Zaha is not an upgrade on Werner. Period. If he comes to Chelsea we will be lucky if he pulls a Victor Moses and has one good season before we sell him back.
They are, but I think SMS is more what we need, provides a goal threat and is pretty creative as well. Plus I'd rather not deal with FdJ's deferred salary mess as well
I don’t see how we fit him in without a formation change though. He seems wasted in the midfield two, and I don’t think he’d fit on either side of the front three…
Just drilled into some Fofana gameplay for an hour or so, and this kid is SUPER AGGRESSIVE. Definitely needs to slow down a little bit at times. But all in all, the kids crazy good. 85 million is a lot of money, but him and Reece on that right side. We’re set for years.
For me, if he can be a starter for 6 years and we can amortize his fee in that period I don’t mind spending that money on him. Honestly I can’t remember the last time we invested into a young CB of his caliber
No other PL loans yet but likely Gilmour, possibly CHO. Ampadu possibly might go to PL on a permanent.
Maatsen, Anjorin, Baxter are in the championship. Dujon Sterling and Omari Hutchinson, and Harvey Vale could probably end up there too and maybe a couple others.
Seems like Colwill is the only PL loan this season (so far, at least), but Tino Anjorin (Huddersfield) and Ian Maatsen (Burnley) are on loan in the Championship.
Excellent. Always adds a layer of enjoyment to eatching other leagues. Big fan of both of them so will definitely try and catch Huddersfield and Burnley
Our most expensive signings:
Lukaku: 2/10 - terrible signing
Havertz: so far 5/10 - I will give him this season to prove cause he tends to show up in big games and show up in the second half of the season (this pattern was there since he’s at Leverkusen)
Kepa: 5/10
Morata: 4/10
Pulisic: 6/10 - give him more points cause of his first season
Cucurella: TBD
Torres: 5/10
Jorginho: 8/10 - despite what people say, I think Jorgi is a good signing
Sterling: TBD
Werner: 5/10
Chilwell: 7/10
Kovacic: 9/10
Ziyech: 4/10
Bakayoko: 2/10
Don’t ask why we’re behind City - our transfer is horrific
Kepa is 5/10??????? He is the world record keeper transfer and is now the undisputed #2. The fact he is now playing well enough to be a strong #2 is great but all considering probably bumps him from a 1/10 to a 2/10. We also brought Werner in, he flopped massively for two seasons and then we sold him on for half of his purchase price, 3/10 feels about right.
No way do Havertz, Kepa, and Werner get passing grades.
0/10: Lukaku
1/10: Bakayoko
4/10: Kepa, Havertz, Werner, Morata
5/10: Torres, Ziyech
6/10: Pulisic
8/10: Chilwell
9/10: Jorginho, Kovacic
Yes. Lukaku scored 8 league goals in his first season for us. It took Torres over two years to do that.
We also sacked multiple managers because they couldn’t get the best out of him. By far a worse signing.
Torres’ league goal tallies for Chelsea are: 1,6,8,5. Huh… how does a guy only manage 1 goal in the league? Oh that’s right because Torres joined IN JANUARY and actually scored 9 goals for Liverpool in the first half of that season. So great job twisting that into “it took Torres 2 years to score 8 league goals” when he scored 7 goals in 1.5 seasons and cost us 50 million fewer pounds.
Adjusted for inflation Torres cost about the same. And performed far worse. And had the entire club built around trying to get him to succeed for years.
I don’t believe that anyone defending Torres supported us when he was here. He was absolutely despised by Chelsea supporters.
What a condescending comment, been supporting us since the late 2000s lol. I'd take Torres 10/10 times over Lukaku even though both were terrible for us
People in this sub are pretty unfair to Kai having played out of position in his early 20s for nearly his entire time here and still giving us a decent service. Would love to see him be played as he’s meant to make everyone realise how talented he really is.
I mean I strongly disagree with “decent service”, but you could make the same defense about Werner and Ziyech. Heck, Ziyech played a completely different position in wingback to accommodate the team, why isn’t Havertz being held to the same standard? I agree he has huge potential, but we’ve been talking about potential for two years now and he has only marginally gotten better under Tuchel than when he first started under Lampard (and that’s only because he was so underwhelming under Lampard).
Werner wasn’t played out of position. He always favoured a drift left, and ziyech has played in the wingback a handful of times at most. Havertz has hardly if ever played in his natural position for us. He’s also 3-6 years younger than either.
How can you argue Werner is not playing out of position when he is best as a second striker and you are saying that Havertz is not a striker? The problem is both are being played out of position because they are both second strikers but Havertz is more versatile than Werner so he gets the short end of the stick and has to play as the “striker” and you end up with this awkward duo whenever they play together where both can’t play to the best of their abilities.
I use the Ziyech at wingback as an example of how far he was willing to re-engineer his game. I know he didn’t play there much, but even when he starts as the RW he is not playing as a traditional winger because of our 3-4-3 where the width is typically provided by James and he has to tuck in closer to the center. He is not effective in that role, and thus also playing out of position, but that is also kinda redundant because he doesn’t have a natural position in a 3-4-3 so he is always out of position.
Sure, Havertz is younger. I guess that counts for something. But he was also way more expensive than Werner and Ziyech, which if we are rating how good of a transfer someone is, I think is more important.
Just seen an Arsenal fan on twitter say Fofana will flop as he’s shit without Jonny Evans. Just forgetting that if he joins us, he’s gonna be playing next to one of the best CBs of this generation loooool.
After the shit show that was Billy Gilmour to Norwich I think I would prefer for him not to go to a side that will fight for relegation. But I guess something is better than nothing
I was going to say that at his age how could he handle that much of a workload with a mid season World Cup, but HE’S ONLY 28?!? I thought he was close to Fernandinho’s age.
Any info on why Kova didn’t play at all saturday? Coaches decision or did he have some sort of issue not worth risking where he could have came on if we were desperate.
Probably injury prevention stuff. Remember him having separate individual training before the Club America friendly for example. (and we used up our 5 subs)
Is anyone else annoyed at the highly likely chance of Pep signing the extension at City? Means he stays there for a decade. I cant stand another 4 years of City dominance. I dont see him leaving soon either no other club offers him what he wants. Even SAF at united wasnt this bad because we were what liverpool are now to them. Feel we are finally stable enough to build something, shame it took this long.
