Chelsea Team Talk/Gossip/Rumours Thread 2015/16

Wrongway1985

Went to the game yesterday

Cesc was bloody shocking if he wasn't giving the ball away he was slowing the game down if he recieved the ball.

Ramires and I'm one of his biggest critics at least tried to do the right things higher up the pitch his shot wasn't miles away and got in a position for the free header which he really should have scored/got on target...overall though I hope he's a squad player than a regular starter.

Hazard was kept quiet in the first half but some of this was down to Remy unable drag players out of position and even though he offered no goal threat Falcao done this in spells allowing space for Hazard/Oscar to operate. Hazard of all people thought he'd stick that chance away also Remy get onside ta feck!!

Since Lamps left our Corner takers are shocking, Out of the 4 we got yesterday Cesc whipped in 1 half decent but I'm sure thats a better success rate than if we had Oscar or god forbid Willian taking them as proven last year. With the big lads in the team we should be having corners to their noggins.

Anyway despite all that negativity was a great day for a football match delighted tis back and after being told of it being an impressive stadium theres a poor atmosphere at Wembley it was actually better than I anticipated.

grumpymunster

McDave wrote: »

I find it hard to believe our window is closed. There is no upgrade on a season where our flaws were evident, not least our inability to compete in the UCL. Of course, other premiership teams will have to demonstrate that they have improved and can overtake us domestically. But if we don't maintain solidity at the back, upgrade in midfield (if only to give Cesc and Matic space, and more tactical options for the team overall), and get quality cover for Costa, I fear we're risking slipping back into the pack.

No, I think at least two major signings are in the offing.

I would certainly hope our window is not closed there is no way we can defend a title with that team. As Anderson says CM is a big problem but our defence is really worrying that and Costa still out of sorts after a summer off does not bode well.

kev1.3s

Working with one smug gunner fan today
Was working with the same guy the day arsenal beat us 5-3 but at least that day I was able to lie and tell him it finished 4 all and he didn't find out until he got home.

what a day

Was at the game too, was not impressed at all with Ramires. Yes he has energy but was playing like his sole purpose was to chase the ball, completly leaving the space behind exposed. Ramires for me should only be used as a back up for RM and we even have moses ahead of him at RM in my mind.
Id have been delighted to see Mikel or Oriel play beside Matic. We defo need to replace one or two squad players!

I taught i whole team was way off regards sharpnes/fitness. Falcao made some great runs trough the channels but it was eithe Fab or Willian could not exacute/see the pass.
Remy was terrible contantly off side and other than that not in the game.
I could under stand if he was caught off side if e was fed a few balls over the top or yrough the channels but nope. We were very poor.

As for tactics i we were all wrong, we played wrong with the wrong starting 11.
By half time i wanted Hazard to be taken off for Moses........MOSES FFS!!!

Poor Oriel looks like his days are numbered with us. Ramires is not the answer in the double pivot and depending on who we play i dont think Fab is either. Mikel/Oriel and replace Ramires with a proper CM like already mention Schneiderlin would have been perfect. Dont know how well Witsel is playing latley but surly we could replace Ramires with some one.

Im worried for the Swansea game!

hots

Ramires really hinders us massively and incredibly I find myself wishing Mikel was on the pitch instead. Ramires' energy is great but I think his use needs to be limited to subs and maybe right wing cover away against big teams (defending a CL lead in the second leg or something).

Positionally he's worse than clueless and leaves the back 4 far more exposed than Cesc would (even though he isn't as keen to defend). Every time Arsenal were attacking it seemed as though Matic was desperately fighting to get back in position (definitely obvious for their goal) and was caught between 2 minds instead of being his usual cool self sitting in front of azpi,terry and to an extent cahill.

The whole idea in not playing Fab deeper is to give a safety blanket in front of the back 4 but Ramires actually takes a player out of there. For me the solution is either just to play Fab there and make sure Oscar comes deeper; play Ramires on the wing with Fab deep still and let him defend from up there; play Mikel and turn it into more of a 433 with Fab sitting deep with the 2 of them to collect the ball and turn it into attack.

GavRedKing

Swansea will be the acid test of where we are and where we should be.

It will not define our season but failure to beat Swansea sees us going into the most diffocult game of the year with a question marks over the players head, Man City away, its great to get this game out of the way though early doors, no way will anything be decided in game week 2 but I'd much prefer us to have 6 points than have 1.

