Chelsea Legend 11

I'm about the badge, players will come and go and only the badge endures... If you agree that his body language all season long has been poor then there is great reason to speculate both positively and negatively for his sudden drop. You choose to remember when he looked interested and lively, I choose to focus on what he looks like now. In my opinion he doesn't fight for the shirt anymore you look at Willian, Azpi and Zouma for instance and you see them fighting for the club. I don't get the sense that Hazard even wants to be a Chelsea player anymore and if he does he needs to at least perform to 30% of his potential! Yes you are right some people haven't played well also, but to say Hazard is the only one to receive criticism is well off base! Costa, Cahill, Ivanovic, Fabregas, Oscar, Matic and Falcao have all received the same sort of criticism Hazard has. The difference is Hazard is supposed to be our talisman, the guy you can bank on making a difference in the game, the guy who can singlehandedly decide the match... He's looked nothing close to that and I refuse to hold onto memories of yesteryear when we're pretty much in a relegation battle and he looks like he couldn't care less. Its all fine and good you lot who don't want to upset the apple cart because he is immensely talented and all that but for me I love the players who give their all for the badge regardless of their skill level. Hazard has only on a couple of occasions this season looked lively and he's our highest paid player. In my opinion if you're highest paid player isn't also your hardest working you have problems because it has a knock on affect in the locker room. In truth shape up or ship out.... We were successful long before Hazard and will be long after he is gone! PLAYERS WHO FIGHT FOR THE BADGE ONLY!

I do tend to agree that there is no place in the modern game for a legacy coach anymore. We won't see one guy at a club for 10-15 yrs but I don't think it'll take that long to establish a style and philosophy. Look at Atletico Madrid for example, or to a lesser extent Mark Hughes at Stoke. Clearly in both instances the coach has revolutionized the style of football being at each club. If we get a coach signed and allow him to live out the duration of his contract (even one term) we will have the makings of a philosophy to build on. Frankly I think our guy is Simeone only because he is the closest thing out there to Jose... If we give him limitless funds he can build a team in his image and perhaps redefine Mourinho's legacy in the way Guardiola did for Cruyff. Just my opinion, we don't play like Barca, the hallmark of our golden era was founded on hard work, power and discipline... all the things that seem to be me missing right now. The team was miles different post AVB and the record would've been different had we not transformed from a league team(for lack of a better term) to a cup team, don't forget we also won the FA Cup that year. It was clear to me when I watched them play the league form was sacrificed for the cup runs... At any rate you can view it any way you like, we won it and yes Emenalo had a role. De Bruyne had a sell on fee worked into his contract so when he went to City we got extra money from the sale.

Whatever... His body language says something completely different. Last year you could see him putting in the necessary effort in to make a difference, this season he looks like he can't be bothered. If you can tell me when you watch the games that he looks like he wants to die for the badge then I'll just chalk it up to seeing something different to me, but in your heart, when you watch him play what does it tell you? He looks like he doesn't give two shits.

Exactly. But what comes first? The philosophy or the manager? In almost every instance it was the iconic manager that came in and shaped the vision/blueprint. And you're right I don't agree that us winning the champions league was the result of some weird stroke of luck. What you fail to acknowledge is the years leading up to that memorable day is we had already played in 5 semi finals in the competition before we found that winning formula. I would say the win was less flukey and a testament to perseverance, and while I agree he had less to do with the Champions league than say last years Premier league title, to say he had no role or that we were flukey is so wide of the mark. And yes we are a chequebook club! Much like Barca, Real Madrid, Bayern, PSG, City, Utd any other top club in world football! The game has changed... What we do have is a guy who has an eye for talent and we've been able to exploit his abilities to our benefit. Example of that is Kevin De Bruyne, who we bought for 7m and later caked in close to 28m on his sale. There are numerous examples of this like Lukaku... No wonder we didn't take his resignation, he's made a lot of money for the transfer kitty. Like it or not he is an asset in his defined role, what we need now is someone who has a footballing vision to shape our philosophy, we need a Johann Cruyff not Txiki who is failing miserably at trying to duplicate that which can't be duplicated.

