28 minutes ago, just said:

Another mega-money flop who looked the monkey's nuts in Serie A? Or someone who will adapt and get better ala Rudiger?

Still far too early to say I think.

I think its too early to judge him. Rudiger was very poor too initially and he turned it around. In this current team even prime Maldini would struggle tbh.

My concern about Koulibaly is his age and like others mentioned my first choice was Kounde so i hope this doesn't turn into another flop. 

1 hour ago, Scott Harris said:

At this stage of his career, I don't think it is too early to say. His reaction times are too slow and he gets beaten every time he comes up against any player with a bit of pace or trickery. That isn't something that will improve the longer her plays for us. If anything, those weaknesses will only get worse. The move has come way too late in his career.

That is the hard truth

I'll reserve judgment for now and hope he can be a Rolls Royce like Silva. However, £32m isn't looking like a steal, if anything potentially we overpaid. 

Been guilty of a few mistakes now that led to goals, he's said before he's not used to playing in a back 3 which begs the question did we do our due diligence. It feels like our recruitment for the past 5 years has been oh this player is well known and they play in a position we need who cares about whether they fit the playing philosophy they're supposed to be "world class" they'll just slot right in.

 

1 hour ago, Gentian said:

I think its too early to judge him. Rudiger was very poor too initially and he turned it around. In this current team even prime Maldini would struggle tbh.

My concern about Koulibaly is his age and like others mentioned my first choice was Kounde so i hope this doesn't turn into another flop. 

This isn't true about Rudiger. He was an instant hit with the fans with some of his performances and was one of the few bright spots in Conte's last season with us.

2 hours ago, Scott Harris said:

Another player hyped up by the fans for years that turns out to be sh*t. What is it everybody see's in these players before they join Chelsea? 

I remember years ago saying he didn't look all that, and fans were saying he is amazing, years later and we finally get him and he's one of the laziest defenders we have ever signed. A terrible replacement for Rudiger.

Now now Scott I have been told is too early to judge any of our summer recruits.

This summer was a disgrace. 34 million and huge contract for this fella when we have Colwill who could not possibly be worse.  62mill on Cucurella and Hall is clearly a better player.

Todd is a buffoon.

19 minutes ago, LongtimerLurker said:

I'll reserve judgment for now and hope he can be a Rolls Royce like Silva. However, £32m isn't looking like a steal, if anything potentially we overpaid. 

Been guilty of a few mistakes now that led to goals, he's said before he's not used to playing in a back 3 which begs the question did we do our due diligence. It feels like our recruitment for the past 5 years has been oh this player is well known and they play in a position we need who cares about whether they fit the playing philosophy they're supposed to be "world class" they'll just slot right in.

 

Should've just kept Colwill and Ampadu tbh, would've saved money and helped their development.

Edited November 10, 20223 yr by Drogba1

He's like a heavy tanker on the field, and definitely lacks match fitness. Is he going to get better? Sure, can't be worse than this.

14 minutes ago, LongtimerLurker said:

I'll reserve judgment for now and hope he can be a Rolls Royce like Silva. However, £32m isn't looking like a steal, if anything potentially we overpaid. 

Been guilty of a few mistakes now that led to goals, he's said before he's not used to playing in a back 3 which begs the question did we do our due diligence. It feels like our recruitment for the past 5 years has been oh this player is well known and they play in a position we need who cares about whether they fit the playing philosophy they're supposed to be "world class" they'll just slot right in.

 

It's an interesting point because we've been following Koulibaly for years, having first tried to sign him in 2016-17. We ended up signing Rudiger instead. So while we've been tracking him we can still wonder if anyone was checking to see he'd be a good fit 5 years later...

Trying To Figure Out If We Bought The Second Coming Of Djilobodji Or Not With Koulibaly

To be honest he is one of many mistakes made in the summer.

16 hours ago, LongtimerLurker said:

Exposed I'm not saying he's a fraud but way below the level we thought he was. Board dropped the ball so bad with Rudiger. How can you have a player who's the best in the world at his position in his system LCB. The coach wants him to stay, the player wants him to stay and the squad wants him to stay. 

Like how did we go so wrong, it's really not rocket science the moment we won ucl Rudi, Christensen should have got the contracts they deserved and the board should have backed Tuchel by keeping the players be wanted. Why are we always our own worst enemies. It’s so exasperating like I can't fathom who was making decisions, but now Boehly has made some decisions that makes me think he's just as incompetent. 

Hang on, Marina offered him a contract even while Lamps was still manager and he didn’t sign it & kept on running down his contract. She revisited the contract situation after the CL win, he now demanded £200k/w+. She kept on trying to negotiate with him but he kept on declining the contract out before him. You just don’t pay a player what he demands based on a CL win. Should the club also now offer Mount £250k/w since he is demanding that amount?

14 minutes ago, ducavis said:

Hang on, Marina offered him a contract even while Lamps was still manager and he didn’t sign it & kept on running down his contract. She revisited the contract situation after the CL win, he now demanded £200k/w+. She kept on trying to negotiate with him but he kept on declining the contract out before him. You just don’t pay a player what he demands based on a CL win. Should the club also now offer Mount £250k/w since he is demanding that amount?

Marina and Lampard did massively drop the ball with Tomori though. No idea why Lampard froze him out.

