Sideshow Luiz

Perhaps our inactivity in the market is due to us wanting to see what we are working with? As in, which players are suited an which aren't, and waiting to see what we have before getting in new players? It's probably not the case, just looking for some optimism. Maybe the board have a 2-3 year plan?

I was just about to write this. What was everyone expecting. Right now, every match is an opportunity to see how far along we are. Right now, it looks like there's still a lot of work to do. I don't think they are further behind than should be expected at this point in time. Just being a little sharper in movement and closing down is the difference between keeping the ball, and giving up a counter attack.

Yes, that's right

I was thinking about that the other day. When he tried that rabona and fell over.

We're suffering with the ball

Passing needs to be faster. Not just how quickly the players move the ball on, but the actual pace of the ball.

The Fabs I'm trusting is a bench player. Which I think he's fine at as a sub/rotation player

If we bring in Martial as a CF, we have too many. Morata looks like he's here to stay.

I thought we were playing Lyon. Edit: Yes, we are: https://www.chelseafc.com/en/matches-tables/pre-season-2018?pageTab=Men

Maybe RLC and Emerson out because they are expected to play the full 90 against Lyon? Maybe? Isn't that match on Tuesday?

He's said all the right things. Like the attitude. Gotta back him.

Unlikely unless we overpay or get someone that isn't up to the task (Trapp, Areola, etc). It's going to be both. But, will probably be the case next summer as well.

Any way that we could get a keeper in and do a Courtois + cash for Kovacic?

Yup. Personally, I think the pressing is no where near the finished product either. I would classify our pressing as "showing signs". This is the Napoli - Juve match from late last season. That's what the finished article looks like. https://footballia.net/matches/juventus-fc-ssc-napoli-serie-a-2017-2018 No gaping holes like we had against Arsenal.

This is so crazy that we were able to get ourselves in this predicament. Whoever we get is going to be overpriced, everyone knows we need a keeper. So, just overpay for the one you actually want. What the hell happened to our scouting department?

I take it with the rest of my news, with a grain of salt, and between the lines. I rarely agree with his play evaluations. He thinks Moses is a top RB in the Premier League. However, I often listen to or read things I don't agree with.

10 minute vlogs are awesome for me. I spend enough time thinking about this club and the players it won't get. Condensed info that I don't have to search out works for me. I do find the idea of charging people to ask questions is kind of fucked. I just pass it off as a low rent Patreon type of thing. I also think it's weird that people pay money to Twitch streamers to watch them play FIFA. I figured it was an age thing. I'm old. Paying people to watch them play video games and give their opinions about football is weird to me.

When I go on youtube, Phoenix academy videos don't magically appear without searching for them. I had never heard of them before (which makes searching for them very difficult), and I had no idea they were linked with Bailey. I surely can't be the only one that hasn't heard of them. I'm sorry that's the video I linked. Maybe I should have searched them out more before hand and posted something else (or you could have to, I suppose). Look, all I was trying to do was give some more information to people who might be interested in the Leon Bailey thread.

I don't remember him flopping back and forth. He was pretty steady on the Sarri is coming train, when it got to the lowest point, I remember him saying that it wasn't going to happen. He conveniently doesn't mention that often. But, I wouldn't go so far as to say flip flopping back and forth for months. I thought Higuain said that it was only Sarri that wanted him, but all of AC Milan did. No? If that's true, then it would suggest that the club weren't really that interested. Could be wrong. Phoenix Academy may be well reported where you're from, but I haven't seen any mention of it in any Bailey story. I didn't know anything about the Phoenix Academy, and I kind of figured that a lot of other people wouldn't know about it either. That's why I posted it here in the Bailey thread. I'm not suggesting that everyone should believe in everything Nii Nii says (though I think he's better than the other Chelsea youtube channels). I just wanted to present some more info in the Bailey thread that maybe people didn't know or just hadn't considered.

I don't disagree. I think they should cut their losses on Bakayoko (I admit that I was excited for him) and Drinkwater (most definitely was not), a pint and a packet of crisps would be fine. Who's going to stump up with the crisps though? Especially when they have to pay his wages. He's overpaid too, it's not just the transfer fee. I think that's the stumbling block.

No takers, would be my guess. Especially as we always want top dollar. Marina is pretty good at extracting that, to be fair to her. But, getting top dollar for some of this dross will be difficult. Especially with a shorter window. I'm not expecting anymore deals. IMO, nothing is going to happen until we make some sales. And, I haven't seen/heard shit about any of our players on their way out. The other way of looking at it, is that Sarri hasn''t seen a lot of his key players yet. It's possible that keeping some of them, is actually backing the manager (thinking specifically Willian). As for Drinkwater and Bakayoko? He's not dumb, he knows they aren't needed. But, who's buying?

Haha. I don't talk to anyone on their twitter page. This forum is about as far as I'll venture in to speaking to people online.

Well, he was right about Sarri. He was right that in order for us to get Sarri, it would have to involve us buying a player and overpaying for him to end the stupid game of chicken we were playing with ADL. He was right that we were never interested in Higuain. He was wrong in thinking that shirt sales make back some of the high transfer fees (a common myth). I definitely don't agree with a lot of his opinions. He's like everyone else, sometimes right, sometimes wrong. He does seem to know more about what's going on at the club than a lot of people. It's like any news/editorial, you take what you want. In this case, I have no reason to not believe some of the stuff about Phoenix Academy and payments that need to be made to it and his brother that aren't part of the transfer fee. Whether that's what is in fact, putting us off from making a deal? Don't know.

I remember a bunch of people shitting on that when you brought it up (60M limit). Anyone come out and say "you know what, that may well be true"? On one hand, it's definitely true to date. And it looks like no one in unless we sell. Seems like no one wants any of our last summer's mistakes. On the other, what the hell happened to the Alisson/Courtois net (30ish?) and the Rugani monies?