robsblubot

Looks like the aerial threat we've been missing for quite some time... looking good indeed!

Have to say I'm not surprised by his performance today. He's a bit overrated around here.

Ref needlessly ruining the game aside, I still think there have been pretty unacceptable individual performances in the first half. Bats, kante, fab, and esp Luiz come to mind. 2 goals conceded where luiz was ball watching and marking no one.

heh Leicester did not look like winners even when they were winning... Arsenal, defensive mistakes aside (that's just being arsenal), were far more dominating than the scoreline would suggest. Thought Leicester were really poor to be honest and panicky at moments just kicking the ball upfield.

Hah said nothing about 30 million

I happen to agree with the club that Drinkwater is twice the player than any of youngster who left or stayed. However, it is not a binary decision. We don't have to go with Drinkwater OR chalobah... there is a sea of choice between those two. in building the squad as well... for example: instead of one drinkwater, get 2-3 mids, and also keep the youngsters, etc. Perhaps folks are complaining, and perhaps rightly so, that the club is too slow in "building the squad" never mind signing players. And we end up in tough situation having to settle. I'd add the club is not creative enough in building the squad. If we want to compete with the likes of City something's gotta give: we either spend the same amount of money or we get creative. We do neither.

Not to mention it would look pretty bad for RLC. While reports say the club did offer Chalobah a squad player role, which he refused (only so much to do here), RLC was likely considered "not good enough" for it.

morata is not a target man... that would have been lukaku. morata is a player who will, hopefully, enable his attacking teammates to do more and score more. that lukaku cannot do. point being that the club made a choice on how to play rather than on merely picking one striker vs another.

ah perhaps I did not express myself well enough. My point was that he WILL get a chance, precisely because the conditions demand that he will. Like I wrote, the club has no choice.

If Andreas does not get at shot at this, then nobody will. This guy had a great season in loan, and his performances demand he is given a chance. Don't even think the club has a choice here because mishandling this situation could jeopardize the entire loan system.

while I can see the similarities, especially lack of agility and mobility, Drinkwater still makes runs, produces some long balls, so not quite a Mikel tbf. It is still depressing considering the caliber of our opponent's signings (PL and abroad).

sometimes the player just isn't that good and need to move to a smaller club. Whether he will improve and be OK (for a squad player) 2-3 years from now matters very little right now. If you think of it from the manager's POV, can he rely on the player to cover and compete against most other PL outfits? Likely his, and most likely other coaches, assessment was that Chalobah was just not good enough and would have limited exposure in the starting XI which was not enough for the player. Not much you can do in these situations. Player did what he thought was right, and so did the club.

On neymar saga, while the fee is indeed crazy high, bear in mind this was NOT a regular transfer where the clubs agree on a fee and negotiate. PSG and the player went against Barca's wish of keeping Neymar. Reckon they thought noone would pay the release clause anyway.

Wouldn't call it surprising though. I mean a good (and expensive) player having a good season wouldn't be a surprise. (I do get your point though)

disagree. Very different characteristics: Kante has the work rate, but pogba has the technique. Combine the two and you would have an almost perfect mid (still missing the goals though). BTW, while kante's work rate can be very valuable to any side, I think refined technique is rarer, and consequently, more expensive. One could say Fabregas is poor man's pogba. I'm in the minority here as I think Fabregas cannot possibly play week in and out effectively replacing Matic (there was a reason Matic played).

Makes Pogba look like a bargain tbf.

My early joke aside, I do think Drinkwater is a lot better than Mikel in every fucking aspect of the game, so he could indeed be Mikel's squad replacement and a vast improvement over him. Of course, as pointed out by many here, we could and should do better than Drinkwater if we aim to compete against the top clubs, which has always been my argument against keeping Mikel around. The thing about poor squad players is that they eventually appear in the starting XI....

We will be covered in that area when and if whoever plays up front can actually score goals. That will determine how much will miss costa. I think it is very likely neither striker can score like costa tbh.

and it's not like Costa and Matic were backups or rotation, so losing them (esp costa) could potentially become a huge deal.

yup, shamelessly resurrecting this thread... this guy has obvious and really serious injury issues, so even if at some point he actually fulfills his potential, one cannot criticise Chelsea for letting him go.

finally someone who can effectively replace Mikel...

he's just NOT that smart is he? Way to go reducing your potential employment down to one employer! Now, everything is clear: showing Contes' text to the press was just his way of forcing the exit. The issue is that Atletico, being his only possible destination and on a ban until Jan, feel they don't have to pay that high for him. After all, no competition and no urgency...

Not sure fabregas can play in such an advanced position. he plays better as a deep-lying mid so he can hit long balls control tempo. Closer to the opponent's goal, he will be tight marked often and does not have the movement, power, or athleticism to counter it. Just my 2 cents.

Yeah, good read and that's great attitude! Not being a very physical CB he will have to rely on technique and pace - he has plenty of pace and reckon Luiz will be able to help a lot on the technical side.

works for me... It's actually difficult to separate the two. He also lacks movement, which is something needed to link up play. Anyway, all my interest in lukaku went down the drain as soon as he joined the evil empire.