1 hour ago, andy said:

😂.... giving Silva a blow Job I reckon 

 

6 minutes ago, Blueblur said:

Sucking Rudiger’s dick 

Is there any significance in the order of play 🤔 ?

For his first day at the club, I prefer to think he was begging for new players, but I'm going to watch those knees.

Edited January 26, 20215 yr by Valerie

Think he probably did a slide celebration when he saw Jorginho doing a back pass to Zouma

Apparently franks relationship with marina broke down to conte proportions and it’s said if it was other than Chelsea he would have walked himself. 
 

I know she did very well in the last window but all reports are that she is easy to fall out with in the context of managers. 
 

It might be good to be a tough negotiator but is that not an issue if she is not letting managers work without bumping heads.

Lets also be fair would a manager not find it hard to take harsh criticism from someone with no footballing background?

 

I think rather than churning through managers a top football director who managers would know from the football world and potentially receive the message better from or find a better working understanding  would be a good move for the club moving forward.

 

Maybe big Petr could get a promotion and Marina could move more exclusively to the business side of things? 

13 hours ago, just said:

Wow! IMO there's so much wrong with that post it's hard to know where to begin!!! Not to mention the revision of recent history!

Probably there is a lot wrong with the post. I watch a lot of games and that's the view I formed. I have a lot of respect for the views of others completely different to mine. cheers.

9 hours ago, Spiller86 said:

It is immensely short sighted, and has left us onto our 4th manager in 5 years who will no doubt have ideas in mind for signings so we'll spend a little more and then thrown him out and start again in 18 months. 

hmm, disagree here. People always complain the board signs the players the manager doesn't want. We have a long term view of signings which is why they'd rather change a manager than refurbish the entire squad like people think is realistic.

They tried to give the manager only the signings he wanted under Conte and he bought a bunch of crap so they are reluctant on that front imo. Which is why people are like 'Tuchel is in because he has worked with our big german signings before and is german himself'. Yeah probably, pick a manager that suits the squad not a whole new squad.

we had a transition season last year, we then heavily strengthened the squad so really had no excuse to have regressed so badly.

On 25/01/2021 at 19:41, DarkMata said:

The problem I have with it is people will be quoting this nonsense for years to come, conveniently leaving out the obvious lies and probably adding their own for good measures.  Do people really pay these 'journalists' for their special insider knowledge?  

Here's another example why people shouldn't put too much trust in whatever BS journos report on a regular basis. This is for people who take Matt Law's word as gospel.

 

Edited January 27, 20215 yr by abramovich

41 minutes ago, abramovich said:

Here's another example why people shouldn't put too much trust in whatever BS journos report on a regular basis. This is for people who take Matt Law's word as gospel.

Won't stop anyone. Can just claim our PR department is a bunch of moustache twirling gun wielding villians forcing players to make statements. How deep does ruedigers control of the club really run

I’ve been through the five stages of grief over Frank. Always love and appreciate the man for everything he’s done at the club. 
 

Time to get back behind his successor and the team though, starting tonight at 6pm!

59 minutes ago, Stim said:

Won't stop anyone. Can just claim our PR department is a bunch of moustache twirling gun wielding villians forcing players to make statements. How deep does ruedigers control of the club really run

If anything, this just proves our players are in on the conspiracy! 

2 hours ago, Stim said:

Won't stop anyone. Can just claim our PR department is a bunch of moustache twirling gun wielding villians forcing players to make statements. How deep does ruedigers control of the club really run

Why do you think we’ve signed two German players and got a German manager in...

Not a coincidence.

12 hours ago, Spiller86 said:

United are a basket case and hardly a benchmark for anything.

We've won 3 trophies in 5 seasons. After 2 of those the manager was then discarded immediately. We've also yoyoed in and out of the top four and haven't looked like serious challengers for anything substantial in about 4 years.

It is immensely short sighted, and has left us onto our 4th manager in 5 years who will no doubt have ideas in mind for signings so we'll spend a little more and then thrown him out and start again in 18 months. 

I find it very sad that people disrespect the FA Cup so much these days. 

