FM23 Chelsea FC - Bringing the Blues Back

[TheMaestro]

Chapter 1: A Fresh Start

With the Football Manager 2023 beta now being upon us, I decided it was time to test out the new game in the days leading up to full release. Chelsea have had an interesting season thus far in real life to say the least, comprised of major transfer dealings, managerial departures and inconsistent results.

With that said, I stepped into the role to become Chelsea's latest manager, and to see what I could do amidst uncertain times at the club.

And Todd Boehly wasted no time in introducing me to the club...

Obviously, Chelsea need no introduction. They are one of the world's most renowned clubs with vast recent success, boosted significantly by the ownership of Roman Abramovich that dates back to 2003. However, Abramovich was of course replaced with a new owner earlier this year, in the shape of American Todd Boehly. His understanding of football has been questioned in the media across his reign as owner, but he certainly is capable of providing us with the funds necessary to improve the squad.

And, of course, with a club as sizeable as Chelsea, there is no doubt that the club vision element will be important in keeping the board happy, as well as, in one of the new features this year, matching and achieving the supporters vision. The board's vision has a clear prioritisation around facilities, and building up the youth system which is already one of the most prominent in producing young talent.

As for tactics, I'm initially planning on a 4-3-3 tiki-taka to get the most out of the team's more creative options, however, Chelsea do have the tools to play with a back 5 as well, so the option to develop a back 5 will remain firmly in the back of my mind as the season progresses.​

 

[TheMaestro]

Chapter 2: Squad Analysis

Chelsea are perhaps considered infamous for their squad size, given the considerable amount of players which they are always able to send on loan every year. However, the squad still has its weaker areas and is by no means perfect.

The Key Three

Without doubt, Reece James is one of our most important players, and arguably the most important. James is quite simply a world-class full-back, who is well-rounded in both attack and defence and will be crucial to my system. We also lack a little depth at right-back, with Cesar Azpilicueta being the only other player who is accomplished in that position, and he's a natural centre-back who is aging.

Next up is a player who I feel is perennially underrated: Mateo Kovacic. With N'Golo Kante out injured for around 6-7 months, the midfield is perhaps not as deep as it could be, in terms of sheer quality, but Kovacic is undoubtedly a terrific player. He provides the most versatile and creative option in our midfield and is an extremely consistent player that I am eager to get the best out of.

And the last member of this key trio which I've highlighted is new man Raheem Sterling. As I will highlight a little later in this post, I feel that Chelsea lack genuine quality wingers. Sterling is the exception to that, and therefore becomes very important to my tactical setup, much like James does at right-back. Sterling is by far and away our best left-winger and will be an important source of goals for us.

The Future

Centre-back Wesley Fofana perhaps only somewhat fits into the category, given that he cost Chelsea around 80 million pounds and I plan to use him as a starter. However, he is still just 21 years old and has immense potential to develop into an even better centre-back than he already is. As long as nothing too dramatic changes in his career, he should be a crucial part of the Chelsea setup for years to come.

Carney Chukwuemeka, though, is most definitely an exciting prospect for the future. Chelsea paid quite a decent fee considering Chukwuemeka is not particularly established, but he clearly does possess lots of quality which me and my staff will be looking and closely, in order to harness the player and ensure that he reaches the heights which he is capable of doing.

The other youngster which I'm eager to see progress was also bought in the summer, and is the Italian midfielder Cesare Casadei. Much like Chukwuemeka, he is an exciting prospect for the future and the potential future midfield involving both of them excites me because they both possess a lot of potential qualities.

On the Outs

The final set of players I'm highlighting are those who I feel do not have much of a future at the club. Having said that, though, there is no first transfer window, so they will have the opportunity to prove themselves over the next six months before January. However, Hakim Ziyech has never really been able to produce his Ajax form since joining Chelsea. He has had stretches of games where he's looked quality, but, especially recently, he simply has not been good enough.

