Mhsc

A bottle job which has its routes firmly in the Sporting Directors and owners who have repeatedly failed us, and themselves. Out of cash and even if we had it, who would trust this lot to spend it on the areas we need it spending? I suspect that we are not far from some kind of monumental reckoning, the losses (both financial and on field) cannot continue, this is not an oligarch pet project, in the end a cold VC financial decision will get made and we the fans will pay.

Fofana the invisible man

I think targeting a top striker is just fairy tale stuff, hardly any even exist in modern football and to get one we'll need to get lucky at some point - Liverpool thought they could just go and spend big and get it sorted with Isak... It is not that simple at all. As we ourselves have seen countless times. Overall I am happy with JP there and although we could be better we have scored 48 PL goals so far this year, but we have conceded a similar amount of goals to the teams in 13th-15th. My overwhelming priority for years has been to just get back to being a truly elite defensive side, strong depth of elite CBs+DMs with an elite GK behind is the proven recipe at Chelsea. Arsenal have flagrantly copied our model and shown that it still is the most realistic strategy in modern football unless you've got City level money (and City level willingness to breach the financial rules). It is never surprising to anyone when our PL season goes off the rails because we are building on a foundation made out of fucking wet paper and the whole point of leagues is they brutally expose that. We are a cup team for now.

Stranger things have happened in football. Definitely not a "no way" situation. Everyone else has the fortunate habit of choking as well.

Both had all around bad games in every aspect. No one is saying Palmer is at fault for what Fofana did. Fofana is clearly an idiot and the fact that we are not seeing Sarr play ahead of him already raises serious questions around either Rosenior or the decisions made in January - if Sarr is not good enough to play over him, we should have gone to the market properly. Got called out during the game when I said Palmer is not world class anymore but I'm sorry it is as in our faces as anything can be. Obviously, the guy has struggled with injuries and I feel sorry for what's happened to him - but pity does not mean you just ignore the facts being shoved in your face for 1 year+. He's not the same anymore. Maybe he never will be again. Happened to lots of great players unfortunately. Most likely path is we see flashes from him, occasional great games, instead of consistent brilliance.

Eh? That's just bizarre, of course no one thought that and no idea why you think anyone would have? It looks like we expected and prepared for exactly what we are seeing. We have all the usual problems which are expected from the group, Sanchez/Chalobah/Fofana all of them awkward at playing out from the back and just doing their best at something that isn't really their game. Sarr would help a lot there. Attacking players not shown enough in general too, been in good positions but lack of quality on display often. Caicedo+Neto only people who showed a quick bit of quality in the whole half.

Cole Palmer is just not that guy anymore. He's a pretty good player, but he's not been world class in a couple of years now.

A bit premature imo, the new manager has barely been in the door for 5 minutes and Delap may end up important under him. I am not making my mind up on him until at least the end of the season... If Cucurella and Rob Sanchez can turn it around when used right / given time, I am willing to give Delap a chance as well. He may yet have a useful squad role. He is a different profile to anything else we have had in years.

JP is going to be our main striker for years, he is a creator type so we need in form world class talent around him who themselves put out big numbers. Mbuemo/Semenyo who score big pl numbers from the wing would be the type to make a real difference for us. Unfortunately these talents disappear into City/Utd and we get priced out in wages / out of club policy. But I’m pretty sure the Mane/Firmino/Salah trio is the type we are trying to build. May also need to upgrade Delap as a backup option but not totally convinced, he needs a bit of time under Liam to be sure.

Arsenal best defense in the league for a reason...utter masters of the dark arts, physical play and pure shit housery. Even their fans get in on it sending balls onto the pitch. Shame we lost but overall a respectable performance at the Emirates.

Should have got Senesi. Would have made the rest of the season so much more promising having both him and Sarr arriving.

We got cucked

Genuinely scared about what a good attacking team could do to us if we keep playing like this. So poor defensively that we could finish a first half down 3 or 4 goals and it will be beyond saving. Imagine what a full strength Napoli might have done to us with how we let their B team score. I think Liam has promise but I'm seeing some serious red flags and urgent improvement is required.

Yeah this pretty much sums it up

I am happy to give him credit for fixing it at half time, to an extent... But he's just fixing his own quite embarrassing error, if we're honest. I think the really ballsy move, that he didn't do but should have, would have been to bring on Chalobah in the first half itself and fully admit his error as soon as it was obvious - it should have been obvious before the game, but still, if he thinks these players have some miraculous ability to play that system with no coaching time, as soon as he sees they can't, the next minute he should be changing it if he's a decisive manager that wants to win more than anything. That said, I am not in the 'hate Liam' club and find him somewhat likeable, if a bit cheesy and in need of a tiny bit of refinement in terms of how he talks to the media (he's clearly not being his authentic self compared to how you see him chatting in candid moments on camera imo). He is way better at talking to the media than Maresca was though, although he had some nice moments ("Who said that?" legendary etc).

It should make a big difference because instead of losing a steady amount of money owning him per year, we're swallowing the entire loss on him early all in one go. Doesn't make any sense unless he's agreed to something. Also, presumably he can discount future earnings from his new club from what he expects from us, because it will net out the same for him. That would include some kind of signing on fee.

Fofana is so poor. Pathetic on both goals. Looks like a guy that's already retired that just shows up to training out of inertia. No idea what Rosenior thinks he is doing or who he thinks he is to go to Napoli and bring out this BS. Playing it like a game that doesn't matter.

That doesn't make any sense though. Why would we? Letting his contract expire and have him work until then is far better in PSR and financially in real terms the same. You think cause it was a lovely Christmas gift from the club because of his excellent service?

I guess for Raheem the sign on fee of wherever he is going next is good enough to make agreeing to terminate worth while. Curious how it will work in PSR. On paper its a big loss to suddenly materialise, losing a player for £0. Although I know you can file with them for special circumstances to write down player values, not sure what it would be here ("he suddenly got shit" isn't really an excuse is it?)

Find it hard to believe Colwill is demanding a new contract while out with a serious long term injury. Surely that is not a thing.

Best case scenario, Disasi rejoining training (and maybe being given minutes) is just a desperate attempt to sell him asap and shop windowing him. Who's gonna buy a guy that's not even training properly?

Well, what a good problem to have if we get Jacquet, and Sarr comes back from loan - if they are as good as people say! Plus Trev (for the experience) and Colwill. Injures and stacked fixture schedules are a fact of PL life so filling up the CB slots with great options is a must - Arsenal and City both did it and it has saved them both big time this season alone. Trev will be 27 this year and at this point I hope he becomes a career Chelsea guy, he clearly will be professional if and when he has to take on more of a squad role again, and what a great option he is in that regard - could hardly imagine a better CB depth player. What will potentially be a problem is Colwill if two star players emerge and his game time is at risk, he has always made it clear he will not tolerate anything other than being a guaranteed starter. And of course Acheampong, but maybe he will end up becoming a RB.

Unless Cole has surgery I suppose... And there were rumours that we were one of the clubs that spoke with Semenyo. Not sure there will be anyone else available of the required standard tho, in January...

Don't think the club can survive for long outside of CL under PSR, the lost money would probably force trigger a fire sale for us to avoid serious penalties. At this point probably better just to spend some money to try to get it. Also all of the sporting directors surely lose their jobs. CL is there to go after as everyone else is shit too and we just need some obvious problems sorted that are very achievable even in Jan. I guess Jacquet just happens to be top of their shortlist at a time they felt forced to go and spend some money.

Real power move would be to go and get Senesi too and actually fix our backline for years