The Official Chelsea Thread [Vol 3]

[Black can man]

Surely Ronaldo's time must soon be up & Hazard is about the best there is around right now.


Will be an interesting summer that's for sure.

[Antony Moxey]

TwigtheWonderkid said:

I'm a Chelsea fan and I think Hazard will go to Madrid in the summer. Why wouldn't he, and why would we begrudge him? Any top player who doesn't have ambitions to play for Real or Barca is a bit odd, imho.

This country’s where it’s at, not Spain. Their turn as top dogs is over now, it’s England who are beginning to rule the roost now. Plus our top division, in terms of competitiveness and excitement, is light years ahead of any of the other major European leagues. France and Germany are one team league’s, Spain two, Italy three possibly four yet in England it’s six and could be more with those further down regularly beating those at the top.

You could say any player that desperate to play for the two Spanish sides might conside4 themselves a bit odd when there’s so much going on here.

[jammy-git]

Black can man said:

Surely Ronaldo's time must soon be up & Hazard is about the best there is around right now.


Will be an interesting summer that's for sure.

Now Coutinho gone to Barcelona, certainly.

You have to say, either Hazard or Eriksen won't be at the same clubs come next September.

[Russian Troll Bot]

Antony Moxey said:

TwigtheWonderkid said:

I'm a Chelsea fan and I think Hazard will go to Madrid in the summer. Why wouldn't he, and why would we begrudge him? Any top player who doesn't have ambitions to play for Real or Barca is a bit odd, imho.

This country’s where it’s at, not Spain. Their turn as top dogs is over now, it’s England who are beginning to rule the roost now. Plus our top division, in terms of competitiveness and excitement, is light years ahead of any of the other major European leagues. France and Germany are one team league’s, Spain two, Italy three possibly four yet in England it’s six and could be more with those further down regularly beating those at the top.

You could say any player that desperate to play for the two Spanish sides might conside4 themselves a bit odd when there’s so much going on here.

There is a vast gap between the PL top 6 and the rest though (or at the moment, City and the big 5). You then have Everton, Burnley and Leicester in their own little Europe mini-league, and the 11 more teams that could easily go down if they went on a bad run. Yes the latter did win the title, but that was a freak result that we'll likely never see again in or lifetime. So it really isn't as competitive as people like to make out.

[Antony Moxey]

Russian Troll Bot said:

Antony Moxey said:

TwigtheWonderkid said:

I'm a Chelsea fan and I think Hazard will go to Madrid in the summer. Why wouldn't he, and why would we begrudge him? Any top player who doesn't have ambitions to play for Real or Barca is a bit odd, imho.

This country’s where it’s at, not Spain. Their turn as top dogs is over now, it’s England who are beginning to rule the roost now. Plus our top division, in terms of competitiveness and excitement, is light years ahead of any of the other major European leagues. France and Germany are one team league’s, Spain two, Italy three possibly four yet in England it’s six and could be more with those further down regularly beating those at the top.

You could say any player that desperate to play for the two Spanish sides might conside4 themselves a bit odd when there’s so much going on here.

There is a vast gap between the PL top 6 and the rest though (or at the moment, City and the big 5). You then have Everton, Burnley and Leicester in their own little Europe mini-league, and the 11 more teams that could easily go down if they went on a bad run. Yes the latter did win the title, but that was a freak result that we'll likely never see again in or lifetime. So it really isn't as competitive as people like to make out.

Well I would say it is as bottom teams beat top teams regularly, and given as you say 11 teams could go down and the other nine qualify for Europe - doesn’t that by definition make it competitive?

Compare that with the big European Leagues: France and Germany are one horse races, Spain is a two horse race and Italy a three or four horse race. Not just the odd year but every year, no anomalies, no shocks, I’d say there’s nowhere near the competitiveness or excitement of the Premier League anywhere else.

[TwigtheWonderkid]

Our league may be high on excitement but it's of debatable quality. An English team hasn't won the CL for 6 yrs now. Bayern have thrashed Arsenal 5-1 for three meetings on the trot. You say there are only 2 teams in Spain, but Athletico have knocked out our top teams on a regular basis of late, Chelsea and Leicester. So one of their "nothing" teams are better than our league winning teams

[Russian Troll Bot]

Antony Moxey said:

Russian Troll Bot said:

Antony Moxey said:

TwigtheWonderkid said:

I'm a Chelsea fan and I think Hazard will go to Madrid in the summer. Why wouldn't he, and why would we begrudge him? Any top player who doesn't have ambitions to play for Real or Barca is a bit odd, imho.

This country’s where it’s at, not Spain. Their turn as top dogs is over now, it’s England who are beginning to rule the roost now. Plus our top division, in terms of competitiveness and excitement, is light years ahead of any of the other major European leagues. France and Germany are one team league’s, Spain two, Italy three possibly four yet in England it’s six and could be more with those further down regularly beating those at the top.

You could say any player that desperate to play for the two Spanish sides might conside4 themselves a bit odd when there’s so much going on here.

There is a vast gap between the PL top 6 and the rest though (or at the moment, City and the big 5). You then have Everton, Burnley and Leicester in their own little Europe mini-league, and the 11 more teams that could easily go down if they went on a bad run. Yes the latter did win the title, but that was a freak result that we'll likely never see again in or lifetime. So it really isn't as competitive as people like to make out.

