On 27/11/2018 at 16:13, enigma said:

Doesn't really matter though. It's a bit hypocritical for us to point the finger when Roman spent a boatload after he took over at Chelsea. Even if we take City out of the discussion, Liverpool have shown they have a vision in mind and have allowed the coach to follow that, while supporting him with the players he needs for the system. 

I beg to differ. I don't begrudge City their fortune, they won the lottery, just like us. But the difference is, we were always open about our financial losses and we earned our sponsorships through our success on the pitch, not because our owner decided to finace the squad through one of his firms and call it a commercial deal. We were spending way more than we could possibly earn back when Roman had just bought the club but it was legit and when the FFP was announced we made sure to put our affairs in order to comply with it. City didn't. If they felt hard done by, they could have taken UEFA to court and I would've even respected them for standing on principle. But instead they decided to cheat their way to success and pretend it's all above board.

We have spent 175M Pounds on Morata, bats, Drinky and Baka........let that sink in for a min. Horrible just horrible. Another 55M on 2 reserve full backs in Emerson and Zappa..........thats 225M utterly wasted.

Edited November 29, 20187 yr by atomis

7 hours ago, abramovich said:

I beg to differ. I don't begrudge City their fortune, they won the lottery, just like us. But the difference is, we were always open about our financial losses and we earned our sponsorships through our success on the pitch, not because our owner decided to finace the squad through one of his firms and call it a commercial deal. We were spending way more than we could possibly earn back when Roman had just bought the club but it was legit and when the FFP was announced we made sure to put our affairs in order to comply with it. City didn't. If they felt hard done by, they could have taken UEFA to court and I would've even respected them for standing on principle. But instead they decided to cheat their way to success and pretend it's all above board.

I'm probably in the minority but I think owners should be allowed to spend their money as long as it is a cash injection, rather than any sort of recallable loan that could bankrupt a club.

FFP is cowardice system that is barely legal, if FFP was around when Roman bought the club, knowing his ambition, do you think he wouldn't have looked at ways to put extra money into the club? 

Money doesn't automatically buy success, it helps, but just we found out in the early days under Roman, clubs can't just buy any player they want just because they can afford it. 

There will always be teams with more money, I just think it's a shame that fans of other clubs won't be able to see their team transform nearly overnight the way we did, because the elite few are scared about losing than seat at the big table. 

We as a club fought against that when Roman took over, but unfortunately now weve got a seat at Europe's elite table, we have supported a system designed to keep the door firmly shut behind us.

On 29/11/2018 at 22:02, big blue said:

I'm probably in the minority but I think owners should be allowed to spend their money as long as it is a cash injection, rather than any sort of recallable loan that could bankrupt a club.

FFP is cowardice system that is barely legal, if FFP was around when Roman bought the club, knowing his ambition, do you think he wouldn't have looked at ways to put extra money into the club? 

Money doesn't automatically buy success, it helps, but just we found out in the early days under Roman, clubs can't just buy any player they want just because they can afford it. 

There will always be teams with more money, I just think it's a shame that fans of other clubs won't be able to see their team transform nearly overnight the way we did, because the elite few are scared about losing than seat at the big table. 

We as a club fought against that when Roman took over, but unfortunately now weve got a seat at Europe's elite table, we have supported a system designed to keep the door firmly shut behind us.

Money doesn't automatically buy success, but a lot of money does. Experience tells us, if you keep spending big, eventually you'll start winning things.

Once again, my problem with City isn't that they spend so much, it's how they went about their business. They're a terrific side, play a very attractive style of football and have one of the best managers around in charge. I'm sure all of us would want what they have, what's not to like. But all those nice foundations are built on a lie. And if FFP had already been in place when Roman bought the club, he'd have had to take that into consideration. Who knows, he may have never bought the club if those limitations were already in effect back in 2003. In any case, it's no use thinking what if, because if Abramovich broke the rules the way City owners did, he should be held accountable, just as they should.

UEFA may be corrupt and incompetent, but if you want to take part in their competitions, you have to follow the rules they set. If you don't like it, you can keep spending and winning your domestic trophies and in the meantime just take them to court. Or go organize your own competition. All those things are preferable to lying and cheating.

Edited December 1, 20187 yr by abramovich

I believe things only go a certain way for a certain time, look at how the US had military power largely unchallenged since WWII and have now been slowed down in Syria. Other countries are now buyning Russian missiles like the S300 and S400.

City might dominate for another decade though I doubt it, maybe, 5 I think 3 but who knows. 

There is the money, there are the players, there are the authorities and the rules and there is an element of luck like the Munich air crash or like the Brazilian team that had an air accident about a year ago. All theese things can change, Pep is only human - disease, accidents, implosions..... , Other teams can refuse to deal with them........ A lot of imponderables yet currently they have a lot going for them yet cycles come to an end, eventually.

