Is the spending wrong?

[OneMoSalah 8,778]

I think it's inevitable that we will see Oscar in a deeper role sooner or later (a few years maybe, which is a shame in my opinion as it would be a waste) going by what Michael Emenalo said after a few games under Robbie last year and the fact we only really signed Marco van Ginkel who plays in a deeper role this summer (and nobody last summer). Realistically I think next summer or even in January, despite what Jose said, we might look for a new central midfield player because I think Lampard said somewhere that this is probably his last year and if it is we go back to being slightly short in midfield. It needs to be someone like Modric I feel, be it Modric himself or Ilkay Gundogan from Dortmund or someone else of that ilk. Either that or if Lampard signs on for another year at the end of the season, then we have to put trust in young Marco van Ginkel, who looks a good prospect; he can can distribute the ball well and also get stuck in and break play up. Also next summer what do we do with Oriol Romeu? He isn't a playmaker but hes another midfield player, albeit I don't know if he will get a chance under Jose. I feel he's somebody Mourinho would like as he's strong and comfortable on the ball although still needs games to develop. Then we have Michael Essien too? Does he go? Does he get more minutes? Who knows.

[lucio 5,418]

could of brought someone like capoue for less than £10m. just so frustrating

[The Skipper 20,593]

could of brought someone like capoue for less than £10m. just so frustrating

Don't really need him IMO.

[OneMoSalah 8,778]

could of brought someone like capoue for less than £10m. just so frustrating

Why buy Capoue when we already have Mikel who is better? Its a similar case to Nemanja Matic being linked to us, sure Capoue is a good player (as is Matic) but Mikel is sort of struggling to get into the team so going and buying Capoue (or Matic) who plays in that same position when hes inferior to Mikel and not really needed? If it isn't broke don't fix it. I don't mean the pivot but in terms of defensive midfielders, we don't necessarily need another one so it would effectively be a luxury buy (like Willian was imo).

Romeu who is a good prospect is out on loan as well, if he can get game time and develop, come back a better player, we have even more competition without spending anything. With all these loans the likes of Romeu (if he can get his old form back) and Lukaku, has a chance on competing for a squad place for sure, no doubt about it.

Also as Kojo mentioned we have Lampard, Ramires, Mikel, Van Ginkel and Michael Essien, we have options just not the correct profile of players in a way I guess. Forgetting about those players and Romeu, we also have young players like Nathan Ake, Josh McEachran and Nathaniel Chalobah who you could include for the pivot but will they feature at all? That remains a mystery. Still my point is, in my opinion, Capoue and Matic are players we don't need due to the fact they aren't better than what we already have.

I think Jose, Emenalo and the board need to prioritise strengthening these positions in the next few years:

Center back:

JT has been great so far this year but you cannot always bet on his fitness and hes not at an age where any more injuries/previous are going to take their toll more than ever. Also considering Ivanovic looks more than likely to be featuring at RB for Jose now a days then when JT hangs up his boots/declines/whatever then we will be relying on David Luiz, Gary Cahill and Tomas Kalas (who still looks slightly inexperienced but that will come).

Left back:

Cole is coming to the end sadly and Bertrand is solid but nothing spectacular in my eyes. We will need to look to promote or buy sooner than later. Luke Shaw would be a good fit due to the fact hes English, only 18 right now and a Chelsea fan. Ultimately I know that means nothing but hes certainly one for the long term, if we were to go for him.

Central midfield:

Lampard is close to retiring and Michael Essien has been finished for a while so a new central midfielder is going to be needed soon. Gundogan/Modric would be perfect but unlikely, someone along that line of profile though, even Josh could be that player for us but he needs to make it happen through hard work and prove he's worthy of a place. We don't need any more holding or sitting players, we already have Mikel, Romeu, Ake, Chalobah who can all play that role. We don't really need a box to box player either as right now we have Lampard, Ramires and Marco.

Striker:

Torres is done, Eto'o is 30 odd, Ba is coming towards his 30s so we will need another striker soon to compete with Romelu Lukaku when he returns next summer (I'm certain Lukaku will make it, hes too good a talent not to make it here now). I'd like to see if Islam Feruz will play much over the next few seasons as he's really talented and it would be a shame to see him not make it a top club as the Scottish national team could do with some more top quality players playing at top clubs. Also Chelsea need at least 2 strikers who are at a high level; like we had with Drogba-Anelka, who can score at least 20 goals each.

[Rmpr 8,977]

Yes and no, to answer the thread's question...

