Transfer Talk Topic

[Miguelito07]

seems like the Zyiech transfer has fallen through

[ROTG]

2 minutes ago, Chelsea_Matt said:

Nope. Reecey is the face of Chelsea, not Mount. 

As long as he stays injury free next season. 
 Not sure the management will accept a season of RJ being on the side lines.

[Chelsea_Matt]

8 minutes ago, Miguelito07 said:

seems like the Zyiech transfer has fallen through

💀

[Rick1977]

4 hours ago, Morgs said:

Some thoughts while I wait for my conference call to finish. 

My view on it is that there is an all-pervading need, or rather recognition of a need, to move on from the Abramovich years and for the club (and by extension the players, staff, management and I think even the fans in some ways) to keep this in mind directly and overtly in everything they do.

An example of this was the length of time they waited to fire a hopelessly out-of-his-depth Graham Potter. There was a real sense, to me at least, that they wanted to distance themselves from Roman but also from the way he did business. For better or worse.

There are a lot of examples of things that either didn’t need changing or should at least not been a priority to change, being swept out like old leaves.

Boehly and Egbahli want the club to be different and to have a new identity. I believe the thinking behind bringing in Potter was that he was a good coach and that’s all he was. He would handle the day to day team stuff and let the owners do what they wanted to in and around the team and so on, in a way Tuchel would and perhaps did, find difficult to accept.  In Potter you see the difference between a football coach and a modern football manager. The latter – of which our own Jose Mourinho is a superb example - is a commercially aware PR mouthpiece, a savvy businessman, a leader, someone who shapes the club identity and who leads a large and highly capable independent coaching staff for the team. In Potter’s case he was almost none of these things because Boehly and Egbali wanted to either do these things themselves or bring in specialized talent to do exactly that.

I think part of the problem for Potter was that the fans expected a Jose and that’s not who he is. He was never going to be the urbane centre of attention; the star quality sophisticat on MOTD that knew when to praise his team and when to divert attention from it. He was never going to a tactical genius whose way of setting up for games would be latterly studied in coaching courses in the way someone like Jose was. Potter is a coach. That’s it. So when people say the Chelsea job was too big for him, they are right in lots of ways.

The thing with Poch is that he is much more a Mourinho than a Potter when it comes to everything but coaching. That sort of leadership, even if he is much less charismatic and likeable than Mourinho, is what the club needed and why Potter was a mistake. I have a feeling the club felt that bringing in a Sporting Director would solve the issue but this dragged on and on and Potter was left standing rather uncomfortably in the limelight with the media expecting him to say something cool or controversial when – as we know – that isn’t him.

So here we are the clearout of the squad and I think there is a degree of the club wanting a top to bottom reshape. I think this underpinned the supermarket sweep mania of the last two transfer windows and is why the squad ended up so bloated. Trimming out the old guard, the old blood etc was always going to take time and it has. It is just symptomatic of a poorly advised transfer policy that pre-dates Vivell coming in that the clearout has also included some new old blood too – Koulibaly for one, likely to be joined by Aubameyang and possibly Cucurella. They made a few mistakes in their headlong rush to clear out the team for sure.

Pochettino is someone who loves to press and dictate the tempo of games, he’s quite able to change tactics mid game and his teams are super fit and very well-drilled. It is fair to say that the Chelsea teams of recent years have not been like this.

I do wonder if the reason the club aren’t bringing in a new ‘keeper is because they want Poch to take a good look at Gaga Slonina first. We are all expecting him to go out on loan but if we don’t bring in a new number one, he may well get the chance to fight it out with Kepa for the jersey. Him being American probably doesn’t hurt his chances either. Personally I’d like a top keeper of the Donnarumma sort of level to come in but that is probably not realistic as we cannot offer European football and cannot tempt names like that unless with pots of gold which again, is not something Boehly wants to keep doing I don’t think.

Elsewhere I think we look pretty good.

Chillwell and James on their day are as good as anyone you’ll find at wingback and in Gusto and Maatsen have genuine competition, and more importantly, genuine cover. A back three from Silva, Fofana, Badiashile (who I still think is the best signing we have made for years) Colwill and Chalobah is very strong and I don’t think we have much to worry about there.

Enzo is the top man in the middle and if – as expected – the club  manage to bring in Caicedo to sit in front of the defence to anchor him, he will grow and progress. For all the slating Boehly got for who and how much he spent bringing in, Enzo and Badiashile are genuine success stories. We haven’t had many of those in the latter years of the Abramovich tenure. With Mount going I think we will need to replace him, but Gallagher and Chukwuemeka both add depth there and the young Brazilian lad Santos is supposed to be mustard and is extremely highly regarded.

