although we took a relatively early lead through a well struck effort by Morata we failed to really build any genuine attack. At long last after soaking up quite a bit of pressure from Spurs we were able to counter them once again and Morata struck low for his and our second. During the game there was some good link up play between Marcos Alonso and Eden Hazard while we seemed to focus the best of our attacks down the right. This was not to be the end of the game however as Tottenham managed to pull one back though Harry Kane on the 85th minute leaving the final few minutes very nail biting but we came through the late scare and WON the Champions League.

End of season review



Looking back over my first season I have to feel very proud of the achievements we managed. In all we managed to capture 3 trophies including the Premier League and bigger still the Champions League. The season started out quite rocky when we dropped as low as 5th in late August but we soon started playing the football I expected and we never looked back. I was disappointed to fall out of the Carabao Cup so early on but it was against Man Utd so you can’t complain to much. Another low in the season was when we played Man City in the FA Cup in the 5th round and fell to the way side. All these bad feelings were put to bed with the Premier League victory and the Champions League won.

Team AWARDS



Young player of the year - Baba Rahman

This was a bit of a curve ball but since returning from his long injury lay off he has been able to smash his way into the starting 11 knocking Marcos Alonso to the side. At 23 Baba is just starting his career but going by what he has shown this season I think we can safely build the LWB position around him.

Player of the year - N’Golo Kante

Kante has been fantastic for us this season a true inspiration to the whole team, every game he played he gave his all. In 40 games he scored 8 goals, created 10 goals and ended up with 4 MOTM awards. In the end Kante finished the season with an impressive 7.38 average rating.

Signing of the year - Kalidou Koulibaly

The commanding centre back put in some amazing performances to help us on our way to a very good season. I knew at the start of the season we had to find a way of stopping teams getting through us with our expansive football often leaving us vulnerable at the back. The signing of Koulibaly meant that with his experience and presence of mind we not only tightened the back up but was able to make Christensen a main stay in the starting line up meaning I have done one of my objectives in bringing through one of our youth players.

Top scorer - 29 goal = Michy Batshuayi

This was a bit of a shocker to be honest as I had no expectations as far as Batshuayi goes. I was expecting Morata to be leading the charts and gave him more than enough chances in the middle of the 3 but after failing to impress I gave Batshuayi the chance and he just spread his wings and started flying. Not only did Batshuayi manage to score 29 in 33 starts but he was instrumental in the Champions League win.

Top assist - 15 assist = Davide Zappacosta

With all the goals we scored this year it was crucial that we found players capable of supplying chances for our strikers. In Zappacosta we found an absolute diamond in our RWB he was running up and down the line all season and always looked a threat.

Update 3

Season 2 1st half

As all football managers know there is never an end of season break for the hierarchy at the club as it there responsibility to progress the next season, so with no break I am straight back to work looking at what improvements we can make.

3 Key Players sign long term deals

Antonio Rudiger = £155k p/w - 5 years
Davide Zappacosta = £105k p/w - 5 years
N’Golo Kante = £240k p/w - 5 years

Tieing down your best players long term is crucial when your trying to build a successful team and that is exactly what we have done with these contracts. All 3 players are young enough to still be in there prime come the end of there new contracts and all were included in the team of the year this year with Kante named POTY.

4 Arrivals

Emanuel Vignato (Chievo Verona) = £8.75m - £22.5k p/w
Gonzalo Maroni (Boca Juniors) = £2.5m - £8.5k p/w
Benjamin Rollheiser (River Plate) = £2.9m - £22.5k p/w
Boubacar Kamara (Marseille) = £9.75m - £22.5k p/w

I was very happy with these 4 signings at the modest combined transfer sum of £23.85m. The reason these transfers are so good to me is they all represent my philosophy of bringing in players with high potential rather than being the finished article. At the unveiling of the 4 players the fans were very welcoming of all 4 players which was good as they also are believing in my philosophy. As for all the players we have signed the player I am most excited about was actually 1 of the cheapest in Gonzalo Maroni. The young Argentinan has already shown great promise and technique as far as going forward and finding space goes.

Fixtures released

The seasons fixtures were finally released today after an anctouis wait to see when we would be playing who. There were some notable fixtures pulled from the hat, the first being our opening game of the season on the 18th August at home to Brighton. The 24th of November was a date that all Chelsea fans will be looking forward to as we will travel to one of our fiercest rivals, the newly promoted Millwall. Our Boxing Day fixture sees Middlesbrough visit the Bridge before we round off the season with a visit from Southampton.

