OhForAGreavsie

I don't believe that the cash will be a problem to find, I think our difficulties lie elsewhere and I doubt they can be solved in one, or even two, transfer windows. I see throughout the web that many still expect Roman to be funding the new stadium outright but the clear impression from the first presentation of the rebuild plans is that Roman will input a loan. Yes, this means we will have repayments to make but remember Mr. A. won't be putting £600m on the table in one go. His spending will be staged so he'll be paying the bills as and when they come up and, more importantly, he will, if he wishes, be able to manipulate the repayment schedule to suit the needs of the club. If a scheduled annual repayment is going to hamper the club's spending plans he can be flexible about it. I think, and hope, Roman will get his money back in the end but, if it takes 30 years instead of 25 he probably isn't going to see it as a drama. Our real problem will be the one we've struggled with for years. It's not finding the money, it's how to spend it. We seem not to have been able to tell the difference between a decent player and a good one, a player with qualities, and one of quality. Diego scored a great goal last night be he isn't in Ibra's league. When our centre forward has the ball at his feat on the dribble, he looks like he has no clue how to do what he wants to achieve. We have to up our game in player recruitment. If we don't then it matters not whether we spend £100m or £100. The state of our club means we have no chance of attracting the player who is at the top of my own transfer wish list, Ousmane Dembele, or most of the one's at the top of anyone else's. Even if by some miracle we identify the right targets it's hard to imagine that we can bring in the depth of quality we need in one summer.

Ah, I've also read it again and I see that now.

I find it hard to believe that an official account would say something like that unless it was done in a way that clearly marked it out as good natured banter.

No they aren't. Some people are bastards and some of those bastards support Arsenal. There are still plenty left over to support other clubs though. Including our own of course.

So you are saying that Nathan is the best LB in the world? Even Nathan would probably think that's going a bit too far.

Dembele is an absolute cert on my wish list for the summer. Great talent. We probably will not succeed but we absolutely have to bid for this lad.

I'd say the reason, or one of the reasons, Kennedy is not starting more often and not in his preferred position was in evidence in the lead up to the goal. It began with a poor touch. This time, perhaps because he was coming from deep, he had a lot of room and caught up with the ball. Had he been in a tighter situation that touch would have resulted in lost possession. Obviously that's the kind of thing that happens to all players once or twice every game but I believe this is a trait of his and is something I've been commenting on since watching his highlight videos before he joined. I believe this is one of the things keeping Kennedy out of the side.

We'd all share that hope I'm sure but I fear it's a very, very big if for Izzy. I wish him all the very best but I think he lacks the quality for a Chelsea career.

Yep you may be right and, importantly, it seems that Charly, Chelsea and Betis all agree with you.

As I've posted previously, the two best performances I saw Charly put in for us were both in the Modric role. Thing is those two games were the only occasions he played there and they were18 months apart so no one at the club seems to have any interest in seeing Charly used in that way. I don't know if you would call that a DM position however.

Really well said. I wanted to say something about judging a keeper on clean sheets but you said it in a much better way than I could.

My biggest gripe with the coverage of football is pundits and commentators who don't do their homework. They have such a fun job, just put a little bit of effort in lads. Shortly after kick-off in today's game the co-commentator was having a moan up about Betis, listing a couple of players who might help them but saying that apart from those two Betis had no creativity in their side. The two names did not include Charly which shows that he can't even have watched Betisi's last game and that is surely the least he should do. Anyway, by the 35th minute he was able to say, "If Betis can get the ball to Musonda as often as possible they'll do a lot better in this game." Obviously Charlie has shown enough to open the commentator's eyes but actually Betis have not been able to set him up with good possession all that often. Consequently, despite being the most effective player so far, both he and his team have been fairly quiet in the game. That said, they enjoyed their best spell in the last 7 or 8 minutes of the half so maybe we'll see more in the second period.

Over Easter in the old days there used to be 3 games in four days. One on Good Friday, one on the Saturday and another on the Monday. It was just a brilliant weekend to be a football fan. Can't speak for the players mind; it must have seriously disrupted their birds, booze and fags lifestyle. In the even older days they used to play matches on Christmas Day as well as on Boxing Day.

Matic had already been suffering 'poor form' for a year before Imbula joined Stoke.

I think what happened is that we were without any width at all due to both our wingers and both of our fullbacks being injured. (Robbie made the bench but did not feel he was ready and was very reluctant to play you'll remember.) Throw in the fact that each of our ties with Liverpool has been won by the side playing the second leg at home as well as that there was a ghost on the pitch and you have the real reasons for our exit that night. P.S. Is down the boil the American English version of the UK English expression off the boil? Have to confess I'd never heard it before.

