OhForAGreavsie

That's an option for sure and of course Frank has tried a three as well so that's a route SFL must be looking at. Ah, a back three. Fond memories of the days when we didn't have to hide behind the sofa every time the Blues concede a corner, or free kick near their box.

I think Frank is more articulate and intuitive. He shares strength of character with JT but he is also more charming and seems to me to be more capable of influencing people around him. That includes Roman, the board, the press, everybody. I expect him, gradually, to be granted more influence at board level than any other manager in the Roman era. We'll see.

Do you agree that Azpi's most consistent performances for Chelsea came when he played at CB, albeit in a three?

Sure the club is working on it but Reece did sign a new deal last summer.

He (Azpi) is a good option as a squad player. Experience, knowledge of, and commitment to, the club, plus the ability to cover three positions.

I believe in Frank. Over the years whenever people have talked of JT as a future Chelsea boss, I have said no, absolutely not for me. I have always said that I wanted, one day, to see Frank in the job however. I have absolute confidence that SFL will handle this in the right way. As for succession planning, Cesc Fabregas is the man I'd pencil in as Frank's successor if the need arises. I hope he'd have the sense to choose us over Arsenal if he had the choice.

Where you been? We need your voice around here. Our numbers are small but, in my opinion, the general quality of posts on this forum is very high. If you are going to be regular again that seals the deal.

As I posted to say roughly a year and a half ago. (Around April/May time in 2018.) I don't think I was as reasonable about it as you though; I'm pretty sure I didn't say, "I think".

As a number of people here have been observing since his youth team days, Reece is the best crosser of a ball in the club. When I made this point back then I always added, "of any age", to emphasise that I didn't mean just among the youngsters,. I'm sure none of us think that clarification is necessary any longer. He's the best we have. As for the headache, I'm sure Jody has known for a long time that Reece is the best RB in the club. That's based on Jody's comments while they were working together in the U18s. Now, I think Reece has proved this even to people who don't watch Chelsea as closely as we all do. It's just a matter of Frank getting comfortable with the idea of shifting/benching Azpi, and I don't think it can take much longer now. I say this because SFL demonstrates all the time that he has a preference for quality, and that he understands its importance in building a great team. The majority of the quality in our side comes from Jorgi and Kova. They are great, but they are not enough. Reece adds more of the right level and Frank won't resist that opportunity for much longer.

OK, thank you. It's as I thought. He outright said it, not alluded to it.

Agreed, the state of the pitch was a big issue. By the way, did Antonio allude to it, or did just say it?

Yep.

Anyone else suspect the booking may have been intentional to control the timing of the suspension?

Yes, I'm afraid I have to agree with this. I'm sold on Reece and I believe in Fik, but the rest of the graduates have much to prove.

I first heard this on Match of The Day, when Gary Lineaker said that Puli was the youngest Chelsea player ever to score a hattrick. No mention of the "in the Premier League bit". Of course that made me ask, "You what?" Jimmy Greaves was younger than Puli is now when he left Chelsea. By then he had scored five in a game three times, four in a game three other times, and seven more hattricks on top of those. We'll give Gary that he meant ever in the Premier League.

We've all been there Tomo.

I saw his contribution in a post match interview with Puli. It wasn't good and he seemed nervous. He's a lot more at home on CTV where he does better. He's not one of the best but he is usually much better than he looked in that segment.

Define 'give'?

How long do we have to wait, for politeness sake, before we expect the Eden back to Chelsea stories?

Both, along with Callum, still have a lot to prove. I think the media is assessing Mason as if he's further along currently than in fact he really is. Callum has shown his fabulous talent but more often than not he hasn't done much with it. Ruben maybe, maybe, was about to have a breakout before the injury but it is definitely still a maybe.

As usual with your shopping list posts, I don't know some of the players you mention but I know enough to be fully on board with the two lines quoted above. The club needs to start singing your favourite tune. Not only do we need to buy smart, but equally important, we need to sell smart too.

Yes, a player does not need to be a goal scorer in order to be a valuable midfielder, or anything else for that matter. What counts is his contribution to the team. Of course. None of that impacts what I said though. I said if Kova had been a goal threat that Madrid would not have sold him and I'm firmly convinced of that. For one thing, they would then have found it easier to play him in the same midfield as Modric. Real clearly saw Kova's quality, hence the decision to sign him, but eventually they had to accept his lack of goal output and consider if, without them, he was the right fit for their squad. He's here so we know their conclusion, but Kova + goals = no Chelsea.

True but... We have to accept that weak area of his game is why he's here. If he were a goal threat Real would never have sold him, and he'd never have left.

I also thought Kova was a candidate for POM today.

Managers always tell players that they have to play well if they want to get into the side. Once you do, they say you have to keep playing well if you want to stay in. We've heard Frank say stuff like that at pretty much all of his pressers, so, he may feel that he has to live up to those ideas and keep Marcos and Willian in the line up. The wild card though is that he could have one eye on Ajax. I can see him wanting to keep Willian fresh for that game, and also wanting Emerson's better physicality for Amsterdam. If that thought process dominates his thinking then I can see Pedro and Marcos in today, then Willian and Emerson on Wednesday.