Paul Merson says Chelsea’s project is not going well and doubts a top manager would want to come to Stamford Bridge with a club in such “turmoil”.
Chelsea lost 3-1 at home to Nottingham Forest, their first six consecutive Premier League defeats since 1993, and the result meant they were unable to finish in the top five and automatically qualify for the Champions League.
It also looks increasingly likely that they will struggle to finish high enough to qualify for one of the remaining two European competitions. They lost to a Forest team that made eight changes, dropping them to 9th place and will now face Liverpool at Anfield.
Merson spoke to Sky Sports about Chelsea’s predicament and how they will fight to overcome it. He is also considering who the club’s next manager will be, suggesting that some of the world’s top coaches may no longer want to come to Chelsea.
Read the full Magic Man’s thoughts on Chelsea…
“Brighton were bad, but losing to Forest was even worse.”
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Watch for free: Highlights of the Premier League match between Chelsea and Nottingham Forest.
I was at Stamford Bridge. oh.
I thought the loss to Brighton was bad, but the game against Nottingham Forest was even worse. It was terrible.
It seems like Chelsea are a million miles away from finishing the season on a high and potentially winning the FA Cup.
I know it’s a one-off game, but Man City seem too strong for Chelsea.
The game against Forest was a big opportunity for Chelsea. They really could have been close to sixth and could have qualified for the Champions League.
But Brentford are now ahead of Chelsea, with 35 games played this season. That’s unusual for me.
Fans aren’t happy at all. Fortunately for the club, their next opponent at Stamford Bridge will be Tottenham. It’s the cup final. Otherwise, the atmosphere at Stamford Bridge would be extremely toxic.
Paul Merson talks about how fans feel at Chelsea
“The project is not going well”
Chelsea have been on a project that has been a success if it hasn’t been. All the players have six, seven and eight year contracts.
If that doesn’t work out, it will be very difficult to sell the player. It’s going to be really hard to get someone out the door.
Also, they acquired all of these players on long-term contracts for little money, but they will have to end up paying a lot of money. None of it makes sense.
They just gave Moises Caicedo big money, they just signed Reece James to a new deal, they signed Cole Palmer to a new deal, but he was already on a long-term deal. I don’t know how that works. You may be able to sell a successful player, but if it doesn’t work out, it will be devastating.
And this did not go well for Chelsea. They will remain with this team for the next five years.
“I don’t see a way out of this mess.”
It was a tough afternoon for Callum MacFarlane against Nottingham Forest.
I don’t understand how Chelsea are in this mess and honestly I don’t see a solution.
Even if a player is fired, what does that mean in terms of financial fair play? Alejandro Garnacho hasn’t uprooted a single tree. They won’t be able to get his money back. Enzo Fernandes appears to be courting a move to Real Madrid. So it looks like he wants to go, but I don’t see how they’re going to get him £100 million unless he goes to the World Cup again and wins it.
Where will the money come from? How will this work for Chelsea?
I can’t sit here and honestly say we’re going to sell a ton of players and start over again.
If there is a player you want to let go, you will probably have to pay a transfer fee. That costs money.
If you want to bring in new players, it costs money. they are stuck.
“Who would want Chelsea’s job?”
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Jamie Carragher and Thierry Henry look at who could become Chelsea’s next manager.
Choosing the next manager is extremely important, but no matter who takes the position, it will likely be a difficult task.
They are one of the youngest teams in the league and players are getting passed on a weekly basis. They just lost six league games and have 20 players on the team, all on six, seven and eight year contracts. They probably won’t finish higher than Brentford, Brighton or Bournemouth this season, and at this rate they probably won’t finish higher than Everton or Fulham.
I’m really worried about Chelsea. Where will they go next season?
I don’t care how good the new manager is if the players aren’t performing. He can run around at a minimum, but he gets passed every game. I would understand if the players were 30, 31, 32 years old, but that’s not the case. These players are at the start of their careers.
Who will take on this job?
It wasn’t that long ago that Chelsea were the best job in the world for a manager. Not now.
We no longer see the days when great managers like Jose Mourinho, Carlo Ancelotti, Antonio Conte and Thomas Tuchel wanted the job.
A top manager only has to consider the issues I have just mentioned to know that the club is not in a good place.
