BlueLyon

Since you say this after the Stoke game, IMO Silva wouldnt be much of help today either. He would get bullied out of the game and refs being shit and all, wouldnt protect him either. Hell Ruben who I dont talk very highly of, had more of impact today. If it was any other game, who knows Pedro and Willian might do their job just fine. I think no one would say no to Silva, its just that some prefer different type, perhaps one who can score more. But we definately need an improvement.

Eat shit stoke cunts. So happy we won the game, doesnt matter how

English teams play without break for ages. And no one complained when we were ruling the europe. As you said, its lack of quality why english teams are so poor these days, not tiredness. Also switch to continental way of playing football isnt helping either. English teams should play the english football. Not nice on the eye, but it gets the job done and avoids humiliations in europe.

Hopefuly Pedro and Willian do their best today. Surely Cesc will start too right? Or maybe we even go with 3:5:2 now that Eden is out. Come on chels!

I heard about this just now. City is first team in PL with new sponsor on sleeves, after FA changed the rules to allow it. Personaly i think its awfull, kits will look much uglier now. But it will bring extra cash... Any idea who we might have? Carabao? https://www.mancity.com/news/club-news/2017/03/17/manchester-city-and-nexen-tire-announce-first-premier-league-shirt-sleeve-partnership/1489758525960

Imagine Levy wasnt such a cunt and sold Modric to us back then...

Its very important that our next midfielder can bring the ball through midfield further up the pitch. Cesc is great at passing, but he is absolute piss at dribbling past opponent midfield. Thats why Eden has to get deep to collect the ball and run forward. If we had a proper ball running mid who can use skill or power to get the ball to our attackers in Eden and whoever else we sign in summer, be it Sanchez, Silva, Lemar etc who can organize attacks, we dont realy need a deep playmaker. If the game truly demands one, then we always have Cesc and we can play three man midfield. Thats why getting someone like Bakayoko or Nainggolan might be perfect choice. Vidal is not bad either, but he is not realy dribbling type of CM. The only question is will Conte continue with 3:4:3 next season and is he using Matic next to Kante because he 1.) Thinks Matic type is better fit for the system or 2.) Would play playmaker, but Cesc is not good enough for him and decided to stick with Matic instead If its the 1st, no way we are going to buy Dahoud, Verratti etc. IMO as long there will be only 2 mids, sure Conte will go for dynamic, physical mid to replace Matic.

I think I didnt said it well, we wouldnt have 28 points less obviously, but only the fact that Costa contributed to 28 points himself, a clear indicator he is very important to this squad and hardly replacable, unlike some want to point out.

True, I meant that we shouldnt change our identity to fit attractive football, because current one is what we are. But yeah while there are no english players out there we could get, it feels bit empty now that Lamps, Terry, Cole arent important players anymore. As for spaniards, I see their antics in every game. Real, Barca, doesnt matter. Pepe, Marcelo, Busquets, Neymar, Suarez,...they ruin the games with their acts. What do you mean it works against City? They scored over 120 goals this season. And most games, they played Fabinho and Bakayoko. Bakayoko will most probably turn into what Yaya was. He is unbelievable dribbler for a CDM, very good at getting the ball back and not a holding midfileder, but a b2b. IMO Kante and Baka would complement each other perfectly. However his passing is a bit shit I agree. But it can improve. And please dont judge Bakayoko on his games against City, it was clear he had restricted role, in most games his runs with ball are fantastic. But in most games, his passing is nothing special either. Its literaly his only weakness atm. For example in both Spurs games he was a beast. On another note, having creator next to Kante ala Verratti, Dahoud etc who are not tacticaly good enough and wont simply stay infront of our defense, Kante role will change. He wont be able to roam around because he will have to keep things thight, something Matic is doing atm. Put Verratti there and Kante's role will get limited. Thats why now I think we need a better version of Matic, not a different type of player. And with a player like Lemar, Sanchez next to Eden, our attack will be creative enough, assuming we will target good wingbacks ala Semedo. Verratti is not even playing in pivot, but along Matuidi and Motta/Rabiot which completely changes his role than the one he would have here next to Kante. Sure idealy we would need Xabi Alonso, but only player similar to that is Weigl. Unbelievable player, tacticaly brilliant for his age and his passing and organizing is like watching younger Xabi, but I think he is not going to join us anyway. That said, neither Verratti or Dahoud will come, so what great option is left then? Assuming both Kante and even more so Bakayoko improve, just imagine how strong our midfield will be. And neither of the two is a wood on two legs, both are quite skilled. Not to mention we can always pick Cesc for games where opponent parks buses. Kante, Cesc and Baka would be more than good enough. Unless we change to 3 man midfield for all games. Then we get alot more options to chose from, but I dont like that system too much.

