OhForAGreavsie

That why the word 'if' is an important component of the sentence to which you replied. If stats mean anything. Yes, of course. I've written this comment a number of times before so apologies to all for another repetition but.. Full/wing backs are frequent targets for the 'out' ball. For that reason, most times your team establishes clear possession one, if not both, of your full/wing backs will touch the ball. Often they will each touch the ball more than once during that passage of play. This is why it is a major benefit to a team if its people in those roles are good continuity footballers. This means that; they can receive and retain the ball under pressure, they have good body control and ball manipulation skills to create angles to make positive passes, and it is vital that they have good passing accuracy. Being comfortable making short passes with both feet is a major benefit in this regard, since this opens more passing angles and increases the possibilities for positive passes which allow your team to move forward instead of having to go back and recyle posession without going anywhere. I am not saying that the eye catching dribbling and crossing skills do not also make a contribution, but minute-by-minute, game-by-game, it's the skills and attributes above which matter more. This is precisely why I correctly predicted that Marcos Alonso would have an impact on our team despite the fact that he is a far from elite defender. Putting better continuity players in the wide defensive positions improves your team going forward and this automatically improves your defence too. It's important to acknowledge here that Moses has also contributed to this improvement and for the same reason. Only some of the credit belongs to Marcos, not all of it. Having said that, I would like us to be on the hunt for better alternatives to our pair of wing backs. That means players who can do what they can, but offer better defensive fundamentals along with more pace and power, particularly on the left. It has to be along with, not instead of however. Poor passers need not apply. Is Adama a poor passer? I don't know, I haven't watched him enough to have a valid opinion. If stats mean anything then his don't look good, but then I'm not a big fan of stats. Dribbles can only happen when the circumstances allow; but almost every time a player receives the ball the next thing he needs to do with it is pass. Only misguided squad builders would pick the better dribbler over the better passer at wing back. If all other attributes are considered to be equal, then take the better passer 100% of the time.

If stats mean anything then those suggest that Moses completely outclasses Adama.

More silliness. Your comment to which I reacted has nothing to do with the finite quality of the teams playing in the division. What I described as wrong, disrespectful and plain silly is the idea that The Championship exits to serve any purpose of ours. That division, and those teams, exist to pursue their own ambitions without any reference to what is good for the Premier League, any individual Premier League club, or even me and you. We don't have them to serve our plans, we don't have them at all; they are independent entities. They may be good, they may be crap but they don't belong to me and they don't belong to you. Whatever the heck you thought you meant when you said, " Thats why we have the championship teams", you got that wrong.

When we signed KDB I watched him play for Genk and became a fan immediately. So big a fan indeed that I then watched every game he played for Bremen which didn't clash with a Chelsea match, and every game he played for Belgium whether it clashed with England or not. I remember posting a comment at the time which included the phrase "I love, love, love, the way KDB plays football." My assessment of Dom is very different. To borrow a quote from Senator Bensten; Dom Solanke is no KDB. Dom's age has nothing to do with it either. He ain't got top level talent and talent is something you can't manufacture no matter how long you spend on the practice ground, or how old you get. If Dom works hard he can make a career for himself but it's unlikely to be at the highest level. By the way, your idea of "why we have Championship teams", is wrong, disrespectful and plain silly.

You're right, I don't know the Spanish system but if it makes misbehaviour easier to fall into then, in the end, that is no excuse. Misbehaviour is still misbehaviour. Do the right thing; you'll feel better about yourself, you'll be more respected, you'll sleep better at night and you'll still live like a prince.

There have been reliable suggestions that, between loan fees and transfer revenues, the Cobham system pays for itself. Whether that is so or not, there is a great danger in Giving Dom a contract at such a level; the danger of trapping him here. He has done nothing at all to suggest he deserves £10m over four years. If he has a long term guaranteed contract for more than he's worth, how are we going to sell him? Who is going to want to take on that burden for a player who has shown nothing yet?

I just don't get why top players behave like this. The money they earn is equivalent to winning the lottery every year, for many years. It may show a lack of ambition on my part but, if I was in so fortunate a position, I'd make simple tax arrangements, pay what's due and sleep easy at night. Why, when you can give your family a great lifestyle with the best of everything, would you let stress and hassle in your door? I think we can guess why; it's the result of suggestions from advisers brought on board by their agents. If these young men would take advice from a different source, I'd say tell your agent to stop it. Bring your earnings on shore, look the world square in the eye and say, I know the money I'm paid is beyond ridiculous but that's not my fault. At least I behave properly about it and pay my dues. If these lads don't know it already, they need guidance to help them understand that integrity, peace of mind and the respect of the world, is worth more than a few extra quid to spend at the Burj Khalifa.

