Its literally like playing with 10 men.

12 hours ago, Spiller86 said:

I feel dreadfully sorry for him. He started so brightly but looks bereft of confidence.

A bad signing no doubt, but what to do with him now? 

On a footballing level, he currently has no business being around a PL team, let alone actually play for one, but on a personal level I too feel so sorry for him. It must be awful to hear your own supporters groan everytime you f**k up. Which is practically all of the time...

13 hours ago, Phillip said:

Sorry, but he did not start brightly , he just was not horrible in his first few games with us.

I thought he had a few decent games early on. He was carrying the ball forward past pressure and I recall him being crucial in creating that outball to Dave that Morata fed off a couple of times. Sadly it seems that once again the video analysis quickly identified that shaky first touch and teams have swarmed on him since.  That has really dented his confidence which has flowed into other parts of his game. 

13 hours ago, Phillip said:

I have to look at his games when playing at Monaco.  He must have shown his sh*teness when there, you just cannot hide that no matter how good the other players are who are playing with you.

As charriere said you watch him v Juve last year and you see the issues. Plenty noted them at the time. He is one of a number of young powerful players who have done well in France been MASSIVELY overhyped and then flopped elsewhere. M'Villa, Capoue, Kondogbia are also good examples. 

Crazy thing is that his then midfield partner Fabinho would surely have been a much better fit for what we needed. Box to box. Good passer and presser of the football. I still think we should have a crack at buying him this summer. 

As for Bakayoko. I remain skeptical about his long term potential. But given the investment we surely need to give him a full preseason and a chance. I regularly claim our youth deserve such a chance so surely he does too. 

Edited March 19, 20188 yr by Spiller86

I too am very concerned that there may be some sort of "owner or Board" instruction to play him regardless.

If there is not, why oh why would a Coach as good as Conte, have him anywhere near the squad, let alone in the first team? He has proved over and over again that he is simply not good enough to be at Chelsea. His performances are an embarrassment to both himself and the Club.

He has a song, albeit one with Kante. Surely there was a moment in time when he played well enough to deserve it ? 

I'm hesitating whether we should loan him out to rebuild his confidence away from our harsh judgment or to let him have a fresh start at CFC with a preseason under his belt. Although preseason reminds me a lot of the Cuadrado magic formula that wasn't 

Edited March 19, 20188 yr by Valerie

23 minutes ago, coombsie said:

I too am very concerned that there may be some sort of "owner or Board" instruction to play him regardless.

If there is not, why oh why would a Coach as good as Conte, have him anywhere near the squad, let alone in the first team? He has proved over and over again that he is simply not good enough to be at Chelsea. His performances are an embarrassment to both himself and the Club.

I think that might have been the case in previous times yet since getting burned by Torres and Shevchenko think they leave it to the manager.

For me the last couple of matches I have been looking to see Drinkwater in the squad yet no mention, perhaps he is injured.

If that is the case the selection make sense.

50 minutes ago, Valerie said:

He has a song, albeit one with Kante. Surely there was a moment in time when he played well enough to deserve it ? 

I'm hesitating whether we should loan him out to rebuild his confidence away from our harsh judgment or to let him have a fresh start at CFC with a preseason under his belt. Although preseason reminds me a lot of the Cuadrado magic formula that wasn't 

Atletico away I think his song was born. So he certainly played well that night

Also did Cuadrado last only six months? Crazy to think that was the case. He would have been quite a handy wing back under Antonio. 

We have been here before with Salah KdB and Lukaku, I really hope the club sticks with him

17 minutes ago, Brutos said:

We have been here before with Salah KdB and Lukaku, I really hope the club sticks with him

Lukaku clearly had the ability, he had alreayd scored loads of PL goals.

De Bruyne clearly had the ability and was very good on loan.

Salah not so much, but at least he had positives you could see could be improved, such as pace and finishing.

 

What the f**k does Bakayoko have? He can't do anything. We can't keep giving this guy chances when he does nothing to warrant them. Loftus-CHeek should be taking his squad spot next season.

30 minutes ago, Zeta said:

Lukaku clearly had the ability, he had alreayd scored loads of PL goals.

De Bruyne clearly had the ability and was very good on loan.

