6 minutes ago, SydneyChelsea said:

Except he did in 2006, then doubled down by insulting both the club and Abramovich himself in 2007 - in fact he said almost verbatim what Lukaku said:

"I want to get back to playing with butterflies in my stomach for a club who make me dream," he said. "For me, there aren't 50 clubs who could stimulate this sort of passion, just four: AC Milan, Inter, Barça and Real."

And it took him producing close to a goal a game (without taking pens) in a double winning season to fully win everyone round. 

I was holding Rom close to those standards anyway given his price tag and how he compromises our fluidity, even more so now.

Edited January 3, 20224 yr by Argo

1 hour ago, Scott Harris said:

An even nicer list...

Cech - 7m

Cole - 5m plus Gallas

Azpi - 7m

Cahill - 7m

Ivanovic -  9m

Ballack - Free transfer

Even better list;

Thiago Silva - free

Thats all. 

1 hour ago, SydneyChelsea said:

Except he did in 2006, then doubled down by insulting both the club and Abramovich himself in 2007 - in fact he said almost verbatim what Lukaku said:

"I want to get back to playing with butterflies in my stomach for a club who make me dream," he said. "For me, there aren't 50 clubs who could stimulate this sort of passion, just four: AC Milan, Inter, Barça and Real."

In any case the real work starts from here on in. Score a hattrick against Spurs and things will be on the way to be mended. History tells us the ball is entirely in Lukaku's court though. Compare the above to one of Drogba's final interviews in 2018:

“I was a bit scared to fail and after my first difficult year at Chelsea I spoke to Jose Mourinho and told him ‘I’m not happy here. Maybe this is not for me and I need to leave.’

“But he was saying ‘no, you have to stay. I will help you.’

“Everything had been so comfortable for me in France and after that first season in England I was looking for that comfort zone again, which meant going back to Marseille and being the only striker.

“And then I heard the manager saying something really interesting to all the players.

“He said ‘if you want to be the only king then go back to the team where you were playing before and score 100 goals.

 The ex-Blues striker scored the winning penalty again Bayern Munich in May 2012
7
The ex-Blues striker scored the winning penalty again Bayern Munich in May 2012Credit: Getty - Contributor
“But here at Chelsea there are 22 kings, so you have to accept that and work together. Or you go’.

“That’s when I understood that Chelsea were giving me the challenge to go beyond what I had already done.

“That’s when I knew I needed to improve and it’s why I became the player I was.

 

If Lukaku can show the same humility and desire, then he will become a great not just at this club but in football. On his current path, he is destined to be a forgotten man.

Two things:

1. What a manager Jose was in his pomp.

2. I wonder whether Drogba still provides advice to Lukaku these days as he did earlier in his career? Strikes me that some of that wisdom might be valuable to him.

 

The media are just if not more culpable as Rom regarding the timing of the article, football has changed since SAF got rid of Becks , Jap Stam , etc etc. Personally I couldn't give a monkeys what he said to some Eyetie journos, he's been benched like Costa was when he wanted to F off to China, he's apparently shown contrition so lets hope he does all of his talking on the pitch from now until May starting with showing his old gaffer what he's been missing on Weds. 

 

 

Props to Tuchel for handling this without generating a sh*tstorm.

As for Lukaku, he's all nice now, a bit of pressure later he'll surely pull off bs like this again. 

35 minutes ago, Deino said:

Props to Tuchel for handling this without generating a sh*tstorm.

As for Lukaku, he's all nice now, a bit of pressure later he'll surely pull off bs like this again. 

Yeah Tuchel has handled it really well but like you said, he’ll end up doing this again.

What we can do is pretend that he is forgiven and adored, so he can get us goals throughout the season.

When summer comes, he’s out and we look for another striker.

It’s a strange one. He’s our most expensive signing ever and with him I feel we should be a force but I don’t see it. I never have with Lukaku, he’s just not in that mould of elite strikers and never has been for me. 
 

With him coming out with this interview it only really just doubled down on my belief thinking that I wouldn’t be so bothered if we got rid and replaced him with a cheaper pressing forward who suits our system. I was happy we signed him and was all up for giving him a chance but I never truly believed he would be a player that would take us to the next level.  He’s 3 months into a 5 year contract and the toys have already been thrown. If I was the club I would be putting the feelers out to try and make up what we paid for him. 

 

3 hours ago, SydneyChelsea said:

Except he did in 2006, then doubled down by insulting both the club and Abramovich himself in 2007 - in fact he said almost verbatim what Lukaku said:

"I want to get back to playing with butterflies in my stomach for a club who make me dream," he said. "For me, there aren't 50 clubs who could stimulate this sort of passion, just four: AC Milan, Inter, Barça and Real."