I dont believe the spending is wrong overall. In the past 3-4 seasons, we made some smart moves like Mata, Courtois, Oscar, Hazard, Azi, Eto'o, etc. Then we had average signings like Ba, Cahill and Ramires. But we have also made some bad transfers like that January of 2011 when we bought two players (Luiz and Torres) for £74mi in a desperate attempt to win UCL and EPL. So, if you ask me, we have performed alright, because one cant always get everything right!

Now...We clearly need improvement in the double pivot and at the back and that is not from yesterday, but there werent many options availables and Mourinho decided to trust old midfield players at least for one last season (Lampard and Essien). I believe he knows we need to add quality to some key positions, but he decided it was best to wait! I honestly believes he wanted to see what is left of the old guard (Cech, Terry, Cole, Essien, Lampard, etc) before he went spending €150mi in his first transfer window. But that is for another day anyways...

To be fair, I only question two decisions in the last three years. The first is the stupidly of allowing us start last season without a single proper striker. And the second is this year's Willian/Schurrle/Moses saga.

1) We had big problems last year, yeah, but we all knew it was going to be a painful transition, so I dont think we should be really hard on Emenalo or whomever. But to go with girly Torres and injured Sturridge was a kids mistake, everyone could see how it would kill the entire season (and it almost did). A club with the stature of Chelsea cant allow these silly errors (which are of pure incompetence) fuck with an entire project. And even though we underperformed as a whole; signings like Hazard, Oscar, Moses and Azi were great aditions to the squad.

2) This year, Mourinho clearly took a cautions approach and he didnt want to be agressive. He prefered to invest in youth (with the return of Lukaku and KDB and the transfer of MVG) and compensate it with the experience of the old guard. He thought/still thinks it will work, so I believe he deseves our inital support that he will make it work. However, the Willian/Schurrle deals pissed me off! Not that they are bad player, not that they wont be helpful, not that we didnt need a true winger, etc, etc, etc. However, to spend £50mi on depth and variety when you still have gaps in your squad is a bit dumb, imo. If we wanted Willian for 30mi, fine, but why did we buy Schurrle for 20mi and loaned Moses to a rival then? Couldnt have we invested in someone similar to Luiz Gustavo, Witsel, De Rossi, Vidal, etc? Maybe even a future replacement for Terry and/or Cole, like Mangala and Shaw! But no, we added two new attacking players so we can say we have amazing depth in one area of the pitch. But whatever!

In resume, we have made good choices and a few bad choices. It still an overall positive balance if you look at how bad we looked in 2011 and how promissing we are in 2013. But there was also those two grotescus mistakes made in the last two season and that might cost us a possible UCL Final/Semi-final or even the League. Nevertheless, if Mourinho is able to replace the soon retirering Terry, Cole, Essien, Lampard and Eto'o with great players, we will be looking deadly for quite some years.

So...I will still hold on to give my final statement after the next summer, when we will have a better idea what José wants and what news replacements he bought to be the future of Chelsea. Just be patient and we will have a better chance to analyse if we are doing things the right way or not!

[Sidzeret 2,257]

The pivot could have been improved. That's the general feeling on here. The team may look very dangerous going forward but if the central midfield area can be easily overrun, you don't control many games.

We need someone like a younger Yaya Toure who can boss the midfield around. #combativemidfielder

[Spike 12,049]

I know this topic is purely about football and the tactics, formations and players at Chelsea, but I'd like to say this:

When it comes down to it, it is Roman Abramovic's money. He can do whatever he pleases with it, ill gotten or not, as of now, it's his money. Should he donate to charity over football? Yes, he should. Will he? Probably not. So at least he is spreading the wealth somewhat through football which is better than sitting in one of his Swedish, Cayman, Swiss bank accounts. And hopefully looking through idealistic lenses the spread reaches far enough to help the fight against disease, war, famine and poverty.

[bushman 2,043]

I know this topic is purely about football and the tactics, formations and players at Chelsea, but I'd like to say this:

When it comes down to it, it is Roman Abramovic's money. He can do whatever he pleases with it, ill gotten or not, as of now, it's his money. Should he donate to charity over football? Yes, he should. Will he? Probably not. So at least he is spreading the wealth somewhat through football which is better than sitting in one of his Swedish, Cayman, Swiss bank accounts. And hopefully looking through idealistic lenses the spread reaches far enough to help the fight against disease, war, famine and poverty.

Well, people like Roman give plenty to charity & I am certain he does too.

Shouldn´t we all be happy to have generous Roman around ?

Just look back 10 years ago. Exactly where Chelsea was & compare it to where Chelsea is, these days.

