Been watching reels of Crespo's time at Chelsea, which was deemed by many as a bit of a failure - a tag which I dispute given the circumstances - but it got me thinking about players that have signed for Chelsea during the Roman era, and those who regretfully moved on under a bit of a cloud, or those who failed to deliver on potential, or quite simply didnt work out. 

 

What players were you buzzing for, which really failed to live up to the hype?? And what players are you absolutely gutted that we got rid of without actually playing them in the correct system / position etc, who then went on to bigger and better things? Which transfers out of chelsea keep you awake at night?

 

Lets try not to mention the signing of Fernando Torres following the now infamous 100000 page thread on how sh*te he is / was. 

 

For me, the one I really struggle with, still, is Mata. Although with jose looking likely to return to football as manager of United, its pretty safe to say that Mata will soon be surplus to requirements. Perhaps a return for our Juan???

 

BRING BACK JUAN. 

 

The Crespo / Jose thing was a disappointment for me too. 

 

And.... go. 

The inevitable circlejerk over Lukaku/De Bruyne/Mata this thread will become.

 

Also Luiz not adding being a dependable defender to his repertoire of epic moments and goals.

Edited February 10, 201610 yr by Stim

The inevitable circlejerk over Lukaku/De Bruyne/Mata this thread will become.

 

Also Luiz not adding being a dependable defender to his repertoire of epic moments and goals.

yeah it could become quite predictable. 

 

just think that in recent times we have had some very good players who have not fulfilled their potential / exploited their talents to the maximum whilst in this league. 

 

got me thinking about what a mate said the other day. What "top" team in world football has bought consistently well over the last 5 - 10 years? Everyone's record in the transfer market has been chequered since football became more of a business than a sport. Real have had a fair number of howlers in the market, we've been obviously flawed, city have bought endless numbers of very average players (excluding the aguero / silva / toure axis of evil), and united are lolz. Bayern probably have the best approach, but bring through a lot of their own,  as do barcelona. 

 

everyone's prone to it, fingers crossed we can avoid the kdb / lukaku scenario. thinking more about players who we have signed, and actually played, who havent worked out. 

The inevitable circlejerk over Lukaku/De Bruyne/Mata this thread will become.

Also Luiz not adding being a dependable defender to his repertoire of epic moments and goals.

To be fair it's hard not to bring it up, those 3 could have lead the line for the next 8 years or so and ended up getting replaced by inferior players.

I love Mourinho and I was so happy he came back, however, I think it's hard to deny that he made the squad considerably worse.

Edited February 10, 201610 yr by timetowaste

Not in the Roman times, but one of the biggest regrets I have is that Casiragi got so badly injured.  I thought he was a real top player.

To be fair it's hard not to bring it up, those 3 could have lead the line for the next 8 years or so and ended up getting replaced by inferior players.

 

But neither Lukaku or De Bruyne were willing to fight for their place, De Bruyne showed nothing while with us to say he would become a top player, and, sadly, Mata was the right player in the wrong place at the wrong time.

Not in the Roman times, but one of the biggest regrets I have is that Casiragi got so badly injured.  I thought he was a real top player.

 

Yes, he had just settled into the team. If my memory is correct he'd only played about ten games for us before the injury.

 

As for Crespo, wasn't one of the reasons he left because his wife couldn't settle in England? Will never forget the last minute goal against Wigan in the first game of the season.

De Bruyne was given something like 2 starts and a handful of sub appearances? Very few players at his age jump into a new league and become a world beater. He needed starts and was left to rot on the bench.

Mata being sold is still one of my most angry moments in football, I said it at the time, if you have a player as talented as Mata you build your team around him, not throw him out for someone who runs around a lot.

I was really high on Shevchenko. Even bought his jersey. Really felt bad that he couldn't do well here as he was genuinely a nice guy. At the time of his signing, everyone started fearing a strike partnership of Drogba and Sheva. Sadly that didn't happen.

And guess the only transfer that kept me awake was Jose's. Both times but to a lesser extent the 2nd time.

Edited February 10, 201610 yr by JoseBlues

De Bruyne was given something like 2 starts and a handful of sub appearances? Very few players at his age jump into a new league and become a world beater. He needed starts and was left to rot on the bench.

Mata being sold is still one of my most angry moments in football, I said it at the time, if you have a player as talented as Mata you build your team around him, not throw him out for someone who runs around a lot.

 

Wasn't one of those starts against the mighty Swindon Town, and wasn't he pants?

 

I'm sorry, but this revisionist hindsight offends me a bit.  There was nothing about De Bruyne in his time with us that said anything like how good he might be.  As far as I remember he was very lightweight with some good touches occasionally.  So was Josh.  As has been said many times, about many players, the manager sees them in training all the time.  There was a report that Kevin didn't train well, he definitely never payed spectacularly when given a chance, and I can see why he was let go.

 

Could turn out to be a mistake, but not for the end of this season, at least.

Edited February 10, 201610 yr by yorkleyblue

De Bruyne was given something like 2 starts and a handful of sub appearances? Very few players at his age jump into a new league and become a world beater. He needed starts and was left to rot on the bench.

Mata being sold is still one of my most angry moments in football, I said it at the time, if you have a player as talented as Mata you build your team around him, not throw him out for someone who runs around a lot.

 

More starts than Azpi got and Azpi took his eventual chance with both hands. KDB wasn't willing to do that.

 

Mata is a great player but you can't build a top team around him in my opinion. There's very few players in the world you can build a team around in fact.

