13 hours ago, Argo said:

We're going by reports going in hard for one of the best players in Serie A last season.

Pulisic redemption arc incoming, someone alert USATim

10 hours ago, nonotnowjim said:

It actually goes one further.

The thought process of Chelsea fans:

1) Stop buying over priced established superstars like Sterling, Lukaku, Koulibally, Morata etc - they rarely work out for us. We should instead target up and coming players.

2) what a surprise....now we have been buying up and coming players, but we have not won anything for a couple of seasons....This cant continue. We need to buy more experienced players to fit a system, and that are not as overpriced. That Dewsbury Hall guy would fit the bill.

3) Dewsbury hall?! WTF?! Now we are buying young, good value players, who fit the system - but they are NOT the ones I wanted. What we really need are more experienced players, that are young and up and coming, that fit our system, and which offer good value.  Is Vinicius, Bellingham or Haaland available for under £20m?

 

1.There is different between signing young and upcoming player to signing the like of mudryk, madueke or even Palmer. 

These are more of vinicius, arda guler signing. You consider them as young player, not part of your rotation. If they happen to exceed your expectations (Palmer), good, if they are not ready or fail, doesn't matter, they are not really part of your rotation. 

2. Signing KDH is never a problem if we don't have lavia, enzo, caicedo, santos, ugo. We are absolutely loaded in midfield. 

 

 

 

Edited July 4, 20242 yr by Bob stark

3 hours ago, Bob stark said:

1.There is different between signing young and upcoming player to signing the like of mudryk, madueke or even Palmer. 

These are more of vinicius, arda guler signing. You consider them as young player, not part of your rotation. If they happen to exceed your expectations (Palmer), good, if they are not ready or fail, doesn't matter, they are not really part of your rotation. 

2. Signing KDH is never a problem if we don't have lavia, enzo, caicedo, santos, ugo. We are absolutely loaded in midfield. 

 

 

 

Matt Law said in the LBP that the club is going to have a big squad because we could have up to 70 games next season; Pre-season, Premier League, League Cup, FA Cup, Conference League, 2025 FIFA Club World Cup.

1 hour ago, evissy said:

Matt Law said in the LBP that the club is going to have a big squad because we could have up to 70 games next season; Pre-season, Premier League, League Cup, FA Cup, Conference League, 2025 FIFA Club World Cup.

As it stands, we could quite happily handle 120 games LOL.

On the left, a match day squad of 20 (plus Bettinelli as 3rd keeper) ... on the right, the other 25 players that were first team squad in 23/24 or on loan, plus new signing Omari Kellyman, plus Malang Sarr 🙂 

Some poetic licence to include Calafiori at LB (surely he chooses us over bloody Arsenal LOL). I'm also giving KDH the #22 shirt, Wesley the #6 now that Silva has left, and Calafiori the #33 that he wears at Bologna.

(I put Conor on the right as I still think the club will sell him). 

 

A busy late summer of sales/loans ahead methinks ... 

 

Edited July 4, 20242 yr by Sexyfootball

1 hour ago, evissy said:

Matt Law said in the LBP that the club is going to have a big squad because we could have up to 70 games next season; Pre-season, Premier League, League Cup, FA Cup, Conference League, 2025 FIFA Club World Cup.

I think Enzo, caicedo, lavia, ugo, santos, casadei are more than enough for PL, two cup and conference league. 

You can heavily rotate your squad for conference league. 

 

 

5 hours ago, Bob stark said:

1.There is different between signing young and upcoming player to signing the like of mudryk, madueke or even Palmer. 

These are more of vinicius, arda guler signing. You consider them as young player, not part of your rotation. If they happen to exceed your expectations (Palmer), good, if they are not ready or fail, doesn't matter, they are not really part of your rotation. 

2. Signing KDH is never a problem if we don't have lavia, enzo, caicedo, santos, ugo. We are absolutely loaded in midfield. 

 

 

 

I agree mate except point 2.

Do we actually "have" lavia, lesley, and chukwuemeka yet? Are they off the medical table? That's what worries me. 

I find it very hard to include anyone that isn't fit, or hasn't been fit in a while, onto any squad list or team sheet.

