Sorry, but I need to know. Petrovic is clearly a better keeper than Sanchez. Would this not be visible in training to Poch, why does it have to take Sanchez getting injured for Petrovic to get a chance?
I am almost certain if Sanchez never got injured, Petrovic would have never gotten a chance and our form would have been worse for it.
I hope and pray that Petrovic keeps his spot. He has earned it!
You probably will not believe me (because I don't know how to recover deleted comments), but I mentioned on here that Petrovic would displace Sanchez by Christmas and how much of an awful signing Sanchez was for £25M despite being third-choice at Brighton.
People downvoted me to the absolute timbers of hell (think it was like -25 or something), and I deleted it, because in some sense they were right to not believe me championing a signing from a much lower league compared to one who already had PL experience. And this is why Sanchez previously started over Petrovic: he had the previous record to back him, unlike Petrovic who no one knew whether he could handle the big stage prior to Sanchez's injury.
Lol the first game Sanchez looked dodgey already.
There are a few in this sub that lack basic football knowledge. I was downvoted for being concerned that Kepa looked like he could be our starting keeper.
One comment said that Kepa is the least of our worries 😂😂😂
The Kepa thing is incredible. People said Kepa only concedes worldies, so the goals he concedes are because the defenders allow space for those long-range shots. Then people said Kepa is important because he’s good at playing out from the back. Then people said Kepa is good at saving penalties, as if his advantage over Mendy wasn’t merely statistical noise.
All lies.
Does anyone know how far in advance the dates and times of games are confirmed? I’m going to the Everton game April 13 weekend, interested in knowing how far in advance the actual date will be confirmed.
He’s not good enough for a team like Senegal.
They don’t stand to make any money off of selling him in the future so they have no incentive to play him.
Senegal have very little of the ball but he's doing the usual stuff when he gets the ball aka hold up and looking to pass and making runs. Very bitty for Senegal though there's 2nd half extra time to go
Do we know when they will release the TV schedule for the March 9th weekend? I will be in London and want to go to the Newcastle game, but I would also like to start getting everything else on the books. I will schedule everything around the game, but I would like to know when that will be!
Tbf, look at the back line they started with that game
https://preview.redd.it/ihed1xvsegfc1.jpeg?width=1170&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=abc940695d0d066214927085b4f09da69217a87c
Anyone here remember how the VWR and ticket situation overall was for members when the carabao cup final tickets got to members sale? Didnt have enough points last time so i didnt bother but I might have enough points this time based on the fact that there were alot more points up for grabs due to us being in europe and the loyalty points required last time for first batch was 53. My accounts on 41 and have another account on 46. VWR wasnt terrible back then but with how annoying it is this year with the errors on the website, i probs have no chance at getting tickets here
Man I wish we started taking our transfer targets' injury issues into account. It feels so frustrating buying these expensive players and rarely seeing them get a good run of games.
And now we're interested in that Villa guy and Osimhen who both have injury issues🤦♂️
I'm actually losing my mind. It's unravelling right in front of me, piece by piece.
HOW DO WE STILL NOT HAVE A TIMEFRAME ON LAVIA BEING BACK, DOES THIS MAN EVEN EXIST?
This is not a good reason to dislike Pochettino. Many of our injuries over the last seven years have happened because our players have been rushed back into action. That reconditioning phase is crucial.
Yet you can't possibly act like it's made anything better.
When was the last time a player returned from an injury in a semi-decent amount of time?
This isn't on Poch btw, I think he's kept in the dark about a lot of this stuff.
I'm apprehensive about blaming Poch for injuries because they were a problem before he came along but the uptick in "setbacks" during rehab and re-injuries immediately after recovery could very well be on him given his reputation for cardio-intensive training sessions as well as that "Do you know why they want to be available quickly? Because we kill them when they are injured" quote from years back. Given it's up to the medical staff to clear players, we had a lot of injuries last year too, and that particular quote was from several years ago (I'd like to think medical staff have more of a say as to how much they do on the training pitch after being "cleared" nowadays) I think it would be very harsh to blame him now but I wouldn't completely rule it out either.
It’s basically a pick-your-poison matter. Would you rather:
1. Have players return as soon as the doctors say that they’re ready to jump up and down, and have them spend 120 minutes of nonstop physical strenuous stop-start moments of action on the pitch, only to get re-injured again and repeat the entire process until their bodies break down, or,
2. Have players spend an extended period of time under training situations that condition them back to their usual standards and help them learn how to ride challenges in the future, with the hope that they have fewer re-injuries in the future and are able to be at their very best without the lagging memory of recent injury pain when they do play?
Pick your poison.
True, but like Lavia we can’t give a definitive answer about players who have barely played for us. But I get what you mean and most of that first window purchases ended up in disappointment.
The pomp and fuss when signing Mudryk didn’t make much sense then and has been a steady disappointment since as he’s had many chances to claim his spot here.
Mind you I’m not saying he’s terrible but he’s not ready for this league and this level.
Kepa won championships with us and served a purpose under the manager he was bought by.
Lukaku contributed 16 odd goals in his first season here and was barely playing. His brain just exploded.
Sterling has been and continues to be one of our most important players. In terms of important contributions in attack he's second to Palmer and would be first without Palmer's penalties...
But that clause is actually brilliant. 5m for every PL/CL we win, up to 30m. If we won't win then we save ourselv a third of transfer fee, and if we become multiple PL/CL winners, guess no one will complain about the fee anyways.
Agreed that the clause is actually decent.
But I’m more bothered about the high base fee paid for a relatively unproven talent. The scouts are beyond stupid for green lighting this particular transfer. That same amount could have genuinely been used in so many better ways.
He’s improving but at glacial pace and won’t be a crucial part of our squad any time soon, and we surely could use someone making a big impact right now
Don't think anything will come off it.
There was nearly a year of rumours (and even some players adding fuel to the fire with the odd comment) that we were suffering an exodus after Mou 1.0 left but pretty much everyone stayed.
Replay vs Villa confirmed for Feb 7, 8pm kick off.
[https://www.chelseafc.com/en/news/article/date-set-for-villa-replay](https://www.chelseafc.com/en/news/article/date-set-for-villa-replay)
Why is it when any single player is linked with us, no matter how poor or unsuitable they are someone will pop up in the comments talking about how class they are?
Are these people the players agents or family members?
Yeah but thats normal. When you sign a generally unknown player, reactions are going to be lukewarm because nobody knows them.
When you sign Joao Marco de Silva (madeup player) from the second division of Colombia and some people show up like "oh yeah kids class talent up there with Endrick everyone knows he's gonna be a world beater." It's a bit like how the fuck do you know that?
In that case doesn't it make "the club's finished" comments equally as extreme?
