Niall1905

Without wanting to cause too much disrespect, if we had Tammy, Billy, CHO, Guehi and Tomori starting under Steve Cooper, we wouldn't be doing much better than 14th right now.

The issue is, and its one that our owners are quickly having the learn to deal with, is that real football isn't like Fifa, where a player has a rating and they are that good. You simply buy the player and they are that good for you too. I get your point on having good environments for players to develop but I think its more than that. Some players settle in a country, some players are better at fitting in where they dont have to be the star, some players thrive being the star, some players hate a certain manager, some players love a certain manager. Theres a whole world of human psychology that goes into players being great. Yes the ability has to be there to an extent, but how its applied and used is a whole other world. My favourite example is Rudiger and the way he was just completely transformed by Tuchel. Tuchel's personality and approach to the game screamed that Rudiger would thrive. Tuchel took the animal that was in Rudiger and encouraged it, where others had tried to calm him down. I can imagine he would have done the same with someone like David Luiz. You can also say the same for some of Liverpool's squad in the period where they were keeping pace with City. Players like Robertson and Mane, Henderson and Van Dijk all bought in to Klopps game. But for all of these who buy in, there are players that don't. Minamino is one for Liverpool, you could list numerous for Chelsea under Tuchel, Conte Mourinho, even in the squads that were successful. Even city have had players like Ferran Torres and Kalvin Phillips that didn't stick. Its not as simply as to say, these players from Serie A would thrive under Pep or De Zerbi. They might, sure. But I would wager that a lot of their recruitment success is born from understanding the type of personality they need to feed into their culture.

I see Enzo as a young Fabregas, obviously not a direct copy but in how he can impact the game. I get your point on impacting the game in the final 3rd but there's different ways players can do that. Enzo will work best with another creative influence ahead of him, Palmer now maybe, Carney when hes back but ultimately Nkunku when hes fit. That means that Enzo can dictate play from deeper to progress the ball but also have the opportunity (rather than the responsibility) to create when he finds himself further forward. I think of the long balls that Fabregas used to feed Costa but then also how he would arrive into space the final third later in the play. That's how I see Enzo developing. At the moment, he's having to force it. Mudryk and Sterling would be expected to create more from running at players. Gallagher is many things but creative isn't one of them. Jackson can play off of players but isn't someone who is going to break down a defence. Its all on Enzo. This is clear from the way his performances have shifted since our injuries early this season and in pre season.

Its an absolute joke. Of all the young players down the years who haven't supposedly been given a chance before being moved on, Callum is not one. He's shown burst of what he's about but he was never consistently able to hold a place down. The injury probably came at the worst time and it sucks, but we sent the lad to Leverkusen last year and he couldn't do it there either. As many have said, hopefully he gets some confidence this season and goes on to have a great career.

In some regard yes, but if you put it in the context of this season. Liverpool are 3rd having beat everyone but us, West Ham are 6th having beat us and Brighton, Forest are 8th and could have been higher if they would've been a bit luckier against Arsenal and probably deserved more against United. Granted Luton and Bournemouth are sh*te, and we should have more than 5 points based on our expectations of success at the club

Tough watch again sadly. I joked amongst friends at the start of the summer that the amount of business we were doing and the level of transition meant we had to get things right otherwise we’d be stuck floating in mid table for a few years. The joke isn’t as funny anymore. There are, of course, excuses that can be made. Our injury list is once again, outrageous. Most teams would struggle with the amount of players out that we have. The usual line of the huge amount of new players needing time also stands up. But my main gripe is the attitude in the final 15/20 minutes. We don’t look like a team desperate to get a goal. The urgency and tempo doesn’t go up, we don’t take throw ins quickly to keep things going. It’s been the case for a while. We have no change of gear, no reaction. Fixture list is starting to look a bit ominous around the next international break. I want us to give Poch time as changing now will achieve nothing other than setting us back another 12 months, but if we can’t get points on the board before playing some more of the big boys, the media will have a field day and put the pressure on.

A lot of the mistakes/issues that have propped up since we signed him seem to be due to a lack of focus/confidence. I think he'll be fine once he's settled in. (Will probably just copy and paste this in the thread of every player we sign)

If any fixture in our calendar was going to extinguish any fires of optimism that may have developed over the international break, it would be Bournemouth away. Would like to see this; Sanchez Gusto - Colwill - Badiashile - Chilwell Caicedo - Enzo Sterling - Palmer - Mudryk Jackson Badiashile might not be ready in which case Silva pops straight in. I just feel like we've gone so long relying on Silva at the back that it would be interesting to try a new pair without him and see how it works under Poch. Time to roll the dice and give Mudryk some proper game time. If £60m (before add ons that wont be achieved) is going to be wasted, Id rather give him a run to make sure before everyone gives up. At least if he gets consistent minutes it will provide a solid evidence base rather than the short bursts we've seen so far.