And you're crediting that to Txiki and Laporta? Are you forgetting that whole style and philosophy was founded by Dutch great Johann Cruyff? That La Masia was already well up and running long before Txiki? In 1988, Johan Cruyff returned to the club as manager and he assembled the so-called Dream Team.[58] He used a mix of Spanish players like Pep Guardiola, José Mari Bakero and Txiki Begiristain while signing international players such as Ronald Koeman, Michael Laudrup, Romário and Hristo Stoichkov.[59] It was ten years after the inception of the youth program, La Masia, when the young players began to graduate and play for their first team. One of the first graduates, who would later earn international acclaim, was previous Barcelona coach Pep Guardiola.[60] Under Cruyff's guidance, Barcelona won four consecutive La Liga titles from 1991 to 1994. They beat Sampdoria in both the 1989 UEFA Cup Winners' Cup final and the 1992 European Cup final atWembley, with a free kick goal from Dutch international Ronald Koeman. They also won a Copa del Rey in 1990, the European Super Cup in 1992 and three Supercopa de España trophies. With 11 trophies, Cruyff became the club's most successful manager at that point. He also became the club's longest consecutive serving manager, serving eight years.[61] Cruyff's fortune was to change, and, in his final two seasons, he failed to win any trophies and fell out with president Núñez, resulting in his departure.[52] On the legacy of Cruyff's football philosophy and the passing style of play he introduced to the club, future coach of Barcelona Pep Guardiola would state, "Cruyff built the cathedral, our job is to maintain and renovate it."

LOL I think we need to end this here. Now Emenalo is to blame for the youth not getting into the first team? I can't even call that a stretch, I don't think a word in the english language has been invented to describe how far off the mark that insinuation is. Yes there are MUCH LARGER issues at play and given the circumstances, yes, Emenalo has not done a bad job at all. City? Please stop... I've already shown why that model is nothing short of a disaster. How many youth have made it into their squad? I would say Chelsea are helluva lot closer to seeing youth incorporated than City are. Inheanacho fella looks pretty good but he's hardly a youth product since he was signed in 2014, he's their version of Traore... Can you please provide another example of where top clubs have hired a director of football and thus flourished as a result because right now this City thing you keep banging on about is severely flawed. Would you care to offer up a few names of high ranking directors of football?

Are you? Because everything you said up to this point has missed the mark in accordance to his job description. You seem to be looking for a sporting director/director of football which I would agree with... I don't think Emenalo has done a bad job as our technical director/scouting overseer, we have been bringing some incredibly talented players since he's come in. The quality of our youth program has also improved immensely as well... You and many supporters have placed the blame at the wrong person's feet. The talent was identified and not acquired... Michael doesn't sign the players he merely finds the players. This past summer the club decided to re-use a championship winning club rather than overpay competition in places, it was a mistake but no one thought it would be this grave. I would love to see a Sporting Director at Chelsea as well as a footballing director like Didier... Michael keeps his job as technical director in my books as we are identifying the right players.

I think you're confused... I hate to keep going around the mulberry bush with you so let me give you this so you have a better understanding of the role Technical Director and Director of Football.... https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Director_of_football Michael Emenalo - Technical director Michael Emenalo previously worked in both the scouting and coaching departments before being promoted to his current role in July 2011. He has been an important part of the first team management structure since his arrival in October 2007, and now supports the work of the first team manager, leading the club's international and domestic scouting network, and assists in driving the technical programmes of our Academy and international youth network. He previously worked as both head of opposition scouting and assistant first team coach under Carlo Ancelotti, arriving at Chelsea when former manager Avram Grant called upon a trusted ex-player from his Maccabi Tel Aviv days.

Anyway, I hope we sign this kid! I love the way he powers through challenges!

