robsblubot

I think Kai showed A LOT during that CL run. For me, Kante, Mount, and Kai were amongst the better players in that team and they beat the strongest opposition to prove. I'd say that Kai became a bargain after the CL win, but that's me. I don't disagree that their form has been subpar, but there is no guarantee that a. they will not regain and even improve as players in the future (they are fairly young) and b. that whoever arrives will do better. We keep giving the new signings excuses due to the situation at the club, but don't do the same for the established players. It's exactly the same for them... perhaps even worse as they may have seen the club much better run at some point. It's easy to declare that one would, should, must do better, but another thing entirely is that coming to fruition. I remain cautious with the new signings especially when being done by this, so far, clueless leadership.

Maybe. It does look like he has the tools, but we need to see him in the PL. I think Budesliga to PL can be a pretty big step. Once again, we have to agree to disagree on Mount and Kai. Performing or not can vary within a season or within weeks as can form. The same mess that affected new players also affected the established players all the same. It's a team sport after all. Sterling has not done remotely close to what Mount has done, or even Pulisic. Can he? probably, but he has not. There are variables as current wages, contract length, managers, how much the players are pushing for the move. What is not variable is their destinations and the wages being offered, and the fact that they are sough after. Football economics at this level can be very competitive and auction-like.

That's not a good base 😅 as it includes 2 unknowns (Sterling and Fofana for diff reasons), a retiring player, and one of the worst goalies I've seen play the game. Too small a list to be a good base too. Good teams are made from repetition and time, and our team will have neither coming next season. It will be a bunch of players getting to know each other. Right and why do you think the players we sign will be better than the ones we let go? Have they been better thus far? the one player who seems to be good enough is Enzo. I think we've made our points regarding Kai and Mount. I just think that facts are facts: they both are going to top clubs earning high wages as the top player they are. The rest is opinions, which go into personal preferences. United is just pulling the oldest trick in the book during a negotiation.

It essentially guarantees that next season won't be successful. All we are hoping for right now is for something better than last season, for some improvement, but dismantling the squad while losing all key players at once, has really never worked. The movement towards younger players all at once has also never worked. Nothing we are doing has ever worked... at least not short-term. If you have trust in the leadership, that the actions are all part of a grand plan, then more power to you. You keep saying this or that player isn't good enough. The facts are that they are not leaving Chelsea for smaller teams in smaller leagues. They will competing at the same level next season. In better and more established teams too! Good enough at this level is VERY relative. It's all competition and looking for the smallest competitive advantages. How fleshy a player is, or how you like his turns and "vision" means nothing if the player does not provide a competitive advantage. I've seen fantastic skilled players who never done anything meaningful in football, at least not at this level.

yup. Lautaro also comes from a string of very disappointing performances in big games. I don't consider Kane a classic striker, btw; I think he's only "classic" in the sense he's not super quick, but he definitely can drop to the sides and create and does that often. Kane is a quality player in my book -- one of the best divers in football as well.

Fair enough. On the other hand, it's hard not to criticize the club on that tho. It had ben known Rudiger was going to leave for a long time... same with snake, so the inability to find somewhat quality replacements was surprising.

Regarding the Mount situation, I still think the money is largely irrelevant. What we have is 23 home grown Chelsea player who is forcing his move to a rival. He still has a year left, which gives the club leverage. Apparently he may think that perhaps he hasn't been considered an important player at the club, considering he wasn't among the highest earners, but he's still 23 and this would be the time to strike that big contract deal. Suppose he saw the grass a bit greener in Manchester. I'd also be a lot more comfortable if the players staying were better than Mount, which I don't think is the case at all.

Aside from the aforementioned bad timing, how on earth was he selected as Rudiger's replacement? I mean the players have very different characteristics. Did someone altho club thought, "oh both can attack?" That was the least important thing Rudiger used to do for us. 🤷‍♂️

At this point couldn't Mount just have a deal with united by receiving a portion of that money instead of us? like getting higher signing bonus because United did not have to pay? Yeah he would end up in limbo for a bit, which could hurt his international career, so that's the only leverage at play here. Still, it warms my heart seeing so many people concerned about Boehly's money.

Agreed. Mbappe would be the proverbial cherry on the cake, but we don't have the cake at the moment.

