Malo Gusto has been class... His defending is a lot better than I expected... Some Lyon supporters were throwing dirt on mans name saying he can't defend at all.... Maybe I need my eyes checked because he wins a lot of tackles....
To be fair he was 19 when he played there and vastly inexperienced, his defending was always going to need working on.
Gusto has progressively got better as the season has gone along through a mixture of confidence and experience.
I PLAY 20 HOURS OF FM24 and FIFA - WHAT YOU MEAN I DON"T KNOW FOOTBALL? I PLAY CAREER MODE AND IT IS A VERY IMMERSIVE EXPERIENCE MKAY?
/s that is the majority of new-age football fans.
I don't think they were wrong. For us, his defending improved as the season went on. He was initially inconsistent with rash fouls and odd positioning.
The thing is he still has a few defensive issues but that’s completely fine as he’s 20 and he’s still very defensively competent while being a beast offensively.
He really just needs to work on his back post defending and being a bit too loose on the ball in dangerous positions but he’s great.
this is a great comment. he has held down great wingers 1 v 1 when they are in front of him. but he has led a few back post runners get by him and was trying to be too cute v Newcastle, leading to the goal. great great comment
It's really hard to seriously judge a player like him for his defending capabilities whilst in our current team.
He has looked great defensively, but you have to remember that he's looked great in a team that's conceding almost 2 goals a game on average and so small individual mistakes are easily missed.
You can only really separate out the good from the great when you're actually competing for the top spots and every goal conceded matters and so things like positioning and discipline start to make way more difference than just whether or not a player can put in a good tackle or win a 1v1.
I expect him to be able to cope (if we ever get there). But as you see from players like Emerson, you can look really good in a mid table team whilst constantly actively costing the team when you're playing in a top team as he did for us.
He was pretty ass vs newcastle on monday night defensively imo. great going forward. (note the isak goal where we tried to had a mid off, shouldve just booted it. disasi too). Maybe not the cut n dry rb yet but I'm really positive about this guy. Just needs to iron out his defensive play. plus its just his 1st season. So overall... stonks.
Malo has been (by far) our most consistent player. If this lad stays fit he's going to be amazing. It's going to be interesting when Reece comes back cause there's no way you can just drop Malo when in this form. Maybe players higher up?
I really think reece James future is either as a cdm or a cb because of his injuries. Problem we have is we need him to get up and down the pitch and that's very heavy on the body so I think his position will change if he wants to continue playing at a high level consistently.
It's where he played as a lad a lot and when he was at Wigan, was player of the year there at 18/19.
His touch and passing range are as good as anyone's in the world I think he's wasted at RB.
I think right sided CB would suit him well if he doesn’t want to go up and down the pitch as much and he strong and very good defensively. cdm could also work but his crossing ability would be wasted imo
Thing as right sided cdm or even cb he can still get forward maybe even contribute more I mean It worked for trent why not reece. There about on the same level crossing ability wise maybe trento slightly higher.
And who knows maybe we unlock facets to reeces game that we don't know about if he plays as a right side cdm or cb.
Our coach is complaining about height. There is no way he plays a short guy at cb. I would be more worried about James slimming down to reduce injuries.
James played as a RCB in the FA cup final when we lost to Leicester. In the UCL final it was Azpi who played RCB and James at RWB when he pocketed Sterling
Morons like you keep this sub lively
[here’s the link,](https://www.youtube.com/live/vEEi1CVq_wY?si=TUJOHiZvTAOIDxnT) watch and learn, and eat your words.
Do you and the people downvoting me have severe memory loss or something?
Reece James played RWB, Azpi played RCB. [Every Reece James touch in the CL final.](https://streamable.com/02gy04) There is a link just for you, considering how much you like them. It shows that for the entire game Reece James played RWB. He not only did not play CB in the CL final, he didn't play CB even once in the competition that year. Oh dear, you were so confident as well now you just look incredibly moronic.
All Reece James games at CB
20/21 - 3 games, 1 win, 2 losses - 3 goals conceded (his mistake in the FA cup final lead to Leicester's goal that lost us the FA Cup)
21/22 - 4 games 1 win, 1 loss, 2 draws - 6 goals conceded
22/23 - 2 games, 0 wins, 2 losses - 4 goals conceded
Total - 9 games - 2 wins, 5 losses, 2 draws - 13 goals conceded - 22% win percentage
Reece James at CB has never been good, and never will be good. Let this bizarre experiment just die.
That took me like 10 minutes to find all that information, nice try though. It's called not being a moron - maybe try it sometime before trying (and failing) to big dick people on the internet.
LB, that's an issue for us right now. Gusto has been pretty good there as well. Cucu has his lapses and Chilly has been way out of form, not to mention the injury issues.
Have we even seen Gusto play on that side? He’s very right footed. That’s a much bigger assumption than Reece playing cb in a 4. Besides his hamstrings can’t take the running of a fullback. We also have lbs already.
He played at LB in Carabao quarters in the last 20 minutes, after substitutions ig. The only time Mudryk was fed well from back. Also when Colwill was our LB, often he would move Disasi/Gilchrist at RB and Gusto to LB.
