Chelsea Team Talk/Gossip/Rumours Thread 2016

LightningBlue

GavRedKing wrote: »

Bamford done brilliant too down there but couldnt force his way in to the 1st team.

Hope Abraham or Solanke can change that.

True but Abraham looks physically more ready than Bamford. Anyway we'll see over the course of the season.

Solanke's a class player but he might be left with the U21s this season if he doesn't renew his contract (like Aina) . Betis were rumored to want a striker which would a good loan if true. Vitesse is a waste of time for him.

Bamford will do fine once he gets a permanent move somewhere else.
He's suffered from Premier League teams feeling no necessity to play him because he wasn't going to stick around.

GavRedKing

LightningBlue wrote: »

True but Abraham looks physically more ready than Bamford. Anyway we'll see over the course of the season.

Solanke's a class player but he might be left with the U21s this season if he doesn't renew his contract (like Aina) . Betis were rumored to want a striker which would a good loan if true. Vitesse is a waste of time for him.

Bamford will do fine once he gets a permanent move somewhere else.
He's suffered from Premier League teams feeling no necessity to play him because he wasn't going to stick around.

I hope solanke looks at Aina and realises he can stay if he works hard. Although had Jose been still here i cant see Aina or his ilk getting shots in the 1st team, IMO.

duploelabs

Marca (I know) are reporting we're the club that lodged that 72m bid for James to Real

Lukker-

Kenedy, Remy and Miazaga not in the squad for Bremen. Look to be going on loan/sold.

Kenedy didn't get much of a chance.

GavRedKing

Lukker- wrote: »

Kenedy, Remy and Miazaga not in the squad for Bremen. Look to be going on loan/sold.

Kenedy didn't get much of a chance.

Kenedy would be a strange one. Considering he can play LB too and we've just got rid of one and have none available its odd.

Miazga and Remy are definitely gone in one way or another though and I'd prefer to keep Miazga and just loan him.

GavRedKing

Bremen game is on at 2pm too.

I can see some of the later returning players like Hazard courtois and maybe costa getting some good minutes out of this game.

GavRedKing

Costa to Napoli is doing the rounds this morning.

LightningBlue

GavRedKing wrote: »

Bremen game is on at 2pm too.

I can see some of the later returning players like Hazard courtois and maybe costa getting some good minutes out of this game.

Yeah last game before the real football is back.

Based on the US games I'd imagine the back 5 remains the same and Hazard, Michy and Costa will get 60+ minutes.

Would also like to see Cuadrado start instead of Willian to see if he can offer anything more in the final third.

peteeeed

team today: Courtois, Ivanovic, Cahill, Terry (c), Azpilicueta, Kante, Willian, Oscar, Matic, Hazard, Diego Costa.

LightningBlue

peteeeed wrote: »

team today: Courtois, Ivanovic, Cahill, Terry (c), Azpilicueta, Kante, Willian, Oscar, Matic, Hazard, Diego Costa.

Looks more like a 4-3-3 we finished with against AC Milan but will have to see how it shapes up during the game. Interesting that Cesc drops out.

Ivan is indestructible it seems. Playing a couple of weeks after a dislocated shoulder.

Hope its not the shape of things to come defensively though. Kante alone won't fix a defense that let in 50 goals.

Johner

1-0 Hazard.

Johner

2-0 Oscar, lovely goal.

LightningBlue

2-0 Oscar. Lovely buildup play.

4-3-3 seems the way to go.

LightningBlue

Great save by TBO

Johner

The back 4 is depressing me.

Johner

Kante. Nobody in the world does that better than him.

LightningBlue

Johner wrote: »

The back 4 is depressing me.

It's the same mess as last year with an albeit fantastic sticking plaster in Kante in front of it, but it's still a sticking plaster.

We need at least 2 defenders in before 1st of September if we are serious about getting CL football next year.

We seem to be much better going forward though - using the width of the pitch, good overlaps, Costa staying central.

LightningBlue

Johner wrote: »

Kante. Nobody in the world does that better than him.

He's amazing. Best player I've seen to make those interceptions.
Amazing engine and the ability to make a pass unlike our former No. 7.

If Matic gets back to even 50% of the player he was 2 years ago we should be a much more difficult test for teams.

Edit: scratch that last bit. He's still in the same daze he's been in since February 2015.
Probably only a yellow + pen with the new FA rules though.

LightningBlue

Last 20 mins we are getting cut apart at the back.

Costa with the third against the run of play. Nice through ball by Hazard.

