Chelsea Team Talk/Gossip/Rumours Thread 2023/24

Gonzovision

Anyone know who has to renew the Fantasy Football League?

Carpentry

Mendy on the plane to sign contract.

https://mobile.twitter.com/FabrizioRomano/status/1304425572244877314

SureYWouldntYa

Wouldn't be a fan of 2 keepers fighting it out for the spot like appears to be the plan, prefer my keeper to be settled so the defense know what they're dealing with

I'd hope Mendy is good enough to properly establish himself over Kepa over the first few months, and if we need to upgrade in the next couple years we can afford to do that since we've splashed on so many positions this year

Carpentry

Any thoughts on Rice ? Do we really need him ? In the other hand Barkley plus some cash isnt bad solution.

duploelabs

Carpentry wrote: »

Any thoughts on Rice ? Do we really need him ? In the other hand Barkley plus some cash isnt bad solution.

Not mine but from the Chelsea subreddit

(https://www.reddit.com/r/chelseafc/comments/irmejr)
I've watched Rice a handful of times post-restart, including today.

I want to share my thoughts and hear what others think. I am focusing on the concept of Rice as a CDM.

Rice's Defensive Ability

His defense is more developed than his offense at this point. Rice has a nice frame and is an aggressive tackler willing to sacrifice his body. His presence and physicality in midfield keeps opposing attackers on their toes. His positioning does not stand out as elite at this point, and he's not always sprinting around when the ball shifts.

His quickness is average at best, and his top speed is below average for a Premier League player. When attackers dribble by him or play 1-2's to progress past him to start a break, he simply cannot recover and factor into the play again. To give you an idea of his speed, Andy Carroll ran away from him on one attack today.

Rice's Offensive Ability

His most standout offensive trait is he's skilled at receiving the ball in tight spaces under pressure. He constantly repositions himself to offer an option for teammates. He is a two-footed passer. He'd be good in a rondo.

When he has space, he frequently tries to sweep long balls to reverse the field, which he's given a lot of credit for by match announcers, but they lack the swerve you see when elites like Pogba and Kroos do it. They're often well-intentioned but the wrong idea, and they get intercepted.

When he receives the ball during a build-up, he looks for angles to slip the ball through to more advanced midfielders and is fairly clever at doing so.

He doesn't show much desire to carry the ball forward. His lack of quickness is an impediment to him doing that well.

Player Comparison

The profile of player he reminds me of most is Gareth Barry. Barry was strong, a tough tackler, two-footed, a smart passer, and a leader. Barry was plodding and rarely carried the ball. Rice is probably more nimble in tight spaces, though Barry was so composed, pretty much impossible to take the ball off, and an elite tactician. Barry stood out at a young age at Aston Villa, like Rice with West Ham, though most of my memories of him are imprinted from his peak at Man City, when he was much older and more experienced than Rice. I would say if Rice's development goes well, he may be able to reach Barry's peak level.

Comparing to guys in our current squad, his offensive ability and profile reminds me of a poor man's Jorginho. They try to do similar things and occupy similar positions on the field, but Jorginho is a step above him at everything on offense.

Overall Takeaway

I love that Chelsea is looking to continue the summer's theme of building with elite signings and focusing on youth, and Rice certainly fits that mold. I'm also aware that Rice grew up a Chelsea fan. But I'm not sure he's the right signing in this window, especially given his reported price range.

Whether you feel Kante is a true CDM or not, Kante is significantly better in most facets of the game than Rice, and I'd take him over Rice as a 6, whether paired with another 6 or as a standalone CDM.

Jorginho is also clearly better than Rice. This is the most onerous issue for me. Could we sell Jorginho to help fund Rice? Yes. But we'd do so at the expense of points this season. I think we need the points, and the club clearly feels the same, otherwise the Thiago Silva signing wouldn't have happened. At worst, I see us fighting for 4th. At best, I see us fighting for the title. And if everything falls right, we could be a Champions League contender. The difference between being able to rely on Jorginho vs developing Rice could be precious this season.

So I feel Kante and Jorginho are both better as pivots, CDMs, whatever you want to call them than Rice. I realize Rice is "one for the future", but I struggle to see him earning material minutes with our current squad.

The price is another major issue for me. Adding a young Gareth Barry regen is great, but at 60-80 million pounds when he still has a ways to go?

