King Kante

Nathan is apparently sold. £2.7m. https://www.google.com/amp/s/weaintgotnohistory.sbnation.com/platform/amp/2020/7/1/21310716/official-atletico-mineiro-sign-nathan-from-chelsea

Yeah, that or he is banging SFL's wife or something.

Yeah, I am not really getting why everyone is going crazy at Alonso, it is pretty obvious SFL had told him to go up the pitch. Essentially when we're chasing a game, Alonso is our version of sending up the CB to play CF, but in his case it is to go up from LB to LWF. The third goal was down to SFL's tactics and Rudiger's inability to defend. The second was AC deciding to give up defending and the first a dual award for Rudi (for giving the corner away) and Kepa for not controlling his six yard area/losing the flight of the ball yet again.

That and SFL needs to get a defensive coach in. Last season Derby were just as awful.

Actually it was 4 shots on goal 4 goals but we got bailed out by VAR.

Giroud really should have started this one, Tammy has been poor and that clearance at the end was a joke. CM is really poor today we either need Mount in to provide some industry or Jorgi to provide some guile (or both). On another note Rudiger is quickly becoming as disposable as Zouma for me.

Ah Kepa, apparently a GK with potential for some.

Yeah, I was slightly surprised too but then again Mount looked shagged out on Sunday so it may just be a rest.

Rudiger needs to become an agent when he retires.

Well if Alonso was a tad faster, then I think we wouldn't need a new FB as his lack of speed is a key issue to his brain farts as most of the time he does these as he is trying to scramble back. Telles is faster than him and a better crosser but is not as good at shooting as he is.

I think after his first six months there was a lot of buzz about him and the sense he was going to reach his potential. I mean at one point Bayern were linked (although mainly from BS artists.) I reckon Newcastle would've gone to about £15-20m (but this is guess work) but we thought he may be on the verge of pulling a Bale or something.

Telles is easily the most sensible buy. Low fee, currently on reasonable wages, right age profile and can deliver set pieces/crosses well from the left consistently. Not the greatest at defending but that is a trade off you have to accept with modern FB's as otherwise you get a Dave/AWB then everyone complains about their lack of ability in the final third.

The FSW said they wanted to buy but we quoted £30m or something. I am not normally one to believe transfer speculation but on that one I do believe Newcastle wanted to buy as it came from their manager.

Really should've sold Kenedy to Newcastle after his six month loan. Baba has been a lost cause ever since we brought him.

Really need to win this one. Brighton just rolled over for Utd yesterday, whilst VAR/the lineman also thought it was fine for a ball to go out of play prior to a Utd goal.

It really is the logo that kills these shirts off. I wouldn't say it is a great shirt but it is ok, the real problem is that the ridiculous 3 that makes then awful.

With the logo so big, Alonso is going to look like he is wearing and NFL jersey.

Well, if you look at my initial post, I categorised him under 'biggest waste of money' which meant that I was taking into consideration his fee. I clearly broke down the different areas you can categorise a player as a 'worst player/buy'. I haven't said he is the worst full stop. As for Onana and Henderson, I have personally touted neither. Henderson, I am not sold on as I find he can get beaten near post a lot and Onana is someone who I have seen a little of - he has looked decent enough if not a world beater - but has a massive problem with his ACoN comments. People say Kepa had a great season last season but I do not think he did. In fact, I would say this season he has been about the same, it is just last season we defended better. This is bourne out in his stats. Just because Chelsea fans where saying he had a great game (because that what fans do with new signings, whilst due to his saving technique he can make basic saves seem top notch) does not actually mean he was good. In fact, statistically he is doing better this year that last believe it or not. Actually, you will find in 1v1's the average conversion rate is around 50%, they are not nailed on goals. Kepa has about a 20% save rate. This is because he places himself in no-mans land as he doesn't commit himself to either closing down the space or guarding the goal (although he did close down the space against Sterling against City, which I give him a lot of credit for as that is what he should be doing all the time. Hopefully, that will prove a turning point.) As for the second Le Arse goal, I am sorry but any half decent PL GK should save that one. This is one of my principal issues with Kepa. A good/great GK bails out their defence when they make a mistake, with him everyone just says, 'oh, well his defence let him down'. No GK has a perfect defence which means that they do not have to face difficult shots, that is what they are meant to deal with when the defence makes a mistake. Kepa doesn't do this expect for very rare occasions like Fulham away last season and the SC against the Dippers. As for distribution, I wouldn't say he is great either. Both Ederson and Alisson are head and shoulders above him for sure. I mean this season, there have been a number of occasions where he has played us into serious trouble. The City home game and Everton away game are prime examples of this. I do not beat him up too much on this, as I think this happens to all GK's that get asked to play in such a way. However, his distribution if we are being honest is more Pickford level than Ederson/Alisson. As for his height, as I also said to Vesper, my comment was that in American sports they have a term that says 'you can't teach height and size'. This means I was criticising his wingspan (I do not think you'll argue he has short arms)/build as well as his height. Further, I also said this would not be such an issue if he has amazing skills elsewhere - shot stopping/controlling his area/instructing his defence/distribution etc. However, he doesn't. This means he cannot do what someone like Cech or TC does in that they make up for there weaker shot saving/distribution skills (neither were/are the best in the world at this) with completely dominating their area. Anyway, as I have said and given evidence for with the statistical break down. Kepa has been a poor GK for the past three seasons on virtually every metric you can statistically measure him on (except at Bilbao where it appears that he was good at cross collection.) This isn't me making it up or making him a 'strawman' this is true and I have provided the evidence for it. If you have counter statistical evidence and/or video footage that is not just an odd save here or there, then please share it and I would be more than happy to re-evaluate my position on him.

