3 minutes ago, Tea Bar Boy said:

In what ? height , shoe size , inside leg  ??? Batshuayi is not on the same planet football as Higuain ..................................sorry to compare the two is laughable . 

The only thing Batshuayi has more off in any area than Higuain is Twitter followers  

 

Batshuayi is a better finisher. 

4 minutes ago, Tea Bar Boy said:

In what ? height , shoe size , inside leg  ??? Batshuayi is not on the same planet football as Higuain ..................................sorry to compare the two is laughable . 

The only thing Batshuayi has more off in any area than Higuain is Twitter followers  

 

Were hours away from the deadline, we have to assume we have got all were getting in the way of strikers. So that's Morata, Giroud, Michy, and Tammy.

If that's the case then Michy and Giroud should be above Morata in the pecking order. I would personally loan/sell out Morata and go with the others. Save the money and hold onto it in case we need to buy another forward next year. Spend then next 12 months scouting a forward, and don't waste the money this time, forget RM branding, buy from France.

 

15 minutes ago, coco said:

Were hours away from the deadline, we have to assume we have got all were getting in the way of strikers. So that's Morata, Giroud, Michy, and Tammy.

If that's the case then Michy and Giroud should be above Morata in the pecking order. I would personally loan/sell out Morata and go with the others. Save the money and hold onto it in case we need to buy another forward next year. Spend then next 12 months scouting a forward, and don't waste the money this time, forget RM branding, buy from France.

 

Potentially also Izzy Brown? I think he's back in training after his knee injury. I'd like to see what Izzy can do in that so called "false 9" position.

48 minutes ago, RIP Mourinho said:

so much hipster trash talk that the FA do a two day training course about half spaces as part of obtaining your A-licence coaching course and Pep revolutionised football with focus on it. 

Just because you don't know what it means, doesn't mean its 'hipster trash'. 

I do know what it means, it's been a part of the game for as long as I remember, it's not new, it's not some amazing modern invention, it's just a daft name for something that's been done for decades. Football seems now to be all about proving you know more than everyone else because you know the words, or you have stats. It's a load of bollocks. 

Edited August 2, 20187 yr by dkw

13 minutes ago, coco said:

Were hours away from the deadline, we have to assume we have got all were getting in the way of strikers. So that's Morata, Giroud, Michy, and Tammy.

If that's the case then Michy and Giroud should be above Morata in the pecking order. I would personally loan/sell out Morata and go with the others. Save the money and hold onto it in case we need to buy another forward next year. Spend then next 12 months scouting a forward, and don't waste the money this time, forget RM branding, buy from France.

 

We have to make a quick decision on the strikers and this usually leads to a wrong decision. We will see what happens but it could turn out that we are stuck with Morata, Michy and Giroud. I'm not entirely sure why Michy only played 10 games for Dortmund in the league but he did score 7 goals which is a good return. He would still be a risk but I think we have to bring him back into the fold. The problem with having 3 strikers is that we need to have a certain number of homegrown players in the squad and having 3 foreign strikers doesn't calculate well.

I don't know what's going to happen but you could be right about Michy and Giroud. My only reservation about that is that Morata's value could plummet.

43 minutes ago, RIP Mourinho said:

Batshuayi is a better finisher. 

no he is not ...not even close ......

Batshuayi  will never post the below stats .........

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gonzalo_Higuaín

 

Edited August 2, 20187 yr by Tea Bar Boy

6 minutes ago, Andy North said:

We have to make a quick decision on the strikers and this usually leads to a wrong decision. We will see what happens but it could turn out that we are stuck with Morata, Michy and Giroud. I'm not entirely sure why Michy only played 10 games for Dortmund in the league but he did score 7 goals which is a good return. He would still be a risk but I think we have to bring him back into the fold. The problem with having 3 strikers is that we need to have a certain number of homegrown players in the squad and having 3 foreign strikers doesn't calculate well.

I don't know what's going to happen but you could be right about Michy and Giroud. My only reservation about that is that Morata's value could plummet.

What kind of striker did Sarri use at Napoli? It looked to me like a rolling front 3 with no real focal point striker with  Insigne/mertens/Callejon, in our case maybe Hazard/cho/willian type of set up? I know he has played with Higuain in a front 3 and morata fits the bill there. 

10 hours ago, Liam said:

What does this mean?