[English Freak 456]

Why buy Capoue when we already have Mikel who is better? Its a similar case to Nemanja Matic being linked to us, sure Capoue is a good player (as is Matic) but Mikel is sort of struggling to get into the team so going and buying Capoue (or Matic) who plays in that same position when hes inferior to Mikel and not really needed? If it isn't broke don't fix it. I don't mean the pivot but in terms of defensive midfielders, we don't necessarily need another one so it would effectively be a luxury buy (like Willian was imo).

Also as Kojo mentioned we have Lampard, Ramires, Mikel, Van Ginkel and Michael Essien, we have options just not the correct profile of players in a way I guess. Forgetting about those players and Romeu, we also have young players like Nathan Ake, Josh McEachran and Nathaniel Chalobah who you could include for the pivot but will they feature at all? That remains a mystery. Still my point is, in my opinion, Capoue and Matic are players we don't need due to the fact they aren't better than what we already have.

Capoue could have provided something different to our midfield. He likes to use his physical ability and he's fairly aggressive from what i've seen.

Mikel is nowhere near aggressive enough or consistent enough to be part of a top-class midfield.

As for Chelsea's own youngsters...Chalobah needs experience, Aké will probably be used as a CB and McEachran shouldn't even be mentioned as an option due to his lack of development.

[English Freak 456]

Yes and no, to answer the thread's question...

I dont believe the spending is wrong overall. In the past 3-4 seasons, we made some smart moves like Mata, Courtois, Oscar, Hazard, Azi, Eto'o, etc. Then we had average signings like Ba, Cahill and Ramires. But we have also made some bad transfers like that January of 2011 when we bought two players (Luiz and Torres) for £74mi in a desperate attempt to win UCL and EPL. So, if you ask me, we have performed alright, because one cant always get everything right!

I don't understand how Ramires can be classified as an average signing. As for Cahill, for the price we paid, he's done relatively well.

[lucio 5,418]

Why buy Capoue when we already have Mikel who is better? Its a similar case to Nemanja Matic being linked to us, sure Capoue is a good player (as is Matic) but Mikel is sort of struggling to get into the team so going and buying Capoue (or Matic) who plays in that same position when hes inferior to Mikel and not really needed? If it isn't broke don't fix it. I don't mean the pivot but in terms of defensive midfielders, we don't necessarily need another one so it would effectively be a luxury buy (like Willian was imo).

Romeu who is a good prospect is out on loan as well, if he can get game time and develop, come back a better player, we have even more competition without spending anything. With all these loans the likes of Romeu (if he can get his old form back) and Lukaku, has a chance on competing for a squad place for sure, no doubt about it.

Also as Kojo mentioned we have Lampard, Ramires, Mikel, Van Ginkel and Michael Essien, we have options just not the correct profile of players in a way I guess. Forgetting about those players and Romeu, we also have young players like Nathan Ake, Josh McEachran and Nathaniel Chalobah who you could include for the pivot but will they feature at all? That remains a mystery. Still my point is, in my opinion, Capoue and Matic are players we don't need due to the fact they aren't better than what we already have.

I think Jose, Emenalo and the board need to prioritise strengthening these positions in the next few years:

Center back:

JT has been great so far this year but you cannot always bet on his fitness and hes not at an age where any more injuries/previous are going to take their toll more than ever. Also considering Ivanovic looks more than likely to be featuring at RB for Jose now a days then when JT hangs up his boots/declines/whatever then we will be relying on David Luiz, Gary Cahill and Tomas Kalas (who still looks slightly inexperienced but that will come).

Left back:

Cole is coming to the end sadly and Bertrand is solid but nothing spectacular in my eyes. We will need to look to promote or buy sooner than later. Luke Shaw would be a good fit due to the fact hes English, only 18 right now and a Chelsea fan. Ultimately I know that means nothing but hes certainly one for the long term, if we were to go for him.

Central midfield:

Lampard is close to retiring and Michael Essien has been finished for a while so a new central midfielder is going to be needed soon. Gundogan/Modric would be perfect but unlikely, someone along that line of profile though, even Josh could be that player for us but he needs to make it happen through hard work and prove he's worthy of a place. We don't need any more holding or sitting players, we already have Mikel, Romeu, Ake, Chalobah who can all play that role. We don't really need a box to box player either as right now we have Lampard, Ramires and Marco.

