OhForAGreavsie

Yes, Gvardíol was playing centre back for Leipzig when I became aware of him. When I posted my left back theory on here there was some pushback. One poster in particular, not you, ridiculed the idea as silly, pointing out that Gvardíol had never played left back in his life. I replied that I didn't care because he had perfect attributes for a left back. Turns out I did a better job of convincing Pep than I did of convincing that poster. Who knew the City boss was a member of TalkChelsea? 🙂 As you know CFCW recently parted company with Katarina Svitkova. I'm convinced this was for non football reasons and said so in a CFCW chat group. Someone replied that she was no great loss because she had been a bit part player anyway. My response was that if I was picking the team she would be way more than that. The same goes for JG. As long as Pep is following my suggestions, he will remain a left back. 🙂🙂

I read on here a few weeks ago that Palace wanted £60m for MG and that we had a 20% sell on clause. I predicted then that Palace would be looking for that amount, net, from the deal. Thus making the full price £75m. By that logic, MG would cost us 'just' the £60m after our discount is sliced off. I would hesitate at that price. I said all along, when Gvardíol was being linked with Chelsea, that I would sign him to play at left back, so I don't see him reverting to centre back. That said, I don't follow closely enough to know if he actively wants to do that. I just know that his attributes are very well suited to the LB roll.

You did. Good shout.

I don't object to this. There does seem to be something about Washington. Giving him time and hoping that, at the very least, he might increase his value is fair enough in my book.

"Toys out of the tram." I like it. 🙂

CFCW started their preseason last night with a 3-1 win against American champions NY/NJ Gotham in New Jersey. We started strongly and ended the game reasonably, but there was a disjointed spell either side of halftime. Johanna Rytting Kaneryd scored twice and Aggie Beever-Jones netted the other. The result was great but the performance is a little more difficult to judge. On the one hand we played against a strong team which is in the middle of their season, but on the other, half of their strongest XI, were not even in the match day squad. Positives: a win is a win, 22 players got minutes, there were moments when the new manager's style could be seen taking shape, ABJ was very sharp, new signings Kaptein and Bernabe looked comfortable and a competitive preseason fixture has to have been helpful. Negatives: we could barely complete a pass either side of halftime, our difficulties defending set pieces carried over from late last season, Lauren James was poor (though I think this may prove a blessing in disguise), Lucy Bronze was awful. Things can only get better for her. Very Bad: Erin Cuthbert picked up a worrying knee injury and left the stadium on crutches. https://www.chelseafc.com/en/video/rytting-kaneryds-post-match-reaction https://www.chelseafc.com/en/video/bompastors-post-match-reaction

We took seven points from these fixtures last season.

I agree with your summation of Napoli's situation. All the more reason not to allow ourselves to be exploited.

The question is not what his price was at any time in the past, the question is what is his value now. Beauty is in the eye of the beholder of course, but in my eye that value is a good deal less Lukaku + Casadei + £50m. For a player with a big salary and few, if any, other potential buyers, that's a ludicrous transfer fee to pay. Sooner or later we are going to have to break the cycle of putting ourselves in desperate situations, then allowing clubs to exploit our self-imposed difficulties. Ending that cycle might cost us a fortune in salaries paid, and transfer fees lost. Not ending it will cost us a heck of a lot more, financially and sportingly

If you run a large company some of your internal staff will be responsible for facilities maintenance. They will quite often be supplemented by external staff too. All of these people will have task specific expertise and their work will frequently require large capital expenditure. Such expenditure will have to be signed off by a senior executive. That executive will rely on the expertise of their technical staff as to whether the work being carried out is necessary and performed to the required standards and codes. That senior executive won't be required to make the technical decisions, but instead be tasked with ensuring suitably qualified people are in place. Sorry for spelling all of this out. I'm well aware that you know all of this. The reason for labouring this point is that Marina was in an even more removed situation than this. She was effectively an Avatar for Roman at the club. If she advised that a particular transfer could not be afforded, but Roman insisted that it must go through, it would go through. Marina's performance would be judged not only on her independent judgments, but also on her ability to be a fixer for the boss. Until, and unless, someone shows me irrefutable evidence that Marina was picking the players to be signed I will not believe it. I'm firmly fixed in this position because, if I had Roman's money, picking the players would be the fun part. I certainly would not delegate that away while forking out large chunks of my fortune for someone else to enjoy. Very early in Roman's ownership of the club Bruce Buck revealed that the oligarch used Football Manager to assess players. The CEO we brought in from Man United, whose name escapes me for a minute, confirmed that the manager did not make all of the transfer decisions. To me it is blindingly obvious that Roman was making them. He is, in my opinion, certainly the person who signed Lukaku the second time. I even believe that it was his son who signed Marco Marin; a player with eye catching attributes but zero effective contribution to team play. Let's blame Marina for things which were her fault but the players signed are not among them.

Of course Marina was the one signing off on deals. Football staff can't sign the cheques. That would be ridiculous. If you think I said that she didn't then you misread my comment, or are failing to pay enough attention to the varying responsibilities of of different roles in a large company.

Somebody show me evidence that Marina was making purchasing decisions. Then please show me evidence that she was deciding which players to sell. I have never seen any but it's never too late to learn if anyone knows of any. Responsibility for conducting the business side of the deals, yes. Culpability for illegal transfer activity, undoubtedly. Responsibility for actions which took place before she joined the board, no chance.

I wonder how it happened. I've never liked his tackling style. It always seemed like an injury waiting to happen. Whichever way it came about, let's hope the lad makes a full recovery and gets to continue his career without any loss of capability.

Given their ability to attract the players they want, Madrid often need only pick up the phone. In Felix's case however, I feel he would spend a lot of nights in waiting for a call that never comes.

I didn't say they didn't want him. Based on my own prejudice, I find it hard to believe that they did, but, in any event, they certainly didn't want him enough to make him a priority signing. Which is why I phrased my comment as I did.

Presumably there would be a headache resolution clause in his contract guaranteeing the manager free pain relief medication and regular lie downs in a darkened room. Where is he going to play? When's he going to play? We all know that if Felix joins he will look great, but what would he actually achieve? Same as usual? Same as makes Atleti keen to part with him, and prevents Barcelona having any interest in making him a priority?

Is it possible that should read 'are making' instead of 'made'?

Not sure what you mean by this.

I had never seen that stat. It's shocking.

Just to be clear I like Neto. 🙂

I've definitely seen him play left wing, albeit only on Match of The Day.

I sometimes ask people what makes a professional footballer and, when I do, I mean it as a trick question. The answer is that it takes a contract with a club which people are prepared to pay to watch play. That's it. We are the ones who make the people who work in football professionals. It's hard to imagine Lionel Messi playing on a random local authority park somewhere, but that's where he'd be without us.

Sadly no chance of a sell on for us but I read Liverpool will get a slice of the fee.

This has been a truth that somebody should write a book about.

I wouldn't say I've turned on Enzo. I'm waiting for him to impress me, but with reducing expectation that he will. For £106m you would hope for world class, but I'm not seeing that level of performance. Worse, I'm not recognising the potential for it either.