petre.ispirescu

Coming off a transfer ban and looking at how things develop at Chelsea (the new project seems to work really well), I'd say Frank Lampard is surely going to be backed in the transfer market. If Frank Lampard will ask for Mbappe and some other 150M player then I agree, maybe Marina G. will tell him to calm down, but if Lampard identifies like 4 players worth of 150-170M that he thinks he can turn into world class ones, I don't think Chelsea is going to have any problems providing the funds for him.

I would say he did clever transfers rather than picking the most sought after ones. At the time there was not a lot of clubs after Southampton's Mane, nor Newcastle's Wijnaldum, Roma's Salah, Hull's Robertson etc. Matip was also a clever freebie when maybe only some Bremen or Frankfurt type of clubs where interested in him. He was clearly on a limited budget and most of his buys where financed from the Ibe, Benteke, Joe Allen, Coutinho, Sakho departures. I would say only Van Dijk and Alisson and maybe to some extent Fabinho were transfers he had to fight other clubs off to get them, all the others were maybe 4th - 5th place material at that moment that he identified as being top class in a few seasons and he was completely right. But I don't think he gets to pick whoever he wants, even in this moment I am sure he has to run a specific budget and think his deal through from an economic point of view otherwise he'd have surely improved his squad in the summer with at least two top additions, but he did not. Hope Lampard does the same next summer and asks for clever deals rather than the flavour of the week

It's in Chelsea's hands now and if you think about it Chelsea can still finish first with a win v Lille and if Valencia get the three points v Ajax which I don't think they will because Ajax are a level above, but everything is possible. Bottom line is with a win Chelsea is through no matter what, even with a draw should Ajax win v Valencia. Last 16 it's only by February and a lot can happen until then, strange things have happened in a very strange competition such as CL - look no further than some months ago when a poor Man United side have knocked out Paris. But we're not in this competition to win it, for me I guess it is important for this squad and for Lampard to face this kind of matches like the one in Valencia or the one v Ajax in London - it can only help a young manager and a young squad to grow.

In a transitional season this surely is a game you have no high expectations going into, at least in terms of the result,so everything other than a loss is a bonus. I give it two more seasons before we're able to say before an Etihad match "This is a game against a league tital rival that we must win". But not now, it's too early. Still it was a decent game from our Chelsea and frankly it did not look that big of a difference between City's stellar squad and our group of young players.

Strange appointment. Spurs run on a limited budget and have a stadium to pay for. What's Mourinho going to do w/o a monster transfer kitty and some important players running their contracts down soon?! And the (massive) change in style... Hmmm, from proactive Poch football to the Mourinho bore fest. But I guess Levy is a bit desperate and hired Mourinho for the 'Mourinho factor' (if there is still anything left in it). Levy knows they desperately need CL football to remain relevant. With such a big debt and frankly not the best of spenders, they simply need to be in the CL every season and I guess they needed a manager to do it the dirty way. But if you ask me who would I have thought would be a better fit to replace Poch and keep them on the same positive line in terms of style of play then I guess Brendan Rodgers would be the answer. It surely was the first name on my mind the other day when I saw they sacked Poch.

You are totally right, but the likes of Mount, CHO, Tomori, Reece James, Pulisic, Tammy will still be considered as young players next season, too, so I guess two or three quality senior arrivals are needed IMHO. They (Mount, CHO etc.) are of top quality, but still young come next season to play week in, week out and the way I see Frank Lampard the manager, I don't think he is the type to play the same '11' from August to May. A midfield six of Kante, Jorginho, Kovacic, RLC, Mount and Eriksen would be a balanced one IMHO, but for sure it's a long shot with Eriksen and just a thought of mine because I like him as a player.

When I think of freebies some great names come to my mind like Lewandowski, Pirlo, Ballack, even Milner turned out to be a great free transfer for Liverpool, I could also add Sol Campbell, Miro Klose and others I can't remember atm or I don't know of. But I think Christian Eriksen will be there in that list, too, in a few years. For me he is a must come next summer, sell Barkley he's useless anyway and bring Eriksen in. Or at least try. If he says no then fair enough, but Frank must try at least, he's simply too good to pass up.

Not only I was wrong about him (purely because I did not watch his Dortmund performances), but I actually thought he was supposed to be a right winger and nothing more, I was absolutely sure he was bought for that position only. He looks so damn good on the left and frankly for me the way he drives forward and glides past players he seems to be the closest player to Eden Hazard in European football atm. Sure Eden is a different type of animal, but there is shades of him in this guy and I feel he's more driven to score goals than Eden is.