Cant teach an old dog new tricks as they say. Excelled for years in a back 4, we sign him and play him a 3, then wonder why he is struggling to adapt. 

Same with Sterling, signed a goalscoring winger, then use him as a hybrid wing back. 

Werner and Lukaku excellent 2 years playing in a counter attacking team, we bring them in, play a possession heavy game when there close control isnt good enough especially with the pace of the prem.

Awful recruitment. No planning. 

Boehly has a big job to fix it. 

21 hours ago, Scott Harris said:

This isn't true about Rudiger. He was an instant hit with the fans with some of his performances and was one of the few bright spots in Conte's last season with us.

He was an instant hit with the fans because he was a bit mental and totally committed. Fans love those types. But his defending left an awful lot to be desired at first.

https://www.thechelseachronicle.com/transfer-news/report-italian-club-ready-to-enter-negotiations-for-chelsea-summer-signing/

13 hours ago, just said:

https://www.thechelseachronicle.com/transfer-news/report-italian-club-ready-to-enter-negotiations-for-chelsea-summer-signing/

Not averse to us selling him - Not looked great, and is not the future. But Inter are a bunch of chancers, so can't see us getting much of a fee from them. 

Would take 60m for the pair of big lump donkeys (KK and Rom)

Edited December 24, 20223 yr by nonotnowjim

Can’t help but think that’s false hope, as his wages + length of contract will be unrivalled.. we’re stuck with him; unless he’s happy to take a pay cut despite him nearing retirement. The guy lucked out with this transfer, Napoli squeezed every last drop out of him and left us with what was left. 

Thought he was going to be solid for at least a year or so but possibly down to Thiago Silva blurring the lines of age/decline.

Still have some faith he can turn it around. At the very least a reliable option on the bench. 

17 hours ago, nonotnowjim said:

Not averse to us selling him - Not looked great, and is not the future. But Inter are a bunch of chancers, so can't see us getting much of a fee from them. 

Would take 60m for the pair of big lump donkeys (KK and Rom)

It's very rude and disrespectful to call a player of the calibre of KK a donkey and want him sold. Hes only just joined the club. Let Chelsea sell him and see the huge number of fans they will lose especially from Africa. 

11 minutes ago, Edjmendy said:

It's very rude and disrespectful to call a player of the calibre of KK a donkey and want him sold. Hes only just joined the club. Let Chelsea sell him and see the huge number of fans they will lose especially from Africa. 

I'm not really interested in retaining fans that will drop their interest in the club if one player is sold, the club will always be more important than any player. Koulibaly has been rubbish since joining, teams target him because he can't handle players running at him, his body won't allow him to keep up anymore.

2 hours ago, Scott Harris said:

I'm not really interested in retaining fans that will drop their interest in the club if one player is sold, the club will always be more important than any player. Koulibaly has been rubbish since joining, teams target him because he can't handle players running at him, his body won't allow him to keep up anymore.

I think it is quite clear that kouli was signed to play in the middle. 

For a big man, he's not that good defending set pieces. I recall that last minute Spurs goal, apart from the hair pulling, KK was stuck on the line instead of defending near post or marking one of the big guy like a good Central Defender should. He's a slow trailer against players running at him, but he must be better in other areas to make up for the lack of pace and agility.

8 hours ago, Edjmendy said:

It's very rude and disrespectful to call a player of the calibre of KK a donkey and want him sold. Hes only just joined the club. Let Chelsea sell him and see the huge number of fans they will lose especially from Africa. 

Yes - potential to lose some fickle fans in Africa - who only support us due to the presence of 1 or 2 players. 

Africa have some great passionate fans. I lived in Africa for 8 years, until 3 months ago. This was mostly in an affluent area if Abuja, one of the richest areas of West Africa. 

In 8 years I met many chelsea fans. Huge numbers, watching games and enjoying together. They are great guys to watch games with and discuss football.

But....

....They all had Chelsea shirts. Not 1 if them was genuine. The markets were stacked of fake EPL shirts.

.....Not 1 had been to the bridge.

.....Not 1 had spent a penny on official merch.

So whilst they are great fans, and there is a "risk" of losing some in Senegal or wider africa by selling KK or Mendy - in reality it will be very unlikely to have a huge impact on club revenue, and therefore, isn't much of an issue. 

 

On 24/12/2022 at 16:50, Term_X said:

Can’t help but think that’s false hope, as his wages + length of contract will be unrivalled.. we’re stuck with him; unless he’s happy to take a pay cut despite him nearing retirement. The guy lucked out with this transfer, Napoli squeezed every last drop out of him and left us with what was left. 

Thought he was going to be solid for at least a year or so but possibly down to Thiago Silva blurring the lines of age/decline.

He wanted to sign for us way back but Napoli owner didn't let him, he kept his cool and signed when he could, he's one of ours now and from what he said he always wanted to be, after all he personally called JT to ask if he would be okey with him taking his number and JT at first thought it was a joke or something.

Thiago Silva did blurry those lines and I believe that Koulibably didn't make a name of himself just by accident, he will work hard to keep himself in shape in order to perform and he isn't the first that needed some time to adapt to the new system and league. After all said and done, he did already score vs spuds so it's not all that bad isn't it?

 

i don't think he's been that bad. Just a bit down on pace.