OhForAGreavsie

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.

They are right.

Bobby's +1 was a proper trophy.

Or perhaps the curse is on the person who chooses the strikers. That curse being that they are not brilliant at spotting the difference between a striker with qualities and a striker of quality. Anyway, more positively, it is definitely too soon to regard ROM as a bust so hope survives.

It was obvious that there must be a reason why he was where he was at that stage of his career. Some of us made this point while his transfer was being discussed. There are some truths that those responsible for Chelsea's player recruitment must learn if they don't already know them and which they must not ignore if they do: - Never buy on form. If a player's touch is poor when he's 18 it will be poor when he's 28. Ignore anyone who tells you otherwise. They are either not old enough or not observant enough to know better. If an outfield player in the prime of his career is playing at a lower level than it looks like he should be aware that there is a reason why he's where he is. A good reason. Chelsea should never pay elite level transfer fees because established elite players never choose Chelsea. We have no choice but to try to find the elite players before they have established themselves.

As I've put it, his absence has shown the position we're in. He is the player we can't live without and, when he plays, we can't help but feel that we need more from him. Can't live without him, can't quite live with him.

I don't agree and, self-evidently, you don't either.🙂

Media was talking a lot of nonsense about us, not just about Rom. Now they'll start talking a different brand of nonsense.