The Chelsea Thread

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Thanks, Marin and Hazard seemed to score fairly similar goals- from the looks of it Marin played very well.

He was good. Looked the sharpest of the lot. Still early days though... McEachran played really well but made a terrible pass leading to Seattle's goal. Defence overall was sloppy for Seattle's second goal. Still it was refreshing to see Hazard, Marin and Lukaku combine well. Looking forward to PSG next
 
i go to college but this year is my last then i need to find a job :( and how old are you and are you playing football manager right now

I am currently 23 and play it on and off, not to keen on FM12 to be honest.

Feel as if I've just wondered into a dating site styled conversation...



More comfortable in the second half, weren't really troubled. Decent start to the tour.

You are free to join us if you wish haha.

Decent enough for a first pre-season game.

Hazard looks very sharp already, class act.

Love his ability to pick the ball up and turn all in one movement leaving his defender for dead. Also is quick as **** lol.

Thought Marin was the best player on the pitch. Looked sharp throughout. Lukaku makes a strong claim that he should be ket as cover for Torres next season but its still early days in the tour so understandably it was a sloppy match.

Totally agree, everyone was going on about Hazard all the time and i said a few weeks ago i was as excited to see Marin. The guy is lightning quick and manages to find a lot of space to run into. Goal was deflected but also got 2 assists, very good first game for the lad.

He was good. Looked the sharpest of the lot. Still early days though... McEachran played really well but made a terrible pass leading to Seattle's goal. Defence overall was sloppy for Seattle's second goal. Still it was refreshing to see Hazard, Marin and Lukaku combine well. Looking forward to PSG next

Was a poor pass from Josh for the goal but take that away he still got 2 assists from deep (deep lying play maker) so that is very encouraging. I said last night we looked more suspect from defending set-pieces than anything, we definitely missed JT and Drogba from them. Saying that it was more organised in the 2nd half when next captain-leader-legend Cahill came on lol. Also did anyone else forget Blackman came on and played 45 mins haha.
 
Blackman>Hilario for me... Will be interesting to see how his future pans out with the emergence of Courtois. Think Blackman is a quality keeper who will only improve from here on

Also we apparently put in 3 bids for Moses and all of them were rejected by Mr Whelan. Whelan wants Moses to stay for another year as he feels Moses will become a better player for it and I partly agree with him
 
Totally agree, everyone was going on about Hazard all the time and i said a few weeks ago i was as excited to see Marin. The guy is lightning quick and manages to find a lot of space to run into. Goal was deflected but also got 2 assists, very good first game for the lad.

Marin had been training for a few more weeks than the rest so it was not much of a surprise he looked sharper. Benayoun was AWOL for most of the game... I guess he is just biding his time till a move
 
Don't know how to copy and paste on my iPad, but apperntly we've agreed a deal for Thorgan Hazard. It's on sly sports website
 
Thing I noticed was the Hazard and Marin were very intelligent with their positioning in transition and whenever we got the ball, they would offer the midfielder immediate outlets on the flank to pass the ball to and then they would turn and run at the Seattle defence which would always cause problems.

Also Lukaku is a freakish athlete and I can see why he is compared with Drogba. If we develop him properly, I think he can become top-class. When he hugged Marin and Hazard after Marins goal I could not even see Marin. ****** monster lol
 
Not on sky sports sorry someone who works for them called Grame Bailey or something tweeted something about it
 
Don't know how to copy and paste on my iPad, but apperntly we've agreed a deal for Thorgan Hazard. It's on sly sports website

La Voix du Nord says that Chelsea have agreed a deal with Lens for Thorgan Hazard, brother of Eden, and will announce the transfer in next 48 hours.

Was this it? Thorgan looks like a good player and Eden said he was more talented than he is. Seriously though whats with all the Belgians... Lamisha Musonda, Tiki Musonda, Charly Musonda, De Bruyne, Lukaku, Courtois and Hazard

Might as well buy his other 2 brothers as well
 
I actually get fed up with the amount of people and mostly Chelsea fans who still want us to play Luiz as a holding midfielder. He is a centre back, always has been always will be! These are the same people that are putting him infront of Mikel as our holding midfielder too as they don't rate him.
 
