The Chelsea Thread

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Quasit said:
Anelka + Alex for Krasic would be nice deal for you. Bit of wheeling and dealing which would make even Redknapp and Galliani proud.
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we did not buy Krasic from MOTD so Redknapp wont be proud
 
Quasit said:
Anelka + Alex for Krasic would be nice deal for you. Bit of wheeling and dealing which would make even Redknapp and Galliani proud.
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I dont think our cheif exec is that smart to be honest lol.
 
Krasic?

Are you people mad?

If I wanted to sign a diver I'd sign Tom Daley.
 
Jamie. said:
Krasic?

Are you people mad?

If I wanted to sign a diver I'd sign Tom Daley.
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Off-Topic but in sunday's gossip column i read juve were going to offer 20 M + Krasic for Theo.

NO DEAL !
 
Calum said:
Off-Topic but in sunday's gossip column i read juve were going to offer 20 M + Krasic for Theo.

NO DEAL !
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20m for Theo Walcott!

What was the source Calum... The Sun? Daily Star? Transfer Tavern perhaps ;)
 
If you think Krasic is good enough for Chelsea yet alone the Premier League then I must have been watching the wrong Krasic, or the wrong Juventus, in the past year.

He runs to the byline with a ball control touch that makes Heskey look like Xavi, he gets there - eye on the ball - and just hoofs it...

It either ends up at the corner flag, the stadium roof or Amauri's head...

And these days Amauri's head is usually in the kit room washing boots so work that one out.

I see why people would think he's great, he has pace to burn, but if you can't use the pace in the right way you'll never be a top level player.

If you want a winger from Serie A, I'd go with at least 15 others before I went for Krasic.
 
I love you Jamie. Your indepth analysis, your world-weary cynicism, your realistic outlook with just a little hint of optimism.

Don't ever change <3
 
You dont want Krasic, you want a winger, but you dont want Krasic. If you want a winger you want Griezmann, and then let DS have the right instead, and Mata through the middle
 
I'd like Griezmann, and Sociedad would bite anyones arm off at the moment, the problem is I can see Griezmann being the typical thing in the Premier League where they'll wait 3-4 years then pay over the odds for him.

I mean someone will sign him, be that Bayern/Real Madrid or an English team, the question is will a Premiership club take the risk on him.

For me he's easily the best left winger outside of Barcelona in La Liga, and that includes one of my favourite Argentine's Piatti, and he would no doubt do wonders for Chelsea.

I like that description Subtle, cynical optimist...

Without cynics the world would never move forward because no one would point out the bad points in what it was doing, Juventus are top of Serie A and I'm the only fan in the room saying 'whoah, where's this £120k a week striker Amauri? We need him'.

Griezmann + Mata + Sturridge has thepotential to be a title winning attacking 3, especially with an in form Torres in front of them, in a few years time that's for sure.

It's extremely late, night gents.
 
Jamie. said:
If you think Krasic is good enough for Chelsea yet alone the Premier League then I must have been watching the wrong Krasic, or the wrong Juventus, in the past year.

He runs to the byline with a ball control touch that makes Heskey look like Xavi, he gets there - eye on the ball - and just hoofs it...

It either ends up at the corner flag, the stadium roof or Amauri's head...

And these days Amauri's head is usually in the kit room washing boots so work that one out.

I see why people would think he's great, he has pace to burn, but if you can't use the pace in the right way you'll never be a top level player.

If you want a winger from Serie A, I'd go with at least 15 others before I went for Krasic.
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View attachment 208094

;)
 
Great article/interview with Albelda about tonight's game, from Sid Lowe in the Guardian.

