OhForAGreavsie

Were you at the preseason game against Wimbledon where Spackers, Speedo and Kerry made their debuts? At least I think it was their debuts. There might have been an earlier game outside London but I can't be sure. Then, as now, I only went to games in the capital. I think we might have beaten the Dons 3-0 that day, but I do remember for sure that there was a feeling of a new start and that Uncle Ken was claiming the credit. Of course.

Surely there is no debate. Jose is number one. There isn't even another contender. Let's hope that, ten years from now, the conversation about Jose will have been relegated to wondering if he is our second best manager ever, after Frank.

Welcome Mike. Looking forward to reading your take on all things Chelsea.

Yes, I tend to think that it was KDB's spell at Wolfsburg that opened the eyes of the world to the full range of his talent. It was undoubtedly his year at Bremen however which encouraged them to pounce for him when he decided to force his way out of Chelsea.

A chicken and egg situation. It could be argued that he struggled for consistency because he was used in various positions, or that he was used in various positions because he wasn't performing up to his potential often enough in any one of them. Either way, I regret the loss of KDB far more than that of Moh Salah. We are where we are.

I met my younger daughter's then boyfriend for the first time in summer 2012. A while later we met again and talked football when he asked what I thought of Eden. I told him that we had sent the best player we signed that year out on loan to Germany. I had watched a lot of KDB when he finished the season with Genk after joining us in the January window and fell in love with his game. Full disclosure, I watched virtually every game KDB played at Bremen but was sometimes less than impressed with his displays there, often posting to say that I thought his performances were attracting more praise than they deserved. That's not to say I thought he was always bad; the quality he possesses will eventually shine through, but he did have a few bad games for Werder.

Yep I'm sold. Who wouldn't be? 🙂

I received an email saying I had received a personal message from a member called @erty11Perhaps foolishly I clicked the link in the email to see the message. It brought me to the site but no message existed here. I searched for the name and found that the member had joined just moments before the email was sent. There has been no other activity from that user. Of course the name, using four consecutive letters from the top row of the keyboard, seems unusual. I'm guessing that if the message is genuine erty11 will try to get in touch again. If so, I do know the answer to the enquiry you made but please get in touch by posting a reply to this message.

All around the world Liverpool fans breathe out and relax just a little bit.

I'm thinking we should reject the Mertens deal for tactical reasons if nothing else. Once before we've had the reputation of being a retirement club. If players believe they can still get a good contract out of Chelsea aged 33 they'll prioritise going elsewhere first, then come here at a time when they know the super competitive clubs won't touch them. It's just common sense; extend your playing years and maximise your career earnings. The retirement club reputation is hard to shake off so, no thanks to 33 year olds. (Unless it's for a very specific, short term need.) It's hard, and getting harder, but we must compete for quality footballers at, or in advance of, their peak years.

I really want Bellingham so I won't give up hope till we see him holding up a United shirt.

The lad looks very ordinary to me. Can't believe, or perhaps just don't want to believe, we are considering this.

If I knew how to add applause emoji I would.

Personally, I was dead against Alexis and argued that "he liked to dribble in circles and only considered passing as an act of last resort". Pepe, on the other hand, I liked. Is the jury still out on him?

I'm not totally against bringing Coutinho here, but it's a move that I could do no more than accept very unenthusiastically. I'd certainly see no point in signing him if he wasn't slated to be in our top team, but how would he fit in that team?

I agree with this but I would finesse it a little bit and say we shouldn't look to bring him in unless it is deliberately as a stopgap. If, for example, we know the long term signing we want isn't available now, but will be in summer '21 and we have a deal in place for that to happen.

Thank you. The lockout out went away and I was hoping that it was something at the Talkchelsea end because, if it's at my end, that must mean a changed setting or a malicious piece of software. Hope not.

I don't know how I feel about this. I think that's because I haven't seen enough of Hakim. My feeling, not based on much I admit, is that he's a bit like Ganso the Brazilian. Ganso loves the pass, loves finding clever ways to move the ball to teammates. That makes him play a bit deeper and I get the feeling that Hakim would tend to drift deeper than we might want a false 9 to operate. Almost entirely guess work on my part.

Like most people, I also think we need a striker. Specifically, one who is a clear upgrade on Tammy because, bluntly, I don't think Tammy is good enough. I therefore watched the video below looking for signs that Osimhen can do stuff that Tammy can't. While I did see one or two things I liked, I saw no indication that this bloke's attributes put him a level up from Tammy. I'm not interested in Chelsea signing Osimhen.

I'm about to type swear words, well almost anyway. I hope no one will hold this against me the next time I comment on unnecessary profanity in posts. This is Tottenham after all. Surprisingly it's not actually Spurs, but Rick Glanville who's got my back up here. Who the f is embarrassed about celebrating the draw against Spurs? I'm still celebrating it now. It's Spurs, f 'em. Of course they moaned and mocked us for it, but, if the shoe had been on the other foot, they'd have made a DVD about stopping us winning the league. F 'em. And what's this bollocks about 'because we had a bad season'? If we'd finished third, won both domestic cups, and brought home the Champions League that season, there would still have been pandemonium when Eden scored. It's f'ing Tottenham. What are you on about Rick?

If all the idiots were in America it would be bad enough, but they're everywhere.

In addition to what Tomo said above, and leaving aside the Newcastle wild card, I think we have a good chance to improve our competitiveness against all classes of opposition. We have a manager who I believe knows how to pick a player and who, as I suspected he would, seems to have more influence over transfer decisions than any of his recent predecessors. We may not be top of the food chain for star players, but we have more than enough 'pull' to buy big players, even if we continue to miss out on the big 'names'. For example, for the cost of one relatively cheap transfer we can put together a midfield which I believe would be a match for almost anybody three years from now; Bate, Bellingham & Kovacic. (You read it here first. ) Even if we miss out on Bellingham, there are other good players. Some of whom are already contracted to Chelsea.

Well said. As for Kepa specifically, I was strongly against signing him but that was about value for money and transfer priorities, not about him lacking quality. I simply felt that Marcin Bulka for free, plus £71m extra to spend on outfield players, was much better squad planning than shelling out big for a goalkeeper. I still feel that way. If Frank has genuinely lost faith in our Spaniard then let's pick up a competent keeper from somewhere and focus as much of our budget as possible on other positions.

Of course, I've no idea where the truth is in this report but I don't see why it should be assumed that this would be Frank's decision. Any player might choose PSG over Chelsea these days.