petre.ispirescu

Suddenly Solanke comes to mind. His father holding on for 50k a week is too much. Unbelievable talent, definitely one of the three best centre forward top prospects in England alongside Rashford and Tammy Abraham. But ready to spend this season playing for the youth Chelsea teams because he does not want to sign the extension. Such a shame. After a season in which he played regulary in a very good league, now he goes back to youth level. Solanke has everything to become a great centre forward - the looks, the physique, the CF instincts, great goalscoring ratio for a youth player. Everything. Everytime I had watched him I got that feeling that he is tailor made to be a CF. With other players you get the feeling that they could play CF, on the wing, maybe as attacking midfielders as well. But Solanke looks like the type of pure CF. But at this point I think Tammy Abraham is way ahead of Solanke in terms of development. And definitely ranked higher than Solanke within the Chelsea hierarchy.

My opinion only. Hard for me (and anyone probably) to think that everything with be honey and milk at the club should Terry, Cahill and Ivanovic be benched at the same time and they'd all be fine with it. You probably know that when a group of people pick on you on the street, you should aim for the group's leader and show him no fear. That's when others start panicking even though they outnumber you. JT is Chelsea's leader and Conte should keep him close to him. Explain him why Ivanovic and Cahill are of no use and he will understand. But then again, my opinion only.

Big week ahead for Conte in terms of decisions. Time to show he is the boss in the changing room. Terry's influence at Chelsea is enormous. Although slow, I think keeping him in the starting line-up would give Conte no headache. As long as Terry is in the team, there is no chance for a changing room revolt against Conte. Although big figures in the changing room, too, Ivanovic and Cahill don't have the same influence as Terry in terms of turning the squad against Conte if they don't play. So as long as he keeps Terry as his ally, there is no worries for Conte. Things would change drastically should Conte think of dropping Terry, too. And this would not be indicated at this point. Should stick to JT and make him his closest friend at Chelsea. Terry has the power to protect Conte no matter who is playing or not. As long as JT is in the team. Azpilicueta - Terry, David Luiz - Marcos Alonso, with Zouma the 1st option for when JT or David Luiz is not available. Slowly but surely the likes of Ivanovic, Cahill, Oscar (Willian, Matic, too) must be removed from the squad before the start of next season.

Neville feeding the fans with links to the article makes me feel it's his friend Rooney who leaked everything to the media. United's old guard don't like Mourinho. I know Fergie tried to drop Rooney at the end of his reign, but don't count him out of this yet. His gesture at the end of the City match speaks volumes. And don't you ever buy that "Sir Alex Ferguson is friends with Mourinho" bullshit. If you read Diego Torres' book you will see that Ferguson hates Mourinho the same way Sir Bobby Charlton does. Mourinho was a mess after he found out that Moyes was appointed at United. He thought he is the one to replace Ferguson, although David Gill had told Jorge Mendes (Mourinho's agent) that United is not interested in Mourinho and Sir Alex's 1st choice is Pep Guardiola. Mourinho though he is friends with Ferguson, but Ferguson didn't even call or text him to inform about his decision. And Sir Bobby Charlton's interview in which he said something like "A United manager would not do what he did to Tito Vilanova. Mourinho is a good coach, but I'd prefer to stop here." absolutely killed Mourinho. The days after United announced the appointment of Moyes, Mourinho did not even attend training sessions and let his assistants do the job. Jorge Mendes then leaked fake infos to the media that indeed Mourinho was offered the job by Sir Alex, about half a year before Moyes was appointed, but he had to reject it because his wife wanted to live in London And then Mourinho had an interview and said that he knew way before that Ferguson was going to appoint Moyes because Ferguson knew he could not make Mourinho an offer because he had his heart set on Chelsea So Mendes says his client had received an offer from Ferguson, but rejected it and then Mourinho says he actually did not receive an offer because Ferguson did not try to make him one because Mourinho informed him long time ago that he wanted to go to Chelsea, not United You will realize in time how full of shit this man is. So, my point is - Whoever took the decision to bring Mourinho to United, he went over Ferguson and Bobby Charlton's heads. No doubt. Don't get surprised if Rooney is not the only one trying to make Mourinho's life miserable and United's old guard is involved, too.