It was not supposed to end like this. David Albelda and Juan Mata had agreed. Now, the agreement must be broken; for one night, they are friends no more. Before the last round of games in the Champions League the former team-mates spoke – the Valencia club captain still at Mestalla 15 years on and the latest star to depart; the man who could have gone to Chelsea and the man who did.
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Talk inevitably turned to Group E. We beat Genk, you beat Bayer Leverkusen, Albelda jokingly told Mata, and then we can relax and both go through. Valencia slaughtered Genk 7-0 but Chelsea did not beat Leverkusen and now only one can progress. Assuming, as Albelda does, that Bayer Leverkusen beat Genk, the equation is simple: a victory or a 0-0 draw equals Chelsea going through; anything else and Valencia progress instead.

Chelsea didn't want this. Nor did Valencia. "We played [Genk] with one eye on Chelsea," Albelda says. "We knew Drogba had scored and that the best result was a Chelsea victory. When we reached the dressing room we didn't know they'd lost. It's rare for a group game to end up a knock-out and we would never have chosen to go to London to play for our lives with Chelsea having to win as well."

But if that sounds pessimistic, think again. It is a sunny afternoon at Paterna, Valencia's training ground. The previous night Albelda watched Chelsea get knocked out of the Carling Cup and he has followed their progress. He knows they've lost five of their last 10. Valencia, meanwhile, have been beaten twice in 13. Their record in all competitions reads: played 19, lost three. At 34, Albelda is still integral to their success. He was rested at the weekend to ensure he would be ready on Tuesday night.

"We are going in different directions," he concedes. "We're reaching our peak; Chelsea have doubts. They were favourites and it would be a greater surprise for them to be knocked out than us but that doesn't mean they're under more pressure. It's Chelsea: they've been here before, they know what to do, and just look at the players they have."

Players like Mata, who has three goals and seven assists in the league. "Mata's success doesn't surprise me," Albelda says. "He's a wonderful player with a great attitude. he same is true of [David] Silva, the best in the Premier League: he's very professional, works hard and has exceptional technical quality. He's small but strong. Silva has surprised defenders: they look at him and think they can kick him, but they're wrong. Silva is stronger than Mata but Mata scores more. I knew they'd both adapt easily."

The question is where would Valencia be if they had not been forced to sell the pair for €59m; if they had not sold David Villa to Barcelona for €40m. Valencia had four World Cup winners, now they have none. They've raised over €120m in two years, but it's not enough. Financial reality bites. Under their former president, Juan Soler, their debt spiralled beyond €500m. The exit strategy was a real estate manoeuvre that never materialised: Valencia have two stadiums, one they cannot sell and one they cannot afford to build.

Only now, under a new president, are they finding stability – but at a cost. That they are just four points behind Barcelona with a game in hand is a miracle. Competing with Chelsea likewise.

Valencia paid for Soler's presidency and Albelda more than most. Soler ordered Ronald Koeman to ditch him, Santi Cañizares and Miguel Angel Angulo. No matter that he was the captain, at the club over a decade, and their leader during the successful spell in history, Albelda ended up in court against his president. An international regular until then, inactivity cost him his place at Euro 2008 – a tournament Spain won.
It was then that the opportunity to join Chelsea emerged. "Chelsea had the African Nations Cup coming up, involving Obi Mikel and Essien," Albelda recalls, "and they wanted me as cover. That fact that it was a short-term offer was one of the reasons I said no. It's a pity because I admire the English league and the atmosphere, which is different to Spain, while players like me are also more highly rated in England than here. In Spain's there's a culture of technical, more aesthetic players.

"Yet, still, all teams play with someone like me. Even Barcelona have Busquets, while Madrid play Xabi and Khedira; against us they played with three. The pressure's huge and ultimately what matters is the result, titles."

These days titles seem impossible for Valencia. Champions in 2002 and 2004, last season they finished 21 points behind Madrid. The reason, says Albelda, is simple. "We don't have their resources. Valencia are competing with Chelsea, Madrid and Barcelona and every year we sell them our best players – Villa to Barcelona, Mata to Chelsea …

"Then there are TV contracts: the distribution must be more even. Valencia make a third [€42m] of what Madrid and Barcelona [€125m] do and we're Spain's third biggest club. So, imagine the difference between Madrid and the rest.

