OhForAGreavsie

Antonio will enjoy his family diner even more when he hears about this.

The next 15 minutes are going to be agony.

United are United. In my opinion English football owes them, and Liverpool, a debt for its current wealth. I think it was the huge worldwide popularity of those two clubs, particularly the Reds of Manchester, which pulled in large parts of the international audience and which drove the worldwide coverage of Premier League football. I argue that this coverage helped the growth in popularity of England's other leading clubs because unattached supporters gradually picked a club to follow. I'm not suggesting that other clubs had no worldwide presence around the globe in 1992, they clearly did, but ManU and Liverpool were a long way ahead back then. Untied still are of course.

I don't agree with this. Never have agreed with it and I never will. Goals are obviously an important part of a striker's role, but to say that role is all about goals is equivalent to saying that a centre back's role is all about planting the ball into row Z. Every player has more than one function to perform for his team, and each of them is important. Part of the reason Messi scores so many goals is the fantastic contribution he makes to Barca's build up. He makes his team more efficient in possession and not only he himself, but his teammates too, reap the rewards. Someone at the top of the shape who has the technical quality to receive, retain and redistribute possession is a difference maker for a team. Look what Suarez did for Liverpool. We shouldn't forget either that a player who is good at retaining possession also improves his team defensively. Even if such a player contributes fewer goals personally, his team will finish up with more points. Rom is often labled a good target man but he isn't. The ball bounces off him too often. (As has too frequently been the case with Diego recently of course.) If Diego is to leave, I want his replacement to be an outstanding technician.

I like the way the squad and coaches are looking at it; assume Spurs are going to win all the rest of their games, and set about things accordingly.

So was Palace but I like your positive attitude.

Tammy would not take up a place on our Premier League squad list because clubs are free to have as many such players in their squad as they like. All players in the list are however required to be registered to play for the club. As far as I'm aware, Tammy is currently registered to play for Bristol City, not Chelsea and will be until the season ends. With a bit of luck, one of the journos will ask Antonio about this at tomorrow's press conference.

Yep that was undeniably the case.

Anybody know how to get Dembele to fall out with Spurs please?

I'm fully in favour of the manager getting the targets he wants but it's not as if we here get a choice. In the end we take what we're given, like it or not. I agree with you about the rationale of 'Premier League proven'. It's a reasonable criteria that squad builders should give due weight to, but it's not a magic formula which lets decision makers off hook when it comes to exercising good judgment. My own judgement remains as stated in the post to which you replied. I don't remember if anyone mentioned the magic phrase when I was saying forget Torres, go for Suarez. People certainly told me to stop talking nonsense, count Nando's goals, and try to be as happy as they were. It wasn't long before that false happiness faded. If football was as easy as arithmetic then all those clever people who are paid for their football opinions would be out of work. Rom is a better player than Nando. If we resigned him he'd do OK. We'd win some matches and maybe even the odd trophy. What's the problem then? The problem is that I believe we would be a better team with a technically superior alternative, even if the individual goal return of that alternative player is less than Rom's might be.

Who did you hear it from?

All is well again. Apologies for being so slow on the uptake but I'm up to speed now. I genuinely burst out laughing when I read the comment to which I am replying. In football, people often throw insults around and call it banter. They forget that banter should have some wIt and humour about it. You've had to ladle it on pretty thick, but it's worked. You've helped me see that it wasn't only your jokes I was taking too seriously, but myself too. Good work. I appreciate it.

"As well as having a fifth Premier League trophy to boast, according to ESPN, Chelsea would also receive a whopping £140million prize money if the league leaders prove to be triumphant this term. ESPN report that’s a 40% increase on the £87.3million we received for finishing tenth in the Premier League table last term." One thing we can say for sure is that ESPN are crap at arithmetic, or typing, or both.

Belloti's the one I'd like for sure. If that can't happen I'd be happy with Morata. Mbappe seems impossible and I've no interest in Lukaku.

On the phonetics first since that is not a question of opinion. I doubt I'm the only person who spotted the incorrect spelling but perhaps I am the only one who is interested enough to comment on it and to risk being thought patronising, or just plain rude. The pronunciation of the two words is different and this dictates their spelling. These words have entirely different meanings and, when annunciated correctly, are audibly different. That difference allows the two to be distinguished in speech, and, together with context, allows the correct meaning to be received by a listener. To claim that an "e" is missing from the word "for" is to ignore the rules of English spelling concerning vowel sounds when the word of which they are a part ends with an "e". I fail to see what you hope to achieve by deliberately misspelling the word. If the purpose of writing is to communicate meaning, then inventing your own lexicon can hardly help. As to Nemanja being similar to Glen Hoddle. I doubt you'll find a single sighted person on the planet who agrees with your claim. Certainly not Nemanja, and not even his mother. The opinion is nonsense. Having read that comment I can no longer take your views seriously on this issue. Indeed I can only imagine that you are having a good laugh at me for having taken them seriously in the first place.

