Jase

Oh my...

Okay, maybe we have a different definition of "fully fit" here but worth remembering that Pulisic started 12 consecutive in all competitions between October and December and started 9 of the 12 games post restart and came of the bench in another 2. So, the problem is that is not he can't be fully fit but making sure his hamstring doesn't fall to pieces because of over playing etc and doesn't miss a large chunk of games. With more options next season, I expect/hope Lampard will manage his situation better.

Deal to Roma officially confirmed. 3-year deal.

https://www.chelseafc.com/en/news/2020/08/25/player-of-the-season--mateo-kovacic Kovacic won the Player of the Season award...

Didn't get called up to the England squad because he's injured. ALREADY INJURED!?

Not that it will matter in the grand scheme of things but if I got it right, Havertz will be in the U21 list for our PL squad as opposed to non-HG for this coming season. Will be considered non-HG from 2021/22 onward.

Azpi should be fine. Already back in full training judging by the training pics yesterday.

I can still live with the Euros and World Cup qualifiers but competitions like the Nations League are totally stupid and created because those in power got greedy and wanted more money!

Having Director of Football is one thing but having the Director of Football to be the one who picks and buys the players is silly because (a) having a Director of Football is not a foolproof approach, (b) what if the signings that the Director of Football make do not turn out great and (c) what if the manager does not like the players that the Director of Football bought? Then what? Like it or not, there are always gonna be hits and misses when it comes to transfers and ideally, we would want to have more hits than misses. The key things are (a) the club have a clear idea what they want to be like, what kind of football do they want the team to play etc and (b) Director of Football or not, the manager and the board work closely with each other to identify the targets that the manager wants and is aligned with the club's overall strategy/plan for the playing team. Liverpool and Man City, for example, have their own Director of Football but they do not go and buy the players and just throw them onto Klopp and Guardiola. They work closely with them to get who they want. The reasons why we have failed or have had mixed success with transfers in recent years are (a) the club have been yo-yo-ing between the kind of football they want the team to play and (b) recent managers were pain in the arse to work with. We had AVB and I guess to an extent RDM to introduce a more progressive playing style and move away from the pragmatic football. We even bought exciting young players like De Bruyne, Mata, Hazard, Oscar etc. But then after some bad results, the club reverted to type and went with pragmatic football and managers again - Benitez (albeit an interim manager), Mourinho and then Conte. And suddenly, the club decided to go for the progressive football and move away from the pragmatic style with Sarri and now Lampard. On top of that manager, those managers - Mourinho, Conte and Sarri - were also seemingly a pain to work with, one way or another. Mourinho and Conte threw their toys out of the pram immediately when they could not get their first choice targets and IIRC in Conte's case, he reportedly turned off his phone so that he could not be contacted by the board about transfers in the summer of 2017. As for Sarri, he was (still is I guess) a manager who doesn't fancy getting too much with all these transfer businesses. Maybe this is still a bit early to form a definite conclusion about it but it finally looks like the club are getting their act together in terms of direction of the playing style and team and working with the manager to buy players. Lampard has constantly spoken about working closely with Marina, with Cech in the transfer market - as mentioned by other posters here, having Cech in the board does seem to have helped massively especially in bridging the gap between manager and board - and unlike previous managers, he does not moan and complain about the board in the media. He has always ensured that there is a positive working relationship between himself and the board. You might not be convinced about the signings of Werner, Havertz, Ziyech etc yet but I think overall, they have too much quality to be total flops for us. And it does seem clear that we want to play progressive football moving forward and so when we hire our next manager - whether because Lampard gets sacked, decides to move or for whatever reason - it is important then that we get a manager who has the same philosophy and progressive playing style to ensure the continuity. We can't just revert to type and hire another pragmatic manager again.

Will need to see the Chances Created stat but in terms of Shots and Shots On Target, we were behind only Man City and Liverpool IIRC. Not gonna disagree with you there except that bit on Willian. He was never a proper goalscorer, is not one now and will never be one. It is one thing to create chances but if the others do not make attacking runs to get on the end of the pass, then he is not going to score. Willian has never been that player. City always score many goals because they always have players attacking the ball, attacking the space etc. Of all the players we had last season, only Pulisic, Abraham and maybe Giroud who would made attacking runs in the box, getting on the end of crosses and passes. I expect Werner and Havertz to do that as well this coming season and moving forward but I don't want to place expectation on them to score like 20 or 25 goals per season just yet because it will be only their first season in English football.

Tomori won the Goal of the Season award (vs Wolves). Gilmour won the Academy Player of the Season award. The Men's Player of the Season award will be announced at 5pm UK time today.

Actually, City's top 4 league scorer got close to the 65 in 2019/20 - Sterling (20 goals), Aguero (16), Jesus (14), De Bruyne (13). That amounts up to 63. The next highest scorer on that list is Mahrez with 11 goals. Would be great if it happens but I think it is unrealistic to expect those 4 to score at least 65 goals in total this coming season when Werner, Havertz and Ziyech are all new in the Premier League. Also, is Ziyech really a consistent goalscorer? Nikki sorta compared Ziyech vs Willian earlier; in the last 4 seasons with Ajax, Ziyech scored only more than 10 league goals in a season once and scored 10 goals or more in all competitions twice. On the other hand, in the last 4 seasons, Willian did not score more than 10 league goals in a season once but he did score 10 goals or more in all competitions thrice. Their goalscoring numbers are not that drastically different.

LOL https://www.telegraph.co.uk/football/2020/08/25/ben-chilwell-join-chelsea-five-year-deal-week/

This thread is one dud signing away from becoming 'Marina Granovskaia Bashing Thread'...

Oh look, Sky Sports trying to be "edgy" again...

It's Daily Mail but apparently, the wages will increase if he meets bonus targets...

Brighton & Hove Albion 1-3 Chelsea PRE/POST-MATCH DISCUSSION, LIVE CHAT AND ANALYSIS 2020/21 Premier League Match 1 14th September, Monday 2020 AMEX Stadium 20:15 Kick Off (UK time)

Seeing as we're unlikely to buy Rice this summer, I'm just gonna throw in Ampadu..