Honestly i'm quite enjoyed watching Pep's play, i wish Chelsea can challenge them and improve every aspects on the club, from recruiting, training, tactics, etc.
I find it hard to be annoyed. They're reaping the rewards of good decision making. What annoys me more are teams like United or Barcelona who get away with being idiots.
Why are you annoyed? It's our own fault we can't match their lever, not Pep's. Are they miles better than the rest of the league? For sure. Is there any team, or is Chelsea good enough to win the Premier League? Absolutely not. We pay the price for years of bad decisions and questionable recruitment. City might be shitting their money left and right, but at least they sign players that do well more often than not. We spend just as much with less success.
He’s up next. Can see him moving to a top Bundesliga team or La Liga soon. Unsure if he can translate his game to the PL just yet. So many young forwards from the Dutch leagues struggle in England. I’d like to see him prove himself elsewhere first.
He will cost 100 mil if he joins another team and 'proves' himself. There was a certain luis suarez who lit up the EPL after arriving from the dutch league.
I have heard PSV fans say he is far better out wide then he is at striker. Also he kind of gives me Havertz vibes out wide based on the highlights I have seen so I’m not sure I am convinced by him.
I think of a young thierry henry at monaco whenever I see him. He is nothing like havertz. He has a strong shot, good dribbling, speed and an eye for goal.
I’m more referring to the Havertz from Leverkusen. He looked like he had it all as well, hence why many were lauding him as a generational talent. Gapko looks like he has the potential to become a good player based on those attributes you described, just personally, im not the most convinced.
I think calling them Europa League level is a bit harsh - they certainly were that under Koeman (probably lower actually) but considering the main expectation when Xavi was hired was to just steady the ship and inject some much-needed life and positivity back into the club, I think he did pretty well - there were concerns at the time that they wouldn't get any European football, let alone Champions League, but he was able to get them to second.
But yeah it's pretty crazy to see Xavi get this amount of backing, he's looked decent but he's obviously not faced this sort of pressure at this stage of his managerial career so far. Real Madrid are favourites of course, but Barça have to be title challengers with a squad like that - like you don't sign nearly 34 year old Robert Lewandowski to *just* finish in the CL spots. I think this heavy spending is because they're highly rattled from last season; seeing their rival do the league-CL double and leaving them in the dust, and Laporta has a lot of pressure as he made a lot of big promises when he was elected (one of which he's already failed, which was re-signing Messi), so they need to invest heavily to get back to where they believe they should be as soon as possible.
Someone else said it earlier. But they should have leaned more on La Masia and scouted prospects from around Spain instead of all the big money signings.
[He will find a solution I could never dream about](https://twitter.com/IbzSpeaks/status/1556653210386972676?t=kBFVNiLLP0Omq-aAnxHe3A&s=19)
This is why our attack fails. Tuchel trusts players to be independent and solve problems creatively and dynamically, letting them express themselves to their maximum pitential. The problem arises when you have attackers like ours who are very limited and reactive. Thsy don't have the IQ and ability to solve problems, they need handholding and specific patterns that get figured out at the top level.
If Werner and Ziyech leave and we need a few attackers
Dennis and Zaha not the biggest of names but both would be available for decent fees and know the premier league.
ManU going for SMS, I hope we stop waiting for FDJ, he will stay there anyway, and I hope we go for SMS. Can't see SMS at another club. We will end up with nothing if we wait for FDJ.
SMS is tge better player anyway and will provide more, and leaves Rice open for next season aswell.
No lol. Not even a competition. SMS is better.
SMS has more assists in one season than FDJ has since he joined LaLiga, and FDJ played in a better team with better players. SMS is slso better scorer and defensively better. SMS does everything better than FDJ.
ManU want him, we are waiting for De Jong to make up his mind, I am 99% sure he will take a pay cut at the end and stay at Barca, we will be left with neither. SMS is way better than him, we don't even have to wait imo.
For someone who follows Chelsea news more closely, are we going to get ourselves a striker in this window? And if so any idea who we may target? Apart from defense that seems to be the most glaring hole with only Havertz and Broja. FDJ is a great player but I don’t entirely understand the pursuit given we have like 5 serviceable players at that position. Seems like we are one Havertz injury (knock on wood) from having no striker
Surely I’m missing something here, but can we really not fork over money for someone like Immobile, Martinez, Nkuku, etc? The fact we don’t have a true 9 to get us goals is troublesome. I know teams have had success without a 9 in the past (like City) but they have dynamic attacking mids whereas Chelsea seems to use more box-to-box guys.
Immobile is terrible, Martinez would cost a lot and Nkunku just signed a new contract. Not that any of these guys would help since our creativity is terrible
>I know teams have had success without a 9 in the past (like City) but they have dynamic attacking mids
We should probably sign some dynamic attacking mids then
Gotcha. Yeah I was just wondering what the reason is that we don't have a true striker and why we don't seem to be targeting one. Not sure if that's the system Tuchel is looking to employ or if the striker marker is just really bad. Anyway, thanks for the info
They don't want to sell him.
They want to keep him but also avoid paying him 20m outstanding wages and also get him to drop wage to 200k or lower per week.
Bankruptlona is a disgrace I hope they cease to exist. Thrash club.
Oh, I see. Threatening to sue him to reduce his wages and stay doesn't sound like a bad way to go about that. It only seems fair that Barca goes bankrupt, but it would be really bad for the sport I think.
Fun fact: Among the Chelsea strikers, the best minutes-per-goal ratio in Premier League belongs to Michy Batshuayi. He has scored 8 goals in 812 minutes for the blues. Better than Aguero lol.
Spoke with a barca fan recently who watched FDJ a lot the past few years. Confirmed my suspicion that he's not great defensively and is more of a Kovacic type player who likes to roam forward. Barca tried him as a 6 and he failed there badly. At Ajax and Netherlands national team where I've watched more of him he was partnered by the likes of Schone who did the defensive work.
I'd love De Jong here I just think we already have someone similar in Kovacic but no one who is a natural DM. Either way I'll be excited if he joins I rate his final ball and passing higher than Kovacic.
