Chelsea Transfers

[OhForAGreavsie 5,863]

1 hour ago, Vesper said:

who are you having the argy bargy over?

Vince™
@Blue_Footy <  the tweet who said patience was gone
 

or

Lampard?

or am

the board (thats who i would shit on normally, BUT if they blocked that 4 foot smurf jock Fraser I gotta buy them a round )

or

Nikki (zero clue why with them)

or

The Athletic

or

just all of us in general?? 

 

 

 

 

They say it takes your friends and your enemies working together to hurt you. Your enemies to say stuff you wouldn't like, and your friends to tell you about it. 🙂

I'm not interested in Twitter or Instagram so comments made in those platforms would never darken my door...  if it wasn't for those kind souls on here who collect them from there and put them here. That's how I came to read @blue_footy's tweet. As far as I know that's the only thing I've ever read from him but I'm out of patience with him already. 🙁🙁

[Jase 43,479]

Barcelona want to sell Philippe Coutinho, but why doesn't any top club want him?

[BlueLyon 9,359]

On 5/25/2020 at 5:21 PM, OhForAGreavsie said:

This implies that Marina makes football decisions. I have never believed that, and never will unless I see undeniable evidence. The charge that she picks the players makes absolutely zero sense to me. 

Well someone has to do that and since she was responsible for most of that after Emenalo left, she is the one to praise/blame.

[MoroccanBlue 5,280]

1 minute ago, BlueLyon said:

Well someone has to do that and since she was responsible for most of that after Emenalo left, she is the one to praise/blame.

No, she was not. The only one who had more responsibility in scouting after Emenalo left was Scott McLachlan. 

Many people don't have any idea who he is and only address Marina given she is the one holding up the kit with the new transfer. 

[BlueLyon 9,359]

6 minutes ago, MoroccanBlue said:

No, she was not. The only one who had more responsibility in scouting after Emenalo left was Scott McLachlan. 

Many people don't have any idea who he is and only address Marina given she is the one holding up the kit with the new transfer. 

Marina took the reigns as sporting director. Scott only scouts the pool of players and presents them. It all falls then on Marina to get a qualified staff to design how our team will look, the plans and everything. If we have underqualified scouts, that is responsibility of Marina aswell. Scout also only identifies and makes the first contact. Negotiations are done by other people, mostly by the sporting director. If Marina actualy does that, I dont know but its possible she doesnt because she probably has no knowledge of that whatsoever.

I mean to this day i dont know how Marina or Woodward in United managed to keep their jobs when both teams spend shitload and we are in transitional period since 2010s.

[OhForAGreavsie 5,863]

5 minutes ago, BlueLyon said:

Well someone has to do that and since she was responsible for most of that after Emenalo left, she is the one to praise/blame.

hello BL,

If Marina was responsible for selecting the players targeted then yes, she would deserve whichever of credit or criticism was going around. I've never seen anything that suggests that she is in fact responsible for decisions about footballing merit however. Not one word outside of what seems to have become a received opinion on here.

I can see a multitude of reasons why Roman might reserve the final say on transfers to himself, but I see absolutely no reason at all why he would delegate that responsibility to Marina. If he was to allow someone other than himself to make those decisions, no way he's going to conclude that Marina is the woman for the job, Makes absolutely ZERO sense, and I just do not believe it. Marina's responsibilities are financial and administrative.

Marina signs the cheques, authorises the budgets, negotiates contracts, and makes the call on whether a particular deal is affordable or fits within the club's approach. She probably signs off on the FFP accounts and has board responsibility for ensuring the football operation runs smoothly. No doubt all the people who do the day to day management tasks, report to her. She does not select the players however. The notion that Frank is sitting outside her office while Marina watches videos and studies scouting reports is too stupid to be believed.

People have issues with Roman, but I don't think anyone believes he's an idiot. Which he would have to be to have Marina selecting players.

[OhForAGreavsie 5,863]

15 hours ago, BlueLyon said:

I mean to this day i dont know how Marina or Woodward in United managed to keep their jobs when both teams spend shitload and we are in transitional period since 2010s.

I think this is the key comment in all you have said.

If what you believe is true then Marina's job might indeed have come under pressure. Instead she clearly enjoys Roman's confidence and Frank speaks convincingly about enjoying a good relationship with her. I ask you to consider if this might mean that the people who actually know the facts know something you don't?

Far from being sacked, Marina has been promoted more than once. Just how stupid would everyone involved in those decisions need to be to miss the gross incompetence you think Marina is guilty of? The facts do not support your opinion. I really believe you should think again about this.

[King Kante 1,450]

My opinion with transfers at Chelsea are that they are done on a consensus basis with Granny having the veto power. In my opinion, it is likely that the Scouts, those responsible for the youth set up, the manager, Emenalo (when he was here) and maybe certain agents (this is more for transfers like Maigza/Pasalic/Hector etc.)

