El P.
Posts posted by El P.
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Really pleased. Transfer window is just becoming from bad to ok-ish.
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This was stuff of champions, well done!
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Weird thing is - he wasn't involved in our trainings from 2 months ago, even before United rumors started to kick in . I assume even then he said to the club that he wants out and knew his old pal Jose is interested, but offer wasn't on the table. I don't believe that club just froze him out like that, with no offers at the table, it gotta be something he initiated.
So...
Should've he been sold? Yes.
Should've he been sold until proper replacement is secured? No.
Let's move on, what's done is done. It's a decent fail, but we can still fix it.
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9 minutes ago, Magic Lamps said:
I still believe that was the correct decision. Today, Matic would probably not have started anyway. Conte likes to play Cesc when teams park the bus and Burnley were expected to do so. Also Matic would not have prevented the referee being an absolute wanker and sending off two players needlessly. Neither would Matic have mad Luiz place himself better for the two crosses he let in.
Matic was and is a bang average player who becomes useless against good sides and offers nothing offensively except the occasional fluke goal or assist, which Cesc does regularly. The release of Matic itself was no mistake. To do so before we brought in an actual replacement/ a third fit centre mid was the mistake and that has been acknowledged by everyone who wanted matic out.
I agree, it's not this game that is problem. Next game is, we have no players to play in midfield.
It's not MATIĆ per se, it's any decent midfielder, we have none, bar Kante.
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This is why Matić's transfer was problem. When we sort our squad shit out, Premier league will be long gone. Hope those who wanted Matić out ate their words. Who will play against Spurs, Chelsea U19?
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12 hours ago, Pizy said:
The thing is, in that 15/16 breakout season his best skill was playing a ball over the top for Vardy to run onto. We already have Cesc who can do just that but even better. So how often would Drinkwater even play as our 4th option in midfield when we'd have Cesc to come on as 3rd choice offering the same things Drinkwater does?
Would be strange to pay at least £30m on a player only to use them as often as we did RLC or Chalobah i.e. 5-10 minutes here or there.
Difference is - Drinkwater wouldn't be this "alternative" player who comes from the bench to mix things up, like Fabregas is. I think Drinky would start more games than Fabregas, actually. Cesc would collect more apps, but because of coming in game later from the bench.
Yes, Fabregas could pass the ball better, he is maybe the best passer around. Drinky is good passer, but his overall game is much better than Cesc's. He is a great runner, he is good defensively, he is not a pushover, and is somewhat faster and stronger than Cesc.
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We will not win EPL or UCL trophies this season, except if miracle happens. Nor should we. And we should be aware of that. Yes we said that last season too, but we can't do that kind a thing twice.
We should aim for squad developing and integrating young long-term options in our squad, Bakayokos and Moratas. We've won 2 Premier leagues and one CCup in last 3 years. We should be satisfied with trophies and give this squad proper time to evolve. Let's establish this 3-4-3 and create machine of it. Let's work so we can at the end of 2017/18 say: this squad is ready!
There are a lot of changes, some important players left us, Costa, Matić and our captain Terry. And we are still a team that finished 10th season ago, don't forget that. That wasn't "one off" year.
This Premier league title, in season when we overachieved with our games, with no European football and no injuries, maybe got some of us thinking that we are close to top tier clubs. Well, we are far from it, and I doubt anything board could've had done this summer would rise us to that level, or close to that level, because there were so many gaps at the team. Too many.
Lot of work ahead of us, I will settle myself for top 3 in PL and UCL knock-out phase. But let's finally develop this squad to the fullest.
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3 weeks left in transfer window. If we get one CMF, one LWB and one RWB Conte has no reason to be unsatisfied. That's all what we need.
Yes, he didn't got players at a perfect time, but hell, it wouldn't be problem that much if our best player and Bakayoko weren't injured. We had a hard summer, we could've done better, but Costa circus and Matić wanting to leave really didn't help.
We can still make ourselves a decent situation, just let's f**king dig in and get things done - sooner the better!
- MefiX19 and kellzfresh
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Good target, yes please, this week if possible.
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Matić left Bale alone in the box in first 10 mins and he almost scored, and was also at fault for second goal when he fell over and left Isco unmarked. Lukaku missed a sitter. Hope they continue like that.
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"We sold Matić, 40 millions for a 29yo who is declining, it's good business."
