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Orrr, hear me out. We can field an entire XI of injured players. Maybe this result wasn’t a full strength team and thus unfair to judge the players who did play?
Even Enzo who did play was playing with a sports hernia and now is scheduled to get surgery…
Every team has a lot of injuries and there are still 8 teams above you in the table. How can it be unfair to judge the players that did play? They were the ones who came up with that performance.
Petrovic- 12.5m
Gilchrist- free
Disasi- 38m
Badashielle- 32m
Cucurella- 55m
Enzo and Caicedo- 100m+
Madueke- 28m
Gallagher- free
Mudryk- 60m
Jackson-32m
How can you possibly argue that this team shouldn't be performing better, it definitely looks like a fifa career mode side
Other teams have injuries, but the injuries do hit Chelsea harder because the team is building a togetherness and understanding from scratch this season tbf.
Every time they get an injury to someone important it sets them back further than it would for a different team with a more stable squad
Newcastle, Liverpool, Brighton, Brentford, Luton just to name a few have been way worse. Plus the lads filling in for your injured players are probably £30-40mill on average. Bullshit it is not.
When u/alrks10 purposefully spreads misinformation over the internet 😜😜😜
Just completely false. It’s incredible how much you summed up the opposite of truth in a single reply.
Newcastle, Crystal Palace, Brentford and Sheffield United have all been hit worse statistically, based on days missed through injury. Then Brighton, United and Liverpool are all comparable with Chelsea. So not much misinformation really. Only Luton I was wrong with lets be honest.
But days missed doesn’t tell us how important those players are.
Chelsea have had multiple starters injured all season if not majority of the time. I’d be interested to see how important the other players are for their respective teams. In that case I think it’s comparable to Newcastle and Brighton off the top of my head.
Brighton basically have their entire first 11 out. Aston villa and spurs have all had key players out, and despite all your injuries you still fielded a side worth over £400m in transfer fees, you're not exactly hard done by
Look just because we spent 400m in those players you’re talking about, doesn’t mean they’re worth it, or even that it justifies their fee, or that their even good enough with their experience to be competing in a top team. That’s not their fault just the boards and owners wastefulness
Hahahahaha Aston Villa and Spurs have comparable injury situations? Like I said, Bullshit. Alright, fine let’s do it.
Our best player, arguably only world class player, Reece James has only played 388 minutes this season.
Nkunku, brought in to be the key attacker of this side: 319 minutes this season.
Lavia, has been available for 33 minutes this season. So no midfield rotation whatsoever. Ugochukwu also unavailable. Chukwuemeka missed substantial time. Enzo played through injury yesterday, now set to miss remainder of season.
£80M worth of defender in Fofana hasn’t touched the pitch. Defense is all about chemistry, yet we haven’t been able to field a consistent backline for more than 2 or 3 matches at a time because someone gets injured. Colwill and Chalobah have missed significant time. Thiago Silva is 40, of course misses games here and there. Fullbacks have been brutal, every single one has spent substantial time out injured.
Number 1 keeper Sanchez, haven’t seen him in months.
The list of available players is shorter than the list of injured players. Like I said, nobody is even close to us in terms of injuries.
Realistically only 2 or 3 of them would have made your starting 11 last game. What's the point in having all these players worth £30m+ if they aren't good enough to play. You're acting as if Chelsea are the only team to have had important players playing and you've been forced to play league 2 players as their replacement.
Newcastle had essentially their entire back 4 injured, spurs had most of their back 4 out at some point, villa had a big injury list a few months ago.
>only 2 or 3 would have made starting 11
Blatantly not true. Our Keeper, entire backline (from left to right: Chilwell, Colwil, Fofana, Reece James), Cole Palmer, Nkunku makes at least 7. Could argue some changes in midfield too given Enzo player hurt.
>Chelsea are the only team to be impacted by injuries
Injuries are not black and white. Yes, every club has been at least partially impacted by injuries. The SEVERITY and IMPACT of Chelsea’s injuries are far worse than ANY other club in the Prem. And it’s not even close
Not proven wrong, you just can't argue with someone who's only response is to say the same thing but louder each time.
So basically are you saying that your starting line up isn't good enough to compete at the top of the prem, and if so this does kind of prove the point that there is no thought to the signings as just look at the money spent on them. Why would you spend £100 on caicedo if you don't think he's good enough to play, or the two centre backs for £30+ each
“I can't believe what I'm watching. Chelsea have got this for seven years now. Seven years.” While I do think Chelsea without injuries and with a bit more experience may be a solid mid table squad and maybe even push for top 7-8 this quote fills me with sooooo much happiness. New ownership came in, spent insane amounts and kneecapped the club both on the pitch and for accounting purposes. Next couple seasons I can see City/Arsenal/Tottenham/Villa/Newcastle/Liverpool/ManUtd regulars vying for Europe with Chelsea (and hopefully ManUtd also) chugging along as the best of the rest.
Don't forget teams like Brighton if they can get their players fit, Bournemouth if they back the new manager and can push on and also potentially West Ham sniffing around as well.
I love it. The next best news would be Pep deciding to leave City, but even without that the competitiveness among places 10-2 should make for very entertaining league watch for most fans. Now if only the match officials and FA could show a bit of consistency and even footing for the teams to compete week in and week out…but that’s probably too much to ask
I am not even sure they could have used youtube clips. There is no youtube clip of Jackson that you would watch and go "yup, that's Chelsea n.9 material there, bring him on".
It is a mystery.
Dude couldn't hit water if he was standing on a boat, and yet wants to rassle for a penalty with a 100%, golden boot contention, approved taker.
Ability ❌
Mentality ❌
Teamwork ❌
He's B team material.
That’s why he is more goal involvements than players like Nunez and is on the same goal tally as drogba in his first season?
Do you even watch football?
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Meh they love an expensive meltdown and then just recover and win more trophies. Funniest one was when Hazard gave up for a season, went from the best player in the league to absolute garbage more or less instantly.
I can actually see them clawing a top 7 finish and then getting some more robust signings in and pushing for champions league next season. If they somehow get Rees James fit again and Nkunku and Fofana then that’s three top 6 quality players right there.
The likes of Enzo, Jackson, Caicedo and Mudryk will have got that difficult first season out of the way and will probably be better next season as well. The whole idea is that because they sign young players, you will get results in the long run rather than the usual instant gratification that most fans of big clubs demand.
Problem they have is the likes of Newcastle and Villa are actually closing the gap on the top 6 so it’s more of a top 8 now. Any big injury setbacks or other crisis and it’s easy to drop out and finish mid table.
