OhForAGreavsie

Agreed. After the second leg of the 2018 Youth Cup Final, Callum was asked about the relationship among the lads. He made the same point you have and added that they were all hoping to represent the men's team together one day. Whatever temptation might have come along since, one super talented member of that team has already left the club, it was clear that Callum was accurately reporting the feeling among the group. Of course Reece was captain of that team.

YouTube vid of today's goal vs Bristol City: - The strike is neither here nor there, all players can score those or, more often, miss them. As @Vesper pointed out, it's the strength in the turn and run that's the thing to see here.

For now, I'm hoping it's the the same lawyer and that CAS will agree that they were right all along.

I prefer to work on the assumption that the club, knowing the facts, taking advice from lawyers, and having the ability to liaise with all concerned are far better placed to judge the right way to handle this than I am.

You're right, it could but I doubt it and I suspect you do too. If we hoped that would be so it would be like an electorate thinking that voting for the 'correct' party will solve all of their problems. A director of football is not a magic wand. We had one and plenty of people here were hurling insults at him and calling for his head.

Azpi should be weary of Wigan manager Paul Cook's comment about Reece's role in his squad, "Reece was brought in to provide defensive cover. After a couple of training sessions it was obvious he wasn't going to be defensive cover." As I said last summer, I think this lad is the best prospect to come out of Chelsea's academy since John Terry.

Wigan fan site, Latics Speyk, is conducting its Player of The Year poll. So far about 5.7% of voters have not voted for nineteen year old Reece James. That leaves 94.3% who have voted for him. Back in January one of the Latics Speyk members, bored of Reece winning player of the month, every month said the voting was a waste of time and that they might as well award Reece all the monthly trophies, and the POTY then and there. The only real argument against Reece came in this post, "Sam for me...Because hes ours not somebody else's." To which someone else replied, "That is a very good point and the thought had crossed my mind but Reece James is such an exceptional talent I could not vote for him." [By 'him' the poster means 'Sam Whoever', not Reece.] Meanwhile the local paper is putting forward the idea that Reece could be the finest player ever to play for Wigan. Either they are all getting carried away, or Reece is pretty decent. P.S. They're now debating closing the voting and opening another ballot for runner-up.

Signing a player is essentially a contract of employment between club and player. As long as that contract is legal under UK law, fifa can't dictate who Chelsea can or can't employ. What they can do is stipulate rules about who can take part in competitions which come under their umbrella. Perhaps the most central of all their stipulations is that only players registered with a club can represent it. A Transfer ban is a good shorthand but what's really being threatened is a registration ban.

I formed that opinion while Reece was still playing development football, never mind Championship stuff. I believe in the lad.

Callum has had some minutes and, in my opinion, Reece is the better prospect of the two.

Reece can also compete for a place at CB. In any case, if United, Liverpool, Spurs or City want Wan Bissaka, I doubt we'd get him. Ban or no ban.

The club posted this under the heading of 'That winning feeling'. Absolutely. https://www.chelseafc.com/en/videos/v/2019/03/27/that-winning-feeling--BtaW5paDE6c8GxQW5QxBtcND9JsTngux?cardIndex=0

Magical and I'm told Kaz says she absolutely meant it. I had my doubts.

Well, I have nothing against any young player and wish all of them well in pursuit of their dream. If Daishawn proves to be a top drawer striker I'll be delighted for him. In all honesty however, I can't say that I've yet seen that level of quality in him. If people do not have the quality as teenagers they don't acquire it later. There are no miracles, magic is not real. The only way for a Messi calibre player to emerge from an academy at the age of 18, is for a Messi calibre kid to walk into it some years before. Coaches can teach players what to do with their talent, but no one can teach the talent itself. For this reason, while players do develop as you've said, they do not, and can not, develop beyond their talent group. James Milner is a player I love. He makes the most of every ounce of quality he was born with. I shake my head in disbelief when people belittle his contributions but he is what he is, and no more. Most young men who like football become obsessed with it. No one has to tell them to go out and play more. It's more likely people have to tell them to play less. Milner will have practiced every hour he could as a boy. That undoubtedly helped him get where he is, but no one thinks he would have become Messi if he had practiced for an extra hour or two a day. As I say, he is what he is. I like Daishawn. I hope he will make a good living for himself in football and get the chance to chase his dreams. He too is what he is however so I do not believe that he will become an elite striker. I may of course be wrong but that's the way it is for any of us when we express an opinion. I challenge you to consider if you might not actually agree with me. Not about Daishawn in particular, but about the fact that judgements of young players can, and must, be made. If you were responsible for player recruitment at Cobham, you would not just sign every youngster who turned up for a trial on the basis that you can never tell. Instead, you would use your judgement to try to identify the ones worthy of a closer look. You'd get some wrong, but I bet you'd get far more right. We've all watched football and we've all seen thousands of footballers. We have some idea of what it takes.

