Have a feeling this is going to be a messy window and protracted.

I think Marina is going to be watching the purse strings to ensure compliance with football spending limits so we comply with everything we need to as having a Russian owner means we will likely be hauled over the coals if we have breached any  of these limits.

I think we will also strengthen just two further positions out of GK, Defensive midfield and Left Back.

Don't see us getting all three done this window and which ones will get done be due to how much money we have in the kitty relative to the selling clubs 'personal window' as they need time to get replacements. 

1 hour ago, Andy North said:

 

Not sure anybody has said the bolded part.

I'm no advocate for the Express but a lot of transfer news in the media is either Chinese whispers or speculation. I'm not sure who tier 1 and 2 are. Maybe that beacon of morality the Sun or the The Times perhaps. I take all media reports with a pinch of salt until the club make an official announcement.

Having said that we all love a bit of football speculation and it seems entirely plausible that Frank has been told to sell to generate funds. The Havertz deal has been protracted and the hold up is reported to be over the size of fee. Apparently Chelsea want £70m and BL want £90m. Despite popular belief the transfer fund isn't a bottomless pit and if they are also after a goalkeeper and/or a left back I don't see why the club wouldn't want to delay and generate more funds. There's two months of the transfer window left so there is no hurry anyway. Havertz has already agreed terms so Chelsea can negotiate slightly harder on the fee and if that takes a bit more time then so be it. Especially if it allows us to get some other players in.

 

The only part I really don’t understand is why do we need to generate funds now to sign Havertz? What difference does it make selling players now or in a months time?

I think the hold up is indeed Marina taking a tough stance to transfer fee, rather than needing to sell players quickly to generate funds which the article seem to suggest.

48 minutes ago, Strider6003 said:

Have a feeling this is going to be a messy window and protracted.

I think Marina is going to be watching the purse strings to ensure compliance with football spending limits so we comply with everything we need to as having a Russian owner means we will likely be hauled over the coals if we have breached any  of these limits.

I think we will also strengthen just two further positions out of GK, Defensive midfield and Left Back.

Don't see us getting all three done this window and which ones will get done be due to how much money we have in the kitty relative to the selling clubs 'personal window' as they need time to get replacements. 

How on earth you came to that conclusion is beyond me, considering we've already made 2 massive signings before the window had even bloody opened.  The doom and gloom merchants on here are getting ridiculous. 

3 hours ago, Strider6003 said:

 

I think we will also strengthen just two further positions out of GK, Defensive midfield and Left Back.

When is defensive midfield a problem?  Contrary to popular belief,  Our defensive stats for midfielders are at the top level

Just now, Deino said:

When is defensive midfield a problem?  Contrary to popular belief,  Our defensive stats for midfielders are at the top level

I think it will happen if Jorginho goes.

2 minutes ago, Strider6003 said:

I think it will happen if Jorginho goes.

I think Kovacic and Kante provides decent cover in midfield even if Jorginho goes. We also have Gallagher coming through who I see as a defensive No. 8.

Our GK and CB needs improvement or replacement imo because the moment our defensive midfielders switch off for just a bit, it's almost a free for all. 

21 minutes ago, Deino said:

I think Kovacic and Kante provides decent cover in midfield even if Jorginho goes. We also have Gallagher coming through who I see as a defensive No. 8.

Our GK and CB needs improvement or replacement imo because the moment our defensive midfielders switch off for just a bit, it's almost a free for all. 

Kova yes, Kante is an injury concern.

I think Frank will be looking now to build a championship winning side, which will mean very fit and fast ball players.

 

4 hours ago, dansubrosa said:

The only part I really don’t understand is why do we need to generate funds now to sign Havertz? What difference does it make selling players now or in a months time?

I think the hold up is indeed Marina taking a tough stance to transfer fee, rather than needing to sell players quickly to generate funds which the article seem to suggest.

Maybe they have already set aside funds for a new goalkeeper and the increase of £20m for Havertz isn't budgeted for. It is not beyond the realms of possibility that the club see a new goalkeeper as a priority over Havertz. 

Frank doesn't appear to be against selling some players but just wants to get the FA Cup final out of the way. I'm not convinced that Frank has a lot of say about the transfer policy in general. I think that its a collective decision and at some point Marina will ask Frank who doesn't feature in his plans. At present it wouldn't be surprising if there was a general consensus among all the decision makers that a new goalkeeper is a priority and that they may need to go large in that department when we could give Willian another year and let BL keep Havertz. We already have improvements in the attack and the defence really has become more of a priority.

Talking of defence I would really like to see Ampadu back at the Bridge. He's wasted a year at Leipzig and needs some football. We may have to loan him out for a season but he is the type of player we need at the back. He is confident,  a bit of a leader, reads the game well, intercepts well and is hard in the tackle. Whats not to like. 

