Chelsea Team Talk/Gossip/Rumours Thread 2016

duploelabs

greendom wrote: »

well you asked the question - I really don't see how that comment could be construed as personal - certainly wasn't intended as such - unlike yours.

I, probably like yourself, don't have the chance to research this at the moment, but I'm sure it wasn't meant as a money making exercise, but to give players who weren't playing in the first team a chance to get that experience elsewhere.

To see if their talent would transfer to the real World of Professional football. They used to be between 1 - 3 months as I recall, certainly not for a season or more.

You made a statement as fact, yet you refuse to back said statement up. Would you care to do that now or can we just call your statement as bull?

greendom

duploelabs wrote: »

You made a statement as fact, yet you refuse to back said statement up. Would you care to do that now or can we just call your statement as bull?

No, the loan system was never intended as a money making exercise, something Chelsea (above all others) have turned it into. I stand by that 100%

duploelabs

greendom wrote: »

No, the loan system was never intended as a money making exercise, something Chelsea (above all others) have turned it into. I stand by that 100%

So you're speculating then

hullaballoo

Good man Ivan.

duploelabs

hullaballoo wrote: »

Good man Ivan.

Oi

GavRedKing

No Matic for serbia? He that bad?

LightningBlue

GavRedKing wrote: »

No Matic for serbia? He that bad?

He's suspended.

grumpymunster

greendom wrote: »

No, the loan system was never intended as a money making exercise, something Chelsea (above all others) have turned it into. I stand by that 100%

duploelabs wrote: »

So you're speculating then

Never let the truth get in the way of a good story (or anti Chelsea bias in this case) :pac::pac::pac::pac:

GavRedKing

I hope somebody from Chelsea was watching the Serbia game and realises that with Luiz and Alonso coming into the first team, Ivanovic has no place starting for us any more.

Ideally, I'd go with

Azp Luiz JT Alonso

Although I'm not sure that Conte will pull the trigger on a defence that has yet to lose a game for him and change 50% of it. Luiz might struggle to get back in initally but Alonso should be starting over Ivanovic ASAP.

grumpymunster

So my little cherubs now that the internationals are over we can get on with the league.

So what will be the line up on Sunday will Luiz and Alonso play? This is perhaps the first time in a while the first XI does not seem pre-ordained. I know little of Alonso but will make a working assumption he is a better full back than Ivan so perhaps;

TBo, Dave, Alonso, JT, Luiz, Kante, Matic, Haz, Willian, Oscar, Costa. I would prefer to see Cesc in the mix instead of Matic but that seems unlikely at the minute.

grumpymunster

GavRedKing wrote: »

I hope somebody from Chelsea was watching the Serbia game and realises that with Luiz and Alonso coming into the first team, Ivanovic has no place starting for us any more.

Ideally, I'd go with

Azp Luiz JT Alonso

Although I'm not sure that Conte will pull the trigger on a defence that has yet to lose a game for him and change 50% of it. Luiz might struggle to get back in initally but Alonso should be starting over Ivanovic ASAP.

Sad thing is Gav someone from Chelsea should have been looking at Ivan for the past season and a half as he has been awful

duploelabs

grumpymunster wrote: »

Never let the truth get in the way of a good story (or anti Chelsea bias in this case) :pac::pac::pac::pac:

If Trump can run his campaign by making spurious statements without backing them up with fact then I'm sure that tactic will filter down the food chain

GavRedKing

We've a seriously tough run of 6 league games coming up after the Swansea game, the games are :

Pool - h
Arsenal - a
Hull - a
Leicester - h
Utd - h
Southampton - a

That bring us up until the end of October.

grumpymunster

duploelabs wrote: »

If Trump can run his campaign by making spurious statements without backing them up with fact then I'm sure that tactic will filter down the food chain

Very true, worked for Brexit as well I guess.

GavRedKing

Hazard has won the POTM award.

Fully deserved too.

GavRedKing

I think thats Hazards first player of the month award too, even though hes won the POTY award. :pac:

grumpymunster

Yea he seems to be more the player of 2014-2015 than 2015-2016 which bodes well for the season if we keep him fit. He certainly has started on fire delighted I stuck him into my fantasy team along with Costa.

Who won Manager of the month should really be Phelan from Hull I think.

GavRedKing

grumpymunster wrote: »

Yea he seems to be more the player of 2014-2015 than 2015-2016 which bodes well for the season if we keep him fit. He certainly has started on fire delighted I stuck him into my fantasy team along with Costa.

Who won Manager of the month should really be Phelan from Hull I think.

The big 3 were up, along with Phelan, I think it was an exclusive online voting system for fans and I think Jose was winning the last time I checked.

It should be Phelan though.

