OhForAGreavsie

I think you are wrong about this. Badly wrong, if you'll forgive me for saying so. Firstly, although it hardly needs saying, let's put an obvious truth front and centre of the discussion. It's not just a matter of playing an attack minded, high pressing, high line, game. Any team and any manager can do that whenever they want. Arsenal, with a collection of highly technical players, did exactly that at Stamford Bridge, Anfield and The Etihad last season. 17-4. Great work Arsene. The trick of course is to be successful playing that way. It's a heck of a trick however and it requires very good players but more on that in a moment. I hope I'm not putting words into anyone's mouth when I say that Wenger is not alone, we at Chelsea also crave beautiful, attacking football. I have no argument with you about that but I judge the current squad as being unable to deliver that while also winning enough matches. There were no Arsenal fans crowing about pretty football after those three humiliations last season, and who can blame them? We all want beautiful wins but we'll all accept ugly ones in preference to ugly defeats. I think the key difference between you and me is that, while you've made it clear that you think our squad can win by playing the way you describe, I do not. Barcelona can but they would not even consider offering a squad place to any of Willian, Oscar, Costa, Cuadrado, Ramires, Mikel or Ivanovic. Players who, between them, will make hundreds of appearances for us this season. Some of our other outfield players might be considered for squad places in Barcelona but I doubt any, not even Eden, would be first choice. Certainly not Cesc for example. Barcelona have been the ultimate example of how good a pressing team can be but the first lesson to take from their example is the quality of players required to succeed that way. Forget their defenders, that's not how Barca defend. They recover the ball high and they are exceptionally good at retaining it once they have. That's because they have a critical mass of players who can receive a pass, even a bad one, in tight situations and do something positive with it. We don't. I think it is unrealistic of you to expect that the appalling squad of June 2013 can have been completely overhauled in 21 months. You may disagree but my own opinion in 2013 was that we were 8 quality players short of what was required to make Chelsea the side we'd all like them to be. If that number was right, and I think it was, it meant finding a lot of players with the right quality, the right age, the right work permit qualifications, the right FFP costs, and the right availability to Chelsea. That kind of recruitment is very difficult but you are right to say that it should not be beyond a club with our resources. Thing is, a club with our resources should never have been in the mess Jose inherited on his return. He has my confidence that he'll fix the mess but if we are still in the same position four transfer windows from now things will be different. For now however, I believe that realistic progress is being made.

All day, every day, till the end of time, Premier League over Champions' League. Nowhere even near close. The odd Premier League title and hopefully an FA Cup here or there is the stuff of dreams for me. The Champions' League's main purpose is to keep the cash coming in. Enjoyed winning it, would love to win it again but, for me, it's a competition that needs to know its place.

It would certainly reinforce my ultra strong belief in Jose Mourinho. I wish more people could see it my way, we'd be a happier camp, but viewpoints are what they are.

I think there are at least two other players in the development group who have the potential to make the top squad. Even that may be on the conservative side since there are other talented footballers in the junior ranks for whom it's still too early to talk in those terms. Obviously you can never speak about anything more than potential with younger players but I think that's especially true with our lads. In my opinion all of them, including Ruben, has plenty to prove. That said, I'd love RLC to make it. I feel frustrated for him every time he's on the bench but fails to get on. When we went two up on Sunday I was saying, "Two more by half time, then get Ruben into the game." Sadly the two goals that came didn't help at all.

I understand what you're saying but I would definitely settle for being the best of a not especially brilliant bunch, not least because I don't think we are brilliant. Come what may I'd like us to make a big effort to improve the squad in the summer. If we can do that from a position of strength as champions, even champions that only just limped over the line, it would be great.

Interesting. I've never seen this stat before but I wonder how they assess it. Presumably they take 'opinion' out of it and make no attempt to judge how easy or how difficult it was to control the pass the player received; a poor touch just goes down as a poor touch regardless. I can see that this would be the only 'fair' way to do it. If that's so then, like the pass completion statistic, I'm not sure this one really tells us enough of the story. Playing the ball into the receiver's path so he can collect it at full speed and break into space is a pass completion, but so too is playing the ball slightly behind the receiver, without pace so he is pressurised and has to play it back to the centre-half. In fact it's two. Like a lot of people, I'm not a big believer in stats and I'll take some persuading that this particular one means much, if anything, at all.

In fact the article does mention the increased Champion's League money as additional to the numbers it outlines but your overall point is still a good one.

The bit in bold is the problematic part for me. If that was truly so then the FFP regulations would not put a limit on the amount rich donors could give to clubs. The regulations do put a limit on such cash injections however. I therefore think it's reasonable for people to conclude that, whatever the pretended motives behind FFP, its effect is to ring-fence the established clubs and allow them to grab the lion's share of the money and the medals. Personally I believe in US style rules aimed at achieving competitive balance. I have always argued, for example, that a fixed amount salary cap is one tool that should be imposed. Through repetition, people have learned the knee-jerk reaction that such a cap would be illegal under European law but I've never believed that. I've always felt that if there was a will there would be a way. Now, this season, UEFA have imposed a salary cap so that argument is dead. Unfortunately the established clubs, including Chelsea, don't want a level playing field. They are quite happy the way things are thank you very much. I hope City and PSG run a coach and horses through that plan.

