Xtratime Community banner
Cancel
Create thread New Forums

Other hugely disappointing elite teams in history like Chelsea this year?

Jump to Latest
1 - 20 of 25 Posts
M

megaman

· Registered
Joined
·
146 Posts
Discussion starter · #1 ·
Chelsea were the champions last year. Their team this year is almost the exact same. Yet they languish in the bottom half of the table.

There are many examples in sports of underdog teams beating superior teams on any given day despite the fact that not one of the underdog team's players would make it into the superior team's lineup or even bench.

But for this to be sustained for such a long period of time is very surprising and also inspiring. It's not just Chelsea being beaten regularly this year. It's being beaten regularly by inferior squads.

A superior team can flame out of a tournament if they have three sub par games but to have a whole season of that is a whole other matter.



Please name some examples in any league where a team was either the defending champs (with much the same squad) or an elite team predicted to finish first or maybe second but ultimately finished way off. And I mean like several places below.

At this rate, Chelsea not only will miss out on Europe, but finish in the bottom half of the table.



If I remember correctly, River Plate was relegated a few years ago. Though I have no idea how strong they were and what experts and fans expected from them that year.
 
#5 ·
Milan (10th), Inter (8th) and Dortmund (7th) last season. Pretty sure they were all top 3 in their league when it came to total salary.

Chelsea's fail of course looks more epic right now because they're a richer club with better players and won the title last season by a comfortable margin. But all in all it's not really that different from Dortmund's nightmare start last season. I expect Chelsea to end up in top 7 too eventually.
 
#6 ·
Stephan said:
Real Madrid this season. I mean they are even behind Atletico now and 3rd.

Juve like a month ago
Click to expand...
How is Real Madrid being 3rd in the league behind the last two editions of the CL finalists (and one winner) while winning their CL group disappointing? The Copa fiasco notwithstanding since its an administrative error and has nothing to do with the actual play.

I don't think i've seen a sharper drop off than Chelsea this season. I mean every single player out there for them looks like crap after firing on all cylinders last season. Two more negative results for them before the xmas break and you really have to think about relegation for them but i doubt it.
 
#7 ·
yeah lol @ comparing Real with those other examples...and the same people are probably the ones who complain La Liga always being a two horse race in other threads...now when Real is temporarily third it's an epic collapse?
 
#8 · (Edited)
Real lost to Barca with no Messi first half 4:0 in Madrid and it was 3:0 before red card. Valencia managed a draw with Messi 90min Barca in comparison. Most experts here say clasicos decide the title. And Real lose by 4. Yeah disappointing.

The irony is probably that the same Real fans who are defending and arguing against this now are calling for changes in the Real madrid forum section either Perez gone or Benitez gone. So which one is it then.
 
#10 ·
Stephan said:
Real lost to Barca with no Messi first half 4:0 in Madrid and it was 3:0 before red card. Valencia managed a draw with Messi 90min Barca in comparison. Most experts here say clasicos decide the title. And Real lose by 4. Yeah disappointing.

The irony is probably that the same Real fans who are defending and arguing against this now are calling for changes in the Real madrid forum section either Perez gone or Benitez gone. So which one is it then.
Click to expand...
they are not saying Perez is doing a good job

they are saying they don't deserve to be compared to Chelsea, which is true

one is 14th in the table with seventeen points behind the leaders, the other is third with four points behind.
 
#16 ·
How about Dortmund winning the Bundesliga in 1996, the CL in 1997 and then finishing 10th in the Bundesliga in 1998?
 
Save
Reply Quote Like Like
#17 ·
Not elite in overall European terms but if sides like Blackburn are being mentioned, Spartak Moscow went very quickly from a decade of near total domestic dominance and various Euro campaigns where they looked only a key addition or two short of becoming a team that could do very well...to a mid-table laughing stock and CL whipping boys.

They've had some second place finishes since, but haven't won a title since 2001 and are now well into a 70s\80s United or 90s\00s Liverpool "this'll be our year" deluded phase.Considering the generally great position they were in when money finally came back into Russian football in the early 00s, it was some achievement to fall as hard and sudden as they did.
 
#18 ·
Hala Madrid said:
How is Real Madrid being 3rd in the league behind the last two editions of the CL finalists (and one winner) while winning their CL group disappointing? The Copa fiasco notwithstanding since its an administrative error and has nothing to do with the actual play.

I don't think i've seen a sharper drop off than Chelsea this season. I mean every single player out there for them looks like crap after firing on all cylinders last season. Two more negative results for them before the xmas break and you really have to think about relegation for them but i doubt it.
Click to expand...
Perhaps because Real can't fall lower in la liga even if they try?

For whatever reason Real can bully every team in Spain that is not named Barca no matter how low they are.

Even when they were getting knocked out in the CL quarters by the likes of Lyon and Roma, they could still manage to put 5s and 6s past mid and mid-high table teams in la liga home and away.
 
#20 ·
Milan of the mid 90s. Won the title in 95/96 (having reached the CL final three seasons in a row prior to that, destroying Barca and narrowly losing to Ajax) then went into mediocrity for two seasons where they finished 11th & 10th and caught some epic beatings along the way (1-6 vs Juve at the San Siro).
 
1 - 20 of 25 Posts
About this Discussion
24 Replies
16 Participants
Last post:
The Green One
Xtratime Community
posts
12M
members
26K
Since
1999
Xtratime Football is an interactive global sports and entertainment community focused on World Football. Come and join the team!
Full Forum Listing
Explore Our Forums
World Football Inter Milan Serbian Football Juventus