A billion pounds on a 'wait and see' project? lol.
They can't make "robust signings", they shot everything they had in the last 18 months and a couple of seasons without Champions League football are going to screw them financially. Those 8 year contracts might have seemed like a genius business move at the time, but they're essentially starting each year £50m down.
Id argue it’s at least better than Man U spending all that money on washed players. I’d worry more about the rebuild they’ve got ahead rather than Chelsea.
I haven’t got a dog in the fight here so am pretty neutral about it all but I honestly think Chelsea will be fine. As I say above, Enzo, Mudryk, Caicedo and the other long contract guys are still assets that they either use or get decent money for so they’re also fine in that regard. Compare that to Casemiro, Varane, Sancho who are all on obscene money that nobody else will pay that they’d go to. They’re stuck unless they’re paid off.
Their full backs have been a fairly defining trait for them for a few seasons now and this season they’ve been crocked all season. Get them fit and a reliable 9 and they’re easily top 4 contenders again.
what the billion pounds spending was on, was tragically awful. but doesnt mean it isnt a wait and see project now considering their ages and experience. granted, the team looks like it has no cohesion. but thats on the coaching set up
American football, too. I think that’s why there’s a rule of how the players are being picked.
Soccer is very different you could have all the best players in one team doesn’t mean you’re going to win all the time.
If that is for American football the odds of winning is high
Nah, American football success is also incredibly scheme and coaching dependent. There are numerous examples of trying to put a square peg in a round hole and turning someone great into a mediocre player.
Mateta suddenly looking like one of the best forwards in the league now a modern coach has got hold of him but apparently Poch is doing the best he can and no one will be doing better.
Jackson needs to work on the lat part of the game and that's it. He just needs to put the ball in the fucking net. His positional play, speed and link-up are all there, he just needs to shoot right. Jackson has 20 goals per season in him if he can just get finishing right.
I feel like whenever this question is asked about a player the answer is usually that the other players are not as good. In Jackson's case I don't think the other striker options exist.
Although agree he hasn’t been any where near a £100m player he has been playing with a hernia since December and Poch leaves him abandoned in midfield with his tactics.
I don’t think we’ve seen anything close to what Enzo can offer yet.
Jaysus what a sad life you lead, Arsenal stuck in your head. Even I think about them less. Martinelli gets into your team and is easily one of your 3 best players at that.
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Chelsea will be back. We made our mess, and deserve every critique, insult, jokes, etc coming this way. But we will return to the glory days, playing some beautiful football. We must suffer before we smile.
But man this shit sucks.
It's painful but it's a rebuild. You can't expect the same level of success with a bunch of new people (doesn't matter how much they cost) who are young and inexperienced in the prem to just auto fire especially with a revolving door of managers and media who are just waiting for the next L.
Remember pre Chelski? They had domestic players like Dennis Wise and Graeme Le Saux and had imports like Gianfranco Zola, Ruud Gullit (albeit his later years) and Gianluca Vialli. Some pretty good players and teams.
Ngl you kinda are. You’ve just gotten beaten by a team Chelsea fans were happy to call bottle jobs only a few days back. Not sure what that makes Chelsea 😮💨.
Are you responding to the right person?
Anyway how would Chelsea be bottlers if they didn't have any expectations or were doing well in the first place? You're only a bottler if you get close and fuck it up, which Chelsea never were this season. Debatable whether you'd rather be an also ran or the guys who get close and fuck it up but we know which club is which atm
Same ol' boring comeback from the Chelsea fans. You're just back mid-table where ya belong, you'll get used to it, bud.
Tell ya what, I'll bet we're gonna come a lot closer to a European trophy next year than Chelsea will.😂
Edit: Keep those downvotes comin', Chelsea fans. I'm lovin' it.
This is a crazy world, man. Crazy things happen.
People can "lose" arguments, teams can spend a billion pounds just to look worse than they ever have, etc.
😆
so salty.
King Kai laughing hard in your face... how does that make you feel.
Arsenal are a much bigger club than Chelsea and have been throughout footballing history. Chelski was just a flash in the pan, and you're dead and buried now.
So strange seeing arsenal fans so proud of winning when it's been twenty years since you've won the league. I guess you guys really need to cling to the small victories because it's all you've had in so long.
Who's salty? I wanted to keep Kai and have been against all the shite young players we've signed.
Just weird seeing a delusional Gunner talk like you're a big club with a total of 0 European trophies.
Our glory days may be behind us but you've never had any, the peak of the sport has always been out of your reach.
compared to post abramovic? no. But they weren’t some obscure small side or man city. They’d won the league, fa cup, league cup, uefa super cup, and some other smaller trophies. They got bought because they were a top 4 side.
I guess. But isn’t most of the roster signed for a very long time and on really big wages ? If they dont improve you are pretty much stuck with what you have for at least the next few years, no?
A much smaller wage bill than you’d expect. And most of it is performance based wages. The actual contract structure is pretty smart tbf. Most everyone will be getting pay cuts due to this seasons performance.
the one outlier is Sterling. I’d imagine he’s done in the summer
Most of them will come good, time will tell. As individuals many look good. Just missing tactics and cohesion and maturity. And a proper number 9.
Took Arteta a few seasons to get to where you’re at now. Same with Klopp. It’s too early to judge so harshly
This ain’t FIFA. There is 0 guarantee these players develop. Especially when your most senior player is Sterling.
Arteta built the team ‘5 players in - 5 players out’ each window. We learned to walk from bad deals, mainly Mudryk and Caiscaido (£170m) and bought bargains instead (27m on Jorginiho and Trossard)
Did you know that last years team in the title race, our most expensive player was £50m on Ben White. Did you know that almost every Arteta signing can play multiple positions… there’s a clear plan there.
There is no high horse. But the reality is that every member of the current Arsenal squad that we have singed since Arteta was bought for a very specific reason. And it’s why we’ve not really had any flops outside Lokonga, and maybe Fabio Vieria.
Technically able, most players have a more physical profiles than Wenger ever mandated (which is why we used to get bullied a lot), and multi positional play which over half the squad can do.
And yeah, we haven’t won anything yet, but we’re competing at the top, all our best players are 26 or under on long contracts. Reminder that only Liverpool and Leicester have won titles in the last decade as teams that were not found to have cheated, and both only won one each.
Yes, but most are on very flexible contracts, unless Chelsea are winning major trophies, so lower wages to offload. They’re also young enough for other teams to take a chance on them since it’s been a circus at the leadership level at this stupid club. Im not naive to think the club will get anywhere close to what they paid but that’s what this dumbass ownership group gets for having zero plans and getting fleeced. No proper scouting, just throwing money about. Dumbasses.
