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Things are moving at a thousand miles an hour. The final whistle has barely blown in Amsterdam, at Stamford Bridge, and at Wembley and we're already drowning in transfer rumors, dreaming of Edinson Cavani, and wondering just how controversial Jose Mourinho's first press conference will be. Is he a specialer special one now?
We're all eager to move on from the Rafalution. So let's confront it a few more times, then let it fade away into forgotten memory.
PLAYER RATINGS
All y'all have been diligently rating the Chelsea players all season, casting hundreds of votes in 65 post-match initial reactions. Before you ask, the four missing are the two glorified friendlies of the Community Shield and the UEFA Super Cup, the return leg of the Europa League semifinal (my dog ate it), and the League Cup demolishing of Wolverhampton ("B"), which was the only non-televised match of the season. Although I'm sure we could assume all 1's for the Super Cup performance.
If you've been following the monthly updates throughout the season, the chart below will look familiar. Feel free to click, peruse, and marvel at it. That's nine months of emotion - hopes, disappointment, anger, and joy - distilled into numbers dripping with oodles of subjectivity.
The obvious disclaimer is to not take these numbers as gospel. It's all just a bit of fun.
TOP 20
Twenty players garnered at least ten ratings. Here they are, ranked in descending order by their overall season averages:
| Eden Hazard - AM, FC | 7.1 |
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Highest9.6
Lowest3.6
8.0 or higher13
7.0 or higher36
5.0 or lower1
Man of the Match13
It's been almost impossible to separate the Belgian wonderkid from the Spanish wizard all season and the player ratings are no different. Hazard does win out, but only by about 0.02. He also can claim a higher best rating (9.6) and more overall good ratings (36) than Mata.
For the season Hazard has been slightly less consistent than Mata, but the second half has fully and truly belonged to the Belgian. Of his 13 man of the match votes, nine came after the turn of the year (compare to just three for Mata).
Eden Hazard has been here for less than a year, but he's already twisted and turned his way into Chelsea lore. You all voted his domination of West Ham as his best showing of the year, while he's not the only person to have walked away from the Europa League loss in Bucharest with his worst outing of the season.
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| Juan Mata - AM | 7.1 |
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Highest9.5
Lowest4.1
8.0 or higher13
7.0 or higher33
5.0 or lower2
Man of the Match13
There was a stretch of about twenty games towards the end of the 2012 calendar year when Juan Mata was unstoppable. He won ten man of the match votes, including four in a row (Arsenal, FCN, Norwich, Spurs) and five of six to start the streak. He pretty much sealed the deal right there for all the fans' and players' awards he'd win eventually. Just imagine if he hadn't started the season dead-tired or if he his legs hadn't been worn down to nothingness by the end!
The aforementioned masterclass away at Tottenham Hotspur was your best Mata performance of the season, while he mirrors Hazard's (and the team's) ineptitude away to Steaua Bucharest.
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| Petr Cech - GK | 7.0 |
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Highest8.8
Lowest4.3
8.0 or higher5
7.0 or higher31
5.0 or lower1
Man of the Match9
Ho-hum. Consistent as ever, with several well-timed highlight reel saves - right Javier Hernandez? - Cech rounds out the top three in unsurprising fashion. He joins the two creative wizards as the only three players to finish at 7.0 or higher. It is no surprise that Chelsea only won one of the five matches that he was forced to miss.
Only one blight against him all season - the howler vs. Reading - which was also the one and only one of his 60 rated appearances to come in under 5.0. The already referenced clean sheet vs. Manchester United in the FA Cup replay was your standout best for the 31-year-old.
Petr Cech was often the only redeeming part of subpar Chelsea performances: seven of his nine man of the match awards came in disappointing draws and losses for the Blues.
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| David Luiz - DC, DM | 6.6 |
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Highest9.0
Lowest3.8
8.0 or higher5
7.0 or higher22
5.0 or lower7
Man of the Match4
David Luiz often divides opinion (note the seven 5.0 or lower ratings) but there's no doubting that he finished the season in good form. In fact, he was just one of three players to perform better in the interim era than under Roberto Di Matteo - joining Lampard and Azpilicueta in that exclusive club - in the process going from thirteenth to fourth best in the top 20.
His wonderstrike vs. Fulham propelled him to your highest rating of the season, while he was at his worst in the shock home defeat to QPR.
