I like Rice but he's had a shocker. On this showing he's not worth much at all.

 

Going to be very ugly at the Bridge if we drop points tomorrow. 

1 minute ago, Sconnie Blue said:

This collapse from West Ham is pathetic but explains why they are near relegation. 

Would be too much to ask for West Ham to go down. Which is a shame as it would increase our chances of getting @Argotop transfer target for the summer from them.

2 minutes ago, Sconnie Blue said:

Going to be very ugly at the Bridge when we drop points tomorrow. 

Fixed that typo for you mate.

They are going to win the leagues aren’t they FFS!!!

3 hours ago, RMH said:

Sorry mate, but Arsenal are over performing this season and they were rightfully placed previously. Their team is not better than City or Liverpool, even I’d argue they’re level to ours, Newcastle, ManU or Spuds. And, Arteta is not better than Conte or Pep or Tuchel or TenHag or Howe. They just are having a very good year and the rest are in transition or just sh*t, that’s all.

Not often I disagree with you RMH, but I think it's obvious Arsenal are miles better than us at the moment. More pace, more physical presence, more creativity and a real cutting edge. TBH they have consistently played the best football I have watched in the EPL this season.

Nightmare for sure. But at least it ain't Tottenham.

6 minutes ago, axman2526 said:

Would be too much to ask for West Ham to go down. Which is a shame as it would increase our chances of getting @Argotop transfer target for the summer from them.

Had Jorginho been mugged off the way Rice was with Saka we wouldn’t hear the end of it.  

1 minute ago, just said:

Not often I disagree with you RMH, but I think it's obvious Arsenal are miles better than us at the moment. More pace, more physical presence, more creativity and a real cutting edge. TBH they have consistently played the best football I have watched in the EPL this season.

Nightmare for sure. But at least it ain't Tottenham.

You forget actually motivated.

1 minute ago, Sconnie Blue said:

Had Jorginho been mugged off the way Rice was with Saka we wouldn’t hear the end of it.  

True. You could also say "When Jorginho is mugged off tomorrow the way Rice was with Saka we won't hear the end of it".

1 minute ago, Sconnie Blue said:

Had Jorginho been mugged off the way Rice was with Saka we wouldn’t hear the end of it.  

Because Jorginho never lets us down against Arsenal.

 

6 minutes ago, El regreso said:

They are going to win the leagues aren’t they FFS!!!

15 minutes ago, just said:

Because Jorginho never lets us down against Arsenal.

 

So let’s replace him with a player who too gets mugged off by Arsenal? 

Thought the whole selling point for Rice was that we’d be strong defensively and avoid the Jorginho liability? 

Edited December 26, 20223 yr by Sconnie Blue

Oh @justnever change eh?

 

Worth pointing out Arsenal are succeeding not because of 71mill man Pepe, not by bringing in hasbeens who don't give a sh*t about their club, but buying hungry players like Gabriel and Odeguard to compliment their youth, who scored scored first two goals and an ex Chelsea youth got the third.

But sure keep buying mercs  like Cucurella and fofana who abandon their teams for big pay increases after one season only/a long term injury they were supported through, and put players like Auba, Sterling and Koulibaly and retirement contracts and expect it brings success.

 

Edited December 26, 20223 yr by axman2526

It would be madness for City to sign Haaland, only to not win the league. 

8 minutes ago, just said:

Scott, what I struggle to understand is, what pissed you off before was very different. You repeatedly said, (when Tuchel was in charge), that you were fed up with mentally weak players who gave up whenever the going got tough. You felt it was a  symptomatic problem at the club. 

So how do we correct it? Which players are the worst offenders in your opinion? 

I'd be very interested in who you would start in tomorrow's game.

I still feel that way about the players at the club, that doesn't mean I support wholesale changes though. Things needed tweaking, but all I feel has happened so far is that player power and downing tools are as big of a problem as ever, and it doesn't help things when we sack what I thought was one of the only good things we had going at the club in recent times and replace him with what I feel is far inferior coach who is massively out of his depth with a small time personality. On top of that, we hand out stupidly long contracts with high wages to players that I personally don't think is deserved, and I include the likes of James and Mount in that too. As good as James is and as good as Mount has been at times, neither of them should be on 250k 6-7 years contracts. The new owners don't seem to be doing anything to curb the weak mentality, they are making it worse and rewarding the players for it.

7 minutes ago, Scott Harris said:

I still feel that way about the players at the club, that doesn't mean I support wholesale changes though. Things needed tweaking, but all I feel has happened so far is that player power and downing tools are as big of a problem as ever, and it doesn't help things when we sack what I thought was one of the only good things we had going at the club in recent times and replace him with what I feel is far inferior coach who is massively out of his depth with a small time personality. On top of that, we hand out stupidly long contracts with high wages to players that I personally don't think is deserved, and I include the likes of James and Mount in that too. As good as James is and as good as Mount has been at times, neither of them should be on 250k 6-7 years contracts. The new owners don't seem to be doing anything to curb the weak mentality, they are making it worse and rewarding the players for it.

