OhForAGreavsie

Then, this time, let's hope you are wrong. 🙂

Bad. Bellingham looks a really good player. I'm hoping that reports linking him with us are on the mark. Even though we may not get him, we should certainly be trying. If those reports are true, and if Frank is driving our interest, then this just reinforces my confidence in the judgement of the management team. Bellingham is a talented player who uses his ability to do simple things to a very high standard. The type of player I like.

Let's hope you are right

Following their international break the women are back in action on Sunday when they face a trip to Everton for an FA Cup quarter-final tie. The following Sunday, 22nd March, they host the same opposition in a vital Women's Super League game. Every match from now on is basically a must win for the girls as they seek to add the WSL title, and The FA Cup, to the League Cup they won at Notts Forrest's City Ground a week and a half ago. To celebrate that win, the club are putting the League Cup on show at Kingsmeadow before the home game with Everton, and offering a free glass of bubbly to over 18's who attend. Sounds like a good day to make your first trip to see Chelsea Women is you haven't yet. Meet fans in the bar before the game, pick up a glass of something sparkling, and support the girls in their quest for a historic treble. : - https://www.chelseafc.com/en/news/2020/03/10/chelsea-women-v-everton-women--conti-cup-on-display--free-drink-?fbclid=IwAR30xX7Rr_0tE_1maTeF0BsRQSkKQjUZEompHvTCNt7b7sdrIlzONXGpJIE Extended highlights of the League Cup Win: -

I understand that your comments are a general statement of your views, rather than a specific reaction to what I've said, but I'd like to respond to some of the things you've talked about. First, and absolutely foremost, I have no issue with people telling me I've got it wrong. Like all of us, I do get frustrated if people choose to be aggressive about their disagreement because that tends spiral into a slanging match and I'm no good at those. Obviously no insults in your post and I enjoyed reading it. On Mason: My view when he played youth football was that there were elements of his play which would not transfer to senior level. I thought he did well enough at Vitesse to earn a preseason with Mauricio so was disappointed it didn't happen. My view when he joined the squad was, and remains, that he has not yet proved himself. On Connor. I never believed I was watching a future first teamer when I saw him play development football so if/when he makes it here Connor will be one whose quality I failed to spot as a junior. For me, for now, he has it all to prove. On Billy and Lewis Bate. The first post I ever made about Billy (before we signed him) was to say that I thought we had more talented youth players already. I have however gone out of my way to reiterate the fact that more talented does not necessarily mean better. As for Lewis, I remain confident of my opinion about that comparison. His movements are crisper, his touch is tighter, his body control is sharper, and his manipulation of the ball when dribbling is more incisive. In addition, like Billy, his passing is forward looking and he likes putting his foot in. Where I disagree with you about Lewis is the idea that, if all this were true, it would put him ahead of Billy already. As I've taken trouble to state in several posts, talent is only one factor. SFL likes to remind people that he felt there were more talented scholars than him in the West Ham youth side. None of us have ever heard of any of them. I'm eager to see how Lewis progresses but he has more developing to do so, for now, he is rightly behind Billy. On Ethan. I've previously said I don't think he has top four quality so, since I hope we will restablish ourselves at that level, I think Ethan faces a tough road.

Top four from. 🙂

And while I'm at it, the goals from our 5th round demolition of Wolves: -

Very brief highlights of the 6th round win over Millwall. It wasn't our most convincing performance of the season but probably a little more solid than the score line might suggest.

That's fair enough, Tammy is entitled to negotiate the best deal he can get. I hope however that the club won't allow itself to overspend on the wages of our youngsters just because they are our youngsters. Pay them what they're worth for sure, but we still have to use the budget wisely.

I believe that Lewis Bate is more talented. That is NOT the same as saying he will be a better player. It takes more than just talent so, even if I'm right about the comparison, it's no guarantee that Lewis will even be as good as Billy. I'm very interested to see how Lewis develops however. Were I in a position to do so, I would take him into account when making squad decisions. A manager might veto it on grounds of size, because they are both small, but it is certainly possible that the two could play together. Everything has to go into the melting pot when squad building.

I agree it won't, and wouldn't, happen in either direction. I'm only offering a glimpse of an option I would consider.

I'd say unnecessarily high rather than too high, since it's only too high if he does not live up to it. Time will tell but, in the meantime, I do take your point. The attitude Chelsea people should adopt is that Billy's performance was encouraging, but nothing more than that. The press has a vested interest in seeing Billy become a story, our interest is in seeing him become a player. Hype helps the press, but it doesn't help Billy or us. He needs to keep his feet on the ground, and we do too.