"It hurts that we were the best side in Spain, but can't compete now," Albelda says. "Having closed the gap and succeeded in challenging them, it hurts to throw it all away. [Under Soler] we became a mediocre club. For ten years we had coaches with a clear philosophy based on a physical, tactical game. When [Soler] sacked Quique Sanchez Flores [in 2007] we were first in our Champions League group and four points off Madrid at the top of La Liga. They signed Koeman and in months managed to throw away everything we had done over eight or nine years.

"Now we're trying to recover everything we lost, with a coach [Unai Emery] with a similar mind-set as we had with Claudio Ranieri, Rafa Benìtez and Hector Cùper. But with the added economic inconvenience. Every year we weaken and they strengthen. A couple of years ago, Valencia faced the reality – go bankrupt and the club disappears or sell players and confront the debt. The work the club has done is extraordinary. We sell players, the money services the debt and buys new players theoretically on a lower level but determined to match Mata, Villa or Silva."

The latest example is Roberto Soldado. His battle with Fernando Torres is one of the great sub-plots of this drama. Soldado has scored 39 in the last two seasons for his club; Torres five. Yet the Valencia striker still does not get the call to the national team and Torres does. "It's very, very hard for a player to understand when he's playing like that and still not getting in the squad," says Albelda. "He's thinking: 'what more do I have to do?' Spain seems closed. It's not a case of the players who are playing well at any time going, but that [Vicente Del Bosque] has a settled squad. That said, I don't think Roberto is obsessed with Spain or Torres. Players never think to themselves 'that's the guy in my place'. He just tries to score goals."

And how. On Saturday night, Soldado was rested ready for tonight. When Valencia needed a goal he was sent on and within five minutes had scored. "He is," ran one local newspaper, "irreplaceable." The trouble is, Valencia may have to do exactly that. Sadly, the value of Champions League progression is also measured in the value of future transfer fees. Will Soldado, or someone like him, have to go as Villa, Mata and Silva once did? "Yes," says Albelda, "for sure." And then?

"And then we'll have to reinvent ourselves – like we do every year."
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Lucas Piazon has been impressive since he officially joined Chelsea, he turned in an excellent performance for us vs the Aston Villa Reserves recently combining brilliantly with Lukaku who scored a brace btw.... Think he has a real chance of being on the fringes of our first-team squad next year at least
 
Dider Drogba to lead the forward line against Valencia today instead of Torres :/... Meirless comes in for Lampard but otherwise the team is the same that faced Newcastle which means that Oriol Romeu will be shielding the back 4 instead of Mikel, yay
 
Chelsea need 2 possibly 3 goals to go through. I cant see them keeping a clean sheet tbh. I'd be amazed if they do
 
Drogba starting again, really? And Meireles in for Lampard

Chelsea: Cech, Ivanovic, Terry, Luiz, Cole, Romeu, Meireles,
Ramires, Sturridge, Drogba, Mata.
Subs: Turnbull, Lampard, Torres, Mikel, Malouda, Ferreira, Kalou.
Valencia: Diego Alves, Barragan, Rami, Victor Ruiz, Jordi Alba, Feghouli, Tino Costa, Albelda, Mathieu, Jonas, Soldado.
Subs: Guaita, Topal, Aduriz, Piatti, Dealbert, Pablo, Parejo.
 
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Subtle said:
Drogba starting again, really?
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Strange decison. January cant come soon enough for the club. The likes of Terry and Lampard have had too much influence without quite doing it the last 12 months. The changeover of youth should have come last year, but needs to happen in Jan.

Glenn Hoddle speaking a whole load of sense, wouldnt mind him having something to with England again
 
Chelsea need either a quality winger so Mata can play through the middle, or a quality running playmaker through the middle.

Then a proper right back, and put Brana back at Centreback
 
How is Torres supposed to get back to his old self properly when he's not starting?! give the lad a chance for goodness sake.
 
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