And now, reported 37 millions for this guy. Can't believe we got ourselves in this situation, would take him now of course, but only cause we are desperate and have no so much choice.
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Guys stop with this fucking bullshit.
Everyone here wanted to get rid of Costa because he had rotten mentality, regardless of goals or contribution. Everyone prefered "nice" striker, but no one thought that such striker might score less or have less presence.
You got that nice striker. Not single one has right to talk shit about Morata because thats the striker type everyone preffered over Costa.
On Morata note, I think he will come good and we need to give him more regular playtime in our best 11 along Baka and Eden. But yeah like I said million times, losing Costa is something everyone will be regretting because when inform, the guy was easily top 3 strikers in the world, rotten mentality or not.
No one prefered "nice" striker, we just wanted normal striker. Maybe NICER than Costa (not hard to be), but not Kante-nice striker.
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1 hour ago, nyikolajevics said:
Can't see happening. He doesn't fit into our system. Too short, we can't play Kanté and Verratti nex to each other. Even Fábregas sits on the bench because we need a stronger, taller guy.
He fits our system better than any other creative midfielder - he is tactically very mature and does a lot of dirty work. And no, he is not too short - you actually expect from a player like Verratti to be short, there are rarely some tall midfielders which are THAT good technically. But not from a player like Kante, there is where our problem lays.
It would be stupid not to buy Verratti if there is a chance, only because he is too short. He is even worth of changing our system to 4-3-3, you know, just dump Moses and play Azpi on the right.
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Great price!
He is too old? Look at the bigger picture - we "sold" Ivanović, Terry, Costa, Matić, "bought" Moses, Rudiger, Morata and Bakayoko. We are actually really really good, age-wise.
One 30 year-old means nothing.
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MOSES
Speed 8/10
Crossing 5/10
Ball control/Close control 7/10
Stamina 9/10
Shoot 6/10
Body strength 8/10
Bonuses - not bad in the air for a winger.
CANDREVA
Speed 7/10
Crossing 8/10
Ball control/Close control 8/10
Stamina 8/10
Shoot 8/10
Body strength 7/10
Bonuses - good with weaker foot, can take good free kicks.
Conclusion - Moses is physically stronger, faster, Candreva on the other side has much better technique. I would take him for reasonable price. EDIT: Considering that we certainly won't bring some technically gifted midfielder, I think Candreva actually fits us a lot better than Moses. EDIT 2: Have read about him a bit more, his crossing isn't THAT good, lowered it to 8.
(I know it looks like I just c/p this from PES or FIFA, but that's not the case, I know both players, and I checked some statistics of course.)
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I'm impressed. If Pedro/Hazard could be soon fit, I don't see a need for another RWF/LWF. Hazard, Pedro, Willian, Musonda and Boga. Michy/Morata at the worst case scenario could play there too (hope not Morata ofc). Sounds good.
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18 minutes ago, Jype said:
Oh come on, stop being so fucking dramatic. Let's have a look who the rivals have as backup CMs:
City: Fernando and Fabian Delph the obvious backups. Ilkay Gündogan could be considered a backup too because he's not exactly fit enough to be considered first choice even tho he's pretty good. Don't know about Yaya Toure, maybe he'll be reduced to a backup role this season being 34yo. Also Pep likes his rotation a lot more than Conte, sometimes leading to messy performances all around with needless tinkering.
United: Michael Carrick, Marouane Fellaini, Timothy Fosu-Mensah
Liverpool: Marko Grujic is the only clear backup. Other midfielders (Can, Henderson, Wijnaldum, Lallana) all pretty much equal in the pecking order with each of them starting around 25-30 league games a season in a three man midfield. Klopp, much like Guardiola, is known to use a lot of rotation due to the demanding nature of football his team plays.
Arsenal: Mohamed Elneny, Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain, Jack Wilshere
Spurs: Moussa Sissoko, Harry Winks
Now tell me, which of those do you consider to be a significantly better set of backups than Fabregas, Baker and say Drinkwater? I'll grant you City are pretty good all across the field having improved this summer but all the others just scream 'mediocre' to me and not really anything to be worried about.
Fact is, without the extensive use of rotation week-in week-out having established stars as squad players is just impossible and Conte is a manager who mostly sticks to a winning team and only mixes things up in case of injuries or occasionally playing a weakened side at an easier game ahead of a more important fixture. Matic knew his chances would be more limited with the arrival of Bakayoko so he chose to leave and Chalobah at his age couldn't risk another season playing just a few minutes here and there so he left too.