Manchester United manager Jose Mourinho's criticism of players 'nastier and more personal than Sir Alex Ferguson's ever was’ http://www.telegraph.co.uk/football/2016/09/20/manchester-united-manager-jose-mourinhos-criticism-of-players-na/ So it has started. How much before he "feels his job betrayed"? Leicester, Stoke, Liverpool and Chelsea ahead. Reckon it'll get nasty for him should they get only 5 or 6 points from these matches. Hope it all goes down to the Chelsea match where hopefully Conte batters United and everyone turns against Mourinho from that point.

I'm starting to believe that he is that hyped mainly because of his physique. Not saying he does not possess certain qualities, I think he's got bags of potential, but his attitude is.. mehh...... He's never shown that hunger, that type of convincing performance to show that he wants to play ahead of Oscar or Matic or anyone in midfield. He just... played it safe always. Followed the instructions, tracked back and that's it. Nothing bad, but not great either. Average stuff. Such a shame because now (this season when Chelsea lacks quality midfielders) it was the perfect time for him to make a statement and impose himself. Next season might just be too late.

I am at the point where I do not give a single fuck about the result at the Emirates if it means THE CLUB moving forward. I'd rather lose with Alonso, Azpilicueta, David Luiz, Cesc and Moses on the pitch, than get a fucking lucky draw with Ivanovic, Oscar and Willian, (after Arsenal misses monumental chances and we play shite) and everything goes back to normal. Ivanovic, Oscar and Willian benched from now on. If they don't want to be benched then fucking hand a transfer request because no Chelsea fan is going to miss you. Cahill benched, too, when Terry or Zouma is available. Matic? I'd bench him, too. Chalobah looks so composed and seems to be playing a simple, clean game, unlike Matic who needs 10 touches to keep hold of the ball and always gets himself into the most stupid situations. At this point I regret so much that the club let Cuadrado on loan so easy. Right now he'd have been perfect on the right. Time for Conte to show his worth. Not only that, but this is a matter of taking THE CLUB forward. Think I will lose it if Ivanovic, Oscar and Willian are back and Cesc benched again.

Think you've skipped all the remaining matches last season after Mourinho was fired. He was one of the few that showed passion and appreciation to the fans even though he wasn't playing that good. At home against West Ham he celebrated the two goals he has scored like his life depended on that. It's little things that we have not seen at neither Willian, Oscar, Hazard, Matic, Ivanovic, Azplicueta et al. Cesc and Terry were two of the only three or four players to always go after the game and greet the away Chelsea fans travelling to the matches.

That kind of match where you are 0-2 down but have no worries that you will come good in the end. Cahill's goal has come at the perfect time. Chelsea will go through, this is how I feel. Defence is poor, yes, but I've seen nothing from Leicester to make me feel afraid that we won't turn it around in the 2nd half. Come on Chelsea!!!

Leicester with a pretty good team to be fair. Was expecting Drinkwater, Morgan and Simpson to be out, too. Going to be a hard one, this match. ET or penalties, does not matter. Just go through.

Yes, bib, sorry

Saw the pics from yesterday's training and going by the "bib theory" it's either a 4-3-3 with Loftus-Cheek as a midfielder or a 4-4-2 with Loftus-Cheek as a secondary striker. Could not decide between Begovic and Courtois as none of them wore a bib. So judging by those who wore a bib and those who did not, it's either the 4-3-3 with or the 4-4-2 with

