closed Bournemouth 1-2 Chelsea

[King Kante 1,296]

1 hour ago, Magic Lamps said:

Arguably his best performancein a Chelsea shirt. only one misplaced pass which Ziyech's fault. HIs long diagonals to CHO were spot on as was his defensive positioning. If Jorginho had such a performance some members on here would not stop fawning. He also looks fit. Vitesse Arnheim or whatever club we loan him to will be happy.

His game against Stoke where he scored was his best. 

People seem to forget that the problem with Drinky wasn't really his ability level to be a CM3/4 (which is the role he pretty much came in for) but his drinking (and I presume) mental health problems. 

He isn't a world beater by any stretch of the imagination, but if he hadn't gone off the rails, he would've been serviceable against the weaker PL teams. 

After that, the issue was his fee and wages, which were just bonkers. However, between 2016-18 we did a number of bonkers deals. 

Edited July 28, 2021 by King Kante

[Clockwork 1,762]

It amazes me people actually rated Drinkwater, he is a championship level player lol. Which in fact in reality what he is, since he has spent most of his career at that level. 
 

 

[Steve 10,227]

16 minutes ago, Clockwork said:

It amazes me people actually rated Drinkwater, he is a championship level player lol. Which in fact in reality what he is, since he has spent most of his career at that level. 
 

 

What do you mean? His calmness on the ball was good, alongside his vision to pick a pass. His control of the ball in pressure moments was there.. Either you didn't watch the game or you have never played before. I can't pinpoint which one it is because if you had you would see he did well.

If he can do this week in and week out as he did at Leicester, I would not be mad if he was squad player, and if not at least his value will go up a little bit.

[Jase 43,479]

1 hour ago, Steve said:

What do you mean? His calmness on the ball was good, alongside his vision to pick a pass. His control of the ball in pressure moments was there.. Either you didn't watch the game or you have never played before. I can't pinpoint which one it is because if you had you would see he did well.

If he can do this week in and week out as he did at Leicester, I would not be mad if he was squad player, and if not at least his value will go up a little bit.

But it was against a Championship team in pre-season?

Can we suddenly trust Drinkwater to not cause any off-the-pitch issues after all his recent problems? Can we trust him to be consistent all season long? 

[Special Juan 27,099]

Wow are people are actually talking about DD being in the team based on a few minutes v a Championship side in pre season?

dear me.

[NikkiCFC 7,579]

I don't care even if can play great all season. He embarrassed our club many times and should have been realised years ago. Surprised he is allowed near Cobham. 

[Steve 10,227]

1 hour ago, Jas said:

But it was against a Championship team in pre-season?

Can we suddenly trust Drinkwater to not cause any off-the-pitch issues after all his recent problems? Can we trust him to be consistent all season long? 

Who cares who it was against this is the exact point of pre-season. He still controlled the game for large portions.

 

I also did say "I would not be mad if he was squad player, and if not at least his value will go up a little bit.". This doesn't mean he has to play every game but he can start smaller cup games and have him there if needed.

 

Are people forgetting he won a Premier League title alongside Kante? Sure he's probably not the same player he once was, it doesn't mean he doesn't know how to play.

[Jase 43,479]

2 minutes ago, Steve said:

Who cares who it was against this is the exact point of pre-season. He still controlled the game for large portions.

I also did say "I would not be mad if he was squad player, and if not at least his value will go up a little bit.". This doesn't mean he has to play every game but he can start smaller cup games and have him there if needed.

Are people forgetting he won a Premier League title alongside Kante? Sure he's probably not the same player he once was, it doesn't mean he doesn't know how to play.

Barkley has a reputation for doing well in pre-season and then goes AWOL when the actual season begins. Are we sure Drinkwater won't go down that route? There's a reason why Drinkwater has barely played at any of the clubs that he's been loaned to in recent years.

Squad player or not, I'd imagine that 4th CM (or whatever people want to term it) will play a decent amount of games throughout the season because we'll have a lot of games again and Jorginho, Kovacic, Kante can't play every game. And not to mention, Kante has a dodgy injury record in recent years.

I know Drinkwater won the Premier League but that was 5-6 years ago and it was just one great season. He didn't kick on with his career and instead, let it go downhill. Are we sure he's still up to standards in the Premier League? Or in the Champions League?

[Steve 10,227]

1 minute ago, Jas said:

Barkley has a reputation for doing well in pre-season and then goes AWOL when the actual season begins. Are we sure Drinkwater won't go down that route? There's a reason why Drinkwater has barely played at any of the clubs that he's been loaned to in recent years.

Squad player or not, I'd imagine that 4th CM (or whatever people want to term it) will play a decent amount of games throughout the season because we'll have a lot of games again and Jorginho, Kovacic, Kante can't play every game. And not to mention, Kante has a dodgy injury record in recent years.

I know Drinkwater won the Premier League but that was 5-6 years ago and it was just one great season. He didn't kick on with his career and instead, let it go downhill. Are we sure he's still up to standards in the Premier League? Or in the Champions League?