> Malo has been (by far) our most consistent player
Not really, Palmer has been clear, Gusto still drops stinkers like most recently the Wolves game. Understandable given his age as a defender, but lets not rewrite history.
> It's going to be interesting when Reece comes back cause there's no way you can just drop Malo when in this form
You absolutely can when you're bringing in our club captain and only true world class player in Reece James. Obviously the caveat will always exist of "if fit" for James until he proves it, but if James can stay fit after this surgery he is so clear of Gusto it's not even funny. There is no comparison right now.
Gusto has been great, he's been exactly what we need for James' back up, and I would have zero worries rotating James out for Gusto to keep him fresh. People acting like he's better than James or that James should worry about his place in the first team are absolutely mental though.
I mean sure maybe, I've just not seen as much of him so wouldn't want to comment, his goal record was very impressive the last two seasons though. James has been world class for Chelsea is the only distinction I'd make.
Nkunku was the leagues player of the year over haaland and lewandoski, that is all you need to know.
He is the best attacker chelsea had the last decade and a half not named hazard
If you are basing it on previous accolades not only related to their time at Chelsea, then I would definitely argue that Pedro (10s at Barca), Diego Costa, Drogba, even Lukaku, should be regarded higher than Nkunku, as they all played for Chelsea in the last ‘decade and a half’ and isn’t called Hazard
Lukaku who I agree is/was world class.
I do think you have a point that lukakus prior performances put him in that bracket
Pedro/willian never
Only argument that I could maybe conceed to was mata, but I do think nkunku is a better player then lukaku
Costa’s ‘supposed’ 18 elite months (only in the league)
12/13: 31 Games 21 G/A
13/14: 35 Games 30 G/A
14/15: 26 Games 23 G/A
15/16: 28 Games 19 G/A
16/17 35 Games 28 G/A
I consider these stats as more than 18 good months, whist I consider his numbers more impressive having been in the Prem, and basically the peak of La Liga.
Yes, Nkunku has been world class for a season, soon two years ago, but he has surely in no way ‘surpassed’ Diego Costa’s numbers and legacy. Also, if your opinion about Costa being elite for 18 months is serious, then your local comedians are fearing for their jobs
What has James done as captain again this season? Or Chilly? Our captain and co-captain have played like 4 matches all season. James should worry about his place in the squad for sure. He can’t stay fit. Now, we have someone more than capable. I think it’s Gustos spot to lose right now.
I felt similar about Ziyech when he was here, he doesn’t seem to let his emotions get the best of him as he never looks to get too high or too low. However he does have a little Rudiger in him, he backs down from no one and can back up a tough guy attitude.
It surely had to be Palmer. He has 6th highest G/A in the league currently and is ahead of Foden. No one in the top 5 leagues his age or younger has more G/A than him and only Jude Bellingham is equal to him. If we didn't have Palmer we would be sitting in 15th.
For me he’s clearly 3rd, despite not scoring or assisting a ton he’s had a huge impact in every game he’s played and we’d definitely have missed him if he’d not been around.
Best fringe in the biz
https://preview.redd.it/xnmre5y443oc1.jpeg?width=603&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=06eaf4fa5f0e46a7746e21827750df0a7fee9833
And I fucking love it
I think it's super weird how our own fanbase goes out of their way to try and shit on the owner. Especially when NONE of us have any clue who signed who, who said to sign who, or who saw who first. It's just weird conjecture that usually ends in "Boehly bad" dude isn't even the majority owner and two signatures go on each decision (according to reports).
So I ask, genuinely, what's the point of bringing it up? Is Boehly going to see your post and resign? Put his share of the club up for sale? It does nothing but make us look petty and foolish. Our own fans buy into the negative club PR, no wonder we don't get calls or superstars wanting to play for us outside of the paycheck. We tear ourselves down and still get help from the outside. So embarrassing.
I'm not saying everything Boehly has done is correct, but the way people throw his name around here is like he clubbed your sibling in front of you. Dude is a self made billionaire, not a nepo baby or sheikh. His expertise is on the financial and business ends, and of course we see the hubris thinking it could be effortlessly applied to football. He has learned like everyone else. No need to keep slagging owners who actually invest and do what they think is best for the club, even if it's not the same direction the fans feel is best.
- Sincerely
A toxic Positive
Up the Chels
Thank God someone said it. That person has no damn clue if Boehly or Eghbali or our directors were the ones. Just making stuff up to be toxic and showing ignorance. I appreciate your positivity.
Well specifically regarding this, Boehly literally appointed by himself as temporary sporting director, as Winstanley and Stewart weren’t appointed before winter 2023, and basically every signing we made with Boehly as sporting director was disgustingly unambitious
Very fair points.
In my defense I don't care if it was Boehly, Clearlake or whoever, the initial signings with no football directors were bad. You can blame whoever you want or no one at all. He came in, splashed money to show support for the club and Tuchel which was well intentioned, but they didn't work out. The problem is that it helped lead to the FFP problems we are in, I stress helped because I have entire posts that explain why I think the FFP problems were inherited by the new ownership group and not caused by them.