LightningBlue

GavRedKing wrote: »

The big 3 were up, along with Phelan, I think it was an exclusive online voting system for fans and I think Jose was winning the last time I checked.

It should be Phelan though.

I think it's a two/three part system.
There's the online twitter poll (for Arsenal fans to get their moral victories)
There's the panel of ex-managers and players that used to decide it.
I also saw somewhere that each PL captain/manager gets a vote (could be wrong on this).

The final choice is a combination of all the above.

GavRedKing

LightningBlue wrote: »

I think it's a two/three part system.
There's the online twitter poll (for Arsenal fans to get their moral victories)
There's the panel of ex-managers and players that used to decide it.
I also saw somewhere that each PL captain/manager gets a vote (could be wrong on this).

The final choice is a combination of all the above.

I think the captain/manager vote is only for POTY awards, although I'm not 100% on that.

LightningBlue

GavRedKing wrote: »

I think the captain/manager vote is only for POTY awards, although I'm not 100% on that.

Just checked back on WAGNH and the Chelsea FC website, the club captains do have a vote in the selections apparently.

http://www.chelseafc.com/news/latest-news/2016/08/conte-and-hazard-nominated-for-monthly-prize.html

A shortlist of players will be drawn up at the end of each month and published on the Premier League’s digital platforms. The public can then vote on who they think should win.

At the same time, a panel made up of former footballers and managers, will cast their vote, while the captain of each Premier League club will also have one vote each.

Votes from the three parties will be combined to decide the winner which will be announced by the Premier League soon after.

GavRedKing

LightningBlue wrote: »

Just checked back on WAGNH and the Chelsea FC website, the club captains do have a vote in the selections apparently.

http://www.chelseafc.com/news/latest-news/2016/08/conte-and-hazard-nominated-for-monthly-prize.html

Phelan should get it, considering Hull started the season with about 14 senior players.

LightningBlue

GavRedKing wrote: »

Phelan should get it, considering Hull started the season with about 14 senior players.

Definitely. He's already done a minor miracle getting 6 pts from 9. Could even have been 7.
I also like how he didn't roll over and get his belly tickled like Steve Bruce would against Utd which is good to see. :pac:

Conte arguably should be second given the improvement in results from last season and the way his subs changed 2 of the 3 results.

GavRedKing

LightningBlue wrote: »

Definitely. He's already done a minor miracle getting 6 pts from 9. Could even have been 7.
I also like how he didn't roll over and get his belly tickled like Steve Bruce would against Utd which is good to see. :pac:

Conte arguably should be second given the improvement in results from last season and the way his subs changed 2 of the 3 results.

First is all that matters :pac:

Ya, Phelan has done very well so far but I still expect them to go down although it maybe with a bit more fight than anyone originally expected.

GavRedKing

Hazard POTM and Mourinho MOTM.

Despite winning 3 titles with Chelsea he only won 3 MOTM awards.

Goes to the FAs favourites and wins it at his first attempt. :pac:

What a time to be alive.

grumpymunster

GavRedKing wrote: »

Hazard POTM and Mourinho MOTM.

Despite winning 3 titles with Chelsea he only won 3 MOTM awards.

Goes to the FAs favourites and wins it at his first attempt. :pac:

What a time to be alive.

I take it Gav you are in no way surprised, I am sure ToL cares not a jot as long as we beat the Swans on Sunday to take good form into the Liverpool game.

grumpymunster

Just looked on Wiki we are 6th in the all time list of manager of the month award winners in the PL.

Pos Team MOTM wins PL wins
1 United 27 13
2 Arsenal 15 3
3 Liverpool 14 0
4 Newcastle 13 0
5 Everton 12 0
6 Chelsea 11 4
7 City 10 2

More than reasonable for United to be where they are, can even make a (poor) case for Arsenal but Liverpool, Newcastle and Everton old boys club at work.

GavRedKing

grumpymunster wrote: »

I take it Gav you are in no way surprised, I am sure ToL cares not a jot as long as we beat the Swans on Sunday to take good form into the Liverpool game.

No, not really, I just felt Phelan deserved it more.

Anyway, as long as we keep up the fight and hopefully get a 4th win, I'll be happy.

hullaballoo

12 points after 4 games?! Dare we dream?

GavRedKing

grumpymunster wrote: »

Just looked on Wiki we are 6th in the all time list of manager of the month award winners in the PL.

Pos Team MOTM wins PL wins
1 United 27 13
2 Arsenal 15 3
3 Liverpool 14 0
4 Newcastle 13 0
5 Everton 12 0
6 Chelsea 11 4
7 City 10 2

More than reasonable for United to be where they are, can even make a (poor) case for Arsenal but Liverpool, Newcastle and Everton old boys club at work.

