The Board

[mccg 1,528]

2 hours ago, King11Didier said:

6/10 transfer window imo. Conte made such a good season that I would expect the board to try harder and bring him at least plan B targets, not plan F like Zappacosta. I was hoping for new LWB and RWB who would be improvement over current players, now we have Zappa and Moses who are on the same level and only Alonso on LWB and when you see how much games the team has only in September and you can realise that the board didn't do well.
The depth in CBs is more than enough imo, it's probably the only position where Conte can make a lot of rotation, unfortunately for him CB is not a position that requires a lot of rotation
4 midfielders look okay when you think that we had only 1 fit in the second game of the season I'm actually happy with our choices for CM, yeah Drinkwater might be underwhelming for such kind of money, but is a HG and gives us good and experienced option on the bench.
Hazard, Pedro, Willian and Musondo sound okay for AM, of course we need a bit of luck to keep all of them injury free through the season and hope Musonda can step up in some matches and make an impact for the team.
Morata and Bats only sounds a bit risky, it's Alvaro's 1st season in England so it might be difficult for him and also might be not ready to play full 90 minutes yet as he was mostly used as a sub in Real. Bats didn't show anything good since his pre-season match against Arsenal. The boy needs to clear his mind, because I believe he will get far more opportunities this season, if he doesn't take his chances, he might leave even in January if Chelsea find new striker.
I was hoping the board to bring world class players who can bring the club to another level and fight for CL and PL this year, can't see this happening now though, again we have to rely on Conte's magic to turn avarage players to world class ones.

Yeah again the board have failed to kick on when winning the league(kinda feels we have stayed the same while others have gone forward) and the way the window ended was abit of a shambles, and we are probly 2 top players away from being confident for the season(fingers crossed with injuries+suspensions ) hopefully we get to January in contention in league+champions league(not fussed with da other this season hope we play alot of youth tbh) and try to add or recall loanees if needs be!

[RoyalBlues 4,050]

Unless we are sort of money, actually we should have utilized all of the quota we have. It would be useful to have all the necessary reinforcements while playing in 4 competitions at some point. We know Remy and Costa won't playing again for us, so included them on the list is meaningless. Should have replace them with backup LWB and backup CB/winger at least.

[mccg 1,528]

1 hour ago, RoyalBlues said:

Unless we are sort of money, actually we should have utilized all of the quota we have. It would be useful to have all the necessary reinforcements while playing in 4 competitions at some point. We know Remy and Costa won't playing again for us, so included them on the list is meaningless. Should have replace them with backup LWB and backup CB/winger at least.

Mmm don't think we are short of money lol i know I AM !!! Think we had the budget and primary targets like Sandro but that didnt go well and then "normal players" either went somewhere else or weren't available. But yeah the basic ideology sounds way too sensible for Cfc and our board on many issues.

[mccg 1,528]

Nice wee look at what we have to go into battle with this season or until window opens again! Our first 11 hopefully when all fit and in the groove will give most teams a headache or 2! Now for luck and magic from Conte!

[Strike 7,494]

5 hours ago, Jason said:

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/football/2017/09/01/chelsea-confident-antonio-conte-now-has-squad-capable-fighting/

I am lost for words. 

Only depth added is Zappacosta. 

 

[the wes 7,212]

4 hours ago, King11Didier said:

I was hoping the board to bring world class players who can bring the club to another level and fight for CL and PL this year, can't see this happening now though, again we have to rely on Conte's magic to turn avarage players to world class ones.

If we don't started bring in better class players I can see Hazard wanting to leave our club 

[the wes 7,212]

15 minutes ago, Strike said:

I am lost for words. 

Only depth added is Zappacosta. 

 

drinkwater??

[Strike 7,494]

Just now, the wes said:

drinkwater??

There was Chalobah and RLC last season. 

There was no cover for Moses. 

[xPetrCechx 13,573]

[the wes 7,212]

2 hours ago, xPetrCechx said:

Ooh ffs not again 

[OneMoSalah 8,886]

Here we go again. Hopefully no transfer window bans.

[Amblève. 4,995]

On 1.9.2017 at 9:45 PM, BlueLyon said:

I must admit, I have absolutely nothing against Emenalo if he did his job well, but as goes for Marina...well I will always think females are less suited for football, no matter how intelligent or educated. Its in dudes nature to understand football more and in the end when footballers we want talk to our representatives, Im sure they give alot more interest and respect to someone who is excellent in football business ala Peter Kenyon than someone like Marina.

Similar is with Ac Milan, back then in 2011 when Barbara Berlusconi was appointed, it went all down for them until this year.

Ah yes, how could a woman ever grasp the concept of a sport which revolves around 22 human beings chasing a ball on a rectangle field of grass. Sure, female quantum physicists have helped humanity understand the origins of everything a bit more and of course female scientists have also contributed towards fighting and defeating deadly diseases BUT FOOTBALL? No chance, mate.

[BlueLyon 9,359]

8 hours ago, Amblève. said:

Ah yes, how could a woman ever grasp the concept of a sport which revolves around 22 human beings chasing a ball on a rectangle field of grass. Sure, female quantum physicists have helped humanity understand the origins of everything a bit more and of course female scientists have also contributed towards fighting and defeating deadly diseases BUT FOOTBALL? No chance, mate.

No man will ever understand women as good as women do and vice versa. As primitive as it sounds, its natural football was always mans sport. 

Woman can handle business perfectly, I fully agree. Everything resolving around running business, money,..etc. But when it comes to football as to what it is, men will understand it better. 