Which would make it incredibly easy to contain. Ramires can stretch the play - if he's told to, since he's a very versatile player in his playstyle - and make it easier for Chelsea to find space for Mata and Hazard upfield.

That's true. Ramires can stretch the play, yes, but he doesn't provide natural width, as such. When I said players will drift wide, he's one of the players I was thinking of (the others being Hazard and Mata). If you have quality full backs, who can provide good width, then I don't see there being a problem. We showed this in the past when we had little width from Anelka and Malouda, but the full backs would bomb up providing width and creating space for Anelka, Malouda, Drogba and Lamps to score the goals. It's obviously a different style of play now, but using the full backs for the only natural width can still work.

My 4-3-2-1 with the current players and likely signings – Lineup Builder :: Chelsea

If we play in a 4-3-3 (or more 4-3-2-1, which I think is most suited) the full backs can be the main source of the width, but probably the most important part of that line-up is Ramires in RCM, because he can provide that extra bit of width to – like you say – stretch the play and create the space for the more creative players. And Ramires can also provide the all important penetrative runs from that position, which he wouldn't be able to being a 'shuttler' in a 4-2-3-1, and I think that's one of the best parts of his game. His pace is electric, and he's very direct – when necessary. Plus, Hazard will probably want to stick as central as possible, so with Ramires in the position behind him, he can play Ramires in. And with Oscar playing LCM he can stretch the play with his passing – Like Modrić – and while he has to be disciplined, he doesn't have to be as much as he would in a double pivot, and with Mikel behind, he can play those quick one-twos in and around the box that he likes to do (like this - Argentina vs Brazil 4-3 Oscar GOAL Goals & Highlights Lionel Messi hat-trick ! 09.06.2012 - YouTube), switching up the play.

My 4-2-3-1 with the current players and likely signings – Lineup Builder :: Chelsea

If we play a 4-2-3-1, then there will be more width because will actually have players in the wing positions, but even then they'll want to drift central, so the full backs will need to provide a lot of width, and Ramires too, but like I said – it's more difficult to do that in a double pivot.


No its just less exorbitant that Moura's its still very expensive for a young player who is more potential than ability. Its not a ""fair price", its merely their value of him because they don't want to lose him but will make clubs pay through the nose if they have to, to get him. It certainly isn't the kind of prices you have to pay now.

Mike, I think you're missing the most important part of my post – 'IMO'. Obviously that's their value of him, and I'm saying it's a fair value, when you consider his ability, age, massive potential and his massive importance to Internacional as a club. As you've seen recently, the Brazilian clubs are trying their best to keep their talented players, but it's very difficult. Especially for Internacional when they have probably the 2nd best talent in Brazil, and Damião not that far behind! Hmm, you don't have to pay those prices, but if you want to get a player like Oscar, from Brazil, you're going to have to pay a lot. So, who are the alternatives then?

•Verratti – well, previously, obviously not now that he's moved to PSG, but a cheaper price, and although I think he's a massive talent, he's only shown that in Serie B, which is weak, and he's cheaper than Oscar, but Pescara are a smaller club, and couldn't get any more than that, really. PSG were the only team prepared to pay that, Serie A clubs thought it was too much

•Clasie – very talented, don't know how much he'd cost though, but doubt it would be that cheap, and would be more fringe player atm

•Eriksen – around the same price as Oscar and in the past said he only want Barça

•Thiago – probably around the same price as Oscar and Barça would be reluctant

•Sergi Roberto – FCB would be reluctant to sell, but the price we could get him for is reportedly reasonable, but even though I rate him very highly, he's yet to prove himself properly, and FCB would want a buy-back clause

•Götze – I guess I'll include him in this list. One of my favourite players, and a player I'd LOVE to see playing for Chelsea, but I don't see him as a player that will ever play CM week in week out. Plus, his price would be more than Oscar's and he's very happy with BVB atm

•Sahin – A very classy player and would suit the role very much. Real Madrid seem to want to keep him though (hopefully they actually start playing him!) and he said he wants to stay. We should have got him last season really, would've been perfect, but now I'm not sure what his price would be. Last year he cost around 10 or 12M I think, but that was down to his contract, so now he has many years left he will cost more, add RM's reluctance to sell and they're going to want a profit. However, he hasn't played enough to really demand an increase in price. So, I'd guess he'd cost a little less than Oscar, if RM wanted to sell

•Belhanda – just under the price of Oscar, I would think, but he's happy at Montpellier and they want to keep him, so don't see it as possible

•Pjanić – Another one of my favourite players, and another I think we should've bought last year, but we missed the chance and don't seem to be interested now. Shown at times for Roma that he could definitely play deeper. I'd think he would cost a reasonable price, and would be better value, but being honest, at this moment it seems that Oscar will be on another level to Miralem in the future (and most of this list!)

