Is the spending wrong?

[True_Blue 469]

We are currently in a situation when we don't need to buy to compete for the best places.Our youth academy is second to none,if we start promoting them to the first team with an odd buy or two we will always be in the top and compete for various titles,domestic and European.

[Kojo 4,676]

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.

What the F?

I take it you didn't bother reading my post. I'm not saying over spending is morally wrong. I'm asking if we are spending i the right areas and is spending exacly the right idea? Especially when we could maintain the pressure and gain stability not just in manager but also faith in younger players. An example of this would be like Dortmund, Arsenal and Barca, Dortmund have players like Shmelzer and there right back, yet they still play very well because it's there team, I bet if they went to another team they couldn't do it.

Our ball game is buy quality, we see a player performing well at a DIFFERENT club and we buy him, is that wrong? We are already in a strong position with players are we not? So should we go ahead and buy a new midfielder and striker next season? Or do we show faith in other players and give them a chance to flourish into the team. Patience can really pay off, I personally think Arsenal will do well in the future because they have been patient and now they have a good team. Not title challenging but top 4 isn't a bad place to be in this league.

[Kojo 4,676]

Ramires is a strange one, he seems like an average signing, I mean we actually paid up to 21 million for him in pounds. But at the same time he has been vital the past two seasons. Ramires's problem for me is that he doesn't have competition, that's why he is so sloppy at times, he's not the greatest footballer but he would do better if someone could actually replace him. Unfortunately we don't have many good midfielders to replace him with. So he's going to start every game and he knows it.

If we could rotate Ramires with another player that would work very well, but that doesn't mean we have to sign someone else it really doesn't. Van Ginkel and McEachran are still in the team. Yes they aren't exactly the same type of player but that doesn't matter, Van Ginkel looks like a hard worker and a good player overall, McEachran needs more time, Middlesbrough was a bad move. I hate excuses, but this is my opinion on McEachran, anyone who doesn't rate him that's fair enough I can't shoot you down for it.

John Obi Mikel, I think everyone knows I don't rate him, but show faith in him? Maybe it's the right thing to do. What pissed me off about Mikel is that he proved he was a passenger, he has very little determination and heart. Most players jump at the chance to get in the team when they can, Mikel was half arsed. But one thing I respect is that he has been here for a long time, he has played many games, he can still be of use to us as he has that experience. Maybe giving him some time can help him in the future. I don't think any player in the double pivot can be a passenger, because the pivot MUST be of key players, their are no additional players in a 2 man midfield. Perhaps giving him a chance will not be just beneficial for him but for the team in general, we have to think more about it here, we can't just keep replacing players with others from another league and country, it has many effects, someone like Mikel has already been in the team for years he knows the club and he knows the players, he's also obviously going to be respected amongst his team mates, I say we give him a chance this season.

[Stats 7,059]

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!

Someone discussed about Ramires anyway but he certainly has been a very good signing. Contributed to the team in so many ways and is always improving. Ba and Cahill are not world class but I would not call them average signings or signings where we have flopped. We got Cahill on the cheap and we done the same with Ba as well. Cahill has his bad games but he also has his solid games as well and I think that is a solid investment.

I don't mind having Ba around because I still think he has something to prove. He was fantastic at Newcastle and got important goals but I just feel he needs that little bit of confidence.

[Magic Lamps 11,668]

Ramires is a strange one, he seems like an average signing, I mean we actually paid up to 21 million for him in pounds. But at the same time he has been vital the past two seasons. Ramires's problem for me is that he doesn't have competition, that's why he is so sloppy at times, he's not the greatest footballer but he would do better if someone could actually replace him. Unfortunately we don't have many good midfielders to replace him with. So he's going to start every game and he knows it.

If we could rotate Ramires with another player that would work very well, but that doesn't mean we have to sign someone else it really doesn't. Van Ginkel and McEachran are still in the team. Yes they aren't exactly the same type of player but that doesn't matter, Van Ginkel looks like a hard worker and a good player overall, McEachran needs more time, Middlesbrough was a bad move. I hate excuses, but this is my opinion on McEachran, anyone who doesn't rate him that's fair enough I can't shoot you down for it.

John Obi Mikel, I think everyone knows I don't rate him, but show faith in him? Maybe it's the right thing to do. What pissed me off about Mikel is that he proved he was a passenger, he has very little determination and heart. Most players jump at the chance to get in the team when they can, Mikel was half arsed. But one thing I respect is that he has been here for a long time, he has played many games, he can still be of use to us as he has that experience. Maybe giving him some time can help him in the future. I don't think any player in the double pivot can be a passenger, because the pivot MUST be of key players, their are no additional players in a 2 man midfield. Perhaps giving him a chance will not be just beneficial for him but for the team in general, we have to think more about it here, we can't just keep replacing players with others from another league and country, it has many effects, someone like Mikel has already been in the team for years he knows the club and he knows the players, he's also obviously going to be respected amongst his team mates, I say we give him a chance this season.

we also paid that amount for Schürrle who has roughly the same age. 21m is not much these day. Decent fee for a player who has already been very good and starter for Brazilian national team.

