quickpassnmove

Right wing recruiters are watching you.

Guys, Emenalo was a complete fuck-up IMO. Look back at the players he DID find (and the "finding" part of that isn't really an accomplishment, because, hey! newsflash: Belgium were full of up-and-coming talent and every scout knew this. Look back and think about Chelsea signing Yossi Benayoun and Raul Meireles. Look down the road and see the other crap signings. Marko Marin? What a joke and that one was predictable. Anyway, even if it seems that CFC are clueless and lack vision and leadership, at least we saw the backside of Emenalo. Yeah, IDK who finds de Bruyne and Salah and fails to produce or argue the need for a buyback clause in BOTH CASES when they're sold. Chelsea's two biggest fuck-ups were under Emenalo: Torres and deBruyne. Now Salah is racing for the Premier League scoring title. Craptastic but Emenalo is gone. Now Chelsea are in a limbo phase with Marina and Conte. What's next?

In loving memory: https://www.uefa.com/uefachampionsleague/season=2014/matches/round=2000479/match=2011832/postmatch/report/index.html

I don't think Conte has adapted to the English league despite the title last season. Our last two titles were won while other big English sides were weakened, IMO. Hard to say what Antonio could do under different circumstances; we will probably never see "different circumstances" for him. I don't think he will return to England. He knows the game well, but I question how well he can adapt to making the most from an inferior squad. Also, IMO, Kenedy may prove to be a player that symbolizes how either Conte or Chelsea (pressure on the manager for success?) fail to foster young talent within their 1st team ...again. This club has been demonstrating the same problem repeatedly since Mourinho left the first time: Chelsea don't have the leadership and vision required to strike their own successful path with their own identity. Now that some other Premier League club have spent big in recent windows, it's going to take a lot of spending (spend like Madrid/ManCity/Barca) -OR- some genuine vision and leadership to make Chelsea competitive not only England again, but especially in the Champions League.

Mainly it's the board. Also, I know that Batshuayi and Bakayoko are NOT Conte signings. Even though Morata has struggled and is not coping well with Premier League referees and defenders, the lack of a 2nd striker in the squad is critical. There was too much change that needed to happen with the Chelsea squad for many windows now. To me, Chelsea have been trying to play catch-up for years already --and no, they've not bought top players along the way (aside from Kante, Diego, Fab). No one has come in to help Hazard aside from Diego (Fabregas negligible most of the time due to position in RCM and lack of speed). On top of that, pissing away two huge players like de Bruyne and Salah without buyback clauses hasn't helped. https://talksport.com/football/antonio-conte-paying-michael-emenalos-mistakes-transfer-market-says-former-chelsea-star-ray#JQRisXaxId9cSVz4.99

I've seen more of Guerreiro and if he costs less, I would recommend him. Don't know what to say about Sandro's current performance; he looked very good to me when he was with Porto. Sandro is still elite, Guerreiro needs to prove himself more over a long stretch to be at Sandro's level. I can't pick one or the other, but IF it's a deal you want, go with Raphael.

I agreed on this many months ago. Fortunately, this time it may not be like deBruyne, Salah, or Bertrand --but then again, it might become the same.

I really don't know what to think at this point. Acknowledging that we aren't going to sign the top players does not mean we cannot build a strong team, but at the same time it leaves us all wondering where the club is headed. Ultimately, I just want to see some better football on the pitch --and we need a lot more than Hazard to do that up top. Summer window's priorities should be another striker, another RW who can score (where was the Salah buyback clause?), another defender and another CM. With those 4 summer signings, we will see how many are top players or rising superstars. This summer will define Chelsea's future prior to the new stadium's construction or whatever landmark you choose. It might be a while until CFC rise again. Not an awful window that others suggest IMO. Chelsea are not yet decided on the future of their manager and haven't hired anyone for Emenalo's position yet. To me, the club have been confused since signing Torres.

This guy will not last at CFC. I expect our club to be more decisive on moving weak players along in the future. Unfortunately, the solid passing CM, the total footballer --just like the power centre forward is becoming a rare gem when you're outbid by bigger clubs. May need to scout more in S. America or Spain. Too bad England has too many restrictions on signing S. American footballers who've not played with their national teams.

schick isn't good enough to take over as striker yet? surely Roma are NOT expecting to win anything this season anyway.

How is Patrik Schick doing? Ah, I guess he becomes the striker for Roma if Chelsea buy Dzeko!

ah, guess he was 29 when he left City for Roma.

