(FM18) Fading the Blues Away…

[BJT]

(A Continuation of “Rossoneri Resurrection”.) – Season 10

Chelsea F.C - 2026

Whilst Moss was in the warm city of Milan racking up 8 successive Scudetto’s, the blues of Chelsea had failed to win one single Premier League Title in this time and only finished once inside the top three places.

Finishing 6^th last season, Mr Abrahamovic lost his patience and started the search for a new manager. With Eden Hazard now entering retirement and N’golo Kante at 35 years of age, an overhaul of personnel looks to be a necessity requirement.

After last year’s successes, with Moss seeking a new challenge Chelsea seemed a good opportunity to experience football back in England with a team that have good resources to become one of Europe’s top sides.

Coming successfully through the interview process Moss was named boss in mid June. This will give him some much needed time to review his squad and play around with his hefty 150 million pounds transfer budget before he takes his seat in the dugout to a bit of classic Chelsea reggae.

The Moss Philosophy / 532

With the lack of quality inside forwards in the current world game, Moss was looking to steer away from his 433 which served him so well and rather implement a two-striker system as a base for his Chelsea side. Considering both the 442 diamond and the 532 formation, he has gone for the later thinking this might be better suited to the English game.

With Chelsea demanding both attacking and possession football, Moss will be keeping very much to the core principles he had at his successful stint at Milan. High pressing, patient and possession based penetrative football and utilising the full width of the pitch, but now perhaps with a greater defensive stability where he has three central defenders in contrast to the two used at Milan.

With his 532 formation, the width will be fully provided by the attacking wingbacks that will be looking to overlap the midfield and attack the by-line. The two complete forwards will be dropping deep and work the flanks in support of a more intricate game that attempts to involve the two wingbacks within the attacking third, but also allow themselves the individual freedom to express their own abilities in attack.

Retention of the ball will evolve around having a central midfielder holding pivot position so that the team can move around off him, and in the hope this will bring about a smooth and stable transition of play to feed both the deep lying and advanced playmakers who will provide the fluidity, penetration, and creativity to the side’s game.

The advanced playmaker will also look to get forward and exploit any spaces the two strikers have created, with the central midfielder then taking responsibility of providing the extra vision from outside the box when need be. Moss will also utilise a ball playing defender to provide variety of ball out from the defence.

He will be hoping this setup will result in the similar well oil machined he built at Milan, being relentless in their forward exploits whilst maintaining a good solidity at the back.

[BJT]

Season 10 Preview

Board Objectives

EPL – Qualify for ECL

League Cup – Not Important

FA Cup – Reach Semi Finals

Euro Cup – Reach Final

Chelsea’s record for giving their managers time to turn around any sub-performing season is not one to marvel at, and Moss has certainly got his work cut out with the high expectations for his first season in charge.

But with Moss’ proven track record and Chelsea’s poor season last year, this may buy Moss a little more time if things do go a little pear-shaped. Note the first season struggles that were endured at Milan, and it may take some time before the right balance and personnel have been found whilst also adapting to the new style of football being brought in.

Moss does like the strike pair he has inherited, with Munoz and Victoria both internationals and have several good years ahead of them. Courtois although now 34, will bring that vast experience any side requires along with ball playing defender Christensen.

The gem of the side has to be advanced playmaker Kai Havertz. German as the name suggests, he will be a key player and Moss will hope to keep him fit this year.

First XI

Transfers

After having time to look at what the squad have, two players in particular Song and Trujillo Moss had at disposal have been sold onto PSG and former club AC Milan. Both were deemed surplus to requirements, despite both having the greatest potential in the squad.

Rather than see this as bad movement in the market, Moss would prefer to see this as extra finance gained to shape his squad. They just weren’t suited to the system Moss has decided to implement with both geared towards a more direct and quicker tempo counter attacking style of football. Moss also decided to cash in on Lukaku who moved to rivals Man City in a 16 million pounds deal.

Trying to keep the core side together, Moss has 3 main new first team additions for this year. Babic at centre back, Brazilian wing-back Mixirica, and Spaniard centre midfielder Lampon. Many other squad investments were made to provide good back-up along with wonderkid centre back Alberto whom Moss hopes will become an important player with experience gained. Emanuel Kane at AMC will hopefully be a good replacement if star man Havertz does get injured. He was brought in from current champions Man Utd but also deemed surplus to requirements.

The ageing Kante has also had his replacement spotted. To adhere with the FA’s requirements, Moss looked for a player trained in England from a young age. He has found Flusfeder from Man City, but as with English players their price is over-inflated at a ridiculous 68 million pounds.

A nett spend of around 150 million just shows how much more finance Moss has at Chelsea. But to maintain this high level, undoubtedly he’ll need to try and ensure the blues hit a top 4 spot by the end of the year.

[MagicHat]

Good luck mate some of those players should suit the system well. I think a top 4 position would be a good aim then challenge next season.

[BJT]

Cheers mate. Did some more wheeling and dealing on deadline day to get better backup wingbacks more suited to the system. Squad is as good as I can get it this year especially with the number of games. Hopefully we'll get some good consistency from it.

