Chelsea FC micro-takes

Women: Entering the 2026-2027 Season

Chelsea's history is still dominated by the legacy of the teams under manager Emma Hayes. Their success means expectations at Chelsea are always to win the league and make a run at the Champions League final with a justifiable hope of winning it. Sonia Bompastor's first season as manager continued that legacy, winning the domestic treble and reaching the Champions League semi-final. Barcelona remains a bogey team. But last year, Sonia's second season, was something of a disappointment relative to those high standards. They didn't win the league, they didn't come close in the Champions League, and they lost a 2-0 lead in the FA Cup to lose 3-2 in extra time.

Sonia Bompastor is entering her third season as manager. This is even moreso Sonia's team after another offseason of departing players who arrived under Emma Hayes. From Hayes' final season, three players have retired, three have moved to other WSL teams, five moved to the NWSL in the US, while others have moved to Lyon, PSV, and teams in Canada, Sweden, and the WSL2. Remaining are keeper Hanna Hampton, defenders Kadeisha Buchanan, Jorja Fox, Nathalie Bjorn, midfielders Sjoeke Nusken and Erin Cuthbert, and forwards Lauren James, Maika Hamano, Aggie Beever-Jones, and Mayra Ramirez. Arriving for Bompastor should still be leaders in Ellie Carpenter, Naomi Girma, Katie McCabe, Lucy Bronze, Keira Walsh.

Given those names, I want to maintain the expectation of winning the league and having a chance in the Champions League final. After all, teams can come back after a down year. But when you're used to winning nearly everything, a season finishing third with 20 fewer goals for, 6 more goals against, and 8 fewer points than the average of the previous 5 seasons stings. We've no choice but to run it back. But can the team make up for goals that used to be scored by Sam Kerr? Can the team defense be re-assured? Last year's goal was to beat Barcelona. This year's goal is to reestablish momentum, swagger, and moxy and see where that leads us. Fans won't know what to do if the team repeats last year's performance.

Men: Entering the 2026-2027 Season

We entered last year thinking we were a young team on the rise, a coveted place in sports. The expectation was to qualify for the Champions League again with a bit of gusto. Things started well enough, with the team going 7-2-3 in the first 12 matches, rising to 2nd place, and coach Enzo Maresca winning manager of the month in November. Then, the team went 1-3-1, dropping to 5th place, before Maresca admitted to management that he was talking to Mancester City just a year and a half into a five year contract. Management decided to part ways with him and promote Strasbourg manager Liam Rosenior to the Chelsea role. The squad goes 4-1-1 on a seeming "new manager bounce," but couldn't rise in the table during that time. Then, two draws and a loss to Arsenal dropped the team to 6th place. Ten days later, the team lose to PSG in the Champions League by a demoralizing 5-2. The team promptly gave up on the season, apparently not believing in Rosenior and seeing some writing on a wall, and finished the year 1-1-7. The only win was to try to relegate Tottenham. Along the way, Rosenior was fired and an interim coach appointed for the final four matches. The team finished in 10th place in the league and couldn't "flip the switch" to win in the cup competitions. Yikes.

Looking to the transfer season for high notes, the biggest is hiring new manager Xabi Alonso, widely seen as the best potential option at the time. The move comes with a reported shift in approach by the BlueCo consortium owners and sporting directors. Alonso was given the "manager" title instead of the "coach" title. While transfer decisions are still something of a group decision, Alonso appears to have a say that is more influential than prior managers Enzo Maresca, Mauricio Pochettino, Frank Lampard, and Graham Potter. For players, instead of continuing to hire nearly all young players with promise, established players Morgan Rogers and Danny Welbeck were brought in, both on the attacking side of play. Jordan Henderson was likely brought in to play the same "good locker room presence" role he served for the England World Cup squad. Perhaps the biggest transfers out are defenders Marc Cucurella and Trevoh Chalobah. Just before the season, that shift in approach by the BlueCo consortium appears to be underscored by co-chairman Todd Boehly looking to exit his position and sell it back to Clearlake Capital.

It seems obvious that everyone wants the team to get back to a top 5 season and qualify for the Champions League. Finishes of 12th, 6th, 4th, and then 10th demand a bounce back year. The question seems to be exactly how to get there. Last year's 58 goals for and 52 goals against need to improve by about 10 more goals for and 16 fewer goals against for a typical 3rd place season. Something comfortably above 5th place would be nice. That seems like a lot until we examine the last 9 matches the team had quit on. In that stretch, they were outscored 5 to 18. Before they tanked, the team had been on pace for a 67 goals for and 43 goals against season, where a 24 point goal differential would have been third best in the league. Had the team done better than 4-0-5 in that stretch, instead of 1-1-7, they would have finished in 5th place. I guess it turns out vibes mean a lot. Due to incentive-heavy contracts, a lot of players lost a lot of money in those nine games.

Hopefully, the arrival of Xabi Alonso as manager and experienced players will keep locker room morale and drive high through the season instead of suffering from such volatility. On the field, losing key defenders and adding key attackers will hopefully mean the increase in goals will outpace an increase in goals against. Looking at last year's top teams, Arsenal should remain a top team, but Manchester City have replaced Pep Guardiola, Mancester United are coming off a good season but add Champions League play this year, Aston Villa have lost key players, and Liverpool have moved on from Arne Slot. Maybe there's a way to be a surprise this year. On the other hand, if Chelsea hit a patch of poor form, how will BlueCo react? We hope we won't be yet again looking for another manager a year from now. It's the hope that kills you, as they say.