@Liam!!!!!!!!!!!!!  Long time!  You must have found some fuse-wire for your Windows 95 PC.  Well done, you!   I hadn't seen your Bargain Hunt appearance,  but never mind, I'm sure you still have it on betamax.

Any road up, what it means is that, in your prolonged absence, we have managed to attract a whole load of youngsters who are still in those wonder years when they actually DO know everything, and they have memorised all of the soccer buzz-phrases that !GOAL! magazine have come up with over the years, and they plump out their posts with a random selection of these phrases at every opportunity.  They rarely mean anything,  and, if they do, it's always something for which there is a perfectly normal and usable phrase already available, but that wouldn't make them appear to be fab and groovy, with a finger on the soccer zeitgeist pulse.

(and then some of them get a bit defensive when they are called out about it, particularly if someone points out that it ISN'T something new that they have invented, but something that we've always had)

Oh, and I forgot to say, they are also expert  "googlers"  (it's an internet thing that allows you to  cut and paste something statistical that will prove you right whatever outrageous opinion you have expressed), so can always prove you wrong.   or, at least win the argument in their own mind.

Anyway, you'll get used to it, or, like me, the dementia will mean you don't actually care  

1 hour ago, dkw said:

Hipster trash, meaningless hipster football speak trash.

nail, hammer, head, job done. 

Edited August 2, 20187 yr by yorkleyblue

10 minutes ago, Tea Bar Boy said:

no he is not ...not even close ......

Batshuayi  will never post the below stats .........

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gonzalo_Higuaín

 

Higuain at age 24 - 261 games 118 goals

Batshuayi at 24 - 265 games 105 goals

 

Not too disimilar at all. Add to this the fact that Higuain was being fed by Kaka, Ronaldo etc. for the best team in the world whilst most Bats wasted a year and a half under Conte. 

So yeah, Batshuayi probably will post stats like that towards the end of his career. 

I haven't read all the replies but our young goalie deserves a mention. I'm sorry to say but it looked very like last year, plenty of chances gone a begging.

It was a friendly and top players are still out, so we'll settle for the cup being half full.

5 minutes ago, yorkleyblue said:

@Liam!!!!!!!!!!!!!  Long time!  You must have found some fuse-wire for your Windows 95 PC.  Well done, you!   I hadn't seen your Bargain Hunt appearance,  but never mind, I'm sure you still have it on betamax.

Any road up, what it means is that, in your prolonged absence, we have managed to attract a whole load of youngsters who are still in those wonder years when they actually DO know everything, and they have memorised all of the soccer buzz-phrases that !GOAL! magazine have come up with over the years, and they plump out their posts with a random selection of these phrases at every opportunity.  They rarely mean anything,  and, if they do, it's always something for which there is a perfectly normal and usable phrase already available, but that wouldn't make them appear to be fab and groovy, with a finger on the soccer zeitgeist pulse.

(and then some of them get a bit defensive when they are called out about it, particularly if someone points out that it ISN'T something new that they have invented, but something that we've always had)

Anyway, you'll get used to it, or, like me, the dementia will mean you don't actually care  

nail, hammer, head, job done. 

I'd love to know what your perfectly normal and usable phrase for a half space is? 

Is a hipster not someone who follows the latest trends? With the word being around so long and so casually used within the footballing world, surely it is the exact opposite of being hipster. 

5 minutes ago, EmeraldBlue said:

I haven't read all the replies but our young goalie deserves a mention. I'm sorry to say but it looked very like last year, plenty of chances gone a begging.

It was a friendly and top players are still out, so we'll settle for the cup being half full.

I agree. I'm leaning towards the idea of keeping Courtois for a year and throwing Bulka in net when he's 19. That was about the age Courtois nailed down a starting spot at Atletico.

5 hours ago, Xfaxtor said:

Its a football tactic theory were you split the different parts of the pitch into pieces and players have different responsivilities depending on were the ball in is and were you are, the halfspace is the space that is between the wings and the center of the pitch. In essence it means he should move more centrally at times, or at least thats how I understand it, Im sure @Total-Football can explain it better.

 

edit: heres a pic, Halbraum is the German word  

Pretty much. It's considered one of the most important areas of the pitch by Guardiola as it offers the best of both the wide areas and the centre of the pitch. The idea is that centrally you have more options to either pass left or right which makes it harder to defend against for the opposition. However often teams have a lot more players covering the central areas which means you don't have a lot of time and space to operate in making it harder to lay through the centre. On the wings you have more space to play through, however you only really have half the options as in the centre because the other half is cut off by the touchline. This makes it easier to defend as you are more predictable in where you can go. The half space offers more space then the centre and also more passing options then the wide areas, making it very hard to defend against.

