I don't think we ever really know what the truth is, it feels a bit like Chinese Whispers, it seems not so long ago Conte saying something like cold emotional decision needed to be made which was interpreted as getting rid of players. That part seems true though we are all a little impatient to see the replacements. Those few we have seen look quality and we are expecting 2 or 3 before the window shuts. I don't expect any WC players now more squad depth.

If Conte gets us top two after winning the league last season that gives him more street cred than Pep, because Pep has had the pick of the crop. The pressure is on Pep this season. He steps up or will be seen as a flop, IMO.

Three more weeks until the Board is judged on how they are supporting Conte.  I doubt that support will be anything substantial and if another big club comes along and poaches Conte, I would applaud him for doing that. That's when it gets interesting to see which manager they can hire.  One thing that can be said is no top tier manager will want to work with a club that insists on trophies yet has a net transfer spend like a mid table club.

I think its worth bearing in mind that the club (i.e. Roman) are planning to shell out many hundreds of millions building a new stadium.

Even oligarch's can make use of a magic money tree.... if one was available!

We cant have everything all the time, and its probably unreasonable to expect mass fortunes to be spent every season, especially when the building work is hopefully starting in the very near future. 

We have landed Morata, which is a huge coup, we just need a few reasonable squad players as cover in case we get some injuries. There is time yet, lets not panic.

12 minutes ago, Strider6003 said:

I don't think we ever really know what the truth is, it feels a bit like Chinese Whispers, it seems not so long ago Conte saying something like cold emotional decision needed to be made which was interpreted as getting rid of players. That part seems true though we are all a little impatient to see the replacements. Those few we have seen look quality and we are expecting 2 or 3 before the window shuts. I don't expect any WC players now more squad depth.

If Conte gets us top two after winning the league last season that gives him more street cred than Pep, because Pep has had the pick of the crop. The pressure is on Pep this season. He steps up or will be seen as a flop, IMO.

I think we should be more concerned about Conte being supported and staying rather than bother about other clubs' managers. Even TOP 2 didn't save Carlo form his job so  your breath about Conte staying if there is slippage.

Edited August 9, 20178 yr by lchk

I think the Carlo decision was different, relatively a much stronger squad in relation to the rest of the league than now. The board were keen on Benitez staying, I get the feeling that RA has changed and is happy as long as we are competing for major honours. If we can win them great but not with an open cheque book. 

16 minutes ago, Strider6003 said:

I think the Carlo decision was different, relatively a much stronger squad in relation to the rest of the league than now. The board were keen on Benitez staying, I get the feeling that RA has changed and is happy as long as we are competing for major honours. If we can win them great but not with an open cheque book. 

If he and the board expects the club to be title challengers and god forbid go toe to toe against the likes of Real Madrid and Bayern Munich in the CL, that would be delusional to say the least.  Spend less and expect less otherwise be prepared for disappointment and frustration.

11 minutes ago, lchk said:

If he and the board expects the club to be title challengers and god forbid go toe to toe against the likes of Real Madrid and Bayern Munich in the CL, that would be delusional to say the least.  Spend less and expect less otherwise be prepared for disappointment and frustration.

Fair point, I don't see us progressing beyond the 1/4's in the CL. 

well that journo simon johnson is it (?) he said that conte and the board, i.e. marina, emenalo etc are on good terms and always in contact, and there was a quote from conte that his relationship with roman is a good one. whether it's true or not, of course we don't know. just like we don't know if they aren't on good terms lol

53 minutes ago, Zola said:

I think its worth bearing in mind that the club (i.e. Roman) are planning to shell out many hundreds of millions building a new stadium.

Even oligarch's can make use of a magic money tree.... if one was available!

We cant have everything all the time, and its probably unreasonable to expect mass fortunes to be spent every season, especially when the building work is hopefully starting in the very near future. 

We have landed Morata, which is a huge coup, we just need a few reasonable squad players as cover in case we get some injuries. There is time yet, lets not panic.

I can live with that, but if we aren't going to spend like we used to then we shouldn't be selling so many players.

I agree, I cant stand us selling to rivals especially, we shouldn't be doing that!

15 minutes ago, Zola said:

I agree, I cant stand us selling to rivals especially, we shouldn't be doing that!

Selling to a direct rival whilst not having a coherent strategy in place for a replacement is bound to be met with ire by Conte. No matter if Matic wanted to go, we were in control of the player and able to call the shots exactly how it best suited ourselves. As it is we have allowed Jose the luxury of bedding in a new player something we haven't done for our own. 

We will though if other transfers do go through have spent close on 200m, make no mistake even if they were the fifth choices on the list the pressure would be on to gain results.