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| Oscar - AM, MC | 6.6 |
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Highest8.9
Lowest4.0
8.0 or higher5
7.0 or higher26
5.0 or lower7
Man of the Match6
Oscar arrived with a bang - the brace vs. Juventus, his highest rating of the season - and stuck around to garner the most ratings of any outfield player: 60. (Mata & Torres follow at 59; Hazard & Ramires at 58; Ivanovic & David Luiz round out the 50+ club.)
He also has the dubious honor of suffering the most under the interim manager: his average rating dropped a team-leading 0.7 when compared with Di Matteo's early season tenure.
I suppose it's only fit for the rising legend of the MaZaCar that Oscar's yet another outfield player to suffer the curse of the Steaua.
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| Ashley Cole - DL | 6.6 |
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Highest8.0
Lowest4.9
8.0 or higher1
7.0 or higher21
5.0 or lower1
Man of the Match1
Vintage Ashley Cole displays are becoming less and less frequent. And I'm not referring to off the field, on Twitter, or silly arm band controversies.
Cole's clearly approaching the twilight of his career as the effectiveness of his two-way game steadily declines. Yet, he remains the most consistent player in your eyes, his ratings displaying the smallest range in the top 20 (just a 3.1 difference between highest & lowest).
Ash's best, and his lone man of the match performance, came at Stamford Bridge vs. Stoke City early in the season when he scored the late winner. His worst - the "highest worst" of any player, if that makes any sense - came a few weeks later away to Swansea City (1-1 draw) in the Premier League.
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| Cesar Azpilicueta - DR, AMR | 6.5 |
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Highest8.4
Lowest4.9
8.0 or higher2
7.0 or higher13
5.0 or lower2
Man of the Match3
On the opposite side, with quite similar ratings, Azpilicueta emerged as the clear first choice right back for Chelsea under the interim manager. One major difference is the number of "good" performances (7.0+): 21 for the England centurion, 13 for young Dave. One would assume that's the consistency that comes with experience.
Two of Azpilicueta's three man of the match awards came in the first three matches of the Interim Era, although he saved his best for the 4-1 trouncing of Wigan Athletic later in the spring. Incidentally, that was right after his season's worst, away to Reading and Adam Le Fondre.
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| Demba Ba - ST | 6.5 |
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Highest8.8
Lowest4.7
8.0 or higher2
7.0 or higher7
5.0 or lower2
Man of the Match4
Speaking of arriving on the scene with a bang: Demba Ba won your man of the match vote in three of his first four matches for Chelsea. That included his highest rating, the debut brace away to Southampton in the FA Cup.
He could not keep up that torrid pace obviously - winning just one more man of the match award the rest of the way (compare with four for Torres) - and his Chelsea season bottomed out in the away loss to Manchester City in the league.
Ba finished the season in ever decreasing form, failing to break the 6.0 barrier in three of his five appearances after scoring in the FA Cup semifinal.
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| Gary Cahill - DC | 6.4 |
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Highest8.0
Lowest4.7
8.0 or higher1
7.0 or higher13
5.0 or lower1
Man of the Match1
If it weren't for Ashley Cole, he'd be Mr. Consistent. In fact, the two Englishmen were rated quite similarly in that even at their worst, they were still almost ok in your eyes, yet at their best, they were barely great. To wit, Cahill's lone man of the match award came with a paltry 5.8 rating as Chelsea lost to QPR at the Bridge.
It's probably not surprising that Cahill's 8.0 came in the Europa League final where his last ditch scissoring tackle/miracle prevented the match from going into extra time. Stark contrast then with his worst, when he and John Terry conspired to give up two goals to lowly Brentford FC.
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| Victor Moses - AM | 6.4 |
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Highest8.1
Lowest4.2
8.0 or higher4
7.0 or higher14
5.0 or lower7
Man of the Match1
For all the stick that young Victor has gotten this season, I'm actually surprised to find him this high up.
But we shouldn't forget that before the Africa Nations Cup, he was actually quite decent, garnering a 6.7 average that included his standout performance vs. Manchester United in the League Cup and that last-minute winner vs. Shakhtar Donetsk.
Even after he returned from Nigeria duty and only managed to put up a 6.0 average into season's close - including a season worst 4.2 in the loss to Southampton - he still popped up with goals in the Europa League.
