Blue Colored Sky

I didn't know that ! That's a news for me.

Josh McEachran was loaned to Swansea City which at the time was the best ball-playing footballl team in England. On top of that he was reunited with Brendan Rodgers who was previously his coach in Chelsea Academy. So on paper everything was lined-up great. I remember Juan Mata said that he is one of the most technical and skillful players at Chelsea. I think Josh McEachran later hooked up with TV star while his career was dwindling down. I just don't think he had the mentality to play at the high level. Plus he was build like a boy. Maybe if he was sold to Spain or Germany his career would take different trajectory.

I scroll through Twitter and I must say I become numb to all sentiment that is shared over this transfer. He's a professional player, it's part of the job to be treated as asset and be potentially cashed on and replaced. Some people know how it goes yet they still cling onto "he's been here since he was 6" like he's doing this purely for his love for Chelsea. He's earned millions of pounds and is going to earn much more in the future. He's maximizing his contract potential by going to United and who can blame him. Once they leave the Academy and become professional players the sentiment is over.

I laughed at the bolded part. Although the fee is nice, I can't help but feel it could have been more. Especially as Declan Rice went for £100m+ and they are the same exact age (literally 4 days apart), English national team regulars and well established in the Premier League. And Mount is offensive player too which should be a factor. Both had 1 year left on their deals though I read that Rice had 1 year option to extend. Is that 40m pounds difference ?

If he will flop then officially attacking players from Bundesliga are cursed here.

I think we have second/third/fourth best squad in the league. Considering Chelsea's lack of European football next season plus actually having one of the best squads in the league, I think it's a must to challenge straight for top 4. It wouldn't be surprising either. I really hope that the next manager is the right one. Right mindset, right approach etc. He'll get so much time for training sessions that bad choice would be criminal. But I'm so deflated off this season that for me any manager has the potential to be walking disaster for these players.

The most painful thing for me is that we were suppoused to have transition in 2019 after transfer ban, Eden Hazard leaving and tons of exciting, young players were brought in to the squad from loans to let them grow together, let them make mistakes, let them have their highs and their lows, let them learn and improve. In 2020, after transfer ban was lifted, we doubled down on that and made extra additions of another young players through expensive transfers. Now fast forward to now, 2023 was the year we were suppoused to reap the rewards of our decision in 2019 and finally start winning and challenging for trophies after players grew and learnt together. But it didn't go according to plan. In fact almost of our players brought between 2019 and 2021 either already left or are on the brink of leaving. Tomori, Abraham, Hudson-Odoi, Pulisic, Werner, Havertz, Chalobah, Mount, Gallagher. The only one that is somewhat reliable is Reece James but because of his injury record it's not even clear now. So our Chelsea revolution has failed. And I feel we've wasted most of the last 4 years.

They seriously have American style mentality. When you can down tools and basically write off the entire season in the hope of higher draft pick yet fans are ok with this because they are used to it. You lose nothing because there are no European Cup competitions to qualify, there are no promotions or relegations. You don't lose prize money that would help you maneuver in the transfer market because there is salary cap. Each season is the same so you can give up in the middle of the season. European fans are different. We're not used to this. And also it has massive financial implications with the loss of Champions League money, less home games, sponsorship deals that has certain clauses. You can't just give up. Plus it creates big disconnection between the fans and the players if they are not arsed to put maximum effort. So the owners basically bring their mentality into our world. It's hard to accept, just throwing a season away. I really hope that financially we will be ok.

Someone should inform the owners that the club won't have higher draft pick if we finish lower in the table ... On a serious note, he's the most deserving of sack since I've been a fan (2004). There are clearly talented players in the squad, they just constantly look like a national team who have few training sessions together. Ok, when we play on the counter then we look quite decent but when it comes to breaking down teams I've never actually seen Chelsea being this bad at doing so. Complete lack of ideas other than endless crosses. And he's got more time to coach these players during the season than any other manager recently - 4 goals scored this year in 10 games ! Shocking. What a waste of time.

I don't get the sentiment that this season is a free pass. There's still real possibility of getting top 4. Consider this, we're 10 point behind Newcastle right now. If we'd have won our last 2 games, and we played against opposition that should be beatable, then we'd be 6 points away with them coming to the Bridge. The gap isn't that large if you think about it. We had two golden opportunities to close that gap and we blew it. It seems like we're allergic to even think about getting top 4. I don't get it at all. We gave up in the middle of the season even though the gap isn't unsurmountable and we splashed 300m+ yet there's no urgency, no pressure, no nothing. Aren't the shirt sponsorship up at the end of the season ? I've read before that playing Champions League and not playing Champions League has significant bearing when it comes to size of the shirt sponsorship deal we can get. The whole situation doesn't make sense to me unless money really is no issue for the new owners.

6 hours to go and still nothing is decided. And we're talking about the biggest transfer in Premier League history. What a deadline day this is.

We had one shot, mate. Off target. Why focus on Liverpool ? We didn't create anything. Pretending to be a Burnley and relying of being absolutely perfect defensively for 90 minutes to get something out of the game. It's unacceptable.

I can't even put into words how disappointed I am with Frank tactics today. Injuries or not, we play like super inferior side who happen to have a quick player up front. Whole tactic is waiting to find space behind defence to exploit with Timo's pace. I really don't get that midfield trio, so held back. On the other hand Kante has been incredible. Clearly the best player in our side.

That's what you get when you play for a draw. You need to be absolutely perfect. You make one mistake and your whole plan is ruined.

Koulibaly is a millionaire. He's the highest earning player in Napoli EVER. I'm not too sure that's how racism works.