[BJT]

Season 10 – Mid Season

*Deadline Transfers*

After some deadline wheeling and dealing before the season’s start, Moss has gambled with the club’s finances by investing in want-away wing-back Omar and Belgian wing-back Lahrache.

Omar was a required cash purchase at 83 million as Villarreal would not sell via any other offer. Moss never does his dealings in this manner, but this time around he had no choice as he could see the huge potential on Omar and will likely get the nod in the first XI ahead of his Brazilian compatriot.

Going the other way were Mikhailov and Conti who Moss previously sold at Milan. Both experienced internationals but with Conti ageing and Mikhailov a much more defensive minded full-back Moss thought he’d best cash in now to try and balance the books as much as possible.

With the squad finally to Moss’ liking, he was a lot more confident going into the season having sufficient back-up in all areas. This has been proven so far after the first half of the season.

Progress

In the league, despite an inconsistent start throwing away a 2 goal lead at Stoke and losing to a late goal at the Emirates, things then clicked for the men in blue. Winning 12 games on the bounce and obtaining 38 points from a possible 42 led the Chelsea charge up the table and with some very good performances in the process with important wins against Man City, Liverpool and with an away win against Spurs. An away point at Old Trafford may also prove invaluable by season’s end.

In the Euro Cup, Chelsea were only able to take second spot losing both times to Real Sociedad. However Moss picked an entirely different XI for all Euro Cup group games, as he did with the League Cup domestically where Chelsea have made the Semi-Finals. This has kept his team fresh for the league games and has undoubtedly helped with the league consistency.

The Chelsea fans seem very content so far, expressing their appreciation for the attacking football Moss has brought in. The board are also very happy with the club philosophies being met and all objectives still on course to be achieved.

The offensive trio of Munoz, Victoria, and Havertz have been an unstoppable force going forward. Leading scorers in the league so far and on course for over 100 goals as things stand, their form has been integral to the good season so far.

But it has been the 83 million signing Omar whom Moss had placed so much faith in that is proving to be Chelsea’s best player, averaging 7.95 and has the most assists so far with 12. This form has led him to his first Brazilian cap. Alberto has also been a revelation. The young wonderkid snapped up from Barca has developed quickly into a first teamer and is now considered a leading centre-back

However with half a season still to go, things can change very quickly in the Premier League. The challenge looks to be coming from both the Manchester clubs this year, with Spurs showing some good form to creep up into 4^th spot.

[BJT]

Season 10 – End of Season Review

EPL – Winners

League Cup – KO Semi-Finals

FA Cup – Winners

Euro Cup – Winners

It turned out to be an outstanding first season for Moss at his new club with a treble of trophies already in the bag. The deadline deals certainly proved to be worth the investment especially with Omar who took his first half of the season form into the second averaging the highest rating of the squad. It did however turn out to be a nail biting end to the Premier League season.

With the Chelsea gap of 5 points slowly diminishing, the gap was down to 1 point with two games spare. Too many draws were allowing free scoring City to get within pouncing distance.

In the penultimate game Chelsea took home a comfortable win 3-0 against Middleborough. With Watford winning away at City with 5 minutes to go it looked like the title was going to Stamford Bridge as even a draw for City would end the title race there – only to see City score two late goals to take the win and the league to be decided on the final day.

To the final day, Chelsea threw away a 1-0 lead away at Bournemouth despite being comfortable for the most part. Meanwhile Stoke hosted Man City with the home side leading the game, but only for City to peg them back to 3-3 with 10 minutes left….Chelsea couldn’t find the winner, but fortunately City also failed to find that all important goal to steal the title out of Moss’ hands.

But with the league’s best defence and the league’s most potent attack, it was perhaps deserved Chelsea had this extra bit of luck especially having led for most of the season whilst fighting on all fronts.

FA Cup (Chelsea 4 – 1 Liverpool)

Leading to the second trophy for Moss was a cup final win against Liverpool. It was the reds who took an early lead at Wembley. However a goal 5 minutes before half-time from Dutch striker Victoria was the perfect time to equalise making it an all-square game going into the second half.

From this point onwards, Chelsea found their game and took the lead on the hour. With stand-in to the long-term injured star man of the side Havertz, Kane played a vital role in turning the game in Chelsea’s favour with an excellent strike into the top corner giving the Liverpool keeper no chance.

Liverpool then had to come at Chelsea, but were put to the sword by two well taken finishes from Munoz and then Victoria at the double to give Moss’ side a well deserved 4-1 win to take home the FA Cup.

EURO Cup (Chelsea 4 – 0 Southampton)

The surprise package that made it to the final were the Saints from the south coast. But with a seventh placed finish in the Premier League, they wouldn’t be a walkover.

But with Chelsea on a high and determined to bring home a historic treble, Southampton ended up no match for the blues.

Despite missing a 14^th minute penalty, it didn’t deter the Chelsea charge who took the lead in the 21^st minute from Argentinian Munoz after a blistering counter-attack caught the Saints defence off guard.

It was to be a memorable day for the striker. He grabbed his second just before half-time which effectively put the game to bed with how well Chelsea had been stroking the ball about. A lovely through ball from his strike partner Victoria left him one on one with the keeper and he made no mistake tucking it away.