This one might be a little controversial given that Aubameyang only just joined Chelsea, but I do not see myself getting along too well with the Gabonese 33-year-old. He obviously has been a world-class player, but, in the game at least, seems to be at the wrong end of his career and dwindling in quality. I'll give him a chance, but, at his age, I don't believe I'll use him all that often.

I hinted earlier that we had problems on the wings, and these three players are all wingers. Christian Pulisic is in need of a career revival, and I plan to use him early on, but, if he fails to perform, it seems like a good time to cash in on him, as he still possesses decent value given the fact he is still only 23. Pulisic has been inconsistent during his time at Chelsea and, unless he can begin to string together a series of good performances, it might be time for Chelsea to part ways with the American.

Pre-season was mixed, to say the least. I was unimpressed with our results against Blackburn and Luton, but thankfully it got better as it went on. Nothing too convincing, though.

With the Premier League season just around the corner, our opening fixtures seem quite daunting. We have Manchester City, Liverpool and Tottenham in our opening five fixtures. It could either put us in really good stead for the rest of the season, or could leave us sitting mid-table should we fail to perform in these games.
​

 

[MrTini23]

Good luck. Couldn't ask for two tougher fixtures to start!

 

[dark warrior™]

first buy must be striker my suggestions are Mitrovic or Vlahovic

 

[TheMaestro]

Chapter 3: Kicking Off The Season

Matchday 1: Manchester City vs Chelsea

We fell to an opening day defeat, however, being away at the Etihad, we kept the game close, at least in the score line. We didn't play particularly well and City deserved their win, but we posed a threat on the counter-attack and there are a few positives to take from the game as we look to improve against Liverpool.

Matchday 2: Chelsea vs Liverpool

Unfortunately, it was back-to-back defeats to kick-off the season. However, I cannot help but feel a little hard done by to have lost this game. I felt we deserved at least a point given we showed a lot more attacking endeavour this time around, but you have to take your chances against the best teams, and we failed to do that.

The xG from the match backs up the claim that we deserved something, dominating both the ball and the chances before conceding a later winner.

Matchday 3: Chelsea vs Bournemouth

We got our first win of the season at home to Bournemouth, and after a frantic opening 10 minutes after which the score read 1-1, we gained control over the proceedings and notched a deserved victory. Raheem Sterling had his best game in a Chelsea shirt, whilst Christian Pulisic delivered upon being given the chance to start.

We had our Champions League group drawn and, frankly, we have been handed a tough group. I imagine that Tobyl, a club who I had never heard of before this, will not cause any trouble, or at least I hope so, because we've also got both Borussia Dortmund and Real Madrid to get past. Madrid of course eliminated Chelsea from last seaon's Champions League at the quarter-final stage, so there's a little bit of a revenge element coming into play when we face off against them.

Matchday 4: Leicester vs Chelsea

Back in the league now, though, and we suffered a disastrous 3-1 loss up against Leicester City. The opening defeats I could look at and say that it was arguably the two best teams in the league we'd faced, but to lose to a Leicester side who were 19th coming into this game is extremely poor. The only positive to take is that Kai Havertz has 3 goals in our opening 4 games.

And the day before we faced Tottenham, we were greeted with the unfortunate news that right-back Reece James would be out for around the next two months all told. This is a huge absence for the club given that we lack depth at right-back and that James is one of our best players.

Matchday 5: Chelsea vs Tottenham

However, at the very least, we came up with our best performance of the season so far, although only won 1-0 against Tottenham. We should've scored more, amplified by the fact that Jorginho missed a penalty in the 40th minute, but what we did do effectively was nullify Spurs' threat. They posed barely any problems for our backline and, in the end, Wesley Fofana's early goal was enough for the three points.

Our results in August meant the league table didn't look too pretty in these early stages. The defeat to Leicester is the main concern, but the hope is to kick on in September and hopefully find ourselves in a much better position come October.

Raheem Sterling was our Player of the Month for being our most consistent attacking threat and, although Havertz has more goals to his name, Sterling is the more lively and involved option, with Havertz having a tendency to drift in and out of games at times. A good first month in blue for the Englishman.