One of the few positives of social media is how easily and quickly players (or people in general) are able to convey their side of the story if required. Really does make you think about some of the sh*te in years gone by that was simply fabricated. Glad Terry went after Law directly after releasing his video response to the story.

He really does look like he's going to be incredible, the level he is already at is remarkable for his age.

As someone who was 7 when Roman bought us, already a Chelsea fan following in my Dads footsteps, I have only really ever known the good times. Whilst we have had off seasons in the past, the sanctions placed on Roman and the club was the first time I have ever faced the prospect of losing the club I love so much. You see it happen to lower league teams and you just don't expect it to happen to a huge club like ours. Whilst there were clearly many suitors, there was a distinct possibility that it could have all caved in or that we could have been sold to some blood sucking leeches who just wanted to run us into the ground. You can say what you want about the new owners, that they are playing football manager, that they are clueless and that they have no idea what they are doing. All I really care about is that I truly believe they want us to succeed. Yes, probably because they eventually want to sell for a profit, but they want us to win. Roman was a freak of an owner. The money he put in and what he did for us wasn't going to be replicated, so I will happily back the new owners as long as they continue to act in a way that suggests that they care about the club. The project is clearly off to a rough start, but as many have said there were already cracks showing before they came. I definitely agree that the concept of just bulk buying young talent and hoping they will all form a super team in the future is flawed. But we are where we are. We have owners happy to invest and try new things to get us back to the top. Of course, this doesn't entitle them to blind loyalty from the fans, but I find it ridiculously difficult to take too much of an issue when they have invested as aggressively as they have in a project they must believe in.

I don't see why we don't use that semi automated offside system that was used in Europe, are there cases of it not being accurate? With how useless refs are with VAR in general its hard to trust that they are being competent in drawing the lines and I hate that we never get to see an actual across the line camera angle (Which the automated offsides does give)

Poch has made comments that he's been playing with/through injuries in the past or coming back too quick hence the recent absence from the team. If that was actually the case then a run in the team once he's physically where he needs to be is the only way we see any reward from him, unless we start winning games where he can come in late when the opposition are chasing. Bringing him on for 10 minutes against a 10man low block seeing out a result is the opposite of the conditions he needs. Need something soon though as fixtures are about to take a turn

This would align with comments made then they first purchased the club, that they still thought the outlay represented value and that football had a long way to go before it realised its commercial potential. The issue they'll have is that they paid the going rate for a champions league regular club, that had recently won the trophy and is regarded as one of the best in the country by many. No matter how much they pump and how much the going rate increases, they'll get nothing if we fail. Massive reason for concern, but also confidence that they'll not give up trying to succeed.

Money? Chances in the first team? Making sure we don't buy another player to block his path to the first team?

Definitely. Although it has provided a contrasting deadline day experience where we know we will be selling/loaning some and trying to figure out if we're going to get it horribly wrong

Jacob Steinburg saying Maatsen is reluctant to go despite the accepted offer...

My stepdad is a scouser and doesn't seem too phased by the potential departure, although seems to think they would be better off keeping until January. I really think they'd be in big trouble if they become reliant on Jota, Nunez, Diaz and co without someone like Salah in there providing consistency.

Hopefully just a bit of false outrage to strengthen their negotiation.

Wonder if its a reflection on the increasing quality of mid/bottom table teams, that are more confident in pressing and pushing higher up the pitch. Rather than needing an array of creative players that counter a low block, he's bringing in transitional players that can dribble out of a press.

Yeah, which I guess was my point. Doku and Palmer are the same age, so they clearly must have doubts about him if they wanted to bring in someone instead of sticking with him

It's an interesting one, would fit the bill of being able to play across the front and seemingly has good potential. However, supposedly the media had been briefed that we were looking for someone with PL experience of which his is limited, and you do wonder why City would be happy to let him go after selling Mahrez. Surely the right was his position to lock down or at least get more minutes.

He's probably one of the better options considering the club want someone with PL experience and is ready to go. You'd think that a decent deal could be available but theres always the chance Barca take the p***. My only reservation would be how he dropped us last time, he'd need to make clear in negotiations that he wants to play for us.

Play the grandkids?

Really impressive again today. Seems to have the same control of the game that Jorginho did but with more legs and desire to progress the ball forward. Cesc comparisons might be a little premature but he’s certainly on his way to hogwarts…