Since his second appointment last summer, Jose Mourinho has been pretty transparent about the expectations he has for this Chelsea side. Last season, the key goal was fairly modest -- hold position in the top four and try to compete for the title, and said expectations were met fairly easily. In fact, we competed for the title so well that by the three-quarter mark many were claiming we'd win it, which confuses the issue of how well we did this year rather thoroughly.
But there'll be no such confusion next season: not winning the title after two years of work would represent failure. Even Mourinho accepts that:
It's good to be back but it's not good to finish third. I'm happy with the evolution, but I'm not happy with third. Next season we want to do better than we did. We have to do better, I have to do better, the players have to do better. I have great belief in them and I think next season we can start day one and we can say without any kind of fears that we are there not to fight for the title, to win it.
-Source: Sky Sports.
We're not just making up the numbers next season. We should be the best team in the Premier League and if we do our job right this summer we will be the best team in the Premier League. Fix the striker problem, add to the central midfield and the structural flaws that have plagued Chelsea since we lost Michael Ballack four years ago will finally have been shored up. Once that's done, there won't be any more excuses.