Belgiannutt

I think you're being a bit overly negative about our rumoured transfer targets and the current players we have. The team's been poor this season but this is still the same squad that won the league last season. There's still a lot of quality in this squad. Nainggolan and Koulibaly might not be labeled worldclass but they are very good players that would improve our team a lot. I hope we get both. Those two along with a proper leftback and a striker as back up for Costa would be a very good transfer window imo.

Calm down a bit. No need to use the caps lock. Look, i'm not trying to have a go at De Bruyne or minimize his ability i just wouldn't label him a creative player. That's all. Suppose it all depends on how you define creativity. I consider being able to dribble in tight spacing a creative ability so players like Neymar, Hazard, Isco and Di maria would be creative players imo. I just look at what a player can offer when the opponent plays a deep line (parks the bus). When teams defend deep De Bruyne doesn't really make defense splitting passes nor does he go past players, in tight spacing, like Hazard does for example. If he does try to go past players it usually happens in wide areas and he doesn't even really go past the player he just makes enough space for himself to cross the ball in. De Bruyne just doesn't excel when teams park the bus. To be at his best he needs to have space. If he's up against a team that plays a high line then yeah he's going to make defence splitting passes. (it was a perfect situation @ Wolfsburg for him.) When up against deep defences he needs to rely on his crossing ability (Like i said before his delivery from wide areas is quality) and his shot from distance (has a really good shot, both left and right, good accuracy, good power on them). I don't want Pastore nor would i choose him over De Bruyne. It sucks that De Bruyne left and that was a mistake on our end no doubt about it but i've made my peace with it long ago.

I'm not saying he isn't capable of playing a throughball every now and again but if you look at the assists he's had the large majority of them are from set pieces and crosses from wide areas. Playing 3 successful throughballs in a season doesn't make him a creative player. Also, he only seems to be able to pull off those "defence splitting balls" when the opposition is playing a really high line (or when it's a counter attack) and there's acres of space in behind. When teams sit deep he just isn't capable of "splitting the defence". He just isn't a creative player. When facing a deep defence he has to resort to crossing balls from wide areas or take shots from a distance. He just doesn't excel in those tight areas where creative players work their magic. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ibkc_L8KIJA All De Bruyne's assists for Wolfsburg in 2014/2015 season. Couple of through balls (on the counter attack). Majority are set pieces and crosses from wide though.

Like clockwork said. Assists don't equal creative. A lot of those assists are from set pieces and him crossing the ball in from wide areas. His delivery is quality and gets him a lot of assists. Shakez also gave a fitting description of DeBruyne.

It's a big wage cut but his role is also going to drop from key player to squad player. Gonna have to agree to disagree on this. Next season, if he signs the contract, he'll be a squad player. I don't believe squad players should be making more then a £100 k/week. 70-90 k/week is more then reasonable imo.

Well like i said in my post i don't. Well the media knew we were in advanced talks with conte but things could have still gone wrong, for example what if they couldn't agree on his coaching staff. Negotiations have broken down over smaller details then that. Conte's discussion with the club are a seperate thing for me. First Conte and the club needed to come to an agreement in terms of wages, what was expected of him next season and indeed his coaching staff but i highly doubt any discussion was had about the squad and John Terry before both parties were 100 % sure he was gonna be our manager. You act as if giving Terry a new contract is/was such a no-brainer. It clearly wasn't though for Conte and the board. I believe there were also conflicting reports stating Conte did't want Terry and that talks had happened but that there was no change in the situation. I don't agree with Ivanovic getting a new contract but we've had this discussion before i believe. Ivanovic got a new contract because he's younger and can play 2 positions. Age determines the length of the contract a club can give to the player and the length of the contract determines the value. Which makes Ivanovic a more valuable asset to the club (purely financially speaking) I didn't say you didn't care about the image of the board i said you're only looking at this from Terry's perspective. You're not even trying to put yourself in the board and Conte's shoes. Like i said you're just looking at the board in a very cynical way by essentally saying everything the board does/has done has been part of some diabolical plan to get Terry out of the club. Also if this is in fact all a ploy to get Terry out of the club then they've kinda left themselves wide open now haven't they? By offering him a new contract. Only thing Terry needs to do is sign the freakin contract and their supposed diabolical plan falls apart.

