Transfer Talk Topic

[kev61]

13 minutes ago, ROTG said:

Goldfish? 😃

Nope -  boredom.

Edited June 30, 2023 by kev61

[Chelsea_Matt]

8 hours ago, Original 21 said:

Strange one this. He’s backed out? 

They dodged a bullet there 

[boratsbrother]

3 hours ago, kev61 said:

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.

We all laugh at different people and different things, so you either get it or you don't.

Personally, I find Peter Kay, Alan Carr, anyone on C4, Mrs Brown's Boys,  all about as funny as earache to me, but many others love them.

As with art, music etc, there is no right or wrong on such subjective and personal taste.🙂

 

[Ham]

4 minutes ago, boratsbrother said:

We all laugh at different people and different things, so you either get it or you don't.

Personally, I find Peter Kay, Alan Carr, anyone on C4, Mrs Brown's Boys,  all about as funny as earache to me, but many others love them.

As with art, music etc, there is no right or wrong on such subjective and personal taste.🙂

 

I'd take Peter Kay out of that list personally. He has funny bones.  

Edited June 30, 2023 by Ham

[Chelsea_Matt]

8 minutes ago, boratsbrother said:

We all laugh at different people and different things, so you either get it or you don't.

Personally, I find Peter Kay, Alan Carr, anyone on C4, Mrs Brown's Boys,  all about as funny as earache to me, but many others love them.

As with art, music etc, there is no right or wrong on such subjective and personal taste.🙂

 

Borat is funny as hell. 

[boratsbrother]

11 minutes ago, Chelsea_Matt said:

Borat is funny as hell. 

Agree x 100.

Right up there with the greatest comedy characters ever created.

He's past his peak now, but for a decade plus Sasha Boran Cohen was a comedy genius - Borat, Ali G and the somewhat underrated Bruno.

 

Edited June 30, 2023 by boratsbrother

[Morgs]

12 hours ago, Sleeping Dave said:

Yes, fully agreed. Kepa isn’t the one, it’s been clear for years and he will never be. Yes I understand there’s no way we can get rid of him - there isn’t a single team in world football that would be interested to sign him considering his wages (£100k/week). Even if we would take a hit on his book value and basically give him away for free there is no takers. So we are stuck with him until his contract is up. At that point there is only two options - release him or give him a new contract that matches his ability, say £40k/week and GK2. 

Yes but see my reply above. The deal he is on makes it impossible to move him on. Unfair sure, but that is not his fault. The blame is all on us there. How anyone could imagine it being a good idea to buy him for £70m and 100k/week for 6(?) years (or was it 7?) is impossible to grasp. 

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. 

 

May I chime in on the Kepa debate? 

I think part of it is coaching and part of it is simple biology. 

If Kepa was 6"4 he'd be world class. But he isn't, so he isn't. He's giving four or even five inches away to the opposition players in the air in some cases and so commanding his area is always going to be something he is going to struggle with. Coaching can improve his jumping and timing which gets him part of the way there but there will always be a shortfall., if you pardon the pun. 

I also think he is a bit slight and a few times last season he had shots seemingly go through him as the ball just had too much on it. He gets called "smokehands" on twitter a lot and you can sort of see why.  How much of that is positioning and how much is just lack of strength/mass is open to conjecture. I'm not an expert so i cant say really but I have to agree with the lingering suspicion that he does lack some "presence". 

In the furore of last season, an interesting footnote (to me at least) was the jawdropping decline of Edou Mendy.  He had that streak on the way to the CL where he was nigh on unbeatable but watching him last season was painful. I mention this because watching him struggle does make you appreciate the good things that Kepa brings and so is relevant here. Chiefly, how good Kepa's distribution is. And also how competent he is with the ball at his feet, looking up and picking out the movement downfield.  He is very good at that. As a short range shot stopper, Kepa is every bit as good as Mendy ever was, and his agility and quickness in getting up again when he has gone to ground, changing feet, altering posture, getting back to the line etc, he's really capable.  For such a small guy (for a keeper) he does okay with most of what comes at him but there are questionmarks over his ability to command his area and also to keep out those long range shots that everyone seems to have twigged he is vulnerable to and were lining up to have a go at times last season. 