Casemiro is probably the best defensive midfielder in the world (after Kante, in my opinion). What would he have cost 2 years ago, at age 26 (point being a buying club would've expected 6+ years of service)? 80-100 million?

Man City bought Rodri last year for 63 million, and he was already a centerpiece at Atletico Madrid. He came in at age 23 and started almost every game for Man City. Rice is not ready to do that for us.

Barca bought Frenkie de Jong last summer at age 22 for 70 million. He was seen at the best DM prospect in years at the time.

If we consider signing Rice for CB, paying 60-80 million is even more risky as he has basically no high-level experience there, and the fee is also among the highest ever paid at that position.

Given that I think it's fair to question if Rice will ever reach the level of being a starting DM for a title-challenging squad, I don't like the idea of paying in the neighborhood of a record price for a DM to acquire him. In an objective market where everyone looks the same and has the same name, I'd put his present day value at 30-35 million. Add an English tax, and we should still not pay north of 50 million.

I think we should play the year out with what we have (we appear to be properly covered), watch how Gilmour develops, and see how our formation shakes out given our mix of guys that can play some combination of 6, 8, and 10. At the same time, we can watch how Rice develops. Even if he takes a big step this year, I don't see the price increasing by much. He's already priced as if he's the finished article.

Lavinia

i just hope frank (&co) knows what hes doing.. cause i'm not sure i'm convinced with all the changes on all fronts..

Carpentry

Lavinia wrote: »

i just hope frank (&co) knows what hes doing.. cause i'm not sure i'm convinced with all the changes on all fronts..

We shall see today.

GavRedKing

*sneaks in*

Is this thing on?

Howdy folks, long time no talk, a veeeeeeery long time.

I wanted to come back and post for the first time seeing as we've a new season kicking off tonight. It must be my first post in 14-16 months after a self inflected hiatus, partially down to the work blocking access to Boards and mainly down to me being too lazy to post on my own time and thus, neglecting my modding duties but thats a separate issue.

Anyway, hopefully we can start the season with a win tonight.

Tom Mann Centuria

At least they aren't playing in the plastic Palace kit today.

Prediction 1-1 Werner to score first, then concede a sloppy late goal.

GavRedKing

Tom Mann Centuria wrote: »

At least they aren't playing in the plastic Palace kit today.

Prediction 1-1 Werner to score first, then concede a sloppy late goal.

3 - 1 Chelsea

As bad as we are at the back we've a bit more going forward in front of goal and as a creative force, so hopefully Werner can bury the chances that Tammy, et al passed up last year when we badly needed goals.

SureYWouldntYa

I'm thinking 4-2 or something like that, we have enough fresh players that we should be able to do stuff up top but don't trust whatever SilvaN'Chilwell-less defense we put out

If Frank goes 5 atb to accommodate Alonso I'll be annoyed, if he's not good enough to be a left back in a back 4 we shouldn't have him, ditto for Azpilicueta starting at left back

GavRedKing

I'm guessing we'll go with :

Kepa
Azp Zouma Rudiger Alonso
Kante Kovacic Mount
Odoi Werner Pulisic

But I'd prefer if we went with :

Caballero
James Zouma Christensen Alonso
Kante Kovacic
Pulisic Havertz Werner
Giroud

Mainly because I feel Giroud has a lot to offer for at least 60 mins.

Throw on Odoi for the last 3o mins and play Werner through the middle.

bullpost

GavRedKing wrote: »

I'm guessing we'll go with :

Kepa
Azp Zouma Rudiger Alonso
Kante Kovacic Mount
Odoi Werner Pulisic

But I'd prefer if we went with :

Caballero
James Zouma Christensen Alonso
Kante Kovacic
Pulisic Havertz Werner
Giroud

Mainly because I feel Giroud has a lot to offer for at least 60 mins.

Throw on Odoi for the last 3o mins and play Werner through the middle.

Will we go with Kepa though? He didnt play pre-season friendlies afaik

SureYWouldntYa

Kovacic is suspended so we won't see him

My guess is

Kepa
James Zouma Rudiger Dave
Kante Jorginho Barkley
Havertz Werner Mount

I just have a gut feeling we'll still see Barkley and Frank playing it safe for game 1 with Mount at LW being an extra midfielder really

My ideal line up is

Kepa
Azp Zouma Rudiger Alonso
Havertz Kante Mount
Odoi Werner Pulisic

We need to move past needing Giroud and I hope he's impact only as opposed to starter, Werner and Havertz on the wings is a possibility to "ease" them in the PL

GavRedKing

bullpost wrote: »

Will we go with Kepa though? He didnt play pre-season friendlies afaik

We only had 1 against Brighton.

