9 hours ago, Scott Harris said:

So where was James tonight then? Rested I heard. The club captain rested for a semi final against one of our most hated rivals? Absolute bo**ocks. Try that with Terry, Lampard or Drogba against Arsenal and they would laugh at you. What a laughing stock this club has become.

From whom? You've trotted this out a number of times. So, as with Neto, failing a fitness test was a lie? Give over.

24 minutes ago, dermott said:

From whom? You've trotted this out a number of times. So, as with Neto, failing a fitness test was a lie? Give over.

Failing a fitness test doesn't mean injury. Simon Johnson, Mr Clear Lake PR guy himself, reported that he was fine and just being rested.

1 hour ago, bisright1 said:

He wasn't rested, he had a knock.

I can imagine they decided to just not risk him but would find that infuriating

Nobody said that.

2 minutes ago, Scott Harris said:

Nobody said that.

Pedro and Reece had small knocks,” Rosenior said after the Arsenal match. “They were just in too much pain for tonight.

They're giving everything. They would always put their hand up to play. Reece is an incredible captain and leader. I know Pedro is an outstanding professional and a great player.

"We've had a lot to contend with the last couple of days, a couple of fitness tests this morning. Normally I name the team the day before. I named the team this afternoon when I had the full details of who was available."

The Standard

Rosenior issues James and Neto updates as Chelsea dealt n...

Blues were dealt a double blow on the morning of Carabao Cup decider

11 minutes ago, Scott Harris said:

Failing a fitness test doesn't mean injury. Simon Johnson, Mr Clear Lake PR guy himself, reported that he was fine and just being rested.

Simon Johnson? Spare me.

7 minutes ago, bisright1 said:

Pedro and Reece had small knocks,” Rosenior said after the Arsenal match. “They were just in too much pain for tonight.

They're giving everything. They would always put their hand up to play. Reece is an incredible captain and leader. I know Pedro is an outstanding professional and a great player.

"We've had a lot to contend with the last couple of days, a couple of fitness tests this morning. Normally I name the team the day before. I named the team this afternoon when I had the full details of who was available."

The Standard

Rosenior issues James and Neto updates as Chelsea dealt n...

Blues were dealt a double blow on the morning of Carabao Cup decider

"Fitness tests"....so no confirmation of a knock then.

I don't buy it, I don't buy anything coming out of this club anymore. Players conveniently not fit in certain games then suddenly return to training the very next day completely fine because the coach is being instructed not to play them. Everything under Rosenior is the same as when we had Maresca until he got fed up with it, nothing but bullsh*t.

16 minutes ago, Caps_Lock_King said:

This is probably;

Simon: Liam, James isn't in the squad, is this an injury to be worried about

Liam: nah he's got a knock, in too much pain but rest this week and will be fine by the weekend. Not a fresh injury issue.

1 minute ago, Scott Harris said:

"Fitness tests"....so no confirmation of a knock then.

I mean the first line is literally Rosenior saying they had knocks.

1 minute ago, bisright1 said:

I mean the first line is literally Rosenior saying they had knocks.

Hm, always small knocks like this crop up in games not considered to be important, a common theme since Clear Lake took over. If this was a last 16 game of the Champions League, I would bet if Neto and James had "knocks" they would both still be playing.

If we were resting players i don't see why we'd rest James and Neto over the likes of Fofana who is constantly injured.

14 minutes ago, GarnachoCheese said:

If we were resting players i don't see why we'd rest James and Neto over the likes of Fofana who is constantly injured.

Quite. A conspiracy theorist is ploughing a lonely furrow.

I think that the fact that we've not seen a settled lineup with our best players on it makes people think that there's something going on other than 'slight knocks' every other game.

9 minutes ago, RMH said:

I think that the fact that we've not seen a settled lineup with our best players on it makes people think that there's something going on other than 'slight knocks' every other game.

Most of us have figured it out now, the head coach doesn't have the final say on who plays. That day when Palmer was angry about being subbed off when we were chasing a game confirmed it without a shadow of doubt for me.

Just now, Scott Harris said:

Most of us have figured it out now, the head coach doesn't have the final say on who plays. That day when Palmer was angry about being subbed off when we were chasing a game confirmed it without a shadow of doubt for me.

What I don't understand is why this constant rotation? Except in midfield where Caicedo and Enzo play every game, great that Rosenior has managed to sneak in Santos, what's to gain with it? And, if the powers above are responsible, what economic gain is in it for them?