There is a very good keeper in there, I am sure of it. Will he ever be top level world class? I'm not convinced but the team could and should protect him better by pressing when they don't have the ball and that will help.  Arguably you could say that our centrehalves need to protect him better at set pieces as well.  If Poch can coach that, I think we (and Kepa) will do okay. 

[Morgs]

9 hours ago, Rick1977 said:

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

Cheers Rick. Nice of you to say.

[Morgs]

9 hours ago, Backbiter said:

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

Sorry mate, yes it was 🙂 Glad you enjoyed it. 

[Chelsea_Matt]

29 minutes ago, boratsbrother said:

Agree x 100.

Right up there with the greatest comedy characters ever created.

He's past his peak now, but for a decade plus Sasha Boran Cohen was a comedy genius - Borat, Ali G and the somewhat underrated Bruno.

 

When Bruno was being asked about President Assad it was so funny! How Assad didn’t have toilet roll and had to “use an old t-shirt to wipe his shtunker” and in Cohen’s brilliant trailers for The Dictator (which were imo better than the movie) he said Assad “caught HIV from his personal trainer” 🤣🤣🤣🤣

[Thiago97]

45 minutes ago, Morgs said:

May I chime in on the Kepa debate? 

I think part of it is coaching and part of it is simple biology. 

If Kepa was 6"4 he'd be world class. But he isn't, so he isn't. He's giving four or even five inches away to the opposition players in the air in some cases and so commanding his area is always going to be something he is going to struggle with. Coaching can improve his jumping and timing which gets him part of the way there but there will always be a shortfall., if you pardon the pun. 

I also think he is a bit slight and a few times last season he had shots seemingly go through him as the ball just had too much on it. He gets called "smokehands" on twitter a lot and you can sort of see why.  How much of that is positioning and how much is just lack of strength/mass is open to conjecture. I'm not an expert so i cant say really but I have to agree with the lingering suspicion that he does lack some "presence". 

In the furore of last season, an interesting footnote (to me at least) was the jawdropping decline of Edou Mendy.  He had that streak on the way to the CL where he was nigh on unbeatable but watching him last season was painful. I mention this because watching him struggle does make you appreciate the good things that Kepa brings and so is relevant here. Chiefly, how good Kepa's distribution is. And also how competent he is with the ball at his feet, looking up and picking out the movement downfield.  He is very good at that. As a short range shot stopper, Kepa is every bit as good as Mendy ever was, and his agility and quickness in getting up again when he has gone to ground, changing feet, altering posture, getting back to the line etc, he's really capable.  For such a small guy (for a keeper) he does okay with most of what comes at him but there are questionmarks over his ability to command his area and also to keep out those long range shots that everyone seems to have twigged he is vulnerable to and were lining up to have a go at times last season. 

There is a very good keeper in there, I am sure of it. Will he ever be top level world class? I'm not convinced but the team could and should protect him better by pressing when they don't have the ball and that will help.  Arguably you could say that our centrehalves need to protect him better at set pieces as well.  If Poch can coach that, I think we (and Kepa) will do okay. 

Some interesting points.

I still say with Kepa though, he rarely wins Chelsea points. The PL has been littered with GK's who win their teams valuable points. These can be GK's who make mistake which lead to goals, but as the last line of defence in the team, they also win their team points by making crucial saves.

We simply do not see this from Kepa. The exception to this was Villa away last season, and as I have said before, the fact this sticks in my mind tells me it rarely happens and that is why it sticks in my mind.

Keepers like De Gea , Pickford, Lloris, Alison have all made a number of errors that have led to goals being conceded over the last 5 seasons, that is almost a given that it will happen with a goalkeeper. However, they have all produced many many games where they have rescued their team as the last line of defence, by pulling off any number of huge saves to secure 3pts or 1pt in some scenarios.  This just doesn't happen with Kepa. He rarely influences results in a positive manner.

Edited June 30, 2023 by Thiago97

[Ham]

1 minute ago, Thiago97 said:

Some interesting points.

I still say with Kepa though, he rarely wins Chelsea points. The PL has been littered with GK's who win their teams valuable points. These can be GK's who make mistake which lead to goals, but as the last line of defence in the team, they also win their team points by making crucial saves.

We simply do not see this from Kepa. The exception to this was Villa away last season, and as I have said before, the fact this sticks in my mind tells me it rarely happens and that is why it sticks in my mind.

That's not my recollection at all. 