It also allows for diagonal balls into the central areas of the pitch (Which are considered the most dangerous areas) and diagonal balls are considered harder to defend against then horizontal/vertical balls.

 

Sarri had his wide forwards occupy this area a lot at Napoli.

Arsenal fans are despicable. Celebrating a penalty shoot out win in a pre-season friendly. We cant let them beat us again in 3 weeks time at stamford bridge. We should be able to implement Sarri's style of play slightly better by then. 

They only 'won' because we took our defenders, goalie and many others off. 

It was nothing more than a training game, as you know!

Really enjoyed last night. In spite of the 6 hour round journey, getting lost in Dublin and missing the first 20 minutes due to a lack of parking, it was brilliant to finally see the Blues in the flesh. 

On the match itself, personally, I wouldn't take too much out of it. Arsenal only really came back into it after all of our subs, and as has been pointed out before me, we were missing a lot of our first team regulars, and even then, it was only the last 10 minutes or so when they really started to threaten.

CHO is a joy to watch, an absolute joy. He is without a doubt a future star and it's great to hear that Sarri is keeping him for the first team ahead of the new season. I'm really looking forward to seeing how he does. Bulka is another one who looks like a great prospect for the future; maybe we won't need to spend millions on a new keeper at all. 

One thing I noticed (in the first half anyway) is that Arsenal were targeting the left flank, in particular Alonso. I worry that his lack of pace could be exposed in the season ahead. 

Morata. What to do with a £60m player who he is clearly devoid of confidence and looks out of place in the Premier League? Another poor game from him, and you really have to wonder how much more chances he is going to get at Chelsea. Personally, I think that he'll be given one more season here, and if the poor form continues, the club will decide to cut their losses and get rid. Having said that, I really hope it works out for him this season; I hate seeing our players struggle. 

Finally, I thought the reaction at full time from the Arsenal players and fans was a bit bemusing; it was a friendly, nothing more, I didn't see the need for the celebrations. Then again, considering it's the only time they'll beat us this season, we should let them savour it 

At the beginning of pre-season, I have to admit that I was quite apathetic ahead of the new season. Now, I'm optimistic, especially considering we are still waiting on the return of some key players 

5 hours ago, yorkleyblue said:

They rarely mean anything,  and, if they do, it's always something for which there is a perfectly normal and usable phrase already available, but that wouldn't make them appear to be fab and groovy, with a finger on the soccer zeitgeist pulse.

So what you're saying is in order to perceive the "half space" it must be viewed through a beard.

In any case I like being down with the kids and I have no record of any convictions. 

IMHO we are not giving Bulka enough props - ok he didn't make a save in the shootout but he played well vs le arse

down with the kids and I have no record of any convictions.

@LiamIs your memory that bad?  Or has the bishop "had a word"?

Not only must it be viewed through a beard (Victoria Beckham springs to mind) but one has to  completely disregard decades of inside-right geniuses and their normal,  instinctive positioning. (and inside-left geniuses as well, really).  Oh,and forget about defend the width of the box!

If you can't make a strange chart of it, or give it a wacky, zanny new name, then how the hell  are you supposed to measure the parametrics of the circadian variants and the SOSA functional movement screen of biomechanical analysis?  Where is the f**king paradigm? The nadir? The mean/norm?  It would all just be anarchy.

Edited August 2, 20187 yr by yorkleyblue

Looks like The Man That wear The Magic Hat is now injured :(

 

 

Who is Bulka? Never even heard of him until now.

1 hour ago, Total-Football said:

Who is Bulka?? Never even heard of him until now.

https://www.football.london/chelsea-fc/players/marcin-bulka-chelsea-perth-sarri-14941398

Any Australians know if there's a channel the Community Shield is broadcasted live?

 

I've looked everywhere and the only live feed I've seen is Chelsea TV's commentary (through Foxtel). I can't see coverage on any of the other channels. FoxSports, Bein Sports, ESPN, Eurosport, Optus, SBS....nothing.

Post match press conference from the match vs the gooners

kinda funny seeing the gaffa going through nicotine withdrawals

With Fabregas injured who do we reckon starts on Sunday. Drinkwater? he has been there since the start of preseason it would be damning if RLC started ahead of Bakayoko and Drinkwater.