If only two of van Ginkel, Chalobah and Mceachran (maybe even Romeu) are to rech their full potential we would be set in the pivot for years. A de rossi signing would still have been great IMO cos he would have bridged that gap. It would not have disrupted our rhythm too grave. he is a complete DM you can play next to any other midfielder.

Mikel and Essien are established characters and useful squad players but still depth takes nothing away from the need of quality esp of quality players who actually fit the system. In a 4-3-3 we would have no problem. But for a DP players like Capoue who is acutally fittef or that system, would flourish here, even though he maybe is as a player worse than Mikel.

[Kojo 4,676]

Someone discussed about Ramires anyway but he certainly has been a very good signing. Contributed to the team in so many ways and is always improving. Ba and Cahill are not world class but I would not call them average signings or signings where we have flopped. We got Cahill on the cheap and we done the same with Ba as well. Cahill has his bad games but he also has his solid games as well and I think that is a solid investment.

I don't mind having Ba around because I still think he has something to prove. He was fantastic at Newcastle and got important goals but I just feel he needs that little bit of confidence.

How do you rate Falcao? I assume you think he is one of the best strikers in the world right now, and with good reason to think so. What would you say if we signed him for 80 million? When we could have bought Ronaldo or Bale instead? In a fair realistic viewpoint that would be an average signing. It doesn't mean the player is average, it just means the signing is average, as I said from a logical perspective.

Ramires worth 21 million? I don't think he is. I would say the price tag is an average signing for the club overall, we didn't get him for a bargain and he isn't a world class player, so I would put it in the middle and call it average.

Ramires has been a great addition to the side, he has proven to be vital the past two seasons, but lets look at the long term project here. Ramires will probably finish his prime when he hits 30, losing his pace will affect him big time. He's a defensive minded attacker just like David Luiz is, Ramires relies on his pace and it's his confidence. He's also very average as a footballer at times and has proven to be very sloppy. In the big picture he can let us down big time when he loses the ball, it isn't just one ball lost on the stat board, it's affecting the team morale and the way of the game for us. We are attackers, we aren't upwards and downwards like Spurs, we like to keep the ball and that's our game, or what we are trying to implement anyway. Ramires has large affect on that sometimes, his first touch can be very bad and it costs us in games because teams put pressure on him. I think overall Ramires is an average signing, but I'm not being disrespectful, he has been a legend for what he has done the past two seasons. But I'm looking at the bigger picture here.

[Kojo 4,676]

we also paid that amount for Schürrle who has roughly the same age. 21m is not much these day. Decent fee for a player who has already been very good and starter for Brazilian national team.

If only two of van Ginkel, Chalobah and Mceachran (maybe even Romeu) are to rech their full potential we would be set in the pivot for years. A de rossi signing would still have been great IMO cos he would have bridged that gap. It would not have disrupted our rhythm too grave. he is a complete DM you can play next to any other midfielder.

Mikel and Essien are established characters and useful squad players but still depth takes nothing away from the need of quality esp of quality players who actually fit the system. In a 4-3-3 we would have no problem. But for a DP players like Capoue who is acutally fittef or that system, would flourish here, even though he maybe is as a player worse than Mikel.

De Rossi is an excellent player, but you can't think so technical, you have to except facts that moving to a different league with no players who are from your country and don't speak your language isn't going to have an affect. It all comes down to mentality, technical skills come down to mentality, you have that instinct to cross a ball, truth be told technical skills don't exist it's your mentality such as creativity, decision making and flair what spark such technical skills.

I don't think going out and buying more players is a good idea, it's time to settle down now and establish a team. We should put more faith into the youth, It has definitely improved over the years there is no doubt about it. We didn't have youth players 5 seasons ago like we do now, you can bring up the Stoch or Kakuta argument all you want but they were always overrated individuals who had one good game. Ake looks brilliant, he did really well in the 3 games he played, Chalobah shown what he was capable of at Watford and McEachran was excellent for us when he was playing a lot more 2 seasons ago, but didn't manage to pull it off in his loan moves.

But it all comes down to the concept of all this, and the conclusion is should we be a Madrid or a Barcelona? That's not necessarily meaning we should go and train a Spanish team and look for new Messi's, or even spend 80 million on players instead. It's just a broad statement and nothing you need to over think, I genuinely think we should show more trust into our players and youth, because that's what makes a good TEAM. And I also think we are in a position where we can do it, the only debatable things are striker position and double pivot, we MIGHT be in trouble.

[Stats 7,059]

How do you rate Falcao? I assume you think he is one of the best strikers in the world right now, and with good reason to think so. What would you say if we signed him for 80 million? When we could have bought Ronaldo or Bale instead? In a fair realistic viewpoint that would be an average signing. It doesn't mean the player is average, it just means the signing is average, as I said from a logical perspective.

Ramires worth 21 million? I don't think he is. I would say the price tag is an average signing for the club overall, we didn't get him for a bargain and he isn't a world class player, so I would put it in the middle and call it average.