I dont think we'll see many starters play against Fiorentina, mainly the fringe players but some of the lads do need minutes under their belt.

I dont know what happened Remy, I expected him to be 2nd choice this yer but he was really poor on Sunday, Falcaos movement was good and he got into dangerous positions, much like his Utd career but the final ball was lacking.

I can only hope thats down to lack of sharpness from the guys behind him.

If Costa is missing against Swansea Id be all for starting Falcao anyway, last year we played Swansea we went 1-0 down to a JT own goal and won out 4-2 in the end, I think Costa got 2 that day.

My team would be

Courtois
Ivan Cahill JT Azp
Matic Cesc
Wilian Oscar Hazard
Falcao

Begovic
Zouma
RLC, Ramires
Moses, Cuadrado
Remy

GavRedKing

Anyone wanting to link memberships gimme a shout, you can link to mine to get more tickets if ya want.

Just drop me a PM.

GavRedKing

One thing thats worrying and annoying me in equal measure is FFP.

UEFA are "relaxing" the rules but we seem to be still operating under the impression we can only spend whatever money we make from transfers.

Ive spoke about retaining the league, its a very, very difficult task and right now we're not spending, IMO, in the right areas to make sure we will retain the league.

Theres some exciting youths being given a chance seemingly with Traore and Kenedy but a proper experienced RW would have set us in better stead.

A CM that can play with Matic still looke like something we should have got in and yet here we are in August and we're chasing 2 players for whats likely to be a combined fee of over £50m and both will be backups for the majority of the season.

I trust the squad by and large but I think we still could do with some extra quality in certain areas, I suppose we'll know a few weeks in where we lie once players start missing games and start being rotated.

grumpymunster

GavRedKing wrote: »

One thing thats worrying and annoying me in equal measure is FFP.

UEFA are "relaxing" the rules but we seem to be still operating under the impression we can only spend whatever money we make from transfers.

Ive spoke about retaining the league, its a very, very difficult task and right now we're not spending, IMO, in the right areas to make sure we will retain the league.

Theres some exciting youths being given a chance seemingly with Traore and Kenedy but a proper experienced RW would have set us in better stead.

A CM that can play with Matic still looke like something we should have got in and yet here we are in August and we're chasing 2 players for whats likely to be a combined fee of over £50m and both will be backups for the majority of the season.

I trust the squad by and large but I think we still could do with some extra quality in certain areas, I suppose we'll know a few weeks in where we lie once players start missing games and start being rotated.

But why would we even be considering FFP, we at least broke even over the past two windows we have had no real signings this window this on top of the Yokohama and Sky money. We should be able to write a cheque for whomever we want.

I also hope this Danny Rose stuff is just guff because we have made a complete mess of this transfer window. Is he any better than the Bartman doubt it, you really have to wonder why he was left go.

grumpymunster

Looks like we will never see Solanke in a Chelsea shirt as he goes to the graveyard that is Chelsea B Vitesse

http://www.fanatix.com/news/chelsea-boss-jose-mourinho-agrees-move-for-41-goal-striker-despite-calling-deal-a-big-mistake/709094/

GavRedKing

Id seriously hope were not in for Rose either.

Yes a natural LB would be good but Rose? Nah youre grand.

Lukker-

Did Rahman not arrive in London for a medical yesterday?

grumpymunster

He didn't feature for Augsburg in their friendly over the weekend, muscular problem apparently????

Had read somewhere personal terms had been agreed with player and price with Augsburg but paper does not refuse ink I suppose.

DubDani

grumpymunster wrote: »

He didn't feature for Augsburg in their friendly over the weekend, muscular problem apparently????

Had read somewhere personal terms had been agreed with player and price with Augsburg but paper does not refuse ink I suppose.

Looks likely to happen soon, as Augsburg just announced the signing of his replacement.

GavRedKing

Theres no sign of Rahman just yet but hopefully its sorted ASAP.

AS DubDani said, Augsburg have announced a new LB anyway so by all accounts hes been replaced.

grumpymunster

Yea transfermark have confirmed the Karlsrhue left back signing for Augsburg for ST£2.66m so hopefully we will sign Baba II. Know nothing about him but at least he is a body.

GavRedKing

Its good to have a natural LB in there again.

Ivan I think started every game last year so unless Rahman comes in and dislodges Azp and Ivan has a few stinkers and Azp takes his spot, its unlikley to be a changed back four anytime in the near future.

