Sideshow Luiz

Maybe the greatest goal ever scored. Sorry Ball over the top from Luiz, Pedro making a run between the FB and CB. Ball dropped in to no-man's land between the back line and keeper. Tidy finish from Pedro.

2-0 at HT. We win 3-0 or 4-1 in the end. C'mon Chelsea!

This is what I mean though, he keeps saying that he doesn't know anything about the market, and now that's his answer whenever anyone asks. But, Pulisic's dad (I guess he's also called Pulisic) says that they met. https://www.express.co.uk/sport/football/1069984/Chelsea-transfer-news-Christian-Pulisic-Mark-Pulisic-Maurizio-Sarri He may not have exactly known that he was being bought that day, but he did admit that he knew about him as a target. But, he kind of gives the impression that it's all out of left-field. I'd say that Sarri knows all about our targets and which ones he'd like more than others, then it's up to the board to bring in the best fit for the best value. He knows all about Barella, Parades, Higuain, whoever and he's given his feedback on all of them. He's probably given his feedback on guys that we aren't linked with, maybe Werner, Piatek, whoever. He knows we need a striker. He's more or less admitted that he's told the club that we need a striker. I'd be shocked if he hasn't given the board his opinion on a number of potential targets.

I don't believe anything ADL says either, though. I don't think Sarri is Conte or Mou-esque in his pursuit of players. But, I certainly think he's told people what he's looking for.

I actually think that Sarri is quite calculated in what he says to the press. For example, I don't think he makes demands to the board about getting "his" players, but I definitely think he's in contact with them about what kinds of players he wants, especially since he's all about the fit in his system. I think he keeps telling the press that he's "not interested in the transfer market, and doesn't know what's going on". If he does it all the time, it means he never has to talk about transfers. After Cesc had his public good-bye on the pitch, but his transfer to Monaco wasn't 100% done, before the next match Sarri said he had a slight injury so he wasn't available. There's no way he didn't know anything about Pulisic. He makes it sound like he's the last to know, even after the fans. In other ways, he's very straight forward. When asked why CHO wasn't playing or not playing or whatever, he was very truthful. If an 18 year old is starting regularly for a club like Chelsea, we'll be discussing him for ballon d'or in a few years time (so let's just hold our horses a bit).

I'm not sure Mount will be ready for much more than what Ampadu is getting now. I don't think we can rely on him getting regular minutes in the first team. I suspect he'll be out on loan again.

I was going to watch the whole thing before posting this, but it's 22 min long. He's clearly Cesc's replacement. Edit: With Zenit in light blue, I'm getting flashbacks of watching Jorginho's videos before we signed him.

I think this is going to happen. Cesc has all but been confirmed by Monaco IIRC. We wouldn't do that without a replacement more or less done, this seems to line up.

That's my take as well. From what I've seen, his game looks very similar. Including fees and wages, he's probably a cheaper Kovacic.

I saw a comment on Reddit that made me re-examine Willian's potential transfer to Barcelona. People are asking why they would want him, and others saying that Barca and Man Utd want him so he must be good enough. I think it's about fit. Barcelona already have goals in the team. So, they don't need Willian to be a top provider for them, in that regard. People are looking at his goals and assists and making judgements about Willian based on that, because we really need goals in this team. From a defensive stand point, I really don't see much criticism. In that match against City, I though he was really good. Against teams like Southampton who want to park the bus and give us 70% of the ball...Willian's offensive ineptitude is front and centre. For a team like Barcelona, his goals and assists output wouldn't really matter. They have Messi, Suarez, Dembele. They are typically playing a 442 these days, and if Dembele is going to be a creator, the other winger had better have a defensive motor, and it would be nice to possibly chip in here and there which he can do. When compared to the Dembeles and Hazards and Salahs, Willian looks poor. Compared to guys like Arda Turan, he's pretty good.

Right, but that's 45 from a club in the Chinese Super League. If Barcelona were the ones offering him up, surely, the price would be lower. As in, if I wanted to buy something of yours that wasn't for sale, I would have to pay a lot more than if you had listed it for sale somewhere else. My guess (if the story is true), is that they offered Malcolm + 10 or 15. I think the only thing that I can really take away from it is: Barcelona are interested in Willian, and we're open to selling him. At the right price.

I get the maths of 45 + 5 = 50. I mean, how do we know that Barca value Malcolm at 45?

Barcelona want to buy both Willian and Morata? What the hell is going on here?

Was that the actual offer? I proposed that in this thread (or the Malcolm one, they are kind of the same right now) as a possible answer to the question "How the hell can Marina turn this down?" . If that was the actual offer, then yes, our board isn't screwing this one up, that's a terrible offer.

Not really. If it's Malcom + 5M because Barca are trying to say he's worth 45, then I can see why we said no.

Also, we'd be looking to sell him in the summer anyway. He has 18 months left on his contract. Selling him for anything and getting someone younger in (who has potential), is a plus. There's a good chance that he's going to leave on a free any way.

I see. I got so excited that I didn't even read it properly. Well, this might be real, then. And, I can see us turning it down if they are offering Malcolm + 10M.

There's no way. Isn't he coming in to the last year of his contract in the summer? They paid 38 for Malcolm, then 50 on top of that for a 31 year old with 18 months left on his contract? No way.

I came here to post the same thing. This is surely false. Things don't work out that well for us, do they?

We've actually been pretty good. Aside from Demba Ba or Loic Remy, who were always injured when we needed them. Our injury record is pretty good, as well as our recovery.

Yup. These little stories keep coming out. His wife/agent is all about extracting maximum value. He doesn't have much reason to leave, really.

Didn't know about that. The press we had here about the doctor was slanted towards the Pep = villain type angle. But, it was reported a little under the radar so it became "Look at the press against Jose, when Pep does the same thing, no one cares". So, football, basically.

I'd put us at an outlet shop level. Big names, but there's a reason no one is paying full price for it.

The scenes here if Wilson is the only Callum at our club in February.........

That's only because you haven't been on the supporter's end of our board. After a couple of years, you'd understand how understated that measure it. As for club doctors? Do you mean a swap of the one our former manager got sacked, for the one your former manager got sacked?