OhForAGreavsie

I've been a big fan of Dembele's since I saw video of him aged 14. I'd been looking forward to his debut for along time but in the event didn't see the game against Hearts. I did read rave reviews of his cameo in that game though. Can't remember the exact wording but one report said something like he ran the game after coming on. Having since seen the YouTube clip that was a typical bit of over the top, honeymoon style, reporting. He showed a glimpse of his talent but his actual output wasn't much above OK. He's still a huge talent though and I can't wait to see how he progresses. I don't agree that Feruz could have amounted to anything had he not left Celtic when he did. First time I saw him in a youth game at The Bridge he annoyed me so much, I posted to say that whoever recruited him should be sacked. I thought him an ordinary player with a poor attitude. I hated the Sturrridge like way he hogged the ball, but showed his displeasure very visibly at any teammate who didn't pass to him. I didn't rate him and I didn't like him. Nothing about his career trajectory so far has surprised me in the least.

Some people are not going to be happy because on the face of it Marcos is here for the whole season now. At least. 🙂 More interesting is the fact that a new contract, followed by a loan, is exactly the prospect Juan faced in the summer. A prospect he rejected by refusing the contract offer and making it clear he was off. That was before he changed his mind when Frank was appointed. Everyone inferred that it was something Frank said which changed Juan's mind but that something can't have been, "Sign a new contract then we'll send you out on loan.", can it? What's changed? Well, one positive change is that Juan has seen Frank walk the walk, and not just talk the talk, about giving youth a chance. That can only have helped Juan's state of mind, yet off he's gone to Ajax. Could it be that the plan was to use Juan as Emerson's backup, and move Marcos on? A plan which died because there were no acceptable offers for Marcos? Pure speculation of course. As for Juan getting minutes at Ajax, it's worth noting that throughout preseason, and on into the serious fixtures, Juan has played on the left of midfield with a leftback, Ian Maatsen, behind him. Is there room for him to play higher up the pitch at Ajax? P.S. Hands up if you're old enough to remember when all of us in England called Johan Cruyff's great team A-Jacks, not aye-aks? Bet Ajax fans would happily suffer our stupid anglicised pronunciation all over again if they could have that side back. 🙂

Let's hope so but let us not forget that he signed a contract extension last summer.

Short of seeing a payslip, I simply will not believe that we are offering Callum even the previously reported £9m a year, nevermind £10m. I would have believed, and supported, paying Eden £20m a year but the young lads have to earn the mega deals. The only way the figures being thrown around would make any sense, is if clubs know that there is another explosion in television money coming. If that was the case then, I could see them making their budget plans accordingly. Given that the current Premier League deal represented a real terms decrease from the previous one however, I just can't see it.

I would not have said very, but I do agree that he's done well defensively.

A perfect summation of the situation. That situation is particularly badly exposed if we compare our depth at leftback with Manchester City's. In my opinion, any of the four options they have at LB would, when fit, be the stater here. Edit: I moved the second paragraph from a different post because it made more sense as a response to what @Tomo had to say. I did that after Tomo had 'liked' the original version of this post, so maybe he wouldn't want to associate himself with the comparison I made to Man City.

I'm betting against that. So far through preseason and in the early days of the season proper, Emerson has played one half that I was happy with. The rest of his output has frustrated the heck out of me. His chronic one footless, and shyness about looking for a forward continuity pass, steals all of the forward momentum from a big percentage of our movements.