Carlo won the most with us, he won 4 MOTM awards.

Although when you consider Pellegrini has also won 4 and only 1 title, Jose got shafted out of a few of those awards back at his time with us.

That'll change soon enough though.

GavRedKing

hullaballoo wrote: »

12 points after 4 games?! Dare we dream?

It took us until February last season and about 25games to win back to back games and I dont think at any stage in the league did we win 4 on the spin.

I think 3 in a row was the most.

LightningBlue

GavRedKing wrote: »

Hazard POTM and Mourinho MOTM.

Despite winning 3 titles with Chelsea he only won 3 MOTM awards.

Goes to the FAs favourites and wins it at his first attempt. :pac:

What a time to be alive.

Has it definitely been announced by the Premier League?
The bastions of quality journalism at the Metro :rolleyes: seem to be the only ones running anything and it's just based on the result of the twitter polls.

It might change yet with the group and captain votes.

Total load of bollocks if Phelan doesn't win it.

grumpymunster

hullaballoo wrote: »

12 points after 4 games?! Dare we dream?

that still gives me a giggle

GavRedKing

I just checked again, we won 3 games in a row once last year and 2 in a row once also but that was the earlier games in the 3 ina row sequence.

We were so sh*t last year. Also, those 3 wins in arow were newcastle, southampton and norwich, in the following 10 games after these set of wins, we only won 2 games.

Theres one thing that haunts me from last year and its not Jose having a meltdown and ruining the team, its a nightmare where Guus plays out a draw for the rest of my days.

Bobby Baccala

Chelsea under Conte and Conte in general scares me a bit. Wouldn't be surprised to see you lot win the league this season if not next season. Both Kante and Conte are the signings of the summer imo.

GavRedKing

P4DDY2K11 wrote: »

Chelsea under Conte and Conte in general scares me a bit. Wouldn't be surprised to see you lot win the league this season if not next season. Both Kante and Conte are the signings of the summer imo.

I'd take top 4, as would the majority of Chelsea fans.

We're all operating in a league with at least 6 serious challengers for the league and thats even discounting last years champions Leicester.

I do think at the last minute though, in the transfer window that is, we managed to help ourselves no end by adding depth, we were seriously lacking at the back and were a ban or injury away from playing Mikle or the youths in defence.

Given Utd and City spent a decent amount this summer I think those 2 are clear favourites and the ourselves and you guys are neck and neck for 3rd/th favourite, our reducded work load though should give us a small advantage against the other European teams from the league.

grumpymunster

I guess Jose's attitude to the Europa League may influence how United fare. I would hazard a guess his thoughts would be ignore it however United's European, Asian and US fans would hold the competition in higher esteem as might their sponsors. Playing on a Tuesday or Wednesday does not seem to be as taxing as playing on a Thursday from a routine point of view.

I would still expect the two Manchester clubs to finish first and second with a London club third - hopefully us. We really should be able to give it a good rattle given the lack of European commitment (same for Liverpool of course).

GavRedKing

grumpymunster wrote: »

I guess Jose's attitude to the Europa League may influence how United fare. I would hazard a guess his thoughts would be ignore it however United's European, Asian and US fans would hold the competition in higher esteem as might their sponsors. Playing on a Tuesday or Wednesday does not seem to be as taxing as playing on a Thursday from a routine point of view.

I would still expect the two Manchester clubs to finish first and second with a London club third - hopefully us. We really should be able to give it a good rattle given the lack of European commitment (same for Liverpool of course).

I'd rank spurs, Chelsea and Arsenal all above and in some cases well above Liverpool, on their day anybody can beat anybpdy sure, but for the seasoin, I cant see Pool over turning 5 better sides to claim a top 4 spot, they might but I'd be genuinely surprised if they did.

grumpymunster

Hard to say should be interesting.

Spurs and Arsenal have had a sluggish start by their standards but that is not unusual given the Euro's, Copa and Olympics would not expect that to last though should be firing again very soon.

hullaballoo

I have said before that I don't think City can manage to keep up the intensity of the opening games over 38 games in the EPL + UCL and League/FA Cup. Even if his primary target was just the EPL (it isn't, I'd imagine the bosses want min UCL semi-final if not final) then that team as it is would be run ragged after half the season at the pace and intensity they've opened with. He doesn't give 2 fncks about defending so they would need to be scoring heavily and with a team whose only serious consistent goalscorer is also made of glass, I would be nervous about backing them as Champions.

That's especially so where we of all football fans know what José is capable of with the right additions to his team, which have been mostly made by him over the summer. They are actually in a position for the first time since Ferguson left where they will be capable of doing the likes of what happened vs Hull on a regular basis as well as being more than capable of playing a more open and attacking style. With the players he has added to the squad, you would have to say they look the part and short of a José meltdown, which imo is unlikely this season, I think they are going to be Champions.

