5 minutes ago, Boston Blue said:

Three more pre-season games announced...…...that's the exciting news?

I honestly wouldn't be surprised. Either that or a new sponsorship.

It genuinely was pre-season friendlies.

Is that Will Dalton a known WUM?

2 minutes ago, Gem said:

It genuinely was pre-season friendlies.

Is that Will Dalton a known WUM?

If he wasn't before, he is now.

3 minutes ago, Gem said:

It genuinely was pre-season friendlies.

Is that Will Dalton a known WUM?

The stupid thing is loads on twitter etc are now saying Chelsea FC are a disgrace for doing this, when all they have done is post a list of friendlies, thats it. Its this Dalton bloke who hyped it up.

10 minutes ago, mwblue10 said:

Agree with most of your list but the portions I bolded are pretty harsh.  I think he definitely is willing to put in a tackle, and he's actually pretty good at it.

Agreed, and the proof is he had more yellow cards than assists.

4 minutes ago, dkw said:

The stupid thing is loads on twitter etc are now saying Chelsea FC are a disgrace for doing this, when all they have done is post a list of friendlies, thats it. Its this Dalton bloke who hyped it up.

People are seriously blaming the club? Even I'm not that knee-jerky. I often blame the club for a whole number of things that are probably out of their control but not something like this.

Panic buy due to the embargo nothing else, well he can only get better right ? (thats rhetorical btw)

14 minutes ago, General said:

Panic buy due to the embargo nothing else, well he can only get better right ? (thats rhetorical btw)

Well, he could get only half the assists next season that he had last season...……….

1 hour ago, Sindre said:

He played lots of games for them. Behind Modric and Kroos in the pecking order but there is no shame in that.

 

Modric will be 34 in a couple of months. Kroos is nearly 30. Think you're clutching at straws there mate. If Madrid rated him they wouldn't be selling him, simple as that.

7 minutes ago, Davey Baby said:

 

Modric will be 34 in a couple of months. Kroos is nearly 30. Think you're clutching at straws there mate. If Madrid rated him they wouldn't be selling him, simple as that.

Modric just won the Ballon d'Or.

Good squad player to have. He's not going to embarrass you at any midfield position on the pitch. 

Price was high, but we've got the cash and need the bodies. Only two players available to us this window... Higuain and Kovacic. I understand the signing as much as I understand the lack of selling Willian. A move of necessity right now. 

 

 

59 minutes ago, Gem said:

People are seriously blaming the club? Even I'm not that knee-jerky. I often blame the club for a whole number of things that are probably out of their control but not something like this.

Yeah, social media makes this place look calm and considered. 

Edited June 27, 20197 yr by dkw

20 minutes ago, mwblue10 said:

Modric just won the Ballon d'Or.

 

He won't be winning it again. At 34 he's not going to be in that Real Madrid side much longer, that's the point. If Kovacic was rated as highly by Real Madrid as some people are making out, we wouldn't be getting him. Simple as that.

This is what YouTube makes to a player. Looks like world class. 

1 hour ago, mwblue10 said:

 

Posting this here because it's more likely that Kovacic is announced today, but small chance the news could be Frank.

I find this guy is better

 

1 hour ago, evissy said:

Kovacic have never been in a position in his career. Does he know his position? Do any of his coaches? 

He is a great athlete and has a very good touch. He can really glide with the ball. That asset makes you feel he should glide past players and make a decisive pass. With Chelsea he took the ball, took a few steps and passed the ball to a worse position. Maybe it was due to his position or our system or congested defences. Who knows.. 

What we know:

He isn't a great passer

He is an okay passer

He won't steal the ball from opponent 

He won't tackle

He can't shoot to save his life

He don't like to enter opponent box

He can run very well with the ball

His first touch is good enough 

He can work small spaces

His vision is not very good

Jorginho is a better passer and making interceptions 

Kante is better running with the ball 

Barkley is a better passer

I really don't understand what his role optimally should be.... Maybe Frank does. 

17 minutes ago, robdog said:

I find this guy is better

 

You have impeccable timing, I actually just gave him a follow yesterday.  Glad to hear that you think well of him.

6 hours ago, Sindre said:

He came to a new league, to a club with a brand new manager and system. And the system started falling apart after a couple of months so it wasn't excactly the easiest of circumstances for Kovacic to perform at his best.

He is a top player and was very highly rated at Real Madrid before we got him. Lampard will use him in a more suitable position alongside Kante and they'll form a very solid base in the middle of the park if you ask me.

 

If he was a top player, he would have made a much bigger impact, even if it was only his first season. A new league, new manager and system isn't a good enough excuse for me, we have signed plenty of players that have been in Kovacic's position and they turned out to be much better. Top players don't go a full season without a goal, an assist and dragged off the pitch every game because they aren't making enough of a positive impact. Top players don't go missing during games as often as Kovacic does. Top players aren't constantly rotated in and out of the side.

If Kovacic was one of our younger players, he would be getting loaned out or maybe even sold for the performances he put in last season. If we spend £40m on him, then we have massively overspent on another bang average player. The list of overspending on average players is getting worse. Marina is good at selling players for a good price, but she's awful when it comes to signing players for a good price.

Cuadrado, Baba Rahman, Batshuayi, Bakayoko, Drinkwater, Morata, Zappacosta, Jorginho, Kepa (even though I rate him highly) and probably Kovacic next. All these players we have overpaid for. I would go as far as to say the only player we got on a good deal since she arrived is Kante. All of the money we make on player sales is spent on average footballers, and it's made our squad much weaker.