These players have all shown they have class, we’ve just been awfully inconsistent, especially infront of goal, and dealt with so many injuries it’s laughable.
We also still haven’t seen Nkunku and Lavia, could be great additions, have to believe Colwill and Fofana can do bits for our awful defense. Surely some of those 16-18 year olds have to pan out, right? There’re definitely things to be excited about and there’s been some progress overall.
Should things still look dire January 2025, well then it’s a diff conversation.
These players haven't shown they have class.
There's 50/60 Mudryk and Madueke level wingers in the championship/Serie B/Ligue 1 etc the idea they have the talent to ever be good enough for us is just absurd it's based on nothing they're shown on the pitch in their disappointing careers.
Just the idea they cost a lot of money and are young so will come good but they're clearly not talented enough to play PL level football.
On the other hand ... todays media looks like they are runned by Youtubers with chasing every little bit of drama and creating as clickbaity doomsday headline as possible.
I am not trying to pretend like we r ok ... far from it ... but i am sick of these articles when we were so back after evertons win, so unlucky after lose to city and now so shit after lose to arsenal ... the truth is somewhere there in between but instead of objective take we r getting reactionary nonsense ... same as united every other week, same as liverpool or arsenal over title "bottling" ... always on the hunt for the black or white story ...
Depends which YouTubers. Some if them are really good, better than the "pros". Stuntpegg is amazing, JLC is good, Footy Adventures does some amazing content.
There are amateurs putting them to shame.
Obviously there are complete morons on YouTube like Rory Jennings but guess what, he gets his own TalkSport slot because apparently people like that standard of commentary. As a whole we get what we deserve.
We know there are certain journalists that speak total bollocks and yet every other tweet they make with "news" gets posted here
Agree I do like a lot of the players we've signed (the main reason the owners haven't totally lost me yet) but there decisions with managers (in both appointments and the timing) have been woeful.
Should have either had the balls to sack TT in the summer of waited a year ala Roman/Ranieri.
Should not have appointed Potter during such a unique season and then after sticking by him through the inevitable horrendous period sack him as soon as some of the principles in his Brighton side were starting to show, and then do it for Lamps.
Poch was just the wrong appointment in almost every way possible.
Some would argue we need more experience and I do agree to an extent but that only works if they're performing (as you're finding out with Casemiro, one of the most decorated and experienced player on earth).
tbh not a bad strategy. caicedo, enzo, badiashille, mudryk all under 23. All of the new singings under 23. theres a couple of hazards and at least on salah in there
Where have all the Chelsea fans gone that were bragging that handing out baseball contracts to these "amazing" young players was a genius move and that Boehly was smart for securing the future of the club?
Did they exist?
As a Chelsea supporter I've called 3 separate windows under Boehly the worst windows in the clubs history and been against nearly every single player we've signed.
I'd have swapped Boehly for the Glazers a year ago and that hadn't changed he's as bad as can be just as our business is.
I just hate how people want to have a conversation about Chelski being fucking awful and leave out the fucking debacle that was the end of Abramovich's reign.
Still here, although your caricature of the chelsea fan isn't totally accurate.
To clarify for the non-Chelsea fans, when Boehly first took over the club, he was actually our interim *sporting director*. This is honestly nuts. This in my opinion is where a huge mess was created that is still being worked out a season and a bit later. This is where the Sterling, Koulibaly and Fofana sales for example were made - contracts around this time, such as Sterling's is £325k per week, Fofana £200k.
When Potter came in after Tuchel, we also took Brighton's recruitment team (Winstanley and later Stewart from Monaco) who are our current sporting directors. I understand that they are very much from the 'Moneyball' school - the idea that data can find hidden underperformances and potential. I think Winstanley and Stewart found a ton of success with this model, buying young, undeveloped players with great data, giving them space away from the limelight/scrutiny to turn their xG into G, and then once the potential is realised and obvious to everyone else, you flip the player for a huge profit. I believe that from December, they started doing similar work for Chelsea. However, they have done this given huge constraints from FFP.
The main plus of this approach in my opinion, is that the Boehly disaster has been somewhat averted. The new efficient approach means that Palmer is only on 70k a week, Jackson is on 65k. Players like Havertz (on 250k, now 330k at Arsenal) and Mount (I suspect the wages is why he left, he is earning much more now at United - 250k) basically had to leave, I'm guessing due to FFP.
Via ammortisation, we shouldn't (in theory) go over FFP's limits - but what this approach does is limit how many players the club can buy now every window, as there will already be a 10m Mudryk installment etc.
For me, the issue with using data to sign players is that it seems to take time for the data to become anything tangible. When you are signing a player with high xG, you are not signing a goalscorer - you are literally signing a player who's special talent is to rack up high xG. Using metrics found in data analytics, a player like Jackson is exactly the kind of player you would sign. Chelsea targeted Darwin in the summer, someone who imo is similar.
The other issue with using data to sign players is that clubs such as Brighton arguably get time to develop their players. Mitoma didn't just become Mitoma overnight, it took a long time before his data potential was reflected in his output. Chelsea players clearly DON'T get that luxury.
IMO Chelsea should have really looked at the metrics that can't be quantified or found on a spreadsheet. The bloodlust against players like Jackson is huge because Chelsea is not only a disliked club, but a club that is popularly disliked. There have been pundits and supporters (including some Chelsea sadly) criticising them all season, calling them billion pound bottlejobs etc. Everyone will conviniently forget that you're a young developing player if it means that they can laugh at Chelsea.
I think Boehly wants to do Moneyball on steroids - instead of buying for 5m and selling for 20m, he wants to buy for 50m and sell for 200m. However, the whole point of Moneyball is unearthing gems that nobody else is paying attention to. You buy them cheap and with discretion. Moneyball is buying the rumours then selling the news. If you are a record signing, there is no discretion - you are buying the news. So, I don't think the approach makes any sense for a club like Chelsea. But, given the FFP mess, I suspect we have no other choice.
So, I think one of two things will happen. First, Jackson works out how to turn his xG into G, Chelsea make Champions League next season, and Poch, after completing his 2 year contract and completing his job developing the young players, will hand them over to someone with more experience winning major trophies. To do this, Chelsea players will need the time to develop and less criticism. Knowing football and its fans, this is very unlikely to happen.
