Vesper

Mount will never be a DH DMF, that would be a disaster on the pitch. He woukd get knocked off the ball and be steamrolled on defence. We are one Jorginho injury from mayhem unless Kovacic can play there. Maybe, maybe Luiz could handle it, but unless Ampadu is ready to rock as fulltime CB, that means AC as starter.

I am not going to be shocked if he does something stupid, especially come summer and we slap him and those Bavarian cunts down this whole situ is not going to end well for us at all

Denis Suarez to Arsenal: Major breakthrough as Barcelona midfielder is set to complete loan move Gunners will finally land midfield man this month https://www.football.london/arsenal-fc/transfer-news/denis-suarez-arsenal-major-breakthrough-15747684

We are going to stunt his career playing him willy-nilly all over the pitch, especially this Jorginho deputy shite.

How Zola is good cop to Sarri's bad cop Matt Law's Chelsea briefing Zola is the Chelsea peacemaker By Matt Law Football News Correspondent It will not come as a huge surprise to anybody who has encountered Gianfranco Zola that he has been deployed as Chelsea’s ‘good cop’ over the past few weeks. Head coach Maurizio Sarri has proved himself to be a straight talker during his first six months in charge, both publicly and privately. Sarri questioned his team’s motivation following the defeat to Arsenal and can be similarly outspoken in private. The Italian also talks little to those players who are not in the small circle of those he trusts. That has left Zola as the Chelsea peacemaker, trying to privately give context to players left concerned about what Sarri has said in public and also massaging the egos of those left out. Zola’s reputation for being one of the nicest men in football goes back to his playing days at Chelsea and it does not seem that managing and coaching has changed that. He does extra work with those players who want to stay behind after training and tries to keep the lines of communication with those who can feel alienated by Sarri’s approach. Stamford Bridge regulars got a first-hand taste of Zola’s thoughtful touch last week, when he urged the players watching the Carabao Cup penalty shootout success over Tottenham Hotspur to crouch down so that paying supporters could see. Chelsea are hoping that as his English gets better and he begins to understand the culture in this country that Sarri will begin to leave less open to interpretation when speaking to the media. In recent weeks, he has seen headlines made from claims that he did not know Christian Pulisic was signing, that he had not spoken to director Marina Granovskaia for two weeks, that he wanted Eden Hazard’s future sorted out immediately and the perceived attack on his own players following the Arsenal defeat. Chelsea have taken the subsequent stories in their stride and believe that with time, Sarri will begin to work out the different ways in which his words can be interpreted. In the meantime, Zola will have to keep working as the go-between behind the scenes.

Looks like he will walk on a free then, or for some shit £10m desperation sale in January 2020, probably as the 2 year t-bans hit I am sure Uli Hoeneß is looking for Amapdu's, Reece Jame's, and maybe Tomori's cell numbers as I type this. Dynamics of feeder clubs in Europe https://www.livemint.com/Sports/BfbjefUP7p2A66pxiK9RjL/Dynamics-of-feeder-clubs-in-Europe.html

Drinkwater

How would you get around the no multiyear contracts for 30 somethings? Odds are high Rakitic slides down the performance pole soon. He has looked poor for Barca this year in the games I have seen. If we start buying ageing stars who are soon over the hill, my interest in the club will plummet.

A blind monkey flinging poo on a chalkboard with players names written on it would stand a better chance of coming up aces than our board.

'£35m for Drinkwater and we hesitate over Paredes' - These Chelsea fans are absolutely fuming https://www.football.london/chelsea-fc/transfer-news/35m-drinkwater-hesitate-over-paredes-15746700

Money isn't an issue for them, so a 6 month/1yr fix will do them fine. They spoke with their chequebook Paredes in, Gueye down into the dustbin of internet rumours. I think it was a pure planted story, to pressurise the Zenit and Paredes' people to shit or get off the loo.

We are certainly go find out, hopefully not the hard way. He is much better as a CB, IMHO, much better.

THE 'GIVE KIDS A CHANCE' LEAGUE TABLE Premier League table based on how many minutes clubs have given to players aged 22 or under https://www.bbc.com/sport/football/47016796 Take a look at the full table, which the BBC are calling the 'give kids a chance' table: Leicester - 8373 minutes Arsenal - 4467 minutes Everton - 4455 minutes West Ham - 4134 minutes Tottenham - 4083 minutes Wolves - 3962 minutes Huddersfield - 3089 minutes Liverpool - 2553 minutes Bournemouth - 2400 minutes Manchester United - 2009 minutes Fulham - 1975 minutes Crystal Palace - 1965 minutes Southampton - 1671 minutes Newcastle - 1409 minutes Manchester City - 1107 minutes Brighton - 863 minutes Burnley - 440 minutes Watford - 296 minutes Chelsea - 151 minutes Cardiff - 0 minutes

Law seems to be almost TOO close, too keyed in, to the point where he is pushing Chelsea inside spin

wow, just wow I have never disagreed with Law this much before

Transfer Talk: Liverpool want Sandro Tonali to replenish midfield http://www.espn.com/soccer/blog/transfer-talk/79/post/3761067/transfer-talk-liverpool-want-sandro-tonali-to-replenish-midfield

The high-flier Aston Villa have snapped up from Chelsea https://www.birminghammail.co.uk/sport/football/football-news/high-flier-aston-villa-snapped-15746340 Aston Villa have made a savvy off-field appointment by hiring Nicola Ibbetson as their new chief commercial officer. The highly-regarded, Ibbetson, worked with CEO Christian Purslow at Chelsea and leaves Stamford Bridge after three years. She replaces Luke Organ, who was axed last month as part of a major shake-up aimed at boosting revenue streams. A chartered accountant, Ibbetson also spent three years at Manchester United, where she worked on the world-record £750million kit sponsorship deal with Adidas.

Horrid day

I knew it was a done deal, zero chance the Guardian would have went out on a limb over just a rumour. I doubt we sign anyone the last 3 days. Unreal the incompetence if these bans come before 2020.

I don't think he is tactically good enough at systemic set up passing. Same for Ampadu.

ffs we have zero DH DMF-capable young players in the pipeline Ampadu surely isn't the answer there looks like it is Kovacic given the shot or bust we damn well better do big business in the summer if those bans come and we haven't snapped up Tonali or someone similar we are fucked

We can but hope.