Imagine having Ruben Loftus-Cheek alongside him (I actually think that's a very possible scenario). People will seriously jump on them every time we draw a match, let alone lose one. "They don't give a crap about a badge, put some effort in FFS ! Kante is the only one who cares in that midfield" Can't wait for that You do realize we're in the 3rd week of what will be 10-week transfer window, right ?

I won't miss his overweight passes, that's for sure. The amount of time those passes, those simple 5-10 metres passes that he somehow managed to screw time and time again gave me rage boost far too many times. I stopped screaming at the screen after another failed attempt around 2016 but still sometimes my rage got the better of me and I couldn't contain myself but scream incessantly like a mad man. Really, what the hell man, how someone clearly so talented with such silky, smooth technique and touch couldn't correctly adjust the weigh of the pass for so long. And he never actually improved in this aspect. It's like he was one of the best players around to carry the ball and start transition attack but he was one of the worst to execute anything after that long sprint. So, so frustrating ... I still have mostly good memories though. Frank Lampard gave so much praise to Willian over the last 6 weeks that I too jumped on board of him staying here. And I think there's a reason why he was heavily used by every manager that was in the Chelsea dugout during his time here, why he was Brazilian international for most of his time here, why there was apparently big money offer from Barcelona, why Chelsea loosely wanted to give him 2 year contract even though they are strict to 1 year only rule for players over 30, why he finally got 3 year contract at Arsenal at the age of 32. He's really good player at the end of the day and you know what you get from him. Those frustrating things that he has plenty in his game are things that prevent him from going into higher echelons of players but still what's left is a good player with good qualities that made him play Champions League level for around 15 years which is very impressive. Another thing that comes to my mind right now is maybe another take on this eternal discussion who is a legend of the club and who is not and what merits are we using. Look at Willian and Eden Hazard and their respective Chelsea careers, they tick all the same boxes, they both been here for 7 years, they both won the same trophies including 2 league titles, they both have similar number of Chelsea appearances (339 for Willian to 352 for Hazard) so everything is on level playing field. Eden Hazard is clearly, clearly one of the Chelsea greats and legend without a shadow of doubt while no one will place this term next to Willian's name despite him ticking all the boxes (trophies, longevity, appearances). I find this take quite interesting and I will use this example in future days. Anyway, thanks for everything. What was bad now is irrelevant, I think about good stuff now and there was plenty to remember. Good transfer that was paid back in my opinion. The 3 years is too big of commitment for Chelsea though especially because you never know when player over 30 is going to dip with his physical capabilities. And we know that often times it's not a steady decline but rather a nosedive. So it was possible that Chelsea would carry his contract for another 2 years while already midway through the next season he wouldn't be up to it. Or maybe he will keep his fitness for longer. Right now he's still very useful and the problem is that we want Willian level of availability and reliable (to some degree) level of performances in the squad but unfortunately maybe will need to look in the market for that. I'm still not convinced we can stay injury free next season and have enough personnel for the whole season. It would be bad to spend 30-40m on squad player when you could essentially give Willian small signing-on fee and just pay his wages for the same output.

No one actually noticed that he announced his departure on his birthday ?

His form right now diefies all logic. He was the only dead certain youngster that you could bet your best bet that he's going to make it, in short and long run is going to be huge for this club because he's solid, steady, reliable, build like a tank with some amazing traits and some people even had the audacity to claim that Azpilicueta should never get a contract extension because a) he's washed up and b ) he'll throw a tantrum in the dressing room because he's being replaced by Reece. How things have changed ! Now Azpilicueta is the only reliable option in that defence and for a brief moment just imagine if he was released this summer. Ha ha ha. Self-caused implosion incoming. I'm still optimistic Reece is going to be good in the long run but it's just another example (no. 9873-ish) that whatever you think is right to do in footbal and whoever you think is great, there's nothing certain in football because there's too much variables and they are people after all. You may rightly think that one thing is better than the other but this absolute nonsense to suggest that everything is 0-1, black and white and one guy is shit and other is great and they're robots that will perform on same level whatever the circumstances - it's absolute nonsense (in Roy Keane voice). You don't have players with stats FM/FIFA-style in real life. But whatever. People will be proven wrong, have a brief contemplation and short-lived self-realization and then go back to the starting point. I won't lie though, I have a guilty pleasure in this situation. Sorry, Reece.

It still applies to now.

IMO our squad in the 2013/14 season was the best we had for in the last decade. Shame that we decided to spend so much on 6th attacking midfielder instead of central midfielder or a striker.

Would love to see this match played tomorrow. I think it'd be completely different. Morata, Bakayoko, Cesc, Alonso and Hazard looked absolutely knackered. Well done to TV companies. I can't criticize Conte too much. He maybe should have started Pedro. Bringing on Willian, who should be punished for this shitshow, he tries so hard to be the most hated Chelsea player in recent memory, was huge mistake. As will be benching Andreas Christensen who is amazing. It's a pity that we don't have any squad depth.

He played in every game that Conte was in charge so far. Including EVERY possibile minute in 42 Premier League games. Se queda.

Jeez, what a beast. Love him already. He brushes opponents like he wants while he still can control the ball very tight. This is the player we needed for years.

If only I knew that "/" stands for divided by as in "G/xG" - goals divided by expected goals. Because I thought "/" should be read as "or" - goals or expected goals. That was confusing, now it's very clear mate. I will of course read how they come up with numbers in expected goals calculations. Hopefully there won't be many confusions or shenanigans. Tables in general are created to show something in easy way so if they are more difficult to read than text that's frustrating. Could you also point me to how to read those players radars? I have no clue why different players have different peak number for the same attribute. Thanks in advance.