Leif

I've read many times on this forum of how the likes of Oscar and at a time Mata aren't physically up to the standard of the Premier League. But this fellow man-child who jogs around like Ozil is fit for the league? Pah. For all his faults, it's clear as day how true Jose's comments regarding height are. Who on earth would willingly deploy a midfield which has 2 players barely scratching 5'5? They aren't Xavi & Iniesta; they WOULD get bullied. Besides, I'm positive Verratti would only like to go to Juve. If they come across a huge amount of funds again, and the likes of Pjanic go downhill, that's what'll happen, and he'd be crazy to think such a scenario would be possible if he joined us. +, He grew up supporting Juve, not Conte.

I forgot that he wasn't exactly lighting the world on fire in the playground called Ligue Un. That changes things even more. The other Monaco players did perform to a high-ish standard. But you expect better from an apparent Hazard-level talent. I think the difference between Hazard and most players, including James, is Eden doesn't complicate matters. He just wants to get the team goals. He was a very direct player at Lille, and he is very direct here, hence tearing both leagues up. Sanchez is very direct, hence tearing this league up. James, is not very direct. That's not to say you have to be direct to be great, but in this scenario, if he simplified his game he would be better.

I think you're relatively new to supporting Chelsea. Your comprehension skills are lacking, too, no offence. I've stated facts only, regarding his roles here, and I've stated facts only, regarding who found which players, which you can clarify for yourself if you dedicate just 15 minutes to browsing the right places. I just took a double-take at your post. You really said our managers have been in charge of our transfers, christ. *Players signed regardless of manager's opinion: Torres, Hazard, Marin, Cuadrado, van Ginkel, Salah, Rahman, Miazga, Kenedy, Falcao(?). Pato(?), shall I go on? Out of all those players, which no manager picked for themselves, 1 has succeeded. 1. Who takes that blame, then? We don't live in a world where people are not blamed for their shortcomings, so pick who's responsible, please. I've given 'Mariana' no credit, so please only respond this time if you take what I say on board, not what you're imagining me saying. *Ps - 'Random scouts'? You really are new here. We've had some of the greatest scouts to ever be in the game. They are not random, and they do not just sit around doing nothing. They get the credit for our finds, nobody else. *That's £150m on players who barely scored a goal between them. Half of them barely got a game. Nice one, Emenalo. And no, Hazard's fee was not included in that calculation.

It's quite satisfying seeing him go from what Atletico fans considered, a shit back up to Falcao, Aguero, etc, to being on their level & to an extent, surpassing the former. He wasn't supposed to make it. He had such a back-and-forth time in Spain before his breakout Atletico season.

Signing him would make my nipples hard as cement. Finally, we would have a midfield almost on par with the Lampard / Essien / Ballack trio.

His role has changed over time. Because, Roman had to find a way to keep his buddy around. Square peg, round holes, that sort of thing. He sealed some moves for players found by our scouts, but now Maria does that. Before Maria was here, he signed off on very dodgy deals, some of which at the time were not found by scouts, but were his own personal fancy. I won't allow that to be disputed, it's been in writing for all to see for years, especially when you consider his agent connections and the players they've had on their books (who then ended up with us.) He hasn't caused all of our problems; but have you noticed he's the only high profile staff member to not receive the axe during bad times, and also the least qualified man to have ever had a role at this club? A couple janitors have been here since Roman, and we've been great. Are they responsible for our success? Are they void from being held under scrutiny if they fail to clean the toilets?

Well do you think it's Buck who -if rumours are to be believed- wants him? Our goalkeeping coach? Conte, who has never chased such a player? You don't need facts shoved in your face to deduce the most likely probability, and Roman wouldn't chase a player just willy nilly by himself without being advised along the way. Without discussion, Emenalo is the man who advises Roman. So?

Our scouts ain't the ones saying we should sign James. It ain't Maria. It ain't Conte. I wonder who it is. And I wonder what convinced them.

Emenalo is the only 'important' staff member at the club to not have been sacked after our bad periods, because he's Roman's friend, which is why he has a job here, not because of any credentials. Also, to give him credit for finding any of the players we have is naive. Our best scouts over the years, some of which are still with us, are the ones who found our Belgians (bar Hazard, everyone knew about him). AVB brought in Mata, Romeu (a real talent at the time) & others. He obviously isn't the one finding our players. So, what does he do? Close some deals after our scouts find them? The job our new lady does? He is surplus, then. Emenalo looks at which managers we should bring into the club. That's roughly it. He advises Roman. Now that we have a coach we should stick with, what do you propose he does? I mean, besides hopping on whatever name the tabloids are cooking up and running to his Roman master saying 'This guy is good!!! Really! Get him please!!!', like he did with Stones.

