14 hours ago, Ernie_blue said:

Give Conte the same transfer budget and players he wants and he will give Pep a good run for his money.

 

It is only on the pitch that we have to be competitive, and we are. We don't have to compete in the Manchester/Liverpool competition to waste the most money on transfer fees and wages for overpriced footballers ! Much to admire in our club's stance on this ... much to laugh at in the desperation of our rivals ...

Three years in a row the PL title has been won through hard work and team work on the pitch rather than spending the most money off it.

2 hours ago, Sexyfootball said:

 

It is only on the pitch that we have to be competitive, and we are. We don't have to compete in the Manchester/Liverpool competition to waste the most money on transfer fees and wages for overpriced footballers ! Much to admire in our club's stance on this ... much to laugh at in the desperation of our rivals ...

Three years in a row the PL title has been won through hard work and team work on the pitch rather than spending the most money off it.

Chelsea are not competitive in the league, i can’t see that changing in the future either. I am so proud of Chelsea’s stance on transfer fees and being the new Arsenal .

The last 2 years the league was also won due to other circumstances all happening in one year, I doubt Chelsea or Leicester really would want to hope on not playing European again.

I still have doubts about playing three at the back as it takes away from midfield, I also think for it to be effective you need specialist athletes and these come at a high price.

For some clubs money and location lends itself to get the best players, that is currently not SB so we make do with the Alonso's and Moses's.

That is not knocking those players that are serving the club well yet, Moses is not a natural wide back and Alonso is not blessed with natural pace and some times they come up short of expectation.

So we have a fudge and expect that will be tested or revealed at the end of this season with Conte's departure. After for me the question will be are we three at the back or a flat 4.

We saw some exciting football yesterday with a change of system that worked all be it against a relegation candidate side. Will Conte stick with two in the MF or will he revert to three which so often becomes five at the back?

 

 

 

 

32 minutes ago, Ernie_blue said:

Chelsea are not competitive in the league, i can’t see that changing in the future either. I am so proud of Chelsea’s stance on transfer fees and being the new Arsenal .

The last 2 years the league was also won due to other circumstances all happening in one year, I doubt Chelsea or Leicester really would want to hope on not playing European again.

In a season of "gloom and doom", with the whole squad out of form, with loads of matches and a "small squad", we're in 3rd spot, only 3 points off 2nd ... and but for 3 stupid and avoidable losses we're not far off City, who are currently on track to break all sorts of top division records in a pretty freak year. It's small margins don't you think ?

Plus we're also in the knock out stages of the CL, and still in both domestic cups.

Big Picture Ernie !

1 hour ago, Sexyfootball said:

In a season of "gloom and doom", with the whole squad out of form, with loads of matches and a "small squad", we're in 3rd spot, only 3 points off 2nd ... and but for 3 stupid and avoidable losses we're not far off City, who are currently on track to break all sorts of top division records in a pretty freak year. It's small margins don't you think ?

Plus we're also in the knock out stages of the CL, and still in both domestic cups.

Big Picture Ernie !

It’s not all “gloom and doom”, but posters can talk about things that are not working, Baka or Morata’s form, the formation, Chelsea’s transfer dealings, Carroll being a transfer target, Conte most likely leaving at the end of the season. It’s not all perfect and if you’re proud of Chelsea’s stance on not spending big fee’s which they did anyway with Morata or because they reached the knockout stages with Beşiktas, Basel and Shakhtar then that’s up to you.

Chelsea’s spine of the team is up there with the best IMO, Courtois, Andreas, Kante, Hazard and Morata when his on form. I saw someone make a good point regarding transition from defence to attack and Baka, Moses and Alonso not being good enough, I think that’s a very good point and the main difference between City and Chelsea. Also if City lose a player they have a equal replacement, if Chelsea lost Hazard then f**k knows what will happen.

 

6 hours ago, Sexyfootball said:

 

It is only on the pitch that we have to be competitive, and we are. We don't have to compete in the Manchester/Liverpool competition to waste the most money on transfer fees and wages for overpriced footballers ! Much to admire in our club's stance on this ... much to laugh at in the desperation of our rivals ...

Three years in a row the PL title has been won through hard work and team work on the pitch rather than spending the most money off it.

no denying that, but people are just being realistic. The financial model that we look to be in, isn't sustainable, if you're goal is to keep up winning the PL. It's just not.

 

Take away Mourinho and Conte, 2 of the best managers in the world, and Hazard from the team, and we wouldn't have won 2 out of 3.

Edited January 21, 20188 yr by Odiddy

22 minutes ago, Odiddy said:

Take away Mourinho and Conte, 2 of the best managers in the world, and Hazard from the team, and we wouldn't have won 2 out of 3.

The biggest reason we won our last two titles was because we had a World class center forward. Now we have two unproven strikers, but we still have Conte and Hazard.

1 minute ago, coco said:

The biggest reason we won our last two titles was because we had a World class center forward. Now we have two unproven strikers, but we still have Conte and Hazard.