Depends on the size of the offer. Large enough and...

Depends on the size of the offer. Large enough and I'd accept City's contribution to our rebuilding fund, go with Jorgi, Kova and other midfield options, while waiting for Lewis Bate to grow into Billy's boots.

If these figures are accurate, they sound like poor negotiating by United. They are still Man Utd, with huge newsworthiness and fanbase. From a sponsor's prospective, they are more attractive without CL, than almost every other club with it.

There is no denying that you could all be right but I suspect it'll be some other club's problem, not Chelsea's. Kane would be well advised to avoid a move to Stamford Bridge. Why invite all the grief he would be bound to get from Spurs fans? Easier to pick another club to move to. Unless it's a straight choice between us and moving back to Arsenal of course.

Big difference is that Kane actually is a good player, while the brief blip at Liverpool is the only part of Nando's career during which he looked anything other than average. It could not, and did not, last however. The injury excuse which has come to be believed is just a convenient nonsense that people tell themselves. No one listened to me when I was saying this during Nando's 'blip', and fair enough, no reason for anyone to take a random forum opinion seriously. In my view however, people don't have much excuse for continuing to buy the myth. I was depressed the day we signed Nando and laughed when the claim was made that we had appointed the unwanted one to get the best out of him. Benitez knew there was no best to find. That's why he was dropping Nando, and regularly subbing him before he left Liverpool. The players knew it too; Danny Murphy explained that anytime he spoke to ex Anfield teammates they talked about what Torres couldn't do rather than what he could, and Jamie Carragher revealed that the squad could not believe it when Chelsea offered £50m for a player they knew wasn't worth anywhere near that money. It really is time for the myth Torres created in a brief spell at Liverpool to stop being spread about. Fernando was an ordinary footballer, Kane is much better. There is no comparison.

Ollie is definitely our best striker. That fact is a problem in itself of course but, until the club fixes it, let's be grateful that no one matched his valuation in January.

Anyway... I came here to talk about the squad to face Liverpool, not Daniel Sturridge. Like lot's of us, I always expected Billy Gilmour to be involved in this game so anticipated that he would not play in the PL2 fixture last night and indeed he didn't. What was interesting is that Anjorin and Broja didn't either. Unless I've missed some other reason for their absence, they might also be involved tonight. I think that would be good news for Broja in particular who has been playing really well in the age group sides. Perhaps if we were better stocked at centre forward we might decide that it's too early for him to get a look at the first team, but our squad is what it is. Tino remains the young player most likely to produce a devastating moment of play, but he is also highly likely to have little or no impact on a game in between those moments. As was the case in last week's Youth Cup quarter final. The best player on the pitch that night, and once again against Everton 23's yesterday, was Lewis Bate.This lad is looking good player.

I was referring to the worldwide ban imposed on Daniel Sturridge, which prevents him playing for any club. Technically, a club could still sign him if they wish, they just can't play him. Since we would only be looking for Studge to be a stop-gap solution until the transfer window opens, any move for him is a no go. In any case, I doubt the club would have been interested. There was clearly a falling out between club and player before he left for Liverpool. In the months prior to that move, Roberto Di Matteo let slip at a press conference that he had been instructed not to select Sturridge. Bridges burnt probably. P.S. I've edited the original post to make it clear that I'm talking about Studge. Thanks for flagging the fact that my post needed to be better worded.

With the ban, we can't sign him anyway, but if we could I would. I know that the basic flaw in Studge's game, his greed in and around the box, must still be there. I argued years ago that this flaw is so obvious that coaches would have been trying to cure it since he was a boy. The fact that they were not able to do so before he reached his late teens indicates that it is hard wired into Daniel's psyche. He's therefore stuck with it. Even so, Sturridge is a better player than Bats and I would certainly have been tempted to offer him a 4-month contract. I think that would have helped us make it to the transfer window in better shape than we will now

Leaving aside Sturridge's ban, which rules out a move anyway, players who are without a club can be registered outside of the transfer windows. If he, or she, has no club, then joining a team is not a transfer, and so is permitted. I assume fifa would examine any such move carefully to ensure player and clubs are not attempting to game the system.

Thanks. That's as it should be.

We have to assume this is OK with fifa else it wouldn't be happening but surely any player signed in such circumstances should be restricted to representing his new club in domestic football only. Else this gives Spanish clubs an unfair advantage in uefa or fifa competitions. Does anyone know if there is such a restriction?

There was a press conference during the winter window where Frank dismissed any links to Zaha. That was, and is, a relief. I'm on record as saying I trust Frank's instinct on players. If he had any interest in Zaha I'd have had to reassess that.