manpe

I believe AVB was blowing out of his ass, he didn't look or sound convincing at all whenever he was asked that. And he was in an extreme situation as a manager, he was always going to get sacked. Players are looked at in a much more lenient way, how else can we explain how the likes of Kalou stayed here so long? During the summer there is not much Torres can do to fuck up. Euros? Meh, who cares how he does there, it's not Chelsea and won't probably affect our board's mind... He scored twice already anyway, that's probably enough to send Roman spunking. Pre-season? Benayoun and McEachran were one of the best last summer, yet one was sent on loan and the other was left rotting. They are mostly played to assess and improve players' fitness. True quality is assessed in competitive games, and the next competitive games for him will start next season. Whether he performs good or bad in the USA is irrelevant I think. I am almost certain he will be given one more year at least. I can't see a usually taciturn Torres going around announcing that he was given assurance if it was not really the case. We haven't been strongly linked to any strikers either, most strong rumours are about wingers and now right backs. At this point it shows we have no intention of replacing him and are focusing on improving the service instead.

I thought at first Ramires wasn't good on the wing, he was rather bad. But he got better and better as time went by. Ramires really isn't a proper answer to our wing situation, he can't cross properly and consistenly enough, he isn't a dribbler, he isn't what you would call creative. He's good to play through balls to considering his pace and energy, but that's pretty much it. Well, he also gives the bonus of providing good defensive cover. As I have already said before, I don't really know where Ramires would fit as a starter provided we get a proper right winger. But that's off-topic, so I won't be discussing that any further.

Isn't Moses a winger though?

It is very possible that at this early stage it is an intentional leak, but he could be our fall back guy and it might get serious as more time goes by without any progress with Hulk.

Discussions over the possiblity of selling Torres are meaningless since Roman himself gave him a guarantee that he'll be our main striker next season. Yeah yeah, getting 30 million for him would be good and all, but it's not going to happen this summer.

Did anyone know about this guy before the Euros? It seems his name has popped up suddenly after the England game, all is forgotten about this Azpilicueta guy. When people were coming up with lists of quality right backs in the world, Debuchy was nowhere to be seen. I guess I have to be (one of) the first to admit that I had no idea who he was before the Euros, and I'm always cautious at forming an opinion on a player based on 1-2 games. I do like his name though, a proper footballer's name. So how good is he really? Aside from the 2 games in the Euros. Was he by far the best right-back in Ligue 1? He is in the French squad so I know he can't be total trash, but so was Bosingwa in Portuguese team and look how well that went. And why is he supposedly evaluated so low?

What is it with Hazard? I hope at least his game won't get derailed

This story reeks of bullshit

It's amusing when people say that RDM didn't have a good league campaign. Let's look at the games he lost: Away v Man City 2-1: City have simply more quality, especially at home. They were always the favourites. Home v Newcastle 2-0: At that point we were conserving energy for the FAC and CL. Concentration was lost. And Cisse had one of those days again. Away v Liverpool 4-1: We played our reserves after winning them in the FAC final to preserve energy and avoid injuries for the CL final. A meaningless loss we could afford. Then there are the draws. Home v Spurs 0-0: Tottenham were considered a better team than us at that time. It also came right after the loss to City and before an important game against Benfica. A point well taken in a hectic schedule against a strong side in the midst of 2 important and difficult games. Had we lost concentration, it could have easily been a loss. Away v Fulham 1-1: Shit happens. Was well vindicated later on with the thumping of Spurs in the FA semis. Away v Arsenal 0-0: A game in between the 2 historic Barca games. Reserves were played away to conserve energy, massive balls were shown, a draw well earned. And that's it. It wasn't outstanding, but it was satisfactory given the resources we had. It was a stretch anyway with the squad we had to have remarkable campaigns in 2 cup competitions. The league was sacrificed for realistic trophies. Had we gone all in in all 3 competitions, I don't think we'd be boasting the greatest cup double ever and salivating over the biggest talents, one who we've already signed.

Is that so? Fuck em then. In that case I must come out of neutrality and declare Rangers as my preferred choice.

I'm not particularly fond of Scottish league, so I have no preference. As I'm non-British it's probably just natural that I don't feel the need to take sides in this matter.

1 or 2 maybe, that would do for me anyway.

That's a bit reassuring, because it hopefully shows maturity and responsibility. Much rather have a mature and settled 21-year old than a Balotelli.

I don't remember this kind of stuff. I'm sure I missed some, have no idea which ones though. Oh, one that I remember is the Napoli 2nd leg game, I was without internet that day. Was gutted and happy at the same time after seeing the result. Also the Arsenal game where Bertrand played, don't remember why, but most likely reason was that I overslept. I managed to watch majority of games though.

They even said they didn't discuss it. This is probably the most unrealistic transfer you can think of.

I would like a video instead.

Nice try. Kalou belongs here as much as anybody else. This Samba kid or whoever, was a prospect at the age of 14.. I doubt he was considered the future WC winner and Johan Cruyff at that age. There are many young uns being hyped and destroyed that way. Kalou on the other hand was still a talent at the age of 19-22, which is a much bigger fall than some kid being called the next big thing after scoring insane amounts of goals in some kids' league and then failing to extend a contract with Millwall at age 17 or something. It's simple really. Nowhere is it said that this thread is about new Maradonas who never came to be. It says "players that wasted their talents" and imo this is what Kalou did.. or he had no talent in first place, which I doubt.

Also, an honorary mention goes to Salomon Kalou. Thanks to cap for reminding about him.

Ronaldinho the Ballon d'Or winner?

Robinho hasn't lived up to his hype, but he's still good. Adriano, Bogarde come to mind. Giovani dos Santos and Royston Drenthe, once biggest prospects around, have fallen into abyss.

I would be more than 'more than happy'

"Right listen up geezers, my best friends cousin’s facebook friend has a source inside Chelsea FC’s megastore who has told us that Hulk is going to sign for Chelsea this week." yes, very interesting indeed this article is probably just taking the piss on rumours.

Ivan needs competition.

If you ban me for a day I can confirm or deny it for you

One more point I would like to add. You can't buy success in international football, it's a fair reflection of how good a country really is. And yes, I would trade Chelsea's CL for Estonia's WC in a heartbeat. It's unrealistic for us to ever win it, that's why I would choose it.