I recall many good saves and one on one saves which WOULD have been game winning saves had we actually scored. 

I recall quite a few right up until the end of the season. Villa away stands out because they were exceptional multiple saves. PL awarded it save of the season. 

[Chelsea_Matt]

4 minutes ago, Ham said:

That's not my recollection at all. 

I recall many good saves and one on one saves which WOULD have been game winning saves had we actually scored. 

I recall quite a few right up until the end of the season. Villa away stands out because they were exceptional multiple saves. PL awarded it save of the season. 

I agree.

[Bison]

Most of his good saves being shots directly at him. Anything that requires a decent leap, size, anticipation etc. forget about it.

My personal favourite is the line about Kepa being good with the ball at his feet! Makes me laugh every time I hear/read it. 

[Thiago97]

2 minutes ago, Ham said:

That's not my recollection at all. 

I recall many good saves and one on one saves which WOULD have been game winning saves had we actually scored. 

I recall quite a few right up until the end of the season. Villa away stands out because they were exceptional multiple saves. PL awarded it save of the season. 

Well we have different views on this . I don't think he is terrible and a disaster, but I also don't think he adds anywhere near enough to a team who are chasing major honours, which is probably in part why he has won very little (clearly not all up to him)

When we are in danger and under attack in key moments and you can see the pattern of the effort on goal developing in front of me, I never expect him to make the save. It's an unexpected bonus if he does.

[Morgs]

6 minutes ago, Bison said:

Most of his good saves being shots directly at him. Anything that requires a decent leap, size, anticipation etc. forget about it.

My personal favourite is the line about Kepa being good with the ball at his feet! Makes me laugh every time I hear/read it. 

Compared to Mendy with the ball at his feet he is like Andrea Pirlo. Granted he isnt Ederson, but he is decent with the ball at his feet.

[ROTG]

There are more important thing to be resolved than the keeper. 
 

Kepa is probably on the list of the next set of +£200k per week players to be punted  next season. 

[Holymoly]

What's this I'm seeing on my socials feed that there may be trouble with the Ziyech transfer as the Saudis have picked up issues with his knee?

[paulw66]

3 minutes ago, Holymoly said:

What's this I'm seeing on my socials feed that there may be trouble with the Ziyech transfer as the Saudis have picked up issues with his knee?

not the chip on his shoulder?

[Ham]

3 minutes ago, paulw66 said:

not the chip on his shoulder?

If it is his knee, hopefully it's not on the leg he uses for playing football.  

[Thiago97]

6 minutes ago, ROTG said:

There are more important thing to be resolved than the keeper. 
 

Kepa is probably on the list of the next set of +£200k per week players to be punted  next season. 

You're probably right in terms of more important things to be addressed. However, I don't believe this is a particularly hard area to address with an improvement. Kepa falls very much into the Jorginho category for me. I always maintained you will not win at PL with Jorginho as one of your main midfielders. I would say the same about Kepa.  

Whilst we appear to be a long way off being ready to win a PL right now. You just never know, we didnt think we were ready when Conte came in.  Less games , new manager, new formation and most importantly momentum, all added up to us winning it. Who knows what position we find ourselves in after 20 games, that's why its better to act now and not tick along with him as our number 1 option.

[Chelsea_Matt]

4 minutes ago, paulw66 said:

not the chip on his shoulder?

Not bad, sir. Not bad at all 🤣🤣🤣

[Morgs]

Ziyech is toxic and has to go.  Same for Aubameyang and Pulisic. Just get rid. 

 

[Morgs]

If we work on the basis Ziyech is eventually shuffled on, Pulisic ever passes a medical ever again and we find someone daft enough to pay actual money for the Gabonese Sulk itll be some window for us. 

Azpilicueta, Mendy, Kovacic, Kante, Pulisic, Ziyech, Mount, Koulibaly, Aubameyang, Havertz, Loftus-Cheek. Add to that the loans of Felix and Zakaria we didnt renew and the squad really does start to look profoundly different. 

Imagine if on top of this we manage to get Cucurella shipped off to Newcastle? Absolute scenes. 

 

[Chelsea_Matt]

6 minutes ago, Morgs said:

Ziyech is toxic and has to go.  Same for Aubameyang and Pulisic. Just get rid. 

 

I’d pay them off. Just get them out.