From everything I have seen and heard (Cesc's comments last year about the TC and Costa situations with Granny where particuarlly interesting) I think the coach gets to say what types of players he wants and names a few names, but Granny has the power to change the names depending on what the others say. 

My main assessment of Granny is that she is a great sales women but a poor buyer. This can be seen with her getting good fees for the likes of Oscar, Morata etc but she gets too stubborn on buying if the figure goes slightly higher than what she has in her head. That for me is why all her best signings have been buyouts (Kante, Costa etc) or players with gentleman agreements to leave (Ziyech, Cesc etc.) as these have all involved very little need to negotiate a fee. 

[NikkiCFC 7,884]

1 hour ago, BlueLyon said:

Well someone has to do that and since she was responsible for most of that after Emenalo left, she is the one to praise/blame.

 

1 hour ago, MoroccanBlue said:

No, she was not. The only one who had more responsibility in scouting after Emenalo left was Scott McLachlan. 

Many people don't have any idea who he is and only address Marina given she is the one holding up the kit with the new transfer. 

I said this before and will say it again. I have no issues with our transfer policy since he left. His last 4 signings were Zappa, Drinky, Baka and Morata. That was horrible! Conte is also responsible a lot because he asked for this type of players.

After Emenalo and Conte left we decided to change our direction and philosophy and we bought Pulisic, Kovacic, Kepa, Jorginho, Ziyech plus academy... What is there not to like? 

Not selling Willian was biggest mistake but since we would buy with that money Malcom or Pepe it feels better a little bit.

[Vesper 28,291]

1 hour ago, BlueLyon said:

Well someone has to do that and since she was responsible for most of that after Emenalo left, she is the one to praise/blame.

Scott McLachlan, he is the fucking shitehawk scout responsible for the turds in the bowl

[NikkiCFC 7,884]

2 minutes ago, King Kante said:

My main assessment of Granny is that she is a great sales women but a poor buyer. This can be seen with her getting good fees for the likes of Oscar, Morata etc but she gets too stubborn on buying if the figure goes slightly higher than what she has in her head. That for me is why all her best signings have been buyouts (Kante, Costa etc) or players with gentleman agreements to leave (Ziyech, Cesc etc.) as these have all involved very little need to negotiate a fee. 

Players we failed to buy were all not interested in coming here. Conte did not want Auba, Barella did not want to leave Italy, Juve was playing with us with Sandro, Lukaku wanted to play with his pal Pogba... What can you do?

[NikkiCFC 7,884]

If he is good enough for Ash he is good enough for me.

[Jase 43,479]

Am sure this has been said before and Marina hasn't been faultless when it comes to transfer but it is "strange" that people like to criticize her whenever we buy crap players but people rarely say anything good things when we actually buy good/quality players. 

[Vesper 28,291]

do not shoot the messenger

 

Michael Cox: Chilwell’s acceleration offers Chelsea exactly what they need

https://theathletic.com/1849781/2020/06/03/cox-chilwell-ben-chelsea-leicester-transfer-analysis/?source=dailyemail

The easiest way of explaining Chelsea’s pursuit of Ben Chilwell is very simple — Frank Lampard wants a left-back capable of both attacking and defending.

Until now, Lampard’s options haven’t ticked both boxes.

Marcos Alonso was signed on the strength of his performances at wing-back for Fiorentina and was the greatest beneficiary of Antonio Conte’s switch to 3-4-3 early on in his first campaign as manager. Over just shy of four seasons with Chelsea, Alonso has 20 goals and 11 assists in the Premier League, a hugely impressive return, but in a defensive sense he is constantly bypassed too easily.

Cesar Azpilicueta, more of a natural right-back and certainly capable of tucking inside to play in a back three, has also featured on the left. He was regularly deployed there in the second Jose Mourinho era, when Mourinho wanted a solid defender to largely remain in position and allow Eden Hazard the freedom to attack solo. But while Azpilicueta has developed into a good crosser from the right, he offers little in an attacking sense when fielded on the other side.

Then there’s Emerson Palmieri, who doesn’t quite offer the requisite level either with or without possession — he was hauled off after just 34 minutes when Chelsea travelled to Arsenal in December, the starkest sign that Lampard isn’t convinced.

Chilwell is a more complete left-back — solid defensively, a good crosser and, in particular, very useful at attacking transitions.

His pace isn’t necessarily the first thing you notice when watching Chilwell play, but his combined acceleration and speed of thought have been extremely useful in helping Leicester City switch from defence to attack with just a couple of touches.

Here are a couple of examples.