Terrible is a bit strong but Rom's technical limitations will always hold him back. The first time I saw him play for Chelsea I posted (elsewhere) to say that he shouldn't be here and that no manager of a top club would ever be satisfied with Romelu as his first choice striker. The idea that Rom shouldn't be at Chelsea turned out not to be completely correct in as much as we made a sizeable profit on his transfer. Sadly for the young man however, I think it is the truth as far as his on pitch contribution goes. My guess is that if Chelsea re-sign Lukaku, Antonio would be hoping for an upgrade fairly soon afterwards.

Think you are way off beam in your assessment and your suggestion is far too generous. No chance at all Madrid will be interested in Dom. That story was clearly born in the imagination of some agent. Often there is the merest grain of truth behind these claims in so far as all the top clubs watch ALL of the emerging talent. Watching is usually as far as any interest will go however. Dom is a really likeable bloke with sound attributes, but he is simply not good enough to capture the interest of Los Blancos. I don't know what variables Chelsea would pump into the equation to determine their contract offer to Dom, but any calculation which results in a salary of £2.5m p.a. needs to be checked and re-done.

He was there alright. Just not on loan.

All of a sudden Monaco have a few really good players. When they beat Spurs I was amused but surprised. Now that I've watched them a bit (because their players keep being linked with us) I'm no longer surprised at all. It's not really 'all of a sudden' of course. It's just that I wasn't aware of their quality.

I agree. If it's a choice between a largely ineffective player we'd have to buy, or one we already own, then let's stick with the one we've got.

Turns out City didn't do that.

Best of luck Pat. Do well.

Madrid won't sign Dom, and no one will pay him £2.5m pa.

That sounds sensible but it depends on a PL side wanting him and having a high degree of confidence that he'll start for them. If those conditions aren't met, then club and player alike have to look for a better option.

I'm not so sure about that. As I said the first time I saw Kennedy on YouTube, he is not good enough technically to be an AM at the level Chelsea aspire to. His later try out at LB may have raised hopes but was always going to be a very long shot. This loan may not quite be the end of Kennedy's Chelsea adventure but it's probably looming. If everyone is now ready to accept that it won't happen here for Kennedy, then this a step in the right direction because we can focus on finding a different solution.

Why on Earth would Dortmund sell just six months after signing him?

Do people really underate him? I have been following this football club for a long while but I don't remember a time when we were consistently linked with such good players. This has not yet been reflected in the players we've been able to sign but it's a start I suppose. Bonaventura strikes me as the type of footballer you sign first then worry where you play him later. He seems to me to have the versatility to perform various roles in our current shape, but personally I would be tempted to play him as a Six. Every time I watch Dembele play against us my frustration grows. Someone of that technical excellence in the core of our team would improve us enormously. To those tempted to say that Bonaventura lacks the defensive quality for this role, I would suggest they consider the dramatic contribution Marcos Alonso has made to our defensive solidity. I can't repeat often enough that if you improve your ability to maintain possession and distribute the ball you automatically also improve your defence. Bonaventura excels at manipulating the football in tight spaces to earn himself room to play. Boy, could we use someone like that in the middle of the park. My overall belief however is that, even if the experiment of using him at Six failed, Bonaventura is still a player you'd want in your squad to use in a more forward situation.

Just don't agree with you. And yes, of course I do watch Rom. Not good enough for Chelsea. Does what he does well enough but lack of technical quality condemns him to a status permanently below elite level.

Way better player than Torres.

Why blame him for your misjudgement? Or are you saying that you are the fraud? :-)

Yes, I really did. :-)

For exactly the same reason that no Champions League club wanted Lukaku enough to make an offer for him when he was being hawked around this summer.

The injury simply serves as an excuse. The sad, but unavoidable, reality is that Marko has never displayed anything even approaching the quality we need. He is not to blame for that, he has never done anything less than his best. Let's wish him well and allow him to move on to the next permanent stop in his career, and let's do that as soon as his contractual situation permits.