But not impossible. No he didn't. The first time I saw him play live, in a youth team game at Stamford Bridge, I posted to say that he was not good enough and would not make it at Chelsea. In fact I reached that conclusion within 20 minutes of kick-off. This will obviously sound like I'm boasting but I'm not. My point is that there is no reason why, if one person can see it, that everybody can not see it too. When scouting just don't start off determined to be pleased and avoid getting carried away by a good touch or good control. Those things are musts but they are no more than entry level requirements. Having them doesn't get you a contract at Chelsea, they get you noticed by the scouts. To be worthy of being recruited you need way more than that. Having those things does not make you a good player. Rather it is the case that not having them makes you an ordinary one. At best. An example of not being determined to be pleased by what you see? Callum was quite disappointing the other day. No he wasn't. Rather, Carlo was desperate for a Pirlo type, and the club was desperate for a breakthrough academy graduate. The experiment didn't last long. Josh, as he is proving in the Championship, is a decent pro but not Chelsea level. His little brother is a better player in my opinion. I like Daishawn. He's got some attributes but I don't rate him as a superstar prospect. He does eye catching things, and will grab headlines when he does, but he does not produce the consistent weight of value added contributions which sets the top level players apart. I prefer his development squad strike partner, Charlie Brown. Charlie looks to me like he's going to make a decent player. Will he get a gig with Chelsea? I doubt it.

The winning goal https://streamable.com/ycjxs

A large and loud home crowd, and a PSG side who were far better than the had been in the first leg, made it a tough night for Chelsea women. The girls were on the backfoot for long spells of the game and trailed 2-0 entering added time at the end of the ninety. Paris were good for that lead, but had managed to do no more than erase the two goal advantage we brought into the game from last week's first leg at Kingsmeadow. A goal from Norwegian international Maren Mjelde with less than two minutes of added time remaining sealed the tie. Next up for CFCW is a semi-final with defending European Champions Lyon. The French outfit is the best funded club in women's football who will be looking for their fourth straight European crown. They are a hell of a side and are the toughest opponent possible. They'll be heavy favourites but we're still there.

I hope this is true but it has to be admitted that things like this have been said about other managers over the last fifteen and a bit years.

I suspect that every top club in Europe had Arthur on their radar. Barca's advantages over us are insurmountable in such cases. I'm just glad City didn't get him, as I had feared that they might. We have tried in the South American market, but we've failed for a number of reasons. Robhino and Neymar are examples of players we've worked hard to sign but who were already coveted by teams higher up the food chain and so we lost out. (Not that I was keen on us signing Robinho from Real. I argued against it in many comments on the grounds that if he was worth the investment, a top club wouldn't be selling him in the first place.) I think such experiences have taught us to be speculative in trying to spot gems before the more attractive clubs do. That's fine in theory, but it's tough in practice. All top sides scout at least as widely as we do so we've had to fish in deeper and deeper water. This has made us overly speculative and our judgement seems to have been put aside. We seem to have decided to just roll the dice instead of targeting only those with genuine top level prospects. The first time I saw highlights of Wallace and Kennedy I knew, and posted to say, that they were not good enough. If their flaws are so obvious, how did they end up on our books? We Appear to have been beguiled by the flashy, and not paid enough attention to the whole of a player's game. It's an immature approach, and is one of the factors which has led me to speculate that Arkaidy had been 'cutting his teeth' in the transfer market. If that is so, then he has built up some experience which will be valuable going forward. Our chuck it at the wall, see if it sticks approach has damaged our standing in the transfer market but the policy you've outlined remains the rightly one if applied correctly. Many have bought in to it and @Vesper takes it to the next level by going beyond proposing the idea, and actually naming the potential targets,

Yet another video of Christian which asks more questions than it answers. I agree with one of the comments above however, the time to assess what CP brings is when he settles.

The call up is premature but Southgate has a policy of integrating youngsters. Seems to me that, so far, the England manager has handled youngsters well so no criticism from me. Just hope Callum will understand how to take this, and that he won't be tempted to think it means more than it really does.

Really hope you are right Tomo but I can't say I think I've seen it yet. If he fulfils the potential you and others have seen, then I think I'll enjoy it more than most because, at the moment, I'm not expecting it.

Finish was good but nothing else impressive. In truth, all of the rest which wasn't ordinary, was actually unimpressive. It's not easy coming off the bench and getting up to game speed I suppose.

At what time did you type this post? The draws did all work out exactly as we might have wanted I thought. We even got the home tag, if we should reach the final.