1 hour ago, Argo said:

Signing players who aren't good enough because they're better than someone else not good enough never has nor will be an acceptable reason to sign a player for free let alone a massive fee.

If we applied that logic in 2020 when searching for a goalkeeper we may have ended up with the second coming of Ross Turnbull.

I'd argue this is exactly how we got into this mess in the first place. There'll be a list of targets, top second third... We've been buying the third rate players. 

Remember when we signed players to stop other clubs having them? Joe Cole not going to United was a huge deal, then there was Gallas, Willian,,, then and then and then... Remember when city pinched Rapey Robinho off us? It goes on, not to forget tapping up asI Real do with every single player they sign. 

Id argue that if Tuchel and Lukaku didnt have a bust up and get dropped and or injured, things could have been very different. d have no issues with him leading the line next year as he's a far superior quality to ANYTHING else in our squad and we don't need to use a transfer fee to bring him back.

Re Sterling, pep doesn't let players go that are able to do a job for him, anyone with one brain cell could see Sterling coming to the club last summer was a disaster waiting to happen as he didnt fit any style we've played for the past ten years. Id argue signing Sterling was like signing Sean write phillips all those years ago, I still shake my head in disbeliefe about both signings tbh. .

PEA was let go by arsenal and then Barcelona bit our hand off with the 10 million pound offer. His legs had gone at Arsenal and Barcelona preferred the 10 million despite needing a goalscorer.. I disagree we got burnt by the players, Id say the recruitment failed the club. 

The club has let proven goal scorers leave as well... so... here we are, in mid table no mans land with a new owner desperate for us to do well, an interim manager who has taken unreal stick from so called Chelsea fans, see Ian auntly post here, absolutely disgusting humour, and fans who can't see the wood through the trees when it comes to why our strikers are playing non league level. 

Can't wait for it all to begin again next season. KTBFFH

Lot of internal risk bringing Lukaku back. 

17 hours ago, Sconnie Blue said:

Lot of internal risk bringing Lukaku back. 

Possibly, but it's odd on he will be back whether Chelsea want him or not. Sale seems unlikely, as does a loan. 

55 minutes ago, dermott said:

Possibly, but it's odd on he will be back whether Chelsea want him or not. Sale seems unlikely, as does a loan. 

It is difficult to sell Lukaku. Nobody in Italy has any money so Italy is a no. 

Bayern is the most realistic option but with Tuchel, this is not happening. 

In PL the only top team with st need is united and no way united will sign Lukaku back. 

 

 

25 minutes ago, Bob stark said:

It is difficult to sell Lukaku. Nobody in Italy has any money so Italy is a no. 

Bayern is the most realistic option but with Tuchel, this is not happening. 

In PL the only top team with st need is united and no way united will sign Lukaku back. 

 

 

Yup. And with his salary, another loan is nigh impossible. So we cross our fingers and hope Pochettino can integrate him. He wasn't bad early in his 2021 season until injury, followed by Covid, stopped him. Then, of course, the stupid interview. 

52 minutes ago, dermott said:

Yup. And with his salary, another loan is nigh impossible. So we cross our fingers and hope Pochettino can integrate him. He wasn't bad early in his 2021 season until injury, followed by Covid, stopped him. Then, of course, the stupid interview. 

I personally never care about that interview. That kind of stuff doesn't bother me. 

However, my preference is to move on from Lukaku. I can be wrong but after last season I don't think he will be motivated playing for us, of course this can change depending on what Pochettino can do. 

 

Either a Saudi club comes in, we work with Inter on another loan deal, or we work with Atletico in a sort of Felix/Lukaku swap deal. 

Only 3 options I reckon. 

38 minutes ago, Sconnie Blue said:

Either a Saudi club comes in, we work with Inter on another loan deal, or we work with Atletico in a sort of Felix/Lukaku swap deal. 

Only 3 options I reckon. 

Yes seems likely. Given we are interested in both Martinez and Onana from Inter Lukaku plus cash for both may be possible, if not unrealistic. 

We’ve got rid of him twice. Please don’t make the same mistake again.

13 minutes ago, zinc alloy said:

We’ve got rid of him twice. Please don’t make the same mistake again.

What! as in keep him.  

I know this dead horse has been beaten enough but for someone in his "prime" years like Lukaku is and claims he's one of the best strikers in the world, it's f**king pitiful he's happy with the state of his career at the moment. 

He touted on about legacy many times and he's just okay with the way things are going. Goes to show everything you need to know about him, what an arrogant lazy swine he truly is. 

Kane had a few incidents with Tottenham but he still got on with it in the end because he knows legacy is important and he still has some prime years left in him. Lukaku is more than happy to just let it go to waste because he's a huge baby. 

