Demba Ba

[BlueLion. 21,491]

I am sorry to say but BA, Torres and Etoo is not a champions league or league winning strike force at all. There is no wild card like Lukaku would have been. I really fuming that Lukaku was sacrificed for Ba.

Let's be fair, Drogba (in his first season), Eidur and Kezman was hardly confidence-inspiring as a strike-force in 2004/05, was it?!

[Vybz Kartel 1,613]

Let's be fair, Drogba (in his first season), Eidur and Kezman was hardly confidence-inspiring as a strike-force in 2004/05, was it?!

Kezman had just scored over 30 goals in the dutch league he was one of the most wanted strikers that summer, Drogba had been voted Uefa cup player of the season and had just had a fantastic season at Marseille and Gud Johnson had come from a decent season with Chelsea so that strike force was decent but look at Ba and Torres both are terribly out of form, etoo is an unknown coming from the wilderness in Russia and is old not exactly the confidence building strikers to be honest. I would take Eidur, Drogba and Kezman on a heart beat compared to the pathetic strike force we have ne

[English Freak 456]

Let's be fair, Drogba (in his first season), Eidur and Kezman was hardly confidence-inspiring as a strike-force in 2004/05, was it?!

To be fair, I always thought Eidur had that bit of flair and/or x-factor in him.

[BlueLion. 21,491]

Kezman had just scored over 30 goals in the dutch league he was one of the most wanted strikers that summer, Drogba had been voted Uefa cup player of the season and had just had a fantastic season at Marseille and Gud Johnson had come from a decent season with Chelsea so that strike force was decent but look at Ba and Torres both are terribly out of form, etoo is an unknown coming from the wilderness in Russia and is old not exactly the confidence building strikers to be honest. I would take Eidur, Drogba and Kezman on a heart beat compared to the pathetic strike force we have ne

Yeah, going into the season it was full of promise. But between the three of them, in all competitions, we got 39 goals between the three of them. I fully expect Ba, Eto'o and Torres to conjure that amount up between the three of them this season.

To be fair, I always thought Eidur had that bit of flair and/or x-factor in him.

I loved Eidur too, he is in my top-five favourite Chelsea players alongside Cudicini, Cech, Drogba and Lampard. He had flair, but José turned him into more of a deep-lying forward than the out-and-out number 9 that played alongside Hasselbaink - and eventually Mourinho played him as the CAM in 2005/06. He had a bit of an unknown quality that he could bring to the table, but then again, so can many of our current squad. So whilst I see your point, I believe now that our strikers are no longer imperative to the way we operate beyond being a nuisance for opposition defenders. Any success we have this season will be conjured by Hazard, Oscar et al.

[didierforever 7,349]

Let's be fair, Drogba (in his first season), Eidur and Kezman was hardly confidence-inspiring as a strike-force in 2004/05, was it?!

the point is how good were the other teams.

arsenal were pathetic after their invinsible season, right now they have got ozil in their ranks.

united were on decline, same as now.

pool were well pool themselves, same as now.

but that was pretty much it.

but right now, city and tottenham have really good squads. city are playing poorly but if they find the right rythm, they would destroy most of the team and for me they are the favourites.

tottenham have got a wonderful squad but they will take some time to gel. i think by december they will gather some momentum and find their feet, not PL but still a formidable force.

so considering the quality of teams in 04-05 and now, i feel its not apt to compare.

[BlueLion. 21,491]

the point is how good were the other teams.

arsenal were pathetic after their invinsible season, right now they have got ozil in their ranks.

united were on decline, same as now.

pool were well pool themselves, same as now.

but that was pretty much it.

but right now, city and tottenham have really good squads. city are playing poorly but if they find the right rythm, they would destroy most of the team and for me they are the favourites.

tottenham have got a wonderful squad but they will take some time to gel. i think by december they will gather some momentum and find their feet, not PL but still a formidable force.

so considering the quality of teams in 04-05 and now, i feel its not apt to compare.

Arsenal... pathetic... in 2005? Are you sure?

Arsenal were a brilliant team back then. Liverpool, under Rafa, were one of the best teams in England and equally as good - if not better - than AVB's Spurs are right now. United were as they are now; in a state of transition but a good side nonetheless. Everton played a blinder that season and finished fourth, so there is little change there. The only difference is Arsenal have regressed now and City have taken their place as one of the "big three". The competition is always the same, it's just the names that change.

[didierforever 7,349]

Arsenal... pathetic... in 2005? Are you sure?

