He supposedly had a good year there so that’s probably a good thing. Can get more next year if he repeats it. Got to raise as much as possible for a big spending spree next summer with a strong likelihood of no champions league revenue the following season.
According to the evening standard, Chelsea are willing to add 1 year on Willians contract (2 total) and he wants 2 added. Not really sure we can sell him with no loan/youth player even close to Chelsea quality to replace him and CHO injured but I’m against a 2 year extension. Tough to turn down the kind of money being offered with his recent performances but we can’t just let the team slide completely. I’m not sold on mount or Barkley at wing and RLC is injured also. If CHO and RLC get hurt I say sell him but they are and therefore Willian is needed.
I give Willian as much or more criticism than anyone but he has been a much better player on the left. Obviously it helps that hazard usually only sat against shitty teams and that’s when Willian typically played LW but he sucked at RW against inferior completion also. Without hazard, Willian should get to play LW which would at least get the most out of him. That said, if atletico or Barca come in for an improved number like £40m, can we afford to turn that down and lose him for 0 next summer? This next season will be shit anyway. Might be worth it to get as much money as we can so we can properly rebuild next summer.
Lampard Koolaid getting passed around by the gallon on Twitter the last few days. I get the nostalgia and he seems like a bright guy but some of the more analytical evaluations (statsbomb, double pivot) aren't filling me with confidence. At least the club seem to be straightening out the back room issues that have existed for years.
Yup. And Drogba, and Cech, and Morris. A little bummed out that Zola appears to be getting chucked with the rest of the Italians.
I’m not saying Drogba’s not great but why would this new crop of players give a shit about any of this? If anything, Morris will help the most as he was at least their coach while most of the youth were coming up and will presumably be more liable to play them. Winning and getting paid are the only things that matter to any player. Second one won’t be a problem but I have significant concerns about the first under a coach that has only done an average/good job in a lower division for one season. Hope I’m wrong...
We will have 6 or 7 youth players who grew up idolizing lampard and Drogba. The same way that hazard and pogba think and talk about zidane is how a lot of these guys think of our legends. Like you said lampard also comes with morris who has coached 1/3 of our team at one point or another. Lampard, Drogba and Cech have played with a few of our guys as well. They know the players and the team. If anyone will know the players and club enough drag a team that has no right to finish top 4 in the top 4, it will be people who know them.
https://www.espn.com/soccer/juventus/story/3880357/sarri-juve-step-forward-from-inferior-chelsea Even if that’s true, what a fucking asshole.
I viewed his honesty a stud refreshing but some things are better left unsaid. I can’t disagree with him though. None of our wingers played the way sarri wants. Will be very interesting to see how he does with cristiano though. Hazard is not the easiest player to manage but he’s always respectful. Ronaldo is an incredible player but he is certainly not tactically structured. Sarri’s napoli had 11 players play his style. He would have needed a lot of new players at Chelsea to make that happen. Juve definitely have a more talented team but are they better suited to play his style? Not sure. Could see it being a train wreck.
Sarri's only trophy is the Europa League and he obviously wasn't much of a player when he was younger. Not sure Ronaldo will take well to a manager like that telling him what to do.
Hopefully his input grows quickly because currently are transfers are being selected by business people instead of football people.
I was reading some posts on the Torres retirement and the first response I saw was: "He gave Gary Neville his first orgasm, enjoy retirement."
I love that Cech is back, Courtouisssssssssss is gone, and we have another world class keeper in goal
Was surprised to see the massive gap in shots faced between Chelsea and the clubs who finished 4th-6th.
Can’t rush him back but this is encouraging considering the typical recovery time from an injury like this. Hopefully he really is back within the first 4-6 weeks of the season and is ready to start a month or so after that.
Would rather go 4-2-3-1 until RLC gets back. Pivot of Kante and Jorginho should get the job done. Pulisic as 10, old guard on the wings and Tammy up top. D will be fine once Toni comes back but hope James can push Azpi for time...
No issue with frank getting a nice vacation in before preseason. Let’s get this done in the next day or so and let him prepare for the preseason. England bombing out of the u21 and the lack of an international tournament for European sides should give a lot of our players a full preseason.
Also an interesting story to follow will be man city’s potential champions league ban. Most think it will drag into the season and therefore be for the 2020-21 season if it happens. That would mean the 5th place team goes to the champions league and open an extra Europa league spot. City getting top 4 is a foregone conclusion to me. If that happens, it just means one of United, Arsenal or spurs would have to be worse then us. Still not likely but possible.
This is a really good article. The guy who wrote this is a good follow on Twitter if you like advanced stats and analysis. Not many people are chelsea fans who watched every single derby county game.
Barnwell wrote an article on the loan policy and what it could mean for next season. Not exactly a ringing endorsement....
Rumors this morning that Juan Castillo, who said he was going to leave on a free after this season, might now stay. Could have something to do with this. Castillo captained Netherlands at the youth levels and is one of our best talents at the level that is ready to get a loan. Might have been more open to a loan with no youth options at LB ahead of him and Marcos Alonso being terrible at the sport.
Yeah, he's pretty mediocre and that price sucks but he's somewhat versatile and most importantly available for us. Necessary evil.
That’s a horrible deal on an incredibly average player who won’t be a starter for us. He would be a mediocre addition if we are switching to 4-2-3-1 and need a 3rd DM to back up kante and Jorginho but he is incapable of being anything but a DM and we have 2 good ones. He has 1 goal in his last 156 league games and should be nowhere near the opposing goal.
I'm not entirely convinced Jorginho is a Chelsea player next year. And we're like one hamstring tweak away from Drinkwater in the starting XI. It's a gross deal but I'm not sure what else people were expecting.
Any other year we’d see Jorginho gone but I don’t see it happening this year. Is Bakayoko returning? I’m interested to see him under a different manager
I can see Jorginho pushing to reunite with Sarri and from what I can gather they need reinforcements in the midfield. Initial rumors are Frank doesn't rate Bakayoko.
Maybe we will sell in January if RLC progresses well but i struggle to see the depth if we let go of Jorginho, even if he’s grumpy about leaving all year
Very likely he gets sold now. Fee just over £40m is a lot for kovacic. I assume frank gave a thumbs up. Have to see what system he uses. Sarri did a horrible job getting the most out of kovacic because he played him in the wrong position. Just have to hope he plays like the guy in the Europa league and not the guy in every other game this season.
I’m trying to get a bit more behind the kovacic move. We’ve talked in here about the unlikelihood of making top 4 and getting champions league but if man city do get banned for the 2020-21 season, top 5 would get champions league. All we would need is one of arsenal or united to be worse than us. Still not likely IMO but certainly would make it more likely and kovacic, if used properly, is better than nothing. Could also replace Jorginho if we end up selling him to juve or someone else in Italy for big money in a year or 2. That’s my best shot at glass half full for this.
It’s too much money but I wonder if they see Mount and Barkley as wings or 10s in a 4-2-3-1. That leaves only Kante, Bakayoko, Jorginho, and now Kovacic as healthy midfielders (plus drinkwater I guess). It sucks but bans have consequences.