OhForAGreavsie

Been reminded that bullet points don't work here. Everything I put into those points has disappeared and can't be bothered to type it out again so deleted for now.

Most times I watch Griezmann, he disappoints.

Who are you and why have you hacked Vesper's account?

Sound approach as long as we're prepared to walk away when they say "нет".

Zenit have nothing to loose, and perhaps a lot to gain, by dragging this out so, if he does move this window, it's likely to be late in the month.

I don't know if the blue and whites of Sheffield have ever played Abergavenny but it would be fun to say, "I'm going to see Wednesday play Thursday on Saturday."

Thanks for the vid. Love watching the old boy play, even if that collection could have done without the goal against Chelsea. The precision in Greavsie's finishing was just outrageous. Definitely one of the extra terrestrials. Greaves tells a great story about the free kick at 1:25. He says two of his teammates were arguing about who should take it, so he decided to just put it in the net and let them worry about if afterwards.

I know. That's a real compliment. Thank you.

This all sounds encouraging. In fact, I'd like to add a fourth wide player of quality. Let's be able to cover absences, and to rotate freely as the manager wishes. That's the kind of power we all want. Some might worry that such a setup would limit opportunities for Callum but actually a more powerful squad could encourage the manager to play youth more often, secure in the knowledge that the team can handle the situation. As long as the manager worries that his team can only compete when it features all of his top players, performing at the top of their game, he will always avoid using other members of his squad. As counter intuitive as it seems, a more powerful squad is better for fringe players than a weak one. Also, we all loved it once upon a time when our squad had that kind of depth. This is encouraging too. Hope Christian is equally confident when he arrives. It'll help him and that can only help you to be saying, "I told you so.", a few months from now. I'm all for that. If Christian is doing the business this time next year then lay it on thick.

No one, well not me anyway, ever said that stories were not published. Stories are published on the basis of information offered, but that information is offered for specific reasons. Reasons which are almost never a desire to make the true facts of a transfer negotiation public. Indeed, it is almost always in the interests of everyone in the know about transfer deals to keep the details secret. Virtually every time those in the know leak information about a pending deal it is to influence the market, not to make it. Until, and unless, it is confirmed by an official of either club, I will place the £65m bid for Willian firmly in the realm of fantasy. I recommend everyone else does the same.

Maurizio is the one with the work to do. If everyone can be a leader then what have we all been doing going on about the outstanding leadership of people like JT, DD, SFL & PC? If Eden is not a leader, he can still be a difference maker for our team. Maurizio's job is to put in a system that allows Eden to do what he's good at, and then surround him with a supporting cast to make the most of it.

Until, and unless, we dramatically change the status of our club, we won't attract, never mind hold on to, players at the level of Messi or Ronaldo. Eden is the peak level we can realistically aim for. If the traits you state above are accurate, then they are also the things which have allowed us to hold on to him for so long. We should be grateful for them.

The first opinion I'm going to give in a moment is controversial although I have no idea why. The second probably isn't. To me they both seem like statements of the obvious. - Players of Eden's age don't improve. - All players are inconsistent.

Check.

Good luck Vic. Hope it goes well.,

I'm going to watch Chelsea Women on Sunday afternoon, and wasn't sure I wanted to go to the Wednesday game too. Of course, because I'm an addict, I did buy a ticket in the end and I'm glad that I'll be there to see Gonzo's debut. By the way, tickets were still on sale for both games the last time I checked. Women play in Kingston at 2:00pm, the men in Stamford Bridge at 6:00pm.

Butch outright said it so I see no room to call it a rumour. In fact he also specifically mentioned that people thought it was Roman but it was really Carlo.

I've mentioned this before but repeating it is better than getting annoyed about the window. Moussa Dembele (late of Spurs) was making news and I liked what I saw of him so I watched an Ajax vs AZ game to get a better look. In fact Dembele had a poor game that day, but a bloke called Suarez won the game for Ajax. He was obviously a player who Chelsea should target. The fact that the same manager who had already turned down Aguero when he was offered him, now chose Torres over Suarez was the final nail in the coffin for Ancelotti as far as I was concerned. At the time I thought Roman had made the decision, but I see no reason to think Butch Wilkins was lying when he revealed that in fact it was all Carlo.

No, not all of us. I was depressed and the knowledge that all the people who had questioned my sanity, when I told them the truth about Nando, would soon be apologising to me didn't help at all.

Is anyone heading up to Manchester for the game with City on 10th February 2019? If so, did you know that Chelsea Women are playing City's women at The Academy stadium on the same day? I'll be up there. The women kick off at 1:00pm, followed by the men at 4:00pm. The club is running coaches for fans to get to both games so what some people are doing is booking a seat on a coach for the women's game as well as on one for the men's match. Their plan is to go up on the CFCW coach, watch the women, walk across the road for the men's match, then return south on the men's coach. After a slow start our women, the current champions, have fought their way back into the title race with Arsenal and City.

I don't understand why this makes sense to you. What's the analysis? Maurizio sees that particular players are not doing well, realises that it would be wise to try alternative players instead, but won't do it just so he isn't seen to change his mind? I just don't see how people can believe he would think like that. Even if he did, that still leaves people having to explain why he changed his mind about Alvaro. Why is he stubborn about some players, but not others? I'm sure people can twist their minds into coming up with various answers to that question but the simple explanation is surely the truth. Maurizio picks the players he thinks make up the best team.

I understand the reaction to Sunday, and all that happened to lead up to it. I also am not thrilled about the prospect of losing to City at Wembley but, this is Tottenham. I am hyped and I'm desperate to win. Not because it takes us to a final, but for its own sake. If the day ever comes when I'm not bubbling with excitement in the lead up to a Spurs game call a doctor for me please.

Would you prefer we had kept Antonio? Genuine question.

I was wrong about Baka too.

The strategy sounds good to me. It depends of course on the accuracy of the player assessments and the success of the recruitment phase. Let's assume that the assessments are good, I've no reason to think differently. The recruitment will continue to be easier said than done however, continue to be a problem, I think. If we managed to put your plan into action, I think that list of new recruits will intensify the Kante dilemma so the manager will need to handle that situation. On Matt, the lack of goal threat in his game is definitely a problem, both in general, and in our team specifically.