I agree with all, but my point is, he played well and controlled the game. His ball movement was sublime and if TT see's something in him and can set him straight then I trust him completely.

I'd prefer to see this performance over a terrible one. He would be back up and rotating in 4th position. I don't think we are going to go light in that area considering the injuries we had last season. On top of that he most likely wont feature in the team all the often, especially if we end up getting Declan. But I would prefer to have someone with Prem experience in such an important position personally.

 

[Jase 43,479]

2 minutes ago, Steve said:

I agree with all, but my point is, he played well and controlled the game. His ball movement was sublime and if TT see's something in him and can set him straight then I trust him completely.

Drinkwater only has a year left on his contract. If we keep him, the club will likely extend his deal by at least another year but that's not ideal given his age and the amount of wages he's on.

4 minutes ago, Steve said:

I'd prefer to see this performance over a terrible one. He would be back up and rotating in 4th position. I don't think we are going to go light in that area considering the injuries we had last season. On top of that he most likely wont feature in the team all the often, especially if we end up getting Declan. But I would prefer to have someone with Prem experience in such an important position personally.

If we're gonna keep a midfielder as the 4th choice, I'd rather keep someone like Gallagher. He wasn't great on Tuesday but he's still young and can still grow and learn under Tuchel. That being said, I do suspect that we'll end up buying a midfielder. 

[Steve 10,227]

Just now, Jas said:

Drinkwater only has a year left on his contract. If we keep him, the club will likely extend his deal by at least another year but that's not ideal given his age and the amount of wages he's on.

I agree, I'd prefer him to go if someone is willing to pay the wages he is going to want. The problem is I can't see that happening, so we might as well use him if Thomas sees something there.

1 minute ago, Jas said:

If we're gonna keep a midfielder as the 4th choice, I'd rather keep someone like Gallagher. He wasn't great on Tuesday but he's still young and can still grow and learn under Tuchel. That being said, I do suspect that we'll end up buying a midfielder. 

I am all for youth in the first team but I think he needs a season longer on loan, maybe some more prem experience similar to BG. A loan to Newcastle would be good if they promise he will get some minutes. But I don't think he's ready for our first team yet. His awareness of players around him was not great and I hope that was a fitness thing but it was very poor. High hopes for the young lad but just not at this point.

[Jase 43,479]

1 minute ago, Steve said:

I agree, I'd prefer him to go if someone is willing to pay the wages he is going to want. The problem is I can't see that happening, so we might as well use him if Thomas sees something there.

The club need to bite the bullet with Drinkwater. Either loan him out for last time or just ditch him for the lowest price possible and hope Drinkwater is sane enough to accept lower wages elsewhere. 

[Steve 10,227]

2 minutes ago, Jas said:

The club need to bite the bullet with Drinkwater. Either loan him out for last time or just ditch him for the lowest price possible and hope Drinkwater is sane enough to accept lower wages elsewhere. 

I can see some small bids coming in, whether or not he accepts terms on the other end is going to be the biggest issue in all of this. Selfishly, I can see why he wouldn't want to lower that wage too much and get the most out of the last part of his contract. 

Time will tell old friend.

[King Kante 1,296]

Just want to point out I was not suggesting Drinkwater should stay this season, more than the reason he is classed as a dreg, for me, is owing to his off the field problems rather than his ability on it. 

That said if it came down to him v Baka, I would be inclined to pick him. 

Edited July 29, 2021 by King Kante

[Alabama 1,992]

Drinkwater .

RLC 

Bakayoko

Barkley have no place in the squad 

Edited July 29, 2021 by Alabama

[Magic Lamps 11,449]

3 hours ago, Alabama said:

Drinkwater .

RLC 

Bakayoko

Barkley have no place in the squad 

One of them will stay with the squad tho. Probably between RLC and Drinkwater lol

[NikkiCFC 7,579]

9 hours ago, King Kante said:

That said if it came down to him v Baka, I would be inclined to pick him. 

Why? 

Baka was pretty much regular on loans in Milan, Monaco and Napoli. While H2O couldn't make it in much weaker sides like Burnley, AV and some Turkish team. 

[King Kante 1,296]

17 minutes ago, NikkiCFC said:

Why? 

Baka was pretty much regular on loans in Milan, Monaco and Napoli. While H2O couldn't make it in much weaker sides like Burnley, AV and some Turkish team. 

Because Baka was an absolute disaster in the PL owing to its pace. Drinky, for all his faults was a half decent CM for Leicester for a number of years and was a key player in their title drive and played well for them in the CL. 

Baka in the PL was a disaster because he was never able to pick up the pace. On loan he has also not done that well, which is why everyone sent him back. Napoli fans were openly mocking him towards the end. 

People point to his run with Monaco but that was entirely down to Fabinho bailing his arse out all the time. 

Neither are great and I want a new CM, however if it does come down to Drinky v Baka (and Drinky has sorted his off the field problems to a reasonable degree) then I am taking him. 

Edited July 29, 2021 by King Kante