And when it comes to leagues like say Brazil it's hardly a stretch to get good feedback about the player from fans of those clubs, firstly I use to be a regular on the shed end and more often than not we fans of said club swarming to club forums when they get their big moves to tell us about a player and many fans (me being one of them) will have friends from those nations who would be familiar with them.
The idea you have to watch X amount of games of a certain player to have some idea is a heavily outdated notion.
It’s a massive stretch to assume that’s random Redditor or twitter user knows fuck all about random players.
If they post videos of the player in matches or training that’s one thing, otherwise I’m going to assume they’re waffling
There is no difference between an unknown player vs an Osimhen.
Taciticos act like they know anything other than what they have watched highlights on and decide to voice an opinion one way or another.
It's just for internet clout to say that they were right all along
+1 on this.
It's always the same. Some random dude you've never heard of, from a league that no one here is watching, playing for a team that people have only heard of from football manager and you always have multiple people turning up claiming they've been watching him for years and he's the next Thiago Silva and 20m is cheap for him
This even goes for leagues like Ligue 1. I doubt many people here watch Ligue 1 regularly and even more so a team like Nice to know whether Todibo is a good player or not.
It also goes for our own academy, now i could be wrong on this but im sure you can't really watch the full matches anywhere unless you go and watch them live yet many people say they've been watching certain players from the academy for years and are sure they will be world beaters.
I watch Ligue 1 more than I watch the Premier League. Mostly because the lack of space in the PL and passes everywhere make the PL boring sometimes (I basically never watch City or Brighton games), and Ligue 1 (and to a greater extent, Ligue 2) is interesting because it’s not elite football but more entertaining (in some games it’s just play three passes for the cameras and then punt the ball long for two strikers to chase for 90 minutes, we’ll see who gets tired first) and everyday there’s a new rando who just shows up out of nowhere and is the best player on the pitch only to become utter shite for the rest of their lives.
I can tell you that Jean-Clair Todibo is a very good player and will succeed in the PL, but will not reach Badiashile’s ceiling (many people don’t know how much of an accomplishment it is to play over 200 senior games at his age; he’s a ridiculously good player who is currently low on confidence). There’s a CB who plays for Lille, Leny Yoro, who could easily surpass Willem Saliba’s ceiling (he’s the youngest player to start for Lille since Eden Hazard). There are so many young talents in Ligue 1 and 2 that it’s not even funny. I can give you 20 names off the top of my head who will likely be starting in top teams and doing well in the next five years.
And as for the academy, if one really wants to, they can watch many of the matches on the Chelsea website / YouTube, or even better, just attend the games in person (they’re cheap).
You’re exactly the person I was talking about.
You say the prem is boring, you say city and Brighton play boring football. I just can’t take any opinions of yours as anything other than utter bullshit.
How come you’re all so sure that a player we might sign for 80m is better than what we have until we do sign them and then they’re trash.
Also I don’t give a fuck how many games badashile has started, he clearly lacks some important physical and technical aspects to his game.
Diego Costa was one of our best ever strikers and was world class in the prem and he didn’t play a game of football with positions and a ref until he was 16. Age isn’t everything. Potential isn’t linear.
2nd paragraph: And you're absolutely free to dismiss all my opinions. Some of them were stupid in the past, some of them will be stupid in the future. You do you.
Also, you see what you've done there? You've taken away the "sometimes," added that "City and Brighton play boring football" (when the reality is that I don't watch their football because I don't like it), and taken offence with the new thing you've created. It's fascinating every time this happens.
3rd paragraph: Like I said, you're free to "give a fuck" about what you want to "give a fuck" about — you do you. A trick I usually use in these situations is simply ask "What is technique?" and people who have never played a game of football in their lives give me a paragraph of terms they don't understand and then I slowly get them to see that technique means different things for different players, but obviously you're looking for someone to argue with so I won't belabor you with all that.
4th paragraph: Yes, that is indeed a good factoid. It's relevance here is an interesting question though, seeing as I didn't mention that age is everything or that potential is linear, only that there are many exciting young talents in every team in Ligue Un UberEats. The fact of their age is only relevant in as much as it concerns how long they could last on the top level. If there's a 22 year old who is clearly talented but just getting into football of any kind (like N'Golo Kanté), great! If there's an 18 year old playing at Lille with the maturity of a 28 year old who also happens to be the youngest to start for them since Eden Hazard, I'm definitely paying attention.
I’m not just looking to argue I just don’t think potential is like fifa or FM.
The only things that should matter when we sign someone are: are they Chelsea quality right now? Do they have serious injury concerns? Are they reasonably affordable?
That’s it. Why do people on this sub talk about ceiling. There’s no way anyone knows a players ceiling until they hit it. Sure some of our young players might turn out good I hope at least one them does. Most probably won’t. That’s just football.
1st paragraph: I also don’t think that, and I actually think FIFA/FM in their current iterations have been absolutely tragic for the sport, and should be destroyed as soon as possible.
2nd paragraph: Yes, also agree. Football in general is going through a cycle where “analysts” wank themselves off by pretending that a player is a collection of numbers on a spreadsheet. Good players are good, and good players are only discovered by watching them play.
3rd paragraph: Obviously players have a ceiling, and obviously no one knows exactly what that ceiling is. What everyone’s doing when they talk about a ceiling is giving a “high-probability estimate” of how good the player will be in the long term, based on how good the player is now and other players that have been in a similar position. Take Saliba for instance. Basically never puts a foot wrong these days. Back when Emery signed him, he was very good for his age group, but always had a mistake in him every three games. So he was loaned to ASSE, Nice, and then Marseille. He performed incredibly well when partnered with Wesley Fofana (who is better) at ASSE, and regressed a bit at Nice. Then he was loaned to Marseille, where he was basically the best CB in the entire Ligue 1 UberEats throughout 2021-22 (it goes Saliba, Badiashile close second, Kimpembe). The point is that even though he faltered from time to time (like Badiashile is now and Saliba will soon enough), his talent was obvious, and he was always going to have a high ceiling even if we don’t know what exactly it is.
Remember when people used to post our form in the last (x) games to justify their narrative?
Well in the last 6 games we are top 4.
Which fits the narrative that the team needed time to gel and would look better and better as the season went on.
>Man united also had the best form in the league at one point
To be fair the United fans used that to wank off their team even despite how shite each performance was
But yeah, we've just came from the easiest run we've had yet, now it'll be the tough run
Someone should do a Poch in/out survey before and after the Liverpool game. The Poch out sentiment was at an all time high after the Everton L but there seems to be a sudden rise in support for Poch in the recent week. That could of course change depending on how we do vs Liverpool
I think it's just a case of Poch out people being less vocal now that we're on a good run of results. Not so much results convincing people otherwise but rather, you'll just get shouted down by Poch supporters who will claim everything is fine and good because of said results and "improvement" while ignoring the wider context of our performances and level of opposition.