Sorry but i disagree. 150 k/week is a lot of money. 4 th highest at the club. He's likely going to be our 3rd choice cb (maybe even our 4 th choice) next season. There's no way he should be earning anything above £100 k a week next season. For me 70-90 k is perfectly fine for a squad player.

I think you're letting sentiment cloud your judgement on this Choulo. You're looking at this from Terry's perspective and only from Terry's perspective. You look at what the board does in an extremely cynical way (board is lying) while looking at what Terry does in an extremely naive and gullible way ( Terry tells the truth). I mean how do you know the club don't want to offer him a contract ? Their decision to wait until the new manager came in was a very reasonable one. "There is nothing truthful or sincere in this offer from the board.." How do you know this ? Yes they do have that right but i understand the club not being able to give a conclusive answer at that time(January). They didn't know at the time who our manager would be so how could they possibly know if our future manager wanted Terry let alone what role he would play if they did. Conte was confirmed as our manager on the 4th of april. It's now 13th of may. That's less then 6 weeks. I don't think that's an unreasonable amount of time for a new manager to get his bearings, evaluate the squad, talk to the backroom staff, the players and talk to the board about how much money he has to spend while also looking what's available on the transfermarket. All of this needed to be done before he could make an informed decision on whether or not he wanted Terry around. I just don't see any reason to be upset about this. To me the board's stance on this matter is a very reasonable one. They offered him a contract whether he takes it or not is up to him.

Did they ? I'm sorry but how could you know what they offered. Also what would be a "poor offer" for you ? Right now Terry's on a £150 k/week. That's basically the wage of a key player. Next season he isn't going to be a key player. It's highly unlikely he's even going to be a starter so it makes sense that his wages would drop considerably. A reasonable offer for me would be something around £70-80k a week. Didn't Terry do a similar thing though by announcing he wasn't going to get a new contract ? The board had told him they weren't going to make a decision on that yet and that it was up to Conte (the new manager) to decide if he was getting a new contract. Both parties are just doing what they can to get the best deal possible for themselves.

Damn what a performance. His best performance ever in a Chelsea shirt ? 9/13 succesful take ones (twice as much as any other player on the pitch), 95 % pass completion, 3 key passes, 3 shots on target, fouled 6 times, 1 goal.

Fully agree with that Choulo. He definitely deserves a big testimonial where the fans can say proper goodbye. Might be a stupid question but is there any chance that they 're waiting until he completely retires from football to do a proper testimonial ?

Actually the telegraph is reporting that the club will give him the stadium for free. " Hiring Stamford Bridge for a game usually costs £22,000, but Chelsea have agreed to give Terry the club’s stadium for free as part of a series of gestures that will be made to the 35-year-old. " http://www.telegraph.co.uk/football/2016/05/09/john-terry-hires-stamford-bridge-to-stage-his-own-chelsea-farewe/

No it's not. It's an incredibly stupid idea. It's not gonna change anything. Conte and the board aren't suddenly going to change their mind because some fans walk out on a game. Even more so they shouldn't. If conte doesn't have a place for Terry in the squad then so be it. He's the head coach and that's his decision to make. Fans don't have to like it but they are going to have to accept it.

While i agree that we can't sign any A-grade, elite players,due to our lack of CL, we can still sign some good players. Nainggolan for example isn't an elite player but would still improve us significantly. It's gonna take time to get us back to the top level. You don't go from finishing 10th in the league to competing with Bayern, Barcelona and Real Madrid with just 1 good summer window. Next season should be about 1 thing and 1 thing only, a top four finish. I'm optimistic though. If Conte can get Hazard, Fabregas and Costa to perform at their normal level then we're good to go on the attacking side. Conte's just going to have to shore up our defense to stop us from leaking in goals while adding some fight and steel to our midfield.

Did anyone else notice Costa choking Matic after the goal ? I mean wtf Costa

Thanks, good luck with the surgery mate. Hope they'll be able to remove that stick from your arse. Won't be easy as it seems to be lodged in pretty deep. Here's some Yoda advice for you.

