5 minutes ago, Sconnie Blue said:

The same Chalobah that Tuchel wanted to loan out and bring in Kounde back in 2021? Was only when Christensen started throwing a contract fit that Tuchel finally started to play him. I won't ever forget Tuchel preferring Azpilicueta at RCB all those times as well. 

James I give Tuchel credit for but let's be honest, James's trajectory was always going up no matter the manager that was coaching him. Chilwell would've been a better example. Mount had one good year under Tuchel but has regressed/stalled under him the same amount of time. 

Interest cooled in Kounde the moment Marina & McLachlan left the club. Coincidence? No.

2021 was the very year Tuchel gave Chalobah the chance of a lifetime instead of sending him to bloody France like Lampard did. Give him so credit will ya.

It's popular to blame Tuchel for everything these days isn't it. Not once has he been the sporting director at the club and yet he's somehow responsible for the squad being in poor state.

6 minutes ago, OriginalS said:

Interest cooled in Kounde the moment Marina & McLachlan left the club. Coincidence? No.

2021 was the very year Tuchel gave Chalobah the chance of a lifetime instead of sending him to bloody France like Lampard did. Give him so credit will ya.

It's popular to blame Tuchel for everything these days isn't it. Not once has he been the sporting director at the club and yet he's somehow responsible for the squad being in poor state.

The state of the team/squad goes back years. Some shocking signings over the seasons. The previous regime wasted a lot of money on average talent. I'd argue that Pulisic is average talent and in no way was good enough for us given his Dortmund form and injury record, yet he was bought for £60m. 

14 minutes ago, OriginalS said:

 

It's popular to blame Tuchel for everything these days isn't it. Not once has he been the sporting director at the club and yet he's somehow responsible for the squad being in poor state.

What?

The same Jacob Steinberg you are referring to in that tweet, along with other reliable reporters/journalists and club correspondents have reported Boehly went after after Tuchel's targets last summer. It's pretty rational to conclude these are Tuchel signings and everyone one of them have been poor. And aside the signings, this team has looked horrid since last April leading up to when Tuchel got sacked. 

This isn't even mentioning Tuchel ignoring the midfield for 2 years and wanted Lukaku over Tchouameni, which has set us back YEARS.

Edited January 16, 20233 yr by Sconnie Blue

9 minutes ago, OriginalS said:

Interest cooled in Kounde the moment Marina & McLachlan left the club. Coincidence? No.

2021 was the very year Tuchel gave Chalobah the chance of a lifetime instead of sending him to bloody France like Lampard did. Give him so credit will ya.

It's popular to blame Tuchel for everything these days isn't it. Not once has he been the sporting director at the club and yet he's somehow responsible for the squad being in poor state.

I fully agree with your point regarding Chalobah and I think the narrative he was some academy hating maniac was ridiculous however if that tweet is true and he didn't get players he didn't want then surely he holds some responsibility for that window? (And I say this at a point I still have some hope for Cucurella and Sterling). And don't get me started on Lukaku the previous summer (he was beaming in the presser after his signing so if he was hoisted on him against his will he should be nominated for an oscar)

His record in the transfer market has been historically sketchy and it was my one big concern about him amoung the otherwise big excitement on my part when he arrived.

6 minutes ago, Sconnie Blue said:

What?

The same Jacob Steinberg you are referring to in that tweet, along with other reliable reporters/journalists and club correspondents have reported Boehly went after after Tuchel's targets last summer. It's pretty rational to conclude these are Tuchel signings and everyone one of them have been poor. And aside the signings, this team has looked horrid since last April leading up to when Tuchel got sacked. 

Everyone eh?

Carney - Good young talent that's looked good when he's been on the pitch.
Zakaria - Looked like one of our best midfielders.
Sterling - As long as the manager who brought him in was here he was our best attacker by far. Still a classy player.
Cucurella - Again a very decent start to the season under Tuchel.
Fofana - Played like 1.5 games before injuries, will come good. One of the best defenders in the league last season.

Koulibaly and Auba are probably flops yes. But Sterling is only considered a poor signing because Potter have no idea how to use him.

And nice job skirting around the Chalobah issue that you just got schooled on.

 

Edited January 16, 20233 yr by OriginalS

Just now, OriginalS said:

Everyone eh?

Carney - Good young talent that's looked good when he's been on the pitch.
Zakaria - Looked like one of our best midfielders.
Sterling - As long as the manager who brought him in was here he was our best attacker by far. Still a classy player.
Cucurella - Again a very decent start to the season.
Fofana - Played like 1.5 games before injuries, will come good. One of the best defenders in the league last season.

Koulibaly and Auba are probably flops yes. But Sterling is only considered a poor signing because Potter have no idea how to use him.

