OhForAGreavsie

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.

OK, thank you for this. I've already posted a comment which may have been different if I had understood what you say here. He was still badly in the wrong but it's good to read that he is not so absolutely fed up with the world that he would not care about being disrespectful to his hosts.

In that regard I'm only worried about the judgement of our squad builders. It was obvious to me that he wasn't good enough just from watching his YouTube vids when he was initially linked. When I posted to say so, someone told me I was talking nonsense but merely having loose ball control, too loose to succeed in any offensive role at Chelsea's level, is utterly insignificant in comparison to what he's done now. I hope Chelsea Football Club has thought long and hard about the sanctions it will impose. Our club certainly understands the harm which has been done to its reputation by JT's stupid outburst, by those idiots in the Parisian Metro, and by the residual memories of the hordes of right wing morons who infested our club in the 70's and 80's. I wonder if, on reflection, it might believe that cancelling Kennedy's contract would now be a better message to send? At a guess I'd say the club may have been relatively lenient because they understand that the young man finds himself in a difficult circumstances and therefore feel it's right to support him. Kennedy must feel completely fed up with his situation. He must be wondering what he's doing in China when everybody knows he is not going to be a significant member of Chelsea's squad come what may and he must be searching his soul about what would be the right move for him to make next. I'm guessing that frustration and anger got to him. In the circumstances those feelings are perhaps understandable, but they are not an excuse.

It's really the same sponsor though.

Interesting SC, thank you. The first time I saw one of Kennedy's YouTube videos, I posted the opinion that his technique wasn't good enough and that we should not sign him. On the other hand, this Richarlison lad shows well in the vid linked above. That said, while watching it, I did wish it showed him in a wider range of actions. My next plan would have been to look for some all touches videos but it sounds like you're suggesting it's not worth bothering. I'm always drawn to cautious views of young players because popular opinion is far more likely to overrate a youngster than it is to underrate him. Meanwhile... What can you tell us about Wendel?

I don't know about your fourth sentence, but the other three are spot on in my opinion.

I have no idea but, if true, then we can be sure there is a sensible reason for it.

Does anyone know what Real's plan is for Theo Hernandez during the upcoming season? Are they just going to use him as a squad player or might they fancy parking him on loan for a season or two? I'm not fond of the idea of benching Marcos for a loan player, but wouldn't you just love to see a few of those trademark marauding runs at The Bridge? They would ignite the place.

Hello Barbera, As you perhaps know, I almost always agree with your point of view but I do have a slight difference with you here. I said in my response that I felt I understood what she meant, but that she had expressed the point carelessly, and I stand by that. Yes, I understood the commentary to be about football intelligence but the journalist talked about learning ability which is a reference to general intelligence. I take "football intelligence" to be about a feel for the game, an inate understanding about what is effective and in what situations. I do not take it to be about the ability to absorb technical and tactical messages. It is in that sense that I feel the idea could have been communicated better.

Ricardo Pereira

In this race I'm a City fan. 😊

This point of view again? Obviously I have to start by acknowledging that my differing view is just an opinion itself but I believe what I'm about to write very strongly. Nemanja was a positive contributor in the first part of the 14/15 title campaign, but from late November on he slipped into the form we've witnessed since. I think it's a myth to say that he was good for the whole of that season. Indeed I know of a long standing Chelsea fan, a member of another forum, who never accepted the claim that our Serbian CM was that good in the early season either. That person must think we were all suffering some form of collective hypnosis because he insisted that we were wrong to be praising Nemanja's performances. I confess I always dismissed his opinion at the time, but these days I'm not so sure. In some ways it's easier to believe that we were all blind to Nemanja's flaws, than that his form suddenly fell off a cliff and never recovered.

Her use of the word intelligent strikes me as careless and potentially misleading. I think I get what she means but she needs to describe it more accurately. Rom is in fact a very bright guy, in IQ terms. Indeed it's that intelligence which has enabled him to make the most of his attributes despite some clear limitations. He can learn just as quickly as the next striker but he lacks the technical tools to put the lessons into practice.

Good enough or the interpretation that fits with your general view on these matters so you are naturally more likely to be convinced by it?