And most clubs' fans would kill to have won 3 trophies in 5 years, or 10 years or, in the case of Spuds, over 20 years.

5 minutes ago, dansubrosa said:

Why do you think we’ve signed two German players and got a German manager in...

Not a coincidence.

I heard Tuchel is just a front. It is actually just Ruediger in a mask.

19 minutes ago, yorkleyblue said:

I find it very sad that people disrespect the FA Cup so much these days. 

And most clubs' fans would kill to have won 3 trophies in 5 years, or 10 years or, in the case of Spuds, over 20 years.

I agree. I think it shows how different people's frames of reference can be. The FA Cup win in 1997 meant way more to me and my dad than anything we've won since, including the CL. It also regularly gives fans the chance to see pampered millionaire PL stars playing against teams of part-time plumbers on muddy, potholed pitches in genuinely competitive matches. For me, it epitomizes the spirit of the sport more than, for example, all the glitter and forced glamour of the CL.

2 hours ago, Stim said:

Won't stop anyone. Can just claim our PR department is a bunch of moustache twirling gun wielding villians forcing players to make statements. How deep does ruedigers control of the club really run

My sources have told me that Rudiger has kidnapped Tammy's dog and taken Azpi's Self Motivation DVD and is forcing them to make statements on their social media accounts. 

What a c**t. 

15 minutes ago, dansubrosa said:

Why do you think we’ve signed two German players and got a German manager in...

Not a coincidence.

Roman has employed five Italians, two Portuguese, Dutch, Brazilian, Israli, Spaniard and an Englishman... Maybe he thought it was time for a change of pace.  

15 minutes ago, bluedave said:

I agree. I think it shows how different people's frames of reference can be. The FA Cup win in 1997 meant way more to me and my dad than anything we've won since, including the CL. It also regularly gives fans the chance to see pampered millionaire PL stars playing against teams of part-time plumbers on muddy, potholed pitches in genuinely competitive matches. For me, it epitomizes the spirit of the sport more than, for example, all the glitter and forced glamour of the CL.

I don't think the issue is fans downplaying it but it in general losing it's high ranking amoung football in general. Even lower league teams playing weaken sides in it effectively now renders FA Cup weekend only one step above international breaks.

The harsh reality is league positions is where the financial rewards are and for many clubs it's not just about greed, those financial rewards are desperately needed by some to keep their head above water. If Crystal Palace to pluck a random example need to survive in the PL to keep their financial head above water they won't "respect the cup" if their tie is put close to a league fixture because they a) simply cannot afford too and b) would be highly unlikely to win the cup even if they did (for all the talk around big clubs not taking it seriously, all bar two years since the millennium has had Chelsea, City or one of the red three win it).

16 hours ago, Scott Harris said:

No. Mourinho twice, Ancelotti, Di Matteo, Conte, they were all sacked the season after winning trophies. Tuchel will be the same if he wins a trophy, he will be sacked as soon as we go on a run of poor form. It's becoming harder and harder to get excited about the future of the club when you know the manager will be sacked and we have to start over all over again.

Apart from Ancelotti they all deserved the sack though in my opinoin.

50 minutes ago, bluedave said:

I agree. I think it shows how different people's frames of reference can be. The FA Cup win in 1997 meant way more to me and my dad than anything we've won since, including the CL. It also regularly gives fans the chance to see pampered millionaire PL stars playing against teams of part-time plumbers on muddy, potholed pitches in genuinely competitive matches. For me, it epitomizes the spirit of the sport more than, for example, all the glitter and forced glamour of the CL.

Well now we are a "big club" it's almost certain we will be in the semi final. So like the Germans with the world cup where they never used to watch group stage games, I just don't get interested until it gets....interesting. 

Also In 1997 we hadn't won anything of note since 71. We had some exciting games along the way. The whole weekend was incredible. But since Roman bought us we've been in 50% of the finals. Hard to get that disappointed if we lose it because you know we are going to be in a final again within a couple of years and so then equally, nowhere near as exciting if we win. 