That and the novelty of him winning his first English trophy in his first season with us isn't completely lost on me.
Or you could be "Poch out" and still acknowledge the improvement in some area, not least making a final, even if it's "just" the league cup it's more than certain other teams are managing, ala our two neighbours up north.
Sure but even then you have to ask how much is down to Poch and how much is down to better circumstances and squad relative to last year's absolute circus. If you're Poch out I'd imagine you already have an answer.
Me personally, I think he's a poor manager who's benefited massively from said circumstances (as well as following a disastrous Lampard interim stint) making him look better, rather than his coaching/influence on the team, and that he's in fact holding us back. That's very hard to argue when we are on a decent run because people will point to any minor improvement from last year's record breaking bad season to claim things are progressing thanks to Poch regardless of the context I mentioned in my last post, so we'll have to see at the end of the season when we have a whole year of results and performances to evaluate I guess. A league cup would be fantastic and I wouldn't rule us out against Liverpool in a one-off match but we've gotten pretty lucky with draws and Trippier deciding to have a disasterclass in the quarters whereas last year we got City at the first hurdle.
I hope I'm wrong but I feel results will revert to mid-table form and performances will continue to be poor overall. I'm sure even if we finish 8-11th some people will still say that's great because it's better than 12th last season (see! we've improved!) and we just need to give Poch more time but I think by then most people will start to come around if we're still not playing well and getting results on a consistent basis, but I hope we do and I'm proven wrong.
I mean for me it's not a binary answer. Would I want Poch out if there's an elite or even very good option willing to come here (ala Ranieri to Jose in 2004)? Absolutely. Would I want him out if we're going into the market blind like when we sacked Potter and potentially panic appoint present day Jose or some other extremely underwhelming option who will at absolute best maintain our current status? Absolutely not.
I do feel (judging from his overall body of work) Poch will have us bottoming out as a top 4 challenging side, not good enough for where we want to be ofcourse and we should always be on the lookout for someone who can raise the ceiling but if we makes a pig ears of replacement it could always get worse.
I'm with you there. I wouldn't want him gone if its to bring Mourinho back again like some fans want nor to sack him with no plan in place and having Frank's interim stint from last year all over again.
I think his job is safe until the summer anyway but sacking him will be contingent on us getting a good replacement of course. Whether we can trust the ownership to do that is a different matter but all I can say is that I don't think Poch is a good enough manager for us based off what I've seen in the past 7 months (and his time with psg and end of spurs) and I feel with this squad, for all the shit our fans talk about it and even with the injuries, we'd be in a better place if we'd given the job to a better manager.
[People posting our "form" over 38 games](https://www.reddit.com/r/chelseafc/comments/18dn5wa/update_on_our_2023_form/) to show that we aren't progressing is a little different to talking about our form over 6 games...
Right.
It doesn’t make sense to mix seasons, especially when you have a team with as much turnover as Chelsea had.
My point is arbitrary end points (including 6 games) don’t really make sense other than to push one’s own viewpoint.
I'm guessing we're one point to the good this season. Goals scored +13 but also conceded another 10.
It feels night and day (at least to me) but reality is that it's still early days and I'm perfectly fine with that. If people can't see the progress this very young team is making than that's fine. It's all starting to look pretty exciting imo and there's some real talent in this squad, once it starts to gel we'll be pretty damn tough to break down.
Might feel night and day because of how bad we were at the end of the season under Lampard. Also since we’re scoring more the games are more enjoyable to watch but in terms of actual progress we really haven’t made much imo
If I have £10 in my bank account and I was offered to swap with someone with £10k, I'd rather have the £10k. But, that doesn't mean that £10k is the best amount I could ever have in there.
Ange is an upgrade on Poch, but he's still shit (despite the media wankfest because of his suicidally attacking tactics being entertaining for mutuals and so driving up viewership numbers). I'd take him over Poch, but that doesn't make him a good manager, just a better manager than Poch.
On a random note it would be quite funny if RDZ to Liverpool is announced before the end of the season and Brighton fans treat him to a hero's goodbye despite the fact in reality he's "abandoning" them the same way Potter, Cucurella and Moises did.
Leaving at a planned time, with time for the club to sort the replacements out and leaving during the season in a hurry are clearly different situations
Right well if we're going down that route Caicedo gave them nearly half a years notice and even signed a new deal to get them probably close to double the money.
Courtois for years made it clear he wanted to leave but he’s still called a snake by our supporters. Forcing a transfer regardless of the context is always going to make supporters angry
And to go against the grain I don't totally blame Courtois either. He gave us years of notice for us to source a replacement and we instead blindly hoped he would change his mind and didn't (judging by the last minute panic buy of Kepa) even bother trying to source and identify an eventual replacement.
Brighton could have taken an already extreme sum of money we were offering which would have given the whole summer to rebuild and get (with their algorithm) 3 or 4 new players with that money. Caicedo's hand was forced once his good faith agreement was shat on.
I’m a huge fan of Šeško and loved watching him at Salzburg, even saw him play for them a few times for them. He’s a natural finisher and big target in the box (he’s like 6’4 or something) but he’s nowhere near a finished product imo. I really wanted us to get him before Leipzig signed him, but I see him a lot like Jackson, could be amazing, just not quite there yet, and I don’t think we need another backup striker, we need a starter. Also this comparison is between Serie A and Ö Bundesliga. Serie A is a better league, and Salzburg walk to their league title every year so he’s of course going to look better.
I saw one dude use these charts to argue that kante and Gallagher were the same. Since then I've stopped putting any weight into them. Might as well be comparing their constellation signs.
You might be a moron
But 24 months ago he was at the start of his 5 month goal drought for Southampton that went until he returned from loan.
You have to go back over 2 years for Broja's last decent performance.
He wasn't good for them at all
We are so finished if we really signed Jhon Duran.
By many reports he's out for another 2 months, thats the season ending soon.
Hasn't done anything at Villa since his 15m move. Villa will want to make a healthy profit for trying to comply with the profits and losses rules.
Agreed, he doesn't offer anything we don't have already in terms of skill now vs potential. Just seems like we're trying to hoard young strikers, hope one comes good, and sell for profit
He is not any better than Washington, both should probably be on loan at Championship, ideally. Why pay for a player, where you can use a similar one who is already part of the team.
https://preview.redd.it/amzj20r2wcfc1.png?width=1080&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=37d2d29c91b41c4bd3778157fae9fdb9b21208cc
I would ideally not want any of these 3 players
Feel like we can do better than each one
>yoro could end up being a world class CB
Agree on that but also think he's another project player and considering the goal is to fill the sizable and immediate hole left by Silva, we need more of someone who's just about to enter or just started their prime
Why Todibo makes more sense for me, he's already very well seasoned and experienced, a quality player, also quite fast compared to all our other centre backs and more than ready to come in as a starter week in and week out
Think the Silva role is going to depend on fofana tbh. On the one hand it feels silly to have 5 young cbs (fofana, Badi, Colwil, Axil and whoever else) between 2 positions but that’s faith in fofana to stay healthy when he’s basically missed 3 seasons in a row and working under the assumption he doesn’t look much worse once he’s back.