 

 

For the amount of money Sterling, Koulibaly, Cucurella, and Fofana have been purchased we should be seeing an immediate impact. Sterling has been rubbish given his standards. Koulibaly is an absolute disaster and Cucurella has been mediocre at best and has been displaced by a 18 year old CM. Fofana has had more haircuts than matches played and looks to be an absolute risk now given the amount of injuries he's seen. Don't even get me started on Aubamyeng. 

Zakaria, the only player that has looked to match his value, has been injured 3/4 of the season and was a last minute panic buy when Tuchel finally realized Gallagher isn't a f**king #6. 

Carney in all extensive purposes was a Boehly purchase based on reports after having dinner with Villa executives according to your Jacob Steinberg. 

 

 

2 minutes ago, Sconnie Blue said:

Carney in all extensive purposes was a Boehly purchase based on reports after having dinner with Villa executives according to your Jacob Steinberg. 

Alright, no point in this.

1 minute ago, OriginalS said:

Alright, no point in this.

I agree. 

Todd Boehly Dinner Party set Chelsea on track to sign Carney Chukwuemeka

If you can't get past the paywall, we had our sights on Carney for a while. He and Hutchinson were being monitored by the academy staff who actually made the recommendation to Boehly, given he envisioned a Chelsea team containing young talented prospects. Boehly hosted the dinner party to which he spoke with Villa executive Christian Purslow and was the first to know about Carney not wanting to sign a new deal with Villa. 

 

 

2 hours ago, OriginalS said:

Perhaps. But you "forgot" that Tuchel developed Chalobah into a very good player despite nobody having any hope for him.

And let's not forgot. Tuchel is the guy who took Reece and Mason from good talents too very, very good players (world class in Reece's case) and European Champions. So tell me again how he didn't develop?

Reece was the best RB in the league under Lampard too.

These threads cover a lot of ground. I thought this  one was about Lewis hall.

I am inclined to think he could use a season in the championship to hone up his skills. 

‘good potential but (1) he has had 3-4 excellent shooting opportunities and missed them all (2) better teams will and do cut him up defensively and this will hurt his  confidence and eventually lead to him being dropped and (3) he still isn’t that decisive around the opposition penalty area. 

if we had bought him for 60 m and he had a Spanish name everyone would be very critical. 

49 minutes ago, ozboy said:

These threads cover a lot of ground. I thought this  one was about Lewis hall.

I am inclined to think he could use a season in the championship to hone up his skills. 

‘good potential but (1) he has had 3-4 excellent shooting opportunities and missed them all (2) better teams will and do cut him up defensively and this will hurt his  confidence and eventually lead to him being dropped and (3) he still isn’t that decisive around the opposition penalty area. 

if we had bought him for 60 m and he had a Spanish name everyone would be very critical. 

He’s 18 so he’s bound to miss those ones, but if he keeps getting games he’ll learn to score them. He’s better learning at Chelsea than spending loan after loan at teams that may or may not play him, e.g. Gilmour or Colwill at the start at Brighton. Judging by the applause of the Bridge when he was subbed yesterday, we’re all happy with how he’s been performing, and most people I’ve talked to are excited to see play and develop an academy youngster. I’m willing to let him miss those shots, it’s the senior players missing clear chances that are at fault. And, of course if we’d payed 60m for him the standards would be different, it’s only human to expect more of someone you’ve paid a load of money than for a youngster that is coming up for free (well, development costs aside) and that has grown in the club.

9 hours ago, Bob stark said:

Lewis hall has made spending 60m on cucu looks stupid. This is what I don't understand about us. 

Why spend big on this average player when you have academy player this good. I don't expect Hall to unseat chilwell if Chilwell is healthy but he is good enough as part of rotation. 

Each summer main squad signing has the same issue 

Sterling has been garbage so we spent big on Mudryk.

Koulibaly has been dreadful so we could have kept Colwill but since we did not we signed Badiashile 

Aubameyang has been poor and dropped below Broja as well as Havertz in the pecking order.

Add Cucurella being below Chilwell, Hall and Koulibaly apparently and it was an epically badly window.

In my opinion Cucurella should be playing at LB in Chilwell's absence. Hall has been decent but I don't think he's quite ready yet and if he plays plays against Liverpool I think we would be massively exposed on that side. I can only assume that potter and cucurella have had a bust up because it's strange to play Hall over him.

Cucurella has been awful for Chelsea and Hall has performed at a much better level, that's why he plays over Cucurella. Admittedly Hall has a mistake or two in him but that's to be expected of an 18 yr old defender put into an under performing team with no confidence.  Done much better than expected and looking forward to the future.

7 hours ago, OriginalS said:

Everyone eh?

Carney - Good young talent that's looked good when he's been on the pitch.
Zakaria - Looked like one of our best midfielders.
Sterling - As long as the manager who brought him in was here he was our best attacker by far. Still a classy player.
Cucurella - Again a very decent start to the season under Tuchel.
Fofana - Played like 1.5 games before injuries, will come good. One of the best defenders in the league last season.

