Deadline Day Drama

[Brutos]

This has been a embarrassing window of rejections and missed players anyone thinking this has been good need's to look at our main competition city and united

[Nibs]

9 minutes ago, Brutos said:

This has been a embarrassing window of rejections and missed players anyone thinking this has been good need's to look at our main competition city and united

But has it really?

Barkeley, Ox, Llorente and even Lukaku - I can honestly say I wasn't fussed about any of them coming to Chelsea. Sure it makes great headlines and gives the radio & TV the chance to play Elvis Costello "I don't want to go to Chelsea" and that hilarious and all that but who cares. United look strong currently but still very early days and I look at City and yes they have a good looking squad but it's still far from the right balance - so much so they were desperately trying to sign the great Jonny Evans and Failed!

 

 

[Remy10]

There have been a lot of odd situations and missed deals this window, not only for us but others too. Personally, I don't know why Ox was a target when he clearly didn't want to play the position Conte wanted him to play (that's partly why he was leaving Arsenal), by the sounds of it we never put a bid in for Llorente, and Barkley was a truly odd situation. I think it's easy to play the 'CHELSEA SNUBBED' card by the sensationalist media; by all accounts Lemar snubbed Arsenal but that got mostly reported as a deal that 'broke down'. Best to take these things with a healthy dose of scepticism. 

Deadline day is a complete circus, and looking at it a bit more objectively (and taking into account the whole window) we've signed Morata from Real Madrid, Bakayoko from a great Monaco side and a promising young defender in Rudiger who has already helped the German national team to a trophy. Then yesterday we got a very useful HG midfielder in Drinkwater (who already has a relationship with Kante and experience winning the league) and, by the sounds of it, some depth at wingback with a player who is a perfect fit for Conte's style. On top of that it looks like Christensen is going to get a chance, Musonda as well perhaps (although to a lesser extent). Yeah we've lost Matic and a few young players which was all genuinely disappointing, but with the guys we've brought into the defence and Luiz's flexibility, we have a few different tactical options that we didn't have last season.

It's obviously not been a huge success, but at the same time it's easy to focus on the negatives and call it a failure. It certainly would've been useful to have a couple more players for even more depth, but it's not the disaster it was looking like at 10 to 11 when Football Focus were reporting the Drinkwater deal looked unlikely, we hadn't announced Zappacosta and I went to bed.  Hopefully it's enough to at least keep Conte from walking and he has a squad he can work with. It's still unlikely we can challenge on all fronts, but that's tough regardless of squad size. We all know that trophies aren't won, or bought, in the transfer window, so here's hoping the squad we do have can do us proud. 

Edited September 1, 2017 by Remy10

[chi blue]

37 minutes ago, Brutos said:

This has been a embarrassing window of rejections and missed players anyone thinking this has been good need's to look at our main competition city and united

The manc clubs are in a totally different league to us when it comes to money, players will seldom turn them down due to the money thrown at them. We were like that 10 or so years ago, a club like us  at the time had no Right to be signing players like maka, sheva, ballack etc

[CFCCAN]

4 minutes ago, Remy10 said:

There have been a lot of odd situations and missed deals this window, not only for us but others too. Personally, I don't know why Ox was a target when he clearly didn't want to play the position Conte wanted him to play (that's partly why he was leaving Arsenal), by the sounds of it we never put a bid in for Llorente, and Barkley was a truly odd situation. I think it's easy to play the 'CHELSEA SNUBBED' card by the sensationalist media; by all accounts Lemar snubbed Arsenal but that got mostly reported as a deal that 'broke down'. Best to take these things with a healthy dose of scepticism. 

Deadline day is a complete circus, and looking at it a bit more objectively (and taking into account the whole window) we've signed Morata from Real Madrid, Bakayoko from a great Monaco side and a promising young defender in Rudiger who has already helped the German national team to a trophy. Then yesterday we got a very useful HG midfielder in Drinkwater (who already has a relationship with Kante and experience winning the league) and, by the sounds of it, some depth at wingback with a player who is a perfect fit for Conte's style. On top of that it looks like Christensen is going to get a chance, Musonda as well perhaps (although to a lesser extent). Yeah we've lost Matic and a few young players which was all genuinely disappointing, but with the guys we've brought into the defence and Luiz's flexibility, we have a few different tactical options that we didn't have last season.

It's obviously not been a huge success, but at the same time it's easy to focus on the negatives and call it a failure. It certainly would've been useful to have a couple more players for even more depth, but it's not the disaster it was looking like at 10 to 11 when Football Focus were reporting the Drinkwater deal looked unlikely, we hadn't announced Zappacosta and I went to bed.  Hopefully it's enough to at least keep Conte from walking and he has a squad he can work with. It's still unlikely we can challenge on all fronts, but that's tough regardless of squad size. We all know that trophies aren't won, or bought, in the transfer window, so here's hoping the squad we do have can do us proud. 

