The English Football Thread

[Strike 7,299]

35 minutes ago, Vesper said:

Manure are horrific on the road versus every top team except for us

Yes, we are not a top team

 

[MoroccanBlue 5,320]

Who do we blame? No Jorginho, Mount, Havertz, Pulisic, or Ziyech anymore. 

[Strike 7,299]

33 minutes ago, DDA said:

We are a million miles away from Arsenal.. how the fuck has this happened.

Arsenal have been good since the start of last season. In a combined Chelsea-Arsenal team, I'd rate James over their RB and that's about it right now.

[DDA 9,729]

10 minutes ago, Strike said:

Arsenal have been good since the start of last season. In a combined Chelsea-Arsenal team, I'd rate James over their RB and that's about it right now.

Enzo over Havertz bro

[Vesper 29,202]

55 minutes ago, Blue Armour said:

That focus on pure youth is a very high risk gamble. 

Hopefully they'll come to their senses sooner rather than later. 

Nothing against youth signings, but they need to mix it up.

well, the only players older than 25yo (the supposed cutoff by the board) and under 31yo that we could have had a real go at, ones that are truly good enough and might have maybe come here

were very few 

one 30yo (Oblak)

no 29 yos

two 28 yos (Maignan and Skriniar)

no 27 yos

then six 26yos (the 2 AMFs are the biggest misses)

Frenkie de Jong   Central Midfield  26    (too similar to Enzo IMHO)

Nicolò Barella  Central Midfield 26 (we got Caicedo instead)

Lucas Paquetá   Attacking Midfield 26

James Maddison   Attacking Midfield 26

Ousmane Dembélé  Right Winger 26   (I know many here don't rate him)

Lautaro Martínez    Centre-Forward 26  (I know many here don't rate him, even more than posters who do not rate Dembele)

 

ALL the rest of the ones I truly rate and who were available and were not pipe dreams are 25yo and under, so fall under the youth movement

and only four them were even 25:

(Chiesa who is coming off a massive injury, Theo Hernández, who is shaky defensively,Federico Valverde, who is basically a pipedream as well, and Bruno Guimarães , who we already have too many similar players to now)

the rest were 24 and under, and 2 of those are only 19yo (António Silva, who is my NUMBER ONE (by far) CB available want on the planet atm, and then the near pipe dream Gavi)

 

so, the non youth (ie over 25 and still, under 31) buys who would have been great (ie to my approval in terms of quality) are so few in reality

these are the only 'non youth' ones (and I grant the ones in bold are HUGE misses) who were even remotely available and would come here that a person can have a go about (and almost all were hard as fuck pulls):

Skriniar (grrrr)

the 2 AMFs are the other two of the biggest misses (Paquetá and Maddison)

the 2 GKers: Oblak and possibly Maignan (both insanely hard pulls, and I would rather have the 'youth' Diogo Costa or probably (it is close) Mamardashvili than Maignan but I will list him as he is better than the 2 we have now, IMHO, and he is a deffo clear 4th (or 3rd, if you rate him over Mamar) in terms or remotely available keepers)

plus Ousmane Dembélé  and Lautaro Martínez, both of whom many here do not rate (I rate them both, but will not put them bold)

and finally Frenkie de Jong  and Nicolò Barella (who we do not need as we have similar players now, would have been crazy hard to pull and expensive)

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited September 3, 2023 by Vesper

[Laylabelle 9,406]

Arsenal aren't the same team as before..know crumbled last season but injuries and all. Its not like another team takes a lead and they run off and cant do anything. Don't think they'll win the league but be challenging again 

[Vesper 29,202]

53 minutes ago, Strike said:

Arsenal have been good since the start of last season. In a combined Chelsea-Arsenal team, I'd rate James over their RB and that's about it right now.

both our starting fullbacks (when healthy) are better (Zinchenko is the only LB on their roster and I rate Chilwell over him, no way would I swap unless i knew for sure Chilwell will become perma injured)

they literally have no CMFs on their roster so that is a default win

I rate our combined CMFs and DMFs over theirs

they do have better everywhere else (unless Djordje Petrovic turns out to be a monster) although I do not rate Gabriel that much overall, and surely either Colwill and/or Badi eventually pass him by

so 4 Chels

7 Arse

atm

they CRUSH us in terms of offensive players

Edited September 3, 2023 by Vesper

[Nero 1,849]

Why are we allowing these people to represent the Chelsea fanbase?

[NikkiCFC 8,081]

My combine 11 would be:

Ramsdale 

James

Saliba

Colwill

Chilwell 

Enzo

Caicedo 

Saka 

Odegaard 

Nkunku 

Jesus 

 

[milka 3,362]

In the usual positions.

[NikkiCFC 8,081]

Arteta lost the plot... 

 

[Vegetable 830]

Weird thing to say, especially given current scandals in football.

Edited September 3, 2023 by Vegetable

[robsblubot 3,580]

nah just lost in translation I think.

His system, as well as Pep's, demands the most from all players esp the attacking players. The defenders have to cover a lot more ground, and the attackers have to run relentlessly like Werner did.

I've heard from an umber of players who say it's really difficult to adapt, and takes time. Some don't really adapt as they don't have the mentality for it, but time is a sure thing IMO.

I'm one who thinks we'd be much stronger had these players stayed, at very least for strength in depth, but it is what it is; still, rooting against the career of 23-24yo who already play for big clubs is going to be a time-consuming affair. 😆

[Reddish-Blue 2,397]

2 hours ago, NikkiCFC said:

My combine 11 would be:

Ramsdale 

James

Saliba

Colwill

Chilwell 

Enzo

Caicedo 

Saka 

Odegaard 

Nkunku 

Jesus 

 

As of right now I'd say it's Rice > Caicedo.   Maybe once he's settled and had his pre-season, it will change...

[DDA 9,729]

1 hour ago, Reddish-Blue said:

As of right now I'd say it's Rice > Caicedo.   Maybe once he's settled and had his pre-season, it will change...

Caicedo is more dynamic than Rice but Rice has leadership qualities... he will become a great for Arsenal if he carries on performing like he did yesterday. 

 

[YorkshireBlue 3,144]

6 hours ago, MoroccanBlue said:

Someone just said the average age of Arsenal's team on the pitch was under 24. 

We still using the U23 excuse on this Chelsea team?

Let's not compare a team that's being together for 3 years to a team that has only 5 players that have played together before and are only 4 games in, when arsenal started with the youth project they were shocking to start with. Again, you don't go from a youth team to what arsenal is now in 4 games.

Edited September 4, 2023 by YorkshireBlue

[Blue Armour 4,336]

26 minutes ago, YorkshireBlue said:

Let's not compare a team that's being together for 3 years to a team that has only 5 players that have played together before and are only 4 games in, when arsenal started with the youth project they were shocking to start with. Again, you don't go from a youth team to what arsenal is now in 4 games.

It was a gamble on their part, as is the case with ours.

It may pay off eventually, but boy is it going to be painful along the way.

I guess that's where all the long term contracts come in. To prevent our development players from jumping ship the moment things go to shit. Case in point, Mr. Mount.

[Reddish-Blue 2,397]

6 hours ago, Blue Armour said:

It was a gamble on their part, as is the case with ours.

It may pay off eventually, but boy is it going to be painful along the way.

I guess that's where all the long term contracts come in. To prevent our development players from jumping ship the moment things go to shit. Case in point, Mr. Mount.

Not sure if Mount is the right example as he rejected the opportunity to sign the long term contract, wanted a shorter deal.