Now that this lad is fully signed up, is it time for us to spell his first name correctly in the thread title?

1 hour ago, Bob stark said:

I think Enzo, caicedo, lavia, ugo, santos, casadei are more than enough for PL, two cup and conference league. 

You can heavily rotate your squad for conference league. 

 

 

We could rotate in the Conference League heavily but then you deny European football from the likes of Palmer, Caicedo, Gallagher and Enzo. I wish it was that simple. 

1 hour ago, WhiteWall said:

Now that this lad is fully signed up, is it time for us to spell his first name correctly in the thread title?

Maybe get rid of that remark as well from the end. 

1 hour ago, WhiteWall said:

Now that this lad is fully signed up, is it time for us to spell his first name correctly in the thread title?

I'm fine with whatever as long as we don't steal that horrendous 'Wonderwall' song from Leicester. 

1 hour ago, evissy said:

We could rotate in the Conference League heavily but then you deny European football from the likes of Palmer, Caicedo, Gallagher and Enzo. I wish it was that simple. 

I don't think they care about playing conference league 

4 minutes ago, Bob stark said:

I don't think they care about playing conference league 

Freezing their tits off in -15 on a ploughed paddock on a Thursday night in South Eastern Somewhere should be mandatory. A rite of passage, if you will.

18 hours ago, evissy said:

Gusto was as well and Gallagher. And Jackson.

get out....

Our midfield needs a little more cohesion and maybe this is the answer. Gallagher, for all his effort and enthusiasm, doesn’t quite have the quality we need. 

I do hope we don’t pull Caicedo deeper as a result. He’s best somewhat box to box, or running thru midfield and forward passing. We saw a lot of this end of season, and far more effective than a strict DM. 

6 hours ago, evissy said:

We could rotate in the Conference League heavily but then you deny European football from the likes of Palmer, Caicedo, Gallagher and Enzo. I wish it was that simple. 

Nobody knows if Gallagher will be here and in the pivot you only have Caicedo as Enzo and Palmer prefer playing more further up the pitch.

23 hours ago, nonotnowjim said:

  Is Vinicius, Bellingham or Haaland available for under £20m?

 

It's not as if we've signed players only 20m players. We've spent a fortune on Enzo, Caicedo, Mudryk, Fofana, Cucurella, Nkuku, Sterling. We easily had the money to sign Bellingham or Haaland if they wanted to come here but wouldn't have agreed to their wage demands.

The common thread in our transfer dealings under the new owners is that we're willing to pay way above market rate even for average players who are willing to accept a lower salary but on a longe contract. Only Sterling is earning more than 200k per week and it will get interesting when Palmer and Gusto demand a raise as they are currently on 75k and 45k per week.

22 minutes ago, Nick05 said:

It's not as if we've signed players only 20m players. We've spent a fortune on Enzo, Caicedo, Mudryk, Fofana, Cucurella, Nkuku, Sterling. We easily had the money to sign Bellingham or Haaland if they wanted to come here but wouldn't have agreed to their wage demands.

The common thread in our transfer dealings under the new owners is that we're willing to pay way above market rate even for average players who are willing to accept a lower salary but on a longe contract. Only Sterling is earning more than 200k per week and it will get interesting when Palmer and Gusto demand a raise as they are currently on 75k and 45k per week.

I would argue that out of those players, 4 should be key in our team (Enzo, caicedo, fofana and nkunku) with 1 able to play a depth role (cucu). Only mudryk and sterling are not fit for purpose.

In my view - those players are not the problem that people are complaining about. Instead, most are complaining about the 20-30m here and there for what are unproven kids....

...but as with most things, the people complaining are not giving these players or the project any time to have an impact - and are as always, jumping to conclusions too quickly.  They wanted us to buy young exciting players as opposed to finished articles. We are doing that, but people are still not happy, and not want to revert back to older established players.

1 hour ago, PhilH930 said:

Our midfield needs a little more cohesion and maybe this is the answer. Gallagher, for all his effort and enthusiasm, doesn’t quite have the quality we need. 

I do hope we don’t pull Caicedo deeper as a result. He’s best somewhat box to box, or running thru midfield and forward passing. We saw a lot of this end of season, and far more effective than a strict DM. 