Pedro off (Newcastle United £40.5m)

Today was a bit of a sad day at the club as we let one of our better players leave not just for the good of our club but also for the good of his career. I knew that after last seasons performances it was time to start playing Batshuayi in the first 11 which would mean dropping either Hazard or Pedro and in the end with age and ability it was never going to go in Pedros favour. At least now Pedro will get another 2-3 years at the top level before finally hanging up his boots. As for the transfer fee of £40m I feel we have done very well out of the deal for a 30 year old player, I do wish him the best of luck at Newcastle United.

Mancini signs for Arsenal

There is some good news for the Arsenal supporters who have become tired of being the out of touch side Arsene Wenger has turned them into. This year after what seems an eternity Wenger finally decided to hang up his notepad and allow someone else take the reins and that person is a proven winner in Roberto Mancini.

Youth players promoted

(GK) Jared Thompson - Jared has only been brought in as a back up for Courtois as Cabillero has now retired however I don’t really see any bigger role for him. Thompson started over 30 games in the Vanarama South last season keeping an impressive 21 clean sheets but this is a big step up for him.

(ST) Tammy Abraham - I’m very excited about being able to bring through Tammy as I have always been a keen admirer of his and think there are some big things in his horizon. For years he has been touted as a talent and a prospect but his loan last season to Swansea was his first opportunity to really shine and although it was not a great breakthrough season the good stuff I saw was enough for me. I am looking at playing Abraham in the cups and the less crucial League games acting as Michy Batshuayi’s understudy.

Community shield (Liverpool 1-3 Chelsea)

I decided to treat this game as our first real test of the season so went with a full lineup with no exceptions. This meant we got a good indication as to where our strongest 11 were going into the new season. The match started as a tight affair with both teams more concentrating on feeling each other out. The game changed on the 19th minute when Liverpool’s Divock Origi picked up a potentially bad knee injury forcing a change. It only took us 8 minutes to take full advantage of the forced chances as Alvaro Morata scored his first of the game. We went in at half time with a comfortable 1-0 lead but I never felt we were finished so I sent them out for the second half with strong words in there ears that they were not to let up. Within a minute of the second half restarting we were 2-0 up and well on our way to our 2nd community shield in succession with an eventual 3-1 win.



We had a great day today lifting our first Euro Super Cup under my tenure with a 3-1 victory over Marseille. Another great thing we managed to do today is give Kamara his debut at the ripe old age of 18. The Frenchman had a great game, he was solid and composed on the ball, his passing was accurate and his tackling was spot on. Another player I was able to bring into the team was Tammy Abraham who got to start his first game for me as I rested Batshuayi. With no Morata available for selection it meant Willian was back in the starting line up for the first time in nearly 10 months after recovering from Damaged Cruciate Ligaments. It took 120 minute but by the end of the game we had won by 3 goals to 1 thanks to a magnificent hat trick from Willian.

Finding our feet

We started our season with 2 games. First it was a visit from Brighton who finished last season in an impressive 10th. The game was overshadowed by a potentially serious injury to Baba Rahman who is set to be our no1 LWB this year when he was forced off after just 14 minuets with a Torn Groin Muscle. As far as the result goes the game ended 2-0 in our favour with Batshuayi grabbing his first of the season carrying on from last year. Our second game of the month saw us make a trip to North London to play Arsenal in a battle of 1st vs 2nd from last season. The game met all the expectations on it with chances for both sides but in the end we came through with a 2-1 win with Batshuayi again scoring a critical goal. So as far as finding our feet goes it’s 2 played 2 won and everything (Batshuayi) coming up trumps.

See ya Cesar

Today was another day of cutting the ties with some of the old guard as we transition over to a new younger home grown team. Cesar Azpilicueta today left us for the sun and food of Italy as he signed a 3 year deal with Napoli that netted us a cool £19m. Although I would have liked to get more for Cesar he had been asking to leave as he was only a back up last season and as he has been a loyal servant to the club and given his stature amongst the rest of the squad it was best not to upset him. The central defenders I now have left at the club are Zouma, Koulibaly, Rudiger, David Luiz, Christensen and Kamara so I don’t really feel he will be a great loss.