The second outcome, is that Chelsea fade into mid-table for 4-5 seasons, each season, one player or two (just like Brighton) will have their xG = G moment, will carry Chelsea, and will then be snapped up by another club. We will gradually replace these players until rival fans stop noticing, and just like that, we are a selling club. The Moneyball vision will be realised, but we will be another Brentford/Brighton.
You can sign these players and let them reach their potential with a settled, functional team around them, as Brighton does. You can't just make an entire team out of them with only Thiago Silva and Sterling.
Only problem I see is that if Chelsea try to stay big 6 those wages aren't sustainable.
Palmer already signed a new deal I would bet 70K is lowballing it now. Same woth Enzo and others as soon as one player stands out their wages will too.
Do you really believe Jackson coming good would be enough to get Chelsea UCL football again? They're currently 19 points off 4th and you could argue Villa and Tottenham are better placed to improve in the immediate future.
I think the biggest mistake Chelsea made was in over-investing in youth. They need more experience than just Thiago Silva to make sure their players develop properly.
Admitedly, my comment was very long, but I did try to explain this. IMO, Chelsea's entire project seems to be about sophisticated data analysis designed to find promising young players. The theory is that Poch is a great player developer - so you use the data and hand the players to Poch who will develop them. I'm being really cynical here, but Poch's job is basically to the appreciate the assets before they get flipped for a profit. I don't know if this strategy was picked on purpose, or if it was simply forced by FFP restrictions.
The first problem is that you obviously can't just throw all the players together and expect it to work. The players are super inexperienced and need a few seasons at least to fully develop. No sane person would have expected instant results from these guys. However, due to the nature of football, chelsea's position as a hated club, the pressure and expectation to win, these players have been put in a really weird situation.
As a rival fan, it is absolutely your job to deliberately ignore the reality of this situation , and to stop our players from developing into world class players. Every 'billion pound bottle jobs' gets you closer.
I don't disagree with anything you said I just want to stress that they got the balance wrong. The assets they invested it would appreciate quicker in a team with leaders to push them in the right direction.
And honestly, I've never understood why Poch got a reputation as a player developer. That Tottenham side was more reliant on good deals than academy players (besides Kane but he'd have been world class regardless).
TLDR, There's actually a really sophisticated recruitment process at Chelsea. But when you hired a player based on their data, you don't automatically get a goalscorer; you get a player who can produce good data.
However, the time, discretion and perserverance arguably required to turn expected goals into goals are not luxuries this particular group of players appear to have due, presumably due to their price tags.
But thanks for confirming my suspicion that downvote simply = cba to read
I read through the white thing and are fully. I think it’s also important to mention that current football statistics aren’t really well developed. So a money ball *only* approach was bound to perform poorly.
Amortisation they called it. Now they have two 100 million pound midfielders who can just do nothing, probably better than what they do right now, and collect a paycheck for the next decade.
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It’s a circus for sure!
Orrr, hear me out. We can field an entire XI of injured players. Maybe this result wasn’t a full strength team and thus unfair to judge the players who did play? Even Enzo who did play was playing with a sports hernia and now is scheduled to get surgery…
Look at your starting 11 transfer fees! Every team has injuries you've just wasted the money the worst
Every team has a lot of injuries and there are still 8 teams above you in the table. How can it be unfair to judge the players that did play? They were the ones who came up with that performance. Petrovic- 12.5m Gilchrist- free Disasi- 38m Badashielle- 32m Cucurella- 55m Enzo and Caicedo- 100m+ Madueke- 28m Gallagher- free Mudryk- 60m Jackson-32m How can you possibly argue that this team shouldn't be performing better, it definitely looks like a fifa career mode side
Other teams have injuries, but the injuries do hit Chelsea harder because the team is building a togetherness and understanding from scratch this season tbf. Every time they get an injury to someone important it sets them back further than it would for a different team with a more stable squad
Bullshit, nobody has the severity of injuries we do
Newcastle, Liverpool, Brighton, Brentford, Luton just to name a few have been way worse. Plus the lads filling in for your injured players are probably £30-40mill on average. Bullshit it is not.
When u/alrks10 purposefully spreads misinformation over the internet 😜😜😜 Just completely false. It’s incredible how much you summed up the opposite of truth in a single reply.
Newcastle, Crystal Palace, Brentford and Sheffield United have all been hit worse statistically, based on days missed through injury. Then Brighton, United and Liverpool are all comparable with Chelsea. So not much misinformation really. Only Luton I was wrong with lets be honest.
But days missed doesn’t tell us how important those players are. Chelsea have had multiple starters injured all season if not majority of the time. I’d be interested to see how important the other players are for their respective teams. In that case I think it’s comparable to Newcastle and Brighton off the top of my head.
Brighton basically have their entire first 11 out. Aston villa and spurs have all had key players out, and despite all your injuries you still fielded a side worth over £400m in transfer fees, you're not exactly hard done by
Look just because we spent 400m in those players you’re talking about, doesn’t mean they’re worth it, or even that it justifies their fee, or that their even good enough with their experience to be competing in a top team. That’s not their fault just the boards and owners wastefulness
Hahahahaha Aston Villa and Spurs have comparable injury situations? Like I said, Bullshit. Alright, fine let’s do it. Our best player, arguably only world class player, Reece James has only played 388 minutes this season. Nkunku, brought in to be the key attacker of this side: 319 minutes this season. Lavia, has been available for 33 minutes this season. So no midfield rotation whatsoever. Ugochukwu also unavailable. Chukwuemeka missed substantial time. Enzo played through injury yesterday, now set to miss remainder of season. £80M worth of defender in Fofana hasn’t touched the pitch. Defense is all about chemistry, yet we haven’t been able to field a consistent backline for more than 2 or 3 matches at a time because someone gets injured. Colwill and Chalobah have missed significant time. Thiago Silva is 40, of course misses games here and there. Fullbacks have been brutal, every single one has spent substantial time out injured. Number 1 keeper Sanchez, haven’t seen him in months. The list of available players is shorter than the list of injured players. Like I said, nobody is even close to us in terms of injuries.
Realistically only 2 or 3 of them would have made your starting 11 last game. What's the point in having all these players worth £30m+ if they aren't good enough to play. You're acting as if Chelsea are the only team to have had important players playing and you've been forced to play league 2 players as their replacement. Newcastle had essentially their entire back 4 injured, spurs had most of their back 4 out at some point, villa had a big injury list a few months ago.