I think we will be in the mix for 4th. I'd love to say I can see us being still in the running for the EPL in the last few games but I want to wait and see how we line up for the next few games now that we don't need to be starting Cahill and Ivanovic. If they start against Swansea, that's understandable as the new (well, "new") lads might need a couple of weeks training in Conte's system to be assured a start but if we get to the game against Arsenal and they are still starting, I think we will be in for a tough ride this season again. Every respect is due to the two of them, especially Ivan, but the reality is they are no longer good enough to start for a title contender.

The other thing that is bugging me is this playing 2 CDMs against relegation fodder opposition. Again, I can understand that Conte may need time to get to know the lay of the land in England but WTF were we doing starting both Kanté and Matic against Burnley?

GavRedKing

hullaballoo wrote: »

I have said before that I don't think City can manage to keep up the intensity of the opening games over 38 games in the EPL + UCL and League/FA Cup. Even if his primary target was just the EPL (it isn't, I'd imagine the bosses want min UCL semi-final if not final) then that team as it is would be run ragged after half the season at the pace and intensity they've opened with. He doesn't give 2 fncks about defending so they would need to be scoring heavily and with a team whose only serious consistent goalscorer is also made of glass, I would be nervous about backing them as Champions.

That's especially so where we of all football fans know what José is capable of with the right additions to his team, which have been mostly made by him over the summer. They are actually in a position for the first time since Ferguson left where they will be capable of doing the likes of what happened vs Hull on a regular basis as well as being more than capable of playing a more open and attacking style. With the players he has added to the squad, you would have to say they look the part and short of a José meltdown, which imo is unlikely this season, I think they are going to be Champions.

I think we will be in the mix for 4th. I'd love to say I can see us being still in the running for the EPL in the last few games but I want to wait and see how we line up for the next few games now that we don't need to be starting Cahill and Ivanovic. If they start against Swansea, that's understandable as the new (well, "new") lads might need a couple of weeks training in Conte's system to be assured a start but if we get to the game against Arsenal and they are still starting, I think we will be in for a tough ride this season again. Every respect is due to the two of them, especially Ivan, but the reality is they are no longer good enough to start for a title contender.

The other thing that is bugging me is this playing 2 CDMs against relegation fodder opposition. Again, I can understand that Conte may need time to get to know the lay of the land in England but WTF were we doing starting both Kanté and Matic against Burnley?

Ya, the 2CDMs is a weird one, although in the past it was Cesc who was usually the one offered more freedom to venture further forward, Matic has that role now but without any of the creative ability that OScar or Cesc have.

Away to Swansea, I'd forgive 2 CDMs but at home to Swansea or a team that woill park and hope to play on the counter we should be lining up in a 4-1-4-1 formation with Kante at the base and Luiz/Matic/RLC/Oscar/Cesc in the centre 3 positions.

TimRiggins

I don't think Conte trusts the defence yet tbh and feels he needs Kante and Matic giving protection.

Lukker-

TimRiggins wrote: »

I don't think Conte trusts the defence yet tbh and feels he needs Kante and Matic giving protection.

That's why we signed Luiz

duploelabs

Would like to see a 3-5-2 start being used.
Luiz JT alonso
Dave Kante Matic Oscar hazard
Costa Batman

Lukker-

duploelabs wrote: »

Would like to see a 3-5-2 start being used.
Luiz JT alonso
Dave Kante Matic Oscar hazard
Costa Batman

Only way that formation works is with Hazard up front IMO.

Tubbs4

Bats had his penalty saved for Belgium. Hazard won it but didn't take it.

GavRedKing

duploelabs wrote: »

Would like to see a 3-5-2 start being used.
Luiz JT alonso
Dave Kante Matic Oscar hazard
Costa Batman

I'd say if he does go 3 at the back he'll go 3-4-1-2

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TBO

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Cahil

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JT

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Luiz

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Azp

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Kante

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Matic

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Alonso

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Hazard

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Batshuayi----Costa

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grumpymunster

Kenedy would have been good in that formation

GavRedKing

grumpymunster wrote: »

Kenedy would have been good in that formation

Tony must not fancy him as good enough defensive cover to play LWB.

I think Kenedy should be given the freedom of the flanks anyway on the left or right to truly make him effective and hopefully thats where he plays for Watford.

Bobby Baccala

GavRedKing wrote: »

Tony must not fancy him as good enough defensive cover to play LWB.

I think Kenedy should be given the freedom of the flanks anyway on the left or right to truly make him effective and hopefully thats where he plays for Watford.

Would have definitely fancied Cuadrado in that formation, how come he was shipped out on loan Gav?