4 hours ago, bluetrooper said:

FYI - Donkey is a tasty meat... a delicacy in China when I lived there. Very much like stewed beef in texture. Tried the dog and cat too...

Anyhow, in case anyone needs some extra help dealing with issues at home and you're in the UK... A good resource for you.

https://www.nhs.uk/mental-health/talking-therapies-medicine-treatments/talking-therapies-and-counselling/self-help-therapies/

On 05/05/2025 at 22:41, just said:

I have two issues with Jackson. One, the poor to abysmal level of performance he regularly delivers now. And two, I don't believe, (from what I have seen to date), that he has either the natural ability, or the football intelligence to significantly improve as a striker. I see nothing to suggest he is going to get better in the air? Is he really going to improve his movement and especially his anticipation in the box? Is he going to become a more natural, calmer finisher? Is his hold up play going to become more consistent?

Our most dire need this summer is to find a proper centre-forward. And if we do that brings another issue into play, because I'm also not sure Jackson would be a happy a camper to sit on the bench and be squad bod.

He certainly can improve on those aspects, yes. Maybe not in the air but movement and anticipation yes. Although Watkins is still largely frustrating, when he was around the age of 24/25 he was very frustrating but worked on his game and last season he scored his highest amount of PL goals. That was with continuous work. Jackson can work on that. He showed composed finishes against Liverpool and West Ham and he just needs to keep working on that. He may not become world class but if you take his age into context, there defo is room for improvement. Like I say, he reminds me to how Watkins used to be when Villa first signed him and he was not prolific at all but with age and maturity, he has developed into one of the best all round CF. He is annoyingly offside a lot, however I think his movement is very good and defo can also improve. The fact he misses a lot of chances, is due to him getting in good positions in the beginning because of his movement. The finishing is just annoying, but movement wise, I think this is one of his strongest points.

Of course Jacskon won't be happy to be a squad bod but he will have to deal with it. If we are in UCL or even Europa League, he will get a lot of game time. Watkins will be annoyed with having to be a squad striker with Rashford around but he gets on with it and in fact, prob his anger at being benched motivated him to work extra hard. He even said after being benched against PSG, he was fuming and then he put a MOTM game the following game against Newcastle. Injuries happen and he will play. Just not start every game and I think with amount of games being played next season, Jackson will get game time regardless of which striker we sign. Loads of competitions and quick turn of games.

I've seen the speculation around Watkins and can't see the club spending £60m on a 29 year old. Could just be a negotiating position for Osimen.

2 hours ago, Andy North said:

I've seen the speculation around Watkins and can't see the club spending £60m on a 29 year old. Could just be a negotiating position for Osimen.

This would be going from a Fiesta to a high-end BMW.

Edited May 7, 20251 yr by El regreso

Obviously as soon as we sell him he'll suddenly become world class, but I can't stand it any more. I don't care if there's a bit of untapped potential still in there. Even if it was all unleashed, he'll still be sh*te.

6 minutes ago, Zeta said:

Obviously as soon as we sell him he'll suddenly become world class, but I can't stand it any more. I don't care if there's a bit of untapped potential still in there. Even if it was all unleashed, he'll still be sh*te.

Ignoring KDB and Salah, when else has this ever happened?

23 minutes ago, Sconnie Blue said:

Ignoring KDB and Salah, when else has this ever happened?

I’d say Robben but he was already WC before we sold him IMO…

4 hours ago, STATS said:

...there defo is room for improvement.

Ladies and Gentleman, boys and girls, children of all ages.... I have pleasure in presenting you with ..... Drumroll please..... THE UNDERSTATEMENT OF THE YEAR!

1 hour ago, The Boehly Babes said:

I’d say Robben but he was already WC before we sold him IMO…

The Salah and KDB outgoings have given some in our fanbase permanent PTSD. Not one outgoing in recent memory did we come to regret and/or that player turned world class. You can make the case of academy players we should of integrated (Hall, Livramento, Musiala, Guehi, etc) but a lot of them had their own extenuating circumstances of why they wanted to leave.

I think the ownerships judgement, to their credit, has been good so far. Had we sold Colwill to Liverpool/Bayern, he'd be a league winner already and we'd be fuming. They also made the correct choice with regards to Mount despite half the fanbase saying we'd regret it.

9 hours ago, nonotnowjim said:

In an ideal world - none of them are 100% "ready right now". But then - neither is Wacko. So, if the choice is an academy player who has had a footballing education at Chelsea, or this fraud - then I would take ANY academy player over him.