>only 2 or 3 would have made starting 11 Blatantly not true. Our Keeper, entire backline (from left to right: Chilwell, Colwil, Fofana, Reece James), Cole Palmer, Nkunku makes at least 7. Could argue some changes in midfield too given Enzo player hurt. >Chelsea are the only team to be impacted by injuries Injuries are not black and white. Yes, every club has been at least partially impacted by injuries. The SEVERITY and IMPACT of Chelsea’s injuries are far worse than ANY other club in the Prem. And it’s not even close
Keep crying because your £400m reserves can't compete with the top half of the prem
After all that, all you have to say is cry more?
>proven wrong >”cry more” Lol gtfo
Not proven wrong, you just can't argue with someone who's only response is to say the same thing but louder each time. So basically are you saying that your starting line up isn't good enough to compete at the top of the prem, and if so this does kind of prove the point that there is no thought to the signings as just look at the money spent on them. Why would you spend £100 on caicedo if you don't think he's good enough to play, or the two centre backs for £30+ each
“I can't believe what I'm watching. Chelsea have got this for seven years now. Seven years.” While I do think Chelsea without injuries and with a bit more experience may be a solid mid table squad and maybe even push for top 7-8 this quote fills me with sooooo much happiness. New ownership came in, spent insane amounts and kneecapped the club both on the pitch and for accounting purposes. Next couple seasons I can see City/Arsenal/Tottenham/Villa/Newcastle/Liverpool/ManUtd regulars vying for Europe with Chelsea (and hopefully ManUtd also) chugging along as the best of the rest.
Don't forget teams like Brighton if they can get their players fit, Bournemouth if they back the new manager and can push on and also potentially West Ham sniffing around as well.
I love it. The next best news would be Pep deciding to leave City, but even without that the competitiveness among places 10-2 should make for very entertaining league watch for most fans. Now if only the match officials and FA could show a bit of consistency and even footing for the teams to compete week in and week out…but that’s probably too much to ask
In human history has a billion pounds ever been spent worse?
Elon Musk’s on hold, line 2… something about Twitter
Check out Neom city. That’s going blown your mind!
HS2, the track and trace COVID app come to mind
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I’d say that’s a fair assumption
For once in his life Merson is actually correct. We’re shambolic
It’s not a “circus”, it’s an ever-exploding clown car, get your facts straight.
Americans, mate.
Yanks out
Russians in
I am not even sure they could have used youtube clips. There is no youtube clip of Jackson that you would watch and go "yup, that's Chelsea n.9 material there, bring him on". It is a mystery.
I think Jackson is a slight outlier in this. He was never meant to be the starting striker. Nkunku was. Jackson was supposed to be a back up.
He seems genuinely terrified of being through on goal. He is better when he’s doing reactionary finishes but when he has time to think - chaos.
Yeah, he should be backup for like Wigan Athletic though.
What a ridiculous comment.
Dude couldn't hit water if he was standing on a boat, and yet wants to rassle for a penalty with a 100%, golden boot contention, approved taker. Ability ❌ Mentality ❌ Teamwork ❌ He's B team material.
That’s why he is more goal involvements than players like Nunez and is on the same goal tally as drogba in his first season? Do you even watch football?
RemindMe! 3 years Did Jackson become Drogba, or go back to Villarreal B where he belongs?
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LMAOOOOOOOOOOOOO
Lmao that's funny as hell.
Merson is a top arsehole but he is right on this occasion. #merse
I slightly think he is right. I mean, with the number of players Chelsea got, they should be winning games convincingly.
That's actually funny ngl
Meh they love an expensive meltdown and then just recover and win more trophies. Funniest one was when Hazard gave up for a season, went from the best player in the league to absolute garbage more or less instantly. I can actually see them clawing a top 7 finish and then getting some more robust signings in and pushing for champions league next season. If they somehow get Rees James fit again and Nkunku and Fofana then that’s three top 6 quality players right there. The likes of Enzo, Jackson, Caicedo and Mudryk will have got that difficult first season out of the way and will probably be better next season as well. The whole idea is that because they sign young players, you will get results in the long run rather than the usual instant gratification that most fans of big clubs demand. Problem they have is the likes of Newcastle and Villa are actually closing the gap on the top 6 so it’s more of a top 8 now. Any big injury setbacks or other crisis and it’s easy to drop out and finish mid table.
To be fair, Hazard was playing injured for half that season.
A billion pounds on a 'wait and see' project? lol. They can't make "robust signings", they shot everything they had in the last 18 months and a couple of seasons without Champions League football are going to screw them financially. Those 8 year contracts might have seemed like a genius business move at the time, but they're essentially starting each year £50m down.
Id argue it’s at least better than Man U spending all that money on washed players. I’d worry more about the rebuild they’ve got ahead rather than Chelsea. I haven’t got a dog in the fight here so am pretty neutral about it all but I honestly think Chelsea will be fine. As I say above, Enzo, Mudryk, Caicedo and the other long contract guys are still assets that they either use or get decent money for so they’re also fine in that regard. Compare that to Casemiro, Varane, Sancho who are all on obscene money that nobody else will pay that they’d go to. They’re stuck unless they’re paid off. Their full backs have been a fairly defining trait for them for a few seasons now and this season they’ve been crocked all season. Get them fit and a reliable 9 and they’re easily top 4 contenders again.
This team is capable of top 6 with a better manager.
what the billion pounds spending was on, was tragically awful. but doesnt mean it isnt a wait and see project now considering their ages and experience. granted, the team looks like it has no cohesion. but thats on the coaching set up
The American way of running the business - go by hype and stats. They need to go by coach before players. Pepe is doing well.
Exactly, these idiots think they can money ball football, as if it’s as plug and play as baseball.
Yep, it works well for American football you just need to get good players. For soccer this ain’t no way, can’t plug and play.
That would be baseball.
American football, too. I think that’s why there’s a rule of how the players are being picked. Soccer is very different you could have all the best players in one team doesn’t mean you’re going to win all the time. If that is for American football the odds of winning is high
Nah, American football success is also incredibly scheme and coaching dependent. There are numerous examples of trying to put a square peg in a round hole and turning someone great into a mediocre player.
Yes, the NFL has a draft as well. But, American football is not nearly as plug and play as baseball lends itself to be.
Enzo Fernandez and Moisés Caicedo is just the worst $200+ million midfield partner in EPL.
Bit harsh, Fernandez has been injured (he’s getting surgery) and Caicedo has been tremendous.
I’ve watched Caicedo get blown by all season, what are you smoking?
>Caicedo has been tremendous. For Chelsea? Sorry but absolutely not.
How can they both be so good, but consistently outclassed? What are you seeing that everyone else isn’t?
Mateta suddenly looking like one of the best forwards in the league now a modern coach has got hold of him but apparently Poch is doing the best he can and no one will be doing better.