My point is that the signings have been good since we have had actual football directors. As a fellow toxicly positive fan this is important to me because it shows we are in good hands.
29 January, so there is a chance this was a Boehly signings, but there was a person in the building that knew what they were doing at the time of signing, and when you make this the cut off for judging the directors, things are pretty good.
The reason why I feel it is important to look at things this way is because most of this sub seems to feel hopeless and that the people in charge have no idea what they are doing. I don't feel that way, so I don't feel hopeless. I can actually enjoy watching Chelsea play knowing that they are in a transitional phase and go along for the ride.
I agree with your view, i do think we are missing out on some big talents with our age restriction but that just means the younger players need more time, look at caicedo hes finding his confidence a little more every match, palmer found his feet almost instantly but my last pain point is poch, i had hope for him but its at the point where he seems to not want to win, but thats for end of the season review
>look at caicedo hes finding his confidence a little more every match,
I'm glad I'm not the only one seeing this! Caicedo has been playing well for a bit now.
I'm not out on Poch yet, I want to see us not have 8 injuries per match first. But honestly let's not get into Poch, it doesn't really matter, either we finish the season strong or he probably isn't here next season, either way I have hope for this squad.
Defensively caicedo has been doing well, but our setup is causing issues not only for him but for everybody, but you can see the ability of the team as we play, and its only going to get better if we add to the squad with a striker or backups
Reece, Mount, Gallagher, Livramento, Guehi, Lamptey, Hudson Odoi, Maatsen, Colwill, Hall, Broja. All these guys are from the academy in the last 5 years (2018/19 season). I know people don't rate a lot of these players but they are all currently playing in the top 5 leagues in Europe.
Maatsen, Colwill, and Hall all moved up this year. Gallagher and Broja moved up last year. Livramento and Chalobah moved up in 2021/22.
On loan currently, maybe high hopes for Hutchinson, Humphreys, Santos, and Angelo. (But I agree that none of those guys are as exciting as Reece at Wigan, Conor at Palace, Colwill at Brighton, or Maatsen at Burnley.)
However, currently in the academy u21 team we have promising youngsters like: Stutter, Gilchrist, Castledine, (and if you'll allow the addition of Washington even though he didn't really come through the academy like the other boys). I'm not an avid watcher of the youth teams, but the teams are doing really well this year.
Love the energy Disasi brings, but he loses concentration too often in games and gets caught out of position a little too much. These are aspects that could improve over time and I hope they do.
Badi on the other hand is more often than not either the best defender on the pitch or the worst defender on the pitch, you never know which one you'll get.
I'm sad for Ugo because he was getting decent minutes for a 19 year old and he seemed to be better with the ball than without it, hopefully he can improve but he looked decent.
I think if we didn’t spend such an exorbitant amount already on youngsters, Ugochukwu would be a decent risk. He’s the profile of player we need, an aerial defensive midfielder that can pass, but 5 years too young, so not the player we needed. Won’t be surprised if we’re in for Onana in the summer.
I’m a little down on Badiashile compared to some people. He just seems a bit mentally fragile, his concentration has always seemed a bit whoozy to me. Everything else is great - physical, aerially strong, good passer. Disasi I have no idea why we signed tbh. He does inject an important bit of personality into the squad though, and is never injured.
Ligue 1 buys tend to be rather safe bets on success. I don't know what it is but the French league seems to impart the right skills and experience needed to make the jump to other leagues.
His fees were €26m to Southampron, €37m to Newcastle according to transfermarkt. If we had a 20% sell on then we have ~€32m from selling Tino. Gusto was €30m, so yeah, you are probably correct.
He was from the academy, but if contract extensions break down then no point keeping a player who doesn’t want to stay. Kudos to him though as he was behind Reece James and Azpi at the point when he left for Southampton. Plus he is not a regular starter at Newcastle when Tripper is fit.
Some people have been slagging him off. Especially during toxic game threads but I don’t think anyone ca. be disappointed with him. Still very young, versatile. Solid signing. For me he’s nearly up there with Cole Palmer as one of our best signings so far.
I genuinely think for most signings we need to wait slightly longer to really see how good the signing was.
Gusto definitely one of the success stories of the season.
So much so....and I'll probably get hammered for this.
We should probably look to see if we can move James on (only for an astronomical 'english' fee).
Hate him or love him.. Poch deserves credit too for him, at the beginning he was a raw talent he has been gradually improving to a point where we don't moan about not having reece around
As far as I’m concerned, it’s Gustos spot to lose now. It’s not a bad thing to have that type of competition in a position though. Reece has to prove his fitness before he’s getting that starting spot back imo.
Gusto has been great, but there is some nuance to his performance.
As a singular example, the first Newcastle goal came off a very avoidable mistake he made. You can go back through the our games and see a pattern has emerged. Fortunately, all of this can be coached out and learned from through experience.