The Dortmund game obviously screams out as the most crucial of next month's fixtures, especially given that it is at home. However, the Premier League games are also important given our slow start, and we've been given a couple of winnable games which we hopefully can perform in.​

 

[TheWizard65]

Put it on friend I think you will perform better maybe you can also try a different tactic?

 

[TheMaestro]

Put it on friend I think you will perform better maybe you can also try a different tactic?

Have been contemplating a back 5, and might switch to it if results continue to go against us.

 

[TheMaestro]

Chapter 4: Champions League Begins

Matchday 6: West Ham vs Chelsea

Not sure what to say, to be honest, except that we were awful and deserved to lose by the margin we lost by. We were not totally dominated in terms of chances nor possession, but we were incredibly flat and uninspired on the ball that we could've probably played an additional 90 minutes and we still would have failed to find the back of the net.

Champions League Matchday 1: Chelsea vs Borussia Dortmund

We are bad. Borussia Dortmund are tough opponents, granted, but to be 3-0 down after 40 minutes at Stamford Bridge in our first Champions League game is completely unacceptable. I tinkered with tactics and personnel in the second half, and, whilst it nullified Dortmund's attacking threat, it brought about no change in the score line and we slumped to a miserable defeat.

Matchday 7: Chelsea vs Fulham

We managed to win a game, at least! It was a tight game, though, and it took a deflected out of the box strike from Denis Zakaria to decide the match. He was the main positive from the game as he made his first start and was head and shoulders above everyone else on the pitch today, irrespective of the goal.

The xG even shows that Fulham were the better side today and we were fortunate to come away with the victory in the end. The fact that we cannot dominate a newly promoted side at home is concerning, to say the least.

Champions League Matchday 2: Tobyl vs Chelsea

At last, a performance to smile about. Yes, it was against Tobyl, who lost 5-0 to Real Madrid on the opening matchday, but if you'd seen what I'd seen over the past few matches, it was just so relieving to see us actually play some decent football. It's been a while since we actually showed attacking quality, and today we did that. Plus, Conor Gallagher put in a remarkable performance, scoring a 19 minute hattrick and ending the game with 4 goals from midfield. He's earnt a place in the starting line-up for the next few games at least.

Matchday 8: Wolves vs Chelsea

This was our first away Premier League point of the season, if I'm not mistaken. It was not a particularly convincing performance, Wolves deserved their equaliser and the draw is probably a fair result. It's not an awful result given how we've played in the league recently and that Wolves have had a good start to the season.

Having ended August in 12th, we fail to move up the table despite having significantly easier fixtures this month. It's clear we are struggling and that swift adjustments are needed if we want to have any chance of reaching the Top 4 this campaign.

Conor Gallagher did score 4 in one match, but he only played against Fulham otherwise, and he wasn't particularly impressive in that game. Mason Mount did not have a fantastic month necessarily, but he was the only player who showed any real consistency and for that he gets my vote for Player of the Month.

As it's a world cup year, October is extremely congested and will pose a challenge to player fitness and performance. We face Madrid twice and Arsenal in the league, so who knows where we will find ourselves come November.​

 

[TheMaestro]

Chapter 5: Can we turn it around?

Matchday 9: Chelsea vs Arsenal

Fantastic. I don't know where the performance came from, but we've been crying out for a result like this since day one and it finally arrived as we trounced Arsenal 3-0 at Stamford Bridge. We'd gotten the job done within 5 minutes in truth and we looked as comfortable as we have done all season long.

Champions League Matchday 3: Real Madrid vs Chelsea

We tried. That's what I can say. The Bernabeu is obviously one of the world's hardest stadiums to come to and take a result, and whilst Madrid won comfortably enough, we put up a fight, and, on another day, if we take our chances, perhaps we could have stolen a point. It wasn't as dull as some of other performances and at least we gave it a go.