Salah not so much, but at least he had positives you could see could be improved, such as pace and finishing.

 

What the f**k does Bakayoko have? He can't do anything. We can't keep giving this guy chances when he does nothing to warrant them. Loftus-CHeek should be taking his squad spot next season.

I think even re-signing Josh McEachran would be a better option LOL

Lukaku clearly had the ability, he had alreayd scored loads of PL goals.
De Bruyne clearly had the ability and was very good on loan.
Salah not so much, but at least he had positives you could see could be improved, such as pace and finishing.
 
What the f**k does Bakayoko have? He can't do anything. We can't keep giving this guy chances when he does nothing to warrant them. Loftus-CHeek should be taking his squad spot next season.

These are the same comments that were made about those players, not good enough, sh*t, not ready, isn't PL standard or not top team standard

54 minutes ago, Brutos said:

We have been here before with Salah KdB and Lukaku, I really hope the club sticks with him

Yes but Bakayoko is getting more chances than he deserves, it was the opposite for Salah & KDB. 

He's consistently playing games when he's quite clearly underperformed and cost us many points. How can you keep playing a player who's underperforming compared to giving a player a chance who you have rarely played? It's a completely different scenario you can't compare it. 

16 minutes ago, Brutos said:

48 minutes ago, Zeta said:

Lukaku clearly had the ability, he had alreayd scored loads of PL goals.
De Bruyne clearly had the ability and was very good on loan.
Salah not so much, but at least he had positives you could see could be improved, such as pace and finishing.
 
What the f**k does Bakayoko have? He can't do anything. We can't keep giving this guy chances when he does nothing to warrant them. Loftus-CHeek should be taking his squad spot next season.

These are the same comments that were made about those players, not good enough, sh*t, not ready, isn't PL standard or not top team standard

Bullsh*t. None of those players were as inept as Bakayoko. As I clearly said in the first post, they all had positives and 2 of them clearly had ability and it was a joke they weren't given more of a chance. Bakayoko has had chance after chance and looks barely a sunday league player. If he ever goes onto to be at the kind of level someone like De Bruyne is showing, I'll happily tattoo his face on my arse.

28 minutes ago, Brutos said:

1 hour ago, Zeta said:

Lukaku clearly had the ability, he had alreayd scored loads of PL goals.
De Bruyne clearly had the ability and was very good on loan.
Salah not so much, but at least he had positives you could see could be improved, such as pace and finishing.
 
What the f**k does Bakayoko have? He can't do anything. We can't keep giving this guy chances when he does nothing to warrant them. Loftus-CHeek should be taking his squad spot next season.

These are the same comments that were made about those players, not good enough, sh*t, not ready, isn't PL standard or not top team standard

KDB, Salah, and Lukaku, started 17 combined for us across all competitions, most of those starts were in the early rounds of the cups, and very few were consecutive games. 

Bakayoko has already started 24 games, 20 in the league. He's had a better chance than those 3 to show his ability, and yet he looks terrible. 

If the Lukaku, KDB, and Salah, were afforded the same opportunities as bakayoko has had, they would probably still be here. 

Bakayoko has had a fair shot imo, he hasn't taken it. It isn't compatible to the players that have slipped through the net. Let's cut our losses and move on. 

there is no point selling him right now given his value is so low

he needs to go on loan next season hopefully in PL. and play regularly i think then we'll know what kind of player he really is

3 hours ago, Valerie said:

He has a song,

" You're sh*t, and you know you are. You're sh*t, and you know you are."

I would actually be interested to hear a Monaco supporter's views on him. Looked decent for them, especially in their run to the CL Semis.

Currently he looks like a fraud of a footballer (see ''George Weah's cousin'' / Southampton circa 1996). He has the physical attributes, but appears to have no football nous whatsoever. Plus, to make things worse, he just coasts around the pitch in some kind of dreamland. The joke that never gets funny.

Maybe he hates Conte? Maybe he dislikes England? Maybe he's carrying a niggling injury?....Whatever it is, I'd go as far as saying he looks like one of the worst buys during the 'Roman' era.

Sending RLC out on loan again, and bringing this guy in - another addition to the ever-growing list of terrible board decisions in recent years.