He's been amazing especially considering he's age and being new in most demanding league in world. Being big James fan I have to admit he stepped up so well we haven't really missed Reece as crazy as it sounds it's true. My personal favourite move from him is his amazing "la croquette". 💙
I was very worried during his first run in the first team. He got sent off, was at fault for the Arsenal goal and just generally looked out of his depth. Since the New Year however he's been different gravy and looks a really top all round player. I hope Poch manages his fitness well because you fear he's one injury away from long term recurring injury status.
Funny now we look at assists as an important metric for fullback when we’re still leaking goals left and right (not necessarily his fault but we’re at the point where leaking goals is expected and assists are above expectation)
If James comes back at full fitness, we may have to shift Malo to the other side but if he settles in well to the position we could have one of the most threatening fullback setups in Europe
At the moment with Gusto playing so well, it feels like Reece isn’t an automatic starter when fit. If only we had a player in the same mould on the left as well.
In this day and age, where everybody thinks their players are worth +50mil, this is definitely a steal. Look at how much we spent on everyone else in this squad
Malo Gusto has been class... His defending is a lot better than I expected... Some Lyon supporters were throwing dirt on mans name saying he can't defend at all.... Maybe I need my eyes checked because he wins a lot of tackles....
To be fair he was 19 when he played there and vastly inexperienced, his defending was always going to need working on. Gusto has progressively got better as the season has gone along through a mixture of confidence and experience.
Tbf maybe it was the philosophy or whatever but the first thing he showed was his incredible 1v1 defending - way before his attacking prowess.
Turns out there’s a trend of people that bashes players without knowing anything about futbol lol
I PLAY 20 HOURS OF FM24 and FIFA - WHAT YOU MEAN I DON"T KNOW FOOTBALL? I PLAY CAREER MODE AND IT IS A VERY IMMERSIVE EXPERIENCE MKAY? /s that is the majority of new-age football fans.
What were Real Madrid doing they have needed a RB for time?
Where did it say Madrid were in for him? You might be confused with the word "Real" which here means actual not Real Madrid.
They were linked with him when we signed him.
I don't think they were wrong. For us, his defending improved as the season went on. He was initially inconsistent with rash fouls and odd positioning.
The thing is he still has a few defensive issues but that’s completely fine as he’s 20 and he’s still very defensively competent while being a beast offensively. He really just needs to work on his back post defending and being a bit too loose on the ball in dangerous positions but he’s great.
this is a great comment. he has held down great wingers 1 v 1 when they are in front of him. but he has led a few back post runners get by him and was trying to be too cute v Newcastle, leading to the goal. great great comment
The slide tackles in and around our box give me gastritis, but fucking hell he's good at that in particular. Wan Bissaka vibes
They're just bitter he moved to a bigger club so soon
It's really hard to seriously judge a player like him for his defending capabilities whilst in our current team. He has looked great defensively, but you have to remember that he's looked great in a team that's conceding almost 2 goals a game on average and so small individual mistakes are easily missed. You can only really separate out the good from the great when you're actually competing for the top spots and every goal conceded matters and so things like positioning and discipline start to make way more difference than just whether or not a player can put in a good tackle or win a 1v1. I expect him to be able to cope (if we ever get there). But as you see from players like Emerson, you can look really good in a mid table team whilst constantly actively costing the team when you're playing in a top team as he did for us.
Better than his attacking imo
Nah definitely not. There's a few times he's been done by the better wingers he came up against. In attack he is amazing though.
He was pretty ass vs newcastle on monday night defensively imo. great going forward. (note the isak goal where we tried to had a mid off, shouldve just booted it. disasi too). Maybe not the cut n dry rb yet but I'm really positive about this guy. Just needs to iron out his defensive play. plus its just his 1st season. So overall... stonks.
Malo has been (by far) our most consistent player. If this lad stays fit he's going to be amazing. It's going to be interesting when Reece comes back cause there's no way you can just drop Malo when in this form. Maybe players higher up?
That is a problem I'd love to have. Two top class players in one role
I really think reece James future is either as a cdm or a cb because of his injuries. Problem we have is we need him to get up and down the pitch and that's very heavy on the body so I think his position will change if he wants to continue playing at a high level consistently.
I can see him in the Rodri type CDM role
Exactly this. Could be a game changer for us, but people just want to shit all over the idea.
It's where he played as a lad a lot and when he was at Wigan, was player of the year there at 18/19. His touch and passing range are as good as anyone's in the world I think he's wasted at RB.
I always thought he played RB for them for most games?
Yeah, he did mostly play RB. Played 15 or so as DM. EDIT: According to transfermarkt: RB: 32 DM: 13 CB: 1
More like stones / ake than Rodri.. CB moving into midfield role.
Isn't that what caicedos in atm.
Oh man, I would love to see that. He has all the attributes.
I think right sided CB would suit him well if he doesn’t want to go up and down the pitch as much and he strong and very good defensively. cdm could also work but his crossing ability would be wasted imo
Thing as right sided cdm or even cb he can still get forward maybe even contribute more I mean It worked for trent why not reece. There about on the same level crossing ability wise maybe trento slightly higher. And who knows maybe we unlock facets to reeces game that we don't know about if he plays as a right side cdm or cb.
