Poll: Has King Carlo managed his last game at Chelsea?

we should have gotten a (youngish like mid 20s) replacement for carvalho first and foremost, but we also needed 1 or mayyybe 2 young replacement(s) to compensate the loss of ballack, j.cole and deco, (Yossi was a panic buy to cover for joey, he will be gone before you know it.)
and as for striking prowess, we all knew Didi and Nico were getting older, and although Didi is getting better with age, both were coming off a WC(just like much of the squad, actually) we needed, and still do desperately need young fast creative striking influences. luis suarez could of been great, or kun, and so on.

as has been harped a lot on here so far. no competition at Chelsea= complacency= dropping points. i wouldnt point the finger at lampard, but u deffinetly know ashley cole and BJT are guilty of being less than motivated for play time. someone needs to crack the effing whip on this squad and soon, and we better have some new (and encouraging) faces on the team sheet by february 1st, or i will cry

I said this before but - no competition for positions = complacency.
Bosingwa and Ferreira are happy to be exchange buddies for their positions. Terry and Lampard are guaranteed their positions till they're 36-37. Drogba and Malouda guaranteed. Kalou happy to take whatever he can get, time on the pitch, bench, gym, whatever he can get really. Anelka is happy with cameo appearances. Cole guaranteed his position. Essien, Mikel and Ramires are all happy sharing when the other is injured or suspended.

There are clubs where people fight to be on the bench. They announce their ultimatums to the media, threaten to leave, tweet about it...

In Chelsea, no one cares. They're all guaranteed their positions or are indifferent about not always starting. No one fears being sent to the reserves or being loaned. There's two Chelseas - the older one and the younger one. Competition for positions, trying to improve, wanting to get out of the reserves, loans, sales and acquisitions affect only the young ones. The old ones just seem to rot.

This team, in this configuration, is finished. Everyone is saying buy, but Chelsea really need to sell as well. Just the threat of selling is enough to sp*r some forward.

There's two CL scenarios I see. Not beating Copenhagen, which would be embarrassing and this time, Roman can't take it out on Ballack and Joe Cole. haha. The other scenario is meeting Barcelona or Madrid... could you imagine?

I agree that continuity is a must for our club and that Carlo should be given the time - and the investment - to haul us out of this mire. But I don't think the man is entirely blameless. His demeanor does him no favors. Neither does his failure to change - even if he lacks options - or trust in our youth players - even if the pressure to win probably has forced him to continually rely on experience. And that's not even a good enough excuse for me. Furthermore, spitting the same dross after every game is not what I want to see from a manager.

Do I want him to remain in charge? Of course. Do I think he's in trouble? Most certainly. I'd love for him to man up, challenge the board and get us back to our best. I'm just not confident that he has it in him to question the hierarchy.

i agree with the idea of doing something to the players to get them motivated. this whole team should be dubbed "Le Sulke" rather than just anelka. if they won't want to wear the shirt, bump them to the reserves. send kalou down, see if that'll wipe that "eh, who cares" look off of his smug face. McEachran deserves to play over many of these guys, he can't possible play worse. same with sturridge. have some faith, carlo, because these players don't appear to give a shit anymore.
and if we don't want to give more time to the youngsters we already have (which we should), then invest in new ones. the old guard are just that: old. the current front line is getting nothing done, and the midfield is passionless and totally uncreative. the defense is the strongest part of the side, with JT and 'Slav in the middle and Cole on the outside.
so damnit, pump some life into this team somehow. it's terrible that i am no longer surprised when we drop points week in and week out.

"eh, who cares" look off of his smug face.'

LOL

By the way, i still dont see Sturridge as the future of Stamford Bridge. If we can make decent money out of it, we SHOULD SELL him. At best, he will grow up to be someone like Kalou, maybe a little better. Nothing more than that. And that doesnt qualify as the successor to Drogba.

Lets think realistically instead like crazy fans whose team is losing in every crazy way possible.

How does sacking a coach be deemed the best solution? It can be justified in case of Rafa who has failed to win trophies at Anfield and then starts losing very bad. You see, sacking him doesnt even hurt. Same happens to him at Internazionale. He takes over an unchanged triple winning squad and starts losing. Sacking him ASAP is the best solution. But we are talking about Carlo here who proved himself in his first year.

Besides, how much influence can a Coach make. We are talking about Professionals out here. Are you telling me Drogba cannot score unless the coach sings him an inspirinp lullaby or that only time Malouda will make a piercing run is when the coach is good? Carlo can make all the plans and tactics but is helpless when players enter the field as blindfolded zombies. Even Mourinho was unable to inspire his team as they were thumped 5-0 by Barcelona. Does that make him any lesser as a coach? Only reason he was roped in (apart from CL)0was that they beat up every team except Barcelona. He has failed so far.