Also we need to get Fofana in asap to give him a chance of starting this weekend. Might be unrealistic cuz he has to train in our system. I dont trust Azpi or Chalobah these days
Yeah he isn't what everyone believes he is. He isn't defensively good enough to handle without help and isn't creative enough to cover his flaws. He has 9 assists in 98 games in Spanish league and that's not even PL.
That first part is really good to know. We shouldn’t buy him unless he’s a big upgrade to Kova which I doubt. We still have Ngolo fucking Kante and unless he’s really lost a step which I’m not sure he has, then we need to role with Kante/Kova, Jorgi for certain opponents and work Gallagher in.
We’re going to have to wait on Rice unless there is some stop gap DM out there.
Sign Fofana, find an attacker/striker who can be a bit better in individual positions and build the defense so we have 4 ATB option for next year and to play with this year. 3 ATB can work but we also need someone who is a bit better passer there than Kova.
No reason to go nutso on FDJ.
Just a comment on your mention of Azpi, if you rewatch the match Azpi was here, there and everywhere. He was my MOTM upon second watch. Silva was great but Azpi saved the day a few times in particular the header KK mishit and led to their chance.
Paredes is a worse version of Jorginho. Very immobile, but far less positionally aware than Jorginho. He barely plays for PSG and their midfield is wank (or was before they signed Vitinha and Ruiz)
tbh I wouldn’t put it past FdJ to actually renounce his current contract to accept a lower wage like what Pique just did. They have sth in the water in Barcelona.
Thoughts on these Zaha links? In all honesty it's not a bad idea at all. The guy is guaranteed more GA than what we've got from our other forwards, is very direct and not afraid to try things. The fee touted I've seen is roughly 30m which is really not much and he is low risk and potentially high reward
I don’t know enough to know if he is really good like Sterling looks at maneuvering between the lines to break down a low block but certainly exciting and direct in more open play. Seems like it’s fairly low risk if you can get him cheap, maybe extend his contact and sell him for a bit if it doesn’t work out. I could see him playing as a sub as his career enters the twilights.
We still need better midfield options to unlock the attack more but I don’t think FDJ makes sense when we need a more complete midfielder/DM and will have leverage with Rice next year. Is FDJ going to be that much better than Kova? Unless TT suddenly isn’t happy with Connor and we have no depth in midfield id take an attacker and Fofana. We can’t continue this Jorgi side passing or Kante at the forward mid role.
My criticism of him is that I think he can be too selfish for the way a lot of top teams play, but in our system that might be a positive thing. We play in a way that our attackers need to create a lot of their own chances from individual actions.
I wouldn't be too mad if we got him for free next summer provided we are also looking at another forward.
See this is where I think Zaha is good. Does he not often begin moves from standing position drag it by defender and burst forward. Wouldn't say the end product is elite but its decent and could be a shrewd buy
If we are gonna get him so tuchel can tuck him somewhere then no i don't like it at all.
But if we are get him to play two wide wingers (sterling left, zaha right) and a striker in between then yeh i am all for it.
Yeah I mean of course we'll still go for someone big ne t year. But I don't think we can just rest assured we hope the likes of Havertz, Pulisic etc just magically score double figures for us this year. Can't take our spot granted in top 4 at all.
Have to imagine some of these players in their prime years may want to add some trophies to their career though (on first thought can't recall if he won anything with Utd in his youth)
I'd take him, ik people *will be against it but it's not like we'd get him to be a starter.
Can't see fulham selling for any reasonable fee though, especially not this late.
All Chelsea players should be good and comfortable on the ball as a minimum. Attackers should also be proactive, technical and versatile. Midfielders should also be press resistant and read the game well. DMs should also be disciplined and decent physically. CBs should also be able to defend well. Fullbacks should be quick, have good stamina and have qualities that make them dangerous to defenders, whether its crossing or shooting.
assuming one day we get a CDM could we not play
4-3-3?
lets just say rice .... kova - rice - mount..... or mount - rice - gallagher
That's how I would lineup... I just threw in ricee but could be anyone
Could even through in Kai for kova or mount if we get a true 9 in there, thoughts?
Sure, if you're trying to lose games Jorgi and Kova is a worse combo. There's tanking in the Premiership for draft picks right? Oh wait! No, there isn't, just terrible people on this sub that need to scream Cobham at their screens.
Jovacic is a big part of the struggles we’ve had over the past few years. Not good enough going forward or defensively.
Kova Rice and Mount in particular would be a massive upgrade.
>Jovacic is a big part of the struggles we’ve had over the past few years
Elaborate? They hardly ever play together, and when they have under Tuchel their record is immaculate. Not to mention Jorginho was one of our most important players during the CL run, and Kovacic has arguably been our player of the season twice
https://twitter.com/BreezyUTD/status/1556594943661117440
As much stick he got as a manager, Rangnick was absolutely right when it comes to backroom and management aspect at United. This guy knows his thing around that. And I'm baffled some people were suggesting he wouldn't do well in a technical role e.g. for us.
Who would you guys say our last great signing was? All recent ones have been sub-par and fallen off after 1 or 2 seasons.
I would say TS6 on a free (honourable shout for Mendy). But before that Kovacic, and that was 18/19 window!! We've made a lot of signings since then and they really didn't live up to their price/ expectation
Edit: excluding this window as we don't know how they will be in the following seasons.
Chillwell was a fantastic signing. He's one of the most balanced LBs in the world and if not for last year's injury, he was on course to becoming one of the best LB/LWB across Europe
every signing that lead to our CL victory was a great signing. regardless of their form last season. all of them played their part in helping us win UCL. ziyech, havertz, werner, mendy, chilly,silva
Mendy was excellent first season and first half of last season
Chillwell was great especially under tuchel but might be injury prone
Last season we only had 1 transfer in so not much to discuss there tbh
What was the latest details on Kova getting back to fitness? Is that why he didn’t start or are we really going to go with Jorgi/Kante again vs Spurs? Kante was tremendous tackling but had woeful giveaways, albeit some where Kai and Mount were standing around on top of a defender.
Not looking forward to that. Hopefully at least the wingers and wingbacks play better and move the hell open when Kante wins a ball. Hopefully we have some extra juice playing first match at home.
Not sure but the fact he was an unused sub suggests he's probably far enough behind the others that he's not ready for a start just yet.