All we can do is our own thing and keep the faith.

@Strider6003 think your trying to say football is cyclic. 

I was going to say Sarri’s attractive football is Roman’s dream and he may pour money into the team this time as he enjoys watching new style of football, but what’s the latest on Roman? I haven’t heard anything since start of season.

Nobody expected us to break a record to buy out a GK, so I'd say the big boss will spend when the opportunity arrives. We won't be signing every player we are linked with, that's for sure

5 hours ago, charierre said:

@Strider6003 think your trying to say football is cyclic. 

Everything in a way. yet some cycles are longer than others. 

On 28/11/2018 at 18:53, Ballack & Blu said:

So listening to his presser today, he will stick with Jorginho, and persist with Modernising Kante, because Kante isn't as technical as J, so Kante winning two Premierships as a DCM, is being ousted, Jorginho is a marvel, but hr isn't powerful enough, as seen by Dele Ali outplaying and out muscling him, i don't know what the answer is, but it seems Kante is shoe-horned into a position he doesn't suit

Kante isn't being ousted from a position he won two titles in, that position doesn't exist in Sarri's system the same way fullbacks don't exist in Conte's 343. Kante has never been a sitting DM, he played it pre the 3atb switch under Conte and it resulted in him getting pulled all over the place by Arsenal and Liverpool.

We are not going to go 442, 343 and play on the counter just to get the very best out of Kante, in time he could master the position, we saw with the first goal on Sunday what he can bring playing there. If people think he's being under utilized right now, it would be ten times worse playing DLP in Sarri's system.

1 minute ago, Argo said:

Kante has never been a sitting DM

The constant wish to make the most dynamic player in the world play the least dynamic position on the pitch is quite interesting.

35 minutes ago, Argo said:

Kante isn't being ousted from a position he won two titles in, that position doesn't exist in Sarri's system the same way fullbacks don't exist in Conte's 343. Kante has never been a sitting DM, he played it pre the 3atb switch under Conte and it resulted in him getting pulled all over the place by Arsenal and Liverpool.

We are not going to go 442, 343 and play on the counter just to get the very best out of Kante, in time he could master the position, we saw with the first goal on Sunday what he can bring playing there. If people think he's being under utilized right now, it would be ten times worse playing DLP in Sarri's system.

Kante won the ball for our goal on sunday in the middle of the park

6 hours ago, icecoolguy22 said:

Nobody expected us to break a record to buy out a GK, so I'd say the big boss will spend when the opportunity arrives. We won't be signing every player we are linked with, that's for sure

To be fair, we sold Courtois for 30m+ so it wasn't really that much for a goalkeeper considering we would have paid out about 40m for a world class keeper. Jorginho was the only big money buy, but i think he was bought more so because Sarri was coming. I am yet to see the board put the money in to improve the squad in the eyes of Sarri's system like City did. City went out and paid big money for the likes of Sterling, KDB etc before Pep even came to the club.

It because they suited his style. They then went and bought Walker and Mendy to compliment his system as elite level fullbacks are crucial to the way Pep likes his team to play, just how we're seeing how important those positions are for Sarri's system also. This is what I mean when I say the club need an identity and vision, rather than the merry go round of managers who all bring totally opposing styles. You can't bring in Mourinho or Conte, buy players for their system, then two years down the line, bring in a totally different coach and expect the current players to all be suited to the new style. Some players are, like Kante, Hazard, Pedro, Luiz, Rudiger and so forth, but when you have 2, 3, or more players who aren't suited to the system, it can let the team (literally) down. 

It's not even necessarily about Sarri relying on world class players to make his system successful, but at the end of the day we are Chelsea, a big club, elite club, so for that reason alone the board need to be targeting and going all out for elite level players when and if they're available. There's no problem going out and buying squad players, but make sure they're suited to the system at least. The likes of Moses, Zappacosta, Drinkwater, etc just aren't going to cut it as squad players because they aren't what Sarri needs. 

Edited December 3, 20187 yr by enigma

25 minutes ago, enigma said:

I am yet to see the board put the money in to improve the squad in the eyes of Sarri's system like City did. City went out and paid big money for the likes of Sterling, KDB etc before Pep even came to the club.

It wouldn’t surprise me if this was down to Sarri though. We had to buy a keeper. Sarri got his midfield general and may have said he’s happy to work with the current squad, see what he can do with them and see what positions he needs to sort out. Obviously this is all a complete guess but it’s based on how he’s spoken about improving the players at his disposal over buying players. 

I've not seen fm's asking for Kante to play like Makalele did for us. Kante has always had more to his game than just breaking up play and providing cover for the defence., but not being so high up the pitch so often. Put him further back and he'd bring more to the team than the useless duo combined. After all, fans and media  have said a Kante at his best does the work of two players , so it wouldn't be difficult for him to make 5 yard passes plus a whole lot more.