Your'e being sensible, logical and calm....are you sure you are on the right Forum? 

[Brutos]

But has it really?
Barkeley, Ox, Llorente and even Lukaku - I can honestly say I wasn't fussed about any of them coming to Chelsea. Sure it makes great headlines and gives the radio & TV the chance to play Elvis Costello "I don't want to go to Chelsea" and that hilarious and all that but who cares. United look strong currently but still very early days and I look at City and yes they have a good looking squad but it's still far from the right balance - so much so they were desperately trying to sign the great Jonny Evans and Failed!
 
 

Last season we were absolutely lucky with injuries and when we did have a few especially as wingback positions we struggled a few key injuries this season and we will be in a difficult situation. United and city are better equipped to deal with that especially with CL playing Tuesday/Wednesday then flying back needing time to rest then prepare will take its toll on a small squad this is why we had big squad's in the past and current why the big team's have a big squad. Any major injuries and we will have issues coping.

[Remy10]

6 minutes ago, CFCCAN said:

Your'e being sensible, logical and calm....are you sure you are on the right Forum? 

I often wonder that, but I like to be a bit controversial 

Truth is, I work for a global sports team (admittedly in a very different arena to football!) and despite all the lows, and occasional highs, I still go into work every Monday and get paid at the end of the every month. It gives you a bit of perspective. Also, I watch football for enjoyment, and whilst I'll be raging during a game at a conceded goal etc. as much as anyone, I find it hard to get too worked up about the off-field stuff. Until it gets proven to be something that affects the teams performance, it's just noise.

[EmeraldBlue]

We have six new outfield players this season and some academy players knocking at the door. I don't see any reason to complain.

[ozboy]

Musonda will likely get some minutes now for bettter or for worse. Personally I don't think it was that bad a window if Morata performs. 

 

Id have liked one more attacker, draxler would have suited my taste. 

[comtrend]

I'm happy with Christensen returning and with the transfers of Bakayoko and Morata. I had other options in mind when it comes to Rudiger, Zappacosta and Drinkwater, but I'm hoping they can suprise me.

Our biggest weakness at the moment is depth in our attack should Morata fail to continue to perform, or get injured. Batshuayi has seemed out of his depth in our opening games and lacks the attributes needed as our target man. Maybe we manage to finally sell Diego Costa today for 40mil-50mil and go for Belotti in January.

[Brutos]

We should of kept Boga I really don't understand that loan move we would of got probably 90 in cup games and 10 to 15 in the league weekly

[Nibs]

53 minutes ago, Brutos said:

1 hour ago, Nibs said:

But has it really?
Barkeley, Ox, Llorente and even Lukaku - I can honestly say I wasn't fussed about any of them coming to Chelsea. Sure it makes great headlines and gives the radio & TV the chance to play Elvis Costello "I don't want to go to Chelsea" and that hilarious and all that but who cares. United look strong currently but still very early days and I look at City and yes they have a good looking squad but it's still far from the right balance - so much so they were desperately trying to sign the great Jonny Evans and Failed!
 
 

Last season we were absolutely lucky with injuries and when we did have a few especially as wingback positions we struggled a few key injuries this season and we will be in a difficult situation. United and city are better equipped to deal with that especially with CL playing Tuesday/Wednesday then flying back needing time to rest then prepare will take its toll on a small squad this is why we had big squad's in the past and current why the big team's have a big squad. Any major injuries and we will have issues coping.

But a lot of coaches prefer to work with smaller squads due to the complications big squads can bring. Even in the past, we had Mourinho's "untouchables" so we pretty much knew who would be playing week in, week out with just the odd change here and there. Sure, it's great to have top quality sitting on the bench that can come in when needed but realistically, how many TOP players are going to be happy doing that? I guess the likes of Madrid, Barca and Man Utd will get away with it due to them being recognized as the top three clubs in Football but others clubs, us included, don't have that luxury. Pep will have headaches this season trying to keep all of those players happy without disrupting the spirit in the squad and many think he won't be there for that long anyway.

Bar one additional striker (to replace Costa) I am happy with our squad and with Hazard back to full fitness think we should be there or there abouts. 

[Spiller86]

1 hour ago, Nibs said:

But has it really?

Barkeley, Ox, Llorente and even Lukaku - I can honestly say I wasn't fussed about any of them coming to Chelsea. Sure it makes great headlines and gives the radio & TV the chance to play Elvis Costello "I don't want to go to Chelsea" and that hilarious and all that but who cares. United look strong currently but still very early days and I look at City and yes they have a good looking squad but it's still far from the right balance - so much so they were desperately trying to sign the great Jonny Evans and Failed!

