robsblubot

This is also how I see him: Read more at: http://www.thecable.ng/whats-the-fuss-about-john-obi-mikel | TheCable

and with that first touch, Lukaku needs as much time with a football as he can get....

disappointing and unnecessary.

This rumor makes no sense whatsoever.... we've got too many non-homegrown players and would be acquiring yet another one?! And if it is to improve over the current CBs, then we'd be going for Godin, not Miranda; unless this is more about characteristics than quality. Still don't buy this one.

That's only partially true because it only takes transfer fees into account, not wages. However, Lampard and Cole leaving certainly helped on that front too.

all true. just that having Torres and 36-year-old Drogba as the only alternatives to Costa does not give me a warm feeling. Would Jose sign a 4th striker? Right now we are an injury away from last season's strike force.

Did not know that... still don't buy the "offers" though. That sounds like agent's hype.

Jose builds his teams for the big games. That makes him struggle against weaker sides. When you employ defensive fullbacks it's a compromise you are willing to make: defensive solidity, but missing in numbers going forward. This is simple arithmetic: chelsea will have 4 players out of 10, who are not capable to contribute in attack. I have no qualms with his team setup, but understand something's gotta give and sometimes we will struggle when facing weaker sides. Just look at the other top teams' record against weaker sides at home. Yes, we will improve with Fabregas and Costa, but not sure if enough. I also expect we won't have it as good against the top sides, because we will play less disruptive football; MAtic and Luiz were monsters in those tough away derbies. tradeoffs... Hopefully some sort of balance is struck and we win the league, even if still on the defensive side as strategies go.

offloading Mikel is easier said than done - just like Torres. They are both on incompatible wages - with what they produce on the pitch as well as their valuation. Reckon the only way to offload Mikel and Torres would be to give them away for free, so that the high wages, that the "buyer" would have to pay, work as the transfer fee.

Jose to Drogba, "I can only guarantee starts in two games: Arsenal home and away."

preaching to the choir...I was just mentioning that the club will make more out of him than "merely" shirt sales. That the calculation wouldn't be as simple as profit in shirt sales. That he is currently completely inadequate at this level, no question.

fair points, but reckon you are all missing the other aspects of marketing: market penetration and brand recognition. When Torres fans in country X wear Torres jersey, they are also promoting Chelsea as a club as well as its affiliates. Similar, but not nearly as big as Park at United. As good as Park was in defense, he was never good enough to play for United IMO. Sounds familiar?

I dislike competition between goalkeepers because throughout a season they don't get enough opportunities to prove anything. There are too many factors affecting their performances, like need to get used to the defenders and the defenders used to the them. You have to give them a good run of games, but games aren't equal. So, one play any bottom feeder at home and don't touch the football, the other Arsenal away and makes great saves or not?! Then do you judge mistakes or form? Command or reaction? Those things, what you value as a manager, should've been known from the beginning. I've seen competition between goalkeepers before, and it never works; only thing that can really settle anything is if one picks up an injury. It's very difficult to replace a GK who has had a good run, which is always not unlikely to happen at a top club.

FFP rules include wages, so having Torres as a squad player makes us a weaker team.

James is a very risky buy especially for that price... From the standpoint that one would want to buy cheap and sell high, acquiring a player after he's had a terrific season, or worse yet, a great World Cup is terrible business. On the same token, a bid for Hazard would make sense right now. Well, he did have a very good season for us, so that's only partially true. Oscar on the other hand might be a very interesting target for smart buyers.

causality is more difficult to establish than that... Are players actually *better* because their teams do better? Aren't just the better teams making their players look better as usual? Likewise, bad teams make their players look bad because defenders are left exposed and attackers less involved. And then we go back to my earlier point: since the money pool (tickets, merchandise, advertizement, etc) is more equally divided in England with more than one top club in London and Manchester, Real, Bayern, and Barca will always have this edge; hence better teams and better individual quality can be purchased (100m buys). Chelsea makes $50 buys, and so does Arsenal... perhaps a single London club would have been able to make 100m buys without much of a problem like Real can. This is really capitalism at work.

I don't think you got my point. Think about a hypothetical world where London had a single top club and Manchester another; those two clubs would be really powerful and compete with real and bayern for the absolutely top players. I don't disagree they have the edge right now, but that wasn't my point: there is really no other way with the number of clubs in London and Manchester. I can't make a better point than this; for actual numbers and better reasoning check out soccernomic book.

I couldn't disagree more. PL does not sign players, clubs do. And the pool of resources (money) in the EPL is more equally divided than in the other leagues. You have 4 big clubs who sign top players, plus 1-2 clubs which can on occasion be competitive. the PL is the best league for me because the money pool is more diluted, not despite of it. Look at Germany! It's a one club race! Where Dortmunt's best players leave for Bayern... Real Madrid and Barcelona in Spain, with Atletico once in a blue moon. Italy would be the only league with more contenders, but they are in a terrible crisis. No, the PL is indeed the best league in the world with the greatest concentration of top teams and quality players.

Good post. My understanding is that Luis is also a defensive fullback as he only has 2 assists in 30+ games in la liga... That also concerns me, because against smaller sides who play with 11-men behind the ball at the bridge, we will be attacking with only 6 players, while 4 are completely inapt in attacking positions. Yes, they are good in set pieces (spec Iva), but that's about it. Oscar's form is also a big question mark, and if Fabregas is moved up a bit we end up with the same Matic/Ramires which is a very defensive CM pairing - works in some situations not in others.

Spoiler alert - contains information about FM design and implementation...

well that's the theory, but reality doesn't seem to agree with it. Personally, I don't think Mikel is a good player at all. I've been in many discussions about many players around here and we all tend to pinpoint their virtues and weaknesses. However, with Mikel, I just can't see anything he does well. Mikel is considered to be "a good passer" who can't hit a long ball for his life and that makes no sense to me.

He's a very good defensive left-back, but that's essentially like every player we've got in the defense line: they can all defend but add nothing going forward. Luis has 2 assists in the league which is pretty low. Anyway, deal is done, so that's pretty much it. Now, we will see who is going to start and we happen to have 5 senior players for 4 positions. Not even counting Zouma if he produces something good in his first season, unlikely, but in the real of possibility. Interesting times ahead.

It's because of his high wages... because of some strange 5-year deal he got recently.

Just a bit of (the non-alcoholic kind) perspective: Torres, Ba, and (32+) Eto'o...

That's my point though as there are no guarantees he will perform at the same level. Cole's dipped in 1-2 seasons without warning. At 32 he was already insufficient according to Jose. I understand where you are coming from though, but my point was more about characteristics than current ability. He may be the finished product, but is he the guy who can push forward and be the "surprise" man in attack like I've seen the Dutch guy do over and over again in this world cup? That's what I'm concerned about... that we are going to be as solid against the strong sides and just as poor against the weaker ones.