OneMoSalah

Welcome home Frank. Lets hope he is as successful as a manager here as he was as a player but also thats a tall order, lets hope he can hit the ground running.

Ive watched him and Lyon (really impressive young side) maybe 10 or 15 times the last 2 seasons. For me, he is definitely not going to be a dud. Also seen him play in the flesh in February v PSG with a few mates of mines at the Groupana Stadium (if anyone gets the chance, go to a game there, was great) and cant stress enough that he will fit in over here in England and especially at Spurs with how Poch has them playing (along with Lo Celso from Betis if they sign him). Physically he is strong, covers a lot of ground, can offer in both the offensive and defensive phase of the game. Technically he is good too. Fair enough hes not going to maybe be at his best years yet but over the next 3, 4 or 5 years he will be a brilliant player and huge fixture in the French NT if not before then. Hes not going to be a Veretout, Thauvin, Bakayoko, Nampalys Mendy, Benjamin Mendy (only categorised in this as of injury) or whoever. He will do very well in the PL. As will Houssem Aorar and perhaps Moussa Dembele if they ever make moves here.

Wouldnt say hes unproven. He showed in Ligue 1 the last 2 seasons he is one of the best midfield players in France and one of the best young midfielders in Europe. As well as having been playing for France, which when you look at their midfield options is no mean feat. Honestly surprised Real, Juventus or City didnt go for him but Juve got Rabiot on a free and City have signed Rodri who is maybe better suited for them. Real maybe prioritising Pogba but Ndombele would of been an excellent signing for any team. Very capable already and will grow into a top top player. Only 22 years old with 150 games under his belt. 55m upfront with 10m in add ons in todays market for someone who over the next 10 years will be an excellent player is hardly a huge risk at all. Aouar will be the next big talent to move from Lyon. Should keep an eye on him. Be surprised ir City dont go for him to replace David Silva next summer despite having Bernardo Silva and Foden. Pep is a huge fan. We need to be in amongst the race for his signature come then.

What a player. Honestly gutted to think he is a Spurs player. No point comparing him to Bakayoko, he is vastly superior in every aspect of his game. He probably wont need that much time to adapt. Dont think hes as raw as Bakayoko was.

If City get Cancelo in to go with Rodri and they are probably steamrolling the league, not even Liverpool can get that close to them this season because their most vital MF player Fernandinho and vunerable position in terms of lack of rotation now has a long term replacement and arguably a better player. Rodri, De Bruyne, Bernardo Silva with the likes of Sane, Aguero and Sterling... gonna be tough for anyone to topple.

Perhaps but its hardly as if it was a broken tradition at the club. The fact youth isnt used here predominantly and hasnt been for 10 or 15 years isnt down to one manager. Its down to repeatedly changing managers and ripping the script up every 1, 2 or 3 years. Is it Sarris fault? Joses fault? Villas-Boas fault? No. The real people to blame are the fannies running the club with a short term mindset but the media will never write about that and will contiounously produce puff pieces praising the likes of Marina etc for 60m sponsorship deals etc. Sarri used young guys more than the other managers, if he didnt watch u23s so what? Jody Morris said before previous managers didnt watch youth games despite the pitches being not too far from the office as he put it. All the best youngsters we have are probably out on loan too so is it bad if the managers dont make time to watch them directly although we have someone at the club who does loan reports?

Fair point. Still a difference in attending and playing youth. Sarri done better than his predecessors in that regard. Ancelotti was the last manager to really try and use youth to refreshed the squad. Lampard and Morris will be inclined to do so more but if they leave or any other manager comes in and leaves after a season will their be similar headlines? Cant help but feel even more so with a British fans favourite player coming in, the media are using this as any excuse to continously mention someone who left weeks ago to go to a better and bigger job... if we thought the Napoli president was quite obsessed with Sarri, fair to say the British media are even more so.