Unseen from women's preseason tournament in France. https://www.chelseafc.com/en/videos/v/2019/08/08/_access--chelsea-s-pre-season-tour-of-france-NxNzBiaTE6Mn3mnmbSubCGTCrMVdCMLQ

Is everyone aware that Chelsea Women are playing Tottenham Hotspur Women in the opening fixture of the new WSL season? The game takes place at Stamford Bridge on Sunday 8th September. The club has said that they are expecting an attendance of 41,000 and all tickets were allocated some weeks ago. Yesterday however it was announced that there had been some returns so more tickets are on offer. This seems a perfect opportunity for anyone who has never seen Chelsea Women play, to take in a game. https://www.chelseafc.com/en/news/2019/08/27/tickets-available-for-chelsea-women-vs-tottenham-at-stamford-bri

The women's section in the Players' Lounge forum has become a place to discuss anything about CFCW because there is nowhere else where general discussions about the women's team can go. It seems to me that the Players' Lounge should logically be for comments about individual members of the women's squad only, so, I've started a new topic in the Matthew Harding forum for discussion of general subjects around the Chelsea Women's team. Would a mod take a look at this please and decide if this is a sensible way to go or not.

A thread in which to discuss news and opinions regarding Chelsea Football Club Women's Team. There is a Women's section in the Players' Lounge which is provided for comment about individual members of the CFCW squad, but this topic can be used for more general content.

I hope for Kennedy's sake that this is true and comes to fruition.

It must be too early to judge the value of the loan so we should give club and player time to settle. As for Ethan's potential future at Chelsea I believe that would have to be at CB. It doesn't look to me that he has the game to be a midfielder for us.

I have watched Connor many times at various development levels, but have not seen him play for Charlton. I confess this is because I have never really believed that he is a Chelsea player in the making so he's not on my watchlist. Clearly there must be something to his game because he is enormously popular with coaches and teammates alike. I have never been able to recognise top-level quality in him however. My failing perhaps. According to a report I read, his performances have been generally quiet apart from the goals. No idea if that's an accurate assessment or not.

Lol

P.S. Checked and it was N'Golo that was referenced in the post to which I replied. 🙂

Oops. Sorry I thought it was Kante being discussed but ditto Rudi

Especially the next game since that gives us a credible reason to request he's left out of the French squad for the upcoming international games. If the French agree that will give him a timely break of three full weeks to recover.

We all like Callum, but it would be going too far to think that he has fully proved himself. As for Bayern's interest, we should recognise that as nothing more than them being willing to invest in potential. Look for example at the ridiculous fee they paid for Renato Sanches. When I said that he wasn't very good, and that his award as young player of the tournament at Euro 2016 was based on nothing more than name recognition due to that fee, someone told me (elsewhere) to shut up because I was just making myself sound foolish. Let's hope the lad makes a go of it at Lille, but his story only proves that Bayern's approval can't be seen as a guarantee. Callum is super talented, but so is Sanches. Now it's about Callum showing that he can do more with his attributes than the young Portugal international has so far managed to do with his.

It's good to read a few more realistic appraisals of Marina's role in transfers because the nonsensical version seemed to be in the majority for a long time. I confess I often avoided the 'The Board' thread because what I usually read there just annoyed the heck out of me. Perhaps I just wasn't reading the right posts before now.

Some narratives seem able to acquire a lot of resistance to the truth. I exchanged posts with someone a few years ago where I explained my own surprise at Ray's admission. That person wouldn't have it. He was adamant that Roman had driven the Torres deal and that Ray must be lying. Unambiguous statements to the contrary from Ray made no difference.

As was entirely predictable, and in fact predicted by me. Never good enough and fairly obviously so I think. I haven't watched Everton Soares but he doesn't look great on YouTube.

Good news. Thank you. I've been watching transfers since before the days when there was a window. Well since the days when it was open for about 46 weeks of the year, so I'm not sure 'by the way' is warranted. 🙂 It any case the comment is just a cliché. I'm sure you could make an even longer list of important January transfers than I can.

😞 I was hoping this wouldn't become a possibility until January, when we might be back in the game. http://www.sportbible.com/football/news-transfers-luka-jovic-set-to-leave-club-on-loan-this-summer-20190820

I thought Emerson was as poor as usual in the first half. Indeed it looked like we should shift LB from second priority in the transfer market, up to joint first. I thought he had a better second half however, even when everything around him had gone to pot. I don't say he was good, but I felt he was definitely better.