The first comes from a 3-1 defeat away to Arsenal early last season, when Claude Puel was still in charge. Leicester scored the opening goal that Monday night, which is in the books as a Hector Bellerin own goal. The credit, though, goes almost entirely to Chilwell.

With Alexandre Lacazette playing as Arsenal’s right winger, Chilwell spotted an opportunity to storm past the striker when Wilfred Ndidi had possession in the middle.

Again, it’s not necessarily the speed of Chilwell’s run that proves crucial but the timing of it. Ndidi’s pass is perfectly weighted, Chilwell takes the ball past Bellerin with his first touch, gets in behind, and then his attempted cross deflects off the Arsenal right-back and trickles in.

Leicester went from having the ball in midfield to having the ball in Bernd Leno’s net, essentially courtesy of a good run and a good first touch.

Here’s another example, from August’s 3-1 victory over Bournemouth. This time, Chilwell doesn’t need to make a run, but it’s the same principle. A Bournemouth cross is headed clear and he collects a bouncing ball inside his own half.

He controls it with his first touch and moves forward a little, before launching a huge pass over the top for a typical Jamie Vardy run.

The ball is so well weighted that Vardy doesn’t even need to take a touch — he simply watches it bounce and then lobs it over Aaron Ramsdale to make it 1-0. Again, there’s a neat efficiency here, no touches are wasted.

While team-mates Vardy and Ayoze Perez collected hat-tricks on the night, Chilwell was arguably Leicester’s most impressive player in the famous 9-0 thrashing of Southampton in October — he was involved in the first seven goals, getting the first himself.

That goal, although ultimately a rebound from a saved shot, was another example of his ability to arrive at the right place at the right time — when Ndidi plays this square pass, Chilwell is out of shot and James Maddison thinks the ball is for him.

But Chilwell’s burst of acceleration means he suddenly comes into the picture, plays the ball first-time for Harvey Barnes, and then is on hand to tuck home the rebound.

Chilwell later showed his crossing ability, not merely showcasing technical quality to whip the ball into the box, but demonstrating great vision to pick out Perez, making a run from the opposite flank to the far post, where he volleyed home.

Chilwell has benefited from having a good on-pitch relationship with many of his Leicester team-mates. Ndidi, as well as often finding Chilwell on the run with some good passes, has also offered cover when he’s stormed forward on the overlap. Maddison, when fielded from the left flank, drifts inside to open up space. It’s easy to imagine him developing similar relationships with N’Golo Kante and Christian Pulisic, Mason Mount or Hakim Ziyech in these respects.

Chelsea don’t quite have a striker as adept at making runs into the left-hand channel as Vardy, however, while Chilwell has also benefited from the good passing range of his centre-backs. He often used to sprint onto the end of Harry Maguire’s straight passes in behind — Chelsea don’t have such an obvious defensive playmaker since David Luiz’s departure last summer.

Chilwell has generally been solid without possession since breaking into the Leicester first team. He notably struggled against former team-mate Riyad Mahrez in Manchester City’s 3-1 victory just before Christmas, although this was partly because Kevin De Bruyne was making his typical runs into the channel just inside Chilwell and, much like many other sides this season, he was faced with having to track two runners simultaneously.

It’s also worth pointing out that Chilwell, along with Hamza Choudhury, was dropped for the 2-1 loss away to Burnley in January after turning up late for a training session, although this appears to have been an isolated incident.

His acquisition would be a good upgrade for Chelsea rather than a truly game-changing one, but with the 23-year-old on one flank and Reece James, who isn’t 21 until December, on the other they would have their full-back options sorted for much of the next decade.

 

[Jase 43,479]

1 minute ago, NikkiCFC said:

If he is good enough for Ash he is good enough for me.

Duncan Castles?  

[Jase 43,479]

1 minute ago, Vesper said:

do not shoot the messenger

 

Michael Cox: Chilwell’s acceleration offers Chelsea exactly what they need

https://theathletic.com/1849781/2020/06/03/cox-chilwell-ben-chelsea-leicester-transfer-analysis/?source=dailyemail

The easiest way of explaining Chelsea’s pursuit of Ben Chilwell is very simple — Frank Lampard wants a left-back capable of both attacking and defending.

Until now, Lampard’s options haven’t ticked both boxes.

Marcos Alonso was signed on the strength of his performances at wing-back for Fiorentina and was the greatest beneficiary of Antonio Conte’s switch to 3-4-3 early on in his first campaign as manager. Over just shy of four seasons with Chelsea, Alonso has 20 goals and 11 assists in the Premier League, a hugely impressive return, but in a defensive sense he is constantly bypassed too easily.