Yeah academy day indeed. As much as Sarri couldve been more interested or used RLC, Christensen and CHO more often, he played them in 50 odd games between them. Thats stats from whoscored, not including the Europa League ones. Not interested in youth etc they played more than under Jose, Conte, Hiddink, Villas-Boas and whoever else. Sarris yesterdays news but its still increasingly embarrasing that the English media are using things like youth, when nobody else has here either 🤣

Can someone tell me if Jose or Conte attended any either? Probably not but as it is Sarri its a huge issue 🤣 lets not pretend any manager here regularly attended under 23s, its Chelsea, not Ajax. Sarri played more youngsters than anyone has in recent times in all reality... CHO played 14 matches last season, RLC played 30 games last season, Christensen 13 games. When was the last time 3 academy players played for Chelsea over 10 times each? Excluding EL games cant find those stats.

They are reportedly considering selling Khedira and Matuidi. Rabiot and Ramsey on 2 free transfers is brilliant work I must say. Khedira and Matuidi maybe not overly suited to Sarri's style but Matuidi can still offer something. Very good player in my eyes. If they sell those 2 having Pjanic, Ramsey, Bentancur, Rabiot and Can is a very good selection to pick from, still dont really rate Can that much think hes a bit of a hit or miss. Although if they get Pogba back as well I dont know how they will keep everyone happy. Pjanic will definitely play every match in the same role Jorginho did. Bentancur is gonna be a top class midfield player and I feel he or Can maybe will suffer if Pogba were ro return.

Hopefully he can put more performances like the Europa League finale and even his first match for us vs Arsenal in the PL. Hes no longer a young player so he needs to show a bit more than he has at Real and here last season to progress. I think Lampard will say the same to him, there is a very good player potentially in there but he cant coast games, has to get them by the scruff of the neck and influence them. I mean I didnt think the fee is fair as its the market in the modern day but I do hope he can deliver better performances to justify paying that.

Honestly that is a true and false statement. The years we won the league we were really good, played different styles etc and he did well. The likes of a Messi, Ronaldo, even Neymar of 2 years ago, you could stick them in any team and they would do well, and be involved in 40 goals minimum. Hazard will do well at Madrid but the excuse that he was at a disadvantage playing here or even at Lille is wholely not true. Great players make others around them play better. Not just great teams make one player play better. Sure he doesnt like tracking back or playing in a team that plays a low block or counter attacking football or whatever but thats upto the manager. He got himself to a brilliant level here, playing in a couple of very very good teams. Yes playing with Marcelo/Mendy will be different to Alonso and Emerson, or playing with Modric will be different to playing with Kovacic/Kante or whoever but I wouldnt say Eden was held back here, he just had his best season statistically. Its not like he didnt have chances to score more goals, create more chances, get more assists (okay strikers not amazing but still), play better in some games over the span of his Chelsea career? He grew here, to one of the best in Europe. Hes a much better footballer for playing with us than if he went somewhere else I would argue because hes had the chance to work with managers like Rafa Benitez, Jose Mourinho, Antonio Conte who have all got so much experience pushing top players as well as winning trophies. Everyone of them all gave him something different. Even the other managers who have been here. Just look at some of the players too he played with here who all had either or a mixture of great ability (if not when here somewhere else like Eto'o who was one of the best strikers about), winning mentality and big match experience, the likes of Cech, Drogba, Lampard, Cole, JT, Fabregas, Costa, even Eto'o among countless others. Theres no doubt we could have had better teams when hes been here but every club will say the same about their teams , there isnt a perfect team out there. I think when he signed it was the perfect choice for his career progression due to the fact we could afford to give him more assurances for playing time than City or United at that moment, as well as countless top managers, top players around him as well as the winning mentality that the older heads have.