Don't sleep on Kovacic... seems the player Lampard could influence in a positive way the most.  Kovacic passes are just to simple, always passes to the guy nearest him, will take some dribble chances but never long range chances by pass or shot.  Watch videos of Lampard checking his shoulder, Kovacic starts looking for more next level plays he could be very very good.  All the technique and athleticism to be great, great work ethic, just needs a bit of an attackers mentallity.

I mean he did f**k all last season but got better towards the end, he can tackle, he is good on the ball, when we first got him with him wearing the 17 he almost moved like hazard at times, I was very optimistic  but he doesn’t really do anything going forward and he isn’t a DM so hard to see what his strength is, but if RM had him to this age there is something in his game, perhaps a new manager can bring it out, it’s a weird one you can see he is a quality player that’s doesnt have a specific quality to be seen...yet 

We do have a manager coming in who was pretty good at scoring from midfield what better a mentor could he have 

Edited June 27, 20197 yr by WalterWhiteCFC

I reckon we panicked because of the deadline. The only other team in for him were Inter Milan, and they have a tight budget and are rumoured to be haggling over the structure and fee for Lukaku. They were also not prepared to pay over €35m for Kovacic, which would have been an initial loan with an obligation to buy.

I can see both side of the argument, but I do wonder if we could have used Bakayoko/Drinkwater as the 6th man in midfield. Paying a €50m for a player who in a perfect world will end up being a backup option if everyone is fit is a bit steep. And like someone pointed out you do wonder if long term we end up stuck with him like a Drinkwater/Bakayoko unable to move him on from our books because of his wages. 

 

1 minute ago, ducavis said:

I reckon we panicked because of the deadline. The only other team in for him were Inter Milan, and they have a tight budget and are rumoured to be haggling over the structure and fee for Lukaku. They were also not prepared to pay over €35m for Kovacic, which would have been an initial loan with an obligation to buy.

I can see both side of the argument, but I do wonder if we could have used Bakayoko/Drinkwater as the 6th man in midfield. Paying a €50m for a player who in a perfect world will end up being a backup option if everyone is fit is a bit steep. And like someone pointed out you do wonder if long term we end up stuck with him like a Drinkwater/Bakayoko unable to move him on from our books because of his wages. 

 

I mean if you look at it positively a first 11 with kova/Barkley rotating, Kante and Jorginho in midfield you have a quality midfield and when Ruben comes back for me that’s one of the best midfields in the league it’s our strongest area of the pitch.

We probably didn’t need him for that reason but I wouldn’t say it’s a panic buy it’s just maximising the resources available to us it makes sense, I’ve no midfield concerns we have far bigger problems in that we have no goal scorer and could use improvements certainly at the back but we have a capable defence not a great one but a capable one. 

49 minutes ago, Scott Harris said:

If he was a top player, he would have made a much bigger impact, even if it was only his first season. A new league, new manager and system isn't a good enough excuse for me, we have signed plenty of players that have been in Kovacic's position and they turned out to be much better. Top players don't go a full season without a goal, an assist and dragged off the pitch every game because they aren't making enough of a positive impact. Top players don't go missing during games as often as Kovacic does. Top players aren't constantly rotated in and out of the side.

If Kovacic was one of our younger players, he would be getting loaned out or maybe even sold for the performances he put in last season. If we spend £40m on him, then we have massively overspent on another bang average player. The list of overspending on average players is getting worse. Marina is good at selling players for a good price, but she's awful when it comes to signing players for a good price.

Cuadrado, Baba Rahman, Batshuayi, Bakayoko, Drinkwater, Morata, Zappacosta, Jorginho, Kepa (even though I rate him highly) and probably Kovacic next. All these players we have overpaid for. I would go as far as to say the only player we got on a good deal since she arrived is Kante. All of the money we make on player sales is spent on average footballers, and it's made our squad much weaker.

I disagree. Several of our players had underwhelming seasons compared to their usual level. Azpilicueta looked like a bang average rightback, Kante looked like just a good midfielder compared to the extraordinary one we've become used too, Alonso looked like the worst leftback in the league and so on.
So for me the season was just too big of a mess too conclude on Kovacics level. Sarri didn't use him in his proper position and it's no wonder he really never found his feet completely. He was asked to do things he's not supposed to do in a midfield-trio that never fully made sense.

I think Lampard will understand how you need to use Kovacic to get the best out of him.

 

14 minutes ago, Sindre said:

I disagree. Several of our players had underwhelming seasons compared to their usual level. Azpilicueta looked like a bang average rightback, Kante looked like just a good midfielder compared to the extraordinary one we've become used too, Alonso looked like the worst leftback in the league and so on.
So for me the season was just too big of a mess too conclude on Kovacics level. Sarri didn't use him in his proper position and it's no wonder he really never found his feet completely. He was asked to do things he's not supposed to do in a midfield-trio that never fully made sense.

I think Lampard will understand how you need to use Kovacic to get the best out of him.

 

Agree with this.  We don't know what restrictions Sarri put on his movements or play.  I'm hoping we see more of the Kovacic we saw in the Europa League final.  I hope my reservations about him get shot out of the water and in several months, I have to post how wrong I was about him.

Might be we are looking to sell Jorginho and so need to have another M/F option.