They are all calling for Rooney's head and Pogba to be played further up the pitch or in a 4-3-3 with Herrera and another midfielder. But didn't they do this in Rotterdam? And they was still shite? Rooney is past it and does not justify the enormous wages he is earning. But he is not United's main problem. Their problem is that one dimensional manager and his lack of imagination. I bet they would look as turgid as they've looked so far, even if Rooney is benched. There is no dynamism and creativity in Mourinho's tactics. He is good at analyzing the opposition and recognising different patterns of play, but I think that's about it. But what about attacking play? Does he even train this? His teams look like they would go forever without scoring if there is no individual brilliance to save the day. You see no specific movements to at least say "This is a Mourinho team". I think it's a nightmare for other managers to analyze Mourinho's patterns of play before a direct match because frankly they are kind of non existent and shit. I think they rather prefer to try and exploit Mourinho's players weaknesses than try to block his team's movement as a whole. I remember that loss at Leicester (and his final game here) - He kept talking of how he's prepared that match for four days in which he specifically showed his players how Leicester like to attack and worked on that. Well, to be fair, I truly believe this is the only thing they have worked on - on blocking the opposition only. I have never seen Mourinho saying: "I'm mad on my players because we knew Huth and Morgan are slow and we should have taken advantage of that", "I am mad on my players because we knew they can't defend well", "I am mad on my players because we knew their GK is shite and despite that we've only shot on time on target." etc. It's never about attacking play with him. Always about how they should stop others from playing football. I would understand this if once they get the ball, they are great with it. But Mourinho's teams post Real Madrid are awful. With, or without the ball. Can't forget that match at the Bridge against Atletico in which he played Cole, Terry, Cahill, Ivanovic, David Luiz, Azpilicueta and Ramires at the same time. And Willian who was contributing jack shit to the attacking play. All this against Diego Simeone. He is simply past it.

What a joker. There is absolutely no difference between last autumn's Chelsea and this United. His United. And now there is no more moles in the locker room, no more supposed players that do not want to play for him and that betray his work and whatever other bollocks he said. Cracks me up after every post match interview. Thought it would take some time before he starts blaming others for every point dropped, but we're one month into the new season and he's already thrown his players under the bus. I saw in every interview that he seems to think that everything is fine with him preparing the matches and likes to point out everytime that individual mistakes from the players are what keeps them from winning football matches. Haha. Classy. Reminds me of: "Sometimes, I find myself thinking that last season I did an amazing job and I brought players to a level that is not their level" And then look at Raheem Sterling. He's been gash last season, the ultimate donkey. So, so bad. Look at him now under Guardiola. He is phenomenal. Guess what Guardiola had to say on this: "Sterling's improvement is all down to him, I have no involvement in that." The difference in class between these two is enormous.

Not, not comparing, it was not meant to sound like that. Only a little similarity, this is what I was trying to say.

Ivanovic and Cahill then benched for EPL matches.

Don't get me started on the Romanian clubs stories and their history of rejected players 1) Back in 2008 I was playing five a side football at Rapid Bucharest's training ground. The team was away in Portugal for pre season, but a 20yo Seydou Doumbia was in Bucharest waiting for them to get back so he can start the trial. Meanwhile he was training on his own while we were playing five a side football. When the team got back the manager rejected him and he went to Switzerland's Young Boys. A year later CSKA bought him for 15m. 2) In 2006, 21yo Koscielny and some other anonymous player was having a trial for a defunct team now, Otopeni FC, near Bucharest. They kept the anonymous player and rejected Koscielny. 3) Rapid Bucharest, again, had 18yo Obi Mikel (2005) and 21 yo Kolarov (2007) at their training ground, but rejected both. Mikel then went to Lyn Oslo and one year later to Chelsea. For Kolarov, some team in Belgrade asked 600k, but Rapid Bucharest did not want to pay that "much" money and they sold him to Lazio instead. Three years later City bought him. 4) 18yo Zoran Tosic was close to Timisoara (now bankrupt) for 400k. Everything was agreed with the player, but the Romanian club did not want to pay the money. He went to Partizan and two years later to Man United. 5) In 2005, 20yo Taye Taiwo was playing for a Nigerian team, agent brought him to Romania, but once again, Rapid Bucharest rejected him . Went to Marseille instead. 6) In 2006, 20yo Falcao was coming after a torn ACL and some time off the pitch because of the injury. He wanted to come to Steaua Bucharest, but Steaua penny pinched at a few millions and he stayed at River. Two years later he went to Porto.

Payet must be thrilled for staying put at West Ham for another season.

He is truly the closest thing to Lampard in world football. How a manager that has trained and won b2b titles with Lampard as a focal point his team failed to see this defies any logic.........