 

Conte said: "Bakayoko is a good signing for us. He is very young. My idea was to give Bakayoko the right time to adapt in this league behind Matic. But now after the sale of Matic, we need to try to accelerate this process for Bakayoko after his injury.

https://www.standard.co.uk/sport/football/antonio-conte-chelsea-must-rush-tiemoue-bakayoko-after-nemanja-matic-sale-a3607716.html

That says it all!!

Edited August 9, 20178 yr by charierre

It really does seem like 15/16 all over again, even worse as we are selling players. This time Conte is wearing his heart on his sleeve so we know what is going on, unlike Jose and his poker face. It's clear that the board is not fully supporting him on buying and selling players at the moment. Hopefully that is due to change but if the club repeats the mistakes of 15/16 again having learned nothing from that season there's got to be some sackings and the manager position is not one of them.

Every season we win the title, the season after that has the manager bitching to the press. EVERY f**kING SEASON.  I'm just fed up.   Just get on with it now instead of giving the rags more fodder. 

 

Que sera and all that jazz. 

I said it before if he's still here by January I will be shocked am currently looking at possible replacements

i don't see the point of bedding bakayoko in. he is obviously competent enough to start. it isn't like people were loving the matic/kante partnership last season anyway, and many were calling for fabregas to start ahead of him. i would rather start with fabregas in midfield at the start of the season and sporadically use baker, or maybe sporadically use fab and partner kante with baker until bakayoko is fit. 

1 minute ago, Brutos said:

I said it before if he's still here by January I will be shocked am currently looking at possible replacements

That Russian chap who's a pal of Roman would be a likely replacement.  I think even Hiddink would not want to be a caretaker manager anymore.

why people think he's going to leave? why would he leave/get fired once we're sitting top of the table in january? ;) 

He's said several times he's not happy with the size of the squad and wants numbers in. He's said Matic is a huge loss and not a player he wanted to lose.

its clear as day he's not happy with how the summer recruitment has gone and if we don't back him he will be off.

Conte has a job to do. He gets paid money too.  If his expectation is to just buy up all the players possible to make his job easy, this is the wrong idea.

 

We've given him presumably 3 players so far he has wanted.  First or second choice.  He will get more players, I do not doubt it.  We will have spent ~200m by the end of the year, after winning the league.  We are getting rid of a 20 goal per season scorer, which Conte has played a part in.  I understand where Conte is coming from but we aren't in Man City mode, we are an established club that is trying to run a profitable business.  We can spend 200m a transfer window but we will conduct that business pragmatically.  Let's just all save the meltdown until September when the window closes.  

45 minutes ago, enigma said:

i don't see the point of bedding bakayoko in. he is obviously competent enough to start. it isn't like people were loving the matic/kante partnership last season anyway, and many were calling for fabregas to start ahead of him. i would rather start with fabregas in midfield at the start of the season and sporadically use baker, or maybe sporadically use fab and partner kante with baker until bakayoko is fit. 

It's probably because he is recovering from knee problems and has had no pre season. With no Matic around, we will probably have to just throw Bakayoko in and hope for the best. I don't rate Matic as high as i used to, but having him in the squad would have made things 10x easier for Bakayoko, Conte and the squad.

17 hours ago, Argo said:

Forgot to respond to this. Before i start are you the returned ex member Bola by any chance?

If we fail to defend our title i will access Antonio on his own merit's, if for hypothetical sense we play the season with this squad, relitevely struggle but Antonio gives us the best season he possibly can under the circumstances thanks to his tactics and management i wouldn't have a single complaint, if he makes reapeated blunders like Carlo circa 10/11 or Jose 15/16 then yes i will say the " same sh*t".

I never said he was incompetent, stop twisting thing's, what i said was his performance in 10/11 was poor, which it was. Do you also believe Jose had no blame for 15/16 and it was "all the board"? The double season is a different argument, when the hell did i say we won the league despite him? He did a good job overall that season.

So the club's actions must be looked at but his managerial performance not? And for the record i agree with the assessment of the board that summer, what im contesting is it being used to excuse Carlo any sin. And, apart from City in fullback, who has significantly strengthened? 

Your post stated he was tactically poor and naïve.  So I assumed you meant that about him as a manager, that he Mister Magoo'ed his way to one of the best BPL winning performances even seen.  I didn't realize you meant he was a fantastic manager one season and then the very next just became tactically poor and naïve.

 

Of course Mourinho bears some blame but if I give a builder 2/3rds of the tools and supplies they need to build my dream house, I shouldn't exactly be shocked and angry when I don't get my dream house 9 months later, right?  I can obviously blame the builder, but they kind of also get a built in excuse that is valid and not a cop out, no?  Or do we tell the expert "no, you're wrong on what you need and if you fail it's 100% your fault because you'll have just became a poor builder despite winning architecture accolades just last year"?...sorry, keep telling.  Third times the charm and all.