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| Frank Lampard - MC | 6.4 |
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Highest9.6
Lowest3.4
8.0 or higher6
7.0 or higher15
5.0 or lower10
Man of the Match3
Thanks to his 9.6 vs. Aston Villa on the occasion of No.203, Lampard carries the honor of having received the widest range of player ratings - the 6.2 drop from highest to lowest even beating out Torres's 6.1.
Incidentally, that brace vs. Villa is your highest rated individual performance of the season - unless we count Paulo Ferreira's final match ever for Chelsea of course.
Lampard joins many other from earlier in achieving his lowest rated outing away to Steaua Bucharest.
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| Ramires - MC, AMR | 6.4 |
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Highest8.5
Lowest3.8
8.0 or higher2
7.0 or higher18
5.0 or lower5
Man of the Match0
Often Lampard's partner in midfield crime, Ramires has played plenty, if often not plenty well this season. Only 18 of his 58 rated appearances clocked in at 7.0 or higher, which is good for just 31% and third worst among all regulars after Torres and Ivanovic.
He's the first man on this list to not receive a single man of the match vote, his personal best coming in the 8-0 laugher vs. Aston Villa that included several other standout performances.
His worst rated performance did not arrive in the clown car of offsides that was the Europa League final but rather in the away loss to Manchester City in the Premier League.
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| John Terry - DC | 6.3 |
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Highest8.5
Lowest4.5
8.0 or higher1
7.0 or higher8
5.0 or lower2
Man of the Match1
Struggling with injuries and a precipitously dropping ability to play effective football, it's only fitting that Terry's highest rating and only man of the match award would come for just a little over 35 minutes of work - scoring Chelsea's only goal versus Liverpool in the 1-1 draw just before his own long-term injury and Di Matteo's end.
Terry's personal highest rating would also come with goals - two of them, in fact, vs. Fulham - yet would still get overshadowed by the David Luiz thunderbolt. Meanwhile, chalk another lowest rating up to Steaua Bucharest.
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| John Obi Mikel - DM | 6.3 |
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Highest7.8
Lowest4.0
8.0 or higher0
7.0 or higher13
5.0 or lower6
Man of the Match0
A weird season for the Nigerian where, even more so than usual, he never quite seemed to convince his doubters (including the Interim manager). He leads the team in most rated appearances without a single 8.0 or higher rating (35), just ahead of Bertrand (34) and the three anti-amigos in Marin (15), Benayoun (13), and Sturridge (10).
Mikel's best performance came alongside the cult legend that is Raul Meireles in the 2-0 victory over Newcastle United. On the flipside, he joins the contingent of players who do not fondly recall Bucharest.
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| Branislav Ivanovic - DC, DR | 6.3 |
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Highest8.7
Lowest2.6
8.0 or higher2
7.0 or higher14
5.0 or lower9
Man of the Match1
This one's the big surprise for me, as just the other day I was commenting on how I thought this was Ivanovic's best season yet at Chelsea! Miguel Delaney agrees with me, so I blow my nose at all y'all's general direction!
Splitting his time between backup right back (starter for Di Matteo) and mostly first-choice center back, Bane amassed the most minutes of any outfield player. Yet, you rated him a 7.0 or higher in just a quarter of his rated appearances (14-of-56).
His winning, last-minute goal in the Europa League also won him your highest rating (and only man of the match award), while that time he gifted two goals to Swansea City in the League Cup semifinal is quite unsurprisingly the nadir of his season.
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| Daniel Sturridge - FC | 6.0 |
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Highest6.9
Lowest4.1
8.0 or higher0
7.0 or higher0
5.0 or lower1
Man of the Match0
He may have left in January but before then, young Daniel did manage to get himself ten rated appearances. And so here he still is.
Sadly, and despite all his promise, the Chelsea version of Daniel Sturridge is a far cry from the recent Liverpool version of Daniel Sturridge. Oh well.
Nine of his ten rated appearances fell firmly in the forgettable range of 5-7, the lone exception being the 4.1 he achieved in a substitute appearance versus future employers Liverpool. Conspiracy!
Sturridge's highest rating was largely thanks to Mata (this is not a unique situation by any means of course), who set him up for the fourth and final goal in that fun win at Three Point Lane.
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| Ryan Bertrand - DL, AML | 5.7 |
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Highest7.4
Lowest3.2
8.0 or higher0
7.0 or higher2
5.0 or lower9
Man of the Match0
From surprise starter in Champions League final to a season where he was found out a bit, I'm not sure Bertrand will put too many mementos from this year into the scrapbook. Over a quarter of his rated appearances came in at 5.0 or lower, a percentage that betters only Benayoun, Marin, and Torres.