You know, I was wondering - was any of the transfered players on Conte's wishlist? Because I know for sure that David Luiz and Marcos Alonso were not. They were plan B, maybe plan C after the board failed with every other target. It leaves Batshuayi and Kante. Batshuayi was the first and came in early. Maybe, I say maybe, he was Conte's request. But Kante, I don't know, I have my doubts. It came all of a sudden after Chelsea penny pinched for weeks for Nainggolan. I think Kante was the board's proposition to Conte and he vouched for the transfer in the end, seeing that Nainggolan's transfer is hard to reach. Conte was presented at Chelsea as the "first team coach" and I think that now we can truly see that his role at Chelsea is to manage the squad only. And that's it. Even though he said that he gets in touch with the board for every transfer, I think the board have the last say and get the transfers done their way. Just like Liverpool with Brendan Rodgers. I mean, the Nainggolan "saga" was ridiculous, it was like the Chelsea board tried their everything for this transfer not to happen. Roma had set an asking price at first, but Chelsea was always close by a few millions. Not to mention the ridiculous 23m offer, Chelsea's first. Ok, Nainggolan is no Vidal, but come on, 23m? He is worth more than that. Roma was probably feeling from the beginning they are taken by fools. Can't blame them though. This type of 25m plus bonus, 26m plus bonus, 27m plus bonus offer is a joke. If they ask for 35m then offer that money, stop with the 32m plus bonus shit. What is 3m for a club like Chelsea if you really want the player? Think the board let Conte down but he won't say anything because he is a gentleman for now. Maybe at some point over the years we will read in his autobiography how during his first summer at Chelsea he tried to sign and get rid of certain players, but the board fucked everything up.

Agree with all, but Kante. He is ok and would be perfect in a team we all envisage, where fullbacks take attacking positions and always overlap and centre backs play a highline. He'd be allowed to drop in between the centre backs and give the attacking players a lot of freedom. This has been Chelsea's problem for years now. The lack of proactive centre backs and useless fullbacks. Other teams attack in numbers, whereas Chelsea's centre backs always play deep and fullbacks barely create any superiority. I think we can count on one hand's fingers only the times when Azpilicueta and Ivanovic bring something to the attacking play in a football match. Add to that the non existent creativity in our midfield... Unfortunately the state of our squad is of a very poor level. Last night's match was the perfect example and I felt sorry for Diego Costa. What a horror game for him to be left for dead between Matip and Lovren, nothing came from the midfield for him, nothing from the wings, no usefull cross, nothing. At times he had to drop so deep to touch the ball it was unbelievable. Football has changed so much, but Chelsea is still left with 80's type of defenders. Painful.

These pundits never fail to amaze me. So David Luiz is not a Conte type of defender, but Cahill is? How come? He is fucking dog shite, can't defend, can't play from the back, can't keep his shit together if Terry is not there, backs up like a fucking maniac, is prone to silly errors every week etc. Had David Luiz been English he'd have been on every pundit's lips. But since he is a foreigner of course "he can't defend". Similar to Claudio Bravo's situation when the media looked like they was expecting his mistake against United so much just to have a reason to praise Joe Hart once more. Because he is English, of course. When in truth Joe Hart is a fucking poor man's Begovic.

That's the problem - DM should be his role. Kante's back-up and nothing more than that.

Hopefully a wake up call this match. Must understand some things, such as: - We're fed up with negative tactics, especially against big teams. - Fabregas is Chelsea's best midfielder by a mile. - No Chelsea fan is going to cry for Ivanovic, Oscar, Matic, Cahill if these frauds are benched. - Ivanovic's contract is due to end next summer. Conte must be against the board offering him a new deal. These 9 months must be the last for Ivanovic in a Chelsea shirt. - 7 minutes is not enough for three new players to turn around a football match, no matter how tired the opposition is.

He is like a deer in the headlights as soon as he is pressed, just like Liverpool did in the 1st half. In the 2nd half Liverpool played from deep and he had more time on the ball, but was still shite IMO. Was very lucky that the three Liverpool players concentrated on Hazard and none picked his run for the assist, when Diego Costa scored. He is a very poor and limited player. And to be thinking that Fabregas can't get a sniff at first team football because of Matic and Oscar, then I don't know......... It goes beyond footballing reasons, there is something personal going between Conte and Cesc that must be fixed asap.