OhForAGreavsie

You're right in your assessment of the player but why can't you wait till this is done before you decide on who's to blame? For now, someone has made up a question, you've made up the answer and yet it's all the board's fault. Also what's with this attitude where any good signing is because Antonio knows football, and any bad one is because the board don't?

Someone made the point recently that Belotti is not yet proven.That's true but it's a question timing. If you wait until a player establishes himself there's a risk that the number of interested clubs will grow and that he might be taken by a team higher up the food chain. There comes a point therefore where you have to back your judgement. My own opinion is that this is a player worth investing a lot of money in. If our club tries to get ahead of the game and beat the rush for Belotti's signature, then I would be 100% behind that decision. I think his technical level is high, far higher than Diego's for example. It is very unlikely that the club would want to part with Diego but if our centre forward chooses to force the issue, then Belotti tops the list of potential replacements as far as I am concerned. Only in the areas of leadership and will to win would I rate Diego more highly than the young Italian. Those qualities are important and should not be dismissed, but I would not let them deter me from pursuing this player. In any case, Belotti may well have those. He certainly has a fire in his belly, and that is usually where those things begin.

Am I the only one who is fed up of these late winners and equalisers our title rivals keep grabbing. Sickeners every one. Don't answer that. I know I'm not.

I hesitate to say this after you told me that I didn't know what I was talking about when I predicted, before he signed, that Pato wasn't going to make it at Stamford Bridge, but... Jesus has not yet impressed me much. Some people in UK media are talking about him as if he is the new Pele but, based on what I've seen so far, his touch is not superstar tight and his footwork is not superstar sharp. We'll see if he blossoms, but up to now he has looked rather ordinary.

Like Morata, always have, but there are others I'd prefer. Belotti for example.

Those who like counting the money derived from prime time coverage in India.

I've no idea how many scouts we have, or how they are deployed. We do know however that the club has a team of people responsible for monitoring the loanees, and for giving them feedback of all of their displays. Those players get detailed feedback from Chelsea on each and every performance. Since such reports are being compiled the club must have them. At a guess I'd say that at least some of these are written 'off video' but we read many articles on TOCWS, and see many features on CTV, making it clear that Chelsea representatives are often in the crowd watching our loanees play. As for ME being top dog, Antonio has spoken a number of times about how he himself, has decided whether a player goes on loan or not. If you mean ME is top dog in terms of creating and maintaining the strategy itself then perhaps so. It would certainly make sense for that decision to fall within the functions of a Technical Director. Whether or not it actually does at Chelsea I don't think any of us know however. I believe that the whole academy idea is wrong headed and will evolve into something quite different over time. Meanwhile, in practical terms, players graduating from academies have too great a sell on value to be discarded in the huge numbers that would be required if the loan army were capped at no more than 5 lads at a time. This is true even of those destined for careers in the lower leagues so more brutal culls than the ones which already take place at ages 16, 18 & 21 would make little sense in footballing, or financial. terms. All of this is before we even consider the buy-to-loan policy. A policy which I think is necessary. I do agree with you that we need to do that part of the loan system differently. We need to be better at identifying the players with real potential. Our hit rate is far too low in that regard.

I'm a big Alonso fan but have to admit he was very bad in possession on Tuesday.

Hope it doesn't damage Southampton's ability to take points off our rivals.

A reasonable, but scary, analysis.

I'm sure that sensible fans realise, just like we do, that it is monstrously hard to do transfer business in this climate. This is particularly the case when dealing with continental clubs. Clubs which, rightly, are as determined as ever to hold on to their good players, and who have learned that they can flog their cast-offs to the Premier League for stupefyingly large fees. I hope that the lack of activity in this window is a sign that our top clubs are becoming smarter at long last. Smart enough to keep their money in their pockets until the genuine article is available and to stop subsidising European clubs by paying superstar prices for less than superstar players. If that is true, if our clubs have learned this lesson, then good. If, however, they still haven't quite got it then I would ask how many more times they need to be quoted £40m for ordinary footballers before they wise up?

I think we need a minimum of four signings; LWB, RWB, CM, RF, but I suspect Antonio would like at least five since he does not seem to believe in our backup CF. All that is assuming there are no significant departures which, in respect of Diego & Thibaut, might be big assumptions. Six or seven new players in a single window is not a realistic expectation. That's why I hoped we'd make one or two captures in this window and eat into the problem a little bit. As it is, we have big needs and will face many more clubs, with more money than ever to compete for the players we want, or to fend off our interest in theirs. We are going to have to be patient and make ourselves as competitive as we can while building our strength over the course of a few transfer windows.

The wording of the report made it sound like Celtic were behind it. To my mind that stuff about being 'reluctant' to sell translates simply as yes we do want to sell and are trying to drum up business. You may be right though. Perhaps it was Sky inventing a story to provoke a response from Celtic. A response they could then run all day. If so they'd have had help from a friendly agent who would have 'tipped them off' so they had something to hang their tale on. I don't believe big organisations just make stuff up without some kind of back up. Have a story 'planted', yes; just outright pull it out of thin air without camouflage, no.

Antonio said in his post match press conference last night that we did not bid for Dembele.

Ah, I see. Thank you.

Has there been confirmation that his move to Zenit was completed before the cut-off, or is the Russian deadline today?

Fully agree but we do need a better player next to him.

1975 at the original Den was a good one. Three of us ended up in their end because ours was packed. A little bit scary, but I'm here to tell the tale. It was a Saturday afternoon game and Chopper came on as a half-time sub, having already played a full 90 minutes for the reserves that morning. Rotation, smotation.

I am, and of the manager.

Maybe we do have fewer weaknesses than other sides but their problems don't frustrate me so I can live with them. I think it is unarguable however that we need quality upgrades. For example, I may be alone but I'm utterly fed up with Matic. Swap him for Tottenham's Dembele and we are instantly a significantly better team. Dembele is not a world beater; he just possesses the kind of technical quality required for the level to which we aspire.

It pleases but does not encourage me. What would encourage me is better players in certain key areas.

Agreed but none of that hides the weaknesses in the team.

Really pleased with this team. The flaws are clear for all to see but they did what they do and grabbed a result. Squad improvements are desperately needed but I question whether we can get it done in the market come summer. That's for another thread however.

Bournemouth? Hope not.

Still 2 hours and 17 minutes to go. We can hope.