OhForAGreavsie

Lionsden, forgive me, you've probably explained this many times and I may even have read it somewhere along the way but, as I type, I can't remember why this issue is so important to you. You, me and pretty much everyone else here would like to see Cobham graduates regularly starting for the first team, and we all know it is an avowed aim of the club and its manager to see this happen but it can only be a subsidiary aim surely. The key goal must remain to produce a Chelsea team which plays the way we'd like and which dominates on the pitch. If that dream comes to be then, even though I take more interest in the development squads than most, I'll be counting the trophies, not the number of Cobhamites involved. Jose needs no excuses. Only if the kids show themselves to be good enough, will they get game time. That's the only route for them. I think the challenge for people who take your point of view is that, so far, not one Cobham product has gone on to show that level of ability elsewhere. In fact, so far, they've all gone on to prove the exact opposite.

He did look good and did brilliantly for the goal.

A sort of a Frank Lampard goal, following a delivery into the box hoping for a rebound and getting it.

How do we know that Jose bought any of the players you have in mind?

No he didn't call Eva anything. He vented frustration using a well known expression. It was not aimed at anyone in particular. The pair of medics were, rightly or wrongly, the immediate cause of that frustration but it just exploded out. It had no specific target. It's an odds on bet that Jose said the same thing the last time he stubbed his toe. Glad your acid levels were driven up by the manager's press conference. You deserve it. And why are you going to wait until tomorrow to expound further? Hoping we'll loose perhaps? I hope that's not the case. I hope you can honestly say that you are not wanting to see Chelsea beaten, and that, at worst, you are simply fearing/anticipating that it might happen. I have my doubts however about just exactly what it is you do wish. Doubts which are entirely reasonable given the line you take so persistently.

When I said in January that, based on you tube, he looked technically superior to Cuadrado, someone laughed at me. At the time, I didn't mind too much. I accepted that youtube is youtube, and that the other poster must have seen more of the two players than I had. From what you say however, this perhaps turns out to have been another missed opportunity for the club. Let's just hope it does not proove to be of Agureo sized proportions. The club can't dwell in the past. It simply has to keep looking until it finds what we need. If that happens within the next fortnight then great, if not there will be other windows.

When I first saw Patrick play for the junior sides, before he moved into the loans phase of his development, I thought, and said, that he did not look a Chelsea player. To be fair to the lad he has since done better than I expected he might. I do not believe however that he has done as well during his loan spells as his growing reputation might lead us to believe. If Patrick emerges as a starter here then it will mean that Chelsea have not become as good a side as we'd all like. Our aim should be to find players at the Suarez/Aguero end of the scale and to keep trying until we do. Patrick is not at that level. If we had not bought him as a teenager then in my opinion, based on his performances to date, we would not even consider signing him now.

Sadly have to agree with you. Hasn't looked a Chelsea level player.

Watched the first 2 minutes then stopped. Too depressing for me, too embarrassing for City. With that collection of players they should be ashamed of themselves that they didn't walk away with the last five Premier League titles. Meanwhile, we all know that there are players in this world like David Silva yet we have to listen to people telling us that ourCAMs are world class. We have much better squad cohesion and will to win; if we also had Aguero and Silva where would we be? Oh well.

I know you didn't mean me.

What is belieber? It would not be reasonable for either of us to ask others to stop quoting our posts. When we post, we make an opinion available to the TC audience. Others may want that same audience to see a counter, or sometimes supporting, argument. Quotes are just as much a way of addressing the point(s) being made as they are a way of addressing the poster. I do not know if Jose would have reacted in the same way had we had better results in this or preceding games. I can only say that I hope not since, to repeat, it seems to me that he has behaved badly. What I hope most though is that whenever he sees a problem, he will attempt to address it and that is what he seems to be doing. As to whether his judgement is correct or not, it's his decision to make so if he says there's a problem, then there is a problem.

Grown ups do however attempt to isolate the input from the outcome in order to consider what helped you win and what didn't. I'm not saying anything you don't know when I observe that, win, loose, or draw, in commerce, sport, or whatever, it is necessary to assess individual contributions and judge whether that person/machine/system contributed positively or otherwise; whether or not future chances of success will be enhanced by similar performance levels. Read your own posts and you'll see that this is exactly how you judge Chelsea's displays and you are sensible to do so. Making such judgements is a continual process. If managers are as sensible as you, they won't allow winning or losing to distract them from it. If something needs fixing then you fix it. Indeed we've all heard Jose being strongly critical of his teams in victory, and we've also heard of him doing so during half time even when they are leading. It's not about hissy fits. Any person in a management role is not only entitled to critically assess the of members of her/his team, it's her/his responsibility to do so. Having said all of that however... I do not agree with Jose this time. It seems to me that he has behaved badly but I don't see that it is wise for me to attempt to substitute my judgement for his. Especially since my own ideas are almost certainly based on incomplete information. Trusting someone is being prepared to back their judgement even when it differs from yours. I trust Jose.

I think most of us who post here have a certain degree of confidence in our own judgement when it comes to top level football. Circumstance however means that few, if any, of us have ever had, or ever will have, the chance to put that judgement to the test. Jose of course has had the chance and it must be fair to say that he's done OK. I don't therefore think it's reasonable for any of us to characterise Jose as stubborn on those occasions when he chooses to back his own judgement. Whatever right any of us has to believe in our own opinions about football, Jose surely has that same right, multiplied a few times over.