Two wingers from Nkunku, Sterling, Mudryk and Noni is okay and I think the club is well-stocked in that department.

Jackson and Broja up top looks a little thin and I hope and believe the club will move Lukaku on and spend some money on someone who can influence games from up top. It’s a little more nuanced I think than just saying we need someone who can stick the ball in the onion bag.  We need someone who can hold the ball up, someone much more physical who can create space and bully centrebacks, someone good in the air but who has the pace and clever movement to really worry defenders. It is very telling that we haven’t had a decent striker since Costa and Drogba before him – both are exactly this kind of player. They were great because they gave you an option. Where it wasn’t possible to do the cute little through balls into feet and open up space to run into, we needed an aggressive plan B. Drogba and Costa offered you both. Broja if he gets back from his awful ACL gives you that too.

Having teams put ten men behind the ball and deny all the space in front and behind with a very aggressive, highly physical press every week makes things super difficult for swifty, slight wingers the club has preferred to buy and play for the last ten years or so. They don’t work with no room to run into. Its not rocket science. Examples: Werner – a very good player who was genuinely world class at one point but what use is blistering pace when you have no room to run into? Ziyech should have been a better option as he is better suited to operating in tight confines but he didn’t fancy it and wasn’t fond of the systematic kicking he got every week from players who know the officials won’t sanction them. Pulisic didn’t work out for the same reason. CHO is a great example of a player who SHOULD have been good/great for us but had no room to use his pace and was terrified of trying to beat his man because Tuchel understood what happens when we lose the ball high up the pitch and screams at him, tearing him to pieces from the touchline when he loses possession. You could see Callum visibly wilt under the tirade. Every game. You have players who can beat their man but don’t because they are afraid of taking them on in case they lose the ball. That doesn’t help.

You also have Refs who quite simply will not give Chelsea the same decisions that Liverpool, Arsenal and Yernited get when they are being fouled off the park. We are not afforded anything like the same protection. That isn’t partisan bias, that is just bitter fact, as Raheem Sterling found out to his cost last season.

So you have your attacking players all afraid to beat their man, all hemmed in by a lack of space, all getting monstered by physically larger opposition kicking the **** out of them and doing it all in an unforgiving league where you have to take your chances or you will be punished severely. Is it any wonder the confidence evaporates to nothing? The clever little flicks start to lack conviction and the dribbles look a bit futile. We cannot find a way past the massed ranks of ten in their own half.  We do not even bother taking long distance shots any more because of a lack of confidence and because they risk losing the ball when it inevitably gets blocked. Sound familiar?

Then the crowd get frustrated and start barracking them which doesn’t help and you have a striker you can’t support because there isn’t room to pass him the ball! So your wingers and attacking midfielders – bereft of confidence and all in mysteriously dreadful form all mysteriously at the same time – all look like a waste of money. Sounding familiar yet?

The Chelsea striker curse rumbles on because they either don’t get a touch in the game waiting for a through ball that is never coming ala Lukaku, or drop deep to try to collect it themselves ala Havertz and Aubameyang and arguably Torres before them. So you need a striker who can get on the end of the cute flicks and nifty diagonal balls into feet when he does have space, but also scrap it out and create space and get in defenders’ faces when there isn’t any.

What we need is a Costa.

Ive said all along that Vlahovic would be ideal for us as he’s a big aggressive lump who can hold the ball up and score goals. Failing that, Mitrovic. Would only play twenty five games a season for us but I’d fancy him to get a bagful.

I agree it sounds odd to spend the first half of this diatribe stating that the club wants to do things new, wants a new approach and a new style and then to spend the second half espousing at verbose length why we need a striker just like some former players of ours but honestly I think the way the Premier League is now, there is only one solution and that’s to get nasty and start taking names up top.  

It always makes me a bit angry – an understatement in fact – to see every single home game we play and most of our aways, the astonishment and shock registered on the faces of the players and coaching staff when the latest bang average Championship level team of cloggers set up to stick ten men behind the ball and kick us off the park. It happens every week – why should it be a shock? It is more shocking I would contend, that we never really figured out how to counter it. Under Potter and Lampard it got so bad that we became an easy game for anyone.

Teams looked forward to playing us.

They loved the fact that for once in the Prem, effort and physicality alone would get you the points. Poor teams go down from the Prem because that usually isn’t enough. But against us it is. Run more than us, want it more than us, press more than us and deny us the space and more times than not, you’d come away with the points. Teams still see us as a big scalp. Points against us are healing, confidence building things that can arrest slides and built momentum (unless you are Southampton). We saw it week in week out. The amount of games we have 65%-70%+ of the possession but create nothing and lose 0-1 or 0-2 are unreal. Its because we are press susceptible.

