The Official Chelsea Thread [Vol 3]

[fourstardan]

Roast spuds for tea on Sunday hopefully.

Listened on the radio driving home, nearly ate the steering wheel at the end.

What an idiotic moment from Reece James, him and his sister doing silly things some coincidence.

[monty999]

UTH said:

We could end up 5th unless I’m reading it all wrong? Spurs need to lose of course?

Yep, quite unbelievable. Just imagine where we could be if we were any good !

[CT05 Nose Cone]

monty999 said:

UTH said:

We could end up 5th unless I’m reading it all wrong? Spurs need to lose of course?

Yep, quite unbelievable. Just imagine where we could be if we were any good !

Part of me still thinks the PL have made an error in the table, as to be 6th with 1 game left just feels bizarre.

[aeropilot]

CT05 Nose Cone said:

monty999 said:

UTH said:

We could end up 5th unless I’m reading it all wrong? Spurs need to lose of course?

Yep, quite unbelievable. Just imagine where we could be if we were any good !

Part of me still thinks the PL have made an error in the table, as to be 6th with 1 game left just feels bizarre.

Were languishing down in 12th just over 5 weeks ago, so that's not a surprising feeling considering.....

[smn159]

aeropilot said:

UTH said:

We could end up 5th unless I’m reading it all wrong? Spurs need to lose of course?

Yep, Blues win and Spuds go super-Spursy and loose to Sheffield, then its 5th place.

Sheffield Utd and Spurs have got the two worst records in the division over the last 6 games. Could go either way

[UTH]

CT05 Nose Cone said:

monty999 said:

UTH said:

We could end up 5th unless I’m reading it all wrong? Spurs need to lose of course?

Yep, quite unbelievable. Just imagine where we could be if we were any good !

Part of me still thinks the PL have made an error in the table, as to be 6th with 1 game left just feels bizarre.

I agree, which is why I needed clarification on here, because my brain would not accept that we could end the season one place off the CL places. It very much feels like we should be thinking "well, at least we go into the final weekend guaranteed safety" not "a few better results and we'd be playing Real Madrid next season".

[TwigtheWonderkid]

fourstardan said:

What an idiotic moment from Reece James, him and his sister doing silly things some coincidence.

Time to relieve him of the captaincy. Great player, but ill disciplined and injury prone. That's not what a captain should be.

[968]

TwigtheWonderkid said:

fourstardan said:

What an idiotic moment from Reece James, him and his sister doing silly things some coincidence.

Time to relieve him of the captaincy. Great player, but ill disciplined and injury prone. That's not what a captain should be.

He will probably be sold in summer.

[fourstardan]

TwigtheWonderkid said:

Time to relieve him of the captaincy. Great player, but ill disciplined and injury prone. That's not what a captain should be.

Something we agree on finally.

He hasn't exhibited the behaviours of a captain, it's all become about him. I wonder if the father pushes them in these directions as his sister has been the same the more rated they get. If he gets in the euro's squad I'd be surprised.

Gallagher has been a good of most of the second half of the season for me, not a blemish on anything he's done and can mature to better heights (if we keep him).

Licking my lips for Sunday and a big result, spuds to lose and us to shut down our second half season!

I think you all need to be a bit less naive and more patient with Pochettino and the team.

[SWoll]

968 said:

He will probably be sold in summer.

Who's going to risk buying him at this point though? According to transfermarkt he's missed 83 games over the past 3 seasons through injury and his current contract is up in 2025.

No chance he's going to the Euro's either. Would be madness to call him up at this point.

[TwigtheWonderkid]

SWoll said:

968 said:

He will probably be sold in summer.

Who's going to risk buying him at this point though? According to transfermarkt he's missed 83 games over the past 3 seasons through injury and his current contract is up in 2025.

No chance he's going to the Euro's either. Would be madness to call him up at this point.

He can be sold if the price is right. He's potentially a £100m+ player, but at £40m, someone might take a chance on him. Of course he's not going to the Euros.

[Dblue]

I've avoided this thread during much of this season and a quick scan suggests that was very much the right thing to do

We have been pretty erratic as a team this year , often bright in patches, often prone to errors at the back and very wasteful in front of goal
Almost like its a young and inexperienced group that have had to get to know each other and the coach, constantly ravaged by injuries and without the trust of their own supporters, especially the ones on here!
So yes , there's been some poor days , its been an anxious watch even when we appear to be in the ascendancy and I've not been convinced by Poch especially his in game management.
But christ there's some right bedwetting entitled moaning "fans" on here. The strategy was clearly to identify young players with high potential - and pay what it took to get them. Appoint a coach that has had success with young sets of players and ride some inevitable ups and downs.
Way to go yet but seems its coming together.

[uk66fastback]

Good post!

