Agreed, but I can see two players coming to replace/fill the gaps left, but there won't be a major overhaul or anything, that's likely to happen in the summer though.
The Chelsea Thread
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Agreed, but I can see two players coming to replace/fill the gaps left, but there won't be a major overhaul or anything, that's likely to happen in the summer though.
I don't see that much changing TBH. the under-performers will go, the old guard will start to fall away, a couple of signings in.
For the RB position, Samuel Inkoom is another prospect although I have no idea how he is doing atm performance-wise but we were interested in the summer
More than likely that in January we will go for a winger to replace Anelka but someone young and one who does not mind being on the fringes of the squad, the CB position is interesting to watch because there are no clear targets and for the life of me, I do not want Gary 'At the heart of the worst defence in PLM' Cahill
I'd say Otamendi from Porto considering he is used to playing in AVB's system and young... Diego Godin is not a bad shout either but he is 24/25 so not too sure if he falls in anyone's 'young' category
Central Midfield Playmaker, I would say bring in Ganso that is if we are ready to spend 40m on him
Club should definitely be thinking of major business in January, I think they realized that due to Roman's trigger-happy managerial sackings, the squad is filled with too much deadwood that needs to be removed and with the FFP nearly upon us, the club should be taking the January transfer window to make a 3-4 signings
More than likely that in January we will go for a winger to replace Anelka but someone young and one who does not mind being on the fringes of the squad, the CB position is interesting to watch because there are no clear targets and for the life of me, I do not want Gary 'At the heart of the worst defence in PLM' Cahill
I'd say Otamendi from Porto considering he is used to playing in AVB's system and young... Diego Godin is not a bad shout either but he is 24/25 so not too sure if he falls in anyone's 'young' category
Central Midfield Playmaker, I would say bring in Ganso that is if we are ready to spend 40m on him
Club should definitely be thinking of major business in January, I think they realized that due to Roman's trigger-happy managerial sackings, the squad is filled with too much deadwood that needs to be removed and with the FFP nearly upon us, the club should be taking the January transfer window to make a 3-4 signings
Putting my psychic hat on I would say January we will see minimum 2 maximum 3 arrivals, then next summer 5-6 signings accompanied by minimum 5 outgoings.
Drogba will not leave in January but given he wants 2 years extension and the club are willing to offer 1 with an extension of 12 months option down to the club it's unlikely he will be here this time next year.
If we want to be brutally honest, this season is not about winning trophies it's about assessing the personnel at Chelsea and whether or not going forward they can fit in AVB's system. No matter what the newspapers write to fill their pages, appointing AVB over Hiddink showed the emphasis lies with Buck and visionaries having Roman's ear not solely down to De Visser and what he tells him in their brunches.
AVB is at Chelsea for the long haul, the players realise that and Anelka/Alex decided to opt out whether you deem their decisions to be taken for the benefit of the club or benefit to their pockets. AVB is not naive enough to think that Alex could hold a high line or that Kalou could be a potential winger for Chelsea, he plays his system; his philosophy; his tactics. If players do not fit in that system it's no taint on him, he has been deliberately exposing the squad and players to test them and see who can and can not fit into his system moving forward. I would fit Torres into the category, at the moment, that he's thinking can not fiti nto the system.
If he goes down 4-0 in a ball of flames tonight, it shouldn't bother any Chelsea fan. If Bosingwa at RB let's in Nasri, it shouldn't bother any Chelsea fan. Usually teams don't go through prolonged periods of transition because they usually ease through with gentle refinement - like Ferguson has done so well over the years - but with this team so accustomed to player power and having a say, you can see why he does want to move so many players on.
I can see Malouda leaving in the summer along with Kalou and Drogba, Lampard will probably stick around simply because he is on 150k a week and not many clubs will pay him that if any at all. I could easily see a scenario where Mikel is moved on. As much as people applaud him, he does not fit into the system whatsoever. Ignoring the rather slow way he moves the ball, he's not a defensive midfielder that applies constant pressure he prefers to drop off and read the game relying on positioning rather than speed/aggression. I can see the 7 predicted arrivals being - 1 x RB, 1 x CF, 1 x LW, 1 x CM, 1 x CB, 1 x LB, 1 x RW.