Champions League Group Draw

This year the draw for the Champions League group had been a bitter pill to swallow after we have been drawn in perhaps the toughest group possible. First off the we pulled European giants Real Madrid who had won the previous 2 Champions Leagues before last year. Up next it didn’t get any easier as Serie A giants Napoli were called out meaning Cesar Azpilicueta will be reunited with us a lot sooner than he was probably thinking. The final side to make up the already tough group was Belgium outfit Club Brugge. As far as our chances go of qualifying I would like to think we can but this is not going to be as straight forward as last season. I would like to qualify in 1st but I know that might be a struggle so I would accept 2nd.

In’s and Out’s

There have been a number of in’s and out’s throughout the summer months, too many to go through. What I can say is that we brought in 5 young prospects all for the U23’s and let 3 players go on permanent deals. As far as loan deals go we sent 14 players out on loan to improve and also help balance the books with an income of over £1.25m per month.

Total value of the In’s = £26m
Total value of the Out’s = £63m

As far as the transfer window as a whole went there was over an amazing £2.2b spent on players throughout the 5 major European leagues.

Manager Of The Month

I managed to pick up another MOTM award with a good start to the season. With this being a simalar start to last year I can only hope the future has a similar pattern.

Batshuayi and Alonso OUT

Mitch Batshuayi is going to be out for up to 6 weeks after getting a Lower Back Stress Fracture during a training session. This is going to be a huge miss for us losing our top goal scorer from last season and this season too. I always try to take a positive out of each situation and this is no different the positive I will take is that we will be able to give Tammy Abraham a chance (just like Batshuayi got his chance last year when Morata got injured) let’s hope Tammy takes full advantage of it just like Batshuayi did.

Marcos Alonso will be out for 4 weeks after twisting his ankle by turning sharply during a training session. Although this is not a major injury as we have Baba returning from injury it does mean we are left with just 1 LWB until he returns.

Seventh heaven

Over the last few weeks we have played 7 games and while we had a great run it was not absolute plain sailing as we won 6 but drew 1. In the 7 games we have scored an impressive 27 goals while conceding just 5 and keeping 5 clean sheets. We started our run by hosting Everton in a relatively easy game which we ran out 2-0 winners thanks to goals from Morata and Hazard. We then played our first Champions League game of the season, it was an away tie against Club Brugge where we picked up another 2-0 win but the talking point in this game was Tammy Abraham who scored his first senior goal. Next we won the 2 following games 4-0 and 3-0 against Newcastle United and Brighton respectively. We then dropped our first points of the season in a game that could have gone so much worse. The game was against Liverpool at Anfield and within 30 minutes we were 3-0 down with no real way back into the game, but we kept believing and with a little help from the big guy above and Morata and Hazard we walked away with a 3-3 draw. In our final 2 games we played Napoli and Watford both at Stamford Bridge scoring 12 and conceding 2 winning both. Special mentions to 2 hat trick hero’s in these game first is the unsurprising Morata and second is the less likely Kenedy.

Injury’s injury’s injury’s

We then received some more upsetting news when we were told by our medical team that Tammy Abraham had broken his Jaw meaning he would be out for around 4 weeks and to make matters worse no1 choice Batshuayi is still 10 days away from returning. Another one of our strikers is still out too with Willian missing through his Twisted Ankle.

4 Big Wins

There has been 4 games in the last 9 days so it was always going to be tough to take the maximum out of all 4 but that’s exactly what we did. Starting in the league we travelled to The Hawthorns to take on what turned out to be a very resolute West Brom who made it incredibly difficult to break them down but it was Morata who finally broke the deadlock with a header from point blank, the game ended 1-0. Next we played host to arguably the best team in the world when Real Madrid visited. The game started very evenly and that’s how the game stayed until the 55th minute when Casemiro was sent off for a bad takle on Hazard. Once we got the man advantage we used it to good effect opening spaces for our forwards to exploite, Hazard in particular was able to shine by grabbing 2 goals. The game ended 3-0. Things didn’t get any easier in the next match as we had to host Tottenham, the side that took us to the limit a number of times last year as well as meeting us in the Champions League final. Well this game turned out to be completely different to what I anticipated as we destroyed them 4-0 with Morata scoring a brace. Our final game of this run came at St Mary’s where we won 1-0 thanks to a late Batshuayi goal however there was a more important player on the pitch for us and that was Danny Drinkwater who manage an incredible 127 passes with a completion of 98%.