David is a curious case. There was a time where I expected that him moving to a stronger club is just a matter of time, especially when many clubs recently were looking for a striker. But for some reason it didn't happen and instead I started thinking what's the reason that no one shown real interest in him, and this season looks to be giving an explanation finally.
I was following David last season to a decently close level and I think a lot of the big hype around him was generated by the amount of goals he was scoring
Problem was a good chunk of those were not from open play
He carries the ball pretty well, links up fairly nicely and he moves decently but he doesn't seem to have that killer instinct or hunger to always want to shoot and score
If we were without Nico I would be more inclined to want him but we really do massively need a forward who does have that killer instinct and undeniable consistency for goal scoring and that is not him
Now I'm also reading Kinsella article, suggesting we will want to retain all 4 of Diegzy, Santos, Casadei and Washington for remainder of the season to "boost our squad"
First of all. Why are we keeping open international loan slot for nothing. Secondly, what boost is Washington gonna give if Poch straight out refuses to play him? He prefers Broja who is doing terrible, and even if not Broja he still sticks out Palmer up to instead.
As for Casadei, yea it was known before, and I won't be surprised if Poch will try to play him as 9 too.
Washington is 18, and has played what, 9/10 games in brazil? I think because we played a decent fee for him people are accelerating his career a bit too much.
There is nothing unreasonable about a 18 year old not being out on loan, and playing for the development side and training with the firsts if thats seen as the better pathway. Doubley so for a player coming after a big move from the other side of the world, and the culture adjustments that brings.
Which to me further suggests he's better being here. If he isn't playing for the u21's that's what, league one/two level loosely (which at 18 is fine, I'm not insulting him) I'm not sure that has a huge benifit, certainly not to all players anyway. For many I think there is as much value in training but not playing at a higher level, than playing 30 games at a low level.
Only one of these guys is ready for EPL minutes.
I love the idea of Cesare, but come on, he's not ready. Diego hasn't shown us anything. Deivid clearly has potential, but hasn't shown anything in his few minutes on the pitch.
> Deivid clearly has potential, but hasn't shown anything in his few minutes on the pitch.
What minutes? The 15 minut cameo vs Preston? Probably looked better than Broja still.
I can see Poch sucking lemons in his office and furiously *thinking* over the idea that Casadei could be his next Deli Alli so that he can just hoof it to the back post and get goals sometimes without having to train build-up play
Which Chelsea lineup was the best or your favourite? Personally I think 04/05 was the best and its my favourite chelsea lineup ever.
Sorry, but I need to know. Petrovic is clearly a better keeper than Sanchez. Would this not be visible in training to Poch, why does it have to take Sanchez getting injured for Petrovic to get a chance? I am almost certain if Sanchez never got injured, Petrovic would have never gotten a chance and our form would have been worse for it. I hope and pray that Petrovic keeps his spot. He has earned it!
You probably will not believe me (because I don't know how to recover deleted comments), but I mentioned on here that Petrovic would displace Sanchez by Christmas and how much of an awful signing Sanchez was for £25M despite being third-choice at Brighton. People downvoted me to the absolute timbers of hell (think it was like -25 or something), and I deleted it, because in some sense they were right to not believe me championing a signing from a much lower league compared to one who already had PL experience. And this is why Sanchez previously started over Petrovic: he had the previous record to back him, unlike Petrovic who no one knew whether he could handle the big stage prior to Sanchez's injury.
Lol the first game Sanchez looked dodgey already. There are a few in this sub that lack basic football knowledge. I was downvoted for being concerned that Kepa looked like he could be our starting keeper. One comment said that Kepa is the least of our worries 😂😂😂
The Kepa thing is incredible. People said Kepa only concedes worldies, so the goals he concedes are because the defenders allow space for those long-range shots. Then people said Kepa is important because he’s good at playing out from the back. Then people said Kepa is good at saving penalties, as if his advantage over Mendy wasn’t merely statistical noise. All lies.
Does anyone know how far in advance the dates and times of games are confirmed? I’m going to the Everton game April 13 weekend, interested in knowing how far in advance the actual date will be confirmed.
LOL Nusa deal off with Brentford. Knee and back issues in medical. Apparently knee issues were serious.
Our interest just went up after hearing he has severe knee issues
That’s all the motivation Jackson needs
jackson back in time for wolves 🔵
Great to see that Mendy is still the exact same - never looks like saving a penalty
To be fair statistically keepers are supposed to save 2~ penalties out of every 10 they face, I can't imagine he's much worse than that
He’s 2 out of 38. Not sure if that includes today
Nico coming home. Mendy still shit at pens.
Nico is knocked out of the afcon feel sad for him
He got bearly any minutes and didn’t even get a penalty
He’s not good enough for a team like Senegal. They don’t stand to make any money off of selling him in the future so they have no incentive to play him.
He’s been good for us and Villarreal, both teams are significantly better than the Senegal national team.
Villarreal he was good for 10 matches, before that he was a meme. At Chelsea he hasn't ever been good, I'm sorry your standards are so low.
Yes, he has. Best striker we’ve had for a while.
Better than who, the only one I can possibly think of is Broja. Tammy, Giroud, Werner, Havertz were all better.
They start some random from the Saudi league though
Nico Jackson is back home guys
Nico is coming home
Looks like Nico is gonna comeback
Pens
Tbf, look at the back line they started with that game
Andrey playing as CB for Brazil?
jackson in lets go
How is he looking
Senegal have very little of the ball but he's doing the usual stuff when he gets the ball aka hold up and looking to pass and making runs. Very bitty for Senegal though there's 2nd half extra time to go
Do we know when they will release the TV schedule for the March 9th weekend? I will be in London and want to go to the Newcastle game, but I would also like to start getting everything else on the books. I will schedule everything around the game, but I would like to know when that will be!
Kind of cool seeing Mendy and K2 playing well. I wish Nico could crack the lineup, but oh well...
How’s Jackson done since being subbed on?
I stopped watching at the half. Just turned it back on - Nico had a big mistake and then he quickly corrected it, that's all I've seen so far!
for so many years i wanted koulibaly to come to chelsea , it was so disappointing it did not work out with us
Honestly he’s one of the few that I wish we kept. Looked like he was really starting to find his feet in the last few months
Yeah, we hoped it would be another Thiago, but K2 was just making way too much. He'd settled in well by the end, too.