With potentially even more, but I just can't see them being Gotze/Hazard/Ganso type signings. I could see Lucas Moura coming in in the summer but Gotze/Hazard would just be heavily over priced and as we saw with Pastore in the summer if the price becomes crazy the new policy is don't pay it.
Inkoom would be a good choice at RB the only question mark is his fitness levels, Emenalo has watched him at least 4 times that I know of since August. So you would presume he is an AVB identified target, Inkoom has said it would be a dream as well to play for Chelsea so that link is one I can understand.
I don't know why I persist with these self assuring semi optimistic messages but as long as the message is AVB is using this season to assess his squad and expose players to his system, not to win trophies, I'm fine. Not looking forward to the game tonight, I can see a 1-3 City win. Aguero versus Ivanovic, at CB, worries me and when you consider it will probably be Sturridge versus his biggest test yet in Clichy I would be worried.
Also just got some figures on Anelka's contract, it's £200,000 per week net and then in bonuses he stands to earn an extra £6 million in his first season. Anzhi are creatively being linked with Alex, the only player they aren't linked with is Kalou...
I think it would be worth challenging Roma for Lovren in January, Lyon have made him available and he has immense potential. Otamendi/Godin would be expensive, may be worth taking a chance on Lovren. The club half heartedly backed AVB in the summer, they gave him only so much license to reshape the squad and didn't do the immediate overhaul he asked for. Which is understandable given he's a relatively new manager who they just hired, he's proven and exposed the players at the club to his system which will surely prompt the club to speed up the transition. I think he will gradually phase out the over 30's and next summer he will have built a new team based around high tempo play. I can see a midfield base of Ramires/Essien with Sturridge(If he keeps adapting to play on the wing)/Mata/ (Insert name here) in the attacking midfield line and Torres up front.
I'm not dampening the expectation or preparing anyone for failure tonight, I'm just trying to put a bit of perspective into the situation. So hopefully there's no 'High line! Why? Why? Why???' posts tonight and more 'Clearly (Insert Name Here) Can Not Adapt To The Defensive System'.
Drogba will not leave in January but given he wants 2 years extension and the club are willing to offer 1 with an extension of 12 months option down to the club it's unlikely he will be here this time next year.
If we want to be brutally honest, this season is not about winning trophies it's about assessing the personnel at Chelsea and whether or not going forward they can fit in AVB's system. No matter what the newspapers write to fill their pages, appointing AVB over Hiddink showed the emphasis lies with Buck and visionaries having Roman's ear not solely down to De Visser and what he tells him in their brunches.
AVB is at Chelsea for the long haul, the players realise that and Anelka/Alex decided to opt out whether you deem their decisions to be taken for the benefit of the club or benefit to their pockets. AVB is not naive enough to think that Alex could hold a high line or that Kalou could be a potential winger for Chelsea, he plays his system; his philosophy; his tactics. If players do not fit in that system it's no taint on him, he has been deliberately exposing the squad and players to test them and see who can and can not fit into his system moving forward. I would fit Torres into the category, at the moment, that he's thinking can not fiti nto the system.
If he goes down 4-0 in a ball of flames tonight, it shouldn't bother any Chelsea fan. If Bosingwa at RB let's in Nasri, it shouldn't bother any Chelsea fan. Usually teams don't go through prolonged periods of transition because they usually ease through with gentle refinement - like Ferguson has done so well over the years - but with this team so accustomed to player power and having a say, you can see why he does want to move so many players on.
