closed Chelsea 1-0 Swansea

[-Kaplan- 410]

32 minutes ago, the wes said:

Sanches was trying to pass the ball to Casper the friendly ghost 😂😂😂 we dodge a bullet trying to get him it seems like it 

Confused the Carabao sign with one of his own players lol

Feel sorry for him. Taken off at half time. Moving to Bayern was his worst mistake. 

[OhForAGreavsie 5,775]

56 minutes ago, the wes said:

Sanches was trying to pass the ball to Casper the friendly ghost 😂😂😂 we dodge a bullet trying to get him it seems like it 

Only those impressed by a few flashy touches and/or Bayern's transfer policy, ever thought anything of this smoke and mirrors player. His selection as young player of the last Euros was ridiculous; watch the all touches videos.

Some people assessed his preseason display against us as outstanding. That was ridiculous as well; watch that video too.

I can't believe professional football people, with access to hundreds of hours of video, and hundreds of pages of scouting reports, could have been taken in to the same degree. In other words, I hope rumours of our interest in this player was all paper talk. I hope too that we've heard the last of the, "Why didn't we sign Sanches?", talk.

[Belgiannutt 3,201]

28 minutes ago, Pizy said:

It's yet another indication that we are missing that one more special attacking player. It's not as frustrating lately because we've been creating plenty of scoring chances and getting into great positions, but Pedro and Willian both blow so hot and cold. They'll score a worldy one match and then like today they'll get into great positions and fluff their lines.

We need an aggressive, clinical attacking player to play with Morata and Hazard.

Disagree Pizy. I don't think we need an attacking player. Imo the 3-5-2 should be our starting formation.

 Better wingbacks and more quality on the ball in central midfield is a must for me. (that + some squad depth)

We're extremely poor in the wide areas due to our wingbacks inabillity to take on their direct opponent and lack of a final ball.

[OhForAGreavsie 5,775]

24 minutes ago, -Kaplan- said:

Confused the Carabao sign with one of his own players lol

Feel sorry for him. Taken off at half time. Moving to Bayern was his worst mistake. 

No, it was a great decision by Sanches. HIs limited ability means he was always going to be found out because people were going to see past the hype sooner or later. He was very wise to cash in while he could. Had he stayed in Portugal, he would have ended up at a mid table side, with a lot less money in the bank. The mistake was Bayern's. They offered him the equivalent of a guaranteed winning ticket on the lottery, and he took it. Well played son.

[Pizy 17,860]

47 minutes ago, Belgiannutt said:

Disagree Pizy. I don't think we need an attacking player. Imo the 3-5-2 should be our starting formation.

 Better wingbacks and more quality on the ball in central midfield is a must for me. (that + some squad depth)

We're extremely poor in the wide areas due to our wingbacks inabillity to take on their direct opponent and lack of a final ball.

Both can be true. Right wing back position in particular can be improved but wouldn't change the fact that Willian and Pedro fail to finish the vast majority of the time. Willian especially gets past players time and time again but disappoints with the final ball. A more clinical player would score 15 PL goals per season from the positions he often gets into.

[the wes 7,212]

11 minutes ago, Pizy said:

A more clinical player would score 15 PL goals per season from the positions he often gets into.

Nabil Fekir or Sanchez

[Leif 6,006]

29 minutes ago, the wes said:

Nabil Fekir or Sanchez

I think i'd rather take Sanchez. Fekir, although better than, strikes me more as being Mahrez' level. Sanchez, though not as good as, strikes me more as being Hazard's level. I'd rather 2 exceptional seasons from a player, than a handful of 7-out-of-10 seasons, which I imagine Fekir would provide. It's not myth that the Premier League is a different beast, and Sanchez has proven himself well. I may be missing a trick with Fekir, but Sanchez has almost as many moments as Hazard which make my mouth foam. Never has he had a patch in his career either where he was ineffective, even during his most outcast days with Barcelona. 

He's been the talk of our transfer windows for a while now, and he still should be. Like Robben & Ribery, I imagine he'll be among the best until 33 or so. That's just enough time to get us back on top of English football. For me, Fekir is a dream bench option. It's blasphemy to suggest such a productive player take the bench, but Madrid/Bayern/Barcelona would do it, to good effect. Willian isn't good enough, Pedro is barely good enough IMO, so who's the next level up without being undisputed-starter-level for the very most top teams? Fekir. (I was on his wikipedia earlier today, and he has a decent and possibly problematic rags-to-riches type story, for football's standards. He played for Lyon's youth team; he was deemed not good enough; ended up at like 5 other youth teams; eventually St Etienne wanted to sign him and presumably fast-track him into their senior squad; he declined (they're bitter rivals with Lyon), and awaited Lyon's return for him with confidence, eventually re-signing with the hope to prove them wrong, which he's now doing.)

[Belgiannutt 3,201]

57 minutes ago, Pizy said:

Both can be true. Right wing back position in particular can be improved but wouldn't change the fact that Willian and Pedro fail to finish the vast majority of the time. Willian especially gets past players time and time again but disappoints with the final ball. A more clinical player would score 15 PL goals per season from the positions he often gets into.

Not disagreeing with that but it's easier to bench Willian/Pedro for the 3-5-2. If we sign a top attacking player he's gonna want to play. It'll be a lot more difficult to switch to a 3-5-2. 

And even with a quality injection to our front 3 against the top teams the 3-4-3 is just too vulnerable in the midfield area. 