Matchday 10: Nottingham Forest vs Chelsea

Our first away victory comes in style as we put 5 past a struggling Nottingham Forest. The one thing that has most noticeably changed in the early stages of the month is our clinical edge. It's not us having a lot of possession for very little output, but rather we are creating chances, and, most importantly, taking them.

Champions League Matchday 4: Chelsea vs Real Madrid

It was the same result on our home tur against Madrid, though. The goal we did score was beautiful as Jorginho lofted a lovely pass for Mount to head home. We held the lead very briefly, but we did keep it at 1-1 for around 50 minutes. Unfortunately, Madrid's quality came to the fore and we slumped to a 3-1 defeat once again.

Matchday 11: Chelsea vs Aston Villa

Villa are winless and on the bottom, and we edged them out 1-0 at home. The fact that it came from an own goal is mildly concerning, but we did actually play extremely well. Villa never threatened our goal and we had plenty of chances to add to the score line, but were unable to do so. We lacked the cutting edge today but thankfully still came out with a win.

Just as Reece James was working his way back, the other sided wing-back, Marc Cucurella, picks up an injury, meaning we are left a little light in the full-back department once again.

Matchday 12: Crystal Palace vs Chelsea

And we return back to earth after a nice little spell of three straight wins. Crystal Palace defeat us and despite the fact that we played the better, more attacking football, they scored what were their only 2 shots on target until around the 75th minute. The difference was they took their chances and we failed to, simple as that.

Matchday 13: Chelsea vs Newcastle

It's funny how quickly the mood can change at the club. Just as it seemed things were beginning to get a little more positive both in terms of performance and result, we put in a shocking display and slump to new lows as Newcastle comfortably dispatch us 2-0. I've been able to rely on us being pretty decent at home so far, at least in the Premier League, but we showed no quality today and deserved to be on the losing side.

Understandably after that result, the board request a meeting to discuss my future. Thankfully, Boehly agrees to give me another month to prove myself and save my job.

Champions League Matchday 5: Chelsea vs Tobyl

Our finishing is horrendous. Our xG was close to 4.00 but we failed to take our chances and only managed to win through an early Jorginho penalty. I have no idea why absolutely none of our players can finish, I've tried everyone from Havertz, Ziyech and Pulisic as a front three to Aubameyang, Sterling and Broja up front. I've tried front 2's, front 3's and switched the formation around to all sorts of different tactics but none seem to work. Perhaps part of the problem is not allowing a tactic to settle before jumping to another one, but I don't really have the time to allow a bedding-in period given the precarity of my position.

Matchday 14: Southampton vs Chelsea

Gallagher and Havertz have been the main source of goals for us this month, and it was the English midfielder who notched us a winner shortly before halftime in a tight clash with Southampton. For sure, it wasn't our best performance, but being able to grind out wins when we are not at our best is important.

Well, we've moved up from 12th to 9th. The table looks quite bad for us right now, and I'll have to string together some wins to save my job.

Only beating Tobyl 1-0 has meant our goal difference is not as convincing as it should be. We are practically out of the Champions League because I cannot see us managing a comfortable win over Dortmund.

Gallagher may again feel hard done by to not receive this award, but I've been really impressed with Wesley Fofana at the back. Thiago Silva and Kalidou Koulibaly have rotated as his partner due to inconsistencies in their performances, but Fofana is playing with a maturity beyond his years and beginning to justify his hefty price tag.
​

 

[TheMaestro]

Chapter 6: Saving My Job

Champions League Matchday 6: Borussia Dortmund vs Chelsea

We managed a 2-1 win on the night in our final Champions League match for the season, with the boys fighting hard in this one and giving a good performance. Really, it is the 3-0 reverse fixture that costs us in the Group Stage here and means will we be heading to the Europa League.

The final table looked like this, and we now look to the Europa League as a potential competition that we can contend in and potentially win. There are some good teams in the competition but we should at least progress to the semi-final stage at the minimum.