 

Then again, are we really comparing the blame of finishing second to bringing the team near relegation zones?  Cause really, after the "Mourinho season" perhaps we should be looking back at Carlo's second season as pretty f**king fantastic (or, atleast, reasonable) compared to what it could have been......

 

PS. Well you cited MCFC who did address their biggest weakness and thus clearly strengthened........ Clearly MUFC have strengthened more and obviously, yet again, we decided to help a direct rival do so against the wishes of the manager while at the same time actually weakening our squad and thus ability to compete.

Tottenham might or might not, but they ran us ragged with a young squad and if not for that 13 game winning streak it might very well have been their season.  They didn't have the glaring issues this squad has and nor, would it seem, the ambition or expectations either.  Facts are facts, Pochetinno can finish behind Conte and have a good season, Conte finishes behind Pochetino and our biggest surprise will be that he got to last the season.

Don't really care about Arsenal and Liverpool, but I bet if they had to assess their squad right now they'd feel it stronger than when the window opened.  I'm not sure every Chelsea fan would feel the same way.

 

Edited August 9, 20178 yr by Barry Bridges
Ps.

Think about it: if we go on and buy 4 more players this would be the biggest overhaul of Roman era...It seems Conte has leverage....we still need to sign those 4 though..

4 hours ago, charierre said:

Selling to a direct rival whilst not having a coherent strategy in place for a replacement is bound to be met with ire by Conte. No matter if Matic wanted to go, we were in control of the player and able to call the shots exactly how it best suited ourselves. As it is we have allowed Jose the luxury of bedding in a new player something we haven't done for our own. 

We will though if other transfers do go through have spent close on 200m, make no mistake even if they were the fifth choices on the list the pressure would be on to gain results.

 

Conte said: "Bakayoko is a good signing for us. He is very young. My idea was to give Bakayoko the right time to adapt in this league behind Matic. But now after the sale of Matic, we need to try to accelerate this process for Bakayoko after his injury.

https://www.standard.co.uk/sport/football/antonio-conte-chelsea-must-rush-tiemoue-bakayoko-after-nemanja-matic-sale-a3607716.html

That says it all!!

 

Clever from Conte. We need to buy a CM. That CM will know he's only 4th choice. After hearing this he might think he can get regular games. Clever.

Conte has a job to do. He gets paid money too.  If his expectation is to just buy up all the players possible to make his job easy, this is the wrong idea.
 
We've given him presumably 3 players so far he has wanted.  First or second choice.  He will get more players, I do not doubt it.  We will have spent ~200m by the end of the year, after winning the league.  We are getting rid of a 20 goal per season scorer, which Conte has played a part in.  I understand where Conte is coming from but we aren't in Man City mode, we are an established club that is trying to run a profitable business.  We can spend 200m a transfer window but we will conduct that business pragmatically.  Let's just all save the meltdown until September when the window closes.  

Costa was gone from January And he wanted to leave in the summer so Conte isn't responsible for Costa desire to leave

9 minutes ago, Brutos said:

3 hours ago, TheChelsRVA said:

Conte has a job to do. He gets paid money too.  If his expectation is to just buy up all the players possible to make his job easy, this is the wrong idea.
 
We've given him presumably 3 players so far he has wanted.  First or second choice.  He will get more players, I do not doubt it.  We will have spent ~200m by the end of the year, after winning the league.  We are getting rid of a 20 goal per season scorer, which Conte has played a part in.  I understand where Conte is coming from but we aren't in Man City mode, we are an established club that is trying to run a profitable business.  We can spend 200m a transfer window but we will conduct that business pragmatically.  Let's just all save the meltdown until September when the window closes.  

Costa was gone from January And he wanted to leave in the summer so Conte isn't responsible for Costa desire to leave

Earlier in the thread I said the same, I know the situation.  The whole text message fiasco is a non-story.

The story is January.  What happened?  Did Conte let Costa know he wasn't in the plans of the team and it's his intention to sell him to China?  Because as far as I know a team isn't allowed to reach out directly to a player that is still under contract with another team.  So someone had to let Diego know there was interest from China and the intent was to sell. 

Or did Costa come to Conte and say hey I want to leave to Atletico.  And Conte let him know of interest from China or that he would be sold otherwise. 

Or did Chinese team reach out directly to Costa's party and turn his head?

It's clear any way you look at it that Conte didn't want Costa as part of his team.  He has never come out to refute that like he has with Matic.  He openly says he wanted Matic to Stay but I don't see him doing that with Costa.  So Conte is willing to let go of a player he didn't want which is Costa...a 20 in the league goal scorer...that's my point