I haven't shifted anything you just fail to grasp his role at the club. We wanted to sign Modric, we failed and he provided Mata and Meireles as secondary targets... That's his job. And while you sit here and criticize the work of the directors and staff(albeit without much of a leg to stand on since we've been HIGHLY successful with this formula) what I will never understand is why you feel the need to highlight man city as a successful model because they have Tkixi??? That is a club who have limitless resources, a stadium they can't fill, a squad full of overpaid and underwhelming players and for their immense investment, this is the second year they have qualified for the knockout stages of the champions league. That model has been a massive failure if you ask me! Not to mention they've been sanctioned by UEFA. I don't want Chelsea to look anything close to what Man City do, yes they've built some nice facilities and have a decent empire but as a strictly footballing entity we are well ahead of them if you look at the aggregate score. It sounds to me like you are more about peace of mind rather then building success... Peace of mind knowing that we hired someone "qualified" with a "track record" even though this relative "unknown" we have now has a pretty decent record. You keep saying he's not qualified because of a lack of track record but he is building that track record with us and by all accounts he's done well, why doesn't that count for anything with you? Txiki you say, had a track record at Barca and has come to City and completely underachieved given the investment and expectations, So even one with a track record like Barca has failed! You say we fluke the champions league, HAH! Well they fluked their 2012 title and they also fluked their 2014 title! meanwhile the list of players he's bought show a complete lack of understanding for team needs. Regardless, most of what you are alluding to is not a Michael Emenalo problem but a Chelsea FC problem. We have never had a long term coach and have never really built a footballing philosophy mainly because we've not had someone with a vision come in and shape the club. My model is Man Utd under Ferguson... until we have a bit of longevity in the managerial role, someone we trust to bring in a solid footballing identity, we won't have a proper philosophy. Perhaps you are right and the role of Emenalo needs to be expanded so he can have more of an imprint on what the club should be playing like because the spell where we were pretty much rudderless(AVB, RDM, FSW) some of the best attacking options this club have seen were purchased. The thing we couldn't do was attract Guardiola to head up the ship(apparently he wanted the job right up until we fired DiMatteo and hired FSW) Again all of this is more about the higher ups than it is Emenalo. Now, about last summer... I would agree our transfer policy was a complete and utter disaster. When you win the title by a mile you need to strengthen and we didn't. Why? Were we under the caution for FFP and thus couldn't bring in the types of players who would improve and already title winning team? Or were the players we identified simply unattainable for the allotment we set aside in the transfer kitty? Its clear we identified the right types of players but failed to find anything close in comparison. How many Pogba's are out there? How many English CB's are of the John Stones pedigree? What I will say is this, instead of bringing in the anybodies they decided to go with we should've just given the youth more responsibility. That, I will say falls at the doorstep of Mourinho, who for whatever reason doesn't trust the youth. I also feel Roman should back away from the day to day operations of the club but I also feel he should be able to hire whoever he trusts to do the job. What I feel would appease a lot of supporters is the hiring of a former player to also sit in the directors box, the likes of Didier, Lamps or even to a lesser degree Zola to come in and assist with the overall vision of how the club's philosophy should be shaped. We clearly have enough business people, now we need a few football people.

First off I apologize if you've taken offense. What I was trying to get across was you need to tell me why his isn't qualified, you can't say someone isn't qualified without justifying what the role of the job is. You've done that to some extent here so allow me a quick rebuttal... You say he wasn't qualified but what is that based on? You have no idea why he was given the job, perhaps in his time before being appointed he highlighted a number of talented players the club failed to act on. All we can go on is the job he's done since being appointed its a moot point to say "he should've never been given the job despite performing well in it" Maybe the club saw something in him and acted on it... It happens in business all the time, it happens in football too. You say he's not qualified? what are you evaluating? The players he brought to the club or the footballing philosophy of the club? If its the players he was responsible for bringing to the club I'm not sure I agree with you at all... As I've said before the role of the technical director is to work WITH the manager to identify the players he needs to fulfill a style or a philosophy. With the revolving door at the manager spot that has not even been identified let alone implemented. That isn't the fault of Emenalo, that is a Chelsea FC problem and moreover a Roman Abramovich character flaw. If you think the Technical Director's job is to implement a style and then find a coach to execute it, then I would say, judging by what we've seen from our club, that is far from how it is run and maybe that's why Emenalo is in the position. Our style and footballing philosophy throughout Roman's tenure has been dictated by our manager. If you disagree with how the club hierachy operates, that is something that we can go into but this isn't an Emenalo discussion. The club as a whole failed Jose but you can't lay all the failure at Emenalo's feet. We bid for Stones and didn't get it done, if the rumours are true we were also in for Pogba but Juve didn't want to sell. It was Jose who wanted Falcao and of the players we did bring in the only one that made no sense is Papi Djilibodji, who I haven't seen play at all. The signing of players is not the job of Emenalo, he FINDS the players and a committee work towards getting a signature. Jose only had a few targets, he wanted maybe 3 players to add to the squad and the club failed to deliver the two big ones, sometimes teams don't want to sell and you can't just go out and find another Pogba or Stones. Its not about what we can or cannot attract its the structure currently in place at the club. The Technical Director is supposed to work with the manager to find players to play a certain style, if what you're saying is we should have our philosophy defined by our technical director then we may have something to talk about. Right now Emenalo has done a pretty good job at highlighting talent if you take into account what his job description is, if you fail to acknowledge his role in getting players to the club then I don't know what we're even talking about.

