OhForAGreavsie

Eight years ago I posted (elsewhere) that Ruben would be lucky to earn a place in a league one team unless he learned to impose his his ability on the game. Three years ago I posted that in the interest of all concerned Chelsea should allow Ruben to find himself a permanent move. That decision is long overdue now. Anyone who watched Ruben as a youngster could see the talent and the physical attributes. Unfortunately after noticing the potential, they would eventually also notice that the package never amounts to anything. He has no future at this level and, as I feared in 2013, I'm afraid he never did.

The away goal rule will do that to you. 🙂 Some hate it but I love it. Adds an extra dimension to European football.

I don't know if allowing fans is being considered but at Wembley it is easier to channel fans through different transport hubs and avoid crowding them together at pinch points.

My point in the run up to Timo's signing was that almost every time a supposed hot property is available to Chelsea that should already be a clue that we should lower our expectations. Players who are genuinely wanted by the elite teams don't choose Chelsea. Eden, for example, dropped a hint that the only reason he did not go straight to Real was because the were not going to play him.

He isn't.

I don't think so.

Turbulent? 😀

Well, you may be right of course but I think there is big trust in Bruce. We will see. As for the punishment, I'll believe it when I see it. A significant part of the value of Premier League overseas broadcast rights derives from the fact that people all over the globe want to watch Man Utd & Liverpool plus, to a lesser extent, Arsenal and, to a lesser extent again Chelsea, Man City & Spurs. For the Champions League, add Bayern and the Spanish giants then the story is the same. Albeit that it was designed before the ESL blew up, the new CL format recognises this and already gives the big clubs an easier path to the CL and its money. The current mood of the fans may embolden fifa, uefa, The Premier League 14, The FA, etc, but I think it's more likely they will continue to pander to these clubs than that they will bite the hand that feeds them.

In the same way Roman is too well thought of by Chelsea fans to suffer a lasting dip in his popularity due to the ESL flirtation, I think Bruce is too well thought of by Roman to loose his Job. In any case, we don't know where Bruce stood on ESL during the club's internal conversations.

She'd have had her say for sure but my guess is that there would in fact have been just one vote cast in our club. 🙂

The fantasy world some choose to live in isn't confined to the la la land of Republican politics in the USA. In football, as everywhere, people give themselves permission to believe that their guesses are as as valid as reality. They manage to construe a total lack of evidence to support their beliefs as final and conclusive proof that they are totally correct. We will therefore continue to read crazy opinions about Marina from time to time but she's a star.

I would like Roman or Bruce to issue a John Henry style mia culpa but, other than that, Roman is so far in credit with fans of this club that I can't believe he will suffer any permanent damage from this. He certainly won't with me.

I hope so for Ruben's sake.

When the two played together in the youth team Reece was regularly preferred to Tariq. The coaches were always aware that it was crazy to leave such a talented player out of the side however so they eventually settled on playing Reece at RCB in a three. With Tariq at RWB the system worked beautifully. Among all the good youth teams we've had in recent seasons, that 2017/18 squad was the best. Reece and Tariq were key contributors as the side played attractive, dominant football on its way to a quadruple of trophies. Reece in the RCB role could be worth a try.

There were what seemed to be reliable stories that we tried to get him from Birmingham but he chose BVB. Fair enough, a good choice. It's hard to believe that he would abandon that decision so soon.

I'm hoping this means that Tuchel has an informed opinion of the player. If so, I would not expect him to be interested. I haven't yet seen what others have seen in this lad. Looks underwhelming to me.

Based on this he is a very ordinary player. Can't see any reason for any interest from Chelsea.

That'll do!!

Camavinga has not impressed at all.

I don't think there is anything special about the pass in the video. Though it baffles me why every professional footballer is not confidently two-footed, it's a fact that some left-footed players would not want to take on that pass. I would expect every right-footed pro to see it, and make it, however. It's easy to see, there is no pressure on the ball and there is plenty of space to play it into. Well done Billy for getting it done but this is one of those situations where I would criticise a player if he didn't see and make that pass, rather than praise him because he did.

Not sure if Magic Lamps knows but I certainly don't. What I can say, is that the way you break it down here would all be pretty logical. Different people in the organisation each have slightly differing views informed by slightly differing responsibilities but can see each other's perspectives and ultimately accede to the manager's fears that the season will go down the tubes if they don't pull the trigger.

Frank had the sense not to oppose the advice of those two. In fact he enthusiastically embraced it. We do not know for sure how the responsibility for transfers breaks down inside the club so we do not know whether Frank would have been able to veto the move for Edu even if he had wanted to. The tale which emerged is that Frank identified the need for a new keeper, which is clear enough from his selections, and that he gave the task of identifying the target to Petr who then involved Christoph. That all sounds exactly the right way to go about things. What we do know is that if Frank did not support the signing he could simply have selected a different keeper but he immediately installed Edu as the starter. There are many facets to leadership. How, when, and to whom to delegate is among them. Knowing which decisions to make yourself, and in which you should defer to others, is high on the list. Frank handled this correctly and should be praised for it.

No, but I did see a goals package on YouTube in which he was described as the outstanding player on the pitch.

First I must admit that I haven't watched him since we were originally linked with him a few seasons ago. At that time however my feeling was that the best of his game was his power. His football finesse seemed lacking to me.

According to an agent representing Milan or the player more like.