Poch, if he is to last past Easter, needs to figure out a style of playing that makes us more press resistant.

One way of doing that is to transition faster. Another is to pass the ball quicker. Tippy tappy doesn’t work in the Prem. Having 65-70% possession and passing the ball sideways all game doesn’t work. We know this. Its okay having pace but we need physicality and we need toughness. Teams kick Chelsea off the park because we lack toughness. That is something Poch needs to remedy and why we need a Costa type player up top.

Think speed, power and aggression rather than technical ability if that makes sense.

Bob above mentioned how he sees the squad shaping up and I think he’s not far off as I mentioned earlier.

How about this for a 28 man squad?

 

KEEPERS

Kepa

Maignan

Bettinelli

(Slonina and Baxter go on loan).

 

RIGHT BACK

James

Gusto

(Azpilicueta is released, Hutchison goes on loan)

 

CENTREHALF

Silva

W Fofana

Colwill

Badiashile

Humphries

(Ampadu is sold)

 

LEFT BACK

Chillwell

Maatsen

(Cucurella is sold)

 

UTILITY PLAYERS

Hall

Chalobah

 

MIDFIELD

Enzo

Caicedo

Santos

Chukwuemeka

Gallagher

Veiga

(Mount goes, Casadei goes on loan)

 

WINGERS

Mudryk

Noni

Sterling

Nkunku

Moreira

(CHO is sold, Vale and Richards go on loan)

 

STRIKERS

Jackson

Vlahovic

Broja

 

Any takers? 

Just wanted to say I love everything in this  and 100% agree 

[Original 21]

2 hours ago, Sleeping Dave said:

If true we need to sign another attacking midfielder imo. No way can we sell both Mount and Havertz and replace them with Jackson? Say what you want about their production, but over the last three seasons they have scored 39 PL goals between them, or 23% of all our PL goals in 20/21, 21/22 and 22/23. Of course we need to replace that..? 

Agree. Which is why I’m a bit anxious that the name being touted as Mount’s replacement is Veiga who is 21. As you say, Mount and Havertz have three years experience of playing in the Premier League which counts for something. Veiga might be at Mount’s level in three years time. But honestly feel we should be looking at proven players from now on. 

[Ham]

26 minutes ago, Miguelito07 said:

seems like the Zyiech transfer has fallen through

 

[Chelsea_Matt]

2 minutes ago, Ham said:

 

Probably a ruse to get the price down.

[Ham]

Just now, Chelsea_Matt said:

Probably a ruse to get the price down.

He's like a bad penny. Can't get rid. 

[Chelsea_Matt]

5 minutes ago, Ham said:

He's like a bad penny. Can't get rid. 

£38m, was it? Blimey. 🤪

[Backbiter]

33 minutes ago, Rick1977 said:

Just wanted to say I love everything in this  and 100% agree 

Must have been a pretty long conference call. Made for a very enjoyable post.

[Original 21]

1 hour ago, Miguelito07 said:

seems like the Zyiech transfer has fallen through

Strange one this. He’s backed out? 

Edited June 29, 2023 by Original 21

[Bob Singleton]

11 hours ago, Morgs said:

Hi Bob, 

(first post here, long time lurker)

I don't actually think you are far off here. Chuck in Santos in midfield, replace Cucurella with Maatsen and put in Hall as the utility player, and I think we'd  be in business. 

I'd definitely look at this and say it sort of justifies us spending big money on a new Keeper. I suspect itll be Maignan but we'll see. 

Glad you enjoyed my post Morgs, and welcome to the forum.

My personal preference would be for Maatsen, too. However, the club doesn't seem to be looking to offload Cucurella, no clubs seem to be interested in him, and he doesn't  look as if he wants to leave. So, on that basis, it's Cucurella for one of the LB/LWB berths.

The "squad" I compiled in that post was based not on my personal preferences, but on what I think the squad will look like based on the players most likely to leave and those most likely to join.

[Gurj SS]

5 hours ago, Morgs said:

Some thoughts while I wait for my conference call to finish. (snipped)

How about this for a 28 man squad?

KEEPERS

Kepa

Maignan

Bettinelli

(Slonina and Baxter go on loan).