In any case the real work starts from here on in. Score a hattrick against Spurs and things will be on the way to be mended. History tells us the ball is entirely in Lukaku's court though. Compare the above to one of Drogba's final interviews in 2018:

“I was a bit scared to fail and after my first difficult year at Chelsea I spoke to Jose Mourinho and told him ‘I’m not happy here. Maybe this is not for me and I need to leave.’

“But he was saying ‘no, you have to stay. I will help you.’

“Everything had been so comfortable for me in France and after that first season in England I was looking for that comfort zone again, which meant going back to Marseille and being the only striker.

“And then I heard the manager saying something really interesting to all the players.

“He said ‘if you want to be the only king then go back to the team where you were playing before and score 100 goals.

 The ex-Blues striker scored the winning penalty again Bayern Munich in May 2012
7
The ex-Blues striker scored the winning penalty again Bayern Munich in May 2012Credit: Getty - Contributor
“But here at Chelsea there are 22 kings, so you have to accept that and work together. Or you go’.

“That’s when I understood that Chelsea were giving me the challenge to go beyond what I had already done.

“That’s when I knew I needed to improve and it’s why I became the player I was.

 

If Lukaku can show the same humility and desire, then he will become a great not just at this club but in football. On his current path, he is destined to be a forgotten man.

 

 

Thanks for that.

Actually forgot about him listing those other clubs, although I suppose context again is a mighty thing as Chelsea (as a global brand and club) have progressed to the point now where Millennial and Gen Z players supported us growing up; so the tables have turned a bit. 

I do not believe however, this man can show the same humility or most importantly.. improve his actual game. At least to the point where tactically we want him in the big games, rather than stat-pad against the canon fodder.

Fully expect him to start vs Spurs and Chesterfield.  Have to earn his spot back in PL side.  Disappointed by him - defended his performances (and praised his good ones) but will not defend his attitude.

It won't help us to boo him and be against him. Is in our own best interests to support him.

However this has all just reinforced what a few of us thought before he arrived and part of why we did not want him in the first place.

Still don't think we will win any major honors with him as our main striker. Would need 10 Kante level players to make up for him.

5 hours ago, SydneyChelsea said:

Except he did in 2006, then doubled down by insulting both the club and Abramovich himself in 2007 - in fact he said almost verbatim what Lukaku said:

"I want to get back to playing with butterflies in my stomach for a club who make me dream," he said. "For me, there aren't 50 clubs who could stimulate this sort of passion, just four: AC Milan, Inter, Barça and Real."

In any case the real work starts from here on in. Score a hattrick against Spurs and things will be on the way to be mended. History tells us the ball is entirely in Lukaku's court though. Compare the above to one of Drogba's final interviews in 2018:

“I was a bit scared to fail and after my first difficult year at Chelsea I spoke to Jose Mourinho and told him ‘I’m not happy here. Maybe this is not for me and I need to leave.’

“But he was saying ‘no, you have to stay. I will help you.’

“Everything had been so comfortable for me in France and after that first season in England I was looking for that comfort zone again, which meant going back to Marseille and being the only striker.

“And then I heard the manager saying something really interesting to all the players.

“He said ‘if you want to be the only king then go back to the team where you were playing before and score 100 goals.

 The ex-Blues striker scored the winning penalty again Bayern Munich in May 2012
7
The ex-Blues striker scored the winning penalty again Bayern Munich in May 2012Credit: Getty - Contributor
“But here at Chelsea there are 22 kings, so you have to accept that and work together. Or you go’.

“That’s when I understood that Chelsea were giving me the challenge to go beyond what I had already done.

“That’s when I knew I needed to improve and it’s why I became the player I was.

 

If Lukaku can show the same humility and desire, then he will become a great not just at this club but in football. On his current path, he is destined to be a forgotten man.

 

 

Yup both have big ego,most of this top st do though. Didn't Haaland say something about us not being big enough, maybe that was a hoax. 

Maybe right now we have social media so everything become bigger.

2 hours ago, axman2526 said:

It won't help us to boo him and be against him. Is in our own best interests to support him.

However this has all just reinforced what a few of us thought before he arrived and part of why we did not want him in the first place.

Still don't think we will win any major honors with him as our main striker. Would need 10 Kante level players to make up for him.

Nah we are far better team when Lukaku is playing well.

Let me be frank here, a lot of people wanted Haaland over Lukaku here so did I. Haaland is  a monster but if you watch the way we play signing Haaland would be 150m + massive salary down the drain. Just watch Lukaku against villa and count how many times did he ask the ball to be delivered early and watch how many times did he get the ball.

 

 

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/teams/c/chelsea/4165022.stm

5 hours ago, dansubrosa said:

Yeah Tuchel has handled it really well but like you said, he’ll end up doing this again.

