Erling Haaland

[Jase 43,479]

1 minute ago, Pizy said:

Of course Roman will expect a title. But if we have a great season, take a big step up, but fall a few points short to a brilliant City/Liverpool/United side who all also invested heavily I don’t think it should be considered an abject failure or disaster.

Failure would be buying Haaland and others and having a PL season like we’ve just had i.e flailing around for 4th until the last day.

Next seasons goal for me personally is to completely bridge the gap between us and City. To maybe be in a title race similar to the one they had with Liverpool a couple of years ago where it looked like either could win it.

If we don't get Haaland, it's not the end of the world. Haaland or not, I expect this team to do better next season and based on the trajectory and points gained under Tuchel, I'd say we're more than capable of achieving it. We don't have to throw money at every problem, not when we have a squad that can improve and be worked further.

[chippy 342]

13 minutes ago, Mana said:

We need a clinical striker. We create so many chances last season and 90% of those chances are wasted because of what happens in front of goal. 

I'm slightly worried that if Haaland's going to be that striker for us IF he joins us. We all thought Werner will be clinical but look how that turned out...

Before Werner had kicked a ball for Chelsea, i saw a good number of posts on forums from people who'd watched a lot of his games in Germany. They were all saying the same things - he's not top quality and misses tons of chances.

[OneMoSalah 8,614]

hace 1 hora, Jas dijo:

Yes, those players were willing to go abroad from English clubs but it also doesn't change the fact that circumstances played a part in that. Why do you think so many of the young players would be willing to go to the Bundesliga for example? Because clubs in Germany have a reputation of playing young players, academy players, giving them opportunities. Clubs in England generally don't do that, especially in the Premier League where there's too much at stake with the money etc. While there are success stories like Sancho and Bellingham, there are unsuccessful stories like Lookman, Ampadu and Smith-Rowe. Take Lookman for example. He went to Leipzig on loan in 2017/18, made 11 appearances. He was then bought by them in 2019, made 11 appearances but spent this past season on loan at Fulham. 

Yes but I mean if its playing time at a Newcastle/Crystal Palace/Burnley on loan/permanently or a Hertha Berlin/Hoffenheim/Stuttgart or something on loan/permanently, what do you think most will go for?

Thats taking the bit hitters out of it. Or where do you think clubs would probably try encourage people to go more actually? I think 10 years ago the PL loan would be a cert but now its almost more the foreign leagues by looks of it. Not just the playing part but the challenge of being in another country, another language, another culture, all these things are always forgotten with about how they can contribute towards player development because its not just the footballing aspect that can change or improve, its the mental aspect or the psychological aspect of someone going over to a new country and getting immersed into all that.

Yes some PL clubs don’t loan young players/try their young players but even then the ones you’d hope would/think they’d be more likely (the relegation fighting clubs, the ones who were probably better sides when they first came into the league, or the ones who didn’t have the Big Sam to Tony Pulis transitions/cycles or the ones on shoestring budgets etc), your probably never going to see a huge improvement in a player compared to some of these foreign leagues because a high % of them are either bad footballing sides or below average coaches.

I mean its no shock that Leeds, Sheffield United (last season), Aston Villa (one of the most improved teams this season by a mile) and Wolves (first poor season in the PL with Nuno) have came up in recent seasons with good managers and have leapfrogged at least 6 or 7 different clubs who been in the PL consistently for close to however many years. It is because the others are, to put it bluntly, basically poor sides who do their bit and get to 40 points, celebrate and then say okay lads lets go for 41 points next year despite having a good chunk of money that they’ve pissed up the wall on a Joelinton or a Benteke or whoever.

Who is going to leave a top club/academy and want to play for that, teams where you’ve got the revolving door of Big Sam/Roy Hodgson/Tony Pulis playing horrendous football which is reliant on kicking it 60-70 metres, getting a knockdown or playing off of set pieces, rinse and repeat nearly 40 games a season? Because the other clubs who actually play and can afford to buy players are buying from foreign leagues 75% of the time or ready made players from PL/championship clubs.

Also one bad loan doesn’t define someones career. These guys may have struggled in Germany that you listed but again the experience, the differences, all of that one way or another is something else that can be taken onboard for a player. I mean I doubt anyone thought that Emile Smith Rowe would go from Huddersfield to one of Arsenal’s main men in 6 months. Or nobody could have seen Reiss Nelsons good spell in Germany lead to how he’s barely a regular for Arsenal at all.  Same for the bloke Lookman as you said, good initial spell, signed and rarely featured, went to Fulham, looked meh. Fair enough its never always a guarantee a loan regardless as they can change a manager/get injured or sign someone else but there is invaluable experience to take from all aspects of it. 

[DDA 9,570]

Ahh it's good to see Talkchelsea up and running with long healthy debates like the old days. 🍿

[LAM09 6,547]

1 hour ago, Jas said:

If we don't get Haaland, it's not the end of the world. Haaland or not, I expect this team to do better next season and based on the trajectory and points gained under Tuchel, I'd say we're more than capable of achieving it. We don't have to throw money at every problem, not when we have a squad that can improve and be worked further.

If we don't sign Haaland, who's going to hit 20+ goals? 

You could say, Werner will take a number of changes he missed last season, but we're so toothless in the final third as a team. 

[DDA 9,570]

18 hours ago, Mana said:

You don't but Dortmund are in a very strong position with this player. Unless we are paying stupid amounts of money for him like £150m and give Haaland a huge wage bill, it's not going to happen.

Well judging by the reports which obviously can't always be trusted... it seems this may be the marquee signing Roman is desperate to make since the rumoured interest in Neymar. Even though Kai Havertz was a big signing.. obtaining Haaland would be on another level. 