 

Mata, KDB and Lukaku left, Costa, Fabregas and Willian more or less replaced them. Mourinho's aim was to win the league ASAP and he did that so it's hard to blame him too much.

 

I regret that Schurrle couldn't have stayed but I think that there was something going on behind the scenes that we may never know the truth about and that's a real shame because he added something we haven't replaced.

 

Nat Chalobah's eventual departure will be a real shame because he should've kicked on after his Watford loan but another managerial change meant more upheaval and he never had a chance. The same might happen to Loftus-Cheek.

Not in the Roman times, but one of the biggest regrets I have is that Casiragi got so badly injured. I thought he was a real top player.

De Bruyne was given something like 2 starts and a handful of sub appearances? Very few players at his age jump into a new league and become a world beater. He needed starts and was left to rot on the bench.

Mata being sold is still one of my most angry moments in football, I said it at the time, if you have a player as talented as Mata you build your team around him, not throw him out for someone who runs around a lot.

the difficulty i have with this is the fact that he slotted straight into the city side without having time to adjust, which screams to me of tactical or systemic problems with the way the team was set up which did not suit de bruyne during his time here. he had just come back to us after an excellent season on loan and didnt show anything approaching his ability when he did get his admittedly limited chances. 

 

this one frustrates me, because he evidently had the talent, and we should have made more of an effort to incorporate him into the team. i think the argument that he needed time is misplaced though, he rinsed germany both times he was on loan and came into that city team and immediately improved them. annoying. 

Not in the Roman times, but one of the biggest regrets I have is that Casiragi got so badly injured. I thought he was a real top player.

Casiraghi, good call. And I think ee coukd have gotten even more from Di Matteo as a player. Both careers cut short due to horrible injuries.

Plus, although not a player, I really thought that with Scolari we had netted a great manager.

I regret the way Gallas left, I loved him when he was here but he just turned into this sour human being.

I do regret that players we let go in the past couple of seasons especially Juan Mata. But some of them made sense at the time.

I was gutted when Crespo left - Mata also goes without saying. 

 

I thought Thiago was a great player in the 04/05 season but he only lasted one year for some reason - remember 'that' goal at Old Trafford? 

I'm going to come a bit out of left field with this and I'd probably be the only one to think of him

But Yury Zhirkov, I don't think he got a look in and when he very rarely did it was as a LB which wasn't his natural position.

It's always really grated on me as I think he could have been a great player for us, I loved his direct running and pace, plus what a left peg he had!

I'm going to come a bit out of left field with this and I'd probably be the only one to think of him

But Yury Zhirkov, I don't think he got a look in and when he very rarely did it was as a LB which wasn't his natural position.

It's always really grated on me as I think he could have been a great player for us, I loved his direct running and pace, plus what a left peg he had!

You seem to forget he used to be more injury prone than robben.

I'm going to come a bit out of left field with this and I'd probably be the only one to think of him

But Yury Zhirkov, I don't think he got a look in and when he very rarely did it was as a LB which wasn't his natural position.

It's always really grated on me as I think he could have been a great player for us, I loved his direct running and pace, plus what a left peg he had!

I agree on that

Wasn't one of those starts against the mighty Swindon Town, and wasn't he pants?

 

I'm sorry, but this revisionist hindsight offends me a bit.  There was nothing about De Bruyne in his time with us that said anything like how good he might be.  As far as I remember he was very lightweight with some good touches occasionally.  So was Josh.  As has been said many times, about many players, the manager sees them in training all the time.  There was a report that Kevin didn't train well, he definitely never payed spectacularly when given a chance, and I can see why he was let go.

 

Could turn out to be a mistake, but not for the end of this season, at least.

 

I personally don't agree with this. De Bruyne in his first game for us against Hull was very good. The signs were there before he even played for us that he was going to be a very good footballer.

I regret the way Jose handled this season and screwed things up. He didn't need to be so heavy handed and should have been proud of his players for last season and not create so much controversy to try and kick start them.

I'm confident that all they needed was some love and arm around the shoulder management. It would have kept his relationship with the players on track.

If Jose was 7-10th place, he wouldn't have got the sack but we were sliding further down the table.

I'm going to come a bit out of left field with this and I'd probably be the only one to think of him

But Yury Zhirkov, I don't think he got a look in and when he very rarely did it was as a LB which wasn't his natural position.

It's always really grated on me as I think he could have been a great player for us, I loved his direct running and pace, plus what a left peg he had!

I recall the games where he played in center midfield and behind the striker, was one of our best performers. I really liked him.

I personally don't agree with this. De Bruyne in his first game for us against Hull was very good. The signs were there before he even played for us that he was going to be a very good footballer.

 

Everyone gets a good game now and again.  Against Swindon, he was pants. Michu looked very good for a while, so did SWP.

 

I don't really argue about his ability, but his attitude (reportedly) when with us, and his skill set when compared to the requirements of the team at the time meant that he had to be better than "very good" to claim a regular team spot.  And coming into a City team that is built to play to his particular skill set meant that he would be the player that we all hoped he would be.  It's one thing to be a good footballer, something entirely different to be a great player in a great team or even a good player in a good team.  He didn't fit.  That's all there is to say, really.  Based on what he did while he was with us, it was the right thing to do to let him go.  But, like I said, I could be wrong.

On a different note, I think we should have moved heaven and earth earlier to retain Zola.

going back a bit but i was gutted when tor andre flo left, i thought he was top notch, no good as just a sub, he needed to start every game