Blue Armour

About spending money - don't let the transfer fees fool you. The overall objective is bring down the wage bill. It's also why all the incoming signings are made to sign long term contracts to keep them locked down on those wages for as long as possible.

Poch's over conservative approach in the past few weeks has become an annoyance. I'm still annoyed at the fact that he didn't give Nkunku his first few minutes this season by bringing him on against Sheffield United. It would have been an easy, done and dusted game for him to really advance his match fitness. But at least he is off the mark, so that's a start. Instead he's trying to be 'fair' with Broja, and is shoe-horning him into playing upfront with Jackson. That., and the 4 CB formation is really grating to watch. I don't understand his hesitancy in playing Maatsen. Is it because the kid is on his way out? Not sure. The lack of depth in central midfield is not down to him though. We have absolute novices (talented as some of them maybe) controlling the most important part of the pitch. Even if he were to bring on Lavia, that would be another match-fitness lacking teenager. The CM situation is down to our recruitment policy. We were too quick to get rid of experienced CMs and turn to next gen talent. I bet if if we even had one of Kovacic or Kante playing in midfield today, under Poch, we would be a lot further up the table. The novice midfield is why our game management is poor. And why easy wins turn into draws/defeats.

I don't want Poch out. Not because I'm a Poch fan. It's that I don't trust the people above him to make the right appointment. For all you know, they would bring in someone like Bob Bradley to come in and take over Chelsea.

Make no mistake about it. The Gallagher sale if it happens, is a Wyss- driven, pure profit move. Profit from the investment made by Roman in the Cobham academy. Sell Cobham youth for profit, and buy dregs to fill up the squad.

Potter was the guy who definitely was shit. Because he had a top 3 squad that he ended up dragging towards relegation. Then Boehly and co., came and did all the rest. Completed the demolition.

"This player is really good, you can SELL him" Typo, or joke? I know Wyss is on a mission to bring down Chelsea’s wage bill and make it a cheap side. But is he actually aiming to move out any quality player the club has, to make a profit? Turning it into a feeder club like Brighton? Looks like Clearlake's master plan is just to take advantage of the club's huge fanbase, who think that the club will return to winning ways in the future, and therefore spend money on it. All the while, Clearlake is constructing a cheap side that never has a hope in hell for truly challenging the elite sides.

Nkunku, nice.

8th is the upper target I set for Chelsea after the first 5 games this season. Nothing changed so far. Just hope we don't lose any talent (whatever we have) next summer, besides the obvious departure of Silva.

I would argue Arsenal are more boring to watch in comparison to last year. But that means they are also a bit more ruthless.

Tottenham getting away with it again. Basically saved by the width of the goal line Everton more than deserved a draw.

Wish players would stay off social media, or at least ignored it. Apparently James is upset with all the hate coming from his latest sidelining injury. But that's what you have with flippant internet fans who find fault with every little thing. Should just ignore mouth pieces that slag off a player who can't do much about his condition.

A bit unfortunate, but it is what it is. These short term recoveries and re injuries weren't doing him any favous. Hopefully surgery can grant him the full recovery

Drogba, Ronaldinho and Pochettino: Drogba & Poch even get into a tiny scuffle, lol

You have got to be trolling. Sanchez with excellent distribution skills? It was barely 2 weeks ago (forget which match) that he kicked two successive goal kicks out into the stands.

In all seriousness, it's because Clearlake want everyone to sign those ridiculous long term contracts, and Gallagher (rightly so) has second thoughts about it. These long term contracts remind me of how NBA player Scottie Pippen re-signed a long term contract with the Bulls, when he came on as a rookie, and then stayed stuck with a lower than deserved salary for a long period of time. Clearly that's why Clearlake want our players to do the same.

There's no such thing as Chelsea youth player, unless it's a Boehly-Clearlake certified Chelsea youth player. Posers probably want to replace all of the previous regime's players with their own signings, and also make a profit on the way.

If surgery improves chance of recurring injuries, he should take it. Even if it means sitting out the rest of this season. This constant start-stop routine is not good for him, either physically or mentally. Also, I wonder whether changing his full back role to become more defense focused will help his fitness moving forward. More Ashley Cole, less Trent Alexander Arnold. I know everyone loves the bombing full back role, but I'd prefer the goals and assists to come from the attacking players, rather than the defenders.

4 full backs in the team, and almost always, 3 of them are out. You can't make this up.

If Nkunku does play in this game, hope Poch's call to rest him in the Sheffield game was indeed the right decision.

In all fairness, it's rather a pathetic look for the league if the same team wins the PL 4 times in a row. And not a good look for us if they match our CL record. It's the only thing Chelsea has over City atm. Besides the record for least goals conceded in a season.

Hm. I think our best performance was against Arsenal- before Sanchez had his brain fart and we ended up drawing the match. Yesterday's game was okay-ish., IMO. Thankfully Cole Palmer and Raheem upped the ante when it mattered, else it would have ended up another insipid match of missed chances. Which has happened too many times against defensive opposition.

Yep, a real headscratcher that one. I haven't been overly critical of Poch so far this season, but this decision was a bit grating. This was as easy a time as ever to introduce Nkunku, and instead he opted to play Broja and Jackson up front. And later Maatsen, who's probably on the way out. A league cup game would normally be a simple fixture to make the introduction., but given how important this competition is for a squad that has won nothing of note, and also given the opposition is bloody Newcastle, I'm not so sure. Who knows. Maybe he'll have a perfect debut against Newcastle and Poch will make me eat my words. 🤷‍♂️

Yup, Caicedo had his best performance yet. Managed the whole midfield well., with support from Gallagher.

There is such a thing as bringing a player up to speed., especially one lacking a lot of match fitness.. I mean, fair enough, if Nkunku simply has an on switch, and plays at 100% for our next easy opposition Newcastle, then well done. Let's do just that.

As opposed to playing when? Might as well wrap Nkunku up in wool and not make him play a single minute for the rest of the season., in that case. If a player is fit to be in the matchday squad, he is more or less fit to play.