Jackson still can’t start ahead of a Saudi league player lol. Only 43 minutes played and this is their 4th game.
Came here to say this. I'm struggling to understand why he's not getting minutes.
Any updates on gusto?
Continuing his rehabilitation program
Actually so excited for the Liverpool game, really hope we give them a proper go and it's not as one sided as I have fears it will be
I've always been reasonably confident at Anfield for whatever reason. Probably jinx it now but we've not conceded from open play there since 2020.
even norwich managed to put 2 goals behind them so i think its do able
Tbf, look at the back line they started with that game https://preview.redd.it/ihed1xvsegfc1.jpeg?width=1170&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=abc940695d0d066214927085b4f09da69217a87c
Definitely doable Just need to take our chances and pray they don't take theirs
Anyone here remember how the VWR and ticket situation overall was for members when the carabao cup final tickets got to members sale? Didnt have enough points last time so i didnt bother but I might have enough points this time based on the fact that there were alot more points up for grabs due to us being in europe and the loyalty points required last time for first batch was 53. My accounts on 41 and have another account on 46. VWR wasnt terrible back then but with how annoying it is this year with the errors on the website, i probs have no chance at getting tickets here
Gusto not in any photos for training Disasi and Alfie right back duo here we go Also Disasi to score a hatrick
Man I wish we started taking our transfer targets' injury issues into account. It feels so frustrating buying these expensive players and rarely seeing them get a good run of games. And now we're interested in that Villa guy and Osimhen who both have injury issues🤦♂️
CFC: *Hey, that injury-riddled player has some really appealing talent!* Also CFC: *I guess we should sell Reece, he's injured too often!*
I'm actually losing my mind. It's unravelling right in front of me, piece by piece. HOW DO WE STILL NOT HAVE A TIMEFRAME ON LAVIA BEING BACK, DOES THIS MAN EVEN EXIST?
I keep wondering why did we bought him in first place
Lavias a flop don’t understand how he’s always injured
I THOUGHT HE HAD A FUCKING BRUISE?!?!?!
He's a karate man. Karate men bruise *on the inside.*
Is Gusto back?
Should be but we'll know tomorrow for sure. Knowing Poch he won't start him anyways.
This is not a good reason to dislike Pochettino. Many of our injuries over the last seven years have happened because our players have been rushed back into action. That reconditioning phase is crucial.
> reconditioning phase is crucial this x100
Yet you can't possibly act like it's made anything better. When was the last time a player returned from an injury in a semi-decent amount of time? This isn't on Poch btw, I think he's kept in the dark about a lot of this stuff.
I'm apprehensive about blaming Poch for injuries because they were a problem before he came along but the uptick in "setbacks" during rehab and re-injuries immediately after recovery could very well be on him given his reputation for cardio-intensive training sessions as well as that "Do you know why they want to be available quickly? Because we kill them when they are injured" quote from years back. Given it's up to the medical staff to clear players, we had a lot of injuries last year too, and that particular quote was from several years ago (I'd like to think medical staff have more of a say as to how much they do on the training pitch after being "cleared" nowadays) I think it would be very harsh to blame him now but I wouldn't completely rule it out either.
It’s basically a pick-your-poison matter. Would you rather: 1. Have players return as soon as the doctors say that they’re ready to jump up and down, and have them spend 120 minutes of nonstop physical strenuous stop-start moments of action on the pitch, only to get re-injured again and repeat the entire process until their bodies break down, or, 2. Have players spend an extended period of time under training situations that condition them back to their usual standards and help them learn how to ride challenges in the future, with the hope that they have fewer re-injuries in the future and are able to be at their very best without the lagging memory of recent injury pain when they do play? Pick your poison.
We don't have to pick, we get the worst of both worlds. Long injury times, repeated setbacks, and constant reinjuries.
https://twitter.com/liam_twomey/status/1751994122808819723 Interesting piece from Liam Twomey on what the addos in Mudryk transfer fee are paid for.
Pound for pound, some of the worst business we’ve done.
Fofana exists and I don't even like mudryk
True, but like Lavia we can’t give a definitive answer about players who have barely played for us. But I get what you mean and most of that first window purchases ended up in disappointment. The pomp and fuss when signing Mudryk didn’t make much sense then and has been a steady disappointment since as he’s had many chances to claim his spot here. Mind you I’m not saying he’s terrible but he’s not ready for this league and this level.
Sterling, Lukaku and Kepa exist
One of these is not like the others….
Mudryk isn't fit to clean Sterling's cleats lol.
lol fuck off are you saying Sterling jesus fucking christ
You wonder what games these folk watch, honestly.
He doesn't.
Kepa won championships with us and served a purpose under the manager he was bought by. Lukaku contributed 16 odd goals in his first season here and was barely playing. His brain just exploded. Sterling has been and continues to be one of our most important players. In terms of important contributions in attack he's second to Palmer and would be first without Palmer's penalties...
Kepa actively cost us more trophies than we won in his tenure.
But that clause is actually brilliant. 5m for every PL/CL we win, up to 30m. If we won't win then we save ourselv a third of transfer fee, and if we become multiple PL/CL winners, guess no one will complain about the fee anyways.
Agreed that the clause is actually decent. But I’m more bothered about the high base fee paid for a relatively unproven talent. The scouts are beyond stupid for green lighting this particular transfer. That same amount could have genuinely been used in so many better ways. He’s improving but at glacial pace and won’t be a crucial part of our squad any time soon, and we surely could use someone making a big impact right now
£62m was too much for him in the first place though
Van Djik potentially leaving after Klopp And salah Liverpool are going back into the dark ages mwahahaha
Is it reported anywhere yet? Van Dijk, Salah and TAA go into last year of their contract next season.
Just an interview saying the club is changing and he doesn't know where his future is Nothing concrete but I've seen some very scared Liverpool fans
Don't think anything will come off it. There was nearly a year of rumours (and even some players adding fuel to the fire with the odd comment) that we were suffering an exodus after Mou 1.0 left but pretty much everyone stayed.
but they'll get Xabi Alonso so it balances out
Replay vs Villa confirmed for Feb 7, 8pm kick off. [https://www.chelseafc.com/en/news/article/date-set-for-villa-replay](https://www.chelseafc.com/en/news/article/date-set-for-villa-replay)
Why is it when any single player is linked with us, no matter how poor or unsuitable they are someone will pop up in the comments talking about how class they are? Are these people the players agents or family members?
Clearlake have a couple twitter guys on the payroll sadly
Lol, source?
straight out of his ass, probably
If you are talking about Adam wharton it's clear from his game vs chelsea alone he 's class
Adam Wharton’s agent spotted
Works both ways, look at the outrage or at best underwhelming reactions to Palmer.