And it has nothing to do with feminism, I think women are at least as capable in nearly every thing as men. But football is phyical and tactical, which naturaly fits men more, thats why best players are male, best managers are male, best scouts are male and best sporting directors are male.

Choosing between average dude like me or you, Marina eats us for dinner in football business. But against very best sporting directors out there? Nope.

[OhForAGreavsie 6,077]

52 minutes ago, BlueLyon said:

No man will ever understand women as good as women do and vice versa. As primitive as it sounds, its natural football was always mans sport. 

Woman can handle business perfectly, I fully agree. Everything resolving around running business, money,..etc. But when it comes to football as to what it is, men will understand it better. 

And it has nothing to do with feminism, I think women are at least as capable in nearly every thing as men. But football is phyical and tactical, which naturaly fits men more, thats why best players are male, best managers are male, best scouts are male and best sporting directors are male.

Choosing between average dude like me or you, Marina eats us for dinner in football business. But against very best sporting directors out there? Nope.

What?

[OhForAGreavsie 6,077]

On 02/09/2017 at 11:43 AM, King11Didier said:

...
I was hoping the board to bring world class players who can bring the club to another level and fight for CL and PL this year, can't see this happening now though, again we have to rely on Conte's magic to turn avarage players to world class ones.

Do you believe that Antonio has already turned average players into world class ones?

[King11Didier 916]

10 hours ago, OhForAGreavsie said:

Do you believe that Antonio has already turned average players into world class ones?

Not really, If he manage to reach CL final or 1/2 final with the likes of Alonso and Moses/Zappacosta, I'd say he has done it completely.
But you can see how these players and not only, improved a lot under Conte and won him the PL title. Something Ferguson was doing at united, winning PL for fun with the likes of Carrick, Brown, Evans, Park, Fletcher(the list is really big!).

[OhForAGreavsie 6,077]

2 hours ago, King11Didier said:

Not really, If he manage to reach CL final or 1/2 final with the likes of Alonso and Moses/Zappacosta, I'd say he has done it completely.
But you can see how these players and not only, improved a lot under Conte and won him the PL title. Something Ferguson was doing at united, winning PL for fun with the likes of Carrick, Brown, Evans, Park, Fletcher(the list is really big!).

In fact I don't believe that Antonio has improved those players at all. He has simply put them in a team framework which gives them cover for their deficiencies and allows them to make maximum use of their strengths. In terms of their personal qualities they are exactly the same players they ever were.

I was taken by surprise in the way Antonio used Victor but I was very pleased the day we signed Marcos and was fully expecting that he would be able to help us. Even so, I completely agree with your assessment that both of our wing backs need to be upgraded. I'd say that assessment of yours is evidence in itself that these players have not all of a sudden made a step up in class.

Like pretty much all of us, I hoped that the window would go better than it did but I don't see it as a complete fail in the way that some do. I'm on record as saying I did not think it would be possible to recruit solutions to all of our needs so perhaps that explains why I'm not as disappointed as some.

One thing is for sure. I absolutely, totally, reject the the idea that members of our board are at one and the same time more evil than Sauron, and more stupid than Mr. Bean. We know the outcome of their efforts in the transfer window, but we don't see the input. We don't know the instructions under which, or the parameters within which, our squad builders operate. Unless you know that it is not possible to make a rational assessment of their performance. People lashing out at the board are just frustrated and in need of someone to blame.

[Jase 43,479]

 

[communicate 2,703]

16 hours ago, OhForAGreavsie said:

In fact I don't believe that Antonio has improved those players at all. He has simply put them in a team framework which gives them cover for their deficiencies and allows them to make maximum use of their strengths. In terms of their personal qualities they are exactly the same players they ever were.

I was taken by surprise in the way Antonio used Victor but I was very pleased the day we signed Marcos and was fully expecting that he would be able to help us. Even so, I completely agree with your assessment that both of our wing backs need to be upgraded. I'd say that assessment of yours is evidence in itself that these players have not all of a sudden made a step up in class.

Like pretty much all of us, I hoped that the window would go better than it did but I don't see it as a complete fail in the way that some do. I'm on record as saying I did not think it would be possible to recruit solutions to all of our needs so perhaps that explains why I'm not as disappointed as some.

One thing is for sure. I absolutely, totally, reject the the idea that members of our board are at one and the same time more evil than Sauron, and more stupid than Mr. Bean. We know the outcome of their efforts in the transfer window, but we don't see the input. We don't know the instructions under which, or the parameters within which, our squad builders operate. Unless you know that it is not possible to make a rational assessment of their performance. People lashing out at the board are just frustrated and in need of someone to blame.

For me wing back was the 1st priority where I thought we desperately need improvement which is why I was unhappy with our transfer.

I don't think as 11st eleven we improve at all probably slightly worsen,but as a squad we definitely get better.

 

[OhForAGreavsie 6,077]

5 hours ago, communicate said:

For me wing back was the 1st priority where I thought we desperately need improvement which is why I was unhappy with our transfer.

I don't think as 11st eleven we improve at all probably slightly worsen,but as a squad we definitely get better.

 

I had five positional upgrades in mind for the summer. I had RWB 2nd on that list, RF 4th and LWB 5th. None were resolved.

I agree with you that our gains this summer are in the improved depth of the squad but I believe we may have improved the first XI, albeit very, very, marginally. If I look for positives out of the situation, I'd say one is that our transfer needs are now very sharply focused. Baring minor adjustments, squad depth has been ticked. What we need now are first team upgrades. No possibility of ambiguity or conflicting priorities. The next two windows have to be about recruiting starters.