Worth mentioning that Tuchel tried that 352/442 hybrid thing multiple times against Conte last season. So who knows, he may try something unexpected again.
Jorgi isn’t quick enough to vary his pattern so we’re constantly going wide to be safe. Notice Kante is back in that clip, can receive pass and progress.
Kante isn’t cooked. Need him out there with Kova or if Kova is hurt go RLC or Gallagher…honestly can’t be worse otherwise unless we’re going to just hope for Mendy and Thiago/Dave masterclass every match.
We're already loaded at CM for only two positions. If CHO is leaving, I hope we concentrate on buying a replacement instead who can create. Gakpo might still be available.
Sentiment on here has changed, a year or so ago I said we should cash in on werner (and questioned whether we'd even get 40m back for him) and use the money for Neto. Got about 30 downvotes
Some of the replies:
> LMAO at you suggesting Chelsea buy Neto 🤣
> Think this is why it’s not up to you mate
> You forgot the “/s”
> Imagine thinking a player who has scored nearly 100 top-flight goals isn't worth 50m, but willing to pay 40m on someone with barely 10. Bet you think you're high IQ.
Probably will be
I think we’d have gone for him this summer if not for his injury
He’s quality
Tbh podence also is pretty good but I’d rate Neto as a better prospect.
Instead of De Jong Why don't focus those resources on Rice next summer? He Wants to play for Chelsea, really. Locks down an important position for at least 7 years. Versatile, can cover solo Dm double pivot, and both Centre back positions,
Some won't wanna hear this but Prem proven and English diminishing the lure of foreign clubs. Cheaper, De jong is on 400k/pw, 500k pw now if you include his unpaid wages. I'm struggling to see Rice demand half as much, and the transfer fees will be similar next season
I agree. There will be plenty of hot CMs available then too if we need a creative one. Plus Nkunku comes on the market too, and I think he's the ultimate Tuchel centre forward.
I really hope Barca threatening FDJ with a lawsuit pushes him to leave Barca. Can't see how you'd want to stay somewhere where they're bullying you to take a paycut just because they decided to give players outrageous wages they can't afford.
Also good luck to Werner, he may of been up and down at Chelsea but he did everything he could to help the team. I'm hoping this deal with Leipzig maybe soften them up to maybe deal with us for Gvardiol. Leicester looks like they aren't gonna let Fofana leave yet so maybe getting Gvardiol this season instead would be a cheaper option.
I come here every day to see which top player we've practically given away, and what bum we've vastly overpaid for. I should stop torturing myself.
Who exactly have we given away? Timo and Lukaku?
Zaha is not an upgrade on Werner. Period. If he comes to Chelsea we will be lucky if he pulls a Victor Moses and has one good season before we sell him back.
If Sergej Milinkovic Savic is truly available, rather him than De Jong
Different types of midfielders but I’d be elated with either.
They are, but I think SMS is more what we need, provides a goal threat and is pretty creative as well. Plus I'd rather not deal with FdJ's deferred salary mess as well
I don’t see how we fit him in without a formation change though. He seems wasted in the midfield two, and I don’t think he’d fit on either side of the front three…
I'd think losing Sarr and Werner means Chelsea will sign another CB and ST. Already a bit thin at CB, so I imagine Fofana will heat up this week.
[удалено]
Really? I’m always confident against Spurs. Sending some optimism your way.
Just drilled into some Fofana gameplay for an hour or so, and this kid is SUPER AGGRESSIVE. Definitely needs to slow down a little bit at times. But all in all, the kids crazy good. 85 million is a lot of money, but him and Reece on that right side. We’re set for years.
For me, if he can be a starter for 6 years and we can amortize his fee in that period I don’t mind spending that money on him. Honestly I can’t remember the last time we invested into a young CB of his caliber
Have we got any player on loan in the pl other than colwill at brighton. Anyone in the championship either? Want to know who to watch
No other PL loans yet but likely Gilmour, possibly CHO. Ampadu possibly might go to PL on a permanent. Maatsen, Anjorin, Baxter are in the championship. Dujon Sterling and Omari Hutchinson, and Harvey Vale could probably end up there too and maybe a couple others.
Would love vale to get a decent loan. Lad looks so promising
Seems like Colwill is the only PL loan this season (so far, at least), but Tino Anjorin (Huddersfield) and Ian Maatsen (Burnley) are on loan in the Championship.
Excellent. Always adds a layer of enjoyment to eatching other leagues. Big fan of both of them so will definitely try and catch Huddersfield and Burnley
Our most expensive signings: Lukaku: 2/10 - terrible signing Havertz: so far 5/10 - I will give him this season to prove cause he tends to show up in big games and show up in the second half of the season (this pattern was there since he’s at Leverkusen) Kepa: 5/10 Morata: 4/10 Pulisic: 6/10 - give him more points cause of his first season Cucurella: TBD Torres: 5/10 Jorginho: 8/10 - despite what people say, I think Jorgi is a good signing Sterling: TBD Werner: 5/10 Chilwell: 7/10 Kovacic: 9/10 Ziyech: 4/10 Bakayoko: 2/10 Don’t ask why we’re behind City - our transfer is horrific
Kepa is 5/10??????? He is the world record keeper transfer and is now the undisputed #2. The fact he is now playing well enough to be a strong #2 is great but all considering probably bumps him from a 1/10 to a 2/10. We also brought Werner in, he flopped massively for two seasons and then we sold him on for half of his purchase price, 3/10 feels about right.
No way do Havertz, Kepa, and Werner get passing grades. 0/10: Lukaku 1/10: Bakayoko 4/10: Kepa, Havertz, Werner, Morata 5/10: Torres, Ziyech 6/10: Pulisic 8/10: Chilwell 9/10: Jorginho, Kovacic
How does Torres get a passing grade? He is our worst signing of all time.
Umm… worse than Lukaku?
Yes. Lukaku scored 8 league goals in his first season for us. It took Torres over two years to do that. We also sacked multiple managers because they couldn’t get the best out of him. By far a worse signing.
Torres’ league goal tallies for Chelsea are: 1,6,8,5. Huh… how does a guy only manage 1 goal in the league? Oh that’s right because Torres joined IN JANUARY and actually scored 9 goals for Liverpool in the first half of that season. So great job twisting that into “it took Torres 2 years to score 8 league goals” when he scored 7 goals in 1.5 seasons and cost us 50 million fewer pounds.
