paulw66 Posted June 12 Share Posted June 12 6 minutes ago, Mark Kelly said: But Gabriel really did look the better of the two in our side which is odd given their reputation don't you think? I didn't watch anything but highlights, which doesn't really help. I guess Santos staying could mean a needed loan for Big Les, as opposed to impacting Gallagher. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bob Singleton Posted June 12 Share Posted June 12 18 minutes ago, paulw66 said: Both ended up at Strasbourg Santos has already played for the full Brazil national team, which is some achievement and is only 6 months older. He must be highly enough regarded by those in charge to call him up. Gabriel, whilst I can't say I watched him, played 24 games for Strasbourg without scoring, before getting injured. Hardly glowing for a forward. Not wishing to downplay his achievements, as I have high hopes for Santos, but his one and - so far - only cap for the full Brazil team came when it was managed by Ramon Menezes who had been in charge of the U-20s during the 2023 South American U-20 Championship . Santos was the captain, scored half a dozen or so goals and lifted the trophy. At the time Chelsea were also trying hard to get him a work permit (or so many journos were claiming) and it was even suggested that his (premature?) call up to the NT was designed to help Santos get more "visa points" He seems to have had a good loan at Strasbourg, turning into an Essien-style midfielder (though still at levels far below him, given his age and experience) 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ham Posted June 12 Share Posted June 12 7 hours ago, Mark Kelly said: This is another one that I appear to be on my own with , now I know the sample is great but last preseason when we had Santos playing for us , in my opinion he was inferior to Gabriel , and Gabriel has vanished on loan somewhere presumably never to be seen again and Santos is still being talked up. I do question my judgement sometimes in the face of the collective opinion. 6 hours ago, Mark Kelly said: But Gabriel really did look the better of the two in our side which is odd given their reputation don't you think? Your recollection is spot on. Gabriel was outstanding last pre-season against PL opponents. I thought we had a potential star on our hands. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
paulw66 Posted June 13 Share Posted June 13 IF the current rumours are true, and we sign Duran and Olise, we could line up with 4-2-3-1 with this to choose from: GK - need a new no1, then sub is Petrovic / Sanchez, Bettinelli 3rd Def - James, Fofana, Colwill, Cucurella, Gusto, Disasi, Badishile, Tosin Mid - Caicedo, Enzo, Gallagher, Lavia, Santos Fwds - Olise, Palmer, Nkunku, Mudryk, Madueke, Chuk Str - Jackson, Duran That's 21 outfield players (seems about right), allowing for loans for Gilchrist, Casadei, Washington, and Big Les, and permanent departures for Trev, Chilwell, Sterling. I'd buy a top GK, then sell or loan one of the current 2. That squad looks pretty good IMO. Against the weaker sides, you could have a Palmer / Nkunku as 10, in front of a midfield 2. In tougher games, probably a midfield 3. 3 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rob B Posted June 14 Share Posted June 14 On 13/06/2024 at 15:49, paulw66 said: IF the current rumours are true, and we sign Duran and Olise, we could line up with 4-2-3-1 with this to choose from: GK - need a new no1, then sub is Petrovic / Sanchez, Bettinelli 3rd Def - James, Fofana, Colwill, Cucurella, Gusto, Disasi, Badishile, Tosin Mid - Caicedo, Enzo, Gallagher, Lavia, Santos Fwds - Olise, Palmer, Nkunku, Mudryk, Madueke, Chuk Str - Jackson, Duran That's 21 outfield players (seems about right), allowing for loans for Gilchrist, Casadei, Washington, and Big Les, and permanent departures for Trev, Chilwell, Sterling. I'd buy a top GK, then sell or loan one of the current 2. That squad looks pretty good IMO. Against the weaker sides, you could have a Palmer / Nkunku as 10, in front of a midfield 2. In tougher games, probably a midfield 3. Agreed, really good squad, but you'd sell Chilwell without signing another left-back? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
paulw66 Posted June 14 Share Posted June 14 2 hours ago, Rob B said: Agreed, really good squad, but you'd sell Chilwell without signing another left-back? Possibly Cucurella has a good fitness record. Then if we need someone to fill in there is Colwill and there's the young lad we got from Everton. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bertles86 Posted June 30 Share Posted June 30 Tis an interesting midfield puzzle for Maresca. He also needs to work who our best two CBs are, because Poch certainly didn't work that out. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sciatika Posted June 30 Share Posted June 30 I thought I would defer making a potential squad list because, at this rate, we might have bought the entire Everton squad as a backup. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
McCreadie Posted June 30 Share Posted June 30 4 hours ago, bertles86 said: Tis an interesting midfield puzzle for Maresca. He also needs to work who our best two CBs are, because Poch certainly didn't work that out. Looks good to me. Still holding out hope for the Fofana/Colwill axis though. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ham Posted June 30 Share Posted June 30 5 hours ago, bertles86 said: Tis an interesting midfield puzzle for Maresca. He also needs to work who our best two CBs are, because Poch certainly didn't work that out. Liking the all English back four 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
