Teeblue

The Liverpool Centre back thing makes me laugh, everyone using it to excuse them from the sh*t show they currently are. Yet its not mentioned that they sold centre backs in the summer, and went into this season with VVD, Gomez who is injury prone and Matip who is basically made of glass. It was there own choice to start with only 3 cb`s, 2 of whom are broken.

Meanwhile Pep was busy signing the 900th defender he's had since taking the City job. 

https://www.besoccer.com/new/liverpool-no-pl-goals-in-2021-and-438-minutes-without-scoring-946748
 
A worse crisis than us, and yet our fans WERE batsh*t insane and wanted rid of Lampard.

I was enjoying your post until I got to this bit. I’m 33 you f**ker! 

Was stunned when the news broke but I guess not surprised. Where our Club is concerned we should all be used to the soulless way it's run.
It just wasn't to be with Lamps - not this time anyway.
So the rumours are it's Tuchel to replace him. Could be Micky f**king Mouse for all I care - it doesn't really matter. I know the Club is bigger than any one person but when things like this happen it just makes you feel more detached than ever and as each season goes by I just feel a little less more for the club I've always loved.
A Sad Day.

I have to say, today is very hard to take. As hard as the day we lost the champions league final.
Definitely the hardest managerial sacking for me. I really believed Lampard would turn it around and end up being our long term manager.
It’s really hit me by surprise and I am devastated.

A message to any of our players scrolling through ......
On the quiet they'll be more than one player at this club who has conveniently used Lampard as an excuse to themselves for their own poor form. No names mentioned because that would just be guessing.
Those days are gone.
You all need to step up a gear or several now.
Just because the new manager will have his honeymoon period, that won't mean you are excused piss poor form.
If the fans were in the stadium it wouldn't be Frank getting booed.