Victoria made amends for his penalty miss scoring the Chelsea third, Munoz repaying him by setting him up with an easy finish from 6 yards out.

The game’s final goal saw Munoz finally complete his hatrick just before the full-time whistle making the match ball his. A close range finish after some good work down the left channel from sub Regis Adair meant the completion of a fantastic season for Moss’ side.

End of Season Thoughts

Moss exceeded all board expectations this year. However the club has now been taken over. It will be interesting to see how Moss’ relationship will develop with the new owners and what funds they are willing to invest in the club.

With Europe’s elite competition now on the horizon, no doubt Moss will want to spend again this Summer. With the large sums spent last year though, the budget will most likely be a lot less for maybe one or two signings only.

Performance wise, a lot of players performed well this season and not so many changes should be needed. Courtois had the worst rating of the team quite considerably, but even then he still performed at a good level and won the Golden Glove by having the most clean sheets this year. He is now coming to 35 years old, so Moss will likely look to see if any top class goalkeepers are available on the market.

Although being very hard to beat this season, the number of draws in the league made it tough to get past the finishing line. This may have been in part where 2-3 month injuries to two star offensive players at differing times meant the goals weren’t so easy to come by.

However Moss will likely trust many of his players for next season, given they have proven themselves in conquering the world’s toughest league and be victorious in two out of the two big-game finals they appeared in this term.

[BJT]

Season 11 Preview

Board Objectives

EPL – Win

League Cup – Not Important

FA Cup – Reach Final

Champions League – Reach Semi Finals

The off season was one of insecurity for Chelsea. Reports suggested Barcelona who are La Liga’less for 4 years approached Moss privately for a job interview.

Moss had apparently took the offer very seriously, but to the relief of the board it appears that for the time being the offer came too early since Moss has only been at Chelsea and in the English game for one season.

He does however want to be considered if the job ever did become vacant in the distant future as he does have ambitions to manage in Spain at some point in his career.

On the positive side, Moss has kept his big names happy and the season will be one of re-establishing themselves in the Champions League. It would be good progress to make the knockout stages this year which is Moss’ personal aim. However the board expect Chelsea to immediately reach the Semi Final stages of the competition. This could prove a tough task.

He also realises with the English game being so competitive it will be hard to win more than one trophy. His aim is to at least bring a trophy back to the Bridge each season. No doubt that if he does not, his job will sure come under scrutiny from the powers that be.

Transfers

Identifying the potential new keeper for the ageing Courtois and a backup AMC replacement for the out of contract Denis Suarez, Moss has spent big again this Summer bringing in Portuguese international goalkeeper Amaral along with out of contract Man City youngster McDonnell.

Out went Courtois for a little under 20 million to Inter Milan who had been chasing Chelsea’s number one all of last year. Moss could have kept him on another year, but with him coming to the later stages of his career cashing in seemed a good option.

Out also went a signing Moss brought in last season from Man Utd Emanuel Kane. Although he didn’t perform badly, with Moss spending 35 million on young Polish superstar Sedziak, he has tried to balance the books. Watford will be the benefiters here at a cut-priced figure of a tad under 20 million pounds.

[BJT]

Season 11 – Mid Season

A highly productive first half of the season for Moss’ men sees the blues top of the league and coasting what potentially looked an extremely difficult Champions League group to qualify out of with Wolfsburg, Spanish giants Barcelona and Italian giants Juventus. It was Barcelona whom missed out on the Knockout Stages this year and will have to play in the Europa League.

The Premier League does however remain a competitive one at the current stage. City are five points adrift with a game in hand, and if Arsenal win their game will only be 4 points off the pace too. A defeat earlier on at the Emirates this year shows some of the quality the Gunners possess this season.

Moss’ bench-warmers have also done a good job so far in the league cup, with a Semi-Final place booked against Crystal Palace. A first leg advantage of 3-1 at home means half the job is done to take a final spot. This was the one major domestic trophy Moss missed in his first year in charge.

A similar story of star performers from last season. Munoz and Victoria are banging in the goals both almost averaging a goal a game. Omar and Havertz are providing most of the assists, but Tymon at left back is also chipping in nicely too.

Alberto has performed exceptionally well at the back and new signing Amaral between the stick is plodding along like Courtois did last season.

The most pleasing aspect at this point of the year, is Chelsea have recorded 12 clean sheets in the league so far. The next best team are Man City with 8. This type of defensive quality should hopefully give Moss’ side the foundation to repeat last season’s title winning success.

 

[BJT]

Season 11 – End of Season Review

EPL – Winners

Champions League - Winners

League Cup – Winners

FA Cup – KO 4^th Round

European Super Cup – Winners

Community Shield - Winners

Definitely a successful season for Moss’ Blues outfit and he will be delighted at completing the set of major trophies after only two seasons at the helm.

Things had promised to go pear shaped several times this second half of the season, with being down to the bare bones personnel wise. Ball playing defender Christiansen and goalkeeper Amaral also missed the last 3 months of the campaign, meaning the solid back-line would be much more likely to be leaky.