The problem is that you can't compare that team from 2008 and the team of today, totally different expectations and quality.

17 minutes ago, Gol15 said:

The problem is that you can't compare that team from 2008 and the team of today, totally different expectations and quality.

Grant had one of the best teams money could buy - Super Frank inherited a team of Youngsters & few stars - The term levels come to mind

31 minutes ago, Gol15 said:

The problem is that you can't compare that team from 2008 and the team of today, totally different expectations and quality.

Eh it's The Sun, I can safely bet Grants comments were taken out of context, I really doubt he would attack Lamps. 

15 hours ago, Slojo said:

Eh it's The Sun, I can safely bet Grants comments were taken out of context, I really doubt he would attack Lamps. 

Avram Grant came across as a nice guy - Perhaps abit too soft, I always had the impression our key players at the time did most of the work.
 

 

I thought he came across as a decent chap too, he always had a smile which suggested to me he had fluked taking over one of the top football jobs.

Seemed to have something to not upset the chaps and keep them motivated, getting us to two finals and losing the big one on the penalty shoot out.

 

 

Senior and Junior can't be easy for Frank when he went back as a player although a West Ham mate told me it's JT they hate the most. If fans are allowed back when we play them at that awful stadium I hope that we absolutely slaughter them.

Edited August 1, 20205 yr by bluehaze

19 hours ago, Gol15 said:

The problem is that you can't compare that team from 2008 and the team of today, totally different expectations and quality.

Roman has learned from his mistakes as well, he'll never fire a manager for coming 2nd again, he'll never make personal buys like Sheva and Torres again either.

I reckon if allowing players who served us well to go to rivals as a favour ends up stopping us from winning a title, he'll stop doing that too.

1 hour ago, bluehaze said:

Senior and Junior can't be easy for Frank when he went back as a player although a West Ham mate told me it's JT they hate the most. If fans are allowed back when we play them at that awful stadium I hope that we absolutely slaughter them.

A chap, I know that is a West Ham hates JT.

This chap has even been to CFC finals with CFC fans yet adds Terry comes from a disgusting family.

I said the family should not tar JT though he didn't comment except shrug his shoulders. 

 

 

22 hours ago, Gol15 said:

The problem is that you can't compare that team from 2008 and the team of today, totally different expectations and quality.

This is what he said "I think it's a good season, especially compared to how it began, without being allowed to buy players. Compared to the requirement of Roman Abramovich, if I told him some years ago that fourth place would be good for him, probably he would send me to Siberia. But because of the situation before, I think it's a good place. For Frank, I think it's a big achievement."

Some wonderful journalism here as always 🙂

Don't want to go on too much of a rant after a fantasic season for us and Frank but he f**ked up a lot today, regardless of the ref and VAR.

We'd lost control of the game by 10-15 minutes and he did nothing to change anything, it was clear they were targeting our right side, James and Dave's game should've been amended to cope with this. The two in midfield were overun and constantly resorted to passing to the back 3, a third player was needed there and it was clear very early on.

Bringing on Pedro was a massive mistake as our already static attacking game then had a player whose legs went at least a year ago. The triple substitution was 20 minutes too late, Hudson-Odoi should've come on for Pulisic earlier and Kante should've come on instead of Barkley. I've tried to be level headed with Barkley but he just isn't good enough, we needed drive and momentum in the middle and lacking a peak Essien and the odd glimpse of this from Kova, Kante is the best we have for that

We threw that game away and it was infuriating to lose another cup final to such a mediocre club in such a meek and preventable way.

Lots of work for Frank in the summer and replacing our back 4 isn't enough on it's own. Many players have potential that needs to be worked on with their flaws and failings ironed out and Frank also needs to work on how he handles and changes games as they progress.

I hope thats the last of 343 i cant stand it. As i said in the Mount thread, i dont like Mount playing out wide. He's not a winger and doesn't play well there. Our tactics today seem to be pass it around the back, pass it back to the GK and hoof it up to Giroud and look for flick ons and second balls.

6 minutes ago, jack h said:

Don't want to go on too much of a rant after a fantasic season for us and Frank but he f**ked up a lot today, regardless of the ref and VAR.

We'd lost control of the game by 10-15 minutes and he did nothing to change anything, it was clear they were targeting our right side, James and Dave's game should've been amended to cope with this. The two in midfield were overun and constantly resorted to passing to the back 3, a third player was needed there and it was clear very early on.

Bringing on Pedro was a massive mistake as our already static attacking game then had a player whose legs went at least a year ago. The triple substitution was 20 minutes too late, Hudson-Odoi should've come on for Pulisic earlier and Kante should've come on instead of Barkley. I've tried to be level headed with Barkley but he just isn't good enough, we needed drive and momentum in the middle and lacking a peak Essien and the odd glimpse of this from Kova, Kante is the best we have for that

We threw that game away and it was infuriating to lose another cup final to such a mediocre club in such a meek and preventable way.