Vignato enjoying loan spell

I took time out of my busy scedule to check on some of my loan players who all seem to be doing fairly well but one has stood out above the rest in Emanuel Vignato. So far this season Vignato has made 12 appearances for Fulham out on the right wing and has already scored an impressive 5 goals. Scoring is not the only thing Vignato has been doing well at Fulham he has also managed 3 assists with a pass completion of 84%. During his loan spell so far he has managed an average rating of 7.38 and picked up 5 MOTM awards. If he keeps clicking on like this then I can’t see any reason why he won’t be pushing for a spot in the squad next season.

9 Games 9 Wins

I have to say when I first saw this years fixture list and realised we would play 9 games in just over a month I was a little worried. These worries were to be unfounded when after playing all 9 games we walked away with 9 successes and not only just but with plenty of room to spare. The run all started with a visit to the south of Wales to play Swansea who in the end pretty much turned up to make up the numbers. With goals from Zouma, Willian and Batshuayi we got a comfortable 3-0 win. A trip to Real Madrid was on the cards and we went in numbers which is more than can be said for how we finished the game when we found ourselves down to 9. We fell behind to a Benzema goal mid way through the 1st half and that’s how it remained until the 60th minute when Hazard went on a charge dribbling past 3 and slotting the ball away for the equaliser. By the 70th minute we found ourselves down to 9 as both Moses and Baba Rahman were sent off but this would bot stop us as Batshuayi got what proved to be the winner. We then beat Bournemouth 3-0 before travelling to our fiercest rivals Millwall. The game had many talking points not least the animosity in the stands but the fact is after near domination we walked away with a comfortable 2-0 win with a Batshuayi double. Next there were 3 more wins 2 in the Champions League and 1 in the Premier League. We then had the huge task of traveling to The City Of Manchester Stadium where a hungry Man City were waiting. I knew that our best opportunity to get the points would be to go after the lead early then do our best to hold on which is exactly what we did. Rudiger gave us the lead on the 19th minute after we played a very good corner routine. 5 minutes later the scoring was finished when Morata deftly finished in the bottom corner. Man City did start piling on the pressure as the game wore on but we stood firm and the game finished 2-0. The final game in this sequence was also the highest scoring game of my managerial career so far. The game was in the semi finals of the Club World Championship where we played Shanggang where we also got to see a familiar face in Oscar. In the end the game turned out to be a one sided affair when we won by 7-2 with Tammy Abraham grabbing 4 goals.



Winning the World Club Championship is something that Chelsea had never been able to do but that all changed today as for the first time in 117 years we can call ourselves world champions. Things started disappointingly for BOT when they lost Leandrinho after just 6 minutes through injury and things soon got worse on the 9th minute when Morata places the ball in the bottom corner to give us the lead. The game continued to be a competitive affair throughout the first half until Morata managed to add a second for us on the 37th minute. After half time Morata completed his hat trick giving us a comfortable 3-0 lead with no real way back. During the game I had given a couple of youngsters a chance but the one that stood out stood out for the wrong reason when Kasey Palmer gave away a penalty which was converted.

The Christmas Period

There was only 2 games over the Christmas period for us this year which is quite a contrast to last year where we played 4 in 7 days. Both games were at the Bridge and we won both by clear and decisive margins. First there was Middlesbrough who we demolished 5-2 with 4 goals from Eden Hazard. The next game saw us entertain Leicester and this time it was Morata grabbing the goals with 2, the game ended 3-1.



The first half of the season has been almost picture perfect bar 2 draws and one of those was a friendly so 1 competitive draw cant be bad. We have played a total of 33 games in the first half of the season scoring 115 goals and conceding 21 while keeping 18 clean sheets. I am really happy with our season so far as we have won 3 trophies already and are still top of the league even though we have 2 games in hand, you might say we have one hand on that trophy too. This could be a very tough year for our house keeping staff with all these trophies to polish.

Player of the week - Davide Zappacosta

This would be an unusual choice to many having a RWB as the best player for half a season but he has by far been my biggest asset. First off the stats he has offered up have been remarkable, appearances 24, assists 21, goals 2, average rating 8.05. The other thing Davide has done for me is agree to take one of our youngsters under his wing.