So what went wrong suddenly at the club? We lost some important players in the summer. Still we had a dream start to this season. Then Lampard got hurt and the team went into a rut. Why? There was no one connecting the midfield to the strikers. Same thing happened to Liverpool when Xabi left and they are still struggling even with a new manager with an inspirational track at a low club. So, now that Lampard is back does our club get back on track? No. Because he was away for far too long that the entire team is now in a rut. Their confidence at an all time low.

So what is the solution? Sacking Carlo wont solve it a bit. The next manager would inherit the same squad. Give Carlo a STRONG SQUAD and then if he still doesnt win, we can talk of sacking him.

Here's my bit to help out the club instead of whining. Roman isnt going to dish out more than 17mil. What do we get with 17? Not even that Bolton guy- Gary Cahill. My best bet would be to go for as many FreeAgents and Loans meanwhile offloading as much as possible. Sell off Anelka right now to MLS instead of letting him walk free after his contract expires. Selling Kalou wont make much of a difference. We should also try to make cash with Paulo before he is a spent material. One from Turnbull or Hilario must go. Van Aanholt should go out on loan. All should happen now. Even selling off Zhirkov if the Russians are still interested in that injured piece. This should bring some extra cash for Mr. Roman Abramovich. So, would that be 35 million available in this transfer window? Who comes in? Lets talk of free transfers. Van Bommel and Pirlo are free. Spent forces? They could still perform better than the current lot. We could use them efficiently for a season. Also heard Owen is going to be free this January. Not a fan of his, but he could be better than Anelka. There are also a lot of great guys around going free this january. Kaka on loan?

Now that it is settled. Who do we get with that 35 million? Make it 50million+ if Zhirkov is sold.

Only if it were to be followed. *sigh*

good post although you lost it a bit by talking of Mourinho.

Mourinho would at least change tactics and change the course of a game at half time if it wasnt working, he did it throughout his career, and you can afford one or 2 hiccups in your career (5-0 barca is one) even man u lost 5-0 against newcastle a few seasons ago. every manager will have those days but its all about how he performs and brings the players up and motivates players after those defeats and brings their confidence up.

seems like Carlo is using SAME tactics, same formations ad same players in every match, the players dont seem motivated, and carlo seems too laid back.

If you remember the mourinho days, he would be animated from the bench, change tactics and subs at half time if it wasnt working and come away with a win in the jaws of defeat and that is all down to the manager, Jose would go mad if a player is not performing and players always play their best in all his teams, this is NOT happenning with the current manager and carlo seems too laid back to put any pressure on his players or inspire confidence from the bench.

Then again I dont think carlo is as good as Mourinho but hes probably the best of whats out there at the moment. He has won 2 CL leagues and wons leagues in italy and england so he must be good right.

I dont think Chelsea should sack him otherwise they may have to pay him around 10m, why not use that cash to support him during the transfer window and sell players like stated above or bring players on loan. and theres no guarantee a replacement coach would do better.

Sacking Carlo is not the answer but I will not stand here and listen to Fickle fans comparing him to Jose and implying Jose would not do any better, Jose would not have allowed chelsea to fall into this kind of form in a million years and that is a fact. He was sacked shortly after one loss to aston villa and a champions league draw with a norwiegian team at the start of the season, hardly a disaster but then roman was looking for an excuse to get rid of Mou anyway as they did not get on, then grant and scolari got sacked for much less, although I do agree grant was a crap manager and was riding on the the players and steve clarkes back that year. even the team motivation speeches were done by JT and steve clarke lol. Jose then went on and inherited a old Inter team (older than chelsea) and look what he did with them. 1st team in history of italian football to win the treble.

Sorry, if you got me wrong. But in no way was i demeaning Jose. There is no doubt that he is a better tactician. Jose did inherit an ageing squad but he also had the backing of the board to rope in fresh faces - Ibra, Sneijder, Milito who were highly influential in that treble. Sadly, Carlo doesnt have that option out here. Who has he been allowed to rope in so far? Ramires wasnt his choice (i dont hate ramires).

Ibra wasnt a fresh face for Mou, Ibra was part of mancini's squad that Mou Inherited, but if you look at the figures Mou actually made a profit in the transfer market for Inter and I think it was great business by Inter and Mourinho. Mou sold Ibra (he wanted to leave) and with the money he bought 5-6 players below which transformed Inter so you can see they actually made a profit after selling Ibra but dont forget the 100m in takings from winning the treble and club world cup:

Heres the figures:
Sold Ibra = Eto + 50m
Milito and Motta = 27m
Sneider= 16m
Lucio = free
Pandev = free

If only Chelsea could do that type of business so there wouldnt be too much for Roman to fork out, and you were right above with the strategy, get rid of Yuri and maybe Kalou, anelka etc make some money and buy a quality player or two and even get some on loan.