Johner

Was at Croke Park on Sunday so only caught the second half, I blame Kildare and Chelsea for my two day hangover.

TimRiggins

Never seen Rahman play, but he was a fine back up left back for me in Football Manager.

MaroonAndGreen

Johner wrote:

Was at Croke Park on Sunday so only caught the second half, I blame Kildare and Chelsea for my two day hangover.

Kildare, ah lad, I wouldn't be broadcasting that after the weekend!

GavRedKing

Apparently we're going back in with a 3rd bid for Stones.

30m being the figure quoted.

peteeeed

Chelsea close on Rahman but miss Donsah

http://www.teamtalk.com/news/2483/9935190/Chelsea-close-on-Rahman-but-miss-Donsah

GavRedKing

If Stones isnt a Chelsea player before we play Man City I'd be very surprised.

HalloweenJack

Glad to have somebody else to come into the defence.

I had my doubts about Filipe Luis last year as he was 29, iirc, and he was at the peak of his game but never felt he was going to dislodge Dave. Can't say anything about this Rahman guy as I only heard of him when he was linked with us but at 21, he's got plenty of time to develop and it's perfectly understandable if he takes a bit to settle.

As for Stones, I'd rather just get it over with and sign him and start building for the future now. I know we have Happy in there but we need to prepare for Terry's department and find an (eventual) upgrade on Cahill.

And considering what Everton payed for Lukaku, I think we shouldn't haggle too much on the price and do enough to push the deal through asap.

GavRedKing

HalloweenJack wrote: »

Glad to have somebody else to come into the defence.

I had my doubts about Filipe Luis last year as he was 29, iirc, and he was at the peak of his game but never felt he was going to dislodge Dave. Can't say anything about this Rahman guy as I only heard of him when he was linked with us but at 21, he's got plenty of time to develop and it's perfectly understandable if he takes a bit to settle.

As for Stones, I'd rather just get it over with and sign him and start building for the future now. I know we have Happy in there but we need to prepare for Terry's department and find an (eventual) upgrade on Cahill.

And considering what Everton payed for Lukaku, I think we shouldn't haggle too much on the price and do enough to push the deal through asap.

Ivan is the wrong side of 30, Cahill is 30 this year, and JT hasnt much left in the tank you'd feel, not enough to play on for 2-3 years at a consistent level.

So bringing in two 21 year olds for the short term is perfect. Our defence if we bring in those two, coupled with other options should be sound for some time.

Courtois 23
Azpilicueta 25
Zouma 20
Stones 21
Rahman 21

Thats a very solid back four right now if we added the two players we're chasing, their ages are perfect to mature into their roles too.

Johner

According to Rahman's agent we have agreed personal terms with him.

From the Sky sports transfer centre website,

CHELSEA AGREE TERMS WITH RAHMAN

We heard Jose Mourinho talking about Chelsea potentially signing a new left back, but could it be Baba Rahman?

The Augsburg’s agent, Sascha Empacher, has revealed the 21-year-old has agreed terms with the Premier League champions, but the club’s are yet to agree a fee.

"It is only the clubs that have to find an agreement," Empacher told Sport Bild. "We on our side are agreed."

Kicker previously reported that Augsburg wanted €25 million for Rahman.

GavRedKing

Johner wrote: »

According to Rahman's agent we have agreed personal terms with him.

Seems to be down to the clubs to sort out the fee now.

€20m or there abouts. seem to be the most likely fee, or about £14m.

Throw in Stones transfer of probably £30m rising to £35m with add ons, its £50m on two bench warmers but we're addressing a growing issue IMO.

Ivanovic was poor last year at times, his goal scoring over shadowed serious flaws in his game. Cahill again, like Ivan had spells where he was a real liability.

What these two signings can bring is not only quality and depth bit real competition across the back four.

I dont think Jose will chop and change much but the options are there and if people under perform they'll be axed, its good healthy competition for the squad IMO.

the_monkey

kev1.3s wrote: »

Working with one smug gunner fan today
Was working with the same guy the day arsenal beat us 5-3 but at least that day I was able to lie and tell him it finished 4 all and he didn't find out until he got home.

Smug ?
For Winning a nothing friendly cup ??