Lots of work for Frank in the summer and replacing our back 4 isn't enough on it's own. Many players have potential that needs to be worked on with their flaws and failings ironed out and Frank also needs to work on how he handles and changes games as they progress.

I have to disagree with some of this, when Arsenal were in control after we scored they weren't really breaking through us reliably as we put everyone behind the ball, fair enough we had to concede a pen or let PEA have a free run at goal, but even then we go into HT at 1-1.
Despite our shortcomings, Arsenal have their own as well, if we just had fair officiating (never mind the injuries) it doesn't matter how Lamps set us up or reacted, we would still be even in the match.

I agree I wanted Kante on instead of Barkley but as it turns out he wasn't really fit to play anyway and it would be risky to have yet another injury after having lost 2 players already.
 

1 minute ago, sonic90 said:

I have to disagree with some of this, when Arsenal were in control after we scored they weren't really breaking through us reliably as we put everyone behind the ball, fair enough we had to concede a pen or let PEA have a free run at goal, but even then we go into HT at 1-1.
Despite our shortcomings, Arsenal have their own as well, if we just had fair officiating (never mind the injuries) it doesn't matter how Lamps set us up or reacted, we would still be even in the match.

I agree I wanted Kante on instead of Barkley but as it turns out he wasn't really fit to play anyway and it would be risky to have yet another injury after having lost 2 players already.
 

We lost control after 10 minutes and never regained that, Arsenal did break through and scored before half time and looked like getting another before half time, they were all over us for about 5 minutes just before the break. He needs to react to things earlier when the game turns against us. It doesn't have to be a sub, it can be a word to the player, setting the backline further back or a change of formation. As far as I can tell none of that happened.

It's always disappointing to lose a Cup final but our main goal was top 4 which we achieved

Frank's made mistakes this season, every manager does. He'll continue to grow and learn from them. It's only his 2nd year in management and first in the Premiership

We lost our best player and the best player in the League in Hazard, Frank wasn't able to sign anyone, we had our best player in Kante out injured for large periods of time and other players suffering injury problems and has had the worst GK in the League. It's an amazing achievement getting top 4 and making a cup final

We have an exciting future in front of us with some very exciting players. 

 

1 minute ago, jack h said:

We lost control after 10 minutes and never regained that, Arsenal did break through and scored before half time and looked like getting another before half time, they were all over us for about 5 minutes just before the break. He needs to react to things earlier when the game turns against us. It doesn't have to be a sub, it can be a word to the player, setting the backline further back or a change of formation. As far as I can tell none of that happened.

It was all Arsenal after min 20 till the end of the first half, but we were in control in the second half till the very point when we started pressing high again which led to the second Arsenal goal.

That showed that Lampard took the advantage of the half time break.

I thought that CHO, that has much to prove and much to show, should have come instead of Pedro, and that's it.

The ref ruined us, it's the simple truth. I knew that he would give Kovacic the second yellow and he did, that's how obvious his plan was. Arsenal needed a penalty, 2 key injuries and a red card to beat us.

30 minutes ago, jack h said:

Don't want to go on too much of a rant after a fantasic season for us and Frank but he f**ked up a lot today, regardless of the ref and VAR.

We'd lost control of the game by 10-15 minutes and he did nothing to change anything, it was clear they were targeting our right side, James and Dave's game should've been amended to cope with this. The two in midfield were overun and constantly resorted to passing to the back 3, a third player was needed there and it was clear very early on.

Bringing on Pedro was a massive mistake as our already static attacking game then had a player whose legs went at least a year ago. The triple substitution was 20 minutes too late, Hudson-Odoi should've come on for Pulisic earlier and Kante should've come on instead of Barkley. I've tried to be level headed with Barkley but he just isn't good enough, we needed drive and momentum in the middle and lacking a peak Essien and the odd glimpse of this from Kova, Kante is the best we have for that

We threw that game away and it was infuriating to lose another cup final to such a mediocre club in such a meek and preventable way.

Lots of work for Frank in the summer and replacing our back 4 isn't enough on it's own. Many players have potential that needs to be worked on with their flaws and failings ironed out and Frank also needs to work on how he handles and changes games as they progress.

This is the truth. 

For all Frank's good points there are a few that need addressing. His and his coaching staffs ability to make us hard to  penetrate is very worrying. It's got to the point we need 4 new top players at the back to mount a credible challenge. 

Our defensive record has nose dived since Frank took over and there is no hiding away from that. He HAS to sort it and quickly. Big money is needed but we need to sell the likes of Rudiger, Christensen and the other dead wood to fund it.