Tactically I think Ajax are a level above Chelsea because your manager besides being a brilliant one, has extra years of experience ahead of F. Lampard, who by the looks of things will turn into a good manager in a few years. But I think that the ref was spot on all night, first one on Pulisic was a clear one, the Ajax player clipped his foot and then the 2nd half incident what can I say? Blind went for Tammy's ankle so a clear 2nd yellow and frankly Veltman is the only one to be blamed for his 2nd yellow because 150% the ref was not going to give him that yellow had he kept his mouth shut and did not talk trash to him. And frankly if you ask me Chelsea's 5th goal should have stood, there is no way somebody in this world would have that great of a reflex to move his hand that fast... Just look at the player where the ball comes from, he's centimeters away plus add the pace of the game, it's impossible to do anything, human brain is not capable to think THAT fast.

Think they were the better side 11v11, but at the same Chelsea simply cannot concede goals like the 1st one or the 3rd one. I mean Tammy has to hit that ball and then what was Kepa doing? To concede from that free kick... And from that angle, too. Just not good enough. Even for their 4th goal - Zouma and Tomori have improved, but they tend to have these runs where they chase attackers in their own field or in the wide areas and the same happened with Tomori who was dragged wide. Think it was a mistake, if you are going to do this against a technically brilliant side like Ajax, make sure you win the ball otherwise they cut you open. But overall I am glad this group of young players have come from 4-1 down against arguably one of Europe's best clubs. In the end, apart from Promes and Martinez, others have played a big part in Ajax's success last season and were seconds away from a CL final. Whereas half of our players have barely had a sniff at this competition. Think this comeback from three goals down will do a lot of good for our young players' confidence.

Chilwell, Sancho and Werner would be insane!!!

I did not trust in his ability and I thought this was 70-80% a marketing move because the little I have seen of him at Dortmund he looked like your average Joe, but maybe I was not lucky enough and I picked the wrong matches where he had a bad day. There is raw talent and ability and now the next step for our young players, not only for Pulisic, is to hit that gym and bulk up because, apart from tactics and all the skills, that's one of the secrets of this game. Take Liverpool's front three compared to where they were when they arrived there, now they are strong and imposing and are an even bigger threat and all this w/o losing their pace (Salah, Mane).

Burnley have a poor record overall against the big clubs, but still they can be a pain in the ass if taken lightly and Turf Moor is not the easiest of grounds. Especially coming off a tough UCL away day. Happy for the win and for Pulisic, the perfect hattrick fully deserved. On to the next one we must top this perfect run with a win v United.

Two of the last three matches are at home, think we'll top the group just like Paris will. I did not watch a single minute of Ajax this season and I thought they would be similar to last season, but they are miles away from that. Judging be the celebrations at the end, I think our players were also a bit afraid of Ajax's home record, but now that small fear I think it is gone and they will go out at the Bridge for a three pointer I have no doubt about it.

Slavia played Cluj (btw greatest city in Romania by a mile where I hope I can relocate soon) in the CL Q play off and although Cluj is a well run club with a great manager, former Chels Dan Petrescu, we knew they were not going to play CL football if Slavia was to maintaint their Europa League campaing form. And they did. Cluj missed some huge chances in Prague and a penalty in Cluj and overall it was a pretty balanced tie and frankly pundits and football people in Romania were a bit dissapointed, they thought Slavia was there for the taking. But their matches so far v Inter, Dortmund and Barcelona prove they are very organised and play with a lot of guts, press very, very high something unusual for small team from this part of Europe. We are used to Czech team, Polish, Romanian, Serbian etc. to park the bus, but Slavia are really having a go every time.

Hats off to our main man Jorginho he was supposed to be the heart and brains of Sarriball but actually looks 10 times better in Lamps' setup. Kovacic class act, too, I mean all of our guys were great and Lamps made all the right adjustments. Did not think we'd win simply because Ajax are a goalscoring machine at home and our defence is not a great one, but hats off to Lamps this is a team growing with each and every day and the most important thing is that it is clear for everybody to see they are all playing for the club and for the manager.

