Dressing Room Harmony

[Term-X 7,891]

Notice how certain players/nationalities have been brought in 'partly' for dressing room harmony. The club acquired Hazard's brother to further accommodate him, and before his arrival we confirmed the De Bruyne & Courtois deals, and brought in Lukaku. Having a contingent of players from particular backgrounds. Benayoun was a welcome face upon arrival for Torres. He was eventually joined by former Liverpool counterpart Meireles and Spain team mate Mata, and later Romeu, boosting the Spanish numbers. We saw a similar pattern developing after the Ramires acquisition, with the Brazilians. Of course there are exceptions to this, but the way the dressing room has been constructed recently would certainly indicate to it not being a mere coincidence. With the constant manager changes over the years, the club have at least managed to combat culture clashes effectively, and have managed to construct an identity/harmony within the squad.

[capriccioso 2,545]

I don't think that played much of a role in Emenalo's decision to transfer these players. More like a happy coincidence.

It's also skewed by Belgium's, Brazil's and Spain's oligopoly (relative to a lot of other nations) in producing young footballing talent.

[KonohasOrangeFlash 2,607]

Exactly what Cap said. It's a great thing for us to have nonetheless.

[Term-X 7,891]

Torres played a role in the Mata signing, both directly & indirectly.

[capriccioso 2,545]

The problem with Belgium is you have the Flemish speaking North and the French south. I think de Bruyne is Flemish while Courtois sounds French. I'm not sure about Lukaku or the Hazard Bro's.

It's not the same as Torres asking Mata to come over. There's a very remote chance that due to language barriers they may not get along as well as expected. There are precedent's for this in other sports, especially cycling where the French speaking Belgian Phillipe Gilbert had a very rocky relationship with his team mate and Flemish Belgian Jurgen Van den Broeck...

[KonohasOrangeFlash 2,607]

Torres played a role in the Mata signing, both directly & indirectly.

Yes but that doesn't mean we went out of our way to sign a Spanish player. We identified a player, he happened to be Spanish, we told Torres to put in a good word for us.

[Badboy 1,526]

I like the fact that we have done this because it helps the squad immensely. We haven't signed players just for the sake of 'squad harmony' but rather because they can contribute to the team in a positive way !

[Term-X 7,891]

coincidence would imply no thought has been put into it at all..

The Thorgan Hazard acquisition destroys Caps original broad apposing argument.

[Hamilton 2,120]

The problem with Belgium is you have the Flemish speaking North and the French south. I think de Bruyne is Flemish while Courtois sounds French. I'm not sure about Lukaku or the Hazard Bro's.

It's not the same as Torres asking Mata to come over. There's a very remote chance that due to language barriers they may not get along as well as expected. There are precedent's for this in other sports, especially cycling where the French speaking Belgian Phillipe Gilbert had a very rocky relationship with his team mate and Flemish Belgian Jurgen Van den Broeck...

De Bruyne - Courtois Flemish

Lukaku - Brussels, so both

Hazard's - French

[Term-X 7,891]

^ Yes?, all part of the same national squad either way.

I'm not going to expand further on the first post, as it's been covered already..

I never said it was the sole reason, just that the dressing room has been considered as part of the process.

[capriccioso 2,545]

coincidence would imply no thought has been put into it at all..

The Thorgan Hazard acquisition destroys Caps original broad apposing argument.

How so? We bought him because he is/can be a good player, not because his name is Hazard.

[Term-X 7,891]

How so? We bought him because he is/can be a good player, not because his name is Hazard.

You must be delusional if you think Thorgan would be a Chelsea player if Eden had signed for City instead.

Eden wants his brother in London.

[manpe 10,861]

The cases of Hazards and Musondas are clear, the less prominent ones were brought to accomodate the real targets. The Belgian, Spanish and Brazilian are probably both, to create harmony and sense of belonging while still profiting from their talents. With those 3 nations it's easy, because they have many good players and it makes sense to acquire a handful of same nation players, instead of an "outsider" with same kind of talent and resale value.

This, I suspect, is one of the reasons why we are watching Azpilicueta more closely, instead of Van Der Wiel, Debuchy or Piszcek, who would be outsiders. We were also close to signing Maicon, a Brazilian.

[capriccioso 2,545]

^ Yes?, all part of the same national squad either way.

I'm not going to expand further on the first post, as it's been covered already. I never said it was the sole reason, just that the dressing room has been considered as part of the process.

Fair enough but ability always remains the big picture. Sorry, but I thought you were saying squad harmony was the most important factor; I misunderstood

[OneMoSalah 8,778]

We've always had a strong dressing room harmony with a lot of French speaking playing and Portuguese speaking players. Now we are doing that again with Spanish, Belgian and more Brazilian players coming in.

[Term-X 7,891]

Fair enough but ability always remains the big picture. Sorry, but I thought you were saying squad harmony was the most important factor; I misunderstood

It was quite clear what I was saying from the first post..

You could have avoided discrediting my point if that really was the case.

[capriccioso 2,545]

You must be delusional if you think Thorgan would be a Chelsea player if Eden had signed for City instead.

Eden wants his brother in London.

How can you say this with certainty? Have either of them talked about this to the media?

[capriccioso 2,545]

It was quite clear what I was saying from the first post..

You could have avoided discrediting my point if that really was the case.

Disagreeing is not the same as discrediting.