You could be right of course Billy but I hope you're not. I've neither read nor heard anything Petr has said that upsets me in the slightest. It seems to me that people who are bothered by anything which has been said or done since Petr moved to Arsenal, are sensitive beyond all reason.

Your view point on this has its supporters as is clear from other comments, and the likes you sometimes receive. I must say however that it baffles me why you, or anyone, should think like this. If you chant anything of the kind toward Petr at The Bridge I confidently expect that that you'll be drowned out by people singing his name and mine will be one of those voices.

Which great young players has he failed to integrate?

Our manager made it clear even before last season ended that he was looking for players to add to what he had and he has confirmed that we began trying to secure those targets six months ago. We know too, or think we know, that the club is financially comfortable so that's the background against which we can each make our guesses about what's happened this summer. My own is that we have either been unable to attract the players we want or we are not willing to pay the stupid prices and or wages we have been asked for. In the case of being unable to attract a target, we are all familiar with that particular version of Catch-22. We are a good side, with good players. To improve us it will take great players but great players are in high demand. There are a number of clubs that such players are more likely to want to join in preference to us. It's entirely possible that players like Turan and Varane, with whom we were linked, would prefer to be rotational options for those clubs rather than start for us. This is not a new situation but it is a real one. In the case of not wanting to be mugged off, I fully support that stance. It's not that we can't afford stupid prices, look at the already ridiculous bids reported to have been made for Stones, it's just that there has to be a line and I, for one, would be delighted if the club is refusing to cross it. If it means we'll struggle to win, I'll live with it. If it means that any wins we do manage will be uglier than I'd like, I'll live with that too. Other guesses are available of course.

I think you are reading the runes wrongly here R-B. It seems to me that Jose wanted/wants to strengthen. Clearly something is getting in the way of us achieving that aim but, whatever it is, it is not the manager's stubbornness. As is the case with any manager, Jose has to say things designed to sound like he is satisfied with the situation. No manager can ever afford to say, my squad isn't good enough and we're in trouble. Consider all of his statements however, and it's hard to conclude anything other than that TSO knows we need reinforcements. If we can't get them then it's frustrating, but there must be good reasons for it.

Who do you have in mind VK? Off the top of my head I can't think of any LB in our development squad who has played the position all his life.

And let's not forget that we won the last FA Cup at the old Wembley.

Neil, There can't be a single Chelsea fan who, looking at your render, does not want to see it happen tomorrow. I can only imagine one problem with it. How on earth will the real thing ever live up to your work?

Not long back. Enjoyed the occasion and the win but saw the most bizarre thing. The Arsenal squad won the girls youth cup and did a lap of honour with it shortly before kick-off. What do you think happened? Chelsea fans applauded them all the way round. Some of us even cheered. Was really proud of the Blues fans and pleased for the young ladies. Some of them looked very young and it must have been a big moment for them. It would have been horrible if they'd been given stick. As for the game I thought we fully deserved it although County had their moments. Didn't agree with the official MOTM though. Eni had a brilliant 20 minutes but Gemma Davidson was outstanding all afternoon going forward and working back. Felt she should have got the nomination. Delighted for Ji with her goal. Truth be told it wasn't Ji's day so the goal was something good to take away from what otherwise would have been a forgettable outing.

It absolutely, 100%, was a reference to issues around the transfer. I watched the press conference and there is no room for doubt whatsoever. We all know by now that Jose expresses himself very awkwardly at times. This may have been one of those but his meaning was nevertheless clear.

Firstly, re your earlier comment that people were aiming Jibes at the player. In my case at least, and in Barbara's too actually, that's completely inaccurate. I hope you'll agree that my post contains many observations and some admiration but not a single jibe. Secondly, no one is assigning traits to the player. If I assert that Arsenal's home shirt is predominantly red that's another observation, not an assignation. Someone else might say that it's more accurate to call it scarlet, or flame, or whatever. If they doubt the quality of my assessment of the colour, that's fine but they'd be stretching it to claim I had not seen what was right in front of me. In any case, the implication of the post to which I am replying is that you agree with what Barbara has said about Kennedy. You don't say the observations are wrong, you just say that the player has time to change them, to develop. Well, that's an opinion that many will share but it does not mean that, right now, Barbara's views are incorrect. Thirdly, you say there is not yet sufficient data on which to base an assessment of Kennedy's traits, and that 19 is too young an age to judge. Well that also is an opinion with which many would agree, but not me. There are some things a player can improve and some things he cannot. If talent could be improved by coaching and hard work then why isn't every professional footballer as good as Lionel Messi? Why don't they all just practice a little harder till they are? Training and effort enable a player to make the most of what he has, but it doesn't alter what he has. His talent level is his talent level, and he's stuck with it. I ask you to reconsider my post on Kennedy. I think you'll agree that there are observations but no jibes. I hope you'll also agree that there is praise for the kid and a even a suggestion about how he might make a contribution here. The young man is not blessed with silky touch or tremendous close dribbling skills however, and he shouldn't be encouraged to believe that he is. If he tries to play like Hazard he'll flop; if he learns to play like Bale he could achieve something.

You know the answer to that question but I don't see the point you're making.