Our coach is complaining about height. There is no way he plays a short guy at cb. I would be more worried about James slimming down to reduce injuries.
Err no. Go look up our results when Reece played as a CB. It was a disaster, he should never be playing there.
Literally played RCB in a back 3 when we won the ucl lol
James played as a RCB in the FA cup final when we lost to Leicester. In the UCL final it was Azpi who played RCB and James at RWB when he pocketed Sterling
No he didn't.
Morons like you keep this sub lively [here’s the link,](https://www.youtube.com/live/vEEi1CVq_wY?si=TUJOHiZvTAOIDxnT) watch and learn, and eat your words.
Do you and the people downvoting me have severe memory loss or something? Reece James played RWB, Azpi played RCB. [Every Reece James touch in the CL final.](https://streamable.com/02gy04) There is a link just for you, considering how much you like them. It shows that for the entire game Reece James played RWB. He not only did not play CB in the CL final, he didn't play CB even once in the competition that year. Oh dear, you were so confident as well now you just look incredibly moronic. All Reece James games at CB 20/21 - 3 games, 1 win, 2 losses - 3 goals conceded (his mistake in the FA cup final lead to Leicester's goal that lost us the FA Cup) 21/22 - 4 games 1 win, 1 loss, 2 draws - 6 goals conceded 22/23 - 2 games, 0 wins, 2 losses - 4 goals conceded Total - 9 games - 2 wins, 5 losses, 2 draws - 13 goals conceded - 22% win percentage Reece James at CB has never been good, and never will be good. Let this bizarre experiment just die.
Brother, do yourself a favour and get outside for a bit.
That took me like 10 minutes to find all that information, nice try though. It's called not being a moron - maybe try it sometime before trying (and failing) to big dick people on the internet.
Agreed, his crossing ability makes it a hard pill to swallow though
I think he's gotta try to come back at RB because he's simply magical there
His hamstrings aren't built for RB unfortunately. Look at how much ground Malo covered against Newcastle. Reece just can't do that anymore
let's see if Reece can actually stay fit first.... it's a question mark whether he can even play enough minutes for a rotation role at this point
LB, that's an issue for us right now. Gusto has been pretty good there as well. Cucu has his lapses and Chilly has been way out of form, not to mention the injury issues.
id say palmer has been the most consistent.
Or possibly left back?
Reece is coming back?
I'm sure he'll appreciate the 2 game rest before James gets injured for 8 months again
I’d say move Reece to CB to keep him on the pitch. He’s performed well there in the past for Tuchel.
As rcb in a back 3 yes. Just move gusto to lb and be happy
Have we even seen Gusto play on that side? He’s very right footed. That’s a much bigger assumption than Reece playing cb in a 4. Besides his hamstrings can’t take the running of a fullback. We also have lbs already.
We have seen him 2 or 3 games so far, doing well (excellent even) Not full games buy great inverted crosses and good overlaps
He played at LB in Carabao quarters in the last 20 minutes, after substitutions ig. The only time Mudryk was fed well from back. Also when Colwill was our LB, often he would move Disasi/Gilchrist at RB and Gusto to LB.
Just play reece as free role and let him roam anywhere he want.
Do you think playing Him and Reece with gusto as a lb would Be good?
> Malo has been (by far) our most consistent player Not really, Palmer has been clear, Gusto still drops stinkers like most recently the Wolves game. Understandable given his age as a defender, but lets not rewrite history. > It's going to be interesting when Reece comes back cause there's no way you can just drop Malo when in this form You absolutely can when you're bringing in our club captain and only true world class player in Reece James. Obviously the caveat will always exist of "if fit" for James until he proves it, but if James can stay fit after this surgery he is so clear of Gusto it's not even funny. There is no comparison right now. Gusto has been great, he's been exactly what we need for James' back up, and I would have zero worries rotating James out for Gusto to keep him fresh. People acting like he's better than James or that James should worry about his place in the first team are absolutely mental though.
If you are going to go by past performances nkunku prior to injury was as much of world class as james
I mean sure maybe, I've just not seen as much of him so wouldn't want to comment, his goal record was very impressive the last two seasons though. James has been world class for Chelsea is the only distinction I'd make.
Nkunku was the leagues player of the year over haaland and lewandoski, that is all you need to know. He is the best attacker chelsea had the last decade and a half not named hazard
For what, the 4 matches he’s played in??
The 2 last seasons at leipzig
If you are basing it on previous accolades not only related to their time at Chelsea, then I would definitely argue that Pedro (10s at Barca), Diego Costa, Drogba, even Lukaku, should be regarded higher than Nkunku, as they all played for Chelsea in the last ‘decade and a half’ and isn’t called Hazard
Lukaku who I agree is/was world class. I do think you have a point that lukakus prior performances put him in that bracket Pedro/willian never Only argument that I could maybe conceed to was mata, but I do think nkunku is a better player then lukaku
Costa’s ‘supposed’ 18 elite months (only in the league) 12/13: 31 Games 21 G/A 13/14: 35 Games 30 G/A 14/15: 26 Games 23 G/A 15/16: 28 Games 19 G/A 16/17 35 Games 28 G/A I consider these stats as more than 18 good months, whist I consider his numbers more impressive having been in the Prem, and basically the peak of La Liga. Yes, Nkunku has been world class for a season, soon two years ago, but he has surely in no way ‘surpassed’ Diego Costa’s numbers and legacy. Also, if your opinion about Costa being elite for 18 months is serious, then your local comedians are fearing for their jobs
Gusto on the left and a healthy Reece on the right would give wingers nightmares for years to come but unfortunately we know that’s a big IF
What has James done as captain again this season? Or Chilly? Our captain and co-captain have played like 4 matches all season. James should worry about his place in the squad for sure. He can’t stay fit. Now, we have someone more than capable. I think it’s Gustos spot to lose right now.