James is top 1-3 right backs in the world and we had Real sniffing around. 
 

Contract talks have been delayed with Mount so maybe the club don’t value him as they do James. 

12 minutes ago, JM7 said:

It would be madness for City to sign Haaland, only to not win the league. 

It would we justice for their financial doping without penalty, their so call “clever sponsorship” dealings.

6 minutes ago, Sconnie Blue said:

James is top 1-3 right backs in the world and we had Real sniffing around. 
 

Contract talks have been delayed with Mount so maybe the club don’t value him as they do James. 

Spot on. James is top, top class. Only problem with him is his injury record. He walks in to any side in the world. Period.

Mount is a good, steady player. Not elite or world class but he has a place in this squad, his work ethic is fantastic. 

5 minutes ago, El regreso said:

It would we justice for their financial doping without penalty, their so call “clever sponsorship” dealings.

I’d happily ‘delay’ their justice if it means avoiding Arsenal lifting the title tbh. Anything but Arsenal but when it rains it pours.. club in the mud and Arsenal winning the league, like a lottery of misery. 

9 minutes ago, Sconnie Blue said:

James is top 1-3 right backs in the world and we had Real sniffing around. 
 

Contract talks have been delayed with Mount so maybe the club don’t value him as they do James. 

Ability wise, I agree that James is at that level, I still don't think those types of contracts should be handed out right now though. He hasn't even gotten through a single season without sitting out a quarter of it through injuries. It's the kind of contracts you should hand out to players that are regularly winning titles, but we hand out these contracts to players with everything still to prove. Look at Koulibaly, he played for the Italian version of Tottenham, a serial bottler at the top level, and we handed him £160k for 4 years.

1 minute ago, Scott Harris said:

Ability wise, I agree that James is at that level, I still don't think those types of contracts should be handed out right now though. He hasn't even gotten through a single season without sitting out a quarter of it through injuries. It's the kind of contracts you should hand out to players that are regularly winning titles, but we hand out these contracts to players with everything still to prove. Look at Koulibaly, he played for the Italian version of Tottenham, a serial bottler at the top level, and we handed him £160k for 4 years.

Scott some reports say Koulibaly us actually on 295k a week....

Edited December 26, 20223 yr by axman2526

1 minute ago, Scott Harris said:

I still feel that way about the players at the club, that doesn't mean I support wholesale changes though. Things needed tweaking, but all I feel has happened so far is that player power and downing tools are as big of a problem as ever, and it doesn't help things when we sack what I thought was one of the only good things we had going at the club in recent times and replace him with what I feel is far inferior coach who is massively out of his depth with a small time personality. On top of that, we hand out stupidly long contracts with high wages to players that I personally don't think is deserved, and I include the likes of James and Mount in that too. As good as James is and as good as Mount has been at times, neither of them should be on 250k 6-7 years contracts. The new owners don't seem to be doing anything to curb the weak mentality, they are making it worse and rewarding the players for it.

Scott, with respect mate, that post reads like a politician has scripted it! It's just navel gazing and hindsight. There is no detail in how YOU would change it? I too wouldn't have sacked Tuchel at the point we did, but there were obviously deep, deep problems between him and some of the players, (player power again?), and when he fell out with the new owners too there was only one outcome. 

I agree with the point about the money being paid, I'm sure most people on here do. But that isn't going to change anytime soon Scott  At least not if we want to keep players like James and Mount. Do you want to keep James and Mount? I still have no real idea of who you would keep and who you would get rid of. I think we did/do need a rebuild. We are lacking in so many areas. Lack any genuine physical presence, lack any real pace, (Broja was the only one), lack any aerial threat, lack a consistently solid keeper and apart from Silva, desperately lack any kind of leader. And in all my years following Chelsea, I have never seen us have the number of serious injuries we have picked up this year.

Not having a go at you Scott, but as I said, I'd love to know who you would pick for tomorrow's game?

Just now, axman2526 said:

Scott some reports say Koulibaly us actually on 295k a week....

😲

1 minute ago, Scott Harris said:

Ability wise, I agree that James is at that level, I still don't think those types of contracts should be handed out right now though. He hasn't even gotten through a single season without sitting out a quarter of it through injuries. It's the kind of contracts you should hand out to players that are regularly winning titles, but we hand out these contracts to players with everything still to prove. Look at Koulibaly, he played for the Italian version of Tottenham, a serial bottler at the top level, and we handed him £160k for 4 years.

Let’s wait for the second half of the season to truly judge our signings, but based on what I’ve seen so far regarding Mendy, Jorginho, Kante, Mount, James, etc the club will only reward consistency and quality. 
 

Just now, Scott Harris said:

😲

In addition to him I have seen it reported that the following joined at:

 

Sterling 350k a week

Fofana 200k a week 

Cucurella 200k a week

Aubameyang 160k a week