OhForAGreavsie

This must be true.

This is exactly the correct thing for our negotiators to say. Nothing for you to be angry about.

I think @Vegetable has this right, in that the statement about Lukaku is a negotiating stance. Of course the thing with negotiating stances is that people have to believe that you'll follow through or they're no good. 🙂 Also, CL qualification has to be a near imperative target next season, but top 5 might do for that.

Makes sense again. June 30th is the end of the 2022/2023 season, and therefore the period to be accounted but the numbers don't have to be submitted until a later uefa deadline.

This makes sense. The people in charge of the club eat, breathe, and sleep money. It would be a shock if they didn't have this covered. Do you remember the podcast name? I'd like to give it a listen.

Me too! That'll be a great night out in Bilbao for the girls if they do.

And two more rumoured; Amy Lawrence - PSG - RB/LB, and Esther Gonzalez - Real Madrid - CF. I really like all of the signings so far, but Macario and Nusken are probably my favourites. A glimpse of what Nusken can bring: -

A compilation of Sam Kerr's 2022/23 goals.

Yes, exactly.

Exciting stuff! I wonder who it might be. Can't be long till we know but still fun to guess in the meantime. 🙂 The guess that comes to mind immediately is Ona Batlle, but that can't be right can it? We have Eve, we're rumoured to be signing Amy Lawrence, and now a third starting quality right back? It seems overkill. I suppose Amy could be slated to play at left back, or perhaps high wide-right, but what then for Johanna Rytting-Kaneryd? I can't quite see it and, in any case, I can't convince myself that Batlle would leave United for another WSL club, nevermind the fact that she is herself rumored to be returning to Barcelona. If not her then who? I have no idea. 🙂

As Emma says, Guro Reiten should have won the poll but, the fact that she didn't, is excellent news! If voting was limited to fans who watch the women's team every week, it would have been Impossible for Sam to gather more votes than Guro. In one poll among Kingsmeadow regulars Guro is comfortably beating Sam, and everyone else in the squad, combined. It's not even close. This can only mean that lots of votes in the club's official poll have come from people who, so far, have not followed the women's team closely. Perhaps they have mainly been able to catch the big games. In which case, Sam's high name recognition, and her Drogba like habit of finding the net on the biggest occasions, would have skewed the voting towards her. If more Chelsea fans are noticing the women's team, even if that notice is pretty casual at the moment, that's great news in my opinion. I understand that not everyone is interested enough to even give women's football a try. I know that not everyone who does give it a try finds that they want to keep watching, but if some people have become interested enough to watch a few games and cast a player of the season vote, this is very positive. Step by step. Now to explain why the players voted for Sam not Guro. 🙂

Lawrence is definitely on my wish list but there is a complication. She can play left back but her true position is RB/RWB and we have a French international in those positions, Eve Perisset, who we signed last summer. The complication is that I really like Eve. She is good in possession, and is in a particularly good vein of form currently. She manages to find passes which progress the play, and that's something several members of our defensive squad struggle with. Eve however is not an elite player out of possession. She's a good technical defender, but she lacks pace and physicality. If she had those attributes she might very well be the best female fullback in the world, but she does not. These drawbacks are behind the trajectory of Eve's pre Chelsea career in my opinion. She started with the best women's team in the world, Lyon. Moved down a step to the uber wealthy, and mega ambitious PSG, then stepped down again to Bordeaux. Before joining Chelsea every move has been backwards. Lawrence meanwhile, is very good technically but has size, pace, and power. Eve is very popular and seeing her starting minutes further restricted (Emma has preferred more physical players for some games) won't go down well but Lawrence is better. Maybe Lawrence's two international teammates at Cobham might encourage her to choose Blue. I hope so.

If true, this looks like a direct replacement for Pernille.

Good performance, good result, on Sunday.

It's a shame, sort of, though long expected. Fans singing we want you to stay for the last six months has not worked, and probably was never going to. The bottom line is that the time is right for Magda to leave and, since she and Pernille are done with living in separate countries. it's pretty inevitable that Pernille will follow wherever Magda goes. Though Mags has been playing in the absence of both starting CBs, the reality is that she is no longer first choice, and would fall further down the pecking order when Aniek returns from a season long loan in Milan. Worse, Emma tried to sign a left back in January and will probably go again with that in summer. She isn't likely to land her January target, McCabe from Arsenal, but she probably will strengthen that position. If so then the fill in minutes Magda has gained at left back will also be restricted. Mags is 29 and P is 30. They can't really wait much longer. Not if they want a good move anyway and, let's face it, Bayern is a brilliant move so now is the time I'm afraid.

Noted.

As I said when the decision was made. Fortunately, we were so anemic in the home game vs Madrid that his being in the side would have made no difference anyway.

Just as in music, or football fans with opinions, the oldies are the best. Well some new music is great I'm sure, but I am distinctly old. Nothing wrong with the opinion we share however. I was adamant all along that what we needed was an upgrade to Chilly, not a back up for him. (Not that we even got that as it turns out.)

Really enjoyable game last night, if a bit straining on the nerves. Liverpool really battled for the shirt. If they'd nicked a point, their effort would have earned it. In the end a slightly scuffed finish from Sam secured the win and on we go. Next up is Everton at KM on Sunday. In theory this is a tougher game than last night's given that the Toffees are about ten points above their big rivals. This will be the first of our six remaining fixtures this season. Victory in all of them would make us WSL champions and FA Cup winners.The way this season has gone for the men is depressing, but at least the women are giving Blues fans some games worth looking forward to. If you're free Sunday evening, and can make it to Kingston, get down to Kingsmeadow and help the women collect the result they need. Kick off is at 6:45pm. You won't get a free hot dog like fans did last night, but you will see a Chelsea team that might put a smile on your face.

Reckon Emma will be satisfied with this at halftime.

I did see it playing on The 5th Stand but the screen would not maximise on my phone so I went back to DAZN.

Thankfully this game doesn't matter anymore. Common Citeh!

The club has now sold out it's allocation of Women's FA Cup Final tickets. That said... Something in the arithmetic isn't adding up. Wembley say that they are hoping for a 'sell out', and that they have sold 65,000 seats themselves. The 16,000 tickets they allocated to Chelsea and Man Utd have also sold out. This makes a total of 81,000 tickets sold, which is about 9,000 fewer than Wembley's capacity, so what's the story? Have Wembley put an 81,000 cap on the crowd size? Do they have a different plan for the remaining tickets? Only hospitality tickets remain for the final: https://www.clubwembley.com/events/2023/Womens_fa_cup_final_23

Tickets are on sale now for two massive games. The Women's Champions League semi-final first leg vs Barcelona, this Saturday, 22nd April, and the Women's FA Cup final vs Man Utd at Wembley on Sunday, 14th May. The Champions League semi-final will see a record Stamford Bridge attendance for CFCW. Barring any late returns the entire lower tier of the stadium is sold out. As is the upper deck of The Shed barring some seats in block 1. Only about a quarter of the Westview seats remain available, but tickets can be had for the Matthew Harding upper. Over 65,000 tickets have already been sold for the FA Cup Final. It's been projected that Wembley will sell out and Chelsea have very few tickets remaining. When club tickets sell out, hospitality tickets bought direct from Wembley will be the best remaining option. Women's Tickets | Tickets | Official Site | Chelsea Football Club (chelseafc.com)