8 hours ago, ozboy said:

Last season it was all about Mount and selling him was all wrong, but so far I don’t think so. It is never about an individual player. Red nose regular;y got rid of players from Beckham to Nicky  butt and no one ever said anything about soul. When the Beatles dropped best as their drummer was that because they had no heart? No it was just the better decision for the Beatles. Same with Conor. Question us, what’s the right decision for the club. 

Interesting Oz. But to rephrase your last question, Is what is best for the club what will make Clearlake the most money?

Mount was on a downward trajectory/stagnation since 2021. We are talking about 18 months of poor form. For Christ's sake, Palmer has already matched his open play assists in a Chelsea kit with almost 100 fewer appearances. 

Gallagher has done nothing but give the ownership a reason that selling him would be a huge mistake. His professionalism and assertion to improve in areas that were weaknesses last season is nothing more than admirable. Not to mention he is legitimately Chelsea through and through vs the Boy who had a dream/Portsmouth lad/"We're home" in the United dressing room bloke. My issue is that our system is seemingly built around him when in fact he should be utilized like Jordan Henderson was for Liverpool. I reckon this won't be the case anymore now that Nkunku is back. 

Nothing but praise for the lad - if he was foreign we'd probably be talking about him in a totally different light.  However, in what has been an abysmal season, with the utmost respect, I do not think any team that has Gallagher as their stand out player is going to win much.  Don't get me wrong, he is integral to our team right now and earned his place, but eventually I do think we need a higher caliber of player in possession.  We should have that in Enzo, but that isn't really happening at the moment.

Happy to be wrong, but I've long had this impression of Conor.

I think some people just can't get over that he had a spell at Crystal palace and seem to think that's his level!

He might not be Pirlo or Lampard or even Kante, but he's decent and right now, our midfield looks a whole lot worse when he isn't playing.

3 minutes ago, Nibs said:

I think some people just can't get over that he had a spell at Crystal palace and seem to think that's his level!

He might not be Pirlo or Lampard or even Kante, but he's decent and right now, our midfield looks a whole lot worse when he isn't playing.

No, I just think he's crap on the ball and if we are going to progress playing this style of football, he can't be a regular starter. I'll say what I said yesterday, the top teams in the league have players in his position that do what he does without sacrificing their passing or their positional discipline. If Gallagher is going to start, then this slow build up play and passing it sideways needs to go and we need to play more direct.

3 hours ago, Sconnie Blue said:

Mount was on a downward trajectory/stagnation since 2021. We are talking about 18 months of poor form. For Christ's sake, Palmer has already matched his open play assists in a Chelsea kit with almost 100 fewer appearances. 

Is it too soon to point out that Gallagher only has 3 goals and 5 assists in 64 appearances (40 starts) to date for Chelsea (3,638 minutes on the pitch) ?  🙂 

1 minute ago, Sexyfootball said:

Is it too soon to point out that Gallagher only has 3 goals and 5 assists in 64 appearances (40 starts) to date for Chelsea (3,638 minutes on the pitch) ?  🙂 

So you're saying he's already miles ahead of Jorginho. Nice one.

3 hours ago, Nibs said:

I think some people just can't get over that he had a spell at Crystal palace and seem to think that's his level!

He might not be Pirlo or Lampard or even Kante, but he's decent and right now, our midfield looks a whole lot worse when he isn't playing.

Caicedo played well in the last two games, yet it's Gallagher who keeps getting all the plaudits off this forum. Elsewhere that's not the story, but on here Gallagher is by default playing better than everyone else. 

I don't think it has anything to do with him playing for Palace. I would actually argue there are people on here who are rating Gallagher higher purely on being Chelsea youth and wasn't a huge price tag like Caicedo was. 

If Caicedo was doing exactly what Gallagher has been doing all season people would be calling him more of a flop than they already are. 

1 hour ago, Victor90 said:

If Caicedo was doing exactly what Gallagher has been doing all season people would be calling him more of a flop than they already are. 

Wouldn't say so. Everything is subjective of course but Gallagher is crushing Caicedo on the stats so far as well as the eye test.

Take tackles for example which was one of the reasons why Caicedo was so good at Brighton. 2nd best tackler in the league last season for a possession based side. This season he's 65th so far with Gallagher being our best in that category by a distance.

Or take interceptions where Caicedo and Declan Rice were the best at in the league last season. Gallagher is again our best by a distance, 9th in the league so far this season, Caicedo is 77th.

Had Caicedo performed at Gallaghers level so far this season I think most would consider him a really good player thats finding his feet a bit. But he very clearly hasn't reached Gallagher levels of performance this season. And he's a million miles from the version we saw at Brighton, that version was superior to Gallagher.

 

Edited December 20, 20232 yr by OriginalS

 

Right now him and Palmer should be the first names on the team sheet on a match day.

Thought he was the best player on the pitch last night especially in the first half, if something was going to happen it was likely going to come from him turning over possession.

It would be ludicrous to even think about selling him, he would have a contract offer on the table if it was any other club.