However Moss’ second stringers when relied upon served him very well, and so it never seemed like the first teamers ever went missing. This led to a highly consistent league campaign, with which City and Arsenal could not cope seeing Chelsea running out comfortable league winners by the end.

There were also some tough domestic Champions League ties to overcome. A Quarter Final tie saw only away goals get the better of a competitive Arsenal side, and a home 1-1 draw to Man Utd in the semi’s was enough after a superb result winning 2-1 away at Old Trafford in the first leg.

The FA Cup was probably the only disappointment this year. Going out in a difficult away tie at Anfield although being the better side, the Reds lined up very smart and sucker-punched Chelsea twice with two long balls over the top of the Chelsea back-line utilising the sheer pace of their front man who finished with great composure twice. There was no coming back for the Blues.

In contrast, Moss’ side did book a Wembley place for the second year running in the League Cup. This pitched them against a well drilled Leeds United outfit.

League Cup (Chelsea 4 – 1 Leeds United)

After comfortably dispatching the Eagles in the Semi-Finals it was Leeds that stood in the way of Moss and the League Cup.

But the perfect start was made, as after 3 minutes Dutch International striker Victoria pounced at the back post with a tap in finish after Leeds failed to clear the ball from an initial set piece. A great way to settle any nerves.

The second and third goals came within the space of two minutes and just before the half-time whistle which had put the game to bed. Wing-back Tymon played an excellent curling back post cross from deep which World Class striker Munoz pounced on to nod passed the Leeds Keeper.

Trying to hit back immediately, Leeds went straight at the Chelsea defence – but to only be hit on the counter-attack. A lovely thread needle pass from Havertz put Munoz in one on one with the keeper. Keeping his composure he placed it perfectly to the bottom right hand-corner leaving the score 3-0 at HT to the blues.

The fourth came from Havertz after a through ball from the Wing-back Tymon who had a superb game. From a tight angle he squeezed it in and a rout this cup-final was turning out to be.

Leeds did gain a consolation goal for their efforts. One of Moss’ potential targets whilst at AC Milan Dennis Man finished well from close range. But this was as good as it got for Leeds and it was a comfortable game for the remaining time. The best team took home the trophy on the day leaving Moss with a big smile on his face at full-time.

Champions League (Chelsea 5 – 2 Real Madrid - AET)

Chelsea’s biggest game of the season and a great chance for Moss to complete a treble for the second year running. Fortunately star Spanish international midfielder Lampon just about passed the fitness test after suffering an injury a few weeks back and he was thrown straight into the starting XI. However Amaral and Christiansen still were missing making this a tough task for the make-up Chelsea backline.

The first half was one with complete Chelsea dominance, but failure to turn this into a goal advantage. This proved to be painful as after 5 minutes into the second stanza, back-up centreback Mannes got caught out from a quick free kick and panicked bringing down the Real Madrid winger Bailey. From the spot, Lemar calmly placed the ball down the centre of the goal after back-up keeper Vidal dived right.

But a fantastic reply in minute 68 saw Munoz strike the ball cleanly from around 12 yards out after Tymon played the ball into the box from a throw-in.

…but then stupidly straight from the kick-off, the ball was sent out to Real winger Bailey who again did the damage, dribbling passed Omar and getting to the byline where his cross found Hakan who turned it in at the near post. Moss was absolutely fuming on the touch-line kicking his water-bottle a good 15 metres away in disgust after falling asleep in such an unprofessional manner.

With a little over 12 minutes to go Moss splashed out his cards with a triple substitution in the hope another one of his master-strokes he was so well renowned for at the Rossoneri would come-off in a final slipping away from his grasp.

And there you had it. After the game become an end-to-end affair, Real gave a free-kick away at the edge of the 18 yard box and to the far right. An excellent inswinging ball came in from Polish substitute Sedziak that centre-back Mannes got a nod on to turn it back in the opposite direction where his fellow centre-back Alberto put a bullet header in passed the helpless Meret in the Real goal. An 89^th minute equaliser it was!

Chelsea have been excellent with their set-pieces under Moss this year. It was this man who gave Chelsea a 1-0 win against Arsenal in the quarter finals from a set-piece where Chelsea had 70 minutes to win with only 10 men.

This setup Extra Time perfectly from a mental point of view. The confidence and the freshness of the eager substitutes was something Real failed to cope with for the last thirty minutes.

The Moss Master-Class was complete. Substitute Regis Adair gave Chelsea the lead in the 108^th minute with an absolute belter of a goal from the edge of the box. Tymon played the ball in, but on the spin he struck it with curl and ferocity into the top left corner of the net.

Five minutes later, with Real desperately trying to find a way into the match panic set in. A poor ball from the Real left back into no mans land left Adair with a chance to finish off the game. Although his first effort hit the post, the ball came back to him and he quickly diverted the ball the other side to make it 4-2.

And just before the full-time whistle was blown, a foul on the Brazilian striker gave him a chance to hit his hatrick. Stepping up to the penalty spot in cool fashion, he finished alike, sending the keeper the wrong way. A great substitution this turned out to be, and the trophy was Chelsea’s and Moss’.