For now....

Let's just hope we can keep hold of them.

Great Words from Da Gaffa

 

53 minutes ago, robdog said:

Great Words from Da Gaffa

 

He could change the word "press" with theshedend.com or twitter and it would also make sense

6 minutes ago, Van Butsen said:

He could change the word "press" with theshedend.com or twitter and it would also make sense

1 hour ago, robdog said:

Great Words from Da Gaffa

 

Yeah well said, odd how he doesn’t mention Cahill as one of the “important” players missing.

5 hours ago, coco said:

The biggest reason we won our last two titles was because we had a World class center forward. Now we have two unproven strikers, but we still have Conte and Hazard.

In both our title winning seasons Costa went missing in the second part of the season.

39 minutes ago, Hazard10 said:

In both our title winning seasons Costa went missing in the second part of the season.

Well aware of that, i wasn't his biggest fan, far from it, but he played a major role in both those title wins.

1 minute ago, coco said:

Well aware of that, i wasn't his biggest fan, far from it, but he played a major role in both those title wins.

He had a big part to play but calling him the biggest reason is quite an exaggeration imo. 

He had a big part to play but calling him the biggest reason is quite an exaggeration imo. 

Agreed. Biggest reason was Hazard. He literally carried us alone in the 2nd part of Jose's season and was instrumental in Conte's as well.

7 hours ago, Hazard10 said:

He had a big part to play but calling him the biggest reason is quite an exaggeration imo. 

When you watch hilights you see just how many clutch goals he scored in our unbeaten streak. He was instrumental in our big league that we coasted on the second half of the season. He was a huge reason.

When you watch hilights you see just how many clutch goals he scored in our unbeaten streak. He was instrumental in our big league that we coasted on the second half of the season. He was a huge reason.

Costa was great but so were others. There were three one goal difference wins down to him in the unbeaten run.

It's quite simply down to the efforts of the team over the course of 38 game season.  Costa's goals were important but no more important the person who passed it to him or the person who stopped the attack prior.  I don't think I've ever seen any one team from any code win any league off the back off one person's efforts...

On 21/01/2018 at 09:59, Sexyfootball said:

 

It is only on the pitch that we have to be competitive, and we are. We don't have to compete in the Manchester/Liverpool competition to waste the most money on transfer fees and wages for overpriced footballers ! Much to admire in our club's stance on this ... much to laugh at in the desperation of our rivals ...

Three years in a row the PL title has been won through hard work and team work on the pitch rather than spending the most money off it.

You can't win titles without spending money, it's just very unlikely, no matter what we need to spend money. Sure City & United seem desperate, City spent over 150 million on 3 fullbacks but they are winning the league because of it and have quality players at their disposal regardless. There is no possible way for us to have the best players in the league if we do not spend money and pay big wages, and more times than not you win the league by having the best players. 

19 minutes ago, Slojo said:

You can't win titles without spending money, it's just very unlikely, no matter what we need to spend money. Sure City & United seem desperate, City spent over 150 million on 3 fullbacks but they are winning the league because of it and have quality players at their disposal regardless. There is no possible way for us to have the best players in the league if we do not spend money and pay big wages, and more times than not you win the league by having the best players. 

I think Leicester showed it could be done yet agree it is very rare and a number of things need to happen.

Occasionally a younger generation of upcoming players might fill the need and Mourinho often seemed to buy a relatively unknown player and turn them into a world beater for a season or two.

1 minute ago, Strider6003 said:

I think Leicester showed it could be done yet agree it is very rare and a number of things need to happen.

Occasionally a younger generation of upcoming players might fill the need and Mourinho often seemed to buy a relatively unknown player and turn them into a world beater for a season or two.

That's why I said it's very unlikely, Leicester was very unlikely, more often than not the team that spends a considerable sum will win the title or at least be in with a shot. 

3 minutes ago, Slojo said:

That's why I said it's very unlikely, Leicester was very unlikely, more often than not the team that spends a considerable sum will win the title or at least be in with a shot. 

Now it seems to take a couple of seasons to do it, Pepe in his second season and Mourinho thinks he can challenge in his third as they both get the players they want.

Some also think Klopp will do it though on a longer timescale.

9 minutes ago, Strider6003 said:

Some also think Klopp will do it though on a longer timescale.

I think Klopp might get Liverpool into title contenders but it will be very hard to win the league from this season on, Klopp is backed though, Liverpool needed a CB and they spent 75m on a player who was needed, it doesn't matter what people feel regarding the fee. Liverpool have more money to spend and will surely be looking for a keeper, you can't win the league without a top keeper and even Leicester have one in Schmeichel, there's a hint for you Klopp  Liverpool have also got Keita coming in, to me they are looking forwards atm.

I don't think any team can look back at what Leicester did and hope it is going to happen again, that's living in an Arsenal world. Pep's got his team now and will make improvements every year.