(others I'm leaving out like Maher, Holtby, etc. because I can't be bothered continuing with this list)

So, I've listed the other players who I see as kind of similar (not all are the same type as Oscar, but have similarities), while keeping at a similar age to Oscar because that seems to be the age we want (otherwise the list would have included people like Cabaye), and atm, Oscar is better than most of them and has more potential, and quite a few would be a similar price to him (give or take £2M, presuming that Oscar will cost £20-£25M). Two others that could be included on that list are already at the club – McEachran and De Bruyne, but we obviously have other plans for them, it seems.

And I'm confused by the first part of your post; are you saying the price of Oscar is "just less exorbitant than Moura's"? If so, I cannot agree with that. Utd have had a reported bid of £29M rejected while Chelsea are paying £20-£25M for Oscar, who's better IMO, so it's not "just less". Apologies if that's not what you meant.

-Edit- People seem to be thinking the same.

Speaking of which, is anyone else massively uneasy about giving Oscar what is normally considered a 30 year old's job? It'll require to have incredible technical ability, vision and composure if he is to succeed and one **** up can quite easily lead to a goal. It's A LOT of pressure to put on a 20 year old, especially one that's never played outside of Brazil before.

In a double pivot, yes, it uneases me a bit, but in a 4-3-3, not really.

Right? Would be better if he is used as cover for Mata early on with Hazard being kept on the left. Oscar is competent on the right but makes more sense to play him as a back-up to Mata whose minutes will have to be managed very carefully next season as he has essentially been playing non-stop for the past 12 months

As I've said before, Hazard will play CAM, I'm almost certain of that.

Anyone follow former Chelsea youngster and bad boy Leon Knight on Twitter? He is doing a Q&A at the moment and here are some of his responses.


lol, he's such an idiot. Had to unfollow him on Twitter after he was slagging off JT.

Carl I think me and you are the only two Chelsea fans on this forum stupid enough to still be awake at 2:30 AM for a pre season friendly. It better be worth it haha.

Nope :) I watched it. Luckily it fitted in perfectly with when I normally go to bed.

Just read that Willian has been pulled out of the Shakhtar squad....

Willian doesn't seem very happy tbh. Some of his tweets:

������RT @globoesportecom: Shakhtar recusa oferta do Chelsea por Willian que supera a de Oscar http://glo.bo/OadSjC

Where it's the blank spaces, he put angry faces, like
:@, but they don't show up for some reason.

And:

"So the joke is not possible ... I will call the moral"

That's what Google translates it to, and it doesn't really make sense to me.

His Twitter, in case anyone's interested (or can speak Portuguese and translate it properly!) - https://twitter.com/willianborges88


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BTW, sorry for another unnecessarily long post again (and late replies), I really need to start coming on FMBase more often!
 
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Can't see his Twitter page, but if you copy/paste what he wrote I might be able to translate, after all portuguese is not too different from spanish.
 
I actually get fed up with the amount of people and mostly Chelsea fans who still want us to play Luiz as a holding midfielder. He is a centre back, always has been always will be! These are the same people that are putting him infront of Mikel as our holding midfielder too as they don't rate him.

I still think that there's a valid case for putting him as a holding midfielder. It's not like it's impossible to shift positions: look at Pirlo, Bale, Alba etc. I think that keeping him at CB is a good choice because if he reaches his potential, there will be very few others in his position anywhere in the world who could match him, but I do think that he could make an excellent holding midfielder.
 
Roughly, and making a few assumptions, "You must be joking/kidding [me], it's not possible, I will appeal to [their - the board, the club?] morality/ethic".