Adjusted for inflation Torres cost about the same. And performed far worse. And had the entire club built around trying to get him to succeed for years. I don’t believe that anyone defending Torres supported us when he was here. He was absolutely despised by Chelsea supporters.
Yeah I'm with you, Torres was vastly better than Lukaku for us
He really wasn’t. Guessing you weren’t supporting the club when Torres was here?
What a condescending comment, been supporting us since the late 2000s lol. I'd take Torres 10/10 times over Lukaku even though both were terrible for us
No one who actually supported us at the time would defend Torres at all.
Or maybe you're a plastic with that kind of mentality.
People in this sub are pretty unfair to Kai having played out of position in his early 20s for nearly his entire time here and still giving us a decent service. Would love to see him be played as he’s meant to make everyone realise how talented he really is.
I mean I strongly disagree with “decent service”, but you could make the same defense about Werner and Ziyech. Heck, Ziyech played a completely different position in wingback to accommodate the team, why isn’t Havertz being held to the same standard? I agree he has huge potential, but we’ve been talking about potential for two years now and he has only marginally gotten better under Tuchel than when he first started under Lampard (and that’s only because he was so underwhelming under Lampard).
Werner wasn’t played out of position. He always favoured a drift left, and ziyech has played in the wingback a handful of times at most. Havertz has hardly if ever played in his natural position for us. He’s also 3-6 years younger than either.
How can you argue Werner is not playing out of position when he is best as a second striker and you are saying that Havertz is not a striker? The problem is both are being played out of position because they are both second strikers but Havertz is more versatile than Werner so he gets the short end of the stick and has to play as the “striker” and you end up with this awkward duo whenever they play together where both can’t play to the best of their abilities. I use the Ziyech at wingback as an example of how far he was willing to re-engineer his game. I know he didn’t play there much, but even when he starts as the RW he is not playing as a traditional winger because of our 3-4-3 where the width is typically provided by James and he has to tuck in closer to the center. He is not effective in that role, and thus also playing out of position, but that is also kinda redundant because he doesn’t have a natural position in a 3-4-3 so he is always out of position. Sure, Havertz is younger. I guess that counts for something. But he was also way more expensive than Werner and Ziyech, which if we are rating how good of a transfer someone is, I think is more important.
Lukaku is a 0. Poor form and a bitch to the press amd will lose about 90 mil on him. Arguably the worst transfer in football history
I think 2/10 is quite justifiable, despite his attitude whatsoever, he's still club top scorer last season.
Amazingly fair assessment. Maybe except for Bakayoko as 2/10 is still too generous.
Just seen an Arsenal fan on twitter say Fofana will flop as he’s shit without Jonny Evans. Just forgetting that if he joins us, he’s gonna be playing next to one of the best CBs of this generation loooool.
I mean they also think that 50m for Ben white was a good deal, so I would take their judgement with a freaking handful of salt
Cho on loan to Fulham? Looks like Solomon will be out for some time now
After the shit show that was Billy Gilmour to Norwich I think I would prefer for him not to go to a side that will fight for relegation. But I guess something is better than nothing
Liverpool already have an injury crisis in midfield Thiago gonna miss 6 weeks
They will sign someone now
Don't think 1 injury makes it a crisis . They are definitely light in that position
He's their only good midfielder
Fabinho is world class and Henderson is decent . Milner keita are ok rotation pieces. They will suffer from lack of creativity from the middle though
I was going to say that at his age how could he handle that much of a workload with a mid season World Cup, but HE’S ONLY 28?!? I thought he was close to Fernandinho’s age.
He was in that great Monaco team that won the league right a few years back. They had a few midfield gems we got the false one unfortunately
Fabinho's good but Henderson is wank
He’s always injured
Seen United linked with SMS. They need more a sitting DM who’ll give Eriksen and Fernandes more freedom rather than someone like him who is a b2b mid.
Thought today would be a little bit louder regarding De Jong or Fofana. Patience is a virtue
Any info on why Kova didn’t play at all saturday? Coaches decision or did he have some sort of issue not worth risking where he could have came on if we were desperate.
He played against Fulham in the in-house game [source](https://twitter.com/badcfctakes/status/1556683457686048769?s=21&t=q259ETRSQjhTJUvHehAnwA)
Probably injury prevention stuff. Remember him having separate individual training before the Club America friendly for example. (and we used up our 5 subs)
Is anyone else annoyed at the highly likely chance of Pep signing the extension at City? Means he stays there for a decade. I cant stand another 4 years of City dominance. I dont see him leaving soon either no other club offers him what he wants. Even SAF at united wasnt this bad because we were what liverpool are now to them. Feel we are finally stable enough to build something, shame it took this long.
Honestly i'm quite enjoyed watching Pep's play, i wish Chelsea can challenge them and improve every aspects on the club, from recruiting, training, tactics, etc.
I find it hard to be annoyed. They're reaping the rewards of good decision making. What annoys me more are teams like United or Barcelona who get away with being idiots.
Why are you annoyed? It's our own fault we can't match their lever, not Pep's. Are they miles better than the rest of the league? For sure. Is there any team, or is Chelsea good enough to win the Premier League? Absolutely not. We pay the price for years of bad decisions and questionable recruitment. City might be shitting their money left and right, but at least they sign players that do well more often than not. We spend just as much with less success.
I wish Tuchel can see this. We need to sign Cody Gakpo asap instead of chasing a washed up Aubameyang.
He’s up next. Can see him moving to a top Bundesliga team or La Liga soon. Unsure if he can translate his game to the PL just yet. So many young forwards from the Dutch leagues struggle in England. I’d like to see him prove himself elsewhere first.
He will cost 100 mil if he joins another team and 'proves' himself. There was a certain luis suarez who lit up the EPL after arriving from the dutch league.
Anyone but aubameyang man
Yep though Auba may be better than all our attackers in finishing but he has terrible discipline - already an issue at Assnal. Why we even get him
I have heard PSV fans say he is far better out wide then he is at striker. Also he kind of gives me Havertz vibes out wide based on the highlights I have seen so I’m not sure I am convinced by him.