“Conte has spent large parts of the season in the familiar posture of wronged superstar manager, another Chelsea coach whose only failing is the failure of others to spend adequately on his command, betrayed by the human clay at his disposal.”    Barney Ronay (The Guardian)
If ever there was a sentence that sums up Antonio Conte's end game stance on all matters Chelsea this surely is it. Frankly, he has worn the mantle of wronged superstar manager for far too long and for many of us Shed Enders it has begun to wear a little thin. His own truth of the matter, which has been given media airings at every opportunity, often when we as a club were at out lowest ebb, is that the team have sadly reached the level at which it deserved to be. Hmm, no thoughts then as to how we got there or who might be responsible, merely a resigned acceptance of the situation and an undercurrent of defeatism engendered before players even step on the pitch for the next game. Should he now up and walk, as is widely predicted, blame will fall on many but few will be as guilty as the man himself who has glowered us into this depressive season-long state of limbo. Yet is it really all down to a sullen mix of lacklustre management, or erratic performances on the pitch intermingled with boardroom intervention of the worst kind? As, hopefully, wholesale change now fast tracks us into a self-fulfilling prophecy my take on the primary reason for our decline has fluctuated between all three wise-during-the-event conclusions, but I've settled on something completely different as the catalyst for it all, epitomised in that irksome parrot-fashion homage always paid to 'the importance of the team', a mantra mouthed by all the usual suspects, trotted out as a The Great Need To Have regardless of whether it has just referenced a below par performance or fine individual goal scored, yet repeated ad nauseam and without any true understanding of the meaning of the words. Let me explain.
When JT left for the Villa true leadership went out transfer window with him and try as good servants might, notably Gary Cahill and Dave, nobody has stepped into his shoes with any degree of purpose or assuredness. Hardly surprising really, so good a leader by example is he and therefore it may seem odd to begin my reasoning with an admittance that we were clearly going to struggle in his absence whoever took over. But throughout his career it has been JT's ability to unify the team in ever-changing circumstances that made him stand out from the crowd. As a young captain he earned the respect of more senior world class overseas players in his midst than he had a right to and as he grew into the job from 2004/5 onwards he oversaw and kept control of a number of factions within the various groups of players under his command. The early Italian and French influence of Gianluca Vialli, Gianfranco Zola, Marcel Desailly and Frank Leboeuf stood him in good stead and latterly, when the Brazilian, Spanish and Belgian contingents held sway, he gained their respect and marshalled the spirit of camaraderie and teamwork that is acknowledged as the hallmark of his captaincy and is currently evidenced in his leadership of Villa to the brink of a Premier League return. 
With hindsight it can be seen that his final year with us, albeit not on the field of play but behind the scenes, was just as pivotal as those that went before and the part he played in our last title-winning season should never be underestimated. To be fair, Antonio was at pains to point this out as he took his own plaudits, but more significantly it soon became clear that without his unifying presence those factions were going to grate, like tectonic plates prior to a quake. And let's face it, Diego Costa could grate with the best of them, at any place and at any time, so whether you believe that he, along with several others, simply stopped playing for Jose it matters not because he wasn't going to be given the chance to disrupt Conte's glum iron fist of a second season. Once Diego was done for it was left to others to rumble and grumble in his wake, David Luiz was soon sidelined, Edin Hazard false nined into submission and annoyance, then suddenly all 'the team' talk started to sound trite and hollow, no more than mere froth atop our small beer campaign. We began to drift like a rudderless ship, no JT to knock some sense back into a squad that has periodically shown no real inclination to give a s**t, symbolised in a team seemingly lacking both passion and character. In short, the players appear bored of Conte's methods, lacking the motivation to consistently produce the goods.
Admittedly, fragmentation of this kind has gone on throughout the Abramovich years, but tensions haven't surfaced quite so much as in this last post-JT season, when clique bait has been at its most prevalent and even then those incumbent larger-than-life managerial figures, Jose and Antonio, glum and glummer, couldn't stem a rising tide of undermining factions. Sorely missed indeed, Steve Bruce hit the nail on the head at the weekend when he said the following about his captain:-