What we can do is pretend that he is forgiven and adored, so he can get us goals throughout the season.

When summer comes, he’s out and we look for another striker.

This is what is actually going on. Not buying into the media statement about him not leaving, the club don’t  want to take a hit on his value. If we didn’t put out that statement, any interested party will be lowballing us and arguing they will be doing us a favour.

If anyone was in any doubt whether Tuchel made the right decision, you can be reassured that Garth Crooks disagreed with him;

How this guy still makes money as a journalist is anyone's guess.  

 

Quote

For the second consecutive week, I find myself having a pop at Chelsea's manager Thomas Tuchel, which is slightly disappointing, as I am an admirer.

However, the German manager insisted that Romelu Lukaku's comment, that he was "not happy" with his bit-part role at Chelsea and a return to Inter Milan in the future was not out of the question, was considered too disruptive by Tuchel and so he left the club's record signing out of the game against Liverpool.

Has Tuchel got carried away with his own self-importance? Lukaku, like all top players, is desperate to play, and the bigger the match, the better. So Tuchel leaves him out of their most important game of the season over a throwaway comment? Why not use the situation to your benefit and allow the player to prove how much playing in Chelsea's starting line-up actually means to him?

What impact this latest decision by Tuchel will have on their already fragile relationship is anyone's guess. What is clear is that Chelsea missed Lukaku against the Merseysiders in a game the Blues desperately needed to win to keep up the pressure on Manchester City. Tuchel now has a much bigger problem to solve and that is how he patches up the rift with Lukaku, or risk losing the club's record signing permanently.

If Tuchel thinks he holds all the cards in this delicate situation he is very much mistaken. The modern game exists in an era when top players have agents who are prepared to ask for a transfer on behalf of their client if they lose their car park space at the training ground, never mind their place in the team.

This is a time for cool heads and a little wisdom at Stamford Bridge. I suggest if Roman Abramovich is intent on winning a domestic trophy this season, or getting anywhere near to retaining the Champions League title, he needs to have a quiet word with his manager and remind him that his £97.5m investment needs to be loved and protected, not chastised like an errant schoolboy. Chelsea's future success in a number of areas depends on it.

Edited January 4, 20224 yr by bisright1

1 hour ago, PloKoon13 said:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/teams/c/chelsea/4165022.stm

Mourinho was brilliant at handling this kind of thing back in the day, all of the best coaches were. Things have changed these days though and players need to be treated like babies for some reason. Both Drogba and Carvalho responded positively after Mourinho had his say, but these days, you get the opposite reaction and players just down tools until the manager is sacked.

Willian's reaction after we won the F.A cup final regularly pops up in my head when I think of how bad player power is now. The way he reacted after the F.A cup final win and then the interview a few months later with him blaming his daughter and criticising Conte was something I never got over. He faced no punishment for it, if anything, he was rewarded. He pretty much became the face of the club alongside the likes of Hazard, Kante and Azpilicueta. Ads, kit reveals, he would feature in all of this. It's the main reason why Willian never grew on me and why I will always think of him as a frustrating player who had flashes of billiance but acted like a d**khead when we won the F.A Cup.

Even if this guy comes out and does a public apology, it will be very hard to warm to him again. 
Time and time again he has shown to be nothing more than a spoiled mouthy idiot, who doesn't know he's living. 

JFH said it best at the weekend on Sky - if he loved Inter so much, why didn't he take a 50% pay cut and stay there?  He is nothing more than a mercenary who will moan at the slightest bit of head wind. 

He's also overrated and doesn't have a consistently good work ethic when the going gets tough. I tried to get excited when we bought him but deep down I felt it would be a disaster.

Him being the spearhead of a golden generation Belgium team that didn't deliver anything shows who he really is... a better than average striker but he is not world class. He doesn't want to put the work in to be a champion in the premier league and it shows by his attitude. Compare him to Werner, if anyone it should be Werner complaining like this, but its not. 

I would love nothing more than Werner to hit a bit of form and keep this absolute mercenary out of the team. For him to try to model himself on Drogba is a complete laugh. He's like the knockoff Drogba you would buy on Wish.com 

These days some players just can't take being a footballer as being in a job. He is paid handsomely and we used a ton of money to get him only to hear him complaining and showing love to his former club. 

To talk sweetly about Milan doesn't bother me one bit. Saying he wants to go back at one point doesn't matter to me at all. 

I think he spiralled so deep into sweetening Milan fans he forgot he needs to shut up about it publically. He didn't show any sign of professionalism. Even if you think it, don't say it. You owe that to your employer. 

I thought he is a person who doesn't get into these situations. I was concerned about his ability as a footballer. I guess I was wrong about him being a responsible adult and a leader. Leaders don't do this. They have the brains to figure things like this out.