Has changing a manager halfway through the season ever helped us, aside from Hiddink? And Hiddink is clearly not available. Why not see what happens if we give a manager an actual season to work with this team? I get the need to blame this slump on someone, but the players clearly have not been there for most of these last games. Sure, you can place some of the blame on the manager, but at the end of the day the players are responsible for performance. These are some of the highest payed players in the league, and they need to start playing like they recognize that, like they were at the beginning of the season.

honestly i was surprised to see Ancelotti win the double last year.

his track record speaks for itself, but i really don't think he's a great manager by any means.

it seems as if Ray had considerable influence, and once he was gone, so were Chelsea's title retention aspirations.

2 champions leagues wins and 1 runner up, not a great manager my ***

...but hes not in the class of mourinho.

i definitely agree that I do not like changing managers every year and I think Ancelotti is capable of running a strong squad, but at the moment we don't have a strong squad. His track record really isn't tooo impressive, and by the looks of it we are turning into AC Milan. At the end of the day, I hope he stays and given the resources to build his team.

I want him to at least show some freaking emotion. Maybe we need big Sam to give our squad a talking to. Players should get fined like 3 weeks wages for every loss, then maybe they'll fight for it.

at least i'm still pummeling opponents online with Chelsea in FIFA...

Dont be idiots. It's not ancelotti's fault. He's doing all he can. The players have been abysmal and demoralized since Ray left.

If we can get some young pace in, then we'll be back i think, like pato

manager is employ young talents more.

Cash needs to be spent and players like kalou sold he misses a lot of complete sitters. I back Carlo however he needs to shake the team up, take those out who aren't performing and give some youth a shot. Sturridge needs a start so does katuka.

Ronaldinho anyone?

tell me you're joking!!!

Ronaldinho is too lazy, old and spent to be part of this team. We need a young energetic energizer who can can instill fear in the eyes of the opposing players like Drogba in the past.

Yes to Neymar! He performed admirably for my Olympique Lyonnais for two seasons now. I know, FM references are irrelevant at this point. But I do feel that purchasing a young energetic striker/winger/hyper-advanced playmaker is a must.
Also, somehow it would be beneficial for younger players to see that there actually is a chance to break into starting eleven. Unlike now, when Sturridge/Kakuta are constantly overlooked in favour of Didier's pal Kalou. Carlo, let it happen!
BTW just watched tonight's highlights, as someone mentioned before Kalou could do with some target practice. And with a bit of luck, we could've scored at least one goal.

Let's show some loyalty, no matter what. Isn't everybody sick of managers coming and going? We can change managers every year, but only by sticking with Carlo for at least few more years we might just reap some rewards. Say, Hiddink or whoever comes in tomorrow. He might freshen things up a bit. But the core of this squad stays the same. Hiddink or whoever will face the same problem of replacing them sooner rather than later. I think we'd be better off selling underperformers like my good friend Salomon.
I think phobolous said it all the other day - Europa league next year? So be it. I'm losing the faith in the players, not the manager.

I agree -- I would attribute the crisis more to the players. Is it really Carlo's fault? He is a fantastic manager, and I don't think that he's the problem. The players are disinterested and uninspired, and they deserve more of the blame...
The bottom line is that it doesn't make sense to fire him before of a game against Ipswich -- an easily winnable game that could provide the kick that the players need. If they don't beat Ipswich, then maybe it's time to think of firing Ancelotti, because otherwise the spark might never come.

Unlike you, I am losing faith in the Manager not the players, and the players have lost faith in him thats why they are not performing up to their standards.
These same players turned things around when Scolari was fired. I am hoping the same scenario will happen again. Ancelotti is too lackadaisical.
I am loyal to the team through thick and thin. Even if Ancelotti remains as a coach I will keep supporting this team and the player, and hope for victories.
But if Ancelotti stays as the coach, and does not show any sign of improvement by the end of the season, he should not continue on next season.
It's more like a tryout for Ancelotti from now on, he must show us what he can do with the remaining games.

If Carlo is sacked we are so damn screwed. Let's not get ahead of ourselves. It's not entirely his fault. Back the manager. Back the team. Ban Kalou.