No one is going to disagree with this. The arguments will only start when it comes to assessing who's average and who isn't.

I like the look of the lad. For years I've wanted us to have a striker with top level technical skills and Dybala seems to have them. It's true that great technical ability does not necessarily make you a great player, but it is equally true that most of the great players do have outstanding technique.

After the creativity they showed in recording their summer transfer dealings, who can say how the fee from Thorgan's sale will appear in Chelsea's accounts but the club did announce a while back that a permanent transfer to Gladbach had been completed.

Thorgan Thorgan Hazard. So good they sold him twice.

As I mentioned before we signed Cuadrado, Douglas looks the more impressive of the two. Douglas seems to me to have better touch and tighter control so I like his basic talent, but, as we all know, basic talent is not enough. Since I've only seen youtubes of Douglas I have to bow to those who have watched him and conclude that maybe he doesn't use his abilities very well. Virtually everyone who has watched him seems to be unimpressed. One or two might fail to see what a player has but how good can Douglas be if no one likes him? Surely everybody can't be wrong.

Yes appeal failed but it's a reasonable guess that most players would prefer to wait four months (end of August to start of January) for a move to Barca over an immediate move almost anywhere else.

First glimpses of Wallace made me, and others too I think, feel that I had seen enough to doubt he was of the quality we need. On the other hand, first glimpses of Manea look far more encouraging and definitely make me want to see more.

Very helpful post - thank you. Lot's of homework there, I'll let you know what I think once I've done it.

I also remember that performance but not the game. To say Willian bossed it however is going too far I think. He did well for sure but a part of the overestimation of his impact that day is the severely reduced expectation we have of señor Borges da Silva. We expect nothing so when we get a little we appreciate it a lot. That was his best ever game in the ten role for us, probably his best game as a blue full stop but I don't agree with the highlighted comment. Willian has played the ten role a number of times, particularly last season when it was probably true to say that Oscar lost his place in the side rather than that Willian gained it. Trouble is every time Oscar lost his position, Willian lost it back again fairly quickly and rightly so in my opinion. When playing as number ten, Willian carries the ball better than Oscar and looks neater, technically speaking. In terms of contribution however he achieves less. I grant you it often seems as much by luck as by judgement, but at least some of Oscar's round the corner passes and flicks, make things happen. Willian in the ten seems to me to slow our movement without adding any greater accuracy or penetration and he seldom manages to make a difference. Not even by luck.

You could be right. I've allowed myself to believe that he wasn't the instigator for some of these moves. Maybe I believe it just because I want to, but it is true to say that Jose has spoken at great length about why he wanted Costa, Fab & Matic. On the other hand he didn't have as much to say about others. At least not to the same degree anyway. Might this be a clue? Could be I suppose. Certainly it's a reasonable guess that JM didn't buy Willian, given the history of that deal and the boss admitted that Schurrle's capture was arranged before he returned. P.S. The squad was criminally shallow when Jose came back. At the time I felt we needed to recruit 8 players of the right quality to even make ourselves competitive. We have taken some steps in the right direction but there is still work to be done. Mind you I did also say that I didn't think the squad rebuild could be done quickly. 8 top class players that are available, and available to us, is a lot.

The simple truth, or so it seems to me anyway, is that our squad is very shallow. We are so short of quality that, except at the back, we have no opportunity to rotate without significantly weakening the side. Jose has made it clear that he'd like to rotate but does not feel he can.

You make reasonable points in this post as well as in your previous one. My own view is that while Oscar is not good enough to be our ten he is nevertheless the best one we have; i.e. everyone else is worse. This explains why he is selected more often than some would like. My guess is that Jose gets fed up with him and makes up his mind to try something else. Trouble is that after a while the boss gets even more fed up with something else. As for why Oscar might seem to attract more criticism than others, I think there are two reasons. One of those reasons is that his under performance has been going on for three years but I think it has more to do with the second reason. A lot of people have been very supportive of Oscar, tried hard to believe the tiredness excuse and hung in there hoping to see improvement. Now that more and more of them feel forced to give up on Oscar their reaction is similar to what happened with Torres. In the end some of the loudest voices criticising Nando were the very same ones who had supported him the most in the beginning. It goes that way sometimes.

No it didn't. I was by no means the only one but I've been calling for an Oscar upgrade since January of his first year. I have also been describing the he's tired excuse as a myth for just as long. As far as I can judge, fewer and fewer members here believe that Oscar is the future for Chelsea. Most now seem ready to agree that the player is simply not good enough to be holding down the 10 role for us. In my opinion it's been clear for a long time that we urgently need to upgrade the AM positions. I can't believe we'll allow another summer to go by without addressing it.