No confirmation on any of it as far as I'm aware. Whenever there have been comments about Andreas which qualify as more than mere speculation, they have always claimed that he likes BMG, would be happy to stay there, is not prepared to return to Chelsea for anything other than a starting role and is expecting to take part in our pre season. I'd be surprised if he has any interest at all in Southampton, never mind a loan.

Can't rule out the possibility that you, me, and everybody else who sees it your way, are simply wrong but people seem to have lost their heads over VVD. A £55m - £60m Champions League defender? I just don't see it.

As you rightly imply later in your post, no one here has any right to claim that their opinion outranks yours. So, despite the fact that there are big differences between your thoughts on Nemanja and mine, you'll be glad to know that I'm not aiming to show why I think you have this one wrong. Instead I just want to say it as I see it. It is genuinely fascinating that two people who take a keen interest in football, can watch the same player, in the same games, and yet reach completely opposite conclusions about what they see. I don't see Nemanja provide a level of security that many others could not also offer. He is clearly competent, but no more than that in my view. Certainly I see no excellence in what he does defensively. You commented favourably on Nemanja's vision. To try to narrow down what is meant by that I'm defining vision as the ability to spot a pass. With that in mind I say what I've said many times, Nemanja is as good as most professionals at spotting passes and that, when things are in his favour, he is as good as most at completing them. I see no exceptional levels from Nemanja in this regard either however. Worse, when things are not in his favour; when his body shape does not suit the pass required, when he needs to manipulate the ball with quick precise touches to open up the angle, or when the ball is on his wrong foot, then the only way for me to honestly express my opinion of Nemanja's capabilities, is to say that I see him as a long way below the desired standard. It's clear that Antonio feels Nemanja is currently his best option for the majority of games. I'm interested to see if the manager goes shopping for a replacement, as opposed to a backup, in the summer. I certainly hope that he does. P.S. I hope you won't see the following observation as patronising. It is not meant to be. Where you have used the word fore above, you need the word for. If fore was just a typo, then it happens to all of us of course but, if my mentioning this is useful for future reference then I'm pleased.

Just a beautiful, beautiful goal.

One more reason, as if any more reasons are needed, not to judge strikers on their goal count alone.

It didn't feel at all special to me. In fact there were times it was very calm. Thought Nemanja did well not to get drawn in by the calls to shoot. The only time it looked like the memory of Saturday influenced his decision to let fly, it was definitely on so taking a pop was the right choice. He messed it up but no problem

Athleticism is the only area of Kennedy's game which matches the template for a wingback. In fact he outmatches Marcos in that regard so I can see why people are tempted by the idea of the young Brazilian operating at LWB. The temptation is a trap however because pace, strength and power are not enough. You stated that if Kennedy improves defensively he would then be a more viable option to be our second choice LWB than Marcos is. That's an opinion of course so you clearly feel able to form one based on what you've seen of Kennedy so far. Fair enough, I agree. I feel able to form one too, and I have. Indeed I formed the opinion that Kennedy's technique was below Chelsea level from watching his YouTube videos when his move here was being rumoured. At the time both the opinion itself, and the conviction that it could be formed by watching YouTube were challenged. I'd say both have been vindicated, though you may say that view is itself just another opinion.

Couldn't agree more. Perfect analysis in my opinion.

This makes it sound like you see Marcos as a liability. I couldn't agree with that. It was predictable that, with his skill set, he would improve us, and so he has. If an upgrade like Mendy can be recruited, I'd be fully in favour but the group of potential upgrades is not all that large. Or at least the group of which I'm aware is not all that large. There are enough however to give us a chance of getting one and I hope we do. I disagree more strongly about Kennedy. Even if he learned defensive discipline, which would be a big task for him, he lacks a key ingredient for the role. He is not a sufficiently good continuity player. Without that he would damage the team's ball retention, slow our counter attack and harm our defence. A few exhilarating skips down the line will never even begin to compensate for that. Not that Kennedy has shown signs of being able to deliver those on an acceptably regular basis anyway.

Jose never thought that. Before the window opened, long before, he talked about the need for several players, and for getting the business done "before the holidays". I.E. he wanted the signings in place early. Later on, when signings did not materialise, he changed his tune to try to pretend all was calm and under control. As for whether the Don is right or not, it depends on timescale. Over the short term, aberrations can happen. In the long run however, money talks. Show me a league which is not dominated by its richest clubs. Spending money will not guarantee that you have good judgement, that is to say that you will choose to buy the right players. Nor will it mean that the good players will choose to join your club. A big budget does mean however that if your first transfer decision was a mistake you can try, try and try again until you get it right, or until the right player says yes to your offer. In the end money inevitably talks. If we manage to hold on and secure the title, then the Premier League will have been won by one of it's three biggest budget clubs in all but one season since it came into existence.