Its a cynical way to put it but I do agree, in a sense. The job he done at Derby is in no way relatable to a top end PL club. If they didnt get to the playoff final it would of been a below average season, just like if we didnt get to the two cup finals. I hope he does well, I really do and its bold for the club to appoint him but I cant help but feel it is all too soon but gonna be optimisic and think if he hits the ground running, we can compete for the top 4. Slow start and we are fucked. Even if teams pottered off last season I think Liverpool, City and Spurs will all start fast so we will need to keep up with them.

I think hes gonna wait and see what Frank wants to do with him. If Frank says I want you to be a regular fixture in my team I definitely think he will sign, if he cant give him more assurances he will go. I dont think his heads turned and for me, he was a bit daft to think hed play at Bayern (Coman, Robben, Ribery and Gnabry - just got Bayern player of the season - all better at the moment) when he wasnt playing at Chelsea in December but the lack of playing time was probably frustrating him. Still think he would sit on the bench at Bayern, especially if Gnabry and Coman stay fit as well as continuous links with Nicolas Pepe.

Azpi at LB again? No thank you.

Atletico are letting Filipe Luis go apparently as he wants to move. Alonso would be a good fit for Atletico tbf, hes not the worst or best LB out there but he'd be steady for them, especially as they play with a deeper backline and more cohesively without the ball as we did. 35m would do the trick but we would be light at LB.

Definitely too early to shit on someone who hasnt even played 1 minute of football for us. Fucking hell. 🤣 Yes the signings havent always been good (suppose thats what you get sacking mansgets every few years and basically handing complete control of transfers to individuals who specialize in business not the on the park footballing side of things) but Kepa, Jorginho and Pulisic will undoubtedly prove their worth and be key parts of this team I would hope.

Think he will be a real good player for us in the long run. Final pass needs ironed out a bit but he is quick, direct, good in 1 v 1s and close spaces. Theres plenty there to work with. Think some people are basing him on an injury ravelled season with Dortmund when in fact the seasons before that he was probably one of the most talked about young players in Germany.

Benitez? No thank you. At least Torres has retired if the unthinkable happens.

Lets hope he takes it slow still. Good to have him back but too much too soon maybe risky although am sure the medical team will have his recovery under control.

Dalot couldnt even get a regular run of fixtures ahead of Ashley Young. He has potential, looks decent in an attacking sense but needs a lot of work positionally. He might get better over time but Bissaka is streets ahead of most young RBs in the PL at the moment. 50m maybe a lot but City spent it on Kyle Walker too. Plus being HG, counts for a inflated fee.

Think if we get Campos or someone of that ilk in, that would be an exceptional mentor for Cech if that is a role for him to eventually grow into in the long term. Would make too much sense for it to happen though, wouldnt it?

Parades is being shipped out of PSG already. Dont think he is worth worrying about. Barella again would of been able to alternate with Kante, so shame we didnt get a deal over the line but he didnt want to move in the end ultimately and that was down to the player because we did agree a fee. But yeah Marina has to have real football people around her if she is gonna continue because shes shown shes a shrewd businesswomen but nothing else.

We will just have to see. If we dont sign Kovacic and have 3 more advanced MF players in the squad (Ross, Ruben & Mason), we will need to use somebody from the loan bunch who can cover for Kante and/or Jorginho. In my eyes covering Kante is probably more suited to a Bakayoko (yikes) and for someone to cover Jorginho, well fuck knows, sold Cesc didnt we.. Ampadu could maybe play DM but hes been linked with Villa on loan.

Perhaps but again, injury to Jorginho and what then? Or injury to Kante? Football is a squad game. It may not be popular but I cant see the likes of Drinkwater, van Ginkel, Bakayoko or Palasic being used next season and with Rubens injury we could already be short if Kova isnt at least considered if we continue with 433. Mount is more an advanced midfielder and wouldnt be suited to covering Kante or Jorginho. If your playing 433 ideally you need 5 MF players at least, with some of them capable of playing mulitple roles. If Mount comes back (seems likely) we will have him Ruben and Ross all vying for that advanced role and no adequate cover for Kante or Jorginho.