The point is about his importance to the team. No one can deny he doesnt do his job and he does it brilliantly. Yet you and few others keep ranting after every match Diego is average. As long he scores those goals, he can have the worst touch for all I care.

Without Costa we would have 28 points less. 28 points. I will leave it there, keep on arguing that he is an average player and should be sold.

He gets compared to that 100m tag and sure he would have to score a goal per game to not get criticism. But its not his fault, if anyone United should be joked for paying that amount. On good side, I hope this transfer will make a statement that such players are not worth such price tags and clubs wont spend 100m for midfielders or 50m for defenders anymore (but who am I kidding, it will only get worse) Pogba doesnt help it either tho with his off the pitch antics regarding haircuts and dab etc. But its part of his personality so I wouldnt laugh at that, but the press will and he should know better. IMO Pogba will get his game around eventually. There will come time even Chelsea fans wished he was our player.

You are missing my point. Its not about height. Lemar is not big either and I would take him in second. Besides Bayern first choice is Robben, not Costa. Sane from city is 6'0. Also, I said to look at premier league, since we dont play in spain. Barca can play with 4'0 players for all I care. They dont play in england which sets different standards. And you talk of Mata? Come on, he is good little player, but not good enough for big team because of his poor off the ball contribution. I hope that Kante dig wasnt pointed at me, because then you are missing the point. We play already with Kante who I love. To a point I prefer him over 95% midfielders out there. But we cant play with another small guy next to him. If we didnt have Eden, I would kill to have Silva. But since we already have similar player, I would prefer different TYPE. Nothing to do with height. Sanchez aint tall. Neither is Lamar. Both seem to fit here much more than Silva. And come on with Stoke. We never played fancy football. We were always a very very rich version of stoke with much better quality players. Much better. But during past 10 years, we were parking buses left and right and only attacked when we needed goals. And under Ancelotti. Im not sure why you follow Chelsea then if you are so desperate for beautiful football, because we didnt play it since Mou came. Well definition of beautiful is hard to say, I think we play beautiful because we fought till end, we were effificent etc. But beautiful on eye as you want it, no we didnt. And btw, I dont want tall players who can only hoof the ball and tackle. Again you are missing the point big time. Monaco has two defending mids in middle, two powerful fullbacks, and they play absolutely beautiful. You dont need Veratti for that. And their Silva is our Hazard if you want. Take a look where was golden era of english football and what happend once we tried to play barca style. City arsenal underachieved in europe. Arsenal even in prem. You talk of Liverpool. Yes they are doing fucking great job, good example... Just because I would take Lemar, Sanchez, Vidal, Bakayoko etc over Silva, Verratti (who is one of my fav non chelsea players, just think other type suits us better), doesnt mean I want to play hoof and pray football. But for your info, we can have 5 Verrattis and 5 Silvas, when we play Bayern, Real, Barca, you can bet we will park the bus 9 times out of 10. Its Chelsea DNA. And we already are only top team latchin on that "anti football" mentality for quite a while. And guess what. We are fucking great at that. I love watching the club for 10 years and I love how we do it the old fashion way when all the rest of world hates us and we prove them wrong. You got Paris and City and Arsenal who try to be nice. Ask any neutral fan what they think of them? Overrated fancy players who do fuck all when it counts. Only Chelsea gives a little bit of fear these days to any of other big teams fans. Only successful teams that play fancy football are Real, Barca and Bayern. Bayern had great generation of players, now they have top talents from their own league, chelsea cant get top talents from Prem because prem doesnt have any top talents we could buy. As for real and barca, you are a fool if you think we can beat them at their game. They got more money, more fame and alot more experience playing nice attacking football. Ffs when will people accept we are Chelsea and we play the way we play? Yes fancy football is attractive as long its not tiki taka, but the club is not build for that. And if right now I had chance to pick either barca style or our 2005 style for next 10 years, I prefer the later anytime. The reason I supported Chelsea was because I loved english football and lets stick to it. We are losing the identity already with as little english players we have. Spanish diving cunts can stay where they are. Seriously, some of you would sell all the honour just so you can get Neymar and watch his diving shit left and right.

But they performed against lesser teams only. And proved they are not long term options.

Can we stop comparing to barca? And Pep? And his type of players? And spanish silky technical players? As far I know Pep did fuckall without his barca team that was amazing and cant be built again. Not to mention we play in England. If we played in spain or even germany ok. But we dont. You need players that can last whole season in high tensity. You need Lampards and not Xavis. You need Essiens and not Iniestas. There is not a coincidence we are winning the league after dropping Oscar and Cesc for Moses and Kante. Call me oldfashioned, its as simple as it goes. I see City and Arsenal trying to create next barca do realy brilliant in CL yeah...

But you need a Robben too.