So what exactly is his job??? This is such a ridiculous conversation! Either you look at what his job description is and acknowledge his role or this is just a retarded discussion. What do you credit him with??? You sound a bit moronic to say he's not qualified to do the job despite all the success then say you don't credit him for the good he's brought to the club because we have enough scouts in place to do his job for him... Why should we pay a mint for someone else to come in when they clearly would have no job yo do???? DO. YOU. UNDERSTAND. NOW??? We have the resources to bring in any world star, however, the job of the technical director is to FIND THE PLAYERS THAT FIT THE STYLE THE MANAGER WANTS TO PLAY! I don't underestimate anything what you fail to do is acknowledge you don't know why something is working. Perhaps in the ideal perfect scenario Chelsea would want someone who has played football at a high level, who went on to work at a big club, who after proving how incredible he is, gets hired by Chelsea... AVB comes to mind... But maybe, just maybe, Emenalo came to the club and proved he was ready for the position? How can you argue against it, the proof is in the trophies! No one is crediting him solely with the success but by the same token you can't lay failure solely at his feet. The year we won the Champions league we tired DESPERATELY to get Modric. That failed and we ended up with Mata and Miereles. Later that year we signed Cahill... All of those players played a key role in us winning the champions league. So because we're not uncovering Lionel Messi before everyone knows who he is Emenalo's not doing an effective job? Brother you are making little to no sense at all. He identified players what would work for our team and for the manager and we were in turn successful. Until you show me why an unknown can't have this job and prove where he's shown he's inexperienced, this discussion is moot.

You aren't judging the body of the work what you are doing is looking for someone with a name because you have some sort of elitist complex. I don't give two fucks where someone started their footballing pedigree from. For all you know he came to the club because of Avram and worked his ass off to get the position he's in now. He has an eye for talent, that much is obvious. He wouldn't be at the club otherwise and he wouldn't have the job he has specifically because he's a yes man to Roman... No club with the reputation and success Chelsea have operate that way. What we do know is he's come aboard as technical director since 2011 and in the time we won the champions league, europa, fa cup, carling and the league. All that with a revolving door of managers. He's also played a major role in uncovering some talented footballers like Mata, Azpilicueta, Hazard, De Bruyne, Lukaku, Oscar, Willian, Musonda, Courtois, Kenedy to name a few. The Technical Director works with the MANAGER to find the players to play our football. In his time at Chelsea he's had to work with 5 managers... And we've had success. Whether or not you choose not to acknowledge the good he's brought to the club is your prerogative but don't slight the man because you can't figure out how he was able to rise to prominence. Jose Mourinho was a translator and went onto become one of the most successful managers in history... When you can tell me what Emenalo's done wrong then we can have a discussion.

Why does that matter? judge by the body of work. What is his job? Has he done well?

Never really got the vitriol being thrown at Emenalo... Its kind of strange. Embolo on the other hand, he looks like a guy who is hungry and wants to succeed. I really hope we pursue this fellow and sign him this window, its clear we need another striker anyways why not him?

He moved the ball a lot quicker today and got forward into good positions. I'm a big fan... Anyone who can go months without playing and then come in a play a blinder is the kind of squad player I want.

Just my opinion, we've played a lot of football lately without much rotation. The game was won, we do need to use our squad, this is the perfect opportunity to give them time and it wasn't taken.

not much else he could say, we beat a depleted team handily.

Only thing I'm not so elated about after today is the fact we had such a young bench and 3-0 with 30mins to play none of them got on.... That is WEAK

Very nice looking player! Excellent pace, excellent balance, powerful footballer who possesses sublime technique and looks like he can be a world beater real soon. People talk about Chelsea giving our own youth products a go and in some cases I agree but for the most part its ridiculous. Who was the last Chelsea youth product to put together a highlight reel that looks like this? That is the type of player who plays at a young age, not Patrick Bamford.

Mikel man of the match... Willian only scores wonder goals. Was nice to see Fabregas complete some passes.

JT will never be shit, he's nearing his expiry date though.... This club lacks real leaders, In fact world football lacks character leaders! Who can we buy who has the leadership qualities to lead on and off the pitch? Within our ranks there are only a handful of players I feel with the character to lead, Zouma(though he's too young), Azpilicueta(Not exactly a vocal leader), Courtois... That's it and of those names none strike me as a guy a team the size as Chelsea can rally around. What's worse is none are English!

I'd sell Hazard in a heartbeat if it meant we could use his sell fee to buy Pogba.

http://www.fichajes.net/noticias/chelsea-ofrece-87-kilos-pogba-20151230.html

Not sure. I know he loves London and would likely make a small fortune to play here... Is a year out of the champions league really that big a deal? I think it will come down to what is offered to him