OhForAGreavsie

My point is that, yet again, a poster makes up what he believes the club is, or is not, doing and blames them for it. Quote, "Why the hell aren't we after him ?" We can all make a guess as to who we think the club is, or is not, interested in signing but but we do not know. I'd love the club to be chasing Arthur and Malcolm, not that I think we'd get either of them, but It would be ridiculous for me to blame the club for not being in the market for those players when, for all I know, they might be. For what it's worth, I imagine that if Arthur comes to England it will be to City. He seems to me to be exactly the player Guardiola will want and City are building an attractiveness to talented players that we just can't match.

How do we know that the club is not after Sanchez?

Ultimately, I think they will be good for English football. For the first time in a long time there is a genuinely good team in the Premier League. The rest will either have to up their game or get used to watching City trophy parades. Self interest suggests they will bust a gut trying to do the former.

Your post didn’t offend me, it irritated me. There is an awful lot of stuff that you don’t see happen. Are you suggesting that it beats you why none of that takes place either? You have not seen me ennobled yet you seem able to believe that I’d choose to be known by the stupidest title you can think of. Not so likely. Look, I’m sorry if I’ve offended you. I genuinely mean that, but there are dozens of posts in which people assume something has not happened when they can’t possibly know whether it has or not. That unsupportable assumption invalidates whatever point they are making, or any criticism they are offering. On a subject we’re less likely to fall out over, I’d be interested to read your opinion on Malcolm when you do watch him.

Reminds me more of Shaqiri; a player i don't think too much of.

It it me? This type of post irritates me. We don't know if anyone has tried to lure him or not so we can't make assumptions about that. Personally, I would not try to lure him. I prefer Malcolm. Much prefer.

Roman’s arrival in 2003 excited a lot of interest. Anything about him, or about Chelsea was fascinating to the media. Back then I was posting on the now defunct BBC fans forums. They invited Chelsea fans to apply to write an opinion piece about the club. My application was selected. Among the thoughts I submitted was the hope that Roman’s spending would threaten the established clubs to such a degree that they’d be forced to accept an American style spending cap. Of course I reckoned without the pathetic weakness of Michael Platini. I always felt he wasn’t bright enough to be head of European football. Something he proved by being easily manipulated into the horrible FFP nonsense which, of course, is the exact opposite of ‘fair’. Maybe one day we’ll get something better but I’m not holding my breath.

I like Malcolm too but of course we don’t know that the club has not made a move for him. Maybe it has, maybe it hasn’t. What we do know from yesterday’s press conference is that Antonio would like to add to his squad in January, and that he expects that the club will be trying to get it done.

That's a fair comment I think.

OK, we are clearly stuck with different points of view here so before responding to the meat of your post, may I try to clear up our factual disparity? Wikipedia says Dembele was born in February 2003. That would make him 14 currently. Is this a Wiki error, or are you just being approximate when you say he is 15? Who says Islam did OK at first? Personally I never once saw him play well for our development sides and I watch way more youth football than most around here. Although I accept that two people can see the same performance and assess it differently, my suspicion is that many people’s good impression of Feruz came from reading that he had scored some goals, not from actually watching him play. I never saw videos of Feruz playing youth games in Scotland so I can’t comment on the comparison you make between his apparent level then and Dembele’s now. It’s impossible for me to believe you can be right however. Dembele’s videos demonstrate fabulous touch, incredible body control, wonderful dribbling technique, tremendous weight of pass, uncoachable awareness of space and a mature understanding of when to move the ball and when to carry it. Feruz has none of that so, while he may have been effective against weaker opposition, he simply could never have looked as good doing it as Dembele does. Put any 20 year old on a pitch full of junior school kids and he will score a load of goals but will he necessarily look like a great player while doing so? There is a difference between finite quality and simply being able to outperform your opponents. Karamoko Dembele is an extremely high quality footballer while Islam Feruz was not one, is not one, and never could have looked like one.