Maybe, but I think players like Lemar and Bakayoko suit us far more than Silva and Verratti. Forget all the fancy possesion bs. I will leave that to Pep, Klopp and other wankers. Give me powerful, efficient, technical players anyday. Despite I was against Bakayoko because he is more of same type as Matic (and I wanted a playmaker), but now I realise all we need is a better player of Matic qualities, not different one. Strong, good on ball, quick and dynamic. All that Bakayoko is. Most problems we had against Spurs and Pool. Why? Because they have power and pressing. Get Bakayoko/Vidal and Lemar and we can beat them at their own game. Get Silva and Veratti and they will still overrun us like it was nothing. Why? Because even with Verratti or Silva, we will never ever in million years control, dominate game against such teams. And this is where Verratti, Silva excel. But we play press and counter football, meaning we need players good off the ball who can be quick and efficient when we get the ball. We already deal with small sides. We need a plan for big sides. And no way will we play controlling and possesion football against the likes of Real or Bayern. We will sit deep, wait for chance and go out only if needed. Lemar, Bakayoko etc are perfect for that. Meanwhile Pep can be signing as many Sanes and fancy little midfielders. This aint fecking spain. I saw enough of city and arsenal, two most "spanish silky football" sides from england who did fuck all with those fancy players in CL. I know the trend today is be as barcelonish or realish as possible but ffs we are english side. We were dominating with likes of Lamps, Essien, Anelka, Duff, Gudjohnsen, while others had Decos and Ronaldinhos and Zidanes. The main problem with english football is because we want to adapt to different style of football. Like putting a square in circle. It wont work. Spanish are masters at their game and will beat us if we play by their rules. Get a strong squad, dynamic, energetic, powerful, efficient, quick, that can defend for 90min or annihilate them in direct attacks and you have a chance. The sooner EPL realises that, the sooner they will get back to their best. Its no fucking coincidence Arsenal didnt win a title since they lost Viera and co, and replaced them with "modern" bunch of footballers

Brilliant player, but where was he when Monaco didnt have the ball? Conte and Eden and Silva in same team? You must be having a laugh. Then we only need Verratti to complete the smallest side ever. (Then I regret writing this post in summer when we actualy sign the boy)

Depends how you look creativity. If you talk about dictating play or simply creating chances, Bernardo is the first, both are equaly good at second. I watch lot of Monaco games this season after seeing how much they score, but both are fantastic. Lemar is more direct, more versatile, stronger, can run more, better of the ball. Silva is quicker, better dribbler, better playmaker. Both are equal in end product. We already have our Silva in Eden. But Lemar would add something else, very direct approach. He gets the ball and makes the most of it. His off the ball work is something else tho. Dont think Lamar is not creative. Its just different type. Like comparing Iniesta to Lampard. Silva being first and Lamar second. And I think Lemar would do fine on either wing, since he is left footed.

Yes yes its bad for english football as whole and city will be more relaxed to focus on league, but we are 10 points ahead and they would never reach semis of CL with such attitude. I dislike Pep and his style, city today played nothing like english team. IMO with these fancy play, neither Arsenal or City wont see top of CL for ages. Monaco deserved it far more, great generation of young people. I hope people saw why I prefer Lemar to Silva. Silva is much like a lesser Eden, but Lemar is skilled too, no nonsense, hard worker, runner, makes all the linkup look easier than it is. Silva dwells on ball and dribbles left and right making people go crazy, but Lemar makes a pass or two and Monaco is already in front of goal. Both are wonderful, but since we play alot without the ball, you saw Lemar everywhere in second half, while Silva was almost invisible. Bakayoko needs to learn how to pass and keep the ball better, but a tidy defender and physical presence.

Yeah , FA saw Eden jumping into Rojo's boot.

Somehow got out of my mind, but was it Valencia with both feet going at Kante? He did hit the ball tho, but he would break both Kantes legs if he missed. Fucking cunts.

Come on Monaco, hope they do it today. Very nice squad, will be rooting for them Think despite Diallo is young, he should play instead of Raggi. Raggi is slow and city will kill him again.

1.) If Oliver saw it (the stamp) and decided not to take action. WTF? 2.) If he didnt saw the stamp, only tackle, then its clear after match punishment. Either way, terrible decision. Oliver seemed good and neutral in game so its probably FA decision to not give Rojo ban. Fucking cunts. Hope we win the title, just to piss FA even more.

He strikes me as someone who offers little in terms of character and when he isnt scoring, he is basicaly invisible. He is somewhat similar in style to Diego, with later even better finisher inside pen area and more decisive in key moments. But he is quite older too. Lukaku has definately the potential to be unbelievably good. But he needs to find that fire, character to lead, to be difference maker. Same could be said for Pogba. Lukaku is young and who knows how will he play at 28. Maybe he will be next Drogba or next Defoe. If we do sell Costa (hopefuly not), Lukaku would be good option. Lacazette, Belotti, Auba, Dembele etc neither is proven scorer like Costa was, so anyone will be a gamble.