Matchday 15: Brentford vs Chelsea

We tried everything in our power to throw a 3-1 lead away with 15 minutes to go in this one, with Edouard Mendy saving a penalty with around 10 minutes to go, which proved vital given that they scored in the 95th minute. Thankfully, though, we come away with a victory away from home that we deserved based on the first 70 minutes and not so much the last 20.

Carabao Cup 3rd Round: Chelsea vs Aston Villa

We entered the Carabao Cup with a rotated squad and, even with my job under pressure, I was not too concerned about what happened here, and neither were the board. We were quite poor though, and Aston Villa eliminated us from the competition through an early goal from Danny Ings.

Centre-back Wesley Fofana then suffered an unfortunate injury days before the Everton game and he'll miss a couple of weeks.

Matchday 16: Chelsea vs Everton

Honestly, if I was the board, I sack me after this. At home, to an Everton side that is struggling in and around the relegation zone, and we lose 2-0. Moreover, it doesn't feel like we even want to win. We turn up, pass the ball around a lot, but never really go anywhere and we have suffered a terrible defeat here.

It feels like we should honestly be lower than 8th given how the season has transpired, but to be just 4 points off the Top 4 isn't awful given how bad the season has been. The table is close though, and we are also just 4 points ahead of 12th, so anything can happen.

The Italian stepped up this month, performing consistently at the base of our midfield to warrant being selected as our Player of the Month.
​

 

[Sam91]

Always find Chelsea really hard to manage the past few years in FM and dont get why. I'll use the same tactic I use in other saves that work well and it doesn't work with Chelsea, so weird. Its like SI always make them and Spurs really rubbish!!

 

[TheMaestro]

Always find Chelsea really hard to manage the past few years in FM and dont get why. I'll use the same tactic I use in other saves that work well and it doesn't work with Chelsea, so weird. Its like SI always make them and Spurs really rubbish!!

Definitely agree. Never managed Chelsea before until now, but I have managed Spurs a couple of times over the years and often found myself struggling. In other FM23 saves as well I always see Chelsea lingering in mid-table.

 

[marcMCFC1986]

I'm really sorry, but this made me laugh so much.

It's a great post, and it was interesting to follow - so I promise I'm not taking the p**s - but it just really made me laugh that you said in your OP that you were going to give a few players 6 months to prove themselves before deciding whether to move them on. Turns out they're probably going to outlast you!

Unless you insist on using your own Tactics, I'd recommend using the one I shared in my Newcastle United story - it's working wonders for me now, after being on the brink of the sack last season. 10 points clear at the top of the league in February!

 

[MrTini23]

Tough so far but sure you'll turn it around, despite the post above.

 

[TheMaestro]

Chapter 7: Sacked

Well, after the squad returned from the World Cup break, I was ready to turn things around. We lasted about 4 more days after a 1-1 draw with Leeds and a 1-0 loss to Manchester United before Todd Boehly was in my office telling me to pack my things and head home! First save of FM23 has gone disastrously bad, but hopefully from here on out, with the full release now out, things will improve.

I'll be back soon with a new story that hopefully goes a lot better than this one.​

 

[TheMaestro]

I'm really sorry, but this made me laugh so much.

It's a great post, and it was interesting to follow - so I promise I'm not taking the p**s - but it just really made me laugh that you said in your OP that you were going to give a few players 6 months to prove themselves before deciding whether to move them on. Turns out they're probably going to outlast you!

Unless you insist on using your own Tactics, I'd recommend using the one I shared in my Newcastle United story - it's working wonders for me now, after being on the brink of the sack last season. 10 points clear at the top of the league in February!

Well, you weren't wrong, they did indeed outlast me...

 

[TheMaestro]

Tough so far but sure you'll turn it around, despite the post above.

Didn't happen, but appreciate the support.

 

[FM_TNSSO]

Well I enjoyed it while it lasted mate and look forward to your next story!

 

[MrTini23]

Unlucky Looking forward to your next adventure