7 minutes ago, RMH said:

What I don't understand is why this constant rotation? Except in midfield where Caicedo and Enzo play every game, great that Rosenior has managed to sneak in Santos, what's to gain with it? And, if the powers above are responsible, what economic gain is in it for them?

It's all about player value. If certain players don't play, their value decreases which makes it tougher to make a profit on them. Let's use Garnacho as an example. He can have 3 West Ham like performances in a row but still get game time, because outright dropping him drops his value.

I'm noticing a fun pattern now where everything negative is now the fault of Egbhali. Whereas before it was always Maresca

I'm here for it though. Hate that prick 😂

37 minutes ago, Scott Harris said:

It's all about player value. If certain players don't play, their value decreases which makes it tougher to make a profit on them. Let's use Garnacho as an example. He can have 3 West Ham like performances in a row but still get game time, because outright dropping him drops his value.

Yep, it’s all about protecting their investments.

With our struggles on the left side Tyrique George should have got more opportunities but academy players are classed as pure profit so there’s no hunger to play them under this regime.

46 minutes ago, bisright1 said:

I'm noticing a fun pattern now where everything negative is now the fault of Egbhali. Whereas before it was always Maresca

I'm here for it though. Hate that prick 😂

I think that many started pointing at Egbahli and BlueCo, Clearlake before Maresca was sacked. I hate the whole board, not just Egbahli, to be honest.

55 minutes ago, Scott Harris said:

It's all about player value. If certain players don't play, their value decreases which makes it tougher to make a profit on them. Let's use Garnacho as an example. He can have 3 West Ham like performances in a row but still get game time, because outright dropping him drops his value.

This would make sense if they didn't keep sticking players into a bomb squad thus disproving the logic.

3 minutes ago, GarnachoCheese said:

This would make sense if they didn't keep sticking players into a bomb squad thus disproving the logic.

It's a desperation tactic. When they can't get anymore value out of a player, they try and sell them, when that doesn't work, they take the player out of the team and put them in the bomb squad to try and get the player to force a move. Sterling is a perfect example of this. They couldn't sell him so tried to force him out by saying you're never going to train with the first team or play with the first team again.

10 minutes ago, RMH said:

I think that many started pointing at Egbahli and BlueCo, Clearlake before Maresca was sacked. I hate the whole board, not just Egbahli, to be honest.

I think Todd Boehly’s heart is in the right place compared to the other members of the board.

He’s a bit scattergun in his approach and his chat but at least he had sporting ambition.

Problem is he’s not a majority shareholder (around 13% apparently) so he’s outnumbered.

It’s Eghbail and his 61% majority stake and his non sporting ambitions that are the main issue at Chelsea.

Edited February 4Feb 4 by 2211

4 minutes ago, Scott Harris said:

It's a desperation tactic. When they can't get anymore value out of a player, they try and sell them, when that doesn't work, they take the player out of the team and put them in the bomb squad to try and get the player to force a move. Sterling is a perfect example of this. They couldn't sell him so tried to force him out by saying you're never going to train with the first team or play with the first team again.

In Sterlings example his value would have plummeted even further if we'd played him.

There were pundits genuinely saying Tottenham should sign him. Forgetting that he's been sh*t for years and thinking he's just been "treated badly"

Sterling was on around £325k a week apparently, that’s why they wanted him out.

The fact he was playing rubbish was just a coincidence to make it look like footballing reasons.

Back to Reece,

My worry is that the board would sell him at the right price, getting upwards of a £60m pure profit offer would be too tempting for them IMO.

Let’s face it, the boards untouchable poster boy is Enzo not Reece.

Edited February 4Feb 4 by 2211

1 hour ago, 2211 said:

Sterling was on around £325k a week apparently, that’s why they wanted him out.

The fact he was playing rubbish was just a coincidence to make it look like footballing reasons.

Back to Reece,

My worry is that the board would sell him at the right price, getting upwards of a £60m pure profit offer would be too tempting for them IMO.

Let’s face it, the boards untouchable poster boy is Enzo not Reece.

In the summer Reece has 2 years left on his contract. BlueCo have made their position clear on players with 2 years left. Sign up or ship out.

Now Sterling is gone Reece may be our highest earner. That salary is way above the salary cap. Will they break that rule to keep him?