“It wasn't just on the pitch that I needed John, it was to deal with the dressing-room and it has been toxic for years. It was important people like Grealish could see someone: this is how you do it, the way you look after yourself, this is what you prepare for.When you hear [how to do it] from a top pro... it's a cultural change.”
And it is at this point that I have somwhat belatedly reached my concluding thoughts, my reasoning to be cheerful and enthusiastic for the future of my club. Subject, of course, to our picking the right coach to put us back on track (Powers That Be please choose a Jardim or a Sarri and not another superstar manager) the opportunity is there for the right man to take full advantage of what will be our own unique set of circumstances when you compare us to our domestic rivals next season ....
Not since Fergies Fledglings has a Premier League club had such an abundance of young talented players within Chelsea's Under-18s, Development Squad and Loaned Out Army, all predominately home grown and crucially faction-free. A comparison made between the makeup of the first team squad and the rest is stark and revealing, not in any discriminatory sense, but purely seen from the point of view of a whole host of young British players brought up as a group from the earliest age and being comfortable playing together in a variety of successful trophy-winning teams over a number of seasons. Fact, as Rafa would say, is that taken as a percentage our first team squad has a meagre 16% British contingent within its ranks compared with the On Loans at 50%, the Development Squad on 77% and the Under-18s at a massive 82%, so whether by luck or judgement the undoubted trend is away from a steady influx of foreign talent and towards that 'importance of the team' mantra as embodied in an almost entirely British player-based future for the club.
These percentages provide clear proof of an upward home grown cultural curve that is in complete contrast to the policies pursued by our rivals. Man City may give more than mere lip service to the promotion of youth through an Academy system, but only a lonely Phil Foden looks likely to reach first team status and Jadon Sancho had to move to Borussia Dortmund to fulfill his potential, a job he is seemingly well capable of doing, the 18-year-old having already had four assists in six starts since leaving the Etihad. Meanwhile, over on the red side of Manchester, preference is given to the purchase of Alexis Sanchez at phenominal expense, resulting in an immediate stunting of Marcus Rashford's growth both at club and international level. Only Spurs seem to have paid serious attention to the youth development principle and a completion of its course, yet a lack silverware under Pochettino in the last four years seems certain to undermine a laudable attempt. His latest press offering tells us all we need to know about his frustrations:-
“We cannot invest crazy money. It will be important to create a different idea to try to move on and to be closer to winning titles in the next few years.”
Chelsea will soon follow them with regard to Wembley residency and should we also pursue a likeminded policy on the introduction of home grown players into the first team squad, then add further layers to it year-on-year (the point at which Spurs are now and look like abononing in principle) we could be in for a similar period of pot poverty, but surely this would be a price worth paying if the long term gains that home grown faction-free team spirit brings enables us to challenge Mancunian dominance. After all, if the future holds nothing for us other than endless seasons in the shade, being continually outspent in the transfer market, snubbed by the superstars, misrepresented by the Media and generally misunderstood by a general public constantly misled by the pundits and gossipmongers aplenty, what other way forward is there? To quote Barney Ronay once again ...
“Never before has the gap between the richest and the poorest been so stark. Much hand-wringing has been devoted to this process over the last quarter century but this season feels like a significant point of departure, with the summit that separates the richest and most powerful disappearing up through the clouds and out of sight.”
Make no mistake, if City and United are to be the only 'above the clouds' clubs in the Premier League it will be a poorer place for it competitively with the gap between those self-indulgent 'have' twins and the remaining 'have nots' continuing to widen. Something needs to give in order to prevent an impending stasis becoming the status quo. Spurs tried harder than most, but Potch's best laid plans have pooped. It is different at Chelsea, the development pipeline flows on unabated and unabashed, everywhere other than into the first team, but anyone who has watched these lads progress will know that the quality is there, improving all the time and leadership skills are instilled in many, in Reece James and Mason Mount in particular, while the likes of Ethan Ampadu, Trevoh Chalobah, Jake Clarke-Salter, Dujon Sterling, Marc Guehi, Jon Panzo and Callum Hudson-Odoi also have the build and ability to succeed at the highest level sooner rather than later. So please Roman, it is the right time for so many reasons... make it happen.