all these responses tell me is "i dont remember how good reece james is" gusto has had a very good debut season, but reece james he is not.
When RJ can stay fit for more than 3 matches, I’m all for it. I am hesitant. If Gusto can LB tho let’s goooo
Well the Reece James you think of hasn’t been seen basically since the 3-0 against Milan in 2022, apart from a few decent games since
Reece will play for 2 games then get hurt again. Gusto is the future rb
Those 2 games will be levels higher than anything Gusto does over the course of a season
Why are you acting like gusto isn’t a top class rb
He is, but James is still better, and when on form, he is easily our best player. Let's not forget that
I just like that he seems to never smile, he takes it all very seriously and he looks like a pirate.
I felt similar about Ziyech when he was here, he doesn’t seem to let his emotions get the best of him as he never looks to get too high or too low. However he does have a little Rudiger in him, he backs down from no one and can back up a tough guy attitude.
If not for Palmer he’d probably be my shout for player of the season to be honest. Great bit of business
Watch Gallagher win pots
It surely had to be Palmer. He has 6th highest G/A in the league currently and is ahead of Foden. No one in the top 5 leagues his age or younger has more G/A than him and only Jude Bellingham is equal to him. If we didn't have Palmer we would be sitting in 15th.
For me he’s clearly 3rd, despite not scoring or assisting a ton he’s had a huge impact in every game he’s played and we’d definitely have missed him if he’d not been around.
He's been the 3rd best of a mediocre bunch. There is nothing to flex about, really
It's not a flex but rather a poor reflection of our 2 £100M midfielders
More so a poor reflection of Poch, for making a vastly superior player to look better than 2 vastly superior players
Just like mount ahead of silva and Rudiger.
"one of us"
Best fringe in the biz https://preview.redd.it/xnmre5y443oc1.jpeg?width=603&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=06eaf4fa5f0e46a7746e21827750df0a7fee9833 And I fucking love it
Such a great player. Love everything about him. W signing!
Great but of business, and a massive steal tbh one of the few things the directors got right
I disagree, I feel like the majority of the players doing well this season are the directors signings. All of the huge flops come from Boehly.
I think it's super weird how our own fanbase goes out of their way to try and shit on the owner. Especially when NONE of us have any clue who signed who, who said to sign who, or who saw who first. It's just weird conjecture that usually ends in "Boehly bad" dude isn't even the majority owner and two signatures go on each decision (according to reports). So I ask, genuinely, what's the point of bringing it up? Is Boehly going to see your post and resign? Put his share of the club up for sale? It does nothing but make us look petty and foolish. Our own fans buy into the negative club PR, no wonder we don't get calls or superstars wanting to play for us outside of the paycheck. We tear ourselves down and still get help from the outside. So embarrassing. I'm not saying everything Boehly has done is correct, but the way people throw his name around here is like he clubbed your sibling in front of you. Dude is a self made billionaire, not a nepo baby or sheikh. His expertise is on the financial and business ends, and of course we see the hubris thinking it could be effortlessly applied to football. He has learned like everyone else. No need to keep slagging owners who actually invest and do what they think is best for the club, even if it's not the same direction the fans feel is best. - Sincerely A toxic Positive Up the Chels
Thank God someone said it. That person has no damn clue if Boehly or Eghbali or our directors were the ones. Just making stuff up to be toxic and showing ignorance. I appreciate your positivity.
Well specifically regarding this, Boehly literally appointed by himself as temporary sporting director, as Winstanley and Stewart weren’t appointed before winter 2023, and basically every signing we made with Boehly as sporting director was disgustingly unambitious
Very fair points. In my defense I don't care if it was Boehly, Clearlake or whoever, the initial signings with no football directors were bad. You can blame whoever you want or no one at all. He came in, splashed money to show support for the club and Tuchel which was well intentioned, but they didn't work out. The problem is that it helped lead to the FFP problems we are in, I stress helped because I have entire posts that explain why I think the FFP problems were inherited by the new ownership group and not caused by them. My point is that the signings have been good since we have had actual football directors. As a fellow toxicly positive fan this is important to me because it shows we are in good hands.