I can see Malouda leaving in the summer along with Kalou and Drogba, Lampard will probably stick around simply because he is on 150k a week and not many clubs will pay him that if any at all. I could easily see a scenario where Mikel is moved on. As much as people applaud him, he does not fit into the system whatsoever. Ignoring the rather slow way he moves the ball, he's not a defensive midfielder that applies constant pressure he prefers to drop off and read the game relying on positioning rather than speed/aggression. I can see the 7 predicted arrivals being - 1 x RB, 1 x CF, 1 x LW, 1 x CM, 1 x CB, 1 x LB, 1 x RW.
With potentially even more, but I just can't see them being Gotze/Hazard/Ganso type signings. I could see Lucas Moura coming in in the summer but Gotze/Hazard would just be heavily over priced and as we saw with Pastore in the summer if the price becomes crazy the new policy is don't pay it.
Inkoom would be a good choice at RB the only question mark is his fitness levels, Emenalo has watched him at least 4 times that I know of since August. So you would presume he is an AVB identified target, Inkoom has said it would be a dream as well to play for Chelsea so that link is one I can understand.
I don't know why I persist with these self assuring semi optimistic messages but as long as the message is AVB is using this season to assess his squad and expose players to his system, not to win trophies, I'm fine. Not looking forward to the game tonight, I can see a 1-3 City win. Aguero versus Ivanovic, at CB, worries me and when you consider it will probably be Sturridge versus his biggest test yet in Clichy I would be worried.
Also just got some figures on Anelka's contract, it's £200,000 per week net and then in bonuses he stands to earn an extra £6 million in his first season. Anzhi are creatively being linked with Alex, the only player they aren't linked with is Kalou...
I think it would be worth challenging Roma for Lovren in January, Lyon have made him available and he has immense potential. Otamendi/Godin would be expensive, may be worth taking a chance on Lovren. The club half heartedly backed AVB in the summer, they gave him only so much license to reshape the squad and didn't do the immediate overhaul he asked for. Which is understandable given he's a relatively new manager who they just hired, he's proven and exposed the players at the club to his system which will surely prompt the club to speed up the transition. I think he will gradually phase out the over 30's and next summer he will have built a new team based around high tempo play. I can see a midfield base of Ramires/Essien with Sturridge(If he keeps adapting to play on the wing)/Mata/ (Insert name here) in the attacking midfield line and Torres up front.
I'm not dampening the expectation or preparing anyone for failure tonight, I'm just trying to put a bit of perspective into the situation. So hopefully there's no 'High line! Why? Why? Why???' posts tonight and more 'Clearly (Insert Name Here) Can Not Adapt To The Defensive System'.
Jose Bosingwa vs David Silva
I a trying to remain in a good mood today so I wont think too much about that battle
Anyways anyone else thinks Alan Pardew is a idiot?
Steven Taylor put more effort into that game than any other he's played this season.
Maybe that was a factor in him getting an Achilles injury? If they had 10 men he might not need to work so hard.
That was my point [when I made my first ill-conceived rant].
Because we were forcing and pressurising the game there was a factor of that and it's foolish to ignore that
That was his interview earlier about our match against them where he is again ranting on why Luiz was not sent off, AVB im glad challenged his claim by asserting thats its madness to blame a season-ending injury simply based on the fact that someone was not sent off and the match was played eleven vs eleven... Pardew is really being pants-on head crazy in this interview.
Plus Pardew is basically trying to make us the villain again by saying that Steven Taylor put utmost effort into this match, despite his last 2 matches being against the Manchester Clubs... Alan Pardew spouting the most incredible nonsense right there and then
Then Pardew starts again by saying-
When you have a victory, it's nice to be a bit more respectful and a bit more honourable, by just saying, 'well OK we won the game but decisions went our way'.
That's what I did at Manchester United (where Newcastle earned a draw thanks to a poor decision to award the Magpies a penalty).
But AVB said that right after the game vs Newcastle was played-
[The David Luiz tackle] was a major incident for sure.
The decision went our way, and I can understand if Alan [Pardew] isn't happy about it.