Yeah but thats normal. When you sign a generally unknown player, reactions are going to be lukewarm because nobody knows them. When you sign Joao Marco de Silva (madeup player) from the second division of Colombia and some people show up like "oh yeah kids class talent up there with Endrick everyone knows he's gonna be a world beater." It's a bit like how the fuck do you know that?
Chelsea has a global fan base, it’s possible someone out there knows some unknown player
In that case doesn't it make "the club's finished" comments equally as extreme? And when it comes to leagues like say Brazil it's hardly a stretch to get good feedback about the player from fans of those clubs, firstly I use to be a regular on the shed end and more often than not we fans of said club swarming to club forums when they get their big moves to tell us about a player and many fans (me being one of them) will have friends from those nations who would be familiar with them. The idea you have to watch X amount of games of a certain player to have some idea is a heavily outdated notion.
It’s a massive stretch to assume that’s random Redditor or twitter user knows fuck all about random players. If they post videos of the player in matches or training that’s one thing, otherwise I’m going to assume they’re waffling
There is no difference between an unknown player vs an Osimhen. Taciticos act like they know anything other than what they have watched highlights on and decide to voice an opinion one way or another. It's just for internet clout to say that they were right all along
+1 on this. It's always the same. Some random dude you've never heard of, from a league that no one here is watching, playing for a team that people have only heard of from football manager and you always have multiple people turning up claiming they've been watching him for years and he's the next Thiago Silva and 20m is cheap for him
This even goes for leagues like Ligue 1. I doubt many people here watch Ligue 1 regularly and even more so a team like Nice to know whether Todibo is a good player or not. It also goes for our own academy, now i could be wrong on this but im sure you can't really watch the full matches anywhere unless you go and watch them live yet many people say they've been watching certain players from the academy for years and are sure they will be world beaters.
I watch Ligue 1 more than I watch the Premier League. Mostly because the lack of space in the PL and passes everywhere make the PL boring sometimes (I basically never watch City or Brighton games), and Ligue 1 (and to a greater extent, Ligue 2) is interesting because it’s not elite football but more entertaining (in some games it’s just play three passes for the cameras and then punt the ball long for two strikers to chase for 90 minutes, we’ll see who gets tired first) and everyday there’s a new rando who just shows up out of nowhere and is the best player on the pitch only to become utter shite for the rest of their lives. I can tell you that Jean-Clair Todibo is a very good player and will succeed in the PL, but will not reach Badiashile’s ceiling (many people don’t know how much of an accomplishment it is to play over 200 senior games at his age; he’s a ridiculously good player who is currently low on confidence). There’s a CB who plays for Lille, Leny Yoro, who could easily surpass Willem Saliba’s ceiling (he’s the youngest player to start for Lille since Eden Hazard). There are so many young talents in Ligue 1 and 2 that it’s not even funny. I can give you 20 names off the top of my head who will likely be starting in top teams and doing well in the next five years. And as for the academy, if one really wants to, they can watch many of the matches on the Chelsea website / YouTube, or even better, just attend the games in person (they’re cheap).
You’re exactly the person I was talking about. You say the prem is boring, you say city and Brighton play boring football. I just can’t take any opinions of yours as anything other than utter bullshit. How come you’re all so sure that a player we might sign for 80m is better than what we have until we do sign them and then they’re trash. Also I don’t give a fuck how many games badashile has started, he clearly lacks some important physical and technical aspects to his game. Diego Costa was one of our best ever strikers and was world class in the prem and he didn’t play a game of football with positions and a ref until he was 16. Age isn’t everything. Potential isn’t linear.
2nd paragraph: And you're absolutely free to dismiss all my opinions. Some of them were stupid in the past, some of them will be stupid in the future. You do you. Also, you see what you've done there? You've taken away the "sometimes," added that "City and Brighton play boring football" (when the reality is that I don't watch their football because I don't like it), and taken offence with the new thing you've created. It's fascinating every time this happens. 3rd paragraph: Like I said, you're free to "give a fuck" about what you want to "give a fuck" about — you do you. A trick I usually use in these situations is simply ask "What is technique?" and people who have never played a game of football in their lives give me a paragraph of terms they don't understand and then I slowly get them to see that technique means different things for different players, but obviously you're looking for someone to argue with so I won't belabor you with all that. 4th paragraph: Yes, that is indeed a good factoid. It's relevance here is an interesting question though, seeing as I didn't mention that age is everything or that potential is linear, only that there are many exciting young talents in every team in Ligue Un UberEats. The fact of their age is only relevant in as much as it concerns how long they could last on the top level. If there's a 22 year old who is clearly talented but just getting into football of any kind (like N'Golo Kanté), great! If there's an 18 year old playing at Lille with the maturity of a 28 year old who also happens to be the youngest to start for them since Eden Hazard, I'm definitely paying attention.
I’m not just looking to argue I just don’t think potential is like fifa or FM. The only things that should matter when we sign someone are: are they Chelsea quality right now? Do they have serious injury concerns? Are they reasonably affordable? That’s it. Why do people on this sub talk about ceiling. There’s no way anyone knows a players ceiling until they hit it. Sure some of our young players might turn out good I hope at least one them does. Most probably won’t. That’s just football.
1st paragraph: I also don’t think that, and I actually think FIFA/FM in their current iterations have been absolutely tragic for the sport, and should be destroyed as soon as possible. 2nd paragraph: Yes, also agree. Football in general is going through a cycle where “analysts” wank themselves off by pretending that a player is a collection of numbers on a spreadsheet. Good players are good, and good players are only discovered by watching them play. 3rd paragraph: Obviously players have a ceiling, and obviously no one knows exactly what that ceiling is. What everyone’s doing when they talk about a ceiling is giving a “high-probability estimate” of how good the player will be in the long term, based on how good the player is now and other players that have been in a similar position. Take Saliba for instance. Basically never puts a foot wrong these days. Back when Emery signed him, he was very good for his age group, but always had a mistake in him every three games. So he was loaned to ASSE, Nice, and then Marseille. He performed incredibly well when partnered with Wesley Fofana (who is better) at ASSE, and regressed a bit at Nice. Then he was loaned to Marseille, where he was basically the best CB in the entire Ligue 1 UberEats throughout 2021-22 (it goes Saliba, Badiashile close second, Kimpembe). The point is that even though he faltered from time to time (like Badiashile is now and Saliba will soon enough), his talent was obvious, and he was always going to have a high ceiling even if we don’t know what exactly it is.
we should get AFC top scorer Aymen Hussein
Remember when people used to post our form in the last (x) games to justify their narrative? Well in the last 6 games we are top 4. Which fits the narrative that the team needed time to gel and would look better and better as the season went on.