Now new squad players are needed and with the homegrown quota some of the upcoming new signings will have to be HG players, of which there aren't too many available. AOC, Barkley and Drinkwater the obvious candidates and I'm pretty sure we'll end up with at least one of those three and other new arrivals will be foreign players. I have no doubt we'll see another few players coming in before the end of the window and most of those signings will be squad players mostly for the bench so they might seem kinda underwhelming compared to when our rivals are signing better players to be their starters but what you're forgetting is that Chelsea's team core is pretty much already fixed and improved from last season so squad signings are what's needed right now. Still hoping for a big signing to improve the wing-back areas but for central midfield I really can't see another star player joining, and rightly so.
Backups are not so relevant if United have fit and "integrated" Pogba and Herrera, City KDB/Silva/Fernandinho, Spurs have Dembele and Wanyama (they are very thin on the bench, yes, but they are not spending, neither winning trophies). They can afford backups like that. And I don't want us to be like Arsenal and Liverpool, they are shit so let's not compare ourselves with them. Arsenal with Ramsey/Xaka/Coquelin/Ox/Eleny/Wilshere/Cazorla are not bad actually. Not so good, but not bad either, I rate that midfield same as ours currently, or even more than ours.
What do we have? Kante, who is great, but without someone better with the ball alongside him isn't that much. It isn't defensive part of the midfield game that is mostly our problem, it's offensive/midfield controlling. I think having good backup NOW, in Chelsea, is way more important than in other teams. We sold our long time servant, and bought some unfit player which is still unproven. It could be months before he becomes good for us.
Having Pogba, and Carrick for his replacement is awesome, Fellaini for Matić. Hell they can even easily switch to 4-2-3-1 and place Mata as number 10. Having KDB/Silva and Gundo for a replacemant is also awesome. City could also play their fullbacks as CMs, you know Pep.
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9 hours ago, Jype said:
What people don't seem to understand is that neither Matic nor Chalobah were willing to stick around playing 4th choice and that's why they were sold.
Nate was already on his contract's last year and Matic too had only two years left and wasn't going to renew it so let's say the club kept him somewhat against his will for another season, next summer he'd have been aged 30 with contract running out in a years time so literally no value anymore and there's really no guarantees what kind of performances we'd have gotten from an unmotivated Matic who had asked for a move in the summer but got told to stay put. I understand perfectly why both of those were sold and why the club are now looking elsewhere.
Ideally I'd have kept Chalobah too and I think with CL football coming back this season there would've been enough games for him to be happy and develop but if the lad didn't want to sign the extension and wished to go, there's hardly much the club could do to prevent him.
Yes, in all other clubs they can have 1-2 quality back ups, but not in Chelsea. All other clubs can convince their players to stay and sometimes, from time to time be squad players, but not in Chelsea (except Fabregas, for obvious reasons).
Not need to mention that Drinkwater would make our midfield something like Stoke had 3-4 seasons ago.
We earned A LOT, if you look at the net spend and consider about 40 mils for Costa, we didn't spend shit. We should frickin invest it.
Alonso - Drinkwater - Kante - Moses is a midfield for a mid-bottom of a table. We got away with something like this last season, but it will get exposed, and it will be bloody. With Bakayoko's fitness level question and team integration question (still young, somewhat unproved etc) still in the air, who are we to say that this wouldn't be our first choice for a midfield?
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Just now, Tomo said:
As stated above, he will be replacing Nate, Matic has already been replaced.
Well, I don't agree with this. It's not like Baka MUST be his replacement. Baka and Matić could rotate too, even Kante. I think we could've pulled this: Bakayoko, Kante, Cesc, Matić. 4 competitions, Cesc can play upfront sometimes. But it is what it is now...
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This is exactly why I questioned Matić's departure. Not glad that I was probably right.
Maybe we will not eventually get this guy, but our targets are clear - no one from them is better than Matić.
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Hope he places either Moses or Cahill on the bench. Most likely it would be Moses. Liked what I saw from him, could be really good in this 3-man defence.
It's not MATIĆ per se, it's any decent midfielder, we have none, bar Kante.
Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain
in Transfer Archives
Posted
We've done it only with Morata I think, all others were already presented and signed before announcement, as I recall.