OhForAGreavsie

If Matic was going to learn that, or anyone was going to teach him that, it would have happened a long time ago. Far, far too late for Nemanja to make that improvement now.

Crossing is an overrated attribute of a wide defender. (And of a wide attacker, come to that.) It is far more important that a fullback/wingback should be a good possession player. I haven't seen any sign that Kennedy is such a player. I had hoped he would get minutes with Watford as he sought to turn himself into an attacking full-back. He clearly hasn't done enough to earn those minutes however. For now at least, it can't be much more than wishful thinking on our part to imagine Kennedy making a sound contribution for Chelsea.

Of course he is a flop, as predicted. Does not even look good on his YouTube videos. I'm not in the slightest bit worried that Antonio is really interested in him. No chance of that.

It turns out that there are three centrebacks in there but well done about the wingbacks. Good call and good reasoning.

I'm a Cava a man myself but all the women in my life prefer Prosecco so I grin and drink it.😊😊

Turkey is a must I suppose but I always feel you can't beat a whole poached salmon on Christmas Day. Be sure to descale it thoroughly though before you poach it.😊

Agreed, the man is a football pundit par excellence. It's a shame he's lost a bit of his confidence following the Valencia experience but hopefully it will come back slowly.

Yes that was disappointing. There was a stage during yesterday's game when he was protesting a bit too much against decisions and that looked to me like he was trying to get the job done. Thing is I suspect the ref was on to it.

Ah well, fair enough then. I didn't hear the interview you must be referencing. In the one I heard he only talked about the Impact of the early goal on the way we were able to play.

He's better than Maka in my opinion.

If he said that then he is obviously wrong but that's not what I heard him say. I heard Jose say that the early goal allowed Chelsea to play on the counter which he claimed is something we like to do.

That's your choice which is quite obviously nothing to do with me. Just don't imagine yourself to be speaking for Chelsea fans in general.

I am a Chelsea fan and I understand no such thing. I also do not understand why the anti Jose brigade is so grotesquely over represented on this forum. Jose is, and will remain, a Chelsea legend. If that irks anyone, then they deserve to be irked.

You may be right about that. The objection was really just about my own opinion on Kennedy's qualities, not your idea as a whole. For me Kennedy is in example of an important improvement we need to make. I understand what the club does with recruiting young players, particularly South Americans as early as the regulations permit. If we wait until they've proved their quality than our chances of recruiting them are dramatically reduced. Neymar is an example of a player we courted for years but who we never really had a chance of getting because he was already attracting the attention of clubs higher up the food chain than ourselves. It's a good plan to try to beat the rush; to try to identify and sign players early. The problem is that we don't seem to be carrying it out very well. We have youngsters around the continent who are struggling to get games with teams who play several levels below the one to which we aspire. This suggests that we are not selecting well enough. It could be that we are signing the best players who are available to us. It could be that we do identify better players but that somewhere between those players ambitions, and their current club's demands, our hopes of recruiting them fall apart. I think we all understand that the club is working in a very competitive market with one hand tied behind its back by UK employment laws. I question though if we should be so committed to pursuing this plan that we are prepared to sign players just because they are the ones we can get. From the first time I watched Kennedy on YouTube I felt that he did not have the required quality and posted here to say so. I love the lad's attitude and his general hassle on the football pitch. If, however, the day ever comes when he's good enough to hold down an attacking role for Chelsea, it will be because we have become a less good side then we want to be. An even less good side than we are now.

I don't see any reason to put that much faith in Kennedy. More to the point, I don't imagine that Antonio would.

I've said this before so forgive me for repeating myself, but I think the crosses he makes should be right at the bottom of the list when assessing a fullback's/wingback's contribution to his team. No matter who you are, most of your deliveries into the box will be ineffective and of those which are effective the majority will still come to nothing. In any case, show me a good cross delivered by a fullback/wingback and, nine times out of ten, I'll show you a good passing move which put him in position to make it. Good possession and crisp passing create situations which might become great crosses. Almost every time a team establishes good possession one, if not both, of their fullbacks will touch the ball. Frequently they will do so more than once. Minute by minute, match by match, fullbacks/wingbacks who are strong in possession, and are capable of good continuity passing, make key contributions to their team. These are exactly Marcos's strengths which is why I was enthusiastic about his signing and hopeful about what he could do for us. To be truly outstanding such players must also be sound defenders, and this is perhaps where Marcos has something still to prove. It must be remembered however that, by improving the quality of their team's possession, good continuity players also help to solidify it defensively. It is way, way too early to judge if our recent improvement, at both ends of the pitch, is lasting, and to be sure whether any of it can be attributed to Marcos's involvement. I feel very encouraged by what we've seen from him so far however.

In terms of competition regulations, the type of player you are talking about is described as "Club Trained".

And of course Tammy doesn't have any "caps" for Bristol City. 😊

Really like this bloke. The breakdown describes him as right-footed but he is very comfortable with either foot and as a result has a much easier time working his way out of tight situations and finding angles for good continuity passes.

I read a post yesterday in which someone called it not the Bundesliga, but the Bayernliga. Made me laugh and 100% right of course.

There is planning for every eventuality and then there's, "If PSG don't qualify for the champions league!!" Good work Paulo. Let no one ever accuse you of failing to dot the Is and cross the Ts.

Andreas talks about a future at Stamford Bridge because, in his position, he more or less has to. To say anything else would be to invite bad PR for no good reason. Saying he prefers Bayern's league, or that he would rather play elsewhere than sit on the bench Chelsea, is probably about as far as he can go. Gladbach would not waste their time pursuing Andreas so vigorously however unless they knew that he was keen to join them.

Yep, that's all fair enough except that you were the one that started to talk about from above. Remember, I replied to comment on your assumption that the club was putting pressure on the managers, i.e. from above. 🙂

I'd be pretty surprised if a man, who reportedly watches every minute of every Chelsea game, needed to be told that the squad isn't good enough. I have no idea of course, but my guess is that the owner knew it well enough even before Antonio arrived and that their conversations have been a lot more nuanced than is being reported.

Four points again. What is it with you on the number four? 😊 Firstly, your point about information. I don't think it has anything to do with the conversation we've been having but you're right of course. I think I've written more posts making this point in the last few months than I have about anything else. It bemuses me when people ask the question, "Why can't the managers see what we can see?". Of course the managers can see everything we do, plus they have the opportunity to see, and to know, a great deal more. No matter how strange a manager's decision may seem, none of us can be certain that, given the same information he has, we would not do exactly the same. The reason I say this has nothing to do with the conversation we have been having is because it's not a pressure from above. It's just the manager using knowledge and information to inform the decisions he makes. His own decisions. On the case of money. Unless we're talking about bribery of the manager, money isn't going to come into it. These financial concerns wouldn't affect the manager. They might of course be a motivation for the club to put pressure on the manager but that just brings us back to where we started. Financial concerns might make the club want to have a player selected but there is no evidence that they have put any manager under pressure to do it. On Roman. Being the owner does give him the authority, if not actually the entitlement, to issue directives to his staff. Once again this gets us nowhere other than back to where we started. Even if he might like to do it, there is no evidence that Roman has told managers to pick a certain player. On availability. I've made that point a number of times myself but in connection with young players. I've argued that perhaps the club is starving the squad of senior players in a bid to force the selection of youngsters. I don't seriously think this is what is going on. I've just put it forward previously as a potential explanation for what we have seen. That is still not direct pressure of the, "pick this player, not that player", type.