Striker:

Torres is done, Eto'o is 30 odd, Ba is coming towards his 30s so we will need another striker soon to compete with Romelu Lukaku when he returns next summer (I'm certain Lukaku will make it, hes too good a talent not to make it here now). I'd like to see if Islam Feruz will play much over the next few seasons as he's really talented and it would be a shame to see him not make it a top club as the Scottish national team could do with some more top quality players playing at top clubs. Also Chelsea need at least 2 strikers who are at a high level; like we had with Drogba-Anelka, who can score at least 20 goals each.

how exactly is he better?

i see no aspect of his game that is worse than mikels

[OneMoSalah 8,778]

how exactly is he better?

i see no aspect of his game that is worse than mikels

Well in my opinion, Mikels a better distributor, has better tactical awareness, better at retaining possession and filling gaps in than Capoue is. I liked the look of Capoue when he played in Ligue 1 but hes nothing we don't already have. Perhaps the only thing Capoue has over Mikel is hes more versatile as he can play CB, is a tad more mobile and aggressive but you don't necessarily need to be aggressive to be a holding midfielder.

[bushman 2,043]

I thought this thread is about Chelsea´s finances. Suddenly, it turned into who is better & whatever.

[diskoviolente 425]

I think we have to accept that this season stills falls under the much dreaded label "transition". At the moment I am not quite sure what José is after and what he prefers. Clearly the spending policies can`t be based on a mere "oh he's good and it might be helpful to have him", as to me the Willian signing appears, but then again we haven`t seen him yet and maybe José will find a preferred system and a starting 11 when everyone played a few games and everyone is fully fit. I think spending wise we have done well this season given the options available. We might have slightly overspend on Willian but the other signings are good (Schürrle, MvG, Eto'o).

On the strengthening aspect: in the strikers segment there just was no one available who would have solved our problems upfront (Lewandowski, Cavani, Falcao, Rooney, the pair City bought...all horribly overpriced and we would have risked another Torres there), same for the midfielders. I don`t need to go into the Modric scenario, as it is clear that he "would have been" the perfect option but...

I think we have to wait and see. It is difficult given the buzz everyone was feeling when José signed but I think we have to accept our situation and trust José to bring the best out of our CM and ST department and then see who is available in January and next year.
It is a bit early to make any significant statements about our team just now, i think.

[bushman 2,043]

Do we have any other choice, but to trust Jose ?

Now, he is talking about some eggs. Sometimes, I wonder whether he is there to hatch those eggs, properly.

We all know, sometimes not all eggs are ready for consumption.

[Rmpr 8,977]

I don't understand how Ramires can be classified as an average signing. As for Cahill, for the price we paid, he's done relatively well.

I think Rambo is a good player (maybe not the dream starter, but he sure is helpful and he also gives the team more options) who was overpriced. Chelsea have the money to do those luxuries sometimes though...

So, I view it as an average signing. Not a wolrd beater but not a flop as well!

[Rmpr 8,977]

I know this topic is purely about football and the tactics, formations and players at Chelsea, but I'd like to say this:

When it comes down to it, it is Roman Abramovic's money. He can do whatever he pleases with it, ill gotten or not, as of now, it's his money. Should he donate to charity over football? Yes, he should. Will he? Probably not. So at least he is spreading the wealth somewhat through football which is better than sitting in one of his Swedish, Cayman, Swiss bank accounts. And hopefully looking through idealistic lenses the spread reaches far enough to help the fight against disease, war, famine and poverty.

But what does it have to do with the debate here?

I mean, he can do whatever he wants, no doubt. But we are discussing with he invested it right or not and not if he can use the money as he wishes....

Kojo does have a point (unfortunatelly) when he questions why we bought Willian and Schurrle and loaned Moses, yet didnt improve other areas!

[Stingray 9,441]

We haven't directly strengthend areas we NEEDED to improve, ie central midfield, defence and striker, so yes, in my opinion we have spent wrong.

We've made some very good signings, but they weren't necessary. Van Ginkel might turn out to be a very good buy but he isn't going to solve our current biggest problem, which is the pivot.

Imho he should have gone on loan to Ajax. I don't need to tell you the benefits.

Our biggest problem atm is the transition from defense to attack, we haven't got the ball-holding distributor that's oh so important for nearly any system out there in football.

I agree. Next year Lamps and Essien will be a year older, Mikel will not be discussed, so we still need something really good and experienced there to join the likes of Van Ginkel and Ramires. In the defense we could use a youngster like Eliaquim Mangala. Up front we will have the same issues as this year since Eto'o will also be a year older and Ba will probably go. Suppose Lukaku breaks through and Eto'o keeps it up, maybe. But it is a big maybe. Time will tell there.

But I can certainly see us spending next year for the midfield.