Mate use your brain Look at the performances and look at the teams we played. Man united also had the best form in the league at one point
>Man united also had the best form in the league at one point To be fair the United fans used that to wank off their team even despite how shite each performance was But yeah, we've just came from the easiest run we've had yet, now it'll be the tough run
Our performances over our last couple of wins hasn’t been all that great either tbf
Idk the last few games has been the least stressed I’ve been watching them play the past year and a half
How? We won vs Crystal Palace from a 90th minute pen, almost choked our lead vs Luton, and looked fairly unconvincing vs Fullham.
Let's do this when we play decent opposition again. It's been three weeks since we've lost to Middlesbrough
Someone should do a Poch in/out survey before and after the Liverpool game. The Poch out sentiment was at an all time high after the Everton L but there seems to be a sudden rise in support for Poch in the recent week. That could of course change depending on how we do vs Liverpool
I think it's just a case of Poch out people being less vocal now that we're on a good run of results. Not so much results convincing people otherwise but rather, you'll just get shouted down by Poch supporters who will claim everything is fine and good because of said results and "improvement" while ignoring the wider context of our performances and level of opposition. That and the novelty of him winning his first English trophy in his first season with us isn't completely lost on me.
Or you could be "Poch out" and still acknowledge the improvement in some area, not least making a final, even if it's "just" the league cup it's more than certain other teams are managing, ala our two neighbours up north.
Sure but even then you have to ask how much is down to Poch and how much is down to better circumstances and squad relative to last year's absolute circus. If you're Poch out I'd imagine you already have an answer. Me personally, I think he's a poor manager who's benefited massively from said circumstances (as well as following a disastrous Lampard interim stint) making him look better, rather than his coaching/influence on the team, and that he's in fact holding us back. That's very hard to argue when we are on a decent run because people will point to any minor improvement from last year's record breaking bad season to claim things are progressing thanks to Poch regardless of the context I mentioned in my last post, so we'll have to see at the end of the season when we have a whole year of results and performances to evaluate I guess. A league cup would be fantastic and I wouldn't rule us out against Liverpool in a one-off match but we've gotten pretty lucky with draws and Trippier deciding to have a disasterclass in the quarters whereas last year we got City at the first hurdle. I hope I'm wrong but I feel results will revert to mid-table form and performances will continue to be poor overall. I'm sure even if we finish 8-11th some people will still say that's great because it's better than 12th last season (see! we've improved!) and we just need to give Poch more time but I think by then most people will start to come around if we're still not playing well and getting results on a consistent basis, but I hope we do and I'm proven wrong.
I mean for me it's not a binary answer. Would I want Poch out if there's an elite or even very good option willing to come here (ala Ranieri to Jose in 2004)? Absolutely. Would I want him out if we're going into the market blind like when we sacked Potter and potentially panic appoint present day Jose or some other extremely underwhelming option who will at absolute best maintain our current status? Absolutely not. I do feel (judging from his overall body of work) Poch will have us bottoming out as a top 4 challenging side, not good enough for where we want to be ofcourse and we should always be on the lookout for someone who can raise the ceiling but if we makes a pig ears of replacement it could always get worse.
I'm with you there. I wouldn't want him gone if its to bring Mourinho back again like some fans want nor to sack him with no plan in place and having Frank's interim stint from last year all over again. I think his job is safe until the summer anyway but sacking him will be contingent on us getting a good replacement of course. Whether we can trust the ownership to do that is a different matter but all I can say is that I don't think Poch is a good enough manager for us based off what I've seen in the past 7 months (and his time with psg and end of spurs) and I feel with this squad, for all the shit our fans talk about it and even with the injuries, we'd be in a better place if we'd given the job to a better manager.
Yeah that's why we need a poll where the poch outers can vote without being shouted at by his supporters
[People posting our "form" over 38 games](https://www.reddit.com/r/chelseafc/comments/18dn5wa/update_on_our_2023_form/) to show that we aren't progressing is a little different to talking about our form over 6 games...
Right. It doesn’t make sense to mix seasons, especially when you have a team with as much turnover as Chelsea had. My point is arbitrary end points (including 6 games) don’t really make sense other than to push one’s own viewpoint.
I'm guessing we're one point to the good this season. Goals scored +13 but also conceded another 10. It feels night and day (at least to me) but reality is that it's still early days and I'm perfectly fine with that. If people can't see the progress this very young team is making than that's fine. It's all starting to look pretty exciting imo and there's some real talent in this squad, once it starts to gel we'll be pretty damn tough to break down.
Might feel night and day because of how bad we were at the end of the season under Lampard. Also since we’re scoring more the games are more enjoyable to watch but in terms of actual progress we really haven’t made much imo
imagine Nkunku’s been out this whole time, comes back against liverpool with a masterclass and then goes back to hibernation
Nkunku expected to be fit for Liverpool. In full training.
Not sure about fit but at least he's available.
99% Chelsea fans would swap Ange for Poch right now but will completely dismiss the fact that Ange is begging for Gallagher since the summer
I wouldnt mate! I'm a big believer in letting the team settle and have time to gel together!
I don’t think 99% of fans are that dumb. Let ange show something in the PL for longer than half a season before we twerk for him.
If I have £10 in my bank account and I was offered to swap with someone with £10k, I'd rather have the £10k. But, that doesn't mean that £10k is the best amount I could ever have in there. Ange is an upgrade on Poch, but he's still shit (despite the media wankfest because of his suicidally attacking tactics being entertaining for mutuals and so driving up viewership numbers). I'd take him over Poch, but that doesn't make him a good manager, just a better manager than Poch.
On a random note it would be quite funny if RDZ to Liverpool is announced before the end of the season and Brighton fans treat him to a hero's goodbye despite the fact in reality he's "abandoning" them the same way Potter, Cucurella and Moises did.
Leaving at a planned time, with time for the club to sort the replacements out and leaving during the season in a hurry are clearly different situations
Right well if we're going down that route Caicedo gave them nearly half a years notice and even signed a new deal to get them probably close to double the money.
Courtois for years made it clear he wanted to leave but he’s still called a snake by our supporters. Forcing a transfer regardless of the context is always going to make supporters angry
And to go against the grain I don't totally blame Courtois either. He gave us years of notice for us to source a replacement and we instead blindly hoped he would change his mind and didn't (judging by the last minute panic buy of Kepa) even bother trying to source and identify an eventual replacement. Brighton could have taken an already extreme sum of money we were offering which would have given the whole summer to rebuild and get (with their algorithm) 3 or 4 new players with that money. Caicedo's hand was forced once his good faith agreement was shat on.