It was an amazing come-back after being behind twice in the game, but in all honesty the score-line really did not flatter the blues. They were by far the best team throughout the match in controlling the play and creating and attempting shots on the Real goal. It would have been a footballing injustice if Real took home the trophy today.

End of Season Thoughts

Moss couldn’t have asked for anything more this season. With all the injury troubles, the difficult Champions League Group and challenges coming from City and Arsenal this year, to have won three major trophies again was an excellent achievement.

Moss doesn’t feel the need to make many squad changes this off-season. Rudiger is now 35 and too old to play a part any longer. He’ll be off on a free-transfer at the end of the year.

Christiansen who missed the last three months of the season may well have lost his placed to Mannes who deputed superbly in his absence. At 32 years old he still is an excellent squad player, but most likely will be left with this role for the next year or two.

So it looks a centre-back will be the area Moss will be looking to bring in reinforcements in. However if any star players are available, he will always be open to improving his first team especially to shake things up and keep the desire levels to repeat success at a maximum.

Stars of the year include the Argentine striker Munoz. Scoring 42 times this season he took the most goals scored crown, followed by 38 by Victoria.

Omar again averaged the best for Moss hitting 7.74. But it was Havertz this year’s assist king providing 22 goals this year.

Alberto was the star defender for Moss. Since being shown faith last year, he has continued to develop and has become an elite-centre back for the club. Technique and first touch is no longer a weak part of his game and he now fits in well with the football Moss implements. Super quick, decisive, agile, and great in the air he now justifies the 65 million pounds Moss paid for him when he had several weak points to his game.

For Moss, the World Club Championship is all that is missing from the Chelsea trophy cabinet under his reign. But the sheer volume of games that exist in the English game with this competition to play next season will really test the squad.

[BJT]

Season 12 Preview

Board Objectives

EPL – Win

League Cup – Not Important

FA Cup – Reach Final

Champions League – Reach Semi Finals

 

The same objectives stand as handed out to Moss last season. With the squad a year on, with the majority still at a good footballing age these players should have developed after last year and can hopefully continue to develop their game.

The pre-season has been good so far. A 3-1 win in the Community win against FA Cup winners Spurs along with a highly polished performance in the European Super Cup beating Barcelona 2-1 has been perfect preparation for the first game being played in the league away to Bournemouth.

Important contracts have been tied up this Summer, so everything seems to be set nice and early for this year’s trophies onslaught.

Transfers

Personnel changes aren’t too major for the year forthcoming. Rudiger decided to retire from football. This void has been filled in by 22 year old Italian international centre-back Lucchetti. Not someone who will turn out to be world-class, but he has all the attributes of a solid central defender that will not let the team down when called upon.

The big changes have come where the injury stricken Christiansen at 32 years old has been sold to Juventus for 32.5 million pounds. Although still a year or two left in him, Moss has done well to cash in at this value.

His replacement is 21 year old Portuguese international who came in from Sporting at 45 million. He seems to have that extra potential to become a top player. Moss feels he will be good enough to walk into the starting XI and overlook Mannes the 25 year old Dutch international who deputised in last year’s Champions League final.

What he does need to work on is his jumping ability, as this is a clear weakness in his game that will need to be rectified to become a highly dependable Premier League type of defender.

[BJT]

Season 12 – Mid Season

The first half of this year has had its fair share of ups and downs so far. A troubling start in the league saw two away defeats at Bournemouth and Leicester with two further away draws saw Moss’ troops fall well behind several teams. For a large part of this season the blues were languishing outside the top four and Arsenal were running away with top spot closely pursued by opening day victors Bournemouth.

There was an early exit too in the League Cup, where Stoke put out the holders via penalties, albeit they were fortunate to make it to that point.

A defensive crisis also threatened to push Chelsea further down the table when some form was starting to come to the fore. But stand-ins Smith and new signing Luchetti performed admirably in continuing the promising form being shown.

And coming up to the half-way point, with Moss’ side eventually winning 12 games on the bounce Chelsea had shot up the table and in an amazing turn-around now lay in top spot by December’s end.

A marvellous performance at the Emirates saw them over-take Arsenal at the top winning 4-0. Although Arsenal had their chances, keeper Amaral was in inspired form and Havertz was pulling all the strings at the other end.

Another highlight was the 10-0 away drubbing of Brentford. Perhaps not the strongest side, but Victoria has had a blinding season and he notched up a double hatrick in this game. Munoz has been well below par in finding the net this year. But their overall partnership is still flourishing with Victoria averaging more than a goal a game so far.

Omar has found his top form that he showed a couple of year’s back already notching up 22 assists and averaging just a tad under 8.00. Alberto has scored some vital goals from set piece plays as he always does, and after such a poor start Moss will be delighted how his squad have turned their fortunes around.

In the Champions League, Athletico Madrid pipped Chelsea to top spot after winning the home match between the two sides. Shaktar and Hoffenheim made up the numbers in the group. Although qualifying comfortably, second spot is never the best place to finish when Knockout time comes around.

But a pleasing touch to the season so far was winning the World Club Championship. It means Moss has now won all trophies available to him at Chelsea, a feat which he has done at Milan previously but only taken 3 years this time around.