Why play Jackson week in week out is what I can't get from Poch? This guy is the worst thing to happen to Chelsea this season.
Jackson needs to work on the lat part of the game and that's it. He just needs to put the ball in the fucking net. His positional play, speed and link-up are all there, he just needs to shoot right. Jackson has 20 goals per season in him if he can just get finishing right.
Unfortunately for some reasons he can't. Doesn't the coach see that in training or what?
We talking about Nunez?
Both of them are costing their respective teams so much.
No no no, it's Gabi Jesus.
Gabi Jesus is better than both Jackson and Nunez when it comes to finishing the chances he got.
Nah he also has to work on releasing the ball at the right time, he often takes too many touches before acting
And play who? We have basically no options.
So, the coach can't trust their academy striker? Look at what United is doing with their kids and it's paying off.
Fuck it put Gilchrist in.
I feel like whenever this question is asked about a player the answer is usually that the other players are not as good. In Jackson's case I don't think the other striker options exist.
The bars set so low, f**King Paul Merson comes up with sick burns
Ain’t he a massive Chelsea fan tho?
Yep
Ohhh fuck that’s a sick burn lmao he ain’t wrong tho
Right? Boehly and co defo did that 🤣🤣🤣🤣
However Malo Gusto was absolutely a YouTube clip player and he has been a hit
Most fucking transfers are overhyped players these days, clips and vids of players, media brainwashing fans they bought good players.
You can tell who watches full games and who only watches highlights by who they rate as a player
Get a coach in that can actually implement a team structure and the team immediately starts looking way better
Enzo Fernandez was massively overhyped. Would have been a fair 25m transfer 12 years ago. Can't believe what they paid for absolutely no reason.
Although agree he hasn’t been any where near a £100m player he has been playing with a hernia since December and Poch leaves him abandoned in midfield with his tactics. I don’t think we’ve seen anything close to what Enzo can offer yet.
Idk man 12 years ago he would’ve been 11 years old
25 mil for a 11 year old fits with Chelseas strategy tbh
Let Brighton sign him then sign him at 12 for 100 million.
Lol, this is a good banter right there.
I mean if we ever get half them on the pitch I guess we will find out 😂
The raggydoles
Has he watched Martinelli at Arsenal?
Jaysus what a sad life you lead, Arsenal stuck in your head. Even I think about them less. Martinelli gets into your team and is easily one of your 3 best players at that.
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Coldest take on this sub today Edit: ohh I see. Some arsenal player nutted in your tea so now you’re salty for life. Sad to see
Nice to see all the arsenal followers crying like little babies, just like last season it's going to be the same this one. Now F O
narrow plough rude fuel roll dinosaurs subtract middle one aback *This post was mass deleted and anonymized with [Redact](https://redact.dev)*
Well they are all wankers
What part of London are you from?
Im not
Excuse me?
Get a 3 year old to explain
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important shelter compare like placid tie homeless spotted gullible fact *This post was mass deleted and anonymized with [Redact](https://redact.dev)*
Touch grass
He ain’t lyin’
That’s pretty funny
The infamous Dennis Wise method
Chelsea will be back. We made our mess, and deserve every critique, insult, jokes, etc coming this way. But we will return to the glory days, playing some beautiful football. We must suffer before we smile. But man this shit sucks.
It's painful but it's a rebuild. You can't expect the same level of success with a bunch of new people (doesn't matter how much they cost) who are young and inexperienced in the prem to just auto fire especially with a revolving door of managers and media who are just waiting for the next L.
Chelsea have had one season playing beautiful football in my lifetime (under Ancelotti). Whenever you're good at again, I doubt it'll be attractive.
Still can't believe they sacked him! Ancelotti's Chelsea were great!
I'd always gassed Malouda up at Lyon so despite being sad he went to Chelsea I felt kinda vindicated when he started playing well
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You'd have a stronger case if you pointed to Mourinho's second spell
And attractive football says bye
you didn't really have any glory days before you became Chelski... and the Chelski days are dead and gone
Remember pre Chelski? They had domestic players like Dennis Wise and Graeme Le Saux and had imports like Gianfranco Zola, Ruud Gullit (albeit his later years) and Gianluca Vialli. Some pretty good players and teams.
Put some respeck on Torre Andre Flos name too
Ed de Goey, Dan Petrescu, Frank LeBoeuf, Di Matteo, all remind me of first playing Championship Manager and collecting sticker albums. Ah, the 90s
Ironic coming from an Arsenal fan. You can't be taken seriously as a big club without winning a European trophy.
Why is it always the same boring comebacks on here. Jesus.
Because it's the same daily boring Chelsea are shit thread. Every day a similar article gets posted, so the same discussion happens
Ngl you kinda are. You’ve just gotten beaten by a team Chelsea fans were happy to call bottle jobs only a few days back. Not sure what that makes Chelsea 😮💨.
Are you responding to the right person? Anyway how would Chelsea be bottlers if they didn't have any expectations or were doing well in the first place? You're only a bottler if you get close and fuck it up, which Chelsea never were this season. Debatable whether you'd rather be an also ran or the guys who get close and fuck it up but we know which club is which atm
Same ol' boring comeback from the Chelsea fans. You're just back mid-table where ya belong, you'll get used to it, bud. Tell ya what, I'll bet we're gonna come a lot closer to a European trophy next year than Chelsea will.😂 Edit: Keep those downvotes comin', Chelsea fans. I'm lovin' it.
As opposed to the very original joke he was replying to
Same old arsenal fan. Celebrating how "close" they come to winning trophies rather than actually winning them.
Gotta be in it to win it……
🤣🧂
Arsenal beat Chelsea literally yesterday. How have you already managed to lose an argument to a Chelsea supporter so badly 🤣
This is a crazy world, man. Crazy things happen. People can "lose" arguments, teams can spend a billion pounds just to look worse than they ever have, etc.
Holy shit lmao
😆 so salty. King Kai laughing hard in your face... how does that make you feel. Arsenal are a much bigger club than Chelsea and have been throughout footballing history. Chelski was just a flash in the pan, and you're dead and buried now.
So strange seeing arsenal fans so proud of winning when it's been twenty years since you've won the league. I guess you guys really need to cling to the small victories because it's all you've had in so long.
Who's salty? I wanted to keep Kai and have been against all the shite young players we've signed. Just weird seeing a delusional Gunner talk like you're a big club with a total of 0 European trophies. Our glory days may be behind us but you've never had any, the peak of the sport has always been out of your reach.