RIGHT BACK

James

Gusto

(Azpilicueta is released, Hutchison goes on loan)

CENTREHALF

Silva

W Fofana

Colwill

Badiashile

Humphries

(Ampadu is sold)

LEFT BACK

Chillwell

Maatsen

(Cucurella is sold)

UTILITY PLAYERS

Hall

Chalobah

MIDFIELD

Enzo

Caicedo

Santos

Chukwuemeka

Gallagher

Veiga

(Mount goes, Casadei goes on loan)

WINGERS

Mudryk

Noni

Sterling

Nkunku

Moreira

(CHO is sold, Vale and Richards go on loan)

STRIKERS

Jackson

Vlahovic

Broja

 

Any takers? 

Great post mate, some really good points raised, in particular about needing a striker who can be physical; Giroud did so well when called upon because he was able to dominate the box. I would say in recent years our team has been a mis-match, we've had players who can slow a game down and look for an opening and then we've had players who require open space to operate in at pace, all in the same team trying to do both things at once; my concern is no team looks to give Chelsea space and will happily go away with a 0-0 if they can't nick a goal on the break. Now this presents an issue for us, because the players we've recently acquired fit the mold of needing space to get a run on, they'll need space in-behind to run into and this is where we might struggle; more so, let's say we find ourselves faced with a team sitting deep, have we got enough creativity to open up a team? I'd say we're quite far off,  we have no natural playmaker who's able to regulary get assist; Sterling's best season a few years ago was 11, and Noni's is 6. Enzo less than 10 in all comps and even Nkunku only had 8 in all comps last season. Out of all those players I'd only pick Enzo's all is probably capable of picking a player out when a team has 'parked the bus' against us. Take a look at Pep's choice of wide men and they're all the type to try and break a team down when they get the ball from standstill, sure they'll take it on the run but they're very comfortable with having the ball played into their feet while standing still. Take a look at our guys, Sterling (was used as a shadow striker more than a creative player in his best season), Mudryk needs space to run into, Madueke requires space, even Nkunku plays far better in open games, Jackson thrives on space in-behind; but then so did Cuadrado, so did Wright-Phillips, and more recently so did Werner.  I think for a club that has teams sit back and wait for an opportunity, we need players in the mold of Mahrez, Asensio, Fernandes, Odegaarde, and dare I say, Havertz, finding a way to break a team down with posession. You're right when you said too much possesion is a bad thing, of course unless you're Man City who have players like De Bruyne to find a gap, but I'd say what's worse is a team who gives the ball away and gets hit on the counter-attack over and over; players who take risks on the ball in order to play their desired football (Mudryk, Madueke, Sterling, Jackson, Nkunku) will have us being hit on the break many more times than normal. it's a lot to ask off a squad with little experience to pick up the preassure from attackers who take too many risks. 

Overrall the squad you've named have some young, fast and skillful players, which is great, but I think our issue this season based on who we're linked with, will be experience, level head calmness, game management and creativity; plus the ability to play under some serious immense pressure (not physically, but mentally; Silva, James, Chilwell, Enzo and Sterling are the ones who I'd say could; the rest have huge question marks. For us fans, this season we will call a transition season, rebuilding, and any other words we can use to cover for our team; reality is they'll have to bring the goods from the get go, they'll have to hit the floor running, they'll have to at the very least compete for silverware (not win it but mount a serious challenge domestically), otherwise things could fall apart very very quickly. I hope this doesn't come true, but when I heard Poch was coming the first thing that came into my head is 'see you again next March Lamps'. What Poch has going for him is he likes to play high intensity football so young and fast players will be an advantage to him, not sure how Silva fits into all this, but along with that comes the negative, something that caught up with his inspiration (Bielsa) which is fatigue on the squad as a whole all at the same time; it happened at Spurs where the players were shot to pieces and the PSG players were just too experienced to have it done to them, Klopp had the same issue, 1 PL and 1 CL in 8 years is extremely poor form with a return that left him with a set of mentally and physically broken players. Poch has 12 months to mount a serious challenge on top 4 or FA silverware, he has 24 months to get the players to buy into his way of playing and win something, anything will do, he has 36 months to win serious silverware or personally I think it's over and ends in a bad way within the 3rd season; if we're not in the running for a top 4 place come Feb I'm not sure he'll last this season.

I love your energy and optimism, personally I'm going to go with being pessimistic; optimism has bitten me on the backside too many times these past few years, and when I'm too pessimistic we tend to do quite well

[kev61]

2 hours ago, Miguelito07 said:

seems like the Zyiech transfer has fallen through

Every silver lining has a cloud.Drat and double Drat!!

He's the one departee I would have given the biggest sigh of relief.

A lousy player with a lousy attitude.

At least Havertz tried.