Problem with stats like that they do not take into consideration the quality of shots faced. The article that I posted above paints a much better picture of his performances since his last a Bilbao.

Tbf, when I say height and size I also mean his wingspan and not just his height. Personally, his height in isolation is not a massive issue, however when he has all the other faults I mentioned it does because he cannot do a TC/Cech and use his height/size advantage to dominate his box.

Comparing players like Zoff and Shilton is pointless as they are from different eras. As for his height, he is around 6'1" as whenever I have seen him he appears shorter than Zouma (6'3), AC and Luiz (6'2) but taller than Tomori (6'0). However, and this may sound a little like I am picking holes but it is true, he has an incredibly long neck, if you look and squad line up photos his shoulders in photos he lines up with players like Tomori but his Inspector Gadget neck, takes him above him.

For me, Rice should be converted into a CB and I do think he has potential to be a good one. The problem however, is that this is all based on guess work and there is no real proof it will happen. Further, he is only 21 and will still need to take quite a long while to develop. If the idea is to buy him as CB3/4 and hopes he develops (and we sell one of our CB's to finance it so there is not too much cost) then I am fine with it. If the idea is to buy him, then we think our CB's are sorted, then I am against the idea. CB in general is a massive problem worldwide as there is a lack of them and those that are WC/potential WC all play for top teams already. We really should've tried to get a deal done for a Laporte/VVD/KK by 2018 but instead we were too busy buying 2nd rate players instead.

Personally, I would say CB's age later than CF's but agree.

I categorised him as biggest waste of money for a number of reasons. The reasons are; 1) He was never a £72m player and had done nothing to warrant such a fee. Hence, where players like Torres and Sheva had records to lean on. Kepa was just some random than we went mental on. 2) You must be forgetting the Arsenal game at home. That game was for me his worst game as on the 1v1 he did his usual run out into no mans land which allows the player to slide it past him easily, then he dived the wrong way for the Bellerin goal (I mean seriously, how does a GK dive the wrong way?). 3) Kepa's stats over 3 years (since he broke into the Bilbao first team), show no areas where you can say 'oh, look, he does this really well'. In fact, since he broke in he has conceded more goals than he should have done every single season. Kepa has serious defects to his game that will be difficult to iron out. These are: 1) His tenancy to swing his arms behind his back before attempting a save. This is a key reason for his 'weak wrists' and shot/save percentage. Further, this is also why his saves look great, when in fact most of them should be stopped regardless. 2) He is tiny for a GK. As they saying goes in American sports, 'you cannot teach height or size'. This is a big problem in a position, where height is probably the most important thing before agility, some may even argue it is the most inportant. 3) He isn't brave. This is why he stays rooted to his line all the time and is awful in 1v1's (although I do give him credit for the City game where he closed down Sterling properly. I legitimately think this is the first time I have seen him do the right thing in a 1v1). 4) His distribution is poor or at best very average. This is a problem as when you're not a top GK owning your six yard area or a top save specialist, you better have great distribution to help on attack like Ederson does. Kepa doesn't. 5) When balls get cut in, he is very poor at covering his goal and allows himself to get very square on to a shot. Literally, I have not seen a top level GK struggle with this so much. He literally leaves the goal wide open 80% of the time on a cut back or puts himself in a really bad position to save a quick shot. As I said, anyone who doesn't get the criticism/concerns over Kepa need to read this article; https://www.google.com/amp/s/weaintgotnohistory.sbnation.com/platform/amp/2020/5/14/21257561/solving-chelseas-kepa-conundrum-part-1 Further, the arguement that Real wanted him is also not a great one in my opinion. Real hds him pretty much secured for €20m/£18m when he was on wages of around £10-15k per week (his initial Bilbao contract) so they probably could given him £40-50k. However, even in that situation Zidane still didn't want him.

I am not a fan of the board either, so I feel your pain. It is just that I differ with you on certain areas to get frustrated. Although, this post has reminded me Alonso was actually renewed at a odd time. As for mistakes, we do all make mistakes. I got Torres wrong as I thought he could get his sh*t back together. The only reason I mentioned Baka was due to it being super obvious to me he was dire but you seem to watch a lot of football. I was more surprised than mocking you for it.