King Kante

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.

Agree. Before that they also brought Overmars and Petit for a large chunk and both flopped.

Things have to be broken down into categories for things like this. For me, there are; expected to be first team players, most disappointing, actual worst footballing ability, worst squad member that actually got enough minutes to be remembered, mercenary, biggest waste of money. Here is my list; Mercenary - Winston B. Most disappointing - Sheva (£30m in 2006 was like £95m today.) Worst squad player that got minutes: The Joka Expected to be a first team player: Bakayoko Actual worst ability: Papy D. Biggest waste of money; Kepa (being brave here but I see zero qualities that are going to save him, in time I fully expect him to be seen as the time we decided to make a Karius quality GK the world's most expensive GK.) People can say Torres and Sheva all they want but at least they had shown actual talent to be considered top rank players.

This is exactly the type of game we have messed up in this season. Really need the win, can see Brighton getting a draw with Utd somehow.

Well it depends on what SFL does. Utd this season have pretty much beaten us for two reason; 1) Having our CM wide open so they can stroll straight through us with no pressure, 2) Luck. The 4-0 game was harsh, the EFL Cup game was 50/50 which they edged with a worldie FK, 3) The Walking Forehead somehow didn't get a red card for kicking Batsh*t in his Niagara's.

I think Barkley's future depends on what SFL does with Mount and RLC. In my opinion, all three is too many. Tbh, I rate Mount quite highly, so I think Barkley's future will depend on what happen's with RLC or maybe even if we buy Harvetz (which I think is unlikely.)

There are a couple of things here. 1) I do not think Real pay £190m for Hazard in 2018. Further even if they do, you have to weigh this up against risking CL qualification/A Ropey League win. For me, selling when we did and for the amount we got was the right call. 2) I cannot believe you thought Baka was a good player. I wasn't on here at the time but on another forum I was going ape sh*t when we brought him. Honestly, anyone that watched him for more than 45 mins knew he owed his career to Fabinho. 3) Cannot say Morata was really that bad as we got most of our money back on him. Sure he had the mentality of a 11 year old but when you buy someone for £58m and then get £50m back even when they flop means you have done ok and it should be a lesson learned and not something to beat yourself up about. 4) Drinkwater I think wasn't a good idea but I also think the bloke is either a alcoholic or has mental health issues (possibly both.) For me, he was signed as an expensive CM4 who would help with the HG quota. Obviously he has been a disaster but I think this is due to his problems that they club would probably be unaware of. Without them I think we would've got most of our money (say £20/25m) back for him via a sale if he hadn't gone crazy. 5) Tbf with Alonso, when he got renewed he was playing in the 343 system and he was one of our best players by then for about 18 months. His stats going forward were impressive. Not sure in the context of when he actually signed the extension it was as crazy as it seems now. As for the bid from Real, again it was rumours from 2nd rate itk's. I would say for certain it was true (no need to post any links I have seen them already.) 6) With Willian, even if we did get the £65m bid, we still would've needed him to agree. From everything I have seen from him, he strikes me as someone that will not want to leave England. I think he is too settled. I agree with most of the rest, however I am still hopeful we can squeeze decent money out of Emerson and Zouma so they will be a seen more as squad players that were here for a while that we didn't really lose much by having.

Personally I hope he continues playing and doing ok, as that way we may be able to con someone into buying him. Joking aside, Barkley for me is a ok squad player but he shouldn't really be a starter for us.

Jorgi is a strange one. Not sure what is going on with him exactly. It may just be he is not match fit. Let's see what happens with him against West Ham and Watford before drawing any conclusions.

Tbf, Barca have never really been that great at transfers. The hit gold with a academy group and also got a few transfers right as well. However, there is a reason why pre-Messi they had only won one CL.

I agree, he is frustrating as hell. However, he is also doing more of what SFL is asking for. In my opinion, he will be sold this Summer (as I reckon we probably can get a Newcastle/West Ham/Palace) to pay £30m+ for him. However, with the way some of the other CM's are playing, I see him getting a lot of minutes in the next few weeks.

Yeah, just saw your post. Hopefully it is nothing!

Not yet but I am worried. To me it looked like he was complaining about his groin. I did my adductor a few years ago and it seriously took me about 12 months to get over it as I would take a break for about 2 months play again only for it to go again 2-3 games in. Hopefully, he doesn't have something similar.

I said at the start of the season on another Chelsea forum that James looks like a DM moonlighting as a RB. The more I see of him, the more I feel he is going to end up being moved there at some point.

Do not get me wrong, Barkley only has his physical traits to rely on, as we can all hear the gears in his head turning (loudly) whenever he has got to do anything other than run and shoot. However, he is also doing what SFL is asking i.e. play with some urgency and get into the box. So, whilst I still want him sold, he also doing what he is told more so than some of the other CM's. For me, I would not be surprised to see - Kante, Barkley, Kova - as our midfield three against Wet Spam.

Oh yeah, if all we require from them is to run after a long ball, they are golden.

Not too sure how much that was to do with them and how much it was to do with Kova getting hold of the ball in the middle. For me, they were really poor in the first half - Rudi in particular pulling out one of his 'lose my man, even though he has done nothing other than run off me' specials on the set piece - then in the second they didn't have much to do as we stepped up the pitch. Maybe, I am being harsh but I actually thought they were poor overall.

Strange game. Leicester look in trouble in my book, they should have won that can 3-1 but somehow contrived to lose it 1-0. For me, Kova was MotM but I think it also proved that there are certain squad players that need to go as they are either poor of inconsistent.

Quick question. Does Rudi know how to defend a set piece at all? Seriously, everytime a ball goes into our box he either loses his man or is completely lost at sea or both. As for Zouma, his ability on the ball is shocking when under any sort of pressure whatsoever. We seriously need some new CB's. As for this match, I would take off Mount for Kova and switch Kante and VmBilly's positions. I would also get Pedro on for Willian as whilst Willian has been alright I want to see more off the ball runs to open up some space.

Dear God Please involve De Ligt in this deal if it is to happen. Many thanks KK