OhForAGreavsie

Adnane, Do I remember correctly that some fasting athletes have, in the past, been given special dispensation to consume water? It's a vague recollection, so I may be way off beam.

I didn't say anything about Mikel's winning run being recent. Just that he was a player you consider to be poor, who nevertheless featured as trophies were won. The point being an answer to your observation about Nemanja being a part of winning sides. Just because a poor player's team wins does not prove him to be of quality. Look at how many major honours Nicky Butt & Phill Neville have between them! Those who regarded Brana as playing well after January 2013 were, excluding a handful of games, badly wrong. I really have no idea what you see in Nemanja. He collects some stats because he's there. Anyone on the pitch is going to collect stats, many of which are bunkum anyway. I see absolutely no 'added value' from him, neither in possession nor out of it. No contributions at all which I would not also expect scores of other players, to be able to match. I say again, Antonio tried really hard to replace Nemanja last summer. Having been through a season where the shortcomings of our squad forced him to see first hand how the big man performs, I expect the boss will try harder still to fix this problem over the next three months. Priority number one this summer as far as I'm concerned.

I think you have, in part at least, answered the question you framed. You do not have a high opinion of Mikel, yet he too featured in many successes. Brana featured throughout the 2015 campaign and won two trophies despite being widely regarded as a poor contributor. Eleven people have to start every game no matter what, but there is no disguising the fact that Antonio tried hard to replace Nemanja last summer. I think he'll make another attempt this time around, and so he should.

Good luck Bego. Hope you enjoyed your time at Chelsea.

We all pay him mate, whether we go to games or not. The club's income derives, in its entirety, from fans. Our club, and all professional clubs, collect money either directly for the various things they sell to us, or they collect it from third parties by selling them our attention. Third parties are prepared to pay huge amounts for our attention because it is valuable to them. Without fans, no income, and no professional football. Nada, zilch.

I don't agree that many people have changed their minds. Most people are, I think, exactly where they always have been, and where I am too, on Victor. He has played a significant part in our improvement but he is nothing more than the best option we have. He's holding the place until we get someone better. If Saturday has made those who would like to see Victor replaced a bit more vocal then that's maybe understandable. It doesn't mean however that before Saturday they all thought he should remain our starting RWB. Different people have different priorities, but for me Vic is, and has been for many, many months, number 2 on the requires upgrade list.

I would have liked this post but I can't agree that Nemanja has looked good defensively, even with the help of Ngolo. He's been on the pitch, so sometimes he's done positive things but no more than I would expect from any professional. I see no superior level contributions from Nemanja. Nothing which ever suggests he deserves a place in a team at this level.

I'm with you maybe 60% of the way. My view is that Charly should be looked at on tour, but I base that only on an appreciation of his talent. I do not believe he has yet shown enough to support the idea that he deserves a shot here. Talent is the most important attribute for sure, but it doesn't amount to much unless used well and Charly did not do that at Betis. I know there were a lot of hysterical reactions to a few good moments, in a few games, but more sober judgements were bound to prevail in the end. Charly's contributions in La Liga were not good enough. Losing his place in the side was an inevitability, but that's not the end of the world for a talented young footballer. I'm sure Charly was disappointed at not regaining a starting place either at the end of his first loan spell, or during the second, but if that experience has taught him that a few flashy bits and pieces won't get the job done, then that could benefit him in the long run.

I'm going to go against the grain a little here. I like Perisic. As @The Skipper and others say however the price is wrong. There's no way we should contemplate paying twenty percent more for twenty-nine year old Perisic, than City paid for twenty-two year old B. Silva. Price apart, I think he is a player that would get a lot of game time and deepen the squad. As a starting option, he would want to occupy the same areas Eden likes to operate from. I won't worry my ugly big head about that though. That's what I, and a few million others, pay Antonio for.

Agreed. This is why it was so frustrating that we were unable to do any business in January. It was obvious that we needed a number of upgrades, and clear that recruiting enough quality players in a single, highly competitive, market would be near impossible.

I agree with him.