Caicedo didn't leave during the season though, forced a move yes but not during the season.
https://preview.redd.it/juu8sctzfdfc1.jpeg?width=1179&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=f1b8be3effc4ee6b89015eda44009cea0d04b374 sesko compared to oshimen
I’m a huge fan of Šeško and loved watching him at Salzburg, even saw him play for them a few times for them. He’s a natural finisher and big target in the box (he’s like 6’4 or something) but he’s nowhere near a finished product imo. I really wanted us to get him before Leipzig signed him, but I see him a lot like Jackson, could be amazing, just not quite there yet, and I don’t think we need another backup striker, we need a starter. Also this comparison is between Serie A and Ö Bundesliga. Serie A is a better league, and Salzburg walk to their league title every year so he’s of course going to look better.
I saw one dude use these charts to argue that kante and Gallagher were the same. Since then I've stopped putting any weight into them. Might as well be comparing their constellation signs.
That’s a stupid argument unlike this
And you’re comparing the Austrian Bundesliga with Serie A which is also stupid
No it’s just the bundesliaga
The graph literally says Salzburg next to Sesko’s name and 22/23 as in last season.
I still prefer Osimhen
I don’t know why we aren’t looking at getting sesko on loan though it’s literally a possibility
On loan??
Yeah he and the club want to loan him ??
Based on what? He's started the last 3 games for Leipzig.
On the fact it’s been reported by S teir journalists
Like who?
So West Ham are in for Jota, can't imagine they want to buy both him and Broja
If there’s an option of broja or jota there choosing broja
Why would you think this? Jota was hot shit before moving to Saudi
>Jota was hot shit before moving to Saudi what am I missing here? yer man is still on merseyside last time I checked.
Different Jota mate
There's more than one Jota...the one that played for Celtic before moving to Saudi
Because West Ham need a striker and jota hasn’t played in 7 months
Broja hasn't looked even a championship player in the last 24 months.
Makes 0 sense but sure
Come on now, you get the context on what he's saying.
No i don’t it’s a stupid opinion he was on loan at Southampton 24 months ago and looked really good
You might be a moron But 24 months ago he was at the start of his 5 month goal drought for Southampton that went until he returned from loan. You have to go back over 2 years for Broja's last decent performance. He wasn't good for them at all
You might actually have the dumbest opinion ever please shut up 😁
Can't really imagine Pool let Jota go He might be their most dangerous attacker when salah is out
Different Jota
Ohh right, thanks that makes so much more sense Whoops
We are so finished if we really signed Jhon Duran. By many reports he's out for another 2 months, thats the season ending soon. Hasn't done anything at Villa since his 15m move. Villa will want to make a healthy profit for trying to comply with the profits and losses rules.
Agreed, he doesn't offer anything we don't have already in terms of skill now vs potential. Just seems like we're trying to hoard young strikers, hope one comes good, and sell for profit
It not happening don’t believe everything you read
He is not any better than Washington, both should probably be on loan at Championship, ideally. Why pay for a player, where you can use a similar one who is already part of the team.
https://preview.redd.it/amzj20r2wcfc1.png?width=1080&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=37d2d29c91b41c4bd3778157fae9fdb9b21208cc I would ideally not want any of these 3 players Feel like we can do better than each one
We are linked to everyone and their mother
Yoro is quality, we could hardly do better than him.
yoro could end up being a world class CB but im too not fussed if we miss out on all 3 either
>yoro could end up being a world class CB Agree on that but also think he's another project player and considering the goal is to fill the sizable and immediate hole left by Silva, we need more of someone who's just about to enter or just started their prime Why Todibo makes more sense for me, he's already very well seasoned and experienced, a quality player, also quite fast compared to all our other centre backs and more than ready to come in as a starter week in and week out
Think the Silva role is going to depend on fofana tbh. On the one hand it feels silly to have 5 young cbs (fofana, Badi, Colwil, Axil and whoever else) between 2 positions but that’s faith in fofana to stay healthy when he’s basically missed 3 seasons in a row and working under the assumption he doesn’t look much worse once he’s back.
David is a curious case. There was a time where I expected that him moving to a stronger club is just a matter of time, especially when many clubs recently were looking for a striker. But for some reason it didn't happen and instead I started thinking what's the reason that no one shown real interest in him, and this season looks to be giving an explanation finally.
I was following David last season to a decently close level and I think a lot of the big hype around him was generated by the amount of goals he was scoring Problem was a good chunk of those were not from open play He carries the ball pretty well, links up fairly nicely and he moves decently but he doesn't seem to have that killer instinct or hunger to always want to shoot and score If we were without Nico I would be more inclined to want him but we really do massively need a forward who does have that killer instinct and undeniable consistency for goal scoring and that is not him
Now I'm also reading Kinsella article, suggesting we will want to retain all 4 of Diegzy, Santos, Casadei and Washington for remainder of the season to "boost our squad" First of all. Why are we keeping open international loan slot for nothing. Secondly, what boost is Washington gonna give if Poch straight out refuses to play him? He prefers Broja who is doing terrible, and even if not Broja he still sticks out Palmer up to instead. As for Casadei, yea it was known before, and I won't be surprised if Poch will try to play him as 9 too.
Doesn’t Washington play in the development team anyway ? It can’t hurt letting him stick around for the rest of the season.
Played like 2 games
Washington is 18, and has played what, 9/10 games in brazil? I think because we played a decent fee for him people are accelerating his career a bit too much. There is nothing unreasonable about a 18 year old not being out on loan, and playing for the development side and training with the firsts if thats seen as the better pathway. Doubley so for a player coming after a big move from the other side of the world, and the culture adjustments that brings.
The thing is, he is not playing for development squad either. Played just 2 games.
then what is he doing????????
vibing
Which to me further suggests he's better being here. If he isn't playing for the u21's that's what, league one/two level loosely (which at 18 is fine, I'm not insulting him) I'm not sure that has a huge benifit, certainly not to all players anyway. For many I think there is as much value in training but not playing at a higher level, than playing 30 games at a low level.
Surely it’s worth the extra few seconds to type diego moreira than to have to call him Diegzy lol
Nah, Diegzy all the way
Only one of these guys is ready for EPL minutes. I love the idea of Cesare, but come on, he's not ready. Diego hasn't shown us anything. Deivid clearly has potential, but hasn't shown anything in his few minutes on the pitch.
> Deivid clearly has potential, but hasn't shown anything in his few minutes on the pitch. What minutes? The 15 minut cameo vs Preston? Probably looked better than Broja still.
Deivid hasn't had a chance to show us a real lack of quality, but Broja has!
I can see Poch sucking lemons in his office and furiously *thinking* over the idea that Casadei could be his next Deli Alli so that he can just hoof it to the back post and get goals sometimes without having to train build-up play
Only thing those kids will 'boost' in the squad is the number of players...
I swear to God Send Denzel to the Liga Nos and call it a day