 

 

[kev61]

4 hours ago, Rob B said:

Maddison at £40m would have been a smart move.  English, good age and basically guarantees you 20 G/A per season (which  this season was for a team that were relegated!) 

'I think you'r getting into the realms of fantasy now Jones'.

He is a central midfielder that can only play in a certain way in midfield.

His "metrics" don't make for good reading and he would come from a team that were relegated!.

Have you learned nothing about what makes a player a Chelsea player? - shame on you!.

[kev61]

7 hours ago, Ham said:

The real fear is that if this can happen with Mason, it can happen with RJ.  

 

Of course it can.Imagine the scenario...Poch comes in and makes no difference to our plight(unlikely but possible)we then become a feeding frenzy for our best players from the middle east owners with unlimited funds who couldn't care less about the game.

In Poch we trust😥

 

[kev61]

3 hours ago, Backbiter said:

Must have been a pretty long conference call. Made for a very enjoyable post.

I agree.I just about read it all.my attention span is atrocious and every long post is like reading Tolstoy's 'war and peace'(not that I ever read it!).

[Michael Tucker]

20 minutes ago, kev61 said:

I agree.I just about read it all.my attention span is atrocious and every long post is like reading Tolstoy's 'war and peace'(not that I ever read it!).

Me neither. Well, not all of it to be sure.

[kev61]

7 minutes ago, kev61 said:

He was talentless like Frankie Howard.

Brucie could dance and sing and was witty.

"Shut that door" hilarious my ass.

You can also add Max Bygraves to the list,and those queens of comedy Pam Ayres and Victoria Wood.

Sorry my English friends I doubt the welsh and Scots would find them funny,I know the Irish don't, just like that little weasel Brendan O'Carroll (Mrs Browns Boys)who most Irish cringe at.

[Michael Tucker]

I think that we probably need to move on from all this nonsense. Let's get back to football for goodness sake 😇.

[xceleryx]

10 hours ago, Sleeping Dave said:

My lord, the Kepa apologists are absolutely hilarious. You are falling over yourselves trying to defend him. What RDCW says below - absolutely spot on. Most of the time he’s bad from a statistical point of view vs other keepers. But with the eye test it’s always been clear he lacks the basic platform to even be a top keeper. 

Believe it or not Dave, just because some of us aren't ready to lynch Kepa like you doesn't make us apologists. If you bothered to take a step back for a moment and absorbed what's largely been said with a more open mind, you'd realise that most are quite aware Kepa can be approved upon. In a perfect world we'd make that happen, but we don't live in a perfect world. Kepa demonstrated last season that he was capable enough to do a job, and for where we are right now that's something we can work with. 

None of us think he's prime Buffon, but he's also not Massimo Taibi either. Which, with the way you carry on about him, you could've fooled me. 

Edited June 30, 2023 by xceleryx

[xceleryx]

5 hours ago, Bob Singleton said:

Glad you enjoyed my post Morgs, and welcome to the forum.

My personal preference would be for Maatsen, too. However, the club doesn't seem to be looking to offload Cucurella, no clubs seem to be interested in him, and he doesn't  look as if he wants to leave. So, on that basis, it's Cucurella for one of the LB/LWB berths.

The "squad" I compiled in that post was based not on my personal preferences, but on what I think the squad will look like based on the players most likely to leave and those most likely to join.

I think we've gotta give Cucurella a second season, and it's the sensible decision to make. We know he can do well in the Premier League, and against good sides. He also stepped into a mess last season like a lot of our new accusations did, plus the added distractions of illness and his house being robbed. It was a disruptive season all round for him. 

With Chilwell also having his injury concerns having a more experienced alternative has its value, especially if the former breaks down for a long period yet again. For all of Maatsen's talent we still don't quite know where he stands just yet in top flight football. Having him as our primary backup could be seen as a problem if he doesn't make the immediate jump up.

Edited June 30, 2023 by xceleryx

[My Blood Is Blue]

10 hours ago, chara said:

Promises, promises.

My agent tells me that another big club is interested...loyalty isn't guaranteed!

Is this other big club, the same big club who are trying to entice you in with things like this Mr @chara?!

 

[ROTG]

4 hours ago, kev61 said:

my attention span is atrocious

Goldfish? 😃

[ROTG]

4 hours ago, kev61 said:

Of course it can.Imagine the scenario...Poch comes in and makes no difference to our plight(unlikely but possible)we then become a feeding frenzy for our best players from the middle east owners with unlimited funds who couldn't care less about the game.

 

 

We could be the first premier league 2 side to play in the premier league

Off to get my coat 😃