On 08/05/2023 at 23:34, olderschoolcfc said:

Re Sterling, pep doesn't let players go that are able to do a job for him, anyone with one brain cell could see Sterling coming to the club last summer was a disaster waiting to happen as he didnt fit any style we've played for the past ten years. Id argue signing Sterling was like signing Sean write phillips all those years ago, I still shake my head in disbeliefe about both signings tbh.

Sterling has been awful this season but I disagree with the bolded part. Guardiola is fairly ruthless in letting go players that can't adapt to his tactics, but has been saved by fate a few times. It was not long ago that City were trying to hock Bernardo Silva off as the "misfit" to all and sundry, only failing because Barcelona went bust. City have sorely missed both Cancelo and Zinchenko in the league, saved only by the generational talent that is Haaland and enduring class of de Bruyne.

Sterling was coming off a season as one of City's best players and is far from on the decline. His problem is mentality, having always been a luxury player in any squad he's been part of. That's lead to a situation where our experienced players - 28 yo Sterling, 31 yo Koulibaly and 33 yo Aubameyang - are the worst shrinking violets in the squad rather than providing the leadership sorely needed. Sterling looked like a great signing statistically but his mentality is not what the squad needed.

6 hours ago, SydneyChelsea said:

City have sorely missed both Cancelo and Zinchenko in the league, saved only by the generational talent that is Haaland and enduring class of de Bruyne.

Results suggest otherwise. Pep's problem with Zinchenko was problematic defence, caught out of position too often amongst other things. He was fine drifting into midfield as another playmaker but his principal job - defence - wasn't good enough. The same issue arises at Arsenal.  Pep has turned Ake into a very good left back, better than Zinchenko will ever be, but back-up is now his problem. 

 

 

Lord he is a terrible manager.

How about letting the players who have a future at the club actually play Frank? Ziyech and Havertz...deary me...

He said yesterday that Trev was good on the overlap and the underlap what the bloody hell does that mean 🤣

8 hours ago, axman2526 said:

Lord he is a terrible manager.

How about letting the players who have a future at the club actually play Frank? Ziyech and Havertz...deary me...

At this point I’m not sure of whether he’s trolling us with Ziyech, Mendy, Havertz, etc or just received orders so that the new coach watches players that he might consider for next season. Because some of the choices yesterday were absolutely shocking and baffling.

8 hours ago, axman2526 said:

Lord he is a terrible manager.

How about letting the players who have a future at the club actually play Frank? Ziyech and Havertz...deary me...

If we lost at Bournemouth he’d be 007

Won 0 Drawn 0 Lost 7 😬

On 09/05/2023 at 19:37, Kev56 said:

What! as in keep him.  

 

Ha! I did mean  please don’t bring him back.

53 minutes ago, bluehaze said:

He said yesterday that Trev was good on the overlap and the underlap what the bloody hell does that mean 🤣

10 hours ago, axman2526 said:

Lord he is a terrible manager.

How about letting the players who have a future at the club actually play Frank? Ziyech and Havertz...deary me...

At this point in time I would take Thiago Silva to take the team for the last three games. In fact I think Mrs Silva would do a better job than Frank at the moment 

5 minutes ago, WhiteWall said:

At this point in time I would take Thiago Silva to take the team for the last three games. In fact I think Mrs Silva would do a better job than Frank at the moment 

I would have liked to see Jorginho's mum. Another disappointment.

4 hours ago, RMH said:

At this point I’m not sure of whether he’s trolling us with Ziyech, Mendy, Havertz, etc or just received orders so that the new coach watches players that he might consider for next season. Because some of the choices yesterday were absolutely shocking and baffling.

Mendy could well have been an instruction, but no way the Ziyech and Havertz subs were. If Pochettino wanted to see them then they start not come on for 20 minutes.

Hopefully Frank is asked to play Slonina.

I feel like our offense is finally  working. 

This is Sterling 1st goal. Winger picking the ball outwide, fb making underlap. 4 players in the box. Ruben  run free up Sterling, goal. Just beautiful stuff

3 hours ago, Bob stark said:

I feel like our offense is finally  working. 

 

This is Sterling 1st goal. Winger picking the ball outwide, fb making underlap. 4 players in the box. Ruben  run free up Sterling, goal. Just beautiful stuff

Yep, we have not seen this type of play for many months. What's telling is there are two 1v1s in the box - Felix at the front post, Sterling taking the back post and a clear angle for the wide player to make the pass. So often this play has broken down because the wide player or overlapper hits a cross in the air attempting to pick out the four midgets nowhere near the box.

Still, i'm not convinced it wasn't just a fluke!

Edited May 15, 20233 yr by SydneyChelsea