Fair enough , let him ... Let's see next May when arsenal have nothing - well maybe the massive FA cup ...

peteeeed

oh dear

http://www.sportsjoe.ie/football/video-arsenal-fans-already-have-a-petr-cech-chant-to-troll-chelsea/34702

GavRedKing

Winning the FA cup 3 times in a row would be a great achievement though.

even though I'm not a fan of either domestic cup, winning any of them 3 in a row is very, very difficult, last team to win more than 2 in a row is Spurs in the 80's I think.

Didnt they win 4 in a row or something?

GavRedKing

peteeeed wrote: »

oh dear

http://www.sportsjoe.ie/football/video-arsenal-fans-already-have-a-petr-cech-chant-to-troll-chelsea/34702

At least the Cesc song was being sung when we were only a few wins from the title :pac:

Singing it in pre-season is madness, era leave them off, its all banter.

the_monkey

Haha how sad .. That's right he said Fûck that to a club he won the UCL with ... He's at arsenal to just keep busy before retiring , it's a wind down job

peteeeed

UEFA rankings ...not bad

UEFA coefficient rankings - top 20

1. Real Madrid (142.814)

2. Bayern Munich (135.092)

3. Barcelona (132.814)

4. Chelsea (119.756)

5. Atletico Madrid (115.814)

6. Benfica (96.783)

7. Arsenal (91.756)

8. Juventus (91.054)

9. PSG (90.599)

10. Borussia Dortmund (90.092)

11. Porto (83.783)

12. Schalke (82.092)

13. Valencia (78.814)

14. Zenit St Petersburg (76.076)

15. Napoli (75.054)

16. Manchester City (74.756)

17. Basel (74.695)

18. Sevilla (72.314)

19. Bayer Leverkusen (72.092)

20. Manchester United (66.756)

GavRedKing

Utds total has taken a huge hit with no European football at all.

Cant argue with the top 3, 4th to 9th is very close IMO.

Sheepy99

Kurtis 50 Cent Happy Zouma Jackson has joined twitter in the last day or so.

GavRedKing

Sheepy99 wrote: »

Kurtis 50 Cent Happy Zouma Jackson has joined twitter in the last day or so.

Matic and himself joined on the same day I think.

hots

peteeeed wrote: »

Chelsea close on Rahman but miss Donsah

http://www.teamtalk.com/news/2483/9935190/Chelsea-close-on-Rahman-but-miss-Donsah

Hadn't even heard a rumour about Donsah, linked because Ghanaian too?

peteeeed

GavRedKing wrote: »

Matic and himself joined on the same day I think.

do they need a million odd people asking them to follow and retweet them every 10 mins ?

duploelabs

peteeeed wrote: »

do they need a million odd people asking them to follow and retweet them every 10 mins ?

and asking if he's really happy

GavRedKing

peteeeed wrote: »

do they need a million odd people asking them to follow and retweet them every 10 mins ?

Some footballers would have a PR or PA running their social media.

GavRedKing

What do we expect from tonight team wise?

Hard to pick an XI but id say begovic cuadrado and falcao will start. Zouma and Mikel too. Maybe even traore.

Pepe LeFrits

GavRedKing wrote: »

even though I'm not a fan of either domestic cup, winning any of them 3 in a row is very, very difficult, last team to win more than 2 in a row is Spurs in the 80's I think.

Didnt they win 4 in a row or something?

No, they won 2. 3 in a row hasn't been done since the 1880s afaik.

grumpymunster

peteeeed wrote: »

oh dear

http://www.sportsjoe.ie/football/video-arsenal-fans-already-have-a-petr-cech-chant-to-troll-chelsea/34702

So they will sing the song all night when they win the league, well at least the neighbours will have a nice quiet time then.

grumpymunster

GavRedKing wrote: »

What do we expect from tonight team wise?

Hard to pick an XI but id say begovic cuadrado and falcao will start. Zouma and Mikel too. Maybe even traore.

Given how we performed on Sunday RLC might be in with a shout of he is still not in the dog house. Given the song and dance made about Traore about time he got to see a pitch.

Wonder what the story with Kenedy is?

GavRedKing

grumpymunster wrote: »

Given how we performed on Sunday RLC might be in with a shout of he is still not in the dog house. Given the song and dance made about Traore about time he got to see a pitch.

Wonder what the story with Kenedy is?

I'd love to see an XI that changes from that of Saturday but give those guys some time to get more minutes under their belts.