 

 

Totally agree. I wouldn't have minded Ox and Llorente as good solid depth and I think we still have some weaknesses at striker and left back but it wasn't a disaster. 

Zappacosta may end up a starter and in Bakayoko and Morata we have replaced Costa and Matic.

Additional positives are that Musonda and Christensen should get a chance to get some minutes.

[Amputechture]

So that's Caballero, Rudiger, Christensen, Bakayoko, Morata, Zappacosta and Drinkwater.

Definitely not a bad window. Could've been a lot worse.

Drinkwater is a very good player. Think a lot of you will be surprised with him.

[Deino]

2 hours ago, Brutos said:

This has been a embarrassing window of rejections and missed players anyone thinking this has been good need's to look at our main competition city and united

Deadline day was embarassing but looking at the acquisitions, we've done alright. 6 new players plus 2 youth that can be incorporated. Not the best but certainly not the worst.

[lchk]

Was hilarious to see squad players, majority of them being average reject Marina and scrambling into the night to sign the rest.  If this outfit was a typical corporation, there would be a post mortem inquest as to what caused this comedy skit.  But this this Chelsea and the board is untouchable.

[dkw]

3 hours ago, Nibs said:

But has it really?

Barkeley, Ox, Llorente and even Lukaku - I can honestly say I wasn't fussed about any of them coming to Chelsea. Sure it makes great headlines and gives the radio & TV the chance to play Elvis Costello "I don't want to go to Chelsea" and that hilarious and all that but who cares. United look strong currently but still very early days and I look at City and yes they have a good looking squad but it's still far from the right balance - so much so they were desperately trying to sign the great Jonny Evans and Failed!

 

 

United were rejected by several players, Liverpool were rejected by several players, Arsenal were rejected by several players etc.... all clubs missed out on targets, not just us. But apparently were the ones who had an embarrassing window of rejections. Theres people claiming Liverpool had a great window, but they have the exact same farcical defence and keepers they had last year, they now have the Ox who wont get in their midfield, some jock full back from Hull and Salah. And that was better than ours? Hardly.

[just]

Seen that the online travel company Last-minute.com have re-branded today. They are now called Chelseatransferdeals.com

[U Carcamagnu]

Too much panic here, guys.

No need.

Not spectacular but solid transfer market.

When you are solid, you win. Having a lot of technical players is not enough. It is not a case that the gold medal went where Kante went.

In two years a great part of the old guard has been replaced (Ramirez, Matic, Mikel, Terry, Costa) except for Cahill, the re-building has starded on hard bases.

[Xfaxtor]

In the end I thought we did fine. We have a   good mix of youth and experience with a couple of academy grads looking likely to get considerable playing time. People need to stop forcing the narrative that we got "lucky" with injuries last year. We have a top class medical team and we havent had significant injuries in ages

[strider6004]

One thing amazes me though, how late did we leave those signings were we really in the market for others and were they were second or third choice?

Guess we will never know but the business of trying to balance the books keeps us all on tenterhooks twice a year. 

[Warner11]

8 hours ago, Helmett said:

..... chelsea were king of transfers during kenyon time

we were only kings because we didn't care what we spent. Ha

[Osgood is Good]

2 hours ago, lchk said:

Was hilarious to see squad players, majority of them being average reject Marina and scrambling into the night to sign the rest.  If this outfit was a typical corporation, there would be a post mortem inquest as to what caused this comedy skit.  But this this Chelsea and the board is untouchable.

The difficulty now with signing players, is all clubs have money and the choice for even average players is much larger. In regards to your "post mortem" comment, do you have any experience in running a business/company ?.

[The Don Antonio]

1 hour ago, Xfaxtor said:

In the end I thought we did fine. We have a   good mix of youth and experience with a couple of academy grads looking likely to get considerable playing time. People need to stop forcing the narrative that we got "lucky" with injuries last year. We have a top class medical team and we havent had significant injuries in ages

Dont jinx it bro

[BordeauxBlue]

As much as last night was super stressful I reckon we did alright.

I didn't want Barkley much and was unconvinced by Oxlade Chamberlain.

Zippy (yes I'm calling him that) gives us a much needed crosser of the ball (though Dave didn't do too badly last time out did he?) and Danny D gives us much needed midfield depth.

 

It's not perfect but it's god enough for now and makes us less vulnerable to players being out of the team - although right now we still have too many irreplaceable players (Hazard, Kanté, Morata and Alonso to name but a few) who don't have a deputy any where near their level.

Could be worse lads: we could be Arsenal or West Ham.