OhForAGreavsie

Didn’t even think he looked good going forward. Just looks a rather ordinary player to me. People tell me Emerson was special before his injury. Well I can’t categorically deny that because I did not watch him enough pre injury to form a valid opinion. I have been watching football a very, very long time however and I’ve heard that excuse hundreds of times. Almost always I’ve felt it just means people overestimated a player during his honeymoon period and blaming an injury is more comfortable than admitting they were wrong.

Greaves on the bench? Chrlsea’s greatest ever player a substitute? The manager making that decision is headed for the sack. 😊

Reasonable but I don't know if Jody's managerial achievements at academy level are enough yet to win him a good job as a number 1. Frank's status as a big name player will get him a pass into his first couple of gigs but Jody's more modest playing career means he may have to settle for smaller steps. In any case, I'm hoping to see these two as manager and assistant at The Bridge one day. I've always felt that Frank has the attributes for the Chelsea job but I don't believe that JT does, for example.

Not going to this one and gutted about it. By the time I realised I might be sufficiently recovered to give it a try it was sold out. Let’s not overlook Jody’s influence on the Derby side. I was never a fan of Jody’s as a player, but from the moment he moved into the CTV studio as a pundit his knowledge, views and manner impressed me hugely. When he progressed into the dugout that good opinion just grew. Frank has the superstar status but he’s also got the brain. Choosing Jody shows excellent judgement and bodes well for SFL’s career.

That’s the trio which could be the right solution, and which certainly needs to be looked at. As I said when I commented on our midfield inbalance about six weeks ago, it involves thinking the unthinkable however. That’s hard to do, especially when it concerns the loveable wee man. To be fair to Maurizio, his public statements make it clear that he has this problem in mind. I think we can infer from his comments that he’s working on solutions at Cobham. This is another reason why Mason Mount should have spent pre-season with us. He is not as silky as Matt but he’s better than decent in possession, a much greater goal threat, and actually enjoys his defensive work. He’ll need to be considered before next summer’s decisions are made.

I just don’t get what you’re bothered about. He didn’t want to be here. He left. Suits him, suits us. We have a fine alternative, or may I say two because I really rate Marcin. Now Thibaut goes public about not wanting to work with a pair of managers that a majority of posters here hate judging by their comments. So what? What on Earth is the problem? Whenever Thibaut returns to The Bridge, I will applaud him. Whenever Antonio returns to The Bridge, I will applaud him even louder. I did not applaud Jose last weekend but only because I was not there. (Recovering from a major op.) I’ll be up on my feet for The Special One next time, applauding loudest of all.

Dream on Brighton. Years ago, Newcastle tried to sign a young John Terry for £10m. The fact that the bid was so big, for the time, and that it came from so respected a manager as Sir Bobby Robson, served only to confirm to Chelsea that they had a high calibre prospect on their hands. I’ve often speculated that if Newcastle had offered a smaller amount, they’d have had a better chance to get JT. At least Brighton haven’t made that tactical error. They’ve put in a modest offer by today’s standards but they still won’t be fooling anybody.

I’ve been following a WAFC fan forum since preseason. There was skepticism about him at first. One poster even commented that, “He needs to improve his crossing.”, which was a crazy rush to judgement of course. Reece has a better, and more consistent, delivery than any other current Chelsea player of any age. As you’ve said, Wigan fans have since realised what they’ve got. Not only has Reece overtaken Duge in the RB stakes, he is in my opinion, our best current academy prospect bar none. Better Chelsea chances than Mason, better than Callum, better than the lot of ‘em. When I posted to say that last season, I also said I felt that Reece could be starting for us as soon as 2019/2020. I continue to believe that. He’s a terrific player.

Deleted. Posted in reply to wrong comment. Fixed below.