xceleryx Posted July 1 Share Posted July 1 (edited) 6 hours ago, Ham said: Liking the all English back four Looks nice on paper but a bit concerning if Chalobah is deemed a first choice CB option. I'd also prefer Cucurella at LB over Chilwell at this point, and honestly probably Gusto over James. Edited July 1 by xceleryx Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bertles86 Posted July 2 Share Posted July 2 On 01/07/2024 at 04:00, xceleryx said: Looks nice on paper but a bit concerning if Chalobah is deemed a first choice CB option. Well RCBs are Disasi (not a 1st choice), Fofana not played competitive football for 349 days and Trev. So he was the only logical choice. Unless the medics identify that Reece should move to CB to take the load off his hammies? Could Captain James be the solution to RCB? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chiswickblue Posted July 2 Share Posted July 2 22 minutes ago, bertles86 said: Well RCBs are Disasi (not a 1st choice), Fofana not played competitive football for 349 days and Trev. So he was the only logical choice. Unless the medics identify that Reece should move to CB to take the load off his hammies? Could Captain James be the solution to RCB? Don't you think Adarabioyo will play RCB alongside either Colwill or Badiashile? If only we could now sell Disasi instead of Chalobah, but the squad-building geniuses will sell the high-performing academy product and keep the average-performing expensive signing. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bertles86 Posted July 3 Share Posted July 3 19 hours ago, chiswickblue said: Don't you think Adarabioyo will play RCB alongside either Colwill or Badiashile? If only we could now sell Disasi instead of Chalobah, but the squad-building geniuses will sell the high-performing academy product and keep the average-performing expensive signing. Possible. Depends on Maresca, pre season and the system. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
xceleryx Posted July 4 Share Posted July 4 On 03/07/2024 at 06:10, bertles86 said: Well RCBs are Disasi (not a 1st choice), Fofana not played competitive football for 349 days and Trev. So he was the only logical choice. Unless the medics identify that Reece should move to CB to take the load off his hammies? Could Captain James be the solution to RCB? By default, sure. I mean, Disasi can be argued as he's certainly better than Chalobah in certain areas of need. Neither are the ideal solution though and are squad players. I don't see RJ moving into a CB role any time soon. Completely negates his best qualities, and it would only make some semblance of sense if we going full time with a back three where he'd take that RCB and still get forward to some degree. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
xceleryx Posted July 4 Share Posted July 4 On 03/07/2024 at 06:35, chiswickblue said: Don't you think Adarabioyo will play RCB alongside either Colwill or Badiashile? If only we could now sell Disasi instead of Chalobah, but the squad-building geniuses will sell the high-performing academy product and keep the average-performing expensive signing. High-performing academy product is a bit of an exaggeration. Chalobah is reasonable, capable of his good games just as much as bad ones. There's not really any particular area of his game that stands out specifically, and he's awful when it comes to anything in the air. A solid run at the end of the season doesn't change his overall status. He's an expendable player that could easily be replaced, so if we can fleece a side for £30-40m then you gotta take that opportunity when it presents. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ROTG Posted July 4 Share Posted July 4 ^^^^^^^^^ do us all a favour and stop the academy sledging, one gets the impression you are either Winstanley, Stewart or Shields with your anti RA approach. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ham Posted July 4 Share Posted July 4 4 minutes ago, ROTG said: ^^^^^^^^^ do us all a favour and stop the academy sledging, one gets the impression you are either Winstanley, Stewart or Shields with your anti RA approach. Do you disagree with anything he just wrote about TC? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ROTG Posted July 4 Share Posted July 4 1 minute ago, Ham said: Do you disagree with anything he just wrote about TC? The lot, when you see the other options purchased at nearly £200m Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ham Posted July 4 Share Posted July 4 3 minutes ago, ROTG said: The lot, when you see the other options purchased at nearly £200m So he IS consistently good and he IS good on the air then? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
xceleryx Posted July 4 Share Posted July 4 Just now, Ham said: Do you disagree with anything he just wrote about TC? Don't even know why he still replies to my posts, he knows he's on ignore and yet I'm still living rent free in his head. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ROTG Posted July 4 Share Posted July 4 ^^^^^^^^^^* it’s more the case of you writing meaningless theories, most of the time and hide behind the ignore option as it did not take a lot to knock your theories out of the ground for six Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ROTG Posted July 4 Share Posted July 4 2 hours ago, Ham said: So he IS consistently good and he IS good on the air then? As proven at the end of last season his all round game was far superior to the Disasi’s of this world only the anti academy posters on here are the ones who say everything to do with the RA and now Neil Bath era are poop. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ham Posted July 4 Share Posted July 4 20 minutes ago, ROTG said: As proven at the end of last season his all round game was far superior to the Disasi’s of this world only the anti academy posters on here are the ones who say everything to do with the RA and now Neil Bath era are poop. Anyone who criticises any of the hundreds of academy graduates is "anti academy". M'kay. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mark Kelly Posted July 4 Share Posted July 4 13 minutes ago, Ham said: Anyone who criticises any of the hundreds of academy graduates is "anti academy". M'kay. I don't think there's a team in top grade football that has a team of graduates from the academy playing for them. We have a glut of players and they are at the end of the day not all suitable for us but they could well be exactly what someone else needs I see nothing wrong with having to make a snap judgement and either selling them or allowing them to go when they want to. The media were creaming themselves over Quansah at Liverpool last season, this season they're offering him around. This is not a "Chelsea" issue alone. 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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