OhForAGreavsie

Non entity again I'm afraid. I'm hoping he'll start against Saints but he needs to give TT some encouragement.

He did though put both pens in exactly the same spot. Obviously being random includes repeating yourself sometimes but goalkeeping eyes are watching.

It's a Champions League thing. It'll be back vs Norwich. Speaking of annoying things from last night the all too quiet Shed jeering at Malmo fans for their brilliant backing of their team. I mean the Sweeds produced outstanding support. There was one chant that they kept up for maybe ten minutes at full volume and there weren't really that many of them. It was a call and response type thing and Stamford Bridge was not able to respond until some Shed enders figured out that one part of it scanned with "f*&^ off Malmo" and so were interjecting with that. There is a selfishness about football fans. The F-off reply obviously made them feel good but it did nothing to encourage or energise our team and that's the point isn't it?

Yes that was annoying. Could have shown highlights of the women at Juve for example. Take every opportunity to promote Chelsea teams.

In truth I doubt any of us ever thought the ship was headed to Chelsea harbour anyway. It's clear Haaland wants to play for some other club, not Chelsea. The board did the right thing by accepting that reality. Meanwhile, I still believe that Rom can make a contribution. Just not one worth £97m. If we can find a taker for Rom I would consider letting him go on condition of course that we're able to sign a striker who is a better fit. That of course is two ifs and, for even the best laid transfer plans, one if is usually enough to rip them apart.

I hadn't thought of that. Maybe he might even make signing Rom a condition for taking the job. This would be a win-win-win. Newcastle getting Antonio would be almost beyond their dreams and Antonio would certainly make best use of Rom.

I was at that stage in autumn 2011, almost exactly ten years ago, when I posted on CFCNet to say, "He [Rom] shouldn't be here." I then went on to defend my opinion by explaining that footballers cannot improve their basic talent level. They can only learn to make better use of what they have. He could work on his strengths but he was stuck with his weaknesses. To be fair to me, and Rom, I also said then that he definitely would learn to use his tools well because he's a bright guy. His intelligence was glaringly obvious in his interviews at the time and he has indeed made a contribution to all of his teams. In truth, though I'd like Newcastle to make an attempt, I fear they won't. That leaves us having to rely on TT's intelligence helping him to also learn to make the best use of Rom's gifts within this squad. The lad is a useful contributor. We must plan for what he's good at. Nothing else makes any sense.

Ah me lads, ye shudda seen us gannin’, We pass’d the foaks upon the road just as they wor stannin’; Thor wes lots o’ lads an’ lasses there, all wi’ smiling faces, Gannin alang the Scotswood Road, to see the Blaydon Races.

Encouraging. Based on what we've seen this season we are already dealing with diminishing returns from Thiago. For various reasons the number of minutes he can deliver has been reduced and I can't see that getting better. Factor in the intensive mid-season world cup next year and the indications are that we'll have to think hard about another renewal. Maybe it'll come down to whether TT wants to keep him around for his impact on the dressing room. I can't see Thiago accepting a contract appropriate to that situation however. I reckon he'd prefer something in the US, the Middle East or back home. The 'main' one who's dropped? Who else is sliding down the charts, Theo? During the Lukaku negotiations there was a report that he felt he had 'unfinished business' with the Blues. I didn't buy it and felt that was just a convenient thing to feed the media with. It seemed much more likely that the penny had dropped with Rom about Inter preferring the money over him. Instead I believed, and believe, that the unfinished business was with someone in the Chelsea hierarchy. Do you think that decision maker will already be prepared to turn the page on Rom and buy an alternative? If so let's hope an offer comes from Newcastle. I can't believe they'd do it but I can't see any other club with the financial muscle to sign Rom who would actually want to do it. At least Newcastle might justify such a move as a chance to make a statement.