Won more European trophies than Arsenal 

 

7 hours ago, Sheva said:

Right now him and Palmer should be the first names on the team sheet on a match day.

Thought he was the best player on the pitch last night especially in the first half, if something was going to happen it was likely going to come from him turning over possession.

It would be ludicrous to even think about selling him, he would have a contract offer on the table if it was any other club.

Agreed. With Reece probably out for several more months the talk should be about whether Conor gets the captain's armband for the rest of the season.

17 hours ago, dkw said:

But that would mean critical thinking, thats just not allowed on here, its more knee jerkism....

We are fans not bloody philosophers. A player is either fantastic or crap depending on their last five minutes and how much they cost. Generally the more they cost the more crap they are. 

15 hours ago, Scott Harris said:

No, I just think he's crap on the ball and if we are going to progress playing this style of football, he can't be a regular starter. I'll say what I said yesterday, the top teams in the league have players in his position that do what he does without sacrificing their passing or their positional discipline. If Gallagher is going to start, then this slow build up play and passing it sideways needs to go and we need to play more direct.

Look at slozobal against spammers. Even soi am on the fence about Conor. With Enzo out he is needed right now. 

I dont by any stretch think gallacher is a player who should be starting every game for us once we improve our squad in the future (fingers crossed we do) but right now we would be absolutely nuts to sell gallacher, not only do we need him for the rest of the season but we also need an additional midfielder to challenge gallacher, enzo and caicedo, (since lavia and chukwumeka are not fit to).

Agree w all points re Connor he’s not in that world class ball winning & playing category but he’s done well for Poch, been more effective than most of the midfield to date and seems to be in Gareths plans for Euros  albeit as a squad player.

So Clearfake will defo sell him in January then probably to a London rival, they don’t seem to care where the loot comes in from. 

12 hours ago, Sheva said:

Right now him and Palmer should be the first names on the team sheet on a match day.

Thought he was the best player on the pitch last night especially in the first half, if something was going to happen it was likely going to come from him turning over possession.

It would be ludicrous to even think about selling him, he would have a contract offer on the table if it was any other club.

What's more ludicrous than selling him is that there aren't a tonne of teams after him. 

Hes critical for us because he's basically the only player who never gets injured. 

Am I missing something? Wasn’t Connor reluctant to sign a new contract until everyone (Nkunku) was fit and he was certain he had a place in the team.

I am not sure he starts with everyone fit, but the injuries (Enzo’s) has played right into the club’s hands. He will sign a new contract by Jan IMO.

1 hour ago, bisright1 said:

What's more ludicrous than selling him is that there aren't a tonne of teams after him. 

Hes critical for us because he's basically the only player who never gets injured. 

You can be certain if we were stupid enough to put him up for sale, loads of teams would want him.

Everyone seems to compare individuals against the historical content of the club and/positions. Mikel was deemed by the majority of fans as a sideways passing counterbalance to our team of stars, a pretty average player that just slowed the play up. In this day and age Mikel would be one of the most sought after players in world football. Comparisons are dangerous.

Gallagher would not be deemed elite or a starter in our teams of yesteryear but he absolutely is not only worth his place here, but if you remove the ridiculous price tags who is a better player in their positions on form so far this season.

I remember when Lampard joined Everyone was meh due to his apparent lack of technical ability over others. It's Lampards work ethic and constant desire to improve that made him continually raise the bar.

If Gallagher could add goals from midfield or arriving late into the box we would be raving about him as much as we are about Palmer, and then there is no reason why those loose elements to his game won't improve.

I do agree that he has some limitations but frankly I am pretty much underwhelmed with almost every player we have signed, considering the hype, so to me he is one of most important players currently. 

Edited December 21, 20232 yr by WhiteWall

On 20/12/2023 at 13:14, Scott Harris said:

When Kante was at his best, he was very good on the ball, and an excellent dribbler too. He didn't just make a tackle, he would carry the ball well. Gallagher isn't good on the ball at all, and if we are going to keep playing possession based football with him in the side, we will never improve.

If Gallagher is going to stay in the first 11 then we need to play a different way, similar to how Liverpool played with Henderson. Win the ball back and hit the attackers early. If Gallagher is going to be involved in the build up play, then it's going to keep breaking down. There's a reason why Gallagher looked better at Palace than he ever has in a Chelsea shirt, he was playing a style of football that was more suited to him.

Lost track how many times I’ve seen Gallagher receive the ball on the half turn and leave two opposition pressers in his dust. Talking absolute bollocks. 

Gallagher this season has a better pass percentage, more progressive carries p90 which is even more impressive as Gallagher plays further forward, same amount of successive take ins p90 etc. 

 

let’s not rewrite history and pretend Kante was better than Gallagher currently is on the ball. 

Oh and while we’re at it, Gallagher should be starting over both £100m+ signings currently 👍

Spurs still interested in Conor, willing to include Hojbjerg as part of the deal to give us a defensive minded replacement:

 

https://www.skysports.com/football/news/11675/13036013/conor-gallagher-tottenham-remain-interested-in-midfielder-with-chelsea-willing-to-consider-january-offers

They can piss off!