Koulibaly and Auba are probably flops yes. But Sterling is only considered a poor signing because Potter have no idea how to use him.

And nice job skirting around the Chalobah issue that you just got schooled on.

 

I thought Fofana has a broken leg last season?

14 minutes ago, Ernie_blue said:

Cucurella has been awful for Chelsea and Hall has performed at a much better level, that's why he plays over Cucurella. Admittedly Hall has a mistake or two in him but that's to be expected of an 18 yr old defender put into an under performing team with no confidence.  Done much better than expected and looking forward to the future.

Whilst i agree with this Ernie i do think that TAA, even out of form may well have Hall on toast at the weekend. i would bring back Cucurella for the scouse game. You would hope he would have a bit more defensive experience in dealing with TAA and Salah.

Decent player, looks better at wing back though, which is expected given he is more if a midfielder.

Maatsen has been stellar for Burnley who are running away with Championship, I think he is a more viable long term option at left back than Hall.

Hall brings good energy, but I dont think he has been great in 3 or 4 of the games he has played if I'm totally honest.

 

Be a very brave call if he is to start this weekend at LB ( or LWB) against Liverpool. He bought energy into the game, but still very raw defensively. I don't think it's a good idea to throw him in against Salah.

6 hours ago, axman2526 said:

Each summer main squad signing has the same issue 

Sterling has been garbage so we spent big on Mudryk.

Koulibaly has been dreadful so we could have kept Colwill but since we did not we signed Badiashile 

Aubameyang has been poor and dropped below Broja as well as Havertz in the pecking order.

Add Cucurella being below Chilwell, Hall and Koulibaly apparently and it was an epically badly window.

It was mental. 

I honestly have no problem signing the like or Sterling, rom, kai or timo. They have not lived up to the expectation but at least we were trying to add quality player or expected them to become quality player. 

Signing Ziyech, Cucu, koula (to some degree) and auba make no sense when you have Cho, Hall, Colwill and Borja. 

 

16 hours ago, Sconnie Blue said:

I agree. 

Todd Boehly Dinner Party set Chelsea on track to sign Carney Chukwuemeka

If you can't get past the paywall, we had our sights on Carney for a while. He and Hutchinson were being monitored by the academy staff who actually made the recommendation to Boehly, given he envisioned a Chelsea team containing young talented prospects. Boehly hosted the dinner party to which he spoke with Villa executive Christian Purslow and was the first to know about Carney not wanting to sign a new deal with Villa. 

 

 

That isn't muturally exclusive with Tuchel being involved in bringing him in. Apparently Tuchel having a meeting with Carney and his entire family is what actually sealed the deal.

Anyways, we shouldn't be so quick to judge the new signings down and out in general. They've been part of a non-functioning team since September. No one will look particularly good when we've looked extremely disjointed and as a side with 11 individuals and not one team. That will hopefully change with Potter in charge but if not it will likely change if/when the owners are forced to make a change.

Had we hypothectically signed Mount in the summer on the back of two POTY seasons at Liverpool we'd call him a flop as well on the back of his performances since September. So lets hold our horses and conclude further down the road.

 

Love the constant clamour for academy players to get a chance. Hall gets a chance, takes it being one of our better players overall and everyone wants to send him on loan to the championship 🤷‍♂️

Maatsen in as backup LB, Hall plays in his natural CM next season

13 hours ago, WhiteWall said:

Whilst i agree with this Ernie i do think that TAA, even out of form may well have Hall on toast at the weekend. i would bring back Cucurella for the scouse game. You would hope he would have a bit more defensive experience in dealing with TAA and Salah.

Completely disagree with this Whitewall. Hall could give TAA some real problems breaking forwards himself. Hall looks stronger and quicker than Cucurella to me so far. 

2 minutes ago, just said:

Completely disagree with this Whitewall. Hall could give TAA some real problems breaking forwards himself. Hall looks stronger and quicker than Cucurella to me so far. 

Hall seems pretty quick when he gets up to speed to me. But he's not very quick the first couple of yards I think. Olise got past him quite easily on a number of occasions on Sunday I seem to remember.

 

6 hours ago, just said:

Completely disagree with this Whitewall. Hall could give TAA some real problems breaking forwards himself. Hall looks stronger and quicker than Cucurella to me so far. 

Maybe.  I was coming more from Cucurella's experience against Liverpool already and playing both as a LB and as a CB on occasion.  Its more the overloads I am thinking of, with both TAA and Salah possibly doubling up. Going forwards Hall offers more and is progressive but I think Cucurella may be the better choice defensively for this particular game.

Of course I get its a case of personal preference. Hopefully the ball will spend most of the time up the other end.