Edited March 19, 20188 yr by Elliott

14 minutes ago, Elliott said:

I would actually be interested to hear a Monaco supporter's views on him. Looked decent for them, especially in their run to the CL Semis.

Currently he looks like a fraud of a footballer (see ''George Weah's cousin'' / Southampton circa 1996). He has the physical attributes, but appears to have no football nous whatsoever. Plus, to make things worse, he just coasts around the pitch in some kind of dreamland. The joke that never gets funny.

Maybe he hates Conte? Maybe he dislikes England? Maybe he's carrying a niggling injury?....Whatever it is, I'd go as far as saying he looks like one of the worst buys during the 'Roman' era.

Sending RLC out on loan again, and bringing this guy in - another addition to the ever-growing list of terrible board decisions in recent years.

That cannot be it, since Conte would freeze him out and never play him (see Malouda situation) if that was the case.  But in fact it is the opposite situation, Conte keeps playing him when nobody else would in their right mind do so.

3 hours ago, theone said:

there is no point selling him right now given his value is so low

he needs to go on loan next season hopefully in PL. and play regularly i think then we'll know what kind of player he really is

This is the ideal solution, we can loan him to maybe a different European club and if we're lucky he'll fit in to that club well enough that they would want to buy him.

A bit like the Michy situation with BVB, they are probably willing to offer quite a bit for him now.

Re: Monaco

In one of the CL matches last season he was just as bewilderingly bad as he has been here. Put it this way, he was inconsistently bad for Monaco, whereas he is consistently bad for us.

I posted my comment on his performance in the match thread.

P.S. It should also be said in fairness that this team has been pretty underwhelming without Bakayoko in the side.

I did notice one thing, we have completely lost control of midfield when we subbed Baka last night, that’s probably more down to Fabregas but you got to admit Bakayoko must have been covering decent amount of space in first half.

I completely agreed with him getting subbed as it was only a matter of time before he gets sent off, but maybe it is just him being in terrible form for so long? 

Surely our board isn’t that stupid to spend such a fortune on a midfielder, especially considering how long the saga has dragged on for.

What I am hoping for is we sign a replacement this summer, but keep Bakayoko. He improves tremendously next season, and then we have great options for midfield.

11 hours ago, dansubrosa said:

I did notice one thing, we have completely lost control of midfield when we subbed Baka last night, that’s probably more down to Fabregas but you got to admit Bakayoko must have been covering decent amount of space in first half.

I completely agreed with him getting subbed as it was only a matter of time before he gets sent off, but maybe it is just him being in terrible form for so long? 

Surely our board isn’t that stupid to spend such a fortune on a midfielder, especially considering how long the saga has dragged on for.

What I am hoping for is we sign a replacement this summer, but keep Bakayoko. He improves tremendously next season, and then we have great options for midfield.

I think midfield is our big opportunity to strengthen next season. 

We need another box to box presence who can get up and down, press and provide some threat with the ball.  

We would then have: 

DM: Bakayoko and Kante

B2B: Kante and New

Controller/Regista: Drinkwater (Fabregas is the obvious player to move on for me)

Attacking: Barkley and RLC.

I think that then gives Bakayoko a chance to adapt without being under pressure every week to do more than he is capable of. 

If we held onto RLC for this season, and he had put in the performances that Bakayoko has done for us, he wouldn't get near the first team and would of been loaned out in January. 

I understand that the price tag dictates the amount of time a player gets to show their worth, but with Bakayoko i feel his time is up already.

I did notice one thing, we have completely lost control of midfield when we subbed Baka last night, that’s probably more down to Fabregas but you got to admit Bakayoko must have been covering decent amount of space in first half.
I completely agreed with him getting subbed as it was only a matter of time before he gets sent off, but maybe it is just him being in terrible form for so long? 
Surely our board isn’t that stupid to spend such a fortune on a midfielder, especially considering how long the saga has dragged on for.
What I am hoping for is we sign a replacement this summer, but keep Bakayoko. He improves tremendously next season, and then we have great options for midfield.

I actually thought I was just imagining that, as soon as Cesc came on we we getting overrun in midfield completely lost all midfield battles which put us under immense pressure

Cesc should of been banished last summer, our midfield should be ripped up and start again, apart from the obvious Kante.