I don't think we lack goals. We just lack quality in the wider areas and our midfield options are also too defensive (not enough quality on the ball)

Of the 4 midfield options we have 3 of them are defensive players. 

[ccheongf 211]

Poor performance , no ceativity, no playmaker ( dribblers )  to open up the game . Young players not given chance at all. Musondy, Kennnedy etc. No chance ,at least a young player in every game is a must. At least gv him 30 minutes of game time. Once again, the champion will be Manchester City. Chelsea will be fightning for third spot to fifth spot this season. Not a champion team.

[Strike 6,961]

Yawn. Snoozefest.

I fell asleep towards the end

[The Skipper 20,593]

4 hours ago, OhForAGreavsie said:

Only those impressed by a few flashy touches and/or Bayern's transfer policy, ever thought anything of this smoke and mirrors player. His selection as young player of the last Euros was ridiculous; watch the all touches videos.

Some people assessed his preseason display against us as outstanding. That was ridiculous as well; watch that video too.

I can't believe professional football people, with access to hundreds of hours of video, and hundreds of pages of scouting reports, could have been taken in to the same degree. In other words, I hope rumours of our interest in this player was all paper talk. I hope too that we've heard the last of the, "Why didn't we sign Sanches?", talk.

Completely disagree, just looks like a player completely shot of confidence. He had a great season at Benfica before he went to Bayern - completely the wrong move. The talent is there but he’s completely lost his way. He needs to maybe find himself a good club in Spain or Germany where he needs a good coach that can bring out his talent.

Sanches won the Golden Boy award last year - an award given to the best U21 player in Europe (not the Euros) so plenty of professional football people rate his talent. 

He should’ve stayed in Portugal. 

[OhForAGreavsie 5,775]

4 hours ago, The Skipper said:

Completely disagree, just looks like a player completely shot of confidence. He had a great season at Benfica before he went to Bayern - completely the wrong move. The talent is there but he’s completely lost his way. He needs to maybe find himself a good club in Spain or Germany where he needs a good coach that can bring out his talent.

Sanches won the Golden Boy award last year - an award given to the best U21 player in Europe (not the Euros) so plenty of professional football people rate his talent. 

He should’ve stayed in Portugal. 

Thanks Skipper. 

Its not often that I find my point of view so different to yours.

I wonder if you share my take that those voting for awards are not always particularly diligent in the way they approach the task. There would be an awful lot of football to watch in order to fully validate the vote they cast. Whether or not anyone actually watches all that football is doubtful but it can’t be doubted that these ‘voted’ awards are very susceptible to hype, profile and ‘flavour of the monthism.

I can’t, and won’t, attempt to dismiss Sanches’s Golden Boy award because I didn’t do the due diligence either. I did watch the Euros however and posted at the time to offer the opinion that his displays there were being overrated. Someone has to win Young Player of The Tournament but the fact it was Sanches reflected his being a part of the Portugal squad, and having been expensively signed by Bayern earlier that summer, as much as it did his actual displays.

Sometimes a player underperforms because he’s at the wrong club, at the wrong time and sometimes it’s because he’s not up to it. If this player is as good as he was initially assessed to be, then I’ve failed to spot it. Let’s hope for the young man’s sake that I am in error. 

[Fulham Broadway 16,392]

Moses looked rusty along with a couple of others after Conte was removed, might be a coincidence.

Kante is the engine of that team, we don't want him out and  ....it was fucking freezing last night !

In other news ''Azpilicueta missed his first Chelsea PL game for the first time since December 2015, having played 90 minutes in each of the Blues' last 74 top-flight matches.'' 

Lazy.

[Special Juan 27,101]

Don't change Antonio, the refs deserve stick for the shit showing they put in week in and week out.

3 points in the bag, happy days.

[manpe 10,855]

6 hours ago, ccheongf said:

Young players not given chance at all. Musondy, Kennnedy etc.

Injured.

[petre.ispirescu 4,928]

6 hours ago, ccheongf said:

Once again, the champion will be Manchester City. Chelsea will be fightning for third spot to fifth spot this season. Not a champion team.

Lost track of how many league titles City have won lately to be fair. It's an incredible amount of TWO league titles since the Arabs took over in 2008.

I think I know a certain club that has won two league titles in the past three years, nevermind ten...

[kellzfresh 7,226]

11 hours ago, Belgiannutt said:

Disagree Pizy. I don't think we need an attacking player. Imo the 3-5-2 should be our starting formation.

 Better wingbacks and more quality on the ball in central midfield is a must for me. (that + some squad depth)

We're extremely poor in the wide areas due to our wingbacks inabillity to take on their direct opponent and lack of a final ball.

With the amount of space our wingbacks have, and constant 1 on 1's they get, they should be causing a lot of dangerous attacks, but they all cant cross a ball (Azpi is our best crosser  ) Alonso gets the most 1 on 1 situations in our team but cant beat a man, and zapacossta cant make right decisions when in dangerous areas. Look at the amount of space they had against swansea but couldnt capitalize. We just have to improve on them if we want to be dominant world class team with 3-5-2.

[yuvala 2,167]

Man.. too many average players in this team. It's not gonna cut it if we want to be at the very top.
Just imagine if Hazard leaves this summer.. then we're only left with Kante, and maybe Cesc, who I still value (not talking about defenders).

We have to do some serious upgrading in the summer because Willian and Pedro aint gonna cut it.. same goes for Zappacosta/Moses and probably Alonso aswell.