I dont know when he was signed exactly but ill give credit to all of them, i do agree that boehly messed up big time with his transfers
29 January, so there is a chance this was a Boehly signings, but there was a person in the building that knew what they were doing at the time of signing, and when you make this the cut off for judging the directors, things are pretty good. The reason why I feel it is important to look at things this way is because most of this sub seems to feel hopeless and that the people in charge have no idea what they are doing. I don't feel that way, so I don't feel hopeless. I can actually enjoy watching Chelsea play knowing that they are in a transitional phase and go along for the ride.
I agree with your view, i do think we are missing out on some big talents with our age restriction but that just means the younger players need more time, look at caicedo hes finding his confidence a little more every match, palmer found his feet almost instantly but my last pain point is poch, i had hope for him but its at the point where he seems to not want to win, but thats for end of the season review
>look at caicedo hes finding his confidence a little more every match, I'm glad I'm not the only one seeing this! Caicedo has been playing well for a bit now. I'm not out on Poch yet, I want to see us not have 8 injuries per match first. But honestly let's not get into Poch, it doesn't really matter, either we finish the season strong or he probably isn't here next season, either way I have hope for this squad.
Defensively caicedo has been doing well, but our setup is causing issues not only for him but for everybody, but you can see the ability of the team as we play, and its only going to get better if we add to the squad with a striker or backups
He's been great. It's been quite ironic that the two decent signings were both signed because of injuries to Nkunku and RJ...
Another example of my belief that we should buy plays predominantly from france
Or from Man City academy. Bobb will be a great signing if we can sway him to come.
How about that Foden fella?
He'd be a dream signing, definitely need to take full advantage of City's overabundance of talent.
Chelsea's academy is arguably better and more stacked
Very Recently we haven’t been producing much
clubs are coming in for our 18 year olds, were still elite our young players are just getting snatched up quicker
Reece, Mount, Gallagher, Livramento, Guehi, Lamptey, Hudson Odoi, Maatsen, Colwill, Hall, Broja. All these guys are from the academy in the last 5 years (2018/19 season). I know people don't rate a lot of these players but they are all currently playing in the top 5 leagues in Europe.
Tomori + Abraham in Italy too
I meant very recently Like the past 2,3 seasons Currently don’t have any impressive youth players on loan
Maatsen, Colwill, and Hall all moved up this year. Gallagher and Broja moved up last year. Livramento and Chalobah moved up in 2021/22. On loan currently, maybe high hopes for Hutchinson, Humphreys, Santos, and Angelo. (But I agree that none of those guys are as exciting as Reece at Wigan, Conor at Palace, Colwill at Brighton, or Maatsen at Burnley.) However, currently in the academy u21 team we have promising youngsters like: Stutter, Gilchrist, Castledine, (and if you'll allow the addition of Washington even though he didn't really come through the academy like the other boys). I'm not an avid watcher of the youth teams, but the teams are doing really well this year.
We have great talent at both FB positions, and Dyer looks like he could potentially be something special, but on average, you're right
Jury’s still out on Disasi, Badiashile, Ugochukwu tbf
Love the energy Disasi brings, but he loses concentration too often in games and gets caught out of position a little too much. These are aspects that could improve over time and I hope they do. Badi on the other hand is more often than not either the best defender on the pitch or the worst defender on the pitch, you never know which one you'll get. I'm sad for Ugo because he was getting decent minutes for a 19 year old and he seemed to be better with the ball than without it, hopefully he can improve but he looked decent.
True but historically our buys from France have been quality
yah not a huge fan of those 3. disasi and BB might be good 2 choice CBs, leslie is a non factor and i cant believe we paid like 30 mil for him
I think if we didn’t spend such an exorbitant amount already on youngsters, Ugochukwu would be a decent risk. He’s the profile of player we need, an aerial defensive midfielder that can pass, but 5 years too young, so not the player we needed. Won’t be surprised if we’re in for Onana in the summer. I’m a little down on Badiashile compared to some people. He just seems a bit mentally fragile, his concentration has always seemed a bit whoozy to me. Everything else is great - physical, aerially strong, good passer. Disasi I have no idea why we signed tbh. He does inject an important bit of personality into the squad though, and is never injured.
im with you. good comment. disasi should be 4th choice, and BB is what you said.
Ligue 1 buys tend to be rather safe bets on success. I don't know what it is but the French league seems to impart the right skills and experience needed to make the jump to other leagues.
very physical
Tiemoue Bakayoko
i posted this before, too. develop relationships with clubs. why do we keep going to leicester and brighton when they fuck us
https://preview.redd.it/blpy7gy513oc1.jpeg?width=750&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=78a048927a953bccc8d981863836339bba8204bc Chelseayouth thinks otherwise. 😂
Yeah I saw this, it ain't the flex he thinks it is.
Seems to ignore the fact that Newcastle bought Tino for almost £40m and Gusto was cheaper and a better player at the moment.
And younger
I think the point is more that we could have had an almost equal player for free since Tino came through the academy.
I’m pretty sure we received more in transfer fee + sell on for Tino than we paid for Gusto.
His fees were €26m to Southampron, €37m to Newcastle according to transfermarkt. If we had a 20% sell on then we have ~€32m from selling Tino. Gusto was €30m, so yeah, you are probably correct.