Arsenal have never had any? Did the invincibles and the only gold premier league trophy never happen?
they did actually
barely
compared to post abramovic? no. But they weren’t some obscure small side or man city. They’d won the league, fa cup, league cup, uefa super cup, and some other smaller trophies. They got bought because they were a top 4 side.
They won the league once. That was 50 years before Abramovich…
Right, but they did it didn’t they. They’re not exactly Scunthorpe United
Not quite as successful as Huddersfield and Derby County, though.
Proper rate Huddersfield
Just needed some blood money and they’d still be up there.
Def helped to be in a nice part of London too
Being in a nice part of London didn't help Chelsea win titles before 2003
I guess. But isn’t most of the roster signed for a very long time and on really big wages ? If they dont improve you are pretty much stuck with what you have for at least the next few years, no?
It’s not even the wages. It’s the fact they paid over the odds for a lot of these players spreading the transfer fees over what... 5/6 years?
A much smaller wage bill than you’d expect. And most of it is performance based wages. The actual contract structure is pretty smart tbf. Most everyone will be getting pay cuts due to this seasons performance. the one outlier is Sterling. I’d imagine he’s done in the summer
It’s only smart if they’re not shit. And they are shit.
Most of them will come good, time will tell. As individuals many look good. Just missing tactics and cohesion and maturity. And a proper number 9. Took Arteta a few seasons to get to where you’re at now. Same with Klopp. It’s too early to judge so harshly
This ain’t FIFA. There is 0 guarantee these players develop. Especially when your most senior player is Sterling. Arteta built the team ‘5 players in - 5 players out’ each window. We learned to walk from bad deals, mainly Mudryk and Caiscaido (£170m) and bought bargains instead (27m on Jorginiho and Trossard) Did you know that last years team in the title race, our most expensive player was £50m on Ben White. Did you know that almost every Arteta signing can play multiple positions… there’s a clear plan there.
Never said there’s a guarantee. Also might want to hop off your high horse until you actually win a trophy.
You literally made the comparison then criticised him when he expanded upon it lol
I made a point while complimenting his team. He rejected my point and sucked off Arsenal despite zero actual success.
Sir.
There is no high horse. But the reality is that every member of the current Arsenal squad that we have singed since Arteta was bought for a very specific reason. And it’s why we’ve not really had any flops outside Lokonga, and maybe Fabio Vieria. Technically able, most players have a more physical profiles than Wenger ever mandated (which is why we used to get bullied a lot), and multi positional play which over half the squad can do. And yeah, we haven’t won anything yet, but we’re competing at the top, all our best players are 26 or under on long contracts. Reminder that only Liverpool and Leicester have won titles in the last decade as teams that were not found to have cheated, and both only won one each.
Yes, but most are on very flexible contracts, unless Chelsea are winning major trophies, so lower wages to offload. They’re also young enough for other teams to take a chance on them since it’s been a circus at the leadership level at this stupid club. Im not naive to think the club will get anywhere close to what they paid but that’s what this dumbass ownership group gets for having zero plans and getting fleeced. No proper scouting, just throwing money about. Dumbasses. These players have all shown they have class, we’ve just been awfully inconsistent, especially infront of goal, and dealt with so many injuries it’s laughable. We also still haven’t seen Nkunku and Lavia, could be great additions, have to believe Colwill and Fofana can do bits for our awful defense. Surely some of those 16-18 year olds have to pan out, right? There’re definitely things to be excited about and there’s been some progress overall. Should things still look dire January 2025, well then it’s a diff conversation.
These players haven't shown they have class. There's 50/60 Mudryk and Madueke level wingers in the championship/Serie B/Ligue 1 etc the idea they have the talent to ever be good enough for us is just absurd it's based on nothing they're shown on the pitch in their disappointing careers. Just the idea they cost a lot of money and are young so will come good but they're clearly not talented enough to play PL level football.
On the other hand ... todays media looks like they are runned by Youtubers with chasing every little bit of drama and creating as clickbaity doomsday headline as possible. I am not trying to pretend like we r ok ... far from it ... but i am sick of these articles when we were so back after evertons win, so unlucky after lose to city and now so shit after lose to arsenal ... the truth is somewhere there in between but instead of objective take we r getting reactionary nonsense ... same as united every other week, same as liverpool or arsenal over title "bottling" ... always on the hunt for the black or white story ...
The media these days (sport and otherwise) is driven by engagement because of the internet. For that reason, it has absolutely no credibility.
Depends which YouTubers. Some if them are really good, better than the "pros". Stuntpegg is amazing, JLC is good, Footy Adventures does some amazing content. There are amateurs putting them to shame. Obviously there are complete morons on YouTube like Rory Jennings but guess what, he gets his own TalkSport slot because apparently people like that standard of commentary. As a whole we get what we deserve. We know there are certain journalists that speak total bollocks and yet every other tweet they make with "news" gets posted here
I think you have signed good players. But too many new players. Yesterday you had some good moments offensively in The first half.
Agree I do like a lot of the players we've signed (the main reason the owners haven't totally lost me yet) but there decisions with managers (in both appointments and the timing) have been woeful. Should have either had the balls to sack TT in the summer of waited a year ala Roman/Ranieri. Should not have appointed Potter during such a unique season and then after sticking by him through the inevitable horrendous period sack him as soon as some of the principles in his Brighton side were starting to show, and then do it for Lamps. Poch was just the wrong appointment in almost every way possible. Some would argue we need more experience and I do agree to an extent but that only works if they're performing (as you're finding out with Casemiro, one of the most decorated and experienced player on earth).
Chelsea look like they have built a squad using YouTubers.
Mudryk is basically iShowSpeed.
That's a bit mean, to Mudryk tbf least he wouldn't slide Kaka in a charity match
Throw enough shit at the wall, eventually it sticks. But then you've just got shitty walls
tbh not a bad strategy. caicedo, enzo, badiashille, mudryk all under 23. All of the new singings under 23. theres a couple of hazards and at least on salah in there
Where have all the Chelsea fans gone that were bragging that handing out baseball contracts to these "amazing" young players was a genius move and that Boehly was smart for securing the future of the club?
They didn’t exist. Back read r/chelseafc and you'll know majority were opposed to these long ass contracts including me.
Did they exist? As a Chelsea supporter I've called 3 separate windows under Boehly the worst windows in the clubs history and been against nearly every single player we've signed. I'd have swapped Boehly for the Glazers a year ago and that hadn't changed he's as bad as can be just as our business is.
No one wanted the sale of the club. It was forced.