Sounds to me like he's voicing his displeasure and trying to put some pressure on the board to let him go. Feel sort of sorry for him, really, but as long as he's under contract there's not much he can do...
 
TalkShite (TalkSport) have been slagging off our title wins claiming we didn't win them in style unlike e four other teams who have all won the premier league title at some point haha. Oh yes because losing only 1 match in 04/05, dominating the league and finishing miles ahead of everyone else wasn't much and same in 06 we pretty much finished way ahead of all the rest and played good football.

But 09/10 must of been the most boring and rubbish of all scoring 103 goals, thrashing Wigan 8-0 to secure that title along with other big wins against clubs with scorelines such as 7-0, 7-1 and 7-2 and also doing the double over Manchester Utd, Arsenal and Liverpool which no other club has ever done in one season in the premier league before then. Chelsea FC are so boring!!
 
That's true. Ramires can stretch the play, yes, but he doesn't provide natural width, as such. When I said players will drift wide, he's one of the players I was thinking of (the others being Hazard and Mata). If you have quality full backs, who can provide good width, then I don't see there being a problem. We showed this in the past when we had little width from Anelka and Malouda, but the full backs would bomb up providing width and creating space for Anelka, Malouda, Drogba and Lamps to score the goals. It's obviously a different style of play now, but using the full backs for the only natural width can still work.

My 4-3-2-1 with the current players and likely signings – Lineup Builder :: Chelsea

If we play in a 4-3-3 (or more 4-3-2-1, which I think is most suited) the full backs can be the main source of the width, but probably the most important part of that line-up is Ramires in RCM, because he can provide that extra bit of width to – like you say – stretch the play and create the space for the more creative players. And Ramires can also provide the all important penetrative runs from that position, which he wouldn't be able to being a 'shuttler' in a 4-2-3-1, and I think that's one of the best parts of his game. His pace is electric, and he's very direct – when necessary. Plus, Hazard will probably want to stick as central as possible, so with Ramires in the position behind him, he can play Ramires in. And with Oscar playing LCM he can stretch the play with his passing – Like Modrić – and while he has to be disciplined, he doesn't have to be as much as he would in a double pivot, and with Mikel behind, he can play those quick one-twos in and around the box that he likes to do (like this - Argentina vs Brazil 4-3 Oscar GOAL Goals & Highlights Lionel Messi hat-trick ! 09.06.2012 - YouTube), switching up the play.

My 4-2-3-1 with the current players and likely signings – Lineup Builder :: Chelsea

If we play a 4-2-3-1, then there will be more width because will actually have players in the wing positions, but even then they'll want to drift central, so the full backs will need to provide a lot of width, and Ramires too, but like I said – it's more difficult to do that in a double pivot.




Mike, I think you're missing the most important part of my post – 'IMO'. Obviously that's their value of him, and I'm saying it's a fair value, when you consider his ability, age, massive potential and his massive importance to Internacional as a club. As you've seen recently, the Brazilian clubs are trying their best to keep their talented players, but it's very difficult. Especially for Internacional when they have probably the 2nd best talent in Brazil, and Damião not that far behind! Hmm, you don't have to pay those prices, but if you want to get a player like Oscar, from Brazil, you're going to have to pay a lot. So, who are the alternatives then?

•Verratti – well, previously, obviously not now that he's moved to PSG, but a cheaper price, and although I think he's a massive talent, he's only shown that in Serie B, which is weak, and he's cheaper than Oscar, but Pescara are a smaller club, and couldn't get any more than that, really. PSG were the only team prepared to pay that, Serie A clubs thought it was too much

•Clasie – very talented, don't know how much he'd cost though, but doubt it would be that cheap, and would be more fringe player atm

•Eriksen – around the same price as Oscar and in the past said he only want Barça

•Thiago – probably around the same price as Oscar and Barça would be reluctant

•Sergi Roberto – FCB would be reluctant to sell, but the price we could get him for is reportedly reasonable, but even though I rate him very highly, he's yet to prove himself properly, and FCB would want a buy-back clause

•Götze – I guess I'll include him in this list. One of my favourite players, and a player I'd LOVE to see playing for Chelsea, but I don't see him as a player that will ever play CM week in week out. Plus, his price would be more than Oscar's and he's very happy with BVB atm