[BJT]

Season 12 – End of Season Review

EPL – Winners

ECL - Winners

League Cup – KO 3^rd Round

FA Cup – KO 5^th Round

European Super Cup – Winners

Community Shield – Winners

World Club Championship -Winners

-

Another fine season for Moss’ Blues. Despite not winning the League or FA Cup, they aren’t the trophies of priority. After a tough first half of the season, the fine form that catapulted Chelsea to top spot continued on for the rest of the campaign.

Some excellent results including a 4-2 away win at Old Trafford and the home 5-1 drubbing of Arsenal who at the time were tight on their tails had put the title to bed. Finishing on 98 points with a 15 point gap to Man City showed the eventual dominance and consistency Chelsea had shown this season.

Scoring over 100 goals and having by far the meanest defence by only conceding a mere 16 goals laid the foundation for both the league title and a chance to retain the Champions League Trophy, a feat Moss had achieved at previous club Milan.

Despite coming second in the ECL group, victories over Bayern, Arsenal, and Juventus took Moss to a rematch of last year’s drama filled final against Real Madrid. Real had only been able to finish second in La Liga, so this was a big game for them with revenge filled in their minds too.

Champions League Rematch (Chelsea 2 – 1 Real Madrid)

A fully fit first XI for Moss meant he and the side went into the match full of confidence. And after bossing the first 30 minutes, the breakthrough finally came.

A brilliant cross from Omar forced the Real centre-back to hold Victoria back from being able to score from 6 yards out with the referee forced to blow for a spot kick.

Up came Victoria who hit the ball hard low and to the left of the outstretched keeper who wasn’t able to get close to the strike. An excellent well taken penalty gave Chelsea a deserved 1-0 lead.

With Real still struggling to find their game, Chelsea gave their second major blow right before half-time.

A nice build up from the back and exploiting the left side of the pitch, saw Havertz find some space between the lines who played a delightful throughball to Victoria. After beating the offside trap he then played a well timed cross into the path of his strike partner Munoz who finished like a top class striker does, on the half volley and placed into the bottom right hand corner. The Real shotstopper had no chance.

Into the second half, all Chelsea needed to do was keep composed and regain their rhythm which would no doubt see this match home.

However clearly a half-time team talk from the Real coach got his team playing a little better and they were controlling more of the ball than the first half.

And after continuing to plug away, a glimmer of hope came in the 77^th minute. A Beckham-esque ball from deep curled and weighted to great precision that took out half the Chelsea team then left striker Ruben Agudo one on one with the keeper.

A fantastic first touch took it down perfectly for him to then take the ball away from the oncoming defender and place his shot with his favourite right foot into the bottom left corner. Amaral had no chance in goal and the game had another 13 minutes plus injury time left to go.

Moss then decided to inject some fresh legs in midfield and this seemed to do the trick. The ascendancy Real had seemed to have been toned down, and Chelsea controlled the last minutes of the match extremely well, limiting Real Madrid to only a couple of half chances from distance. Chelsea looked the more threatening and perhaps should have put the game to bed if the finishing was up to scratch.

The final whistle then blew and a delighted Moss had now retained the Champions League with two clubs. No need for a dramatic comeback this time around, but an excellent and professional performance saw the team through, and had certainly showed the progress made in managing a game of this magnitude.

 

End of Season Thoughts

The off-season acquisitions certainly played their part in the success this year. Centre-back Guimares has developed quickly like Alberto did, and he has established himself as a key member of the back trio.

Omar hit 34 assists this year and averaged 7.73, Chelsea’s star man again. Victoria found the net an excellent 55 times this season, more than double of his strike partner Munoz who struggled at times.

Havertz continued to show a high level of performance at the playmaker position and provided useful goals and assists, with Alberto again the top centre-back at the club second year running.

Tymon at wingback also scored 10 goals which was an excellent achievement. He has now hit 30 years of age but still seems to have some good legs on him. Moss had thought about looking for a potential left back this Summer, but surely his form and performance warrant another year as the team’s first choice left wingback.

So it’s taken Moss 2 and a half years to complete the full trophy set that includes the Euro Cup. Spain is a country he does want to manage at some point, though at present he only knows fluent English and Italian. But with the squad he’s currently assembled at Chelsea, at this moment in time it will take only the best challenge and club to prize him away.

[BJT]

Real Madrid - 2029

(“It was too good to turn down.”) – Season 13, Real Madrid

After completing two Champions Leagues and a hatrick of premier league’s bringing Chelsea back to the top of the English game, Moss has decided to finally make his trip over to Spain and follows in his idol’s footsteps Jose Mourinho. Moss who was responsible for the blues Real Madrid have faced the last couple of year coming out second best each time in the Champions League Final will be looking to help Los Merengues take that final step to success and surpass the current unlucky number 13, being the total number of Champions League title's in the club's history.

Real Madrid also failed to win La Liga last year and Moss has been given the task to immediately bring back trophies to the Bernabau. But with ageing stars in the squad and what Moss perceives to be an imbalance of personnel and lack of quality depth, a fair amount of wheeling and dealing will likely be seen this Summer. No doubt a hefty transfer war-chest should be made available by the board to mould the squad and get the team playing how he wants them to.