Both of them played 45mins, Willy saved a penalty in the 2nd half after Rudiger made a customary mistake and gave away the penalty after 3 mins of coming on.

RichT

He won't be going with Kovacic.

He's suspended after The FA Cup Final Red.

GavRedKing

SureYWouldntYa wrote: »

Kovacic is suspended so we won't see him

My guess is

Kepa
James Zouma Rudiger Dave
Kante Jorginho Barkley
Havertz Werner Mount

I just have a gut feeling we'll still see Barkley and Frank playing it safe for game 1 with Mount at LW being an extra midfielder really

My ideal line up is

Kepa
Azp Zouma Rudiger Alonso
Havertz Kante Mount
Odoi Werner Pulisic

We need to move past needing Giroud and I hope he's impact only as opposed to starter, Werner and Havertz on the wings is a possibility to "ease" them in the PL

Dhite Kovacic is suspended, over the FA cup red card.

Swap Kovacic with Mount and we're golden.

I cant see RLC or Barkley starting over Havertz though.

RichT

5 - 2 Chelsea. No way we gonner not concede.

GavRedKing

I'd take a 5 - 2.

Only if we're 5 - 0 with 5 mins to go though.

We're still so vulnerable at the back and Kepa has far too many question marks.

Zieych is a loss but we should have more than enough to notch up a win against Brigthon.

Johner

Welcome back Gav.

Haven’t been looking forward to a game this much in ages. Interested to see how many of the new lads start.

kev1.3s

Welcome back gav, not a bad time to make your return.
Cant see us loosing tonight but can see us conceed.
3-1 I think.

peteeeed

https://twitter.com/chelseafc/status/1305570760224722944?s=21

SureYWouldntYa

Surprised no Azpilicueta

Suppose we do need proper full back width with the a crowd in the middle with Mount, RLC and Havertz

Excited for the Germans at least

Lavinia

love to see rlc in the squad

RichT

Christian Pulisic didn't make it. Damn!!

Johner

Christensen.

duploelabs

Lavinia wrote: »

i just hope frank (&co) knows what hes doing.. cause i'm not sure i'm convinced with all the changes on all fronts..

An Oscar in his prime would walk in to the team, what do you think?

SureYWouldntYa

duploelabs wrote: »

An Oscar in his prime would walk in to the team, what do you think?

The lad hit his prime at 23, his best was not an awful lot better than Mount atm I think

Lavinia

hmmm

SureYWouldntYa

Alonso directing things at a corner, things not looking organised there at all

SureYWouldntYa

Timo sharp pressing up front for the peno, good to see

kalych

A penalty is probably against the run of play so far but I'll take it. Calm finish from Jorginho.

Lavinia

Jorhe's always good for the penalty

Johner

Werner looking sharp so far. Not much else to say.

Lamptey is class though.

kalych

Kepa still looking shaky when coming off his line for corners.

Lavinia

we're losing ball so easily..

btw that Werner guy is meh so far?.. he's looking at the ball thinking will I run for it will I not run for it
wdaf man lol

Johner

We’ve been awful so far, Brighton the much better team.

Johner

Loftus cheek has been utter garbage. Werner the only plus so far.

kalych

What the hell was that from Loftus-Cheek? Awful run at the single defender.

Lavinia

we need Ollie in

kalych

Cheeky shot there from Werner. Nice to see

Johner

Werner has been the best player by a mile.

Havertz disappointing so far, some lazy defending from him and some half hearted tracking back.

Lucky to be leading anyway.

Gonzovision

I'd be in favour of Odoi on for RLC at half time. Push Havertz into the middle.

Lavinia

Bravo Reece that's what's this game about lol

kalych

Thank God for that from James!

Johner

Defence is still a shambles anyway.

SureYWouldntYa

Did ya ever go into work knowing you’re supposed to have something done for that day

I get the feeling Lampard will have only remembered any semblence of organising a defense 15 mins before kick off

Johner

3-1. We have started to play a bit the last 10 minutes, lucky goal mind.

Lavinia

Fantastish

Whatta forwards when backwards are scoring lol

kalych

Defenders doing the work up front for us today. Of only they did the work at the back too...