You're right. It doesn't matter a jot what we discuss here. What matters is what is being discussed by the club's leaders. We fans just need to avoid being arrogant and it will be easy to figure out what the club's assessment of the squad will be. We've all watched the games, and Chelsea's decision makers have watched the games too. They have seen what we have seen. In fact they've seen more. The board know what players Antonio wants, what budget will be required to recruit and pay them, as well as what financial restraints the club is under and why we might be under those restraints. It would require a mind blowing level of arrogance on all our parts to believe that hundreds of thousands of Chelsea fans can see something that CFC's bosses cannot.

OK, but that's definitely more than two. 😊

Have to admit I never read any of his printed work but I can't say I've picked up on this in any of his audio/visual output I've come across.

But how do we decide which is which? For example, many believe that Alonso was a Conte signing and yet you are describing him as an average player. I do agree agree with your overall view though. Antonio, just as Jose did in 2014/2015, massively overachieved with the squad at his disposal. His judgement should absolutely be backed.

OK thank you for the correction although I have heard him introduced numerous times as, "Dan Levene of The Daily Mail", and, if I remember correctly, have even heard him say, in a 100% Chelsea video, "...in the office, at The Mail...". Perhaps my memory is faulty on that second one however. Seems from your info that it must be, or at least the inference I took (that it was his normal place of work) must be wrong.

A Daily Mail journalist, lifelong Chelsea fan with good contacts at the club and a regular on Chelsea Fan channel, "100% Chelsea".

Since the investment arrived at City they have spent a great deal more money than Chelsea have in the same period. They have built successful teams, playing football which is widely admired. In that time we have won a League Cup, a Europa League, a Champions League, three FA Cups, three Premier Premier Leagues plus reached a number of other domestic/European finals and semifinals. City's record is less impressive, so maybe "dominant" is a bit too much praise for the blue Mancunians' methods, and a little too much implied criticism of ours.

Ignorance of the highest order. You have no clue what decisions the bloke does or does not make, yet you decide they're bad ones anyway and blame him for them. For example, what might people say has been the club's best decision of 2016/17? Signing Kante? Signing Conte? Who among us can definitively say which individual proposed those choices, or argued in favour of them at board level? Not me for sure, and not you either. I've read opinions in which posters give the manager credit for any decisions they approve, but blame Michael Emenalo for any they disapprove. Unless the person giving the opinion is among the cadre of rabid Jose heaters of course. In which case any credit goes to the club and the blame is dumped on the manager. It's not rational to invent what you think someone has done and then blame them for it.

I'd like to think that few can have been on the fence about RWB, although I can see more reason for fence sitting in regard to our LWB. The last few months have seen LWB slip from upgrade priority number four, to priority number five in my own summer wish list. Antonio's pre Cup Final comment that he and the club were in agreement about squad building, in conjunction with his post-game statement that we need to improve both qualitatively and quantitively, suggest that the situation is well understood by those who matter. The issue isn't whether the problems are known, it's whether we can fix them.

Only two? You're a lot more optimistic than most of us.

Class.

This will be a blow to City's followers of their academy teams. Many of them had been hoping that Brahim Diaz would come through to fill that role. In truth I think they recognise that, even if Diaz is good enough, the timing was never going to be right since D. Silva will almost certainly need replacing before Diaz is ready. Assuming Bernardo does inherit the role, Diaz will one day find his path blocked by a player in his prime. For now they've bought a player who might come close to replicating David Silva's output when the Spaniard is out for any reason but apart from that, Bernardo in the City line up will just mean another good player isn't.

There is something seriously wrong with your post. Where your comment contains the word, "your'" it should contain the word, "You're", or the words, "You are". Apart from that it's fine. 100% fine in fact.

I'd put it a little differently and say that Antonio is in the best position to identify the players we need to recruit, and that I'd like to think that he will identify exactly the right targets. Like you, I hope he wants to strengthen our RW position but I doubt Chelsea will reveal whether he wanted Bernardo Silva or not. We may get that info from another source at some point but for now Antonio won't talk about anything other than the match at hand. Quite right too.