On 06/05/2025 at 09:43, nonotnowjim said:

Would have thought it is obvious.

Wagyu = Any kid from the academy, who has been trained from a young age on how to control the ball, how to understand what offside is, how to shoot etc. A player primed and educated from a young age on how to be a professional footballer, to the highest standards in one of the best academies in the world. Like the cows of Kobe, they are looked after, with every want and need attended to int he sole aim of preparing them for life as a top professional footballer....If you want something a little more cooked - how about the player who won the bundesliga golden boot, with 90 goal involvements in just short of 120 games - who is our second top scorer this season despite playing significantly less minutes than others. The player who despite being vilified here, is still reportedly on the radar of minnows such as Bayern Munich.

Donkey Roadkill = The lad who grew up without a footballing education, without playing on grass or even owning a pair of boots until later in life. The bloke who admitted himself that he struggles to play football wearing boots as opposed to barefoot. The hopeless chancer who has a meagre 1 league goal in 5 months, and who despite chance after chance, has consistently infuriated even the most patient of fans.

Hello Jim !

I'm not sure why growing up in poverty and unable to afford boots or not having access to grass football pitches should be held against him ? Anyway it's not a disadvantage and not uncommon . ...see below

'""Can you play soccer barefoot? Does it hurt the feet?

Yes, this is really common! Indeed, many of the most famous soccer players of today coming from the South American and African continent learned to play soccer barefoot!

It is even more handy (if done properly) to play barefoot then in soccer cleats. Simply said, touch of the ball is much more intense when you do not have your shoes on.

Street soccer produced some of the best players in the world, and they started playing barefoot soccer first."

---

---

--So, Jim , for the last 3 season defining games of the season you believe it would be best to drop Jackson, and instead play someone, anyone , even an inexperienced youngster, from the Academy.? I'm.not sure I agree Jim , I certainly wouldn't mind someone who is a proven goalscorer instead of Jackson though. But if we're only going to spend about £30m as we did for Jackson, I'm afraid we're only going to get a £30m centre forward

I can't be angry and virulent and insulting to any Chelsea player, even hopeless ones.

Doesn't make me right or you wrong mate, just different, and that's just us football fans isn't it.

Cheers Jim, take care.

Edited May 7, 20251 yr by The Rising Sun
Information

6 minutes ago, The Rising Sun said:

So, Jim , for the last 3 season defining games of the season you believe it would be best to drop Jackson, and instead play someone, anyone , even an inexperienced youngster, from the Academy.?

Yes. I believe that it would be best for Chelsea to drop Jackson, and play anyone else - even an inexperienced youngster. I fail to see any benefit in selecting a player who has consistently, and continually, demonstrated to be inept and rubbish.

Why persist with someone clearly not good enough, when it would be better to give the opportunity to someone who might be good enough.

37 minutes ago, Sconnie Blue said:

The Salah and KDB outgoings have given some in our fanbase permanent PTSD. Not one outgoing in recent memory did we come to regret and/or that player turned world class. You can make the case of academy players we should of integrated (Hall, Livramento, Musiala, Guehi, etc) but a lot of them had their own extenuating circumstances of why they wanted to leave.

I think the ownerships judgement, to their credit, has been good so far. Had we sold Colwill to Liverpool/Bayern, he'd be a league winner already and we'd be fuming. They also made the correct choice with regards to Mount despite half the fanbase saying we'd regret it.

Yeah - we have a pretty decent record with offloading players at the right time. Even the best of the lot, Eden, was sold at the right time.

I believe Marc Guiu is back in training.

18 minutes ago, nonotnowjim said:

Yes. I believe that it would be best for Chelsea to drop Jackson, and play anyone else - even an inexperienced youngster. I fail to see any benefit in selecting a player who has consistently, and continually, demonstrated to be inept and rubbish.

Why persist with someone clearly not good enough, when it would be better to give the opportunity to someone who might be good enough.

If there's someone better , it's being kept a secret then, even YOU can't tell us who it is !😂

1 hour ago, Sconnie Blue said:

The Salah and KDB outgoings have given some in our fanbase permanent PTSD. Not one outgoing in recent memory did we come to regret and/or that player turned world class. You can make the case of academy players we should of integrated (Hall, Livramento, Musiala, Guehi, etc) but a lot of them had their own extenuating circumstances of why they wanted to leave.