I like this signing. As many have said, the big CF seems like a rare breed these days, so who cares if he's 29 y.o.? This is the kind of striker I like and the kind of striker Conte wants. Not the greatest, but he will do. Just wondering why Chelsea didn't go for him before (instead of Bats). Emenalo ideas? We would already have two good strikers and working on the next great AM or RW player transfer if someone had gotten this right before. Anyway, things aren't fabulous at our club, but one LB, one CM, and one striker can greatly improve our chances --just forget about the CL for now.

Interesting possibility. If it weren't for some personality problems and an abundance of injuries, Andy would be one of my favorite players in all of football, I think. Will Chelsea ever find a striker as good as Drogba again?

I think we need another CM signing ASAP along with the Barkley signing. Bakayoko isn't Chelsea material; offload.

I've barely been watching matches this season. If Chelsea swap managers and fail to improve the squad with top players, what the hell is the point of watching next season? Hilarious. Hire a new CEO aimed at global marketing and keep rummaging the bargain bin. Who the fuck is going to watch this unfold and continue to have interest in CFC?

Hopefully he matures under Conte and company. I'm not a fan of Barkley, but I wish him and CFC well with this transfer. Definitely a player with a lot of potential and plenty of strength and skill on the ball. Someone who can improve interplay with Eden Hazard from CM. 15 million? Great buy. Need a left back and a new RB. Guess that new attacker will wait until summertime.

Chelsea won't play any better under another manager. Today was about as good as it gets with the current squad. Simply lacking quality in the squad and depth. Perfect example of why I don't bother watching matches much anymore. Wait until Chelsea buy or work in players that will make them dangerous in the Prem and in Europe. Might be worth seeing again. Don't know about Morata right now. Liverpool need one star striker added to their squad and I think they will be good enough next year to compete for the trophy assuming the VvD maintains excellent play and leadership at the back. Chelsea, by contrast, sit higher in the table but the squad needs a lot more before next season begins.

Milivojević buy?

What a season this is so far. That January window... what will it bring? Looks like ManCity need nothing at the moment.

JT was great; no question there. However, the other centre back with him hasn't been top European quality for a long while and our fullbacks/wingbacks are nowhere near what they should be. Centre midfield: year after year, I think this is also a weakness at Chelsea and only recently it's been covered up by the fact that we acquired Kante in summer 2016. There was a big drop off after Makelele and although we wouldn't have been expected to find another Claude Makelele, our CM was still relatively WEAK on complete footballing ability (see Barca, Madrid, Juve, Bayern, and others in England, etc. since 2007), I think we should have had better all-round centre midfielders during every season since Claude left (along with DEPTH). So, YES, what Campos stated is true of Chelsea for most of the last 10 years. While Man Utd have struggled to make the next generation of fullbacks and centre midfielders work for them, they've spent far too much on attacking midfielders without backing them up with quality from behind. It's clear that Pep has had a different set of priorities. I would argue that our own Antonio would mostly build from the back too, but Chelsea haven't acquired enough since his arrival.

I think Chelsea will be averaging 1.3 goals per PL match played soon.

I love this text from an interview with Campos back in March/April because it's so relevant in the case of Chelsea (although we also currently lack excellent forwards to play with Eden and Alvaro):

My view is that he's never been given enough playtime, nor in the right position to gradually gain confidence and make an impact at 1st team level for Chelsea. It's often the same with young Chelsea players, but Ruben hasn't been put into the mix in the right way yet, nor consistently played to adapt in centre midfield.

I think Ruben should be playing in a 4-3-3 where the CMs alternate getting forward. He would be a perfect player to have combining with Eden on the left CM area regularly, but FFS we need a good LB. Even with Ruben potentially returning to Chelsea, I still say CFC need a couple of better centre midfielders from the market to supplement Kante. So, to summarize that point of view: our future midfield consists of Kante, RLC and....... WHO for quality starters? I'm fine with Danny D. because he knows Kante, but Cesc and Tiemoue? Right now, I am not even going to count Cesc and Tiemoue as legit starters for the future unless Bakayoko show us more once we have a more complete squad. As much a Tiemoue is underwhelming right now, I don't want to judge players harshly when our side has clear deficiencies around our formation. Fucking stupid how Chelsea limp through seasons with mediocre players as starters and bench players year after year and we try to make premature judgments about young players stepping into our side without quality support around them.