I like that midfield too but i don't think Fabregas is going anywhere. There have been no reports of him leaving so i'm failry certain Fabregas will be part of our midfield next season. The club need both defensive stability and offensive stability. I felt Mourinho made a mistake by focusing too much on the defensive stability and neglecting our offense.(Oscar on the 10, Azpi as left fullback, Ivanovic as rightback) He sacrificed our offense for defensive stability and had our offense rely way too much on individual brilliance. I hope we don't make that same mistake next season and Conte finds the right balance. I would be dissapointed if we didn't, at the very least, have one offensive minded fullback starting for us next season and i can't see us buying another fullback as i think centre midfield and central defence are in more dire need of a quality injection. 4 new starters is probably the maximum we're going to get for next season. So i turn to Kenedy as like i said i have high hopes for him and think he could really add another dimension to our attack. Again i understand it would be a risk but i feel it's a risk worth taking.

Goal.com isn't really a reliable newsoutlet. They have a tendency of rewording things and leaving things out for more sensationalistic articles. They also frequently, "accidentally", mistranslate things. http://www.espnfc.com/chelsea/story/2851213/eden-hazard-must-play-like-a-kid-to-recover-form-hiddink This is the same article from ESPNFC but the wording is a bit different and here it seems Hiddink is actually defending Hazard from such accuations... "Hazard has also faced accusations of a lack of commitment due to his body language on the pitch this season, but Hiddink believes this is simply a result of the 25-year-old's introverted personality. "He has proven that he can be at a high level," Hiddink added. "Some people express themselves in a different way than others, so you must always be careful in your judgement when someone is a bit more introverted."

What comments are you talking about ?

While i agree that Pirlo is definitely better then Fabregas you can't really argue that they do have similar strenghts and weaknesses and are similar type of players (deep playmakers). Both need time and space to be at their best which means they function best in deeper areas. Both also lack the legs and the defensive abilities to play DM so they both need help from other midfielders to not expose the team. I was just saying that Conte has experience with developing a system that allows that type of player to play at his best position while offering adequate protection so they don't become a liability to the team. Like i said i know " They're aren't proven but might be worth taking a chance on as they've got potential especially Kenedy " I really have high hopes for Kenedy. I really feel he could be a top quality left back. Yes he's not used to playing there and he's not great defensively but when you look at great fullbacks, Marcelo, Alves, Alaba, Alba,... They aren't exactly defensive juggernauts now are they ? They aren't put there because of their defensive skills but their attacking skills. It would be the same for Kenedy. An attacking, pacey, skillful full back really adds a new dimension to the attack. Would he make mistakes in his first season, ofcourse he would but i believe he'd more then make up for it with what he'd give us on the attack.

No way we're getting 6 new starters. Fabregas isn't going anywhere. Remember that Conte already has experience with a player similar to Fabregas (Pirlo). Fairly certain that the sytem will revolve around Fabregas making him a key part of our build up play (Conte loves playing out from the back) while giving him proper protection so he doesn't become a liability. Also at left back we've got Kenedy, Baba and Aké. They're aren't proven but might be worth taking a chance on as they've got potential especially Kenedy who i believe could be a worldclass left back if given the chance and proper guidance. Hazard--------------Costa--------------Willian ---------New player------New player--------- ---------------------Fabregas--------------------- Kenedy--New player--New player--Azpi ---------------------Courtois ---------------------

4-3-3 makes the most sense to me. Only 2 CB's needed which is good since we currently lack quality cb's. 3 man midfield to compensate for Fabregas. Use of wingers (Hazard &Willian). Only uses 1 striker which is good as we only really have Costa. Can't see Conte playing a 4-4-2 (4-2-4). Just wouldn't work with Fabregas as 1 of the 2 midfielders. In order for a formation like that to work both midfielders would need to be hardworking energetic players, like Vidal, Nainggolan, Marchisio,... Also we lack depth in the striker departement to play a 2 striker system.

He led us a couple points off the relegation zone after 16 games. 9 losses, 3 draws and only 4 wins. He was done, out of ideas and fully deserved the sack. Get over it. And don't start with the "he wasn't backed in the transferwindow. That's not an excuse for the disastrous season he lead us into. The Jose Mourinho that arrived in 2004 was the best manager this club ever had. The Jose Mourinho that arrived here in 2013 wasn't even close to the one in 2004. I don't know what exactly happened at Real Madrid but it changed him in a really bad way.

Well, if you don't want me calling you a cunt then maybe you should stop acting like one.