Sounds like their interest has cooled down. He's likely not very popular with inter fans right now eh.

Man with these clowns at the helm I'm missing Timo fucking Werner! 😅

As fans that's what we want, but that's not how players think. While I tend to agree we are not the same, the ambition is pretty much the same. We move for better pay, and so do they. We seek better challenge, at least I do, and they do the same. The main difference is the much shorter career length, which drives them to changing clubs, which again gets them and their peers lots of money. Very few players act like you describe, and they are rightly praised by fans for that reason.

Yeah definitely Mudryk has shown a lot more than Kai and Mount ... please. 🙄 I suspect you can find 35min of excellent play from either one of those two players--can think of a few times in a CL not far way. The idea of a fresh new player is always nice. It's the unknown, the excitement, the possibility of that player turning out to be the next world breaker. I call it the way I se it. He looks completely out of his depth with heavy touches and poor decisions. To me, Mudryk is a Gallagher who plays on the wing. I would love to be wrong here, but don't think I am.

Yup it will come in handy so we can almost afford 2 Mudryks another Mudryk with that amount. (just realized we paid 89m for him!)

While I mostly agree, I wonder how much fault the club has. It's easy for us to judge, but I for one learned (from former direct manager) to take action and not wait for things to happen to you as a professional. If you think things aren't working out, seek out asap... reach out to your contacts and work on it. You can always change your mind in case things turn around, but it gives you options. Yes, it can be different in football, because there are a lot of money to be made by people around the players and clubs. Agents love transfer fees and will push for them. I hardly think Mount thinks he's moving up that much to United atm. I think they are also in poor state as a club atm... I also think Mount has been more consistent than Kai. One can, and apparently one does, incessantly complain about things Mount cannot do as a footballer, but I think his game is pretty rounded. Kai is the one who goes from hero to nothing from game to game.

Only for strong stomachs: "Dani Alves Pardons the victim." I can totally see him getting signed by shameless clubs if acquitted.

Frankly, I don't understand this argument a whole lot. 60-80m is hardly irrelevant outside of ffp rules, which again seem irrelevant to the most successful club in the world atm. How to measure the technical advantage of what Kante can produce on the pitch? how to put a price on it? How much do we gain by getting one more game from him, where he outruns everyone else in midfield and gets us to the next stage in CL? I don't think it's a simple thing esp for a club with owners with deep pockets and lack of ideas.

Agreed and the loss of quality in defense was shocking to me. All team helps defend, but our transition from the back vanished once we lost the CBs who could run and move the ball well. If we go beyond the starting XI tho, then I see us losing quality in all areas. Even Timo did better than Mudryk and even Sterling (so far). While Kai has not become the key player we expected, he's still a quality player who can rise to the occasion as he has in the past. So, we lose the "options" when they leave, and Franky the players arriving are either worse than the ones leaving, or largely unknowns. The idea that every single one of these wild bets will come good can be a bit naive in my view.

Welcome Gabriel Slonina! you only need to become the best goalie USA has ever produced to be of any use to us. no pressure tho -- good luck!

Only if Mendy can regain his form. I think Kepa is that much a liability that he alone can be the difference between CL or not.

Sure, it happens, but it's not the norm. Ødegaard is hardly a world breaker tho -- good player and that's about it. Haaland is monster... doesn't not happen often. Football is still strong in Norway despite the weakness of the national league. I truly think Pulisic is the best US player ever and yet, not good enough for Chelsea or any top PL club--at least not as a starter.

Yup that point is made in the book soccernomics. Unfortunately, or not, USA is a terrible place for footballers to develop. Like the point I made before, you are too hard on Pulisic... he's literally a miracle. 😅

Weah vs Eto... now that's a face-off. Different eras tho...super difficult to compare. Eto more agile, quick, skillful while Weah more powerful + aerial. Don't remember Weah much, so could be off.

I get it, but still it's not an easy choice in my mind. It's also different, one is here and will stick around because nobody really wants him at this wage level. The other is a Chelsea product forcing his exit to a rival. I'm just very concerned about agent power. We've talked about player power because, which is a thing -- some will claim it's not even that bad. Agent power tho, that's something that concerns me in football. These super agents who manage the career of several players within clubs have a a lot of sway in all areas. 😕