LightningBlue

Pogba to Utd seems to be confirmed pending a medical.

€145 million :eek: being mentioned as the total fee including agent fees.

duploelabs

LightningBlue wrote: »

Pogba to Utd seems to be confirmed pending a medical.

€145 million :eek: being mentioned as the total fee including agent fees.

RIP Gav

LightningBlue

Poor goal to give away.
JT all over the place and Courtois nowhere near it.

LightningBlue

Pedro, Batshuayi, Moses on for Hazard, Costa, Willian

Duck Soup

Can't imagine that Conte is going to be too happy with the second-half lack of effort, even for a pre-season game.

LightningBlue

Duck Soup wrote: »

Can't imagine that Conte is going to be too happy with the second-half lack of effort, even for a pre-season game.

First 10 mins of the 2nd half were ok, but the rest has been very tame.

Hector looks useless at CB. I can't fathom why he was ever signed.
Michy making some good runs.

Duck Soup

Nice finish from Pedro. 2-4 full time.

Lukker-

DEFENCE DEFENCE DEFENCE

hots

Lukker- wrote: »

DEFENCE DEFENCE DEFENCE

How bad was it? Desperate for some sort of signing still

Crann na Beatha

This post has been deleted.

tombliboo83

JT26 wrote: »

Why isnt money been diverted to sort out the defense, its awful,Jesus Roman get the cheque book out

It's hard to tell where his heart is right now or who is really pulling the transfer strings as it's plainly obvious we needed to recall Christensen or sign 2 cbs 1 lb, a striker. 150 m more will do it but I can't see it happening.

GavRedKing

We need a CB and LB and we'll be done.

4-1-4-1 or 4-3-3 seems to be the formation we'll be using and at the moment weve no real LB and a very old back line bar Aina and Azp.

GavRedKing

Gabriel of Arsenal has gone down on his ankle today, meaning theyre as short at CB as we are bad and if they are after Mustafi, they'll be looking to get him in shortly.

We need to make a move on ANY decent CB before we're stuck with the current lot.

LightningBlue

GavRedKing wrote: »

Gabriel of Arsenal has gone down on his ankle today, meaning theyre as short at CB as we are bad and if they are after Mustafi, they'll be looking to get him in shortly.

We need to make a move on ANY decent CB before we're stuck with the current lot.

Was watching the game and thinking that's the price of any potential CB going up £10M when they see us or Arsenal coming.

GavRedKing

LightningBlue wrote: »

Was watching the game and thinking that's the price of any potential CB going up £10M when they see us or Arsenal coming.

Ya, we're both seriously stuck at CB so any team that's approached will be rubbing their hands with glee.

I'm hopeful we'll sort someone out before the West Ham game and get a CB in but I reckon the team that started today, will probably start against West Ham, maybe swap Matic for Cesc or Oscar and that'll be it.

Crann na Beatha

This post has been deleted.

peteeeed

JT26 wrote: »

https://www.thesun.co.uk/sport/football/1245902/nemanja-matic-tells-chelsea-he-wants-to-join-jose-mourinho-at-manchester-united-after-holding-talks-with-antonio-conte/

Nemanja Matic tells Chelsea he wants to join Jose Mourinho at Manchester United after holding talks with Antonio Conte

on you go so

GavRedKing

I honestly cant see that happening at all.

If it does, 60m and then we'll talk shop.

GavRedKing

So the big question this year is how will we do?

EPL : 4th
FA Cup : 6th round
LC : 6th round
POTY : Hazard
Top Scorer : Costa
Most improved : Hazard
Biggest diasppointment : Oscar

chelseaaremagic

courtois doesnt do enough..he doesnt command his box especially a corners ..he doesnt 'bully' his defenders'...and punches unnecessarily at times[putting defenders under pressure]....not enough to be a good shoot stopper

greendom

GavRedKing wrote: »

So the big question this year is how will we do?

EPL : 4th
FA Cup : 6th round
LC : 6th round
POTY : Hazard
Top Scorer : Costa
Most improved : Hazard
Biggest diasppointment : Oscar

With no Europe and a shiny new manager surely you should be hoping for better than that?

GavRedKing

greendom wrote: »

With no Europe and a shiny new manager surely you should be hoping for better than that?

I would hope for more but the competition in the league is fierce, most difficult league to win in probably its entire history this year, so a top 4 finish for me should be the minimum we aim for and anything after that is a bonus, maybe I'm being more realistic and a tad pesimistic but I wouldnt say because of our reduced calendar we're a shoe in for a European place.