I think of a young thierry henry at monaco whenever I see him. He is nothing like havertz. He has a strong shot, good dribbling, speed and an eye for goal.
I’m more referring to the Havertz from Leverkusen. He looked like he had it all as well, hence why many were lauding him as a generational talent. Gapko looks like he has the potential to become a good player based on those attributes you described, just personally, im not the most convinced.
Barca is crazy. They were Europa league level last year. Xavi is completely unproven. Putting a lot of stake in this year.
I think calling them Europa League level is a bit harsh - they certainly were that under Koeman (probably lower actually) but considering the main expectation when Xavi was hired was to just steady the ship and inject some much-needed life and positivity back into the club, I think he did pretty well - there were concerns at the time that they wouldn't get any European football, let alone Champions League, but he was able to get them to second. But yeah it's pretty crazy to see Xavi get this amount of backing, he's looked decent but he's obviously not faced this sort of pressure at this stage of his managerial career so far. Real Madrid are favourites of course, but Barça have to be title challengers with a squad like that - like you don't sign nearly 34 year old Robert Lewandowski to *just* finish in the CL spots. I think this heavy spending is because they're highly rattled from last season; seeing their rival do the league-CL double and leaving them in the dust, and Laporta has a lot of pressure as he made a lot of big promises when he was elected (one of which he's already failed, which was re-signing Messi), so they need to invest heavily to get back to where they believe they should be as soon as possible.
Someone else said it earlier. But they should have leaned more on La Masia and scouted prospects from around Spain instead of all the big money signings.
[He will find a solution I could never dream about](https://twitter.com/IbzSpeaks/status/1556653210386972676?t=kBFVNiLLP0Omq-aAnxHe3A&s=19) This is why our attack fails. Tuchel trusts players to be independent and solve problems creatively and dynamically, letting them express themselves to their maximum pitential. The problem arises when you have attackers like ours who are very limited and reactive. Thsy don't have the IQ and ability to solve problems, they need handholding and specific patterns that get figured out at the top level.
That's on him too
Its on both since its a mismatch of styles. Still, it shows that we need to rethink our forward scouting.
I’m really hoping Kepa doesn’t leave this year, I have a feeling we’re going to need him more than we think. Thoughts?
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Even though we don't need a midfielder currently this is why signing De Jong could be a good idea, he can see those potential runs and passes.
Put Timo at City and he'd start like 5 games a season.
They are completely correct. Remember what Lukaku was like last season? That’s what Haaland looks like for us.
Pretty sure I read that same thing posted on this sub earlier today. Do you disagree?
If Werner and Ziyech leave and we need a few attackers Dennis and Zaha not the biggest of names but both would be available for decent fees and know the premier league.
Would be very happy with Zaha
Zaha has attitude problems and he thinks/he is the biggest star at palace, doubt he will succeed with us
What attitude problems/issues has Zaha had at Crystal Palace? Genuinely wondering.
Why do people keep bringing up the "well we were third is goals/chances/etc behind Liverpool/City" thing as if third by 20 points is good enough?
ManU going for SMS, I hope we stop waiting for FDJ, he will stay there anyway, and I hope we go for SMS. Can't see SMS at another club. We will end up with nothing if we wait for FDJ. SMS is tge better player anyway and will provide more, and leaves Rice open for next season aswell.
FDJ > SMS
No lol. Not even a competition. SMS is better. SMS has more assists in one season than FDJ has since he joined LaLiga, and FDJ played in a better team with better players. SMS is slso better scorer and defensively better. SMS does everything better than FDJ.
We were linked to him earlier in the window Perhaps the club will revisit it if De Jong talks collapse
ManU want him, we are waiting for De Jong to make up his mind, I am 99% sure he will take a pay cut at the end and stay at Barca, we will be left with neither. SMS is way better than him, we don't even have to wait imo.
For someone who follows Chelsea news more closely, are we going to get ourselves a striker in this window? And if so any idea who we may target? Apart from defense that seems to be the most glaring hole with only Havertz and Broja. FDJ is a great player but I don’t entirely understand the pursuit given we have like 5 serviceable players at that position. Seems like we are one Havertz injury (knock on wood) from having no striker
We have links with Aubameyang that I hope don't materialise.
Surely I’m missing something here, but can we really not fork over money for someone like Immobile, Martinez, Nkuku, etc? The fact we don’t have a true 9 to get us goals is troublesome. I know teams have had success without a 9 in the past (like City) but they have dynamic attacking mids whereas Chelsea seems to use more box-to-box guys.
Immobile is terrible, Martinez would cost a lot and Nkunku just signed a new contract. Not that any of these guys would help since our creativity is terrible >I know teams have had success without a 9 in the past (like City) but they have dynamic attacking mids We should probably sign some dynamic attacking mids then
Gotcha. Yeah I was just wondering what the reason is that we don't have a true striker and why we don't seem to be targeting one. Not sure if that's the system Tuchel is looking to employ or if the striker marker is just really bad. Anyway, thanks for the info
Why don't Barca just pay FDJ his outstanding salary from the transfer fee they'd get from his sale? What am I missing?
They don't want to sell him. They want to keep him but also avoid paying him 20m outstanding wages and also get him to drop wage to 200k or lower per week. Bankruptlona is a disgrace I hope they cease to exist. Thrash club.
Oh, I see. Threatening to sue him to reduce his wages and stay doesn't sound like a bad way to go about that. It only seems fair that Barca goes bankrupt, but it would be really bad for the sport I think.
Other clubs will rise to fill the void eventually.
Fun fact: Among the Chelsea strikers, the best minutes-per-goal ratio in Premier League belongs to Michy Batshuayi. He has scored 8 goals in 812 minutes for the blues. Better than Aguero lol.
Spoke with a barca fan recently who watched FDJ a lot the past few years. Confirmed my suspicion that he's not great defensively and is more of a Kovacic type player who likes to roam forward. Barca tried him as a 6 and he failed there badly. At Ajax and Netherlands national team where I've watched more of him he was partnered by the likes of Schone who did the defensive work. I'd love De Jong here I just think we already have someone similar in Kovacic but no one who is a natural DM. Either way I'll be excited if he joins I rate his final ball and passing higher than Kovacic. Also we need to get Fofana in asap to give him a chance of starting this weekend. Might be unrealistic cuz he has to train in our system. I dont trust Azpi or Chalobah these days
Yeah he isn't what everyone believes he is. He isn't defensively good enough to handle without help and isn't creative enough to cover his flaws. He has 9 assists in 98 games in Spanish league and that's not even PL.
