OhForAGreavsie

I love Guus to bits but the only difference is that the players have been prepared to try for him. Had they been ready to try for Jose we'd be above 10th but they fooled themselves into believing that they are as good as they imagine themselves to be. They decided that they could go out and play however they liked and still win football matches. They have presumably learned now that they are not as good as they imagined. Only Jose could win with this mob and then only if they implemented his plans. I do think that the manager/coach is picking the team without interference but I suppose it's fair enough to speculate that he may not be. I find it harder to see what you mean by corruption however. Was it just a throw away word that you didn't really mean, or are you being serious?

Before I joined this forum I thought I was was one of the most negative Chelsea fans out there but how wrong I was. The naked hatred some people here exhibit toward Chelsea and Chelsea people is behaviour I just don't understand.

OK, that's an honest disagreement. Many, many people agree with you. They're wrong, but they do do agree with you. Firstly, the referenced post addresses your point about whether quality players are affordable and available to us. Secondly, it recognises that such players may not be, and, if so, that the practical thing would be to slide down the list. It accepts we might end up at Kante, but it argues that we should not start there. Thirdly, better players we know of are out there for all the positions you mention so there is nothing mythical about them. If, for example, you are telling me you can't name a player who you think might do a better job for Chelsea than Oscar, than I'm going to say that I don't believe you. What is more, there are almost certainly also better players out there who are not yet widely known outside their own clubs and scouting circles. There are several players of whom I had never previously heard doing great things in this season's Premier League. Perhaps that's true of you too. Years ago I became very interested in Chelsea signing Mousa Dembele from AZ Alkmaar. I watched an AZ vs Ajax game to see how he performed in what was then a top of the table clash. As it happened, he was poor that day but, for the first time, I noticed and commented on a bloke called Suarez playing up front for Ajax. This season I've been watching Rennes to keep an eye on Jed and, because of that, became aware Osumane Dembele. The young Dembele is now top of my transfer wish list* this summer. Football fans, especially those of us who don't play computer games, notice players when we come across them. For scouts it is different. I had never heard of Ronaldo when he arrived at ManU but it turns out that several sides around the continent had tried to buy him from Lisbon. Arsenal even thought they had reached an agreement with club and player. As fans we can see the areas where our team requires strengthening. We may even be able to suggest some solutions but, even if we are not able to, that does not absolve the club's recruiters of the responsibility to find those solutions. That's the nature of the competition. Players compete for results on the pitch, clubs compete for players off it. It's no good throwing up your hands and saying, "Please sir, Oscar is the best I can do." If you you want the prizes, excuses don't cut it. The Premier League has been poor in recent seasons but I don't believe it is going to stay that way. We must improve. * We almost certainly won't win the race for Dembele's signature but we should at least take part.

I didn't think posts could be deleted by non-mods like me. Based on what you say about going back 5 pages, I assume you have seen this post. This is the one I referred to and which I think deals with the points you made.

I go along with you 90% of the way but I'd put it a little differently. You're talking about spending, I'd prefer to talk about recruiting. Pretty much every member of TC probably agrees with you that we need to recruit and that recruiting well will almost certainly mean spending big. They'd probably also agree however that spending big does not necessarily equal spending well. While in recent windows our spending has been relatively low, it is still true that we have spent huge amounts on transfers. Our problem is not just about how much we spend, it's about how well we spend. I shudder to think of the oceans of cash wasted on players who have proved to be unable to help our first team. More than ever; to strengthen the squad, to dramatically improve our first team, to enthuse those of the current group who will remain next season, we need to add quality. Of course quality players can cost fortunes but, as we know from bitter experience, so too can bad ones. I say don't count the zeros in their transfer fees and wage packets, calculate the talent in their veins, and calculate it better than we've done before.

Oh dear. Read the earlier part of the conversation. It really won't take you long.

I've just naturally said e not eye since I first read the name Miazga, but now you bring it up it's occurred to me that I don't know. Don't think I've ever heard anyone say eye however and I've never heard Matt contradict anyone who said e.

If you think that then it's clear that you do not know what I'm talking about, or at any rate that you do not share my impression of the player. Kante falls into the category of footballer we have typically signed. The category which, once we bought enough of them, eventually brought us where we are now. Kante is a player with qualities rather than a player of quality. I say again, we are poor and Kante would improve us. My ambition however is that we sign a player who has Kante's qualities but who is better on the ball. That should be, and I hope is, Antonio's ambition too.

Kante is not the answer for us. He is better than we have currently and so would make our squad stronger but he would not contribute to making our squad great. If we cannot find, or cannot attract, a great player then Kante would serve as a stepping stone but we should not start the summer trying to buy an expensive stepping stone. We still have the ambition to be a great team not merely a good one.