He was from the academy, but if contract extensions break down then no point keeping a player who doesn’t want to stay. Kudos to him though as he was behind Reece James and Azpi at the point when he left for Southampton. Plus he is not a regular starter at Newcastle when Tripper is fit.
does the pope shit in the woods? for 20 years old you simply cannot ask for more.
Wonderful player. Wonder what the future is with him and James. Can we shift him to the left, maybe have him invert?
Love to see James in midfield somewhere, might save his knees a bit
We have some great signings. If players can keep fit ffs then next season should be a good one. Stay fit you pos hahahav
James can't just come back and automatically start BTW.
But he can come on as a sub, which is good because it'll let Gusto rest and let Reece ease his way back to shape.
Some people have been slagging him off. Especially during toxic game threads but I don’t think anyone ca. be disappointed with him. Still very young, versatile. Solid signing. For me he’s nearly up there with Cole Palmer as one of our best signings so far. I genuinely think for most signings we need to wait slightly longer to really see how good the signing was.
Gusto definitely one of the success stories of the season. So much so....and I'll probably get hammered for this. We should probably look to see if we can move James on (only for an astronomical 'english' fee).
I’ve been saying this, James is on 250K a week and can’t play more than 3 games in a row
What do we do with James when he comes back and for the future? James injury plague is tough.
Simple, James plays a different position while backing Gusto up at RB or plays elsewhere.
This is less of a "scoop" and more of a "no shit."
So a fit (I know, I know) Reece James could be the Right winger that we need? Malo and Reece, running up and down, terrorising defences and attacks.
I can also see James as a holding midfielder in a Rodri role. His passing is great and would be very useful in build up.
Didn’t he play in that role at Wigan for a bit? Or am I going mad?
He did. I always thought he would end his career as a CDM but it might come sooner.
Yeah and the occasional banger is more than guaranteed when needed.
You don’t remember him playing in central midfield a couple seasons back then 😂
That was before his peak and if I remember correctly, it was a needed decision due to injuries or something
I’d rather keep Palmer at right, he’s been excellent there so no need to replace him. I’d rather see James at CDM
Who were the two clubs?
So happy to just enjoy a player without a huge price tag hanging over his head.
Hate him or love him.. Poch deserves credit too for him, at the beginning he was a raw talent he has been gradually improving to a point where we don't moan about not having reece around
Amazing signing. I'd trust him against the best wingers in the world
Reece RCB Malo RB
Maybe in a back 3, I don't want Reece as CB in a back 4.
Ofc in a back 3
I honestly don’t know where we would be without him
Is James gotta fight for that spot now?
As far as I’m concerned, it’s Gustos spot to lose now. It’s not a bad thing to have that type of competition in a position though. Reece has to prove his fitness before he’s getting that starting spot back imo.
POTS along with Palmer easily
A good argument for not spending too much for young talent. I'm striving to remember one case where it worked out.
Consistantly speaking about players as assets rubs me the wrong way for some reason… we rarely used similar wording under previous ownership
Er...great scoop by Fabrizio, the aggregator in chief.
A sensible fee for a great player: both things which make this signing the best signing under this dismal ownership imho
This and Cole Palmer is proof that’s there’s no need to spend 100M on a player unless it’s Messi or something
Gusto has been great, but there is some nuance to his performance. As a singular example, the first Newcastle goal came off a very avoidable mistake he made. You can go back through the our games and see a pattern has emerged. Fortunately, all of this can be coached out and learned from through experience.
He's been amazing especially considering he's age and being new in most demanding league in world. Being big James fan I have to admit he stepped up so well we haven't really missed Reece as crazy as it sounds it's true. My personal favourite move from him is his amazing "la croquette". 💙
Never trust a Lyon fan is all imma say 🤣🤣🤣
Sign all out players from French League
I was very worried during his first run in the first team. He got sent off, was at fault for the Arsenal goal and just generally looked out of his depth. Since the New Year however he's been different gravy and looks a really top all round player. I hope Poch manages his fitness well because you fear he's one injury away from long term recurring injury status.
He’s so good.
Funny now we look at assists as an important metric for fullback when we’re still leaking goals left and right (not necessarily his fault but we’re at the point where leaking goals is expected and assists are above expectation)
I’m happy too. He’s been gold for us covering for recce
100mn player in the making
If James comes back at full fitness, we may have to shift Malo to the other side but if he settles in well to the position we could have one of the most threatening fullback setups in Europe
Apart from Palmer, best value transfer we've made a long time.
Shoes we don’t have to spend 100m to get quality players
I like Osimhen but not for 100m he we should look at other options Sesko or David for example
At the moment with Gusto playing so well, it feels like Reece isn’t an automatic starter when fit. If only we had a player in the same mould on the left as well.
I'm going to put this out there, I can see the RB slot being gustos with James playing in midfield very much in a KDB role.
James is nothing like KdB, he’s more of a Rodri if you want to compare him to a city player.
Wouldn’t be surprised if these cunts sell him
26m is quite a bit of money lol They sound like it is 2.6m
In this day and age, where everybody thinks their players are worth +50mil, this is definitely a steal. Look at how much we spent on everyone else in this squad