I'll offer an opinion on that in a minute but a more general view first... The half time stats summed up the efforts of both sides. We led 1-0 thanks to an own goal but neither team had had a single shot on target. Young Atleti carried virtually no threat throughout but they worked hard and pressed really well. As a result, they more or less shut down our attack, something which has recently become easier to do to our development squads. The fully deserved win against a tough opponent, on a day when we didn't play well, was satisfying but the performance was not particularly impressive and raises questions that will need hard thoughts at Cobham. I'm not suggesting that any of our players were bad, but only Ola Aina could claim to have been really good. It was a frustrating outing from Ola, frustrating in the sense that it showed how good he could be. It would usually be true to say that Ola has a mistake in him, probably one every 20 minutes truth be known. This game was different however, there were no errors at all that I can remember. As a result he had one of those days where you might start to get excited about his prosprects. Ola was restored to right back. I think it's a great idea to shift players around to give them a look at various roles but RB seems the right place him. The rest of the back four were all competent defensively but Atleti didn't really ask many questions until the last 10 minutes or so. Jay Da Silva didn't get forward as effectively as he sometimes does but then our passing was well shackled so he didn't have that many opportunities. He still managed to demonstrate why, as 16 year old, he fully deserves a place in our under 19 line up. Christensen played in the pivot and was more than adequate. Anders has been used there recently and I wonder if the club are starting to believe that CM, not CB, might be his future. Either that or they are just shifting him around to deepen his understanding of various positions, as they like to do with everyone. The Dane did well in both parts of the game; there were nice interceptions, good tackles, useful passing, a little bit of creativity and if the Atleti defender hadn't put through his own goal, Anders was there to have tapped in anyway. Christensen was partnered by Charlie Colkett. This was not one of Charlie's best displays; his passing was more conservative than usual, lots of safe stuff played backwards and sideways. Colkett is a quality player however and even when quality footballers are not on top form they still have their natural talent to fall back on. Class is permanent and all that so he still produced some good passes and two or three trademark beauties. These included one which led to the first goal. Brown and Abraham occupied the wide left and wide right AM roles. Izzy played a big part in the first goal, pulling down Colkett's great pass and beating the goalkeeper with a shot-come-cross that a defender could only slice into his own net as he tried to clear. Tammy has pace and power so he has cut a swathe through the youth ranks but, with apologies for sounding harsh, his lack of technique means that his chances at the very highest level don't look promising. Tammy was pretty ineffective throughout. His full back seemed able to match him physically and Tammy didn't have anything else. He was reduced to trying a lot of first time flicks and lay-offs, most of which failed to find a blue shirt. Up top, Dom Solanke had virtually no service and was pretty anonymous all game but, when his chance came he took it with a bit of class to notch the second goal. Personally, I'm in the group who like strikers that are fully involved in team play and who make a big contribution whether they score or not. I don't judge a striker simply by how often he puts the ball away. I know that there is another school of thought however. One that says goals are a striker's business and putting the ball in the net is what he's there for. In those terms Dom did what he had to do but in general play there was nothing from him to help lift the team's display above its lacklustre level. I've left the thing that worries me most, the biggest question for Cobham to think about, until last. Jerimie Boga did not play well. Nothing to be especially concerned about there, it happens and in any case the lad is not long returned from the latest of his seemingly never ending list of injuries. Jerimie is not progressing however. His strengths and weaknesses seem to me to be exactly the same as they were when he first came to our attention. His touch and close control are sublime. His graceful movement as he carries the ball past defenders is great to watch but attempting to do that is still an option he selects too often and far too many of his runs still result in lost possession. Looks wonderful, achieves nothing. I have defended Cobham very strongly. I've argued that it takes a long time to turn around a failing academy and that, unavoidably, it takes an even longer time to turn promising 8 year-olds into first team prospects. Jerimie wasn't here as an 8 year old but he is not Gael Kakuta. The first time I saw Gael play for the youth team I felt, and said, that he would not make it at Chelsea. I attach no blame to Cobham for the fact that this seems likely to turn out to have been correct. If, however, Cobham fails to help Jerimie make the most of what he has they are going to have some explaining to do. I'm not claiming Jerimie is a cast iron certainty to make it but he has enough quality to have a chance. There is no way that Cobham could give a guarantee to us, or to Jerimie, that he would make the first team squad. We are however entitled to expect them to teach him to make the most of his ability. I'm not seeing enough evidence that they are living up to that expectation and I'm worried about it.

I think there will again be more important priorities in the summer.

I don't watch Pogba so I don't know. I do know that The Bison had many great qualities but that he was, and is, technically limited. If Pogba isn't better than Essien then I'm not interested at any price, never mind the superstar numbers being chucked about.

I want to make a bet with everyone reading this post. I bet that, if you read the post to the end, you won't be able to avoid laughing. You are just going to laugh right out loud.... I heard a Liverpool fan on the radio the other day saying that every team in the Premier League would swap their manager for Brendan Rogers.