And this is kind of ******* because AVB is receiving lots of flak for apparently 'moaning' about the media's treatment of Chelsea yet Pardew who pretty much comes across as a lunatic here is being ignored, AVB did have a point
So shut up Alan and buy a new defender
I a trying to remain in a good mood today so I wont think too much about that battle
Anyways anyone else thinks Alan Pardew is a idiot?
Steven Taylor put more effort into that game than any other he's played this season.
Maybe that was a factor in him getting an Achilles injury? If they had 10 men he might not need to work so hard.
That was my point [when I made my first ill-conceived rant].
Because we were forcing and pressurising the game there was a factor of that and it's foolish to ignore that
That was his interview earlier about our match against them where he is again ranting on why Luiz was not sent off, AVB im glad challenged his claim by asserting thats its madness to blame a season-ending injury simply based on the fact that someone was not sent off and the match was played eleven vs eleven... Pardew is really being pants-on head crazy in this interview.
Plus Pardew is basically trying to make us the villain again by saying that Steven Taylor put utmost effort into this match, despite his last 2 matches being against the Manchester Clubs... Alan Pardew spouting the most incredible nonsense right there and then
Then Pardew starts again by saying-
When you have a victory, it's nice to be a bit more respectful and a bit more honourable, by just saying, 'well OK we won the game but decisions went our way'.
That's what I did at Manchester United (where Newcastle earned a draw thanks to a poor decision to award the Magpies a penalty).
But AVB said that right after the game vs Newcastle was played-
[The David Luiz tackle] was a major incident for sure.
The decision went our way, and I can understand if Alan [Pardew] isn't happy about it.
And this is kind of ******* because AVB is receiving lots of flak for apparently 'moaning' about the media's treatment of Chelsea yet Pardew who pretty much comes across as a lunatic here is being ignored, AVB did have a point
So shut up Alan and buy a new defender
Jose Bosingwa vs David Silva
I a trying to remain in a good mood today so I wont think too much about that battle
Anyways anyone else thinks Alan Pardew is a idiot?
Steven Taylor put more effort into that game than any other he's played this season.
Maybe that was a factor in him getting an Achilles injury? If they had 10 men he might not need to work so hard.
That was my point [when I made my first ill-conceived rant].
Because we were forcing and pressurising the game there was a factor of that and it's foolish to ignore that
That was his interview earlier about our match against them where he is again ranting on why Luiz was not sent off, AVB im glad challenged his claim by asserting thats its madness to blame a season-ending injury simply based on the fact that someone was not sent off and the match was played eleven vs eleven... Pardew is really being pants-on head crazy in this interview.
Plus Pardew is basically trying to make us the villain again by saying that Steven Taylor put utmost effort into this match, despite his last 2 matches being against the Manchester Clubs... Alan Pardew spouting the most incredible nonsense right there and then
Then Pardew starts again by saying-
When you have a victory, it's nice to be a bit more respectful and a bit more honourable, by just saying, 'well OK we won the game but decisions went our way'.
That's what I did at Manchester United (where Newcastle earned a draw thanks to a poor decision to award the Magpies a penalty).
But AVB said that right after the game vs Newcastle was played-
[The David Luiz tackle] was a major incident for sure.
The decision went our way, and I can understand if Alan [Pardew] isn't happy about it.
And this is kind of ******* because AVB is receiving lots of flak for apparently 'moaning' about the media's treatment of Chelsea yet Pardew who pretty much comes across as a lunatic here is being ignored, AVB did have a point
So shut up Alan and buy a new defender
I think everyone knows that should have been a straight red. But, personally, it has happened, there ain't a way of going back to it. We just need to move on.
TBH, I cannot see Ganso doing well here(PL). He would never get time on the ball to influence a game like he does at Santos. When he moves to Europe, it will be to Italy or Spain.
Apparently Inkoom is looking for a way out of Dnipro this January, and said he regrets leaving Basel -
Jamie as always a great read. You don't realise how happy that post makes me, I thought we were in transition but other managers have done the same before so I doubted.