I think the ownerships judgement, to their credit, has been good so far. Had we sold Colwill to Liverpool/Bayern, he'd be a league winner already and we'd be fuming. They also made the correct choice with regards to Mount despite half the fanbase saying we'd regret it.

The owners transfer policy has been a disaster from the very start. . Those academy players were sold BECAUSE they were academy players, and for no other reason

Now it's JIM that's got PTSD because of our transfer decisions ,,!!😂

10 minutes ago, The Rising Sun said:

If there's someone better , it's being kept a secret then, even YOU can't tell us who it is !😂

Sigh - I have given you a list of names already. But have equally been clear that I would take anyone else. It doesn’t matter who.

Madness to persist selecting someone who has consistently proven not to be good enough. Take a chance on ANYONE else - who might be good enough.

Seems like you are advocating for selecting a player that most agree is not Chelsea quality. Not sure why a Chelsea fan would want to have us playing with one arm tied behind our back.

5 hours ago, nonotnowjim said:

Sigh - I have given you a list of names already. But have equally been clear that I would take anyone else. It doesn’t matter who.

Madness to persist selecting someone who has consistently proven not to be good enough. Take a chance on ANYONE else - who might be good enough.

Seems like you are advocating for selecting a player that most agree is not Chelsea quality. Not sure why a Chelsea fan would want to have us playing with one arm tied behind our back.

Hello Jim ! Sigh ? I'm pretty sure that I haven't been advocating that we should play Jackson .

In fact I've been asking you who SHOULD play in his place.. There isn't a player called ""Anyone" at the club,, I've looked !!!

6 hours ago, The Rising Sun said:

Hello Jim ! Sigh ? I'm pretty sure that I haven't been advocating that we should play Jackson .

In fact I've been asking you who SHOULD play in his place.. There isn't a player called ""Anyone" at the club,, I've looked !!!

Who do you think should play for the final 3 games of the season? If you were chelsea manager, based on the information and evidence you have seen to date (currently as a fan) would you select Jackson - a player most on here deem not good enough?

Guiu for sure if he is fit enough to play!

25 minutes ago, Mod said:

Guiu for sure if he is fit enough to play!

Agreed. He is lacking physically, as well as experience obviously. I do really like him though. seems to have a good mindset for the role. Good positioning and makes smart runs.

1 hour ago, Mod said:

Guiu for sure if he is fit enough to play!

Yep - our best striker when considering goals per minute.

Intelligent, makes good runs, is tenacious, has received a stellar footballing education, handsome poster boy. Get him in the team (but if not him - then anybody else)

Deserves a chance - given how consistently poor Jackson has been.

In the last 5 months (since 8th december), Guiu has scored 5 goals. Jackson has scored just 4 - despite playing significantly more games.

4 hours ago, Mod said:

Guiu for sure if he is fit enough to play!

If hes not then play George up front.

If hes not fit then play Madueke.

If hs not fit then play literally anyone at the club, including cleaners and the lasses in the cafe, before picking Nicolas "f**king hell hes done it again" Jackson.

Edited May 8, 20251 yr by dkw

3 hours ago, nonotnowjim said:

Yep - our best striker when considering goals per minute..

You have to take into account those minutes though. He's not best gpm against PL teams. It's against early round conference league teams. It doesn't mean very much.

38 minutes ago, dkw said:

If hes not then play George up front.

If hes not fit then play Madueke.

If hs not fit then play literally anyone at the club, including cleaners and the lasses in the cafe, before picking Nicolas "f**king hell hes done it again" Jackson.

YES! The voice of reason!

Thank you!

4 minutes ago, Zeta said:

You have to take into account those minutes though. He's not best gpm against PL teams. It's against early round conference league teams. It doesn't mean very much.

sorry Z - but this would only be a relevant argument if we were comparing like to like.

If Guiu (or anyone else) had been given the same opportunities as Jackson, then you could argue this. Also If Jackson had an equal - or even only slightly worse - record, then this could be argued (I.e Jackson has played against better teams)….

….but this is not the case. The fact is that Jackson has had significantly more opportunities but has delivered significantly less than others. The worst goal per min of our strikers. 1 league goal in 2025 (15 or 16 games). A string of car crash performances.

So to disregard Guius record is silly, when Jackson has not been delivering at all (other than against west ham)

Edited May 8, 20251 yr by nonotnowjim