Wouldn't Gallagher out (plus you would think a manager with the sense to play Enzo as the deeper midfielder he is) make it more likely Caicedo plays box to box?

36 minutes ago, Argo said:

Wouldn't Gallagher out (plus you would think a manager with the sense to play Enzo as the deeper midfielder he is) make it more likely Caicedo plays box to box?

For what its worth Liam Twomey said that Caicedo will be the 6 in the todays Athletic article. Not sure if he's had that confirmed by Maresca or what but I think its the right decision if its true. For me he's our best midfielder and when Pochettino got his act together the last couple of months or so he proved that.

https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/5614215/2024/07/04/chelseas-midfield-where-does-dewsbury-hall-fit-in-and-where-does-it-leave-conor-gallagher/?source=emp_shared_article

What I am slightly concerned about is KDH and Enzo as 8s. KDH is an 8 of course but not proven at this level and Enzo's been tried there and failed to convince anyone. For me it would definitly make sense to make room for Cole Palmer as an 8 in our 4-3-3 setup but it sounds like he'll be at the wing and I don't think its a good idea. Isolating him by shifting him out to the far right is going to be detrimental to his game and Marescas is surely going to be judged on what he gets out of Palmer this season after his tremendous season.

 

If KDH was a Chelsea academy product , we would agree that he has to be sold, never going to be a regular starter plus pure profit.

Football is arse about face these days 

35 minutes ago, OriginalS said:

For what its worth Liam Twomey said that Caicedo will be the 6 in the todays Athletic article. Not sure if he's had that confirmed by Maresca or what but I think its the right decision if its true. For me he's our best midfielder and when Pochettino got his act together the last couple of months or so he proved that.

https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/5614215/2024/07/04/chelseas-midfield-where-does-dewsbury-hall-fit-in-and-where-does-it-leave-conor-gallagher/?source=emp_shared_article

What I am slightly concerned about is KDH and Enzo as 8s. KDH is an 8 of course but not proven at this level and Enzo's been tried there and failed to convince anyone. For me it would definitly make sense to make room for Cole Palmer as an 8 in our 4-3-3 setup but it sounds like he'll be at the wing and I don't think its a good idea. Isolating him by shifting him out to the far right is going to be detrimental to his game and Marescas is surely going to be judged on what he gets out of Palmer this season after his tremendous season.

 

That would be a poor decision then in my opinion.

Not so much about Caicedo (I still think he can play lone 6 to an extremely high level) but more Enzo's position as you said.

That being said, I don't mind Enzo as the 8 in a traditional 433 but if as expected Maresca does the box midfield then not so much.

47 minutes ago, The Rising Sun said:

If KDH was a Chelsea academy product , we would agree that he has to be sold, never going to be a regular starter plus pure profit.

Football is arse about face these days 

No we wouldn't.

2 minutes ago, dkw said:

No we wouldn't.

Oh yes you would.

This just pooped on my twitter. All good passes, but look at the space that KDH has 😱😱😱

You usually need somebody to dribble past somebody to force opp to help so you can free space in the middle. Most of this are just sideway pass and boom between the line and KDH can face forward and make a pass

Edited July 5, 20242 yr by Bob stark

9 hours ago, OriginalS said:

For what its worth Liam Twomey said that Caicedo will be the 6 in the todays Athletic article. Not sure if he's had that confirmed by Maresca or what but I think its the right decision if its true. For me he's our best midfielder and when Pochettino got his act together the last couple of months or so he proved that.

https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/5614215/2024/07/04/chelseas-midfield-where-does-dewsbury-hall-fit-in-and-where-does-it-leave-conor-gallagher/?source=emp_shared_article

What I am slightly concerned about is KDH and Enzo as 8s. KDH is an 8 of course but not proven at this level and Enzo's been tried there and failed to convince anyone. For me it would definitly make sense to make room for Cole Palmer as an 8 in our 4-3-3 setup but it sounds like he'll be at the wing and I don't think its a good idea. Isolating him by shifting him out to the far right is going to be detrimental to his game and Marescas is surely going to be judged on what he gets out of Palmer this season after his tremendous season.

 

Let's say your midifeld 

Palmer - Caicedo 

Enzo

How do you want your team to press?