No. People who are wrong, who are thinking in the wrong way need to told the truth. If I were to blame double D because he's not as good as KDB I hope one of my friends on here would patiently explain to me that I'm an idiot. Pretending that all ideas are equally valid leads to crazy situations such as Donald Trump in The White House. Thinking, if you wish, that Danny D is a better player than KDB is a valid opinion. It's wrong, but you can get there if you want to. Recognising that DD is not as good as the City player, and then deciding that it's Danny's fault would be a nonsense point of view. Anyone holding it should expect to be corrected. Anyway, sadly, we are not getting any closer to seeing this the same way. I'll watch out for your other posts and see if we can find common ground on a different topic.

No they can't. If people can make up silly things to feel aggrieved about that's the way to a nonsense world. For example am I allowed to feel aggrieved that Danny D isn't as good as KDB? Is how we, you & I, got to talking about Willian's play. My point being that no, it isn't all on him.

If I was selected to play for Chelsea and turned out to be waaayy below the required standard that would be my fault would it? Should I just sit in the dressing room and turn myself into Pele? I am old, and I have arthritis. As a footballer I am now worse than useless. If I find myself in the Chelsea team it's not my fault; it's the fault of whoever it is that picked the team. Any manager who picks Willian has to accept that there is a downside and decide if they want him in the team, warts and all. Every footballer is inconsistent, every human is for that matter. Better players have a narrower output level toward the high end of their performance spectrum. Willian is different. His range of output is wide and stretches down into the poor zone. Anyone picking him knows, or should know this. If they still pick him then they have to accept responsibility for what he produces. Five years later he isn't going to change. He is what he is. I don't require that Chelsea players treat me like a toddler. I don't care if they prefer not to train in the afternoon as long as they do turn up for training when required.

People do have a right to express their displeasure. That doesn’t mean they are always right to do it, or in the way that they do. If Willian is playing when there is ‘a better option available’ how is that his fault? How is he to blame when he doesn’t pick the side? People want a better player than Willian and, since I’ve been saying we need an upgrade for virtually as long as he’s been here, I can’t say they are wrong. I do though insist that it’s not his fault he’s in the squad, and nor is it he fault when he’s selected to play. Willian’s output varies wildly from outstanding to poor. Unfortunately he doesn’t spend enough time in the ‘outstanding’ zone. He is what he is and we should know what we’re getting from him. Expecting anything different after all this time would be a silly to be honest. I see nothing wrong with what he said. If anybody takes objection to it then they’re the ones with some explaining to do as far as I’m concerned. Dad would prefer to spend time with daughter before she goes to bed but work commitments mean he can’t. Shock.

That’s a succinct and easy to read statement but it isn’t right. It was the amazing run of form Williian showed last season, including the Barcelona game, that prompted the Catalans to take an interest in him. What Willian did during that spell was a match for anything Eden produces. Maintaining that level is Willian’s problem. That’s why I have been saying for several years that if we ever become the team we’d like to be, Willian won’t be in it. He does not deserve the vitriol being poured out in some posts here however. If he’s not as good as we’d like him to be that’s not his fault. People’s real issue is that our squad is not strong enough. If it was, Willian would play less and the problem would go away. If we have to be angry then let’s at least pick the right target for that anger. As for his comment, it’s perfectly natural. Any father who does not wish he could always to be home before his kids’ bedtime is an idiot. On the other hand, any father who is not willing to put his personal preferences aside in order to put bread on the table for his kids does not deserve them. Anyone heard any rumours about Willian actually NOT turning up for afternoon training? Don’t be so trigger happy people.

Poke not an option, keeper was right on top of it. On that stretch a lob wasn't on. A dink was all he had and even then, given the stretch, over cooking the dink was virtually impossible. Actually impossible I'd say.

True.

Alvaro got a lucky break in that the pass from Eden wasn't quite perfect. This meant he had to stretch to reach it and, literally, could do nothing other than what he did. No chance to think, no options to consider. It was dink or bust.

Six years later, here we are saying the same things we said six years ago. I’ve lost belief that we’ll ever see the change we’ve been hoping for.