Anyway he works for Chelsea now and if he delivers on the pitch I root for him. This only changed the way I see him as a person.

2 hours ago, Scott Harris said:

Mourinho was brilliant at handling this kind of thing back in the day, all of the best coaches were. Things have changed these days though and players need to be treated like babies for some reason. Both Drogba and Carvalho responded positively after Mourinho had his say, but these days, you get the opposite reaction and players just down tools until the manager is sacked.

Willian's reaction after we won the F.A cup final regularly pops up in my head when I think of how bad player power is now. The way he reacted after the F.A cup final win and then the interview a few months later with him blaming his daughter and criticising Conte was something I never got over. He faced no punishment for it, if anything, he was rewarded. He pretty much became the face of the club alongside the likes of Hazard, Kante and Azpilicueta. Ads, kit reveals, he would feature in all of this. It's the main reason why Willian never grew on me and why I will always think of him as a frustrating player who had flashes of billiance but acted like a d**khead when we won the F.A Cup.

For me, this chart of our annual wage bill demonstrates the big problem. We are by no means the worst, but look at the trend line, and in particular the recent huge jump in the first pandemic year. It's insane. The top earning players make more in a month than a nurse makes in 40 year career.

The big clubs have collectively shat the bed in handing over all their TV windfall money (and more) to the players and their agents, and hence the power shift. It is too easy for the players to down tools when they don't like something the manager does, and the club is so heavily invested in them that it is always the manager that gets the boot. And certain players know this and act accordingly.

The root cause is poor decision making in the board room. handing over ridiculous contracts without any poor performance considerations whatsoever, but plenty of additional bonuses for "good performance".

So many muppets running top clubs ... 

2 hours ago, bisright1 said:

If anyone was in any doubt whether Tuchel made the right decision, you can be reassured that Garth Crooks disagreed with him;

How this guy still makes money as a journalist is anyone's guess.  

 

Garth Crooks a bloke with such a fat head he can watch a tennis match without moving it.

5 hours ago, Bob stark said:

Nah we are far better team when Lukaku is playing well.

Let me be frank here, a lot of people wanted Haaland over Lukaku here so did I. Haaland is  a monster but if you watch the way we play signing Haaland would be 150m + massive salary down the drain. Just watch Lukaku against villa and count how many times did he ask the ball to be delivered early and watch how many times did he get the ball.

 

 

That was fake news. Haaland was born in the year 2000, at 3 years old Roman took over, by the time he’s old enough to maintain memories of his life etc in adulthood, 5/6 years old, we’re a global power as a brand and one of the elite clubs in world football. Younger Millennials and gen z wouldn’t think about Chelsea in the way 1970’s Drogba did or even 90’s Lukaku. 

30 minutes ago, Sexyfootball said:

For me, this chart of our annual wage bill demonstrates the big problem. We are by no means the worst, but look at the trend line, and in particular the recent huge jump in the first pandemic year. It's insane. The top earning players make more in a month than a nurse makes in 40 year career.

The big clubs have collectively shat the bed in handing over all their TV windfall money (and more) to the players and their agents, and hence the power shift. It is too easy for the players to down tools when they don't like something the manager does, and the club is so heavily invested in them that it is always the manager that gets the boot. And certain players know this and act accordingly.

The root cause is poor decision making in the board room. handing over ridiculous contracts without any poor performance considerations whatsoever, but plenty of additional bonuses for "good performance".

So many muppets running top clubs ... 

that graph could be tons of things, tennis prize money, gridiron wages, basketball wages, movie star earnings, house prices etc.  musos, are about the only lot to miss out. Punters like to watch talent and collectively have enough money to pay for it. In footballs case it’s the tv money of course. Sure you have to spend the money using your brain, but you have to spend lots if you want a top team. 
 

Lukaku spitting the dummy as several have noted  is not that unusual, either for him or for strikers in general. And I guess they are full of self doubt having to prove themselves every week. Then when they don’t get selected those internal doubts get reinforced and have to find an outlet. Lukaku did give his all at Inter, I watched them quite a lot. There is a good football player in there. Tuchel, as good as he is, and as much as I respect him also has to manage him. It’s not all about tactics. 

Edited January 4, 20224 yr by ozboy

Please don't quote Garth Crooks, this is a sensible forum.

Your ex-Mrs doesn't want you back, now your'e stuck with the rich bitch who is not at all happy with your gallivanting gob.

 

 

3 hours ago, bisright1 said:

If anyone was in any doubt whether Tuchel made the right decision, you can be reassured that Garth Crooks disagreed with him;

How this guy still makes money as a journalist is anyone's guess.  

 

As did Craig Burley on ESPN. Sometimes I wonder wtf they are seeing. They do talk such nonsense.