You mean the player about whom I said, within 20 minutes of kick-off in the first game I saw him play for the youth team, that he was crap, and that whoever recruited him should be seriously questioned? I once had a post deleted and was threatened with a ban from WAGNH for saying what I am about to say now, but I don't think the people around here are as insecure about themselves as the person who reacted so strongly to the comment on that occasion. Anyone who watched Feruz and thought he was a good player, knows less about football than they think they do. Celtc's younger Dembele on the other hand is outstanding. There is no comparison whatsoever between him and Feruz. Take the two to a pitch, station each of them alone in one half, i.e. eliminate any question about the quality of the opposition, have coaches play a variety of deliveries to them both and, within 5 minutes, it will be clear which is a genuine article. The world's top clubs will be queuing up for Karamoko Dembele. Indeed, if we only knew it, they already are. By the way, I believe Dembele is currently 14, not 15.

Including two at Celtic alone. 😊 I’m talking about Karamoko. He’ll be 15 in February. Genius level ability.

Wrong Dembele. We need the other one as soon as he's old enough to be transferred. Problem is, I'd bet that one of Barca, City or Real have probably already secured first dibs on him. Top, top level talent that kid.

Thank you all for good wishes and a very merry Christmas to all TalkChelsea members who are celebrating the festival.

Malcolm over Fekir every time.

Having made so many mistakes in our transfer business, we desperately need a spell of getting it right. It’s tougher than it seems though. Last summer I felt Danilo was poor and should not be pursued, but I would have been satisfied if we’d signed Bernado. City fans now agree about Danilo but, less predictably, they are disappointed with Bernado too. They are not calling him crap, which what they’re saying about Danilo, but they do complain about weak decision making and poor end product. City have made so many good choices that the poor ones don’t show, don’t really damage their prospects. We are in exactly the opposite situation. Zaha has failed once at a club with title ambitions and, for me, has not shown enough to wipe out the concerns caused by that failure.

What is an SJW? Edit: Just looked it up, and thank you @El P.I think I remember someone here explaining it to me previously. I’ll try harder to remember in future.

Their nationality has nothing to do with it. Bad decisions happen but are highlighted anyway. There is an anti English tone to some posts which, in my view, betray the same bias, in the opposite direction, of which they accuse others. Ali is a red card waiting to happen. He is a limited player who makes the most of what ability he does have to produce some effective domestic performances. At international level however his lack of quality is regularly exposed.

Abso-bloody-lutely! City are a genuinely good team. Finishing behind them will be disappointing of course, but not a disgrace. In the long run, we, and the rest of their would be challengers, have to up our game, or get used to watching them lift the Premier League trophy. In the short term however, none of the challenging group can be described as great. Second place is right there and certainly doable.

Do you really know that we have not tried to sign Arana? I do agree with you though about the scouting of Kennedy. It was obvious even from his YouTube highlight videos that he wasn’t good enough.

Well your initial reply to me, here reads as a defence of Antonio from some criticism you think I'm making but, not you've put me straight on that, all misunderstandings are cleared up. Phew!

Even if I had been addressing you, you’d still have misunderstood since my comment was neither an accusation of courting popularity, nor a criticism of Antonio’s flexible tactics, but appology accepted. Thank you. Do people really accuse each other of posting for popularity? Amazing.

Wrong on two counts! First, there was no accusation. I simply said that, having read the post to which I replied, I knew it would be popular. That is not at all the same as saying it was posted for popularity. Second, it was not your post to which I replied!!

Not really sure what you’re saying here, or maybe I should say it does not seem you know what I’m saying. I did the post at halftime in the CLFC game vs Spurs (4-1 Blues) and made a few edits after posting. Maybe the latest version is better expressed.

I read this post in a comment where @Jason had quoted it and, knowing the attitude of many posters on this topic, expected it to attract plenty of likes. Unsurpringly, it has done but this does not stop it being wrong, and it is wrong. Antonio cuts his clothes to suit his cloth. Give him the 13/14 squad and he’d produce a different game plan. As his predecessors did with the squads at their disposal. By the way, there was a post yesterday expressing exasperation with Antonio’s defensive tactics so, as usual, not everyone sees things the same way. The boss is doing what he can with what he’s got. Meanwhile, I love what he’s saying about building for the future. Let’s hope Roman backs him with patience and transfer activity.