Cesar Azpilicueta, more of a natural right-back and certainly capable of tucking inside to play in a back three, has also featured on the left. He was regularly deployed there in the second Jose Mourinho era, when Mourinho wanted a solid defender to largely remain in position and allow Eden Hazard the freedom to attack solo. But while Azpilicueta has developed into a good crosser from the right, he offers little in an attacking sense when fielded on the other side.

Then there’s Emerson Palmieri, who doesn’t quite offer the requisite level either with or without possession — he was hauled off after just 34 minutes when Chelsea travelled to Arsenal in December, the starkest sign that Lampard isn’t convinced.

Chilwell is a more complete left-back — solid defensively, a good crosser and, in particular, very useful at attacking transitions.

His pace isn’t necessarily the first thing you notice when watching Chilwell play, but his combined acceleration and speed of thought have been extremely useful in helping Leicester City switch from defence to attack with just a couple of touches.

Here are a couple of examples.

The first comes from a 3-1 defeat away to Arsenal early last season, when Claude Puel was still in charge. Leicester scored the opening goal that Monday night, which is in the books as a Hector Bellerin own goal. The credit, though, goes almost entirely to Chilwell.

With Alexandre Lacazette playing as Arsenal’s right winger, Chilwell spotted an opportunity to storm past the striker when Wilfred Ndidi had possession in the middle.

Again, it’s not necessarily the speed of Chilwell’s run that proves crucial but the timing of it. Ndidi’s pass is perfectly weighted, Chilwell takes the ball past Bellerin with his first touch, gets in behind, and then his attempted cross deflects off the Arsenal right-back and trickles in.

Leicester went from having the ball in midfield to having the ball in Bernd Leno’s net, essentially courtesy of a good run and a good first touch.

Here’s another example, from August’s 3-1 victory over Bournemouth. This time, Chilwell doesn’t need to make a run, but it’s the same principle. A Bournemouth cross is headed clear and he collects a bouncing ball inside his own half.

He controls it with his first touch and moves forward a little, before launching a huge pass over the top for a typical Jamie Vardy run.

The ball is so well weighted that Vardy doesn’t even need to take a touch — he simply watches it bounce and then lobs it over Aaron Ramsdale to make it 1-0. Again, there’s a neat efficiency here, no touches are wasted.

While team-mates Vardy and Ayoze Perez collected hat-tricks on the night, Chilwell was arguably Leicester’s most impressive player in the famous 9-0 thrashing of Southampton in October — he was involved in the first seven goals, getting the first himself.

That goal, although ultimately a rebound from a saved shot, was another example of his ability to arrive at the right place at the right time — when Ndidi plays this square pass, Chilwell is out of shot and James Maddison thinks the ball is for him.

But Chilwell’s burst of acceleration means he suddenly comes into the picture, plays the ball first-time for Harvey Barnes, and then is on hand to tuck home the rebound.

Chilwell later showed his crossing ability, not merely showcasing technical quality to whip the ball into the box, but demonstrating great vision to pick out Perez, making a run from the opposite flank to the far post, where he volleyed home.

Chilwell has benefited from having a good on-pitch relationship with many of his Leicester team-mates. Ndidi, as well as often finding Chilwell on the run with some good passes, has also offered cover when he’s stormed forward on the overlap. Maddison, when fielded from the left flank, drifts inside to open up space. It’s easy to imagine him developing similar relationships with N’Golo Kante and Christian Pulisic, Mason Mount or Hakim Ziyech in these respects.

Chelsea don’t quite have a striker as adept at making runs into the left-hand channel as Vardy, however, while Chilwell has also benefited from the good passing range of his centre-backs. He often used to sprint onto the end of Harry Maguire’s straight passes in behind — Chelsea don’t have such an obvious defensive playmaker since David Luiz’s departure last summer.

Chilwell has generally been solid without possession since breaking into the Leicester first team. He notably struggled against former team-mate Riyad Mahrez in Manchester City’s 3-1 victory just before Christmas, although this was partly because Kevin De Bruyne was making his typical runs into the channel just inside Chilwell and, much like many other sides this season, he was faced with having to track two runners simultaneously.

It’s also worth pointing out that Chilwell, along with Hamza Choudhury, was dropped for the 2-1 loss away to Burnley in January after turning up late for a training session, although this appears to have been an isolated incident.

His acquisition would be a good upgrade for Chelsea rather than a truly game-changing one, but with the 23-year-old on one flank and Reece James, who isn’t 21 until December, on the other they would have their full-back options sorted for much of the next decade.

 

I shared the link to this article but was told that he can't defend. 

[Vesper 28,291]

1 minute ago, Jason said:

I shared the link to this article but was told that he can't defend. 

and Emerson and Alonso and the midget Maatsen can?

[Jase 43,479]

Just now, Vesper said:

and Emerson and Alsons and the midget Maatsen can?

Go figure...