[Jase 43,479]

7 hours ago, LAM09 said:

If we don't sign Haaland, who's going to hit 20+ goals? 

You could say, Werner will take a number of changes he missed last season, but we're so toothless in the final third as a team. 

City just won the league without a 20-goal striker and their top scorer was Gundogan with 13 goals. They also had only two players with 10 more goals and ended up scoring 25 more goals than us overall.

If our attackers chip in with additional 5-10 goals at the very least, if the midfielders and wingbacks can chip around 5 goals, then it's not impossible to challenge for the title at least. 

Even if we get Haaland, we can't expect him to be the only one to score the goals. Others also need to increase their output. And have said this long before, not sure how realistic is it as well to expect a 21-year-old to come to the Premier League and immediately lead a team to a title win/challenge, freak-of-nature or not.

[Jase 43,479]

 

[Tomo 21,681]

13 hours ago, Mana said:

I still think this current squad will fight for 4th place until around the final day next season.

We lack that ruthlessness in front of goal and that is critical. Champions of Europe we are yes, but if we are thinking about challenging the league - you're having a laugh because there will be at least three handful of games that we will bang our heads against the wall because Werner or Mount scuffs it or Ziyech goes missing or Pulisic gets injured etc.

Unless these players majorly improve especially Mount, Ziyech, Havertz and Werner, I can't see us challenging next season.

Or what *if* one of them have a Drogba 06/07 esque improvement? I mean it's pretty strange you wouldn't factor in potential second season improvement, especially with Havertz.

What many are missing is we don't actually need one of them to turn into a 20 goal season striker we need all of them to improve by 5 goals in average which i think is quite easily doable. 

[LAM09 6,547]

5 hours ago, Jas said:

City just won the league without a 20-goal striker and their top scorer was Gundogan with 13 goals. They also had only two players with 10 more goals and ended up scoring 25 more goals than us overall.

If our attackers chip in with additional 5-10 goals at the very least, if the midfielders and wingbacks can chip around 5 goals, then it's not impossible to challenge for the title at least. 

Even if we get Haaland, we can't expect him to be the only one to score the goals. Others also need to increase their output. And have said this long before, not sure how realistic is it as well to expect a 21-year-old to come to the Premier League and immediately lead a team to a title win/challenge, freak-of-nature or not.

That's why I mentioned our team being toothless upfront. I can't imagine there being a drastic improvement from any of our wingers in terms of numbers and we don't exactly have a goal getting from midfield aside from Mount.

I agree with the fact that Haaland can only take some of the burden, but we can't (IMO) continue with just what we have in attack and expect a massive turnaround in numbers.

[Jase 43,479]

2 minutes ago, LAM09 said:

That's why I mentioned our team being toothless upfront. I can't imagine there being a drastic improvement from any of our wingers in terms of numbers and we don't exactly have a goal getting from midfield aside from Mount.

I agree with the fact that Haaland can only take some of the burden, but we can't (IMO) continue with just what we have in attack and expect a massive turnaround in numbers.

What Tomo said really...

40 minutes ago, Tomo said:

Or what *if* one of them have a Drogba 06/07 esque improvement? I mean it's pretty strange you wouldn't factor in potential second season improvement, especially with Havertz.

What many are missing is we don't actually need one of them to turn into a 20 goal season striker we need all of them to improve by 5 goals in average which i think is quite easily doable. 

 

[MoroccanBlue 5,197]

hace 1 minuto, Jas dijo:

What Tomo said really...

 

We are 16th in the league in chances converted. 

To assume, or to merely hope we can drastically improve that with who we currently have and not a recognisable ST in the side, is poor planning. 

[LAM09 6,547]

2 minutes ago, Jas said:

What Tomo said really...

 

I think that's a drastic way to think considering our poor chance conversion rate late season. Werner & Havertz are the only two that I can see improving in that department.

[Jase 43,479]

5 minutes ago, MoroccanBlue said:

We are 16th in the league in chances converted. 

To assume, or to merely hope we can drastically improve that with who we currently have and not a recognisable ST in the side, is poor planning. 

Where did you get that stat? Because from what I've seen is we're in 13th (not that it's great), just one place below Liverpool.

City won the league basically without a recognized ST and their conversion rate only puts #4 in the table. Is it wrong to believe that our attackers can add at least somewhere between 5-10 goals next season? 

[Jase 43,479]

 

[MoroccanBlue 5,197]

hace 2 minutos, Jas dijo:

Where did you get that stat? Because from what I've seen is we're in 13th (not that it's great), just one place below Liverpool.

City won the league basically without a recognized ST and their conversion rate only puts #4 in the table. Is it wrong to believe that our attackers can add at least somewhere between 5-10 goals next season? 

Since Tuchel has been appointed we are 16th. 

hace 2 minutos, Jas dijo:

Is it wrong to believe that our attackers can add at least somewhere between 5-10 goals next season? 

Again, are you willing to take that risk considering the level of drastic improvement that is needed with the current squad? Add the fact we are losing both Giroud (potentially) and Tammy? 16th in the table is a lot different than 4th. And this isn't even considering the possibility of Kane moving to City. 

[R2D2 368]

Make it happen Roman!

[Superblue 6,331]

I don't think it's unrealistic to think that our current attackers can't improve their output next season. 

Werner, Havertz and Ziyech are now a year into the Premier League and Mount, Pulisic and Hudson Odoi are all still young and have a lot of potential for improvement.

Forgetting cup competitions and just concentrating on the league, I don't think it's unreasonable for Werner and Havertz to be targetting 10 - 15 goals each, and Mount, Pulisic and Ziyech to all be targetting 8 - 10 goals each next season. They should all be very capable of this, it's hardly like we're expecting them to suddenly go to 20-25 goals.