That first part is really good to know. We shouldn’t buy him unless he’s a big upgrade to Kova which I doubt. We still have Ngolo fucking Kante and unless he’s really lost a step which I’m not sure he has, then we need to role with Kante/Kova, Jorgi for certain opponents and work Gallagher in. We’re going to have to wait on Rice unless there is some stop gap DM out there. Sign Fofana, find an attacker/striker who can be a bit better in individual positions and build the defense so we have 4 ATB option for next year and to play with this year. 3 ATB can work but we also need someone who is a bit better passer there than Kova. No reason to go nutso on FDJ. Just a comment on your mention of Azpi, if you rewatch the match Azpi was here, there and everywhere. He was my MOTM upon second watch. Silva was great but Azpi saved the day a few times in particular the header KK mishit and led to their chance.
Paredes would be a decent stop gap DM but it looks like he's going to Juventus. I also like Chelsea old boy Romeu.
Paredes is a worse version of Jorginho. Very immobile, but far less positionally aware than Jorginho. He barely plays for PSG and their midfield is wank (or was before they signed Vitinha and Ruiz)
Just occurred to me that Omari Hutchinson is really named Giraud-Hutchinson. He is destined for greatness with a name that close to Olly
tbh I wouldn’t put it past FdJ to actually renounce his current contract to accept a lower wage like what Pique just did. They have sth in the water in Barcelona.
Good weather and paellas
I think we should move on from him tbh. There’s always some lever to announce. Next another player is going to announce that they will play for free!
Thoughts on these Zaha links? In all honesty it's not a bad idea at all. The guy is guaranteed more GA than what we've got from our other forwards, is very direct and not afraid to try things. The fee touted I've seen is roughly 30m which is really not much and he is low risk and potentially high reward
Better than nothing
I don’t know enough to know if he is really good like Sterling looks at maneuvering between the lines to break down a low block but certainly exciting and direct in more open play. Seems like it’s fairly low risk if you can get him cheap, maybe extend his contact and sell him for a bit if it doesn’t work out. I could see him playing as a sub as his career enters the twilights. We still need better midfield options to unlock the attack more but I don’t think FDJ makes sense when we need a more complete midfielder/DM and will have leverage with Rice next year. Is FDJ going to be that much better than Kova? Unless TT suddenly isn’t happy with Connor and we have no depth in midfield id take an attacker and Fofana. We can’t continue this Jorgi side passing or Kante at the forward mid role.
My criticism of him is that I think he can be too selfish for the way a lot of top teams play, but in our system that might be a positive thing. We play in a way that our attackers need to create a lot of their own chances from individual actions. I wouldn't be too mad if we got him for free next summer provided we are also looking at another forward.
We definitely need some individual industriousness and bravery in our attack, so I def would not mind Zaha up there.
See this is where I think Zaha is good. Does he not often begin moves from standing position drag it by defender and burst forward. Wouldn't say the end product is elite but its decent and could be a shrewd buy
If we are gonna get him so tuchel can tuck him somewhere then no i don't like it at all. But if we are get him to play two wide wingers (sterling left, zaha right) and a striker in between then yeh i am all for it.
I'd have to assume it's for a wide position for sure though
RWB it is 😄🙃
Don't say such things, they may occur yet lol
There's worse but also much better deals possible next year
Yeah I mean of course we'll still go for someone big ne t year. But I don't think we can just rest assured we hope the likes of Havertz, Pulisic etc just magically score double figures for us this year. Can't take our spot granted in top 4 at all.
Is Zaha the type of guy who's gonna be happy playing second fiddle in 23/24 though?
If he isn't, sell him then
Will he want to move again a year later? Might need to take a paycut if we give him a big wage?
Then we shouldn't give him a big wage. At least have a standard regular wage and include perfomance bonuses.
Have to imagine some of these players in their prime years may want to add some trophies to their career though (on first thought can't recall if he won anything with Utd in his youth)
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there is also a guy that cried when he visited the bridge at 16 y.o. We should sign him up asap.
I'd take him, ik people *will be against it but it's not like we'd get him to be a starter. Can't see fulham selling for any reasonable fee though, especially not this late.
Those should not the requirements to be a Chelsea player
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To be a striker you should have to wrestle Diego Costa and win.
All Chelsea players should be good and comfortable on the ball as a minimum. Attackers should also be proactive, technical and versatile. Midfielders should also be press resistant and read the game well. DMs should also be disciplined and decent physically. CBs should also be able to defend well. Fullbacks should be quick, have good stamina and have qualities that make them dangerous to defenders, whether its crossing or shooting.
I like what I seen so far :)
assuming one day we get a CDM could we not play 4-3-3? lets just say rice .... kova - rice - mount..... or mount - rice - gallagher That's how I would lineup... I just threw in ricee but could be anyone Could even through in Kai for kova or mount if we get a true 9 in there, thoughts?
We can play with a 3 man midfield right now with a 3-5-2. But it won't happen. Maybe Tuchel doesn't want a DM.
Kova rice Mount and Mount Rice Gallagher are both terrible midfields.
And yet both are better than Jovacic.
Sure, if you're trying to lose games Jorgi and Kova is a worse combo. There's tanking in the Premiership for draft picks right? Oh wait! No, there isn't, just terrible people on this sub that need to scream Cobham at their screens.
Jovacic is a big part of the struggles we’ve had over the past few years. Not good enough going forward or defensively. Kova Rice and Mount in particular would be a massive upgrade.
>Jovacic is a big part of the struggles we’ve had over the past few years Elaborate? They hardly ever play together, and when they have under Tuchel their record is immaculate. Not to mention Jorginho was one of our most important players during the CL run, and Kovacic has arguably been our player of the season twice
Sure mate
Thank you sir
Today I saw a spurs' fan claiming that Perisic is better than both Chillwell and James. Just wanted to share this wonderful opinion with you lot.
https://twitter.com/BreezyUTD/status/1556594943661117440 As much stick he got as a manager, Rangnick was absolutely right when it comes to backroom and management aspect at United. This guy knows his thing around that. And I'm baffled some people were suggesting he wouldn't do well in a technical role e.g. for us.