[TwigtheWonderkid]

Dblue said:

The strategy was clearly to identify young players with high potential - and pay what it took to get them.

Buying young players with potential to be superstars is great. Paying established superstar money for them is fking madness.

I might buy a Rolex at a car boot sale because I've got a good feeling that it could be genuine, and if I'm right, it will be worth £15K. But not when the seller tells be he wants £15K for it.

[GT03ROB]

Dblue said:

But christ there's some right bedwetting entitled moaning "fans" on here. The strategy was clearly to identify young players with high potential - and pay what it took to get them. Appoint a coach that has had success with young sets of players and ride some inevitable ups and downs.
Way to go yet but seems its coming together.

This clearly was the strategy. As high risk strategies goes it is right up there. If it works its genius. They have recruited some very talented kids. There's a few the jury is out on. If they can avoid having to sell in the summer other than the clear deadwood, next season could be more interesting. With kids its confidence & at the moment the confidence is there so the results are coming. The season will end well.

People will say these players are not world class, but you don;t normally define that until they are the other side of 25. That means 3 more years of development for the likes of Palmer, Jackson, Gusto, Mudryk.

Chelseas fans have over the last 20 years grown used to instant success, patience has not been needed. Last season was a clusterfk by any measure. This one has at least seen something & should probably have seen more.

[TwigtheWonderkid]

GT03ROB said:

People will say these players are not world class, but you don;t normally define that until they are the other side of 25. That means 3 more years of development for the likes of Palmer, Jackson, Gusto, Mudryk.

Caicedo was bought for £115m. If he turns out to be world class at 25, how much is a world class defensive midfielder worth. Rice went for £100m, Kante cost us £35m, but he was older. I wonder if Caicedo could ever be sold for more than we paid for him, regardless of how well he does.

See my Rolex example above.

[GT03ROB]

TwigtheWonderkid said:

GT03ROB said:

People will say these players are not world class, but you don;t normally define that until they are the other side of 25. That means 3 more years of development for the likes of Palmer, Jackson, Gusto, Mudryk.

Caicedo was bought for £115m. If he turns out to be world class at 25, how much is a world class defensive midfielder worth. Rice went for £100m, Kante cost us £35m, but he was older. I wonder if Caicedo could ever be sold for more than we paid for him, regardless of how well he does.

See my Rolex example above.

You’ll note 2 omissions from my list Caicedo & Fernandez. I doubt we will ever recover what we paid for them but they could be world class. Based on this season Palmer, Jackson, Gusto we will. Mudryk, less likely, but probably more so than caicedo & fernandez

[fourstardan]

TwigtheWonderkid said:

Caicedo was bought for £115m. If he turns out to be world class at 25, how much is a world class defensive midfielder worth. Rice went for £100m, Kante cost us £35m, but he was older. I wonder if Caicedo could ever be sold for more than we paid for him, regardless of how well he does.

See my Rolex example above.

Kante was injured for most of the last two seasons on £250k+ so what a waste of money that was!

[blue al]

This is your Sunday afternoon crib sheet..(cut and paste from bbc sport)

Chelsea:
Will be fifth if they beat Bournemouth AND Tottenham lose
Will be sixth if they win AND Tottenham avoid defeat
Will be sixth if they draw, regardless of any other results
Will be seventh if they lose AND Newcastle United win, or if Manchester United win while making up a 16-goal swing in goal difference over the Blues

So

The fifth-place finisher qualifies for the Europa League. For sixth and seventh, it will depend on the outcome of the FA Cup final, the winners of which earn a Europa League place.
If Manchester City win the FA Cup, that Europa League place reverts to the league so the sixth-placed team will play in next season's Europa League, and the seventh-placed team will be in the Europa Conference League.
If Manchester United win the FA Cup, they get in the Europa League wherever they finish, and the highest-placed team not yet qualified for Europe gets the Europa Conference League place.

[fourstardan]

blue al said:

This is your Sunday afternoon crib sheet..(cut and paste from bbc sport)

Chelsea:
Will be fifth if they beat Bournemouth AND Tottenham lose
Will be sixth if they win AND Tottenham avoid defeat
Will be sixth if they draw, regardless of any other results
Will be seventh if they lose AND Newcastle United win, or if Manchester United win while making up a 16-goal swing in goal difference over the Blues

So

The fifth-place finisher qualifies for the Europa League. For sixth and seventh, it will depend on the outcome of the FA Cup final, the winners of which earn a Europa League place.
If Manchester City win the FA Cup, that Europa League place reverts to the league so the sixth-placed team will play in next season's Europa League, and the seventh-placed team will be in the Europa Conference League.
If Manchester United win the FA Cup, they get in the Europa League wherever they finish, and the highest-placed team not yet qualified for Europe gets the Europa Conference League place.

10/1 if you put us to win and spuds to lose......