OhForAGreavsie

Hello Lionsden, Which rebuttals could be offered that haven't been deployed hundreds of times in this thread already? Which rebuttals has @Irakozium257 not already demonstrated, in that one post, that he's immune to? Every single one of us realises that the football we are playing is not good, every single one of us understands that this is at least in part because we are not playing well. Why these things are so is, you and I will agree, a matter of opinion. It is the attitude with which some people choose to express their opinion, not the opinion itself, which is pathetic. I am 100% confident that over the coming seasons Jose will resolve the problems, deliver better football, and continue to win while doing it. I hope no Chelsea fan will be disappointed if this turns out to be so. Do you see, however, why many of us suspect that there are people here who will in fact be extremely disappointed if that happens? Meanwhile, let me answer the question which I guess might be on your mind. Of course I will be disappointed if my confidence turns out to be misplaced. If we still need to be having this conversation in three years time, get back to me.

Your attitude is what's pathetic. As angry and frustrated as you were when you wrote this nonsense, is no more angry and frustrated than the rest of us are having read it. No doubt you believe you can see more than the rest of us can. No doubt you also believe you are able to apply better analysis to what you see than the rest of us are able to. Wrong and wrong. How do I know? I read your post.

Would love to be able to reinterpret his display and find a more positive way to look at it but you are right. Before the game I almost posted to say that he could really do with a good performance today, but instead we got a really bad one. Oh well, saddle up and go again Nemanja.

Win? I'd have Been delighted with a point!

Sadly very true. Both have been poor today, goal or no goal for Fab.

Rob Green, the first backup keeper ever to earn a bonus with his new club even before signing for them?

Now would be a good time to notch his first for us then.

I'm pretty sure they'll send him back tonight, if there's a flight.

Following a nice pass from Josh.

Not everyone was on the Torres bandwagon. The morning after we signed him you'd have found me crying in my coffee. If you'd known where to look. Wasting £50m is the kind of thing that can happen when football opinions are based on statistics. Anyone who counted the goals he scored at Liverpool couldn't help but think Torres was a wonderful player but anyone who watched him play for Liverpool couldn't help but notice that he wasn't. I watched him and the opinion I expressed a result was often ridiculed. The same happened to the first people who broke cover and raised questions about Oscar. That's only normal I suppose. That said, a forum is different to a stadium. I'm very proud of the way Chelsea fans stuck by Torres and held on to the hope absolutely as long as possible. I don't like it when The Bridge turns on one of its own. Sadly, that's beginning to happen with Oscar. I hope we can keep our criticisms on the forum and out of the stands.

Well I know nothing about the J-League so I'm in no position to offer assurances about it, or to doubt any given by anyone else. I do say again however, this bloke looks an interesting prospect to me. There is genuine talent there. Will it translate? Who knows, certainly not me, but there are a lot of finishes in his videos that any player, anywhere, would be proud of. If we complete this deal I'd feel positive about it and look forward to seeing what the lad can do with that talent.

You mean 2011.

You are right of course, about both points, but I think it's worth all of us adding an asterisk to every comment along these lines. The asterisk should note that the lad looks an interesting player. A player who seems worth a closer look.

I certainly feel he does yes. He's had good performances for us and poor ones for Brazil too don't forget. In any case we'd both agree that because you've played badly, it doesn't mean you haven't tried. I like the bloke, I just don't think he's good enough for Chelsea.

Well, if he's played 11 times since making his debut last year that suggests that he's a regular. I don't know how many competitive fixtures Japan will have played in the 24 months leading up to the date of his application, presumably in July/August. Even if he fails to reach the required 75% figure at that time, as a regular, it shouldn't take him longer than another season to meet the criteria and maybe a season long loan would be a part of the plan anyway. All this assumes Japan retain their top fifty status of course. They are currently exactly 50th, nearly 10 ranking points behind Congo in 49th but less than 2 points ahead of Egypt in 51st.

Agreed, interesting looking skills the lad's got.

Oscar is a really nice lad who gives his best for the team at all times and does his level best to do as the managers asks. I think it's therefore a bit harsh to talk about celebrating when he leaves. We do need an upgrade but the lad deserves a little love. It's not his fault that he isn't good enough and it isn't his fault that Jose has to keep picking him.

Thanks Hamad, this is interesting. I presume you're talking about his first six months at Wolfsburg because his time at Bremen was widely praised. I watched a lot of Kevin at Werder and felt that he did not really deserve as much praise as he received. Of course there were some good performances but, as I've said before, there were times when I thought he was poor enough to be dropped. He never was of course. For what it's worth, I've only watched him four times this season and have seen him perform well just once. That was the game against Bayern when Pep's boys played right into his hands by repeatedly giving him plenty of room he could run into with his power surges. In fact I'd guess it was from watching this game that Ribery came to realise what KDB does best.

Welcome. You'll get no argument from anyone here about this, of course we have a great deal of catching up to do in terms of league titles. In fact in terms of pretty much whatever measure you choose your club is at the top, or near the top, of the list. What's more, no one can match your club for world wide support and possibly never will, you have a great manager, the basis of a great team and the financial ability to retool the squad season after season. All of this means that you will be perennial challengers and continue winning your fair share of league titles; maybe more than your share. It's hard to imagine that Chelsea will ever catch up with you on that score, but if we do it will take many, many years. For now however we're going to do everything we can to be one title win closer to your total come the end of this season, than we were at the start of it. If we manage to do it, we'll definitely settle for that for now.

This is good to read. The bloke was asked to perform an impossible task. He made man management mistakes, that's clear, but I never felt he deserved the lack of respect shown to him by Chelsea fans. Disagree with virtually everything else you've said in this thread recently by the way. I'm not expecting to read in a couple of years that you've changed your mind about these too, but I live in hope.

Deleted.

Good point.

I thought Nathan made the key contribution to Reading's goal with a beautifully simple piece of play but, while these comments are encouraging, I find people are sometimes too positive in their early assessments of a new player. I'd be more inclined to take notice of what's being said about Nathan after the honeymoon period is over.

£18m certainly sounds a lot closer to market value than €13m. A lot closer. Am I remembering correctly though that the original source for the €1m loan/€13m transfer figures was Fiorentina themselves? If so that would maybe make it more likely that the numbers are correct.

Thanks Choulo, What is concerning me is the implication in the recent comments coming out of Fiorentina. Those comments make it sound like Fiorentina's options are watertight and that they can exercise them unilaterally. It sounds like they feel the extension of the loan is at their discretion, subject only to Moh's agreement, not Chelsea's. Obviously I hope that we've negotiated some flexibility into the deal. For example, €1m never sounded like a good loan fee for next season but, based on Moh's start in Serie A, it now represents a considerable amount less than his market value. I don't mind if Moh stays at Fiorentina next season but, if he does, I'd like it to be at the right price. Ideally I'd like us to be able to make Moh available for loan or sale across the whole market to achieve the best move for him, and the best compensation for ourselves. Fiorentina seem to think we've signed away that right.