I confess that I'd have been tempted to go weak tomorrow but I'm so proud of the stance that Chelsea football club adopt. We don't shrink from any challenge. I love Guus for embracing that attitude. I'm sure there will be some flexibility but I'm also sure there will be a selection designed to give the game a real good go. If Diego gets hurt so be it. Oh and I certainly wouldn't want to suffer a long, boring procession in Ligue 1 just so we could rest players for the Champions League. One day we will, at long last, build a squad the quality of which truly reflects the amount of money we spend on it. When that happens the manager will have more room for manoeuvre with his selections. For now however, when faced with the opportunity to prioritise a later fixture at the risk of compromising our chances in the game at hand, we always say stuff that and go out to win the next game. Love it, love Chelsea.

No I don't agree that it's the same thing at all. He just knew then that the next boss wasn't going to be him so answered as he did. Even today when asked if he wanted the job he ducked the question. Of course the media bods have forgotten, or are pretending to have forgotten, that Guus ruled himself out of the job last week, the week before and the week before that. They are therefore presenting it this evening as if it is news. The bit about the young people is perhaps a clue as to the reason especially when linked with what he had to say about the club needing to move away from short term managerial appointments. That is much closer to the truth I would say than that Guss did not want the gig. What's more I feel sure that Roman and Guus would have agreed mutually that a younger man is the way to go.

There are only twelve words which are a quote from the Betis manager. The rest is journalistic flourish.

A quote from the Daily Mail article linked above:

Well said. If Charly has even just one or two more performances at the level he showed last night then Wilmots would almost have to call him up. Tielemans on the other hand does not look even close to being selected. I'm tempted to ask, "Who is really the one that has wasted his time?", but that would be unfair. Unfair because I think if Youri had moved to Chelsea, and Charly had stayed in Belgium, then Charly would still be the one pushing for a place in the squad this summer. Charly is, in my opinion, simply the better player.* *I must point out however that I have only seen Tielemans play three times so this may not be the most valid opinion I've ever formed.

Firstly, I'm in full agreement about your last paragraph, apart from the last sentence. As to the quote from January, yes, about six weeks ago as I said. At his first conference, and at others up until January, he talked about the dates for the two cup finals (although he initially got the date of the Champions league final wrong) but then added, after that we'll see. He absolutely clearly left the door open to an extended stay. Something happened in January, something I speculated on in a post at the time. My guess then was that the club had reached agreement with the new man (in principle at least) , that Guus had been told about it and that this was the reason for his change of tune. I was very disappointed that Guus did not take the job when it was offered to him in 2009, and I'd be delighted if he was appointed now but he isn't going to be. There must be a reason or reasons for that but, while we can each speculate what the key reason might be, neither of us know. One thing for sure is that Guus has never said that he does not want the job. He may not want it but he has never said so, as was originally claimed.

Arsenal have already made it clear that they have no interest in such a set up and, today, Steve Atkins, on behalf of Chelsea FC, has categorically denied that any such idea was even discussed at the recent meeting. The only person I have heard speak in favour of the super league idea is a continental European who is an officer of a continental European club. I think you are readily persuaded to buy into the worst possible characterisation of the situation because that's what fits with your overall outlook.

This may well be true but some caution is advisable. 25 years ago it was Ajax and the Dutch model that we were all urged to follow. 20 years ago in was Manchester United then it was the French & Clairefontaine, the the Spanish and Barcelona. Now it is the Belgians. No one is seeking to deny the quality of the work being done but in the end it almost always turns out that coincidence plays a big part in the simultaneous production of a crop of high quality players.

How can you not love Guus? Today's highlights: - He's definitely leaving although he ducked the question about why he is not in the running for the job. Credit to the press core however, it only took them 6 weeks to finally come up with some good questions about this! He will be around Stamford Bridge and Cobham rather often but only as a tourist. We take all games seriously including this one. There will be a strong side selected. Diego will start but the plan, match situation allowing presumably, is that he won't finish the game. Neither Pedro nor JT is in contention tomorrow. No questions or comments about Pato. Guus is against the idea of a breakaway league which would shut out certain teams. He believes in meritocracy. If teams like Leicester earn their place at the top table then the must be allowed to have it. (My paraphrasing of what he said.) Steve Atkins chimed in to say that the idea of a European Super League was not discussed at the recent meeting.

Or Eden indeed.