Patrice Evra could not have said it better last night. It's what every average Chelsea, Spurs, United, Liverpool fan would say if given one minute live on TV to talk on Arsenal. A soft club with probably the most delusional fan base in England. They think they are big, but they are not, they are just useless and deluded with an even more unlikeable, Europa League level manager with no charisma at all. At some point last night, the Romanian commentator said "Arsenal do not even look in the mood to play an 8PM Monday night match against a newly promoted side", sounding like they are 20 points ahead Liverpool and with a match in Munchen coming up in a few days. Well, if anything, this is a club that should be hungry for throphies because it's what? 16 years since their last major one? They have become completely irrelevant in both PL and Europe, a club with a set of fans with grandiose delusions. They have become an irrelevant club and will stay small and soft. Fuck Arsenal FC!

Declan Rice, I don't know, so much hype around him because he is English, but personally I never understood why and I still don't, truly believe he is simply average at best. Maybe he would look better as a centre back, but surely as a midfielder he is just a mid table, 80s like, bang average destroyer. United splashing a fortune on him would make so much sense.

He is smart and he is cool and charismatic, I feel they all respect him (media, pundits, ex players former rivals etc.) I wrote a post here two years ago, even more maybe, on Harry Kane's diving - refs give him a foul every time a fly touches him. My point, though, is that English refs and media are biased and will always protect English players and clubs with a strong English core, hence Kane and Spurs being the media darlings. I was saying back then Chelsea must build a strong English core in the near future to take advantage of all the refs & media bias because it is what it is, it's football played on English soil, it is normal for English people to sometimes "protect" their own and there are moments when you need the refs to give you that 5% and the media to back off for some time.

The way I see it I think the club wanted to make a big move on the American market, but now the young English core is the new flavour of the week, something that the club did not foresee I guess, hence Pulisic going way down the pecking order. I see a lot of bs on social media calling Lamps biased for playing all the English lads, well, I mean, what do you expect really? English club playing its own graduates, Chelsea through and through kids, ofc they are on every people's lips, even I am thrilled to see them in the first team and I am not even British, imagine just the enthusiasm of UK based fans. As a matter of fact I was so happy to see the line up v Lille I did not even notice Pulisic did not make the bench.

Think he is having a good time now, even in Bucharest for Romania v Spain some weeks ago he had a worldie save in the last minute of the game, he basically handed Spain the win that night with that amazing reflex.

The way he bullied the Lille player In Hudson Odoi I think Chelsea have a raw diamond that I truly believe will turn into a world class player. Not only he is a total baller, but there is something about him that makes me think he is destined for great things, it's his charisma that stands before all other things. Years back you looked at Januzaj and although some skill was there, you simply could not see it in him, or at least I could not. He looked like an introvert type of guy, nervy, there was nothing about his attitude to make you think he will make it, he was plain boring. Hudson Odoi is none of this, he got swag, he is good looking, it looks to me he's got things very settled in his head and knows very well what he's capable of and the heights he could hit. If he indeed is going to reach the heights I believe he will, then I think he will also reach the C. Ronaldo level of hate, he is simply too charismatic to be the type of guy that everybody enjoys watching, he will sure be loved by Chelsea fans and completely hated by others, no matter he'll be winning games for England or not, simply because of his insane skill, looks, charisma, Chelsea DNA etc.

Almost shoot ourselves in the foot with those individual errors (Kepa, Tomori), but in the end this is the beauty of this season really, if there is a time where mistakes are, let's say, accepted, it's this now, this very season of transition where 19 at 20 year olds get to play regular football for one of world's biggest clubs in both PL and CL. Talk about slowly introducing youngsters in the team, Lamps having none of that, it's so easy to enjoy this current Chelsea, I'm hoping some day during next spring all of CHO, RLC, James, Tammy, Mount, Tomori are on the teamsheet at the same time.

Pfouuuuuu 7 hahahah!!!

Can't disagree, you have probably watched him more than I did and frankly for the kid's sake I actually wish I am wrong and he turns into a world class player. It's just that I personally don't see it in him. From the little he has spent here, it's either Lampard's tactics he does not feel comfortable with, or the English football pace, or some other mental things like that price tag hanging on his shoulders everytime he touches the ball, I don't know, but he looks a bit lost so far. As soon as Hudson Odoi is completely fit and that's one month tops, we can all agree the left wing is locked and there is going to be three guys (Pulisic, Willian and Pedro) plus Mount fighting for a place on the right. Thing is if by the end of the season Pulisic still shifts between League Cup matches and 10 minute cameos in the PL (or no minutes at all, like now), then I don't know... I'd loan him to keep his value up and move to bigger and better targets, Sancho preferably or a top class left footed winger if Sancho is out of our reach.