 

I think its clear that to keep him happy and make sure he stays, we have to build our new stadium in Italy.

This was a huge, huge win. This was the biggest challenge in the group stage, and we came away with all three points.
We were the better team on the night. We dominated the ball for probably 70 minutes. Atletico got, and kept the ball for most of the last 20 minutes or so, but then we got the last gasp goal.
 
Really impressive performance. David Luiz made a stupid challenge though.

There is a new member called Wallinho who has sent me a Personal Message advertising his wares. If I have had one I am pretty sure lots of others will have had them too.
This is not what the Shed End does, surely.  We are not a shop!
 
 

Just arrived at our hotel for the night!!! Starting to get my buzz on now!! Gonna grab some food and then off to a pub for a few pig ear's before the game!
 
Lets go Chelsea

Offensive or not (I personally think it is), there's no reason for it. The Willian song is brilliant because it actually means something, this is just pointless.
It's similar to how some people chant "WE HATE TOTTENHAM" during the liquidator at the Bridge, can't stand that.
Nothing wrong with singing about rivals, but not in every song and definitely not during the liquidator. 

What's wrong with having a neutral net spend? Why do you and others have some misguided conception that owning a football club means you are obliged to constantly spend money?
I think it's amazing that Roman pumped his own money in to build the club to the global force and brand that it is today and has turned us into a club that can sustain itself and remain competitive for trophies on a consistent basis. 
Go and ask a Blackburn fan about how a football club looks that competes artificially on the back money being pumped in by a benefactor. It's not a pretty picture if that benefactor suddenly pulls the plug/dies/runs out of money. Roman has built the club to the extent that it is no longer dependant on his money. This is a great thing to be celebrated, not complained about.

