OhForAGreavsie

Don't agree at all re Tibo but hey-hum.

Someone needs to help Baba get his head back up. He looks really down on himself. Brana, Fab, Gaza, anybody.

The lads progressed to the club's 7th successive Youth Cup semi-final last night. They beat Reading 2-1 in a bizarre but entertaining game at The Bridge. We were quite poor for the opening 20 minutes during which Reading were definitely the better side but we gradually got into the game and, by the time we took the lead on about 35 minutes it had been coming. We looked to be cruising when we moved two up and seemed certain to add a 3rd but Reading pulled one back late to add a bit of tension. Their goal came following a penalty which they missed. The spot kick hit the bar and was eventually forced out for a corner from which they scored. That was the second of three missed penalties in the game. Tammy Abraham had had his effort well saved earlier and gave way to Mukhtar Ali to take our second as the game moved into six minutes of stoppage time. Ali's attempt was weak and easily saved down to his right by their keeper who was excellent on the night. After we got over the slow start, it was once again Charlie Wakefield who stood out. I like this kid a lot. He isn't flash or extravagantly talented, he's just effective plain and simple. Charlie gets the ball and gives a simple pass or beats his man with a combination of pace and power. Not extreme pace, nor extreme power, but a potent combination of the two. He pushes the ball past his man and the next thing you know he's produced a dangerous delivery into the box, or he's off on a threatening run. I see Charlie as being in the same mould as James Milner. I know many don't rate Milner but I love him. He isn't fussy but he gets things done. Charlie is the same. Charlie didn't play for the 19s in their UEFA Youth League game on Tuesday and I don't know if he's been named in the squad for that competition but if he was then we need to draft him into that side. The 18s have been playing 3-5-2 for a while now with Charlie as a very attacking right wing back. We're told that Antonio Conte is a big fan of our academy set up. When he watches video of the 18s he won't be able to help noticing Charlie. The younster obviously picked up a knock because he was subbed at half time. I don't think it can have been serious however. We now face Blackburn in the two-legged semi.

Especially if Leonardo Bonucci is really available. Granted Bonucci will be 29 by the time next season kicks off but we could certainly anticipate getting 4/5 years out of a CB of that age. The home grown factor is important but maybe there are other options for that.

Well if both this and the Conte rumour are true, then let's hope that @Henrique is right about Juan Cuadrado while I, and others like me, are wrong. Badly wrong.

thanks for posting the video tommyv. I have to admit that I was worried when I read your first sentence. Worried that it would turn out to be just another example of what I think have been the excessively positive assessments of Charlay's first two displays. I am pleased by what I saw in that video however. This was, I agree, by far Charlay's best outing for Betis yet. I think we might turn out to be on the same page about this next point too, but I believe we should be cautious about what we make of this performance. My view is that it is evidence only that this was Charlay's best performance to date. No more, no less. Players always have some better games, and some less good ones. Perhaps you'll agree that we need much more evidence before we can say that there have been any permanent improvements, before we can be confident that we are seeing genuine development, not just an improved display.

Exactly and I bet we would not have been awarded a penalty had The Drog missed.

Traore himself would not agree with you. He said that he meant to go for goal but not in that way so, he explicitly said, it was a lucky goal.

What's the story with him in Munich then? I hadn't heard that he isn't settled.

Of course we both know that I am not watching a different team yet I remain absolutely certain that Cuadrado is not the answer to any of our problems. We won't improve a team that is short of quality players by deploying another individual who lacks the required qualities. Clearly you feel differently but I can only see the world through my own eyes, and assess what I see through the filter of my own judgement. I'm therefore stuck with having to disagree with you.

SJ will reply for himself if he wants to but he's not being literal about the fee. He's simply using a form of words to say that, like many of us, he thinks Cuadrado has no place in our squad and should be allowed to leave so that his wages can be reinvested in a useful squad member. Personally, I'd play hard ball and ask for a bag of Mars and two bags of Twix. As for Juan not having had much opportunity to show us what he's got, I back those who feel they saw enough to be comfortable about JC moving on this summer.

Who knows what role Pato will eventually play but, leaving that riddle aside, should we now regard Bertie as our second choice striker?

Yes it was in that fateful FA Cup 5th round tie in 1972. I think that was a mammoth game in the history of our club. The game which marked the start of our decline from perennial challengers to wilderness dwellers. Shortly before half-time in that game we were favourites for the league title, had a two-nil lead and one foot in the quarter-finals of the cup (a simply huge deal back then), a date with Stoke at Wembley for the League Cup Final, and a top-five hit single in the charts. Life was good and Blue really was the colour. Little did we know that it would be pretty much all downhill from there. Not just for the next forty-five minutes, not just at Wembley 7 days later, but for most of the next twenty-six years. It took us that long to recover from Orient's fight back that day and took me a fair while too. Webby had a great chance to snatch a draw late in the game but fired over. I remember watching it on Match of the Day that night with my uncle. Although I knew the result, I didn't know about that miss. Instant reaction when I saw it was head in hands and a scream of, "Kill yourself." My poor unc tried earnestly to explain that it was just a game and there was no call for me to shout things like that about Chelsea players. Just a game? What did he know.