Arsenal were a brilliant team back then. Liverpool, under Rafa, were one of the best teams in England and equally as good - if not better - than AVB's Spurs are right now. United were as they are now; in a state of transition but a good side nonetheless. Everton played a blinder that season and finished fourth, so there is little change there. The only difference is Arsenal have regressed now and City have taken their place as one of the "big three". The competition is always the same, it's just the names that change.

no no... u got me wrong. arsenal's squad in 04-05 was the almost same as their squad in 03-04. when i said "they were pathetic" (a little exaggeration is okay when it is considering arsenal, ), i meant football-wise not squad-wise,escpacially since this was their follow -up season to the invinsibles. my point was in 04-05, our biggest competition were arsenal, who dint have a very good season or the kind of season every1 was expecting them to have, cant expect the same from city. but the overall strength of the title "pretenders" have increased in pool, tot, united, and arsenal right now. the competition is way more harder than it was back then. there was an actual gap in level after the top4 teams, which is definitely not the case right now (and hence why it was such a big big big deal when everton got the 4th spot).

ps - pool were never title challengers back then.

[bushman 2,043]

The Spurs failed with a late attempt to get BA, I read.

Even though, Chelsea agreed, but It was too late to process.

Now, if I may. BA knows he was offered to other clubs. Let´s assume he will not get to play much for Chelsea.

My question. Come January, should he force through a move if he does not get regular football ?

[Sovieticus 743]

The Spurs failed with a late attempt to get BA, I read.

Even though, Chelsea agreed, but It was too late to process.

Now, if I may. BA knows he was offered to other clubs. Let´s assume he will not get to play much for Chelsea.

My question. Come January, should he force through a move if he does not get regular football ?

That would be stupid if Torres would start over him.

[bushman 2,043]

That would be stupid if Torres would start over him.

Well, mark my words, Ferda gets the nod to play in more games than BA, I feel.

[Sovieticus 743]

Well, mark my words, Ferda gets the nod to play in more games than BA, I feel.

Well considering the paycheck he gets, he has to play.

[bushman 2,043]

Well considering the paycheck he gets, he has to play.

His pay in comparison to Ferda is much less. Basically, it is not about wages here. He wants to play regularly. By January Chelsea might have one discontented BA on their hands if he sits around only.

[Sovieticus 743]

His pay in comparison to Ferda is much less. Basically, it is not about wages here. He wants to play regularly. By January Chelsea might have one discontented BA on their hands if he sits around only.

I was talking about Zorres'es wage. IMO Chelsea don't want another Malouda kind of shit to happen.

[bushman 2,043]

I was talking about Zorres'es wage. IMO Chelsea don't want another Malouda kind of shit to happen.

Of course, no one wants it. However, do you honestly believe Torres is not going to start in games ?

Of course, he will. His fucking stay at Chelsea brought nothing but troubles. See Sturridge, now Lukaku.. how many more players are going to be set aside because of him, I ask ?

[Sovieticus 743]

Of course, no one wants it. However, do you honestly believe Torres is not going to start in games ?

Of course, he will. His fucking stay at Chelsea brought nothing but troubles. See Sturridge, now Lukaku.. how many more players are going to be set aside because of him, I ask ?

The many we get. Until he leaves, he's a cancer.

[xPetrCechx 13,563]

Jose Mourinho: “We didn’t accept Arsenal’s offer for Demba Ba because the signing of Özil makes them title contenders" (AS)

[GermanBlue 82]

The Spurs failed with a late attempt to get BA, I read.

Even though, Chelsea agreed, but It was too late to process.

Now, if I may. BA knows he was offered to other clubs. Let´s assume he will not get to play much for Chelsea.

My question. Come January, should he force through a move if he does not get regular football ?

I think he'll stay until the end of the season now, or at least José will try to make him stay in January. As there is no re-call clause for Lukaku as far as I know, we would only have 2 strikers by January if Ba leaves. Eto'o whose contribution to our team we can't estimate by now and Torres. I think it'll be a massive risk to go into the second leg of the season only with these two. I can see Demba leaving if we bring another striker in. Will we bring someone in? No one knows. It'd be another punch in the face of Lukaku.

Jose Mourinho: “We didn’t accept Arsenal’s offer for Demba Ba because the signing of Özil makes them title contenders" (AS)

Nice move. Arsenal don't really have a replacement for Giroud right now.

[Tomo 21,733]

arsenal were pathetic after their invinsible season, right now they have got ozil in their ranks.

Actually that is not true (well not straight away anyway).

In 04/05 they started the season like a steam train with no handbrakes, they were actually playing better than they did at any point in their unbeaten season, they thrashed Everton 4-1 at Goodison (a game they drew 1-1 in their unbeaten season), beat Blackburn 3-0 (only won it 1-0 the season before), slaughtered Norwich, beat Fulham 3-0 (a fixture they needed a VDS error to win in the unbeaten season), beat Charlton 4-0 and after the 9th game they were 5 points and 20 goals ahead of Chelsea. At one point it looked like they might have gone unbeaten back to back, and in an even better style.

Arsenal were top class in 04/05, they were just beaten to the title by an absolute freak of nature team.