No more jack of all trades please, just masters. He would be catastrophic at left back, non-influential in the middle compared to his peers, and useless up front. On the bench, he doesn't offer enough quality to be brought on to change a game, nor has he (yet) shown enough solid consistency to be the guy you bring on to shore up a game ahead of Ivanovic or whoever else. I know it's nice to have youth products in the team, but if he'd never come from us, and simply came through the Bournemouth system, 90% of people here would flip their opinion and scrutinise those thinking this guy is anywhere near good enough for us. Instead, we should look at that Bertrand guy And I say that in all seriousness. Love the guy.

Are those same people against Drogba & Ashley Cole? I think that's a really bold claim to make. If it's true, throw up some of our supporter's names who fall into that category so they can be banned.

What is 'being behind' the Oscar deal? A team came knocking with money, we opened the door and said 'Alright'. She isn't a mastermind.

It's because he truly has had too much say and power in regards to our transfer dealings in the past despite having no prior history showing he's capable. During this time, before our new lady negotiator moved in, we made some of the most bizarre deals we've made under Roman. That, compounded by the fact he simply is Roman's right-hand man (nobody can debate this unless they're new to supporting the club and unaware of the circumstances involved with bringing him into the fold), has meant he's been dragged into the firing line when everyone else is blaming the coaches, blaming the players, blaming the owner, but never blaming the man who acts as the middle-man between Coach & Owner. We for sure made some good signings with him involved, but we've made equally stupid ones and squandered great market opportunities. All coaches we've had, have claimed rightly so, that they are not a 'manager' here, and that is because he, Mr. Em, had been the one picking transfers and feeding Roman false-hopes which in turn have lead to us wasting loads of money and time. He's not here to do nothing, he obviously does something, and the main gripe is, what on earth role-wise do we have to offer him, that he'd be good at? What IS he doing? He's either wasting space/doing nothing, or he IS doing something, which puts fear into some of us, considering he's only ever coached a woman's team.

This says something, though I'm not sure what

Flashes of brilliance without consistency, like Oscar.

I'm all for shaking up conventional approaches in football, so I do want him partnered beside Kante. I'm not sure which other teams in the past decade or so have deployed 2 destroyers side by side as the core of their midfield. Perhaps Leverkusen but they've never built on that foundation properly. As long as there'd still be room for a playmaker besides Hazard, it could be solid. I think it would be imperative though then, to be sure our next forward is a very good passer, with an instinct to slice defences open with through-balls, which isn't unreasonable to ask for. This double-destroyer idea won't work though if we deploy another player up front who doesn't have playmaking at the forefront of their mind, and prefers to receive the ball vs. be the tempo-dictator. (Beckham used to do it from a wide position, as did Figo, so it can be done.)

Then who gets the goals when Costa gets injured & Hazard hasn't got his shooting boots on? Matic? Kante? Willian? Pedro? Of course we need more attacking options, we have the least out of all top 5 teams in all the top 5 leagues.

'totally clueless', but, almost half of the Brazil XI could be in China within the next 5 years. Brazil. The greatest national side of all time. That is smart marketing.

Anything over £35m would be hilarious. So, it'll be hilarity wherever & whenever he moves. He will not perform to his price tag.

To me, it's nice to feel again that anything under 2nd place is a complete disaster. I can stomach 1 dodgy team winning over us, at times, but never more than 1, it makes me feel like an Arsenal supporter.

This is the sort of confidence I like, no sitting on the fence. He'll either make it, or he'll be shit, so take your sides now so we can then laugh briefly at the other side, whichever that is, if he ends up here. Camaraderie is for war games, not forums.

80% of Arsenal's local fanbase consists of illiterate drug dealers. 80% of ours are skinheads with blonde wives and rental properties in Marbella and Tenerife.

We literally have the best manager in the world. He'd win the league given any of the teams from the top 6 this season, but would Mourinho, Guardiola, Allegri, Zidane, Sampaoli, Klopp, Simeone do the same? No. Because where they're good at tactics, they fall short in man management. And vice versa. Conte doesn't lack in any area; if this were a game, he'd be maxing out the whole stat-tube with neon green. Having the best manager in the world, and him being so humble that he probably doesn't even realise it yet, is cute.

I obviously intoxicate myself far too often now; I thought he was part of our CL winning squad, and was thinking who cares if he moves to China, he's won it all! But regardless, anyone from Brazil has a very different mindset compared to the rest of the footballing world, in a good way, and I'm sure they find genuine pleasure playing in China, unlike the other imports they've had like Drogba & Anelka.

Indeed. Goals win games, nothing else.