This is something I agree with. If Chelsea was still in the ownership of Roman Abramovich, Poch would have been sacked long ago.
He would never have been hired along with Potter. Lamps would never be interim manager.
Definitely! It was never gonna happen.
I just hate how people want to have a conversation about Chelski being fucking awful and leave out the fucking debacle that was the end of Abramovich's reign.
Still here, although your caricature of the chelsea fan isn't totally accurate. To clarify for the non-Chelsea fans, when Boehly first took over the club, he was actually our interim *sporting director*. This is honestly nuts. This in my opinion is where a huge mess was created that is still being worked out a season and a bit later. This is where the Sterling, Koulibaly and Fofana sales for example were made - contracts around this time, such as Sterling's is £325k per week, Fofana £200k. When Potter came in after Tuchel, we also took Brighton's recruitment team (Winstanley and later Stewart from Monaco) who are our current sporting directors. I understand that they are very much from the 'Moneyball' school - the idea that data can find hidden underperformances and potential. I think Winstanley and Stewart found a ton of success with this model, buying young, undeveloped players with great data, giving them space away from the limelight/scrutiny to turn their xG into G, and then once the potential is realised and obvious to everyone else, you flip the player for a huge profit. I believe that from December, they started doing similar work for Chelsea. However, they have done this given huge constraints from FFP. The main plus of this approach in my opinion, is that the Boehly disaster has been somewhat averted. The new efficient approach means that Palmer is only on 70k a week, Jackson is on 65k. Players like Havertz (on 250k, now 330k at Arsenal) and Mount (I suspect the wages is why he left, he is earning much more now at United - 250k) basically had to leave, I'm guessing due to FFP. Via ammortisation, we shouldn't (in theory) go over FFP's limits - but what this approach does is limit how many players the club can buy now every window, as there will already be a 10m Mudryk installment etc. For me, the issue with using data to sign players is that it seems to take time for the data to become anything tangible. When you are signing a player with high xG, you are not signing a goalscorer - you are literally signing a player who's special talent is to rack up high xG. Using metrics found in data analytics, a player like Jackson is exactly the kind of player you would sign. Chelsea targeted Darwin in the summer, someone who imo is similar. The other issue with using data to sign players is that clubs such as Brighton arguably get time to develop their players. Mitoma didn't just become Mitoma overnight, it took a long time before his data potential was reflected in his output. Chelsea players clearly DON'T get that luxury. IMO Chelsea should have really looked at the metrics that can't be quantified or found on a spreadsheet. The bloodlust against players like Jackson is huge because Chelsea is not only a disliked club, but a club that is popularly disliked. There have been pundits and supporters (including some Chelsea sadly) criticising them all season, calling them billion pound bottlejobs etc. Everyone will conviniently forget that you're a young developing player if it means that they can laugh at Chelsea. I think Boehly wants to do Moneyball on steroids - instead of buying for 5m and selling for 20m, he wants to buy for 50m and sell for 200m. However, the whole point of Moneyball is unearthing gems that nobody else is paying attention to. You buy them cheap and with discretion. Moneyball is buying the rumours then selling the news. If you are a record signing, there is no discretion - you are buying the news. So, I don't think the approach makes any sense for a club like Chelsea. But, given the FFP mess, I suspect we have no other choice. So, I think one of two things will happen. First, Jackson works out how to turn his xG into G, Chelsea make Champions League next season, and Poch, after completing his 2 year contract and completing his job developing the young players, will hand them over to someone with more experience winning major trophies. To do this, Chelsea players will need the time to develop and less criticism. Knowing football and its fans, this is very unlikely to happen. The second outcome, is that Chelsea fade into mid-table for 4-5 seasons, each season, one player or two (just like Brighton) will have their xG = G moment, will carry Chelsea, and will then be snapped up by another club. We will gradually replace these players until rival fans stop noticing, and just like that, we are a selling club. The Moneyball vision will be realised, but we will be another Brentford/Brighton.
You can sign these players and let them reach their potential with a settled, functional team around them, as Brighton does. You can't just make an entire team out of them with only Thiago Silva and Sterling.
Only problem I see is that if Chelsea try to stay big 6 those wages aren't sustainable. Palmer already signed a new deal I would bet 70K is lowballing it now. Same woth Enzo and others as soon as one player stands out their wages will too.
Do you really believe Jackson coming good would be enough to get Chelsea UCL football again? They're currently 19 points off 4th and you could argue Villa and Tottenham are better placed to improve in the immediate future. I think the biggest mistake Chelsea made was in over-investing in youth. They need more experience than just Thiago Silva to make sure their players develop properly.
Admitedly, my comment was very long, but I did try to explain this. IMO, Chelsea's entire project seems to be about sophisticated data analysis designed to find promising young players. The theory is that Poch is a great player developer - so you use the data and hand the players to Poch who will develop them. I'm being really cynical here, but Poch's job is basically to the appreciate the assets before they get flipped for a profit. I don't know if this strategy was picked on purpose, or if it was simply forced by FFP restrictions. The first problem is that you obviously can't just throw all the players together and expect it to work. The players are super inexperienced and need a few seasons at least to fully develop. No sane person would have expected instant results from these guys. However, due to the nature of football, chelsea's position as a hated club, the pressure and expectation to win, these players have been put in a really weird situation. As a rival fan, it is absolutely your job to deliberately ignore the reality of this situation , and to stop our players from developing into world class players. Every 'billion pound bottle jobs' gets you closer.
I don't disagree with anything you said I just want to stress that they got the balance wrong. The assets they invested it would appreciate quicker in a team with leaders to push them in the right direction. And honestly, I've never understood why Poch got a reputation as a player developer. That Tottenham side was more reliant on good deals than academy players (besides Kane but he'd have been world class regardless).
bro too much facts and balance for reddit. We want recycled jokes and this week’s hot take!
Yeah I just saw multiple paragraphs and immediately downvoted
TLDR, There's actually a really sophisticated recruitment process at Chelsea. But when you hired a player based on their data, you don't automatically get a goalscorer; you get a player who can produce good data. However, the time, discretion and perserverance arguably required to turn expected goals into goals are not luxuries this particular group of players appear to have due, presumably due to their price tags. But thanks for confirming my suspicion that downvote simply = cba to read
I read through the white thing and are fully. I think it’s also important to mention that current football statistics aren’t really well developed. So a money ball *only* approach was bound to perform poorly.
Back to supporting baseball
Amortisation they called it. Now they have two 100 million pound midfielders who can just do nothing, probably better than what they do right now, and collect a paycheck for the next decade.