“Football, from its birth as a Victorian leisure product, has always been, at bottom, a business. But this is something else. When the variables of league positions and on-field glory are increasingly narrow, when signings are cheered like goals by the digital diaspora, when having a “good window” is a season’s goal, commerce really is beginning to intrude inside the chalk markings.”
Barney Ronay (The Guardian, 2nd Sept, 2017)
Admit it. Deadline Day is meant to end in the blues for us Blues. Reportedly flush with net spend cash and hell bent on consolidating our position at the top of the Premier League money tree, it was ever thus and whether it be under Jose, Carlo, or as now seems to be the case with Antonio, we simply cannot make the required transition when actually in transition. But, as Barney Ronay points out above, in this paragraph from his latest article, are we really surprised that this relatively straightforward act of progression is beyond our club's capabilities, individual great managerial abilities or, of late with stadia costs looming, Roman's sensibilities, and especially when the commerce, the hype and all the excess has become even more important than the game itself? Logic suggests that it shouldn't be like this, but we are going way beyond financial sense now, heading deep into Ronay's diaspora territory where the scattergun rules and even Arsene Wenger bids £93m for a player.
In truth, this transfer window has not so much been about the story, but the telling of it. For example, when we land a big fish like Alvaro Morata and comparison is made with Romelu Lukaku the media men and pundits emphasis is immediately placed on Premier League experience rather than Champions League appearances, thereby toeing the it's-my-party line and I'll-buy-if-I-want-to attitude that now pervades PSG, Manchester and, since Philippe Coutinho became a wanted man and Bill Kenwright got into bed with Iranian billionaire and ex-Arsenal shareholder Farhad Moshiri, both red and blue halves of Liverpool as well. Of course, I hear you say, the Fourth Estate was bound to peddle the pro-Mancunian argument that Rom was worth the extra money whereas Alvaro is no more than an untried and untested risk, yet by stark contrast and fast-forwarding to Deadline Day you will hardly hear mention made of Danny Drinkwater's league-winning 'experience' above the babble of criticism based on him being over-priced, over here and unworthy of a supporting actor's role in our line-up, even if it does now mean that he is reacquainted with N'Golo Kante, last season's Chelsea star of the Premiership show.
No, apparently this counts for nothing in a print world that would have us believe our constant fears of a sterile Matic/Kante midfield were completely unfounded and still periodically panders to Jose's mock astonishment that we should ever have let the Serb go, to him of all people and United in particular. How silly we were to shoot ourselves in the foot in this way and how regretful we will be whenever he makes an interception, sets up an attack, shields the defence, or merely turns up wearing a red shirt. Moreover, Drinkwater's arrival means comparison with Matic is an easy one to make, assuming him to be his replacement rather than Bakayoko, whereas anyone who watched Monaco last season knows we have upgraded on Matic with this signing and Danny has been brought in specifically to partner Kante in a 3-5-2 formation, or be the insurance man from the subs bench when 3-4-3 is deployed. Whether Chalobah or Loftus-Cheek could have performed this role is a debate for another day and another forum, but for the moment I think it safe to say that the outlay is justified, if for no other reason than our net spend figures are good when compared to those of the northern juggernauts.
However, not so when it comes to 'gross splurge', as Ronay puts it is his piece, which is why he is one of many telling the story in such slanted terms. Here there is an overall rise of 23% on last year’s spending in the Premier League with Manchester City the biggest gross spenders on £215m, followed by £180m from Chelsea, then Manchester United and Everton on £145m. This is the less acceptable face of football capitalism as far as Chelsea is concerned and it will also be the one that is most repeated, but it hides a multitude of cold, hard facts and figures that make a mockery of the contention, for instance, that United has had by far the better transfer window. Even using gross spend [cost of moves in] as the common denominator, Chelsea achieved the following:- Álvaro Morata Real Madrid £58m; Tiémoué Bakayoko Monaco £39.7m; Antonio Rüdiger Roma £29m; Davide Zappacosta Torino £25.8m; Willy Caballero Manchester City free, whereas, for only £35m less United merely acquired Romelu Lukaku Everton £75m; Nemanja Matic Chelsea £40m; Victor Lindelof Benfica £31m; Zlatan Ibrahimovic free agent.
So, to suggest that we did so poorly in the marketplace compared to United when we brought in these five players and they ended up one player less, even taking into account the hokey-cokeying Zlatan, is to stretch credulity to incredible lengths in most peoples worlds, but not, it would appear, in our footballing sphere. Indeed, even Ronay's curiously dampened down verdict on both clubs dealings seems to confirm the media myopia that surrounds the game at present, with efforts [ours and theirs] assessed as follows:-
“Chelsea kept missing out on their man, no doubt leaving Antonio Conte tearing out his chestnut-brown nylon weave at times. But Danny Drinkwater is a good signing and Tiémoué Bakayoko a fascinating one: Bakayoko is a convincing midfield cruiser, although the Premier League may ruffle that splendid strolling style.
Manchester United have handled the window well, buying early then getting out. Romelu Lukaku seems a much better deal now than he did at the start of the hyper-inflationary summer. No goals conceded in the Premier League, no pieces to be integrated through the autumn: this is a damage-free window.”
Strange, is it not, that in the space of just two paragraphs Chelsea move from missing their men to finding both a good and then splendid one, while United shift uneasily from having a well window to one that is merely damage-free. Distortion is clearly the order of any Deadline Day and the assessments subsequently hang on its coattails, but when brought into sharper focus, Chelsea have made good signings and now have this strong squad:-
Goalkeepers: Thibaut Courtois, Willy Caballero, Eduardo CBs: David Luiz, Cesar Azpilicueta, Gary Cahill, Antonio Rudiger, Andreas Christensen, Jake Clarke Salter WBs: Davide Zappacosta, Victor Moses, Marcos Alonso, Abdul Rahman Baba, Kenedy CMs: Cesc Fabregas, Tiemoue Bakayoko, N’Golo Kante, Danny Drinkwater, Kyle Scott Wingers/Forwards: Eden Hazard, Pedro, Willian, Charly Musonda CFs: Alvaro Morata, Michy Batshuayi
Only time will tell whether this squad is good enough to defend the title and also have a half-decent shot at the Champions League, but it is far from the shambles some would have us believe and quite close to the finished article that might emerge after the January window opens and an additional big striker signing is made to offset Diego's departure.

I almost forgot.
 
28/07/2017

Have we signed Alex Sandro yet?
No.

When you don't think you could love Antonio anymore he goes and calls Spurs a tin pot club... all hail the Don

Conte mugging off Spurs? 
Sounds good to me.
 

Day 3:

27/07/2017
Have we signed Alex Sandro yet?
No

Tune in tomorrow my friends for more updates. 

Day 2:
26/07/2017
Have we signed Alex Sandro yet?
No
Tune in tomorrow!

Until the transfer window is over, I've decided to formally update everyone on Alex Sandro, every day.
Day 1:
25/07/2017
Have we signed Alex Sandro yet?
No

Tune in tomorrow for more quality content.
 

Cech looks more like Prince William every day 

That would be our best home kit for years, perhaps even decades.
Nice and plain and simple. That's all it needs to be.

So after the dust settled we got Contes number 1 striker in basically an exchange for Oscar, his number one CM target and one of his top CBs we would have signed last year if not for his injury. Now City on the other hand 150 mill+ for two right backs a brazilian goalkeeper and another small CAM they dont need. Tottenham has done f**k all and Arsenal are about to sell Sanchez. Id say we are looking pretty good