Moss also has his personal goal of becoming the only manager to have won football’s elite competition with three different clubs.

The Moss Philosophy / 4312

Moss has decided to stick to two strikers at the top of the pitch in a new system of his being the 4312. It will be different for Real Madrid, as a couple of their stars of last year were wide men but do not appear to feature in Moss’ plans. He also feels the centre midfield is perhaps where the current squad has the strongest personnel available and will be looking to utilise this.

Naturally sticking to the offensive, pressing, and possession based football, but bringing the Italian formation to Spain, wing-backs again will be an important part of providing the width. They will be protected by two carillero’s in the centre of the park providing cover for their surges going forward.

These two midfielders have an important role to play, as they will be feeding both the creative trequartista in the offensive third who will be pulling the strings between the lines and also the supposed quarterback playing centrally in between them.

This deep-lying playmaker will look to use his vision and passing abilities to probe, find a quick killer ball and dictate the play from deep, ensuring to remain stationery to keep a good solid midfield structure and be in a position to help the two centrebacks when need be.

The two strikers will look to bring in the wing-backs and trequartista into the play as much as possible, dropping deep in order to help retain possession whilst attacking the box from deep with a great deal of regularity so they do get into goal-scoring positions.

A good ball-playing defender will also be needed to help bring the ball out of defence, especially where teams find a good way to try and press the back-line. This role can’t be underestimated here, along with a Sweeper Keeper. With the defensive line being ultra-high he needs to be quick off his line.

Moss does however hope this system and style will be suited quite well in Spain, especially where teams tend to want to play from the back and less long-balls going over the top of the defence.

[BJT]

Season 13 Preview

Board Objectives

La Liga – Win

Spanish Cup – Not Important

Spanish Super Cup – Not Important

Champions League – Reach Semi Finals

 

After painfully coming second last season, Moss has the task of bringing La Liga back to the Bernabau. The squad since the investments in the Summer should be more than capable of making a strong challenge for the crown, so second place will not be good enough.

Despite making the CL final two seasons in a row, the board do seemed to have realised the changes made may take a little while to settle and see the best out of the new recruits. But being regarded as a top 4 European team is a must and anything less will no doubt lead to Moss’ job being on the line.

First XI

Transfers

A very busy Summer transfer window for Moss as expected. With the squad only having two-fullbacks, immediately cover was required for both the left and right side. In came Aguilera and Aydemir, but both will probably be taking a back-seat this season and won’t challenge for a first team place.

Numbers were also needed in centre midfield. Although quality was there in the squad, not enough sufficient backup was available so Moss called on James Stillie whom he had at Chelsea to fill in this role.

Sahraorui also was brought in for a hefty fee, with his attributes suited well for the Carillero role needed in Moss’ system and being a transfer listed world-class player coming in from PSG he will likely hold a first team place.

The Real back-line also looked quite weak after analysing the squad, and most of the budget has been splashed on 24 year old Polish centreback Kujawa. He was also a target of Moss at Chelsea, but he had decided to take on Alberto at a cheaper price. A strong and powerful centreback, he should complement his ball-playing partner de Ligt.

Going the other way were wide-men with potential Degano and LeClerc to Man City and PSG respectively.

Moss will be hoping his new recruits will settle in quickly, as with rivals such as Barcelona and Athletico Madrid points cannot be afforded to be dropped early on if a title challenge is to be made.

[BJT]

Season 13 – Mid Season

A good first half of the season in the league. Top scorers and undefeated, a 6 points gap has been created between rivals Athletico and Barcelona.

The first set of games against these two big sides have ended both as draws. Behind in both games, Moss’ men showed great resilience to come back to take a point and importantly not lose.

The game against Athletico was a frustrating one. By far the better side, Real just couldn’t convert their chances but kept plodding away till the equaliser came.

Against Barcelona, although taking the lead Barca struck 3 times on the trot to take a 3-1 advatange. Then a sending off a few minutes after surely meant Barca would have strolled the last half an hour to take the 3 points.

But a few substitutions helped mark an amazing comeback scoring 2 goals in the last 6 minutes to take an absolutely crucial point and kept the 6 point gap there.

In the Champions League, although qualified Moss’ men lost both times to Inter. Playing like Italians do tactically, they certainly took their chances clinically in both games to help them take top place.

Unfortunately for Moss they have drawn PSG in the first round which will make things extremely difficult to meet the board’s semi-final spot objectives.

 

[BJT]

Season 13 – End of Season Review

La Liga – Winners

Champions League - Winners

Spanish Cup – Winners

Spanish Super Cup - Winners

The Real Madrid board have been rewarded for placing their faith in their previous conqueror Moss, completing the clean sweep of trophies in his first year in charge.

Continuing from the fine form shown during the first half of the season, his team pulled away from Barcelona and Athletico slowly but surely with the gap ending 8 points between Real and their neighbours Athletico. Although not quite breaking the 100 points barrier, they did get over 100 goals in style.

In the Spanish Cup, after getting passed Barcelona in the 5^th round, wins against Betis and Real Sociedad booked them a final place against Espanyol.