Ramires has been a great addition to the side, he has proven to be vital the past two seasons, but lets look at the long term project here. Ramires will probably finish his prime when he hits 30, losing his pace will affect him big time. He's a defensive minded attacker just like David Luiz is, Ramires relies on his pace and it's his confidence. He's also very average as a footballer at times and has proven to be very sloppy. In the big picture he can let us down big time when he loses the ball, it isn't just one ball lost on the stat board, it's affecting the team morale and the way of the game for us. We are attackers, we aren't upwards and downwards like Spurs, we like to keep the ball and that's our game, or what we are trying to implement anyway. Ramires has large affect on that sometimes, his first touch can be very bad and it costs us in games because teams put pressure on him. I think overall Ramires is an average signing, but I'm not being disrespectful, he has been a legend for what he has done the past two seasons. But I'm looking at the bigger picture here.

Fair enough but I still would all him a very good signing. Hopefully when he is in his 30s he still has that stamina, pace and acceleration and improved concentration. I regard Cahill as a good buy. Also we have bought big marquee signings before but mixed it up with not average but inferior compared to what we have done before. But he was a big reason why we won the CL, FA Cup and I hope in oncoming seasons he helps us to win the PL title.

With Ba, regardless of the price we bought a striker who scored bag loads of goals for Newcastle. I like our movement in the market this summer. Feel we could have strengthened in other positions but so be it.

Also I am quite happy we did not buy Falcao for that price tag but even the biggest of clubs buy the average type of players. Part of the balancing act and is needed for rotation.

[Kojo 4,676]

Fair enough but I still would all him a very good signing. Hopefully when he is in his 30s he still has that stamina, pace and acceleration and improved concentration. I regard Cahill as a good buy. Also we have bought big marquee signings before but mixed it up with not average but inferior compared to what we have done before. But he was a big reason why we won the CL, FA Cup and I hope in oncoming seasons he helps us to win the PL title.

With Ba, regardless of the price we bought a striker who scored bag loads of goals for Newcastle. I like our movement in the market this summer. Feel we could have strengthened in other positions but so be it.

Also I am quite happy we did not buy Falcao for that price tag but even the biggest of clubs buy the average type of players. Part of the balancing act and is needed for rotation.

Had a lot of stuff to do yesterday so I couldn't reply back, just got back from college now so I can reply.

I think Cahill has been a good buy, he can make the odd mistake, but has still been very consistent regardless. We paid 7 million for him and he's still going to be useful for at least another 4 years or so, whether that's back up or rotation, 7 million is a good buy.

Demba Ba will depend. We need a striker like Ba, in fact he could be brilliant for us had we of had the right players. If we had a natural main striker, deep lying forward type, we could then rotate Ba when we need him. Sometimes when we take the game to the other team and attack with possession football it doesn't work, so we have to bring on the likes of Moses to add more width, then who else do you want to bring on? Ba, eitehr for the striker or a defender, depends which way the game is going, you take that risk.

Demba Ba anticipates everything, he will put his life on the line to get a goal, he is one of the biggest Ariel threats in the league. Only thing is he will never score goals in possession football, he doesn't have a good enough first touch, it's not his style. Ba was a target man at Newcastle, but here we brought him in to be a poacher, because he doesn't have to work as hard. However the main problem is, we don't have a natural striker for Ba to rotate with.

[CHOULO19 24,332]

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

Have you seen Capoue for Tottenham before he got injured? I'd honestly rather play Chalobah instead. Zero tactical awareness, terrible first touch, always out of position and absolutely no footballing IQ.

[Kojo 4,676]

Have you seen Capoue for Tottenham before he got injured? I'd honestly rather play Chalobah instead. Zero tactical awareness, terrible first touch, always out of position and absolutely no footballing IQ.

And again it's another player from a different league and a different nationality. Yes the Van Ginkel debate but we aren't exactly playing Van Ginkel all the time, we aren't rushing him. I'm not sure if Chalobah is loaned or not but either way he is still one of our players, buying Capoue wouldn't do the youth any favors. The youth have worked very hard and have really impressed, what sort of impression is it if we just land Capoue.

I could be wrong Capoue might of been the perfect signing, maybe it's the good kick up the arse our team needs and we should start making players compete for there positions more.

But one thing for sure is we have to think more logically, this isn't a game of fifa, we don't just sign a player and he comes over and does what he did at his other club, it's a lot more complicated than that.

[CHOULO19 24,332]

And again it's another player from a different league and a different nationality. Yes the Van Ginkel debate but we aren't exactly playing Van Ginkel all the time, we aren't rushing him. I'm not sure if Chalobah is loaned or not but either way he is still one of our players, buying Capoue wouldn't do the youth any favors. The youth have worked very hard and have really impressed, what sort of impression is it if we just land Capoue.

I could be wrong Capoue might of been the perfect signing, maybe it's the good kick up the arse our team needs and we should start making players compete for there positions more.

But one thing for sure is we have to think more logically, this isn't a game of fifa, we don't just sign a player and he comes over and does what he did at his other club, it's a lot more complicated than that.

Completely agree. We won't be able to bring youth players through as long as we overrate youngsters from other teams and underrate our own.