Thing I like best in Matt's highlight vids is his distribution. Clearly only the passes that found their target make it into the various packages and all the rubbish ones disappear into the either but, still, there are lots of good ones in there. Some good tackles in there too of course, but there would be in the highlights of any defender. Most of all, it's the well spotted, and well executed, passes that caught my eye.

Thank you I appreciate that. I did allude to the possibility of misjudgement when I wrote in my initial comment that the opinion was in the majority as far as I could divine. I do maintain however that people reading that run of pages will at least see where I got it from. That said, since I have myself often made the same point you did about KDB being an ex Chelsea player, and since it is the treatment/prospects of Charlay Musonda that we were really discussing, I'd sooner get back to talking about our present and our future, not our past.

I did initially write that but realised the original was not well worded and changed it before your reply appeared, i.e. we must have been typing at the same time. You'll acknowledge that we were replying to each other pretty much as live at that point. I'm posting this only to acknowledge that I did indeed reword my comment. There is a difference between 'lie' and error or misjudgement. Since you know Bluemoon and the thread in question you should have no problem finding the run of pages over which these considered, i.e. not initial, honeymoon period, thoughts were being expressed and you'll see that my characterisation was reasonable. Lie remains a word for which you should apologise.

To be fair to Eden how do you decide if two players do as you suggest and show the desire to score? Do they fight or do they follow the manager's instructions? Oscar said, "Me", Hazard said, "Me", Guus's standing orders got the casting vote. Spot on about City by the way but I can't bring myself to want Liverpool to win anything. Only time I ever want Liverpool to win is when they play Spurs. Other than that, may the biggest dark cloud follow them around and open up on them wherever they go.

If you're read bluemoon then you have read the posts to which I refer and you can have the honesty to apologise.

I wish you had shown more maturity in the way you responded. If you are looking to get a rise out of me you are going to be disappointed. Had you done your homework you would have read the posts I have read, and you would know that my comments are truthful. Those, who like you, have not read them may want to support what you have said but they would then be making the same mistake as you have. Had you raised a query with a sensible amount of politeness I'd have helped you with references but given the approach you have taken you can hardly be surprised that I'm disinclined to dignify your statement with such help. I can tell you that if you actually bother to check you will even find that a great many of the positive posts about KDB acknowledge what city fans see as his flaws and are written in the form of a defence against the criticisms Kevin receives from their fellow City supporters. Criticisms you want readers of this site to believe I just made up. Now, my contention was that as far as I can divine, the opinion that Kevin would not be a part of City's theoretical best line up, is in the majority. There may be room for debate about whether I have gauged that correctly but the opinion exists and to deny it is only evidence that you have not taken the trouble to check.

I said no such thing. I have reported, accurately, that there are Manchester City fans who do not believe that Kevin should be a part of their first choice XI. I have no idea whether he should, or should not be. I don't watch them much. I can tell you that there seem to be two main criticisms City fans have about KDB. They complain that he gives the ball away too cheaply too often and that he is lazy in his defensive duties. They tend to acknowledge that he plays high risk/high reward passes and accept that the completion rate for such passes will inevitably be lower but they say it's what they see as Kevin's wastefulness with straightforward, possession, passes that lets the team down. You can shoot the messenger again if you like but it won't change the message.

I have replied to your comment here.

I have replied to your comment here.

Myself included. I don't agree with this for the Depor game which is the only one I actually saw in full. As for the other two games, didn't see them so I don't know. This is just another way of saying that you don't agree with me and, as I've already said, I can live with that.

Before I say what I'm about to say I must make it clear that I'm a foreigner. I wasn't born in this country and didn't even apply for a British passport until I was in my late twenties by which time i had been here more than two decades. As far as I'm concerned these people who come this country and denigrate our beloved FA Cup, well my beloved FA Cup anyway, should be sent packing. Wenger started this years ago when he called for the scrapping of replays (he appears to have changed his mind on this now) and for the competition to be moved to midweek. To the likes of Klopp and Peligrini I say you are world class managers and can earn a fortune in any number of countries. If you choose to ply your trade here then show some respect for the football culture into which you have chosen to come. I don't hate any football club but if there was one it would be Liverpool. I'm absolutely thrilled that they were turfed out of The Cup but I'm still furious with Klopp for doing what he did.

I'm disappointed that self-professed Chelsea fans describe Chelsea players in this way. You are entitled to do it of course and no one should try to stop you but I don't get it. Nobody has ever disrespected the abilities of a Chelsea player more than I disrespected Chris Sutton's. I was so furious the day we signed him that I almost threw something heavy through a sheet of glass. It was only the fact that it was my mate's window, not my own, that stopped me in time. Even so you'll never hear me describe Sutton in the way you've described Oscar. For what it's worth, within five months of him joining, and ever since, I have been calling for Oscar to be replaced but the man is a Chelsea player and I'm a Chelsea fan.