Edited January 27, 20215 yr by bisright1

2 minutes ago, bisright1 said:

But since Roman bought us we've been in 50% of the finals. Hard to get that disappointed if we lose it because you know we are going to be in a final again within a couple of years and so then equally, nowhere near as exciting if we win. 

I disagree, losing a final is the worst even if we will likely get back in one soon enough.

Drogba once said he'd rather lose a semi than a final and I agree with him, I've seen Chelsea lose finals and I've played myself in losing sides in finals (not just in football), every single one of them will bug me forever.

For me every time we win at semi final it feels like half time, my thoughts go straight to the final.

1 hour ago, yorkleyblue said:

I find it very sad that people disrespect the FA Cup so much these days. 

And most clubs' fans would kill to have won 3 trophies in 5 years, or 10 years or, in the case of Spuds, over 20 years.

Fair cop. I'm wrong to exclude the FA Cup there, noting that it is a very special trophy in our history.

I think the point stands though that for all of the money we spend (which by anyone's standard is lots) we're not really in competition to win the league and we've been in Europe's second tier as often as not recently. When you spend as much as we do we should be doing better. I think the instability and constant managerial turnover is a massive contributor to that. 

 

10 minutes ago, Argo said:

I disagree, losing a final is the worst even if we will likely get back in one soon enough.

Drogba once said he'd rather lose a semi than a final and I agree with him, I've seen Chelsea lose finals and I've played myself in losing sides in finals (not just in football), every single one of them will bug me forever.

For me every time we win at semi final it feels like half time, my thoughts go straight to the final.

You are prrobably right. Thinking about it, it felt sh*tter losing in 2020 compared to 1994 because back then was just happy to be in the final. Although winning wouldn't have felt as good. 

Some words of encouragement from Don Carlo:

 

Something that's not really getting discussed a lot, but why didn't Lamps swallow his pride and get an experienced coach in to assist him? If not last year certainly this, especially once our style of play was eroding.

It's no shame to admit you need assistance, Sir Alex is the best ever and part of that reason was he realised what he wasn't great at and appointed the appropriate staff to counter balance that, Carlos Queiroz and Rene Meulensteen the two major examples. Avram Grant/the club quickly got Hen Ten Cate in when he/they realised he just simply wasn't cutting it tactically. 

While I admire Lampard's boldness in going for a young fresh coaching staff the lack of balance was always going to be a big gamble and unfortunately it backfired.

16 minutes ago, Argo said:

Something that's not really getting discussed a lot, but why didn't Lamps swallow his pride and get an experienced coach in to assist him? If not last year certainly this, especially once our style of play was eroding.

It's no shame to admit you need assistance, Sir Alex is the best ever and part of that reason was he realised what he wasn't great at and appointed the appropriate staff to counter balance that, Carlos Queiroz and Rene Meulensteen the two major examples. Avram Grant/the club quickly got Hen Ten Cate in when he/they realised he just simply wasn't cutting it tactically. 

While I admire Lampard's boldness in going for a young fresh coaching staff the lack of balance was always going to be a big gamble and unfortunately it backfired.

The club did bring in Anthony Barry and Frank had a lot to do with that appointment.

Last season was a decent season for Frank, the only question mark was around the defensive organization especially on the transition and set pieces and bringing in Anthony Barry helped with that. Things went wrong from December onwards and due to the fixture congestion and other things I doubt he must've been thinking about changing Jody Morris, Frank could've been blamed if we struggled this season and he didn't make a change at the end of the season.

Pity we will never know.

1 minute ago, Imran_CFC said:

The club did bring in Anthony Barry and Frank had a lot to do with that appointment.

Last season was a decent season for Frank, the only question mark was around the defensive organization especially on the transition and set pieces and bringing in Anthony Barry helped with that. Things went wrong from December onwards and due to the fixture congestion and other things I doubt he must've been thinking about changing Jody Morris, Frank could've been blamed if we struggled this season and he didn't make a change at the end of the season.

Pity we will never know.

He didn't even have to get rid of Jody, there's no limit to the amount of coaches you can have in you're backroom staff.

Henk Ten Cate is one example of a coach who would have probably jumped at the chance to return and help out, I personally believe he was the tactical brains behind our 07/08 season under Avram.