How about we back you Charlie! Let's end with the sympathy vote.
I have a great deal of fear about what happens post-Ancelotti if we do not find a very good coach, but equally I have also a great deal of fear about what happens if Ancelotti keeps losing @ this rate. I love the team as is, and I have a great deal of faith in the players, but Ancelotti has not proven he can right the ship.
I mean what happens of a coach who guarantees victory with certainty, and guarantees the team won't lose, then go on to lose.
No army will let a General in a war continue on a course of defeats and abject failure for so long. In the United States such a President becomes lame-duck.
So either Ancelotti can come out and proves he is a leader and is worthy to keep his job, or he resigns. He tried to claim it in the Press, and failed miserably against the worst team in the Premier League. How many more abject defeats are ok?
There is no way this team can turn it around the way it has performed for the past 2 months.
Ancelotti has turned into a complacent, ineffective coach. This team needs an electric shock and Ancelotti cannot provide it @ this moment.

something is wrong. i think the players need to accept some, if not alot, of the responsibility. they look lifeless and disinterested (with the exception of maybe a few, like Ivanovic), and that comes from attitude and complacency. true, that can be a result of poor coaching, but these are grown men doing what they are paid millions to do. if they're not motivated to work for the fans and for the crest on their chest, then something should be done about them.

Is Redknapp due for sacking at Spurs? He should be, if Ancelotti is going to lose his job. Redknapp is a mere ONE POINT ahead of a Chelsea team that is supposedly in disarray and enduring its worst run in over a decade. But Spurs fans BACK Redknapp and call him a great manager (even though it was not HE who is a current DOUBLE champion).

Completely different standards. Spurs are a young and upcoming team that only broke into the top 4 last year and still working towards being a great Premier League team.
Chelsea has been a perrenial power in the Premier League for a decade now. We do not owe Ancelotti our success, he came and found a great team with a great deal of success.
Spurs were not a successful team this decade prior to Redknapp arrival in 2008. Spurs owes much of their amazing success to Redknapp managerial tenure.
It seems to us and we fear that if Ancelotti remains as a coach and does not improve things quickly, he will likely destroy the success we have tasted this decade.
Ancelotti is a great coach no doubt he had success @ Milan winning 2 Champions League. But he won Italy Serie A only once in his 8 years.
I fear that Chelsea is headed in the same direction under his tenure.
Besides he has not impressed in the Champions League last year failing to motivate the players (unlike Mourinho) as well as failing to take Chelsea past the 1/4 Final. He was supposed to be the coach who wins us the Champions League and he failed miserably in that competition to repeat the feat by previous coaches like Mourinho, Avram Grant and Hiddink.
Ancelotti may have won the double last year, but with all the due respect, Ancelotti did not make Chelsea great, he found a great team, and @ this rate he is destined to be destroy it.

Please Never again compare Chelsea to Tottenham Spurs. We are a great perrenial team and they are a good team climbing up the ladder of greatness who owe everything to Redknapp.

'we are a great perrenial team......', i see this as a little biased analysis of chelsea. in my very honest opinion, apart from the Mourinho era, chelsea has always been just average. i wonder what you see as being perenial in chelsea's successes. maybe, just maybe, chelsea is slowly sliding back to what i would call their normal state except, of course, the russian moneybag throws some more money around, buys some short-lived success again, and then would need to throw some more money around again, and again, and again. please, i suggest chelsea should start planning and building the kind of success that stands the test of time.

While I don't necessarily agree with us being a perennial power, you are showing a clear lack of knowledge for Chelsea Football Club. We finished in the top six three consecutive years before Abramovich's arrival and won the FA Cup twice (97, 00). We may not have been as successful are we are now, but we were successful nevertheless before the Russian's investment.

Money does not guarantee success, look at Man city, real madrid, liverpool, inter (80s-90s they spent heavily with not much success), the most essential ingerdient is the manager who needs to know what to do with the money as well as build a successful side , work out tactics and make them gel as well as keeping them all happy. Mourinho did that perfectly and then Mr Roman started putting his nose into football matters that didnt concern him and look at the impact since then and hes still interfereing with football matters. If Mou was still in charge chelsea would have won a CL by now and thats a fact. But you cannot change history so the supporters need to support the current coach in these hard times and start building for the future.

Anyway Chelsea may not have a history like spurs or man u or liverpool, but its a club who can build history, they already made history by winning 3 titles and a host of cup competitons which will never be forgotten but to maintain this Roman needs to support his manager and put some money into the club for new players (young ones) so chelsea can build for the future and not end up like blackburn who after winning one league title dissappeared forever.

i blame that little red stripe on our kits.

i second this statement

I just pray we don´t appoint Rafa Benitez!! And we could do well in dropping Malouda!!