I'm not too pushed with the domestic cups, I only get excited when you get to the SF's anyway and I dont think we'll get that far.

The 6, 7 days between league games is a huge bonus for us alright, Liverpool have the same luxury and will be hoping to push for a top 4 finish on the back of it too so they're our nearest rival for that position.

That leaves 4 places for Spurs, Utd, City, Leicester, Arsenal, Chelsea and Liverpool, West Ham, something has to give and looking at those teams, I'd take a top 4 finish and push on for next year, we're still seriously short at the back and if that isnt addressed before September 1st, I'd doubt our ability to finish top 4, maybe top 6 at a push if Conte can work his magic.

GavRedKing

chelseaaremagic wrote: »

courtois doesnt do enough..he doesnt command his box especially a corners ..he doesnt 'bully' his defenders'...and punches unnecessarily at times[putting defenders under pressure]....not enough to be a good shoot stopper

When we won the league he was one of our best players, he was injured for about 4 months last year and IMO, was still better than Begovic when he came back. Begovic made mistakes and wasnt helped by the defence, Courtois wjust wasnt helped by the defence.

Courtois isnt going to bully any defenders, its not his game, hes a very calm goalkeeper, hes like Cech in that regard, they both talk to the defence and not scream like lunatics, although I think Cech had a better grasp of the defence through playing with JT for about a decade and being 10 years older but I'd have Courtois over Cech for set pieces every day of the week, hes much better at coming for crosses, corners, free kicks than Cech, both have poor distribution though.

Courtois also has no viable upgrade, theres probably only 3 goalkeepers in the world better than him in De Gea, Buffon and Neuer but Courtois is up there with the best them on his day and I reckon we'll see that more this year, his falling out with Christopher Lollichon was always going to effect him too and now hes gone, Courtois should get back to the level hes capable of.

Begovic, is a concern however, hes looked capable and a liabilty all in the one game.

duploelabs

GavRedKing wrote: »

Biggest disappointment : Oscar

You say that like he's got a distance to fall

JT26

JT26 wrote: »

https://www.thesun.co.uk/sport/football/1245902/nemanja-matic-tells-chelsea-he-wants-to-join-jose-mourinho-at-manchester-united-after-holding-talks-with-antonio-conte/

Nemanja Matic tells Chelsea he wants to join Jose Mourinho at Manchester United after holding talks with Antonio Conte

Tbf Jose pretty much confirmed his spending is done last night
He's got his four additions.
Pure bull****e from tabloids

justshane

EPL : 2nd
FA Cup : semis
LC : s mis
POTY : Kante
Top Scorer : Hazard
Most improved : Hazard
Biggest diasppointment : Willian

GavRedKing

duploelabs wrote: »

You say that like he's got a distance to fall

It was between him and Willian for me as I think some players like Cahill and Ivanovic are just going to be rubbish anyway.

OScar is somehow a fans favourite with a good lot of people, I just cant take to him hes too inconsistent and hasnt improved much in his 4 years here so I'd prefer him to be sold ASAP.

GavRedKing

M!Ck^ wrote: »

Tbf Jose pretty much confirmed his spending is done last night
He's got his four additions.
Pure bull****e from tabloids

Surprised they havent painted a Mata swap for Matic narrative yet.

GavRedKing

GavRedKing wrote: »

Surprised they havent painted a Mata swap for Matic narrative yet.

Oh it's coming. They have nothing to write about considering Pogba deal is done.
First step is to make an absolute meal out of Mata getting subbed last night.

GavRedKing

M!Ck^ wrote: »

Oh it's coming. They have nothing to write about considering Pogba deal is done.
First step is to make an absolute meal out of Mata getting subbed last night.

Bar a raft of players going out or getting injured, Utd are more than likely done in the market.

Got yere business done early, CB, CM, CAM and CF.

Everywhere else is pretty much sorted on paper for Utd at the moment.

Contrast that to our policy this summer and its a bit annoying as we've loaned half a back line without bringing in any cover. :pac:

GavRedKing

GavRedKing wrote: »

Bar a raft of players going out or getting injured, Utd are more than likely done in the market.

Got yere business done early, CB, CM, CAM and CF.

Everywhere else is pretty much sorted on paper for Utd at the moment.

Contrast that to our policy this summer and its a bit annoying as we've loaned half a back line without bringing in any cover. :pac:

The charity bet is set it stone...no backing out now