OhForAGreavsie

Antonio confirms we bid for Walker.

I read @chelseayouth's ouput avidly. As I've said before, it's must read for me but.... He does tend to be a little too supportive and optimistic about the lads. I love Jed's talent; everybody does, but he flatters to deceive. He produces some nice eye catching runs but not enough genuine end product of standard professional efficiency. I think there's a lot of overestimating going on about what we saw from Jed on Saturday and today.

OK. I hope the reactions won't be hysterical. We all said many times that we would struggle against a good team but there were some additional factors today. Bayern were not a full strength but the group they put out is still a better line up than ours. The difference between this Bayern XI and ours is not as wide as it looked at times. It looked worse than it might have been because we had the wrong personnel and a number of players did not perform well. Cesc would not normally expect a start against Bayern but if he does get one, he will normally produce a better display than he managed today. He was dreadful. I'm not talking about Cesc's play out of possession. That was merely as bad as expected and is why he would not normally have started a game like this. The problem was his play with the ball. It was indecisive, ponderous and inaccurate. Cesc was brilliant for us last season and he will be again in the coming one. Not today though. Bats was very poor, bordering on hopeless. Jed flattered to deceive once again. The quality of Ribbery, the ability to make a positive contribution on the ball even under pressure showed us something we are missing. We all already knew it was missing though so no new reasons for panic today. Bright point 1, Morata showed what he can do to help us by stitching our attacks together more effectively. Bright point 2. The club clearly already has a plan to bolster the squad and it's July 25th.

He will be if Rudiger starts as I expect him to.

He is playing as a striker. Doing that properly sometimes takes you into wide positions.

I already said that about Bayern. By 'full' you mean not youngsters. OK I understand.

Geezer, Rudi, Tiemoue, Pedro, Eden, Alvaro.

Nowhere near.

Not really. We aren't seeing anything from Jed that we haven't seen from him before. What that is has not been enough to get him many minutes in France or in Spain.

Looks like we need to get the kids on. Bayern's kids.

That's may not be Bayern's top lineup but it's a powerful looking side all the same. We on the other hand are a bit patchwork. Should be a good platform for Renato Sanches to show what he's got. Looking forward to seeing what the fuss is all about at last.

Close to the side I selected on WAGNH. I'd have started with Fikayo at RWB. He's more of an RB than an RWB, but I'd have given him a look. Oh, and I had Willy starting for Thibaut.

Interesting. That happened to me too, and all the text went with them.

Too much is made of their struggles to fill the Etihad and, whatever we believe, City's accounts and the business model which generates the numbers, have been passed by uefa as acceptable within FFP. They are not likely to fail uefa's test.

Transfer deficits, as well as huge wage bills, are perfectly sustainable within FFP rules as long as a club has enough income to support them. City's accounts, approved by uefa, show that they have the sixth largest turnover in world football. (From memory I think we are ninth.) It's 99.9% certain that they will pass FFP.

I'm pretty sure that this is news from a couple of months ago or more. I also think that there are a few barriers still remaining. For example, there were issues concerning passenger flow through an underground station on a popular match day route. I haven't seen anything suggesting that this has been resolved. I'm not saying for sure that this hasn't been dealt with, I just haven't seen that it has been.

And here we have the deep level of ignorance exhibited in this thread laid bare to be seen. I am not criticising Miki-Liki. He didn't know and so asked a perfectly reasonable question. Totally sensible behaviour. Problem is the vast majority of the drivel posted here is not sensible. All posters here know just as little about Chelsea's transfer activity as Miki-Liki does about Chelsea'a Head of Communications and Public Affairs, yet they pronounce away with abandon. Don't bother telling me what the board is doing. I know you don't know. Don't bother telling me why the board is doing it. I know you haven't got a clue. Don't bother telling me that you understand Chelsea FC's finances better than the board does because I know where to find great comedy when I want it. Don't bother telling me that you are expert in negotiating eight, or even nine, figure transactions because I don't know any psychiatrists I can recommend you to.

How do you know this Tomo?

Do you mean, "... but I do expect our front three to score more overall"?

I'd guess that they are already acting as fast as they judge that they can or should because it's hard to imagine that Kennedy was ever a serious part of the LB/LWB equation.

Definitely poor scouting. From just their YouTube videos is was clear that neither Wallace nor Kennedy were going to be good enough so if their recruitment was about finding potential first teamers then that was a fail. If there was another, financial, aim behind the plan then maybe it was a success. We do not, and will never, know the detailed figures but it is possible. Agreed. I have not been as impressed by Gabriel Jesus's skill set as many people seem to have been, so I'm ready to believe what you say here. Especially since, unlike the lads I mentioned above, Richarlison shows well in his YouTube videos. Those videos made me want to move on to watching all touches recordings. I was put off a bit though by a post from a Brazilian football watcher who says that Richarlison is not particularly good and that a Fluminense teammate of his, whose name I've forgotten, is a much better prospect.

People keep telling me Sanches is an outstanding player but I haven't seen it. Certainly not yet at any rate. I watched Sanches at the Euros and was stunned when he was voted young player of the tournament. If that was a genuine result, and not one based on the hype surrounding him following his big money move to Bayern, then I can only imagine that the other youngsters at the event were even worse. If anybody reviews his all touches videos from Euro 2016 I think they'll find it hard to disagree with my assessment that he looked ordinary. Maybe people are basing their more positive opinions on other performances they've watched. I've seen Sanches in the Euros and the baby Euros, but nowhere else. Based on those viewings, I'd say Bayern made a mistake. If it is true that they are now prepared to part with him, then this would suggest that they think so too.

Ha ha ha

I don't think it's low football IQ, just low football talent. Well lower than required to reach the real top level for strikers anyway.

Was actually the fault of the defender who shoved Pedro, causing him to veer into Ospina's path.