Exciting times to be a Chelsea fan (when isn't it?). Next season could be lots of fun with a new team, having the freedom to change the team means he's here for the long haul (just what we need)!
Tonight? Meh, I'd take anything we can get to be honest..
Exciting times to be a Chelsea fan (when isn't it?). Next season could be lots of fun with a new team, having the freedom to change the team means he's here for the long haul (just what we need)!
Tonight? Meh, I'd take anything we can get to be honest..
Thats what I am saying, Alan Pardew seems intent on bringing it up despite it being a week since the incident and then he somehow tries to stupidly link it to Steven Taylor's injury and get more people angry at Chelsea
we are in transition imo but I agree with you, I think AVB was brought in for the long haul, many sources have said that this was Roman's personal choice to bring him in and Guus said that he felt Roman had now understood the need for stability so I feel their is a long-term plan in place at Chelsea
According to many reports coming out of Poland, Chelsea are apparently on the verge of adding 16 year-old GK Dominik Dyk to their ranks in the 2012/13 scholarship class. If reports are to be believed Dominik will arrive at Cobham in March of next year.
Dominik apparently impressed Chelsea coaches after a excellent trial where he managed to outshine several other young talented foreign Goalkeepers and Chelsea also managed to beat off interest from likes of Celtic, Fulham and Villareal to get him.
He will probably fill in our U-18 GK spot as Jamal Blackman is going to be promoted as the Reserve GK, Sam Walker's contract is expiring and their is uncertainty over Matej Delac's work permit issues.
Adding talented young players is not a bad thing so lets hope he does well... if he comes that is
Dominik apparently impressed Chelsea coaches after a excellent trial where he managed to outshine several other young talented foreign Goalkeepers and Chelsea also managed to beat off interest from likes of Celtic, Fulham and Villareal to get him.
He will probably fill in our U-18 GK spot as Jamal Blackman is going to be promoted as the Reserve GK, Sam Walker's contract is expiring and their is uncertainty over Matej Delac's work permit issues.
Adding talented young players is not a bad thing so lets hope he does well... if he comes that is
Glad to see Nico get guaranteed 1st teams starts and a lucrative payday. Let's hope Alex gets the same. 
It's incredibly weird at the moment, I've got to say: the media seems very conflicted, City have Silva but we have Mata and they can't decide which Spanish magician most deserves to be called "sublime" "extraordinary" or "absurd"; everyone dislikes the money involved but City have splashed out more; Man U fans are actively wishing us luck; most people seem to like AVB; most people seem to be supporting us.
The only time we ever see half of the goodwill being shown towards the club at the moment is when we play Johnny Foreigner in the KO stages of the Champion's League and people are desperate for an English team to do well.
It's incredibly weird at the moment, I've got to say: the media seems very conflicted, City have Silva but we have Mata and they can't decide which Spanish magician most deserves to be called "sublime" "extraordinary" or "absurd"; everyone dislikes the money involved but City have splashed out more; Man U fans are actively wishing us luck; most people seem to like AVB; most people seem to be supporting us.
The only time we ever see half of the goodwill being shown towards the club at the moment is when we play Johnny Foreigner in the KO stages of the Champion's League and people are desperate for an English team to do well.
I would like Drogba stay for the rest of this season atleast but I wouldnt blame him if he does decide to pack his bags and head to China. Didier is coming towards the end of his career and he is no longer in the Chelsea starting 11 week in week out like he was only what 1-2 years ago now. If he does go to China no doubt he will be earning tons and tons of money and will also be scoring for fun out there. Good luck to him if he decided to head off to China he is a Chelsea legend and imo the greatest striker to ever play for the club.
Lovren is a player who I really like, would be a very good signing. Shame we didn't challenge Roma for Pjanic; he would have been a fantastic buy.
wish him all the best in China, he played well for us and gave it his all... he was left behind by the philosophy but we will remember him fondly
oh btw apparently AVB has banished the Reserves from Cobham this week, this guy is a bit of a paranoid nutter lol but at least the players know that he means serious business