His best and his worst came in consecutive Europa League appearances: away to Steaua (another one!) being the worst; home to Rubin Kazan being the best.
Bertrand played quite sparingly towards the end of the season - and it would've been even more sparse had Ashley Cole not gotten hurt. It'll be an interesting to see how Chelsea move forward with Patrick van Aanholt and perhaps a new signing waiting in the left back changing room.
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| Fernando Torres - ST | 5.7 |
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Highest8.6
Lowest2.5
8.0 or higher7
7.0 or higher16
5.0 or lower21
Man of the Match5
Torres is as Torres does. 22 goals, 22 million arguments.
By far the most low ratings: 21 of them, or more than double the next guy, Frank Lampard with 10. Yet also seven ratings of 8.0 or higher, which is good for third best on the team after Hazard and Mata.
Torres won more man of the match votes in the final two months of the season than Hazard, Mata, and Oscar combined. At one point, he won three in a row. If only he could've faced Rubin Kazan every day - especially at Stamford Bridge, where he did produce his highest rated display of the season!
Fittingly, Torres was at his most Torresian in Di Matteo's final league match in charge, away to West Brom.
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| Marko Marin - AM | 5.3 |
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Highest7.4
Lowest3.4
8.0 or higher0
7.0 or higher1
5.0 or lower5
Man of the Match0
He may not be technically real, but he did manage to gather together 15 rated appearances, in exactly a third of which he was rather bad. Unfortunately, this included most of his starts, producing numbers such as a 3.4 (QPR, home), a 3.5 (Brentford), and a 3.6 (Southampton, away).
Marin did score a goal. It came in the 4-1 win versus Wigan and it was an entirely unimportant goal. But it was a header and it was hilarious, so it no doubt received bonus points on its way to a 7.4 rating from all y'all.
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| Yossi Benayoun - AM | 4.7 |
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Highest6.2
Lowest2.9
8.0 or higher0
7.0 or higher0
5.0 or lower8
Man of the Match0
For reasons beyond human understanding, Benayoun made 13 rated appearances, all in the second half of the season. In eight of the 13, he achieved a rating of 5.0 or lower. Awesome.
His "best," a laughable 6.2, came courtesy of Rubin Kazan (so generous, those Tatars!). His worst, a generous 2.9, came courtesy of Steaua Bucharest (so mean, those Red-and-blues!).
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And that's the end of your Top 20 of 2012/13. Players without double-digit rated appearances - and thus ineligible for the countdown - included: Ross Turnbull, Hilario, Paulo Ferreira, Oriol Romeu, Nathan Ake, Lucas Piazon, Michael Essien, and Raul Meireles.
TOP 5 INDIVIDUAL PERFORMANCES
- FRANK LAMPARD, Aston Villa (H), Premier League - 9.6
- EDEN HAZARD, West Ham (H), Premier League - 9.6
- JUAN MATA, Tottenham Hotspur (A), Premier League - 9.5
- JUAN MATA, Norwich City (H), Premier League - 9.1
- DAVID LUIZ, Fulham (H), Premier League - 9.0
Honorary mention goes to Paulo Ferreira, who garnered a perfect 10.0 as a lifetime achievement award in his final game for Chelsea Football Club versus Everton on the last day of the season.
BOTTOM 5 INDIVIDUAL PERFORMANCES
- FERNANDO TORRES, West Bromwich Albion (A), Premier League - 2.5
- FERNANDO TORRES, Queens Park Rangers (H), Premier League - 2.5
- FERNANDO TORRES, Steaua Bucharest (A), Europa League - 2.6
- BRANISLAV IVANOVIC, Swansea City (H), League Cup - 2.6
- FERNANDO TORRES, Swansea City (H), League Cup - 2.7
Fernando Torres Domination!
TOP 5 CHELSEA PERFORMANCES
- Chelsea 8-0 Aston Vila, Premier League - 8.1
- Chelsea 2-1 Benfica, Europa League - 7.5
- Tottenham 2-4 Chelsea, Premier League - 7.3
- Chelsea 2-0 Swansea City, Premier League - 7.3
- Chelsea 6-1 FC Nordsjaelland, Champions League - 7.3
I'd do a bottom five team performances, too, but actually I think I'd rather not. Serenity now.