Spanish Super Cup Final (Real Madrid 4 – 2 Espanyol)

In a match bossed by Real, Espanyol did have the Real boss worried his side would throw the game away.

Real took the lead early on in the game from Agudo coming in for the injured Pierguidi. Failing to clear a corner, the ball eventually made it’s way back to Lemar who crossed the ball into the box for Agudo to knock the ball in from 6 yards out

Not under 10 minutes later the second followed. With right back Aguilera coming in for the injured Vinicius, in an offensive position inside the box his shot deflected off the helpless Espanyol centreback giving the wrong-footed keeper no chance, with the defender unfortunately credited with an own goal.

Things got worse for Espanyol with a second own goal of the game coming from midfielder Lozano. A shot outside the box struck the player with the keeper left stranded not moving an inch to watch the ball fizz passed him on the other side of the goal.

Things seemed comfortable at 3-0, but then a sloppy ball from De Ligt left the Real back line vulnerable and Espanyol took full advantage, attacking the space down the left flank with a ball crossed in for Daniel Marin to slot home on just after the half hour mark. This gave them a glimmer of hope.

Early into the second half the gap now became one, with some very direct wing play that again exploited the Real Madrid right flank, crossing the ball for Vukovksi to divert the ball in from 6 yards out.

But just under the hour mark, some excellent display of recycling possession and putting Espanyol under constant pressure led to the third player deputising, Ugur Aydemir putting a cross into the box for Lemar to make some space for himself and finish passed the Espanyol keeper.

Real learnt their lesson and controlled the remainder of the match well. Espanyol only had one clear cut chance all game, and Moss watched the last half hour with his feet up and chewing his trade-mark gum from the sidelines in good comfort, claiming his first major trophy at his new club.

Champions League Final (Real Madrid 2 – 0 Monaco)

Meanwhile in the Champions League, it was an extremely tough route to the final. After coming through PSG in the first round of knockouts, ties against Man City and then fierce rivals Athletico were close encounters that Real had enough to get through.

In the other semi-final, Monaco played holders and Moss’ old side Chelsea. Moss was hoping to meet his old club in the final, but they were unable to overturn a 2-0 defeat in the first leg, meaning it was a tie between Real Madrid and Monaco from France.

With De Ligt banned for this match after his red against Man City in the Semi’s, in came Italian international Gori. Everyone else was fully fit for this one, and after claiming the title with a good win at home against Barcelona 4-2, Moss and Co were confident of completing the treble.

This game was a tight affair, with Monaco certainly playing their part playing a 451 formation and looking to park the bus.

With Real Madrid controlling the ball and being patient as much as possible when going forward, Monaco stuck to their guns and were looking to hit Real on the break.

With the game all square with the half-time whistle blown, the game was forming to become a highly tense affair for the second half.

A golden chance then fell to world-class striker Pellegri just after the hour mark. One on one with the Real keeper, he failed to keep his composure and fired over the bar. This was a miss they were to regret.

A fluid 18 pass and move build up from the back, eventually found Pierguidi in some space to attack the left channel, knocking the ball passed his marker before whipping in a cross for his strike partner Geubbels to clinically finish from 6 yards out, directing the ball into the far top corner leaving the Monaco keeper no chance.

Monaco then looked to play more offensively trying to put some more pressure on the Real Madrid back-line, but were never able to carve out that second clear-cut chance, with Pellegri taking pot shots that failed to trouble Yapici in the Real goal.

And with only a few minutes left and the Frenchmen getting desperate, Pierguidi from deep played in a precise pass beating the high Monaco defensive line to leave Geubbels a chance to put the game to bed. With the onrushing keeper closing him down, he kept his cool well and struck the ball hard passed Lafont giving Real and Moss an unassailable lead which they held till the final whistle.

Moss was delighted with how his team kept their patience and continued to recycle the ball extremely well throughout the game. A highly professional performance and one he’ll certainly enjoy, becoming the first boss to win the Champions League with three different clubs and in three different countries.

End of Season Thoughts

Some of the football this year that was on display was excellent from Real Madrid. The only disappointing loss came away to Athletico in the league, managed by Pep Guardiola. A 3-0 scoreline was painful to take, but it doesn’t get better than winning all 4 trophies possible this year.

Moss was 'so happy' with how Lemar performed at 34 years of age. He showed he still has the quality despite not having the legs he once did, with an automatic extension triggered after hitting his appearance limit.

But the top performers go to both 7.84 average rated Pierguidi up front and Rene Charrier. He was superb at left wing-back, with Monaco continually bidding for his signature but Moss wasn’t having any of it.

Vinicius and De Ligt were solid at the back, and Sen scored some very important goals from centre midfield this season.

All in-all, it was a great squad effort with the personnel in the important positions performing very well and their successes were well deserved this year.

Chances created this season far surpassed that of any other club, with 221 to Athletico’s 168 being the second most. This showed the attacking intent shown, and the board were delighted that both attacking and possession philosophies had been well met.

It will be almost impossible to have as good as season as this one. But Moss will look to see where areas need to be strengthened. Fortunately there were no real serious injuries this season, but with a lack of players trained in Spain the Champions League squad could have been more severely depleted. So this is one area he will certainly be looking at in the off-season.