Id start with

Begovic
Aina Zouma Cahill Azp
Mikel Loftus-Cheek
Cuadrado Moses Traore
Falcao

hots

Would expect lots of changes for tonight. Maybe Remy made to play again to give him a chance at proving himself. RLC, Traore, Cuadrado, Moses, Begovic, Zouma, Mikel all certs I'd say.

GavRedKing

I'd like to see RLC in there with Mikel. Mikel would at least do the defensive work that would hopefully allow RLC to express himself slightly further up the field.

RLC might even start as a #10 as in my XI theres no real #10, just 3 wingers in the support role.

GavRedKing

Pepe LeFrits wrote: »

No, they won 2. 3 in a row hasn't been done since the 1880s afaik.

Be some record if ye manage to pull it off. Good luck with it.

I'd like Chelsea to start winning it again, even though I'm not fond of either of the domestic cups its still a cup and anything barring a 3rd round exit to a League 2 side will be an improvement on last years efforts.

GavRedKing

Decent enough read on Stones to Chelsea and why it makes sense, no matter what Rio says.

http://www.theguardian.com/football/blog/2015/aug/05/john-stones-would-be-daft-to-dismiss-chelsea

hullaballoo

There's a good chance I might actually get to watch tonight's match, so I'd love to see lots of changes from what I expect will be our main starting XI to see where the potential is. I've always been impressed when I've seen Aina in action so hope he gets some time on the pitch.

I'd like to see how Falcao gets on if he starts. So far, it seems that our attack is misfiring but with Saturday (and City the following Sunday) looming, we seriously need to up the ante.

I read the BBC pundit/commentators etc. expectations for the top four here: http://www.bbc.com/sport/0/football/33764700 Genuinely lolled at the suggestion that City signing Sterling is a "major transfer coup." I also doubt City will be up to much more this transfer window. I don't think Pellegrino has a bog who's needed to come in for the likes of Kompany and Yaya so it's doubtful they'll be making any major moves, imo. They gave away the one man competent to step in for an out-of-sorts Touré to Liverpool ffs.

That said, I don't know where our transfer window is heading either. There doesn't even seem to be any exciting silly season rumours any more. There's a suggestion that we'll have to go for another prolific striker but there's no reality to that. There are none available who we seem to be actually going for. Given that Bamford may get limited game-time at Palace, it may be time to cancel that loan and bring him in as fourth option to cover the inevitable injuries to all three of our main options. The man can score and with our midfield operating properly, he should get the service he needs. Stones is a will-he/won't-he situation and I mean more that it'll come down to whether we're prepared to pay stupid money for him to meet Everton's valuation. We know the Manchester clubs will let EFC name their price, so will we match it (assuming they are actually in for him)? As above, there is almost no decision for the player to make if he's got the choice.

It remains to be seen what Utd will be like this season. It strikes me that none of LVG's signings have come good so far. They've had limited impact at best and the reality is that the Utd we'll see next season will be more reliant on what Ferguson and Moyes left LVG with than what LVG has brought on board. I know they've signed Schneiderlin and Schweinsteiger but you'd have to say they'll still be relying on Mata and Fellaini very heavily. I'm not convinced Schweinsteiger will add much and I can't see Schneiderlin making an impact straight away. Anyway, that's enough of typing those names.

Arsenal are by far and away the closest to us in terms of their team and I will say again that Cech will have a major impact. If you were to be harsh, they could improve CB, DM and CF but they have the same problem we do - the market is so limited that players of dubious quality cost an outrageous amount of money (see "transfer coup" story, above.) If they can keep the likes of Ramsey and Sanchez fit and get Ozil to remember how to football again, they are probably better placed than us in terms of quality. We have the upper hand in José.

It's easy to forget about Liverpool but they have improved as well. They even bought a defender of quality! Milner showed last season that he should have been playing for City all along. I haven't seen Firmino play but he has the face of a decent footballer anyway. :pac: Benteke has quality and Liverpool have a decent MF to get the ball to him. Again this season, Liverpool are all at sea with their defence. I know that there are people who seriously rate Skrtel but he's terrible, in all honesty. Clyne isn't enough of an improvement in their back line to prevent them leaking goals this season again. They might be looking at other defenders, who knows, but they've already spent about £30m over what they got for Sterling and haven't sold anyone else. Rogers has put them in a decent position but there are still massive question marks over his technical ability as a coach and I don't see him being able to figure out how to win big games with no Suárez to score their way out of a certain loss.