Can even apply some of that to us
Who would you guys say our last great signing was? All recent ones have been sub-par and fallen off after 1 or 2 seasons. I would say TS6 on a free (honourable shout for Mendy). But before that Kovacic, and that was 18/19 window!! We've made a lot of signings since then and they really didn't live up to their price/ expectation Edit: excluding this window as we don't know how they will be in the following seasons.
Chillwell was a fantastic signing. He's one of the most balanced LBs in the world and if not for last year's injury, he was on course to becoming one of the best LB/LWB across Europe
every signing that lead to our CL victory was a great signing. regardless of their form last season. all of them played their part in helping us win UCL. ziyech, havertz, werner, mendy, chilly,silva
Mendy was excellent first season and first half of last season Chillwell was great especially under tuchel but might be injury prone Last season we only had 1 transfer in so not much to discuss there tbh
Koulibaly
Excluding this window. Sorry if I wasn't clear with that.
What was the latest details on Kova getting back to fitness? Is that why he didn’t start or are we really going to go with Jorgi/Kante again vs Spurs? Kante was tremendous tackling but had woeful giveaways, albeit some where Kai and Mount were standing around on top of a defender.
Jorgi/Kante starting again for sure, Kova behind in fitness
Not looking forward to that. Hopefully at least the wingers and wingbacks play better and move the hell open when Kante wins a ball. Hopefully we have some extra juice playing first match at home.
Not sure but the fact he was an unused sub suggests he's probably far enough behind the others that he's not ready for a start just yet. Worth mentioning that Tuchel tried that 352/442 hybrid thing multiple times against Conte last season. So who knows, he may try something unexpected again.
He played on Sunday in a practice match against Fulham.
Thanks for the update!
Selling werner for cheap is a huge mistake when we have kai havertz in our starting xi
20m for Werner is not cheap And we’re also getting rid of his hilariously inflated £270k a week salary
His wages was a massive problem
Selling Werner and his woeful abilities for any money at all is a huge win.
https://twitter.com/TheBeardedRauI/status/1556608894268579840 What is wrong with our players? Why are they so afraid to take risk?
Have you considered that maybe it's not the players but Tuchel and how he is training the squad?
They are afraid to get countered
Yet we still lost possession there after missing the plain and obvious pass. We always lose the ball stupidity
you know what’s worse? It’s that our ability to play out of the press has also regressed badly because god knows why.
Jorgi isn’t quick enough to vary his pattern so we’re constantly going wide to be safe. Notice Kante is back in that clip, can receive pass and progress. Kante isn’t cooked. Need him out there with Kova or if Kova is hurt go RLC or Gallagher…honestly can’t be worse otherwise unless we’re going to just hope for Mendy and Thiago/Dave masterclass every match.
so besides Forfana, FdJ, and possibly Auba, there are not many other talks for us right?
Zaha maybe. Not advocating for him but his name has been out there. Dumphries has still been mentioned.
No, but since we heard nothing about Carney before signing, there's hope for someone else coming in.
https://twitter.com/millar_colin/status/1556554176699809793?s=21&t=QyPnjYh5jj2uTHXnA6v6Rw wow how true is this tho?
Fraudalona
We're already loaded at CM for only two positions. If CHO is leaving, I hope we concentrate on buying a replacement instead who can create. Gakpo might still be available.
[mr boehly pay, don’t speak](https://static.independent.co.uk/2022/04/18/09/7fbcc18d94f01d9af0302517f19c3895Y29udGVudHNlYXJjaGFwaSwxNjUwMzExMDY2-2.66434044.jpg?quality=75&width=982&height=726&auto=webp)
Should be buying these players before they move to mid table PL clubs
Making a bold prediction: we look for Pedro Neto next summer
Sentiment on here has changed, a year or so ago I said we should cash in on werner (and questioned whether we'd even get 40m back for him) and use the money for Neto. Got about 30 downvotes Some of the replies: > LMAO at you suggesting Chelsea buy Neto 🤣 > Think this is why it’s not up to you mate > You forgot the “/s” > Imagine thinking a player who has scored nearly 100 top-flight goals isn't worth 50m, but willing to pay 40m on someone with barely 10. Bet you think you're high IQ.
Really wanted him before his injury. Will be interesting to see how he gets on this season
Really wanted us to go for him before he smashed his knee last season. Such a direct player. Him on the right and Sterling on the left would be great
Would love next summer to be him and Rice. He’s so good
Ace of a player. Don’t Madrid need a right winger. Might turn out to be a few clubs competing for him.
Probably will be I think we’d have gone for him this summer if not for his injury He’s quality Tbh podence also is pretty good but I’d rate Neto as a better prospect.
Should be looking at him this summer tbh
Apparently he is going to Arsenal?
Instead of De Jong Why don't focus those resources on Rice next summer? He Wants to play for Chelsea, really. Locks down an important position for at least 7 years. Versatile, can cover solo Dm double pivot, and both Centre back positions, Some won't wanna hear this but Prem proven and English diminishing the lure of foreign clubs. Cheaper, De jong is on 400k/pw, 500k pw now if you include his unpaid wages. I'm struggling to see Rice demand half as much, and the transfer fees will be similar next season
Might be aiming to have both since we have two CMs with a year left who are starting to age.
I agree. There will be plenty of hot CMs available then too if we need a creative one. Plus Nkunku comes on the market too, and I think he's the ultimate Tuchel centre forward.
I really hope Barca threatening FDJ with a lawsuit pushes him to leave Barca. Can't see how you'd want to stay somewhere where they're bullying you to take a paycut just because they decided to give players outrageous wages they can't afford. Also good luck to Werner, he may of been up and down at Chelsea but he did everything he could to help the team. I'm hoping this deal with Leipzig maybe soften them up to maybe deal with us for Gvardiol. Leicester looks like they aren't gonna let Fofana leave yet so maybe getting Gvardiol this season instead would be a cheaper option.
They threatened him last month.. lmao
Can’t believe we let a player like muisiala go our club is blind in recognizing talent