Just to be clear, I never skip a post because of who wrote it. I only skip posts because their content doesn’t interest me. I hardly ever notice who wrote s post until I’ve read it. In any case, I don’t remember who I had the row with so I couldn’t ignore him even if I wanted to. Keep reading, and writing, people. It’s why we come here.

Back in May I posted the opinion that Reece is the brightest prospect we have currently; ahead of Tino, ahead of Mason and ahead even of Callum. I stick to that view.

Personally, I think the ignore button is the resort of a weak mind. I find it interesting that at least some people who take this option feel the need to announce it first. It’s all too school playground. There’s no need to use the ignore button. When there’s something we don’t want to read, then just scroll past it. I confess that this is what I do with at least some of the content in Vesper’s scouting reports. While they seem very knowledgable, I find I am not always interested in keeping up to date with emerging prospects from home and abroad. This does not mean that Vesper should not post the reports, and nor does it mean that anyone but myself is losing out because I don’t read them. I had a very fractious exchange recently during which it appeared to me that another member’s posts made no sense whatsoever. On the other hand he seemed to be willfully misunderstanding the perfectly obvious point I was making. His comments seemed so bizarre to me that I accused him of trolling. He clearly saw the conversation differently but I won’t be ignoring him or anyone else. Denying myself even the possibility of reading new content because I didn’t like a previous comment would be a mistake. Just because it’s there doesn’t mean I have to read it, but the day may come when I do. Until then what have I got to lose by allowing myself to see his posts so I can read them if I want to?

Jay’s proper position is left back. Reece is an outstanding right back but both he and Jay must be benefiting more from their loans than they would from an odd run out in games like last night’s. Tariq Lampty is an interesting RB prospect. He scored my favourite goal last season but he’s even slighter than Jay. If Callum and Ethan can’t get a game, then I doubt Tariq would even be under consideration.

I understand what you mean when you say this but I've always thought that players should be free to decide for themselves what the right or wrong reasons might be. A lot of players, including Claude Makelele, have joined our club for the money. Many Chelsea fans, though not me I admit, regard Maka as one of our greatest ever players. This clearly indicates that moving for cash does mean a footballer can't also perform well enough at his new club to be respected by the fans he plays for. I think there is a similarity between Maka and Oscar. Maka was at Chelsea because none of the clubs he preferred to join wanted him enough to match his demands or Madrid's. I don't believe any top clubs were interested in Oscar. I think clubs had seen enough of him to reassess his ceiling downwards by the time he left Chelsea.

As I said in July, I'm very disappointed that Maurizio wasn't given the opportunity to take a look at Mason during preseason. Someone reacted by saying that it wasn't possible because that would have interfered with the move to Derby but I don't agree. Of course Derby would have wanted Mason to spend preseason with them, but I don't believe for a moment that they'd have walked away if we'd said that we could not give them a decision on the loan until after the Inter Milan game. Yes a preseason with his new team was useful for that lad, but the lack of one would have been overcome. That choice looks even more strange given the way our squad has now shaped up. Our three starting midfielders are all players of the right calibre, but they are not a perfectly balanced trio. None of them wants to play ahead of the ball. N'Golo gets the gig but only because the other two can't. Mason is exactly the type of player who could offer a goal threat and improve the balance of our midfield options. Perhaps Maurizio would have decided that Mason wasn't ready, Italian bosses seem to value experience even more than most, but the manager should have had the chance to decide. As for the pass; it was a happy accident, he didn't mean it. In fact he missed the player he was aiming at so, in terms of execution, it was actually closer to a bad pass than a good one. Sometimes things just work out.

On this occasion I think it has to be. There's just too much money at stake. If we can't trademark our badge then it's even harder for kit manufacturers to protect their products from rip off versions and they won't be offering us anything like as big a wad of cash for the right to sell our gear. I don't know what portion of that £900m kit deal would be lost but even just 5% would be way too much to lose. In reality the reduction would certainly be a lot more than 5%. A lot more. It would be plain stupid to sacrifice that revenue for the sake of returning to a badge which can only be distinguished from the current one if you look closely. (Apart from the colour of the staff.)