Fatty_Speeding

Listening to Liam Rosenoir talk in interviews, for a former player he seems like a surprisingly thoughtful and articulate person. Perhaps doesn't have the intelligence to compete tactically with the Guardiolas/Klopps, but could definitely become a good upper-midtable Premier League manager in the not-too-distant-future. Most likely he'll be able to achieve that at Chelsea.

Odds on our perpetually £margins-thirsty owners sniffing a great opportunity with Glasner's contract running down, thus inflicting a painfully dull back three system on our eyes for the next few years?

Actually worth taking a moment to reflect on just how far we've come here. This thread was created all the way back in 2013, when our only plan of action seemed to be dreamily twiddling our thumbs whilst waiting for some kind of a miracle opportunity to present itself at Earl's Court. But now...

What are people's thoughts on whether his best long-term position is at RB or CB? Obviously CB is the position he's playing right now as that's where the current gap is within our squad; however, he played RB throughout his time in the youth teams.

Fair to say this strategy is having "mixed" success.

As I said in my OP, I knew he'd be a great signing. 🤷‍♂️

I haven't made up my mind yet. I trust Boehly more to drive a winning culture, but Clearlake are the ones with the enormous financial resources.

Hate to say it.

I've followed this guy quite closely over the past 2 summer windows, he knows nothing unfortunately.

Asides from the fact we don't need him, as an Englishman, I actually feel annoyed at Sancho himself for choosing to come here. Surely he can figure out for himself that he isn't going to get the game time here which his long-stalled development now desperately needs? He could have been an absolute star if he was a little smarter with his career choices.

Seems to have been made pretty clear from the start that Maresca is here to work with the players our esteemed directors deign to bestow upon him and that's it.

We are told that but if our wage structure is capped at £200k/week then we'll always lose out to the PSGs or Real Madrids who offer £500k/week, incentives be damned.

Surely we're going to have to pay top dollar wages to top players at some point? Else how do we expect to hang on to any of our talented youngsters if they develop into the stars the club believes they will?

"Back yourself" is a piece of advice that should always - but never seems to - be accompanied by "within the realms of realism". Tosin was always going to be a mere resaleable asset to us, not a genuine long-term starter keeping out the likes of Fofana & Colwill. He would however have been a guaranteed starter for Newcastle, following in the footsteps of nearly all their recent signings to significantly advance his stature & career.

He was brought here for his high potential, but that's exactly the same reason for purchase as the other 100 players who Clearlake have bought. It would be great if he suddenly morphed into a standout world class player, but I think it's far more likely that those other 5 players will always be ahead of him when fit/assimilated.

Di Marzio reporting this too. It would be great to finally purchase another attacking player.

It's unfair to ask him to maintain this all-cylinders form for the entire season. It's inevitable that at some point his level will drop off, after which we will never see him again.

As well as he played today, three from Palmer/Nkunku/Neto/Felix/Enzo will always get into the team ahead of him. Rumours we're now also (inexplicably) going for Sancho.

I'm still confused as to why he chose us over Newcastle.

A frustrating transfer, as he is exactly the player we need and exactly the player Roman would have paid whatever it took to get him here.

If our wingers are going to play a little more centrally than we previously expected under Maresca then LW would be a perfect place for Felix.

I'd have to agree with what Maresca is getting at here. The perfect scenario would be us giving Chuks the (extensive) gametime he needs right now to see him develop into a top player for us. Sadly, that is a thoroughly unrealistic scenario in the real world given so many players are ahead of him in the pecking order for a first 11 spot. Therefore, for the good of the player himself, he needs to leave.

Leicester are my second team so I've watched them quite a lot under Maresca. I'm not sure I can say anything that hasn't already been said, but in summary Leicester were breathtaking at the start of the season, with Maresca's free-flowing style of play bamboozling and overwhelming the relatively low quality teams of the Championship. Once the element of surprise accompanying his system wore off however, it was startling just how easily this low quality opposition were able to frustrate Leicester and cause their effectiveness thus results to fall off a cliff. Maresca then took an incredibly long time to adapt his tactics to overcome these issues, meaning Leicester's previous huge lead at the top of the Championship was almost completely blown. Only some slight tweaks at the very last moment saved their season. To me, his appointment by Chelsea just feels emblematic of a wider infatuation with talent rather than proven class. He could probably be a very good manager one day, but he currently lacks the experience to have refined his skillset into that of an elite manager today.

You shouldn't trust Tosin either. No point in replacing Chalobah for Tosin, that is simply a downgrade. Enzo very rarely played a back 3 this season and even when he did, the results were poor. James can also play CB in a back 3.

He has all those qualities to a Fulham level of ability, not to those required at an elite club. Even with Silva leaving, we still have 5 CBs in Disasi/Badiashile/Chalobah/Fofana/Colwill. We don't need anybody else.