•Sahin – A very classy player and would suit the role very much. Real Madrid seem to want to keep him though (hopefully they actually start playing him!) and he said he wants to stay. We should have got him last season really, would've been perfect, but now I'm not sure what his price would be. Last year he cost around 10 or 12M I think, but that was down to his contract, so now he has many years left he will cost more, add RM's reluctance to sell and they're going to want a profit. However, he hasn't played enough to really demand an increase in price. So, I'd guess he'd cost a little less than Oscar, if RM wanted to sell

•Belhanda – just under the price of Oscar, I would think, but he's happy at Montpellier and they want to keep him, so don't see it as possible

•Pjanić – Another one of my favourite players, and another I think we should've bought last year, but we missed the chance and don't seem to be interested now. Shown at times for Roma that he could definitely play deeper. I'd think he would cost a reasonable price, and would be better value, but being honest, at this moment it seems that Oscar will be on another level to Miralem in the future (and most of this list!)

(others I'm leaving out like Maher, Holtby, etc. because I can't be bothered continuing with this list)

So, I've listed the other players who I see as kind of similar (not all are the same type as Oscar, but have similarities), while keeping at a similar age to Oscar because that seems to be the age we want (otherwise the list would have included people like Cabaye), and atm, Oscar is better than most of them and has more potential, and quite a few would be a similar price to him (give or take £2M, presuming that Oscar will cost £20-£25M). Two others that could be included on that list are already at the club – McEachran and De Bruyne, but we obviously have other plans for them, it seems.

And I'm confused by the first part of your post; are you saying the price of Oscar is "just less exorbitant than Moura's"? If so, I cannot agree with that. Utd have had a reported bid of £29M rejected while Chelsea are paying £20-£25M for Oscar, who's better IMO, so it's not "just less". Apologies if that's not what you meant.



In a double pivot, yes, it uneases me a bit, but in a 4-3-3, not really.



As I've said before, Hazard will play CAM, I'm almost certain of that.



lol, he's such an idiot. Had to unfollow him on Twitter after he was slagging off JT.



Nope :) I watched it. Luckily it fitted in perfectly with when I normally go to bed.



Willian doesn't seem very happy tbh. Some of his tweets:

???RT @globoesportecom: Shakhtar recusa oferta do Chelsea por Willian que supera a de Oscar http://glo.bo/OadSjC

Where it's the blank spaces, he put angry faces, like
:@, but they don't show up for some reason.

And:

"So the joke is not possible ... I will call the moral"

That's what Google translates it to, and it doesn't really make sense to me.

His Twitter, in case anyone's interested (or can speak Portuguese and translate it properly!) - https://twitter.com/willianborges88? ? ?


-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

BTW, sorry for another unnecessarily long post again (and late replies), I really need to start coming on FMBase more often!

That was my point, they are making you pay their valuation, £25m is an incredibly expensive valuation. It is an exorbitant fee, that's why they agree to it. It's not a fee that makes them break even him. Its certainly expensive for a young player who is more potential that ability. Whether you feel the price is justified is a slightly point different though, and thats more subjective so I cant argue against that.

as for alternatives, Eriksen is looking to move and for far less (around £15m). Belhanda would also reported cost less than £20m, ditto Sahin, though he is less inclined to move. Eriksen is in the same area of development int erms of ability and future potential (although this is subjective, very hard to see what kind of a player will be in the future) The latter two are certainly more talented, and both would be fairly classed as top class players, especially Sahin.

Marvin Martin was an earlier quality option, though he has moved for 11m now, Banega again would certainly be cheaper, sub 15m

Thats 5 (again this is subjective) off the top of my head, one in a similar bracket, 4 who can easily be described as better.

Lucas and Oscar are two completely different players, its not a case of who is better, it's like trying to compare Modric to Ronaldo. But both players have crazy free attached to them ( and for what is its worth, there is actually very little indication that United have even tabled a bid, the only paper to run a fresh story was the Mirror, and they even got the details wrong about the scout, saying he went down to sort a deal, Lawlor never does that, almost exclusively the area of Ferguson and Gill, as SAF has talked about in his interviews). I didnt mean just in terms of close, I meant just in terms of only. For what its wroth if we did sign him for that price, i would have a meltdown.
 
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