I'm not critical about the lack of positivity; I understand it and can't escape it myself. I also wasn't speaking only of talkchelsea. I'm including the vibes coming out of the squad itself. We're bouncing along and somehow we've bounced to the top but there's little sense that we are In control of our destiny. In a different thread someone posted Liverpool's upcoming fixtures and ours. The face value impression being that our run of matches is much easier than Liverpool's. The thought which came to my mind however is that I would rather have Liverpool's team and their fixtures, than our team and ours. We need a shot in the arm.

Is it just me or, considering that we are champions of Europe and sit top of the league, is there very little positivity about the place? A good performance and a convincing win against the Swedish champions could only help.

Looks like Lacroix could help us make the most of Lukaku with those long passes he clearly loves. An incidental consideration but an additional string to his bow for sure. Meanwhile, would we have a realistic chance of getting him? Does he already have his heart set on one of the super clubs and do they already have their wallets trained on him?

Yes it is but I can't imagine there's another coach who could coax more out of our squad than TT has. The recruiters need to help.

Problem is most, if not all, of us see no hope that Chiesa will come here. We have to shop elsewhere.

Fulltime Juve 1-2 Chelsea. After matchday 2 Chelsea are second in Group A, behind Wolfsburg on goal difference. Next up Servette away on 9th November.

2-1 Blues Pernille Harder (68)

1-1 halftime.

The Women's Champions League matchday two fixture against Juventus is available to watch live now on YouTube. (512) 🔴 JUVENTUS VS. Chelsea | UEFA WOMEN’S CHAMPIONS LEAGUE MATCHDAY 2 LIVESTREAM - YouTube 1-0 Blues Erin Cuthbert (30) 1-1 (36)

Though Jose admitted it was at least as much for his impact in the dressing room as anything else. If Eden had never played for Chelsea then, seeing how things have gone for him in Madrid, we'd probably all be arguing against trying to bring him here. As it is however the sentimental attachment is strong with this one.

That video offers no real opportunity to judge him. Certainly it showed no hint that this lad might be a special talent. I'm not saying he isn't, just saying that the video is an insufficient sample of his capabilities.

City won 'with' a hundred points not 'by' a hundred points but, yes, you are entirely correct of course. I was just responding to Tomo's point that teams need 109 points in order to guarantee wining the league without needing help from other sides taking points off their nearest rival. I'm just saying that teams need 112 points in order to guarantee that. A trivial and unimportant observation I grant you.

It's possible to lose the league with 109 points. It's even possible to lose it with 111 points. I'll grant you it's not even remotely likely a team would fail to take the title with either total but it is theoretically possible. 🙂

I would say that trying a new solution is legitimate. Every squad has a unique set of strengths and weaknesses so is likely to require an individually tailored fine tune. Where a manager needs to demonstrate cleverness is in assessing the outcome of his plans. If they are failing then why so and do they need fixing or scrapping?

I have confidence in TT because: - He is unquestionably a high calibre individual. I like to emphasise the difference between players of quality and players with [some] qualities. For me TT is a man of quality. - He installed a system which compensated for the squad's shortcomings. The ability to do this is a non-negotiable attribute for top managers. Those who can't do it are not top level. TT now needs to show that he has the ability, over time, to mould a squad which has fewer shortcomings. To support TT in this we need a clear eyed and cold blooded recruitment policy: - Avoid romanticised assessments of our players. For example, I've championed RJ since his academy days but an Hakimi type player would have improved us. We can't afford to shy away from such decisions. - End the pursuit of elite level players. They don't want to come here and every failed chase just lowers our reputation. - Finding the next generation of elites is obviously harder than spotting the ready made ones but that's the boat we're in so we have to pick up a paddle and row. - CFC already pursues the next gen plan, hence the buy-to-loan policy, but we need to get better at it. I hope that TT can become the long term manager we've been wishing for. If that is to happen we will need to provide him the tools to improve performance and maintain success. In the past we have failed to provide those tools but have demanded the success anyway. With Roman's philosophy this always puts our manager on a train with no brakes racing towards a cliff. TT is a man worth ending the rinse and repeat cycle for.