Heard about the pen of course. That should ratchet up the tension a bit. I'm trying to take a look at Rodriguez who has been linked. Nothing to see from him yet.

How's he doing? (I'm watching Madrid/Wolfsburg.)

I'm sure I saw the same question not long ago. The stadium will be razed to the ground and rebuilt from scratch.

It was not Tony Gale.

Couldn't agree more. Been really excited about this since it broke last night that Charlie had travelled. Just get him on Guus!

I think he's always been poor. Another member of the generally overrated players group. Ok, poor is harsh but not special isn't.

How do you know that this is what should be deduced from the different titles? What on Earth has the name of the job got to do with anything? How, for example, do we know that Conte does not simply prefer the title, coach, which is more widely used everywhere outside of the UK? Putting such emphasis on a mere title sounds to me to be as mistaken as the opinion which objects to the name of Europe's premier club competition. How, the opinion goes, can it be called The Champions League when many entrants are not in fact domestic champions? That, rather silly, opinion completely ignores the fact that English is not the only language in the world and that in many other languages the word champion has a much wider meaning. A meaning akin to top quality. In any case, we already know that Jose instigated some transfers but not some others. That's no news and nor, I imagine, would it surprise anyone if that was to be the same situation with Antonio.

And I hope it always will be. Certainly deserves to be. At least partly responsible for every trophy we've won since Roman arrived at the club, apart from the last two. He was entirely responsible for those.

I'll remember to sing the special one's name even louder than usual a week on Saturday. Just for you.

Or perhaps they both just know what they're doing? That's easy for me to say given that I don't see Kennedy as the full package at AM but it can't be so hard to believe that a pair of multi-trophy winners might just have the odd clue about football. It isn't is it?

Sounds sensible but I hope Conte will be taking an interest in this. I know that for public consumption Antonio must say, has said indeed, that he will be focusing on Italy until the Euros are done. I hope however that, in reality, he will be letting Guus know if there are any players he'd like to look at. Not everyone will agree I suppose, but it seems to me that Guus's delay in playing Pato means that the caretaker boss does not really fancy our latest loan signing. If Conte is curious about Pato however then he needs to ask Guus to give the Brazillian starts up top as well as in his more natural position. There remains a hope of Europa League qualification but Guus's line up at Villa Park suggests that it isn't important enough to cause any further delay to the experimentation. The remainder of this season should be all about next season and beyond. I hope that means Antonio will be allowed to describe which experiments he wants carried out.

I don't have an opinion on Foster as a potential Chelsea keeper but I'd like to ask those who are in favour of this move if they like Foster because they rate him more highly than Asmir, or if they think the two keepers are of similar level but this would be a good opportunity to add a home grown starter to the squad.

All the greatest attacking players have high levels of technical ability, but not all footballers with great technical ability are high level players. If I were in charge I'd already be searching hard for a Costa replacement so that I'd be ready to cash in on him if a suitable offer arrives in summer. In my opinion what Diego brings is not worth the hassle which comes with it, or the motivation he gives opposing fans.

I have been, and remain, critical of RLC's level of activity. That criticism relates to the way Ruben operates when we have the ball however, not when we don't. I first posted this opinion early in 2013 when I said I felt that, for all his talent, Ruben needed a kick up the backside and that if he didn't buck his ideas up he'd be lucky to get a career in the lower leagues. The point about the date is that I doubt Jose had formed an opinion about Ruben by then and, even if he had, I certainly had never heard it. I wasn't able to watch the Villa match live and have only caught up with the first hour of the recording so far. I'll see the rest later but, based on those sixty minutes, I'd say most of the opinions I've read rate RLC's performance yesterday rather more highly than I do. There were two moments which I regard as high level; the dribble which led to the penalty and an earlier carry of not more than 10 yards but during which he took a couple of opponents out of the game. These runs, featuring quick, accurate movement of the ball using both feet and a power surge are Ruben's USP. Of the things he has in the locker, this is the one that can make him an outstanding contributor. To be fair to Ruben he was well enough involved during the period of yesterday's game that I've seen. In general however it has been a recurring theme of his career; development, first team and international, that he does not get into the action often enough to give himself enough chances to do what he can do. I hope to see him working harder to find space and good angles so his teammates can set him up with good possession and good opportunities.

Oh my word!

Of what? I think Le Tissier (sp?) had a 100% record and, for all I know, a few others may have too but they are very, very much the exception not the rule. As near as makes no difference, statistically speaking, all players who take penalties regularly, will eventually miss some. Pato would too.