Well I would say it is as bottom teams beat top teams regularly, and given as you say 11 teams could go down and the other nine qualify for Europe - doesn’t that by definition make it competitive?

Compare that with the big European Leagues: France and Germany are one horse races, Spain is a two horse race and Italy a three or four horse race. Not just the odd year but every year, no anomalies, no shocks, I’d say there’s nowhere near the competitiveness or excitement of the Premier League anywhere else.

They don't beat the top sides regularly though, otherwise the gaps in the table would be smaller. We just pay more notice to shock results than all the times when the expected outcomes happen. France and Germany I would agree, but Atletico have been in the mix in recent years, and Real are currently in 5th 11 points behind them.

Someone has analysed it in detail, and found the top 6 are consistently pulling away from the rest

https://public.tableau.com/views/Premiershiptop6vs...

[Antony Moxey]

TwigtheWonderkid said:

Our league may be high on excitement but it's of debatable quality. An English team hasn't won the CL for 6 yrs now. Bayern have thrashed Arsenal 5-1 for three meetings on the trot. You say there are only 2 teams in Spain, but Athletico have knocked out our top teams on a regular basis of late, Chelsea and Leicester. So one of their "nothing" teams are better than our league winning teams

That’s a different argument, I was on about entertainment and competitiveness. And yes, there are only two teams in Spain: how many times in the last goodness knows how many years has the title been won by someone other than Real or Barca?

I think Spain’s had its day for now, both teams have aging squads and are not quite the invincible forces that they have been for a number of years. This year we have five teams in the CL and could well see all five in the last eight. The best managers are here and now it would appear - despite what FIFA might think - the best players are coming here too.

[TwigtheWonderkid]

Antony Moxey said:

I think Spain’s had its day for now, both teams have aging squads and are not quite the invincible forces that they have been for a number of years. This year we have five teams in the CL and could well see all five in the last eight. The best managers are here and now it would appear - despite what FIFA might think - the best players are coming here too.

Are they. Coutinho has just left for Spain, Messi & Ronaldo are both there, and PSG seem to be attracting some very good players. Hazard will probably go to Spain too.

[Black can man]

Barca & PSG are still the teams to beat

[Antony Moxey]

TwigtheWonderkid said:

Antony Moxey said:

I think Spain’s had its day for now, both teams have aging squads and are not quite the invincible forces that they have been for a number of years. This year we have five teams in the CL and could well see all five in the last eight. The best managers are here and now it would appear - despite what FIFA might think - the best players are coming here too.

Are they. Coutinho has just left for Spain, Messi & Ronaldo are both there, and PSG seem to be attracting some very good players. Hazard will probably go to Spain too.

Ronaldo might not be there for much longer, Hazard is still here, Messi, along with Ronaldo, is approaching the end of his (stellar) career. So yes, Coutinho has gone there so I guess that’s your point made.

[Sparkyhd]

Black can man said:

Barca & PSG are still the teams to beat

And Southampton

[Black can man]

Sparkyhd said:

Black can man said:

Barca & PSG are still the teams to beat

And Southampton

& Palace

[TwigtheWonderkid]

Antony Moxey said:

And yes, there are only two teams in Spain: how many times in the last goodness knows how many years has the title been won by someone other than Real or Barca?

Doesn't it somewhat hamper your argument that a team from outside their top two consistently dumps our best teams out of the CL.

[Antony Moxey]

TwigtheWonderkid said:

Antony Moxey said:

And yes, there are only two teams in Spain: how many times in the last goodness knows how many years has the title been won by someone other than Real or Barca?

Doesn't it somewhat hamper your argument that a team from outside their top two consistently dumps our best teams out of the CL.

No, because the same two still win the Spanish league each year. Your argument is irrelevent as all your saying is our league isn’t competitive because our teams lose in Europe. That doesn’t alter our bottom teams beating our top teams each week or that you can throw a blanket over the bottom half of the division with the top half all still having a very good shout at qualifying for Europe.

[jammy-git]

There are two issues being discussed here. It's undeniable that the Premier League is the most competitive in the league. There are very few matches now where the chances of an upset against one of the top six are close to zero.

But, to say the world's best players won't want to go to any of the other top leagues because of this is stupid. The best players will still want to go to the likes of Real, Barca, PSG, Juve, Bayern, etc because they get to play with other top players, they get to win titles and battle it out in the finals of the CL nearly every season and they still get paid a bootload to do it too.

[TwigtheWonderkid]

Precisely. Yes, our league is very competitive, but it's not the best for quality.

[Sparkyhd]

jammy-git said:

There are two issues being discussed here. It's undeniable that the Premier League is the most competitive in the league. There are very few matches now where the chances of an upset against one of the top six are close to zero.

But, to say the world's best players won't want to go to any of the other top leagues because of this is stupid. The best players will still want to go to the likes of Real, Barca, PSG, Juve, Bayern, etc because they get to play with other top players, they get to win titles and battle it out in the finals of the CL nearly every season and they still get paid a bootload to do it too.

I agree. For the top top players they can earn the most at Barcelona, Real or PSG and due to the lighter workload of their domestic league stand a better chance in the CL.

Even though Utd will be paying shedloads per week for Sanchez would they be willing to pay Neymar type money?

[JLC25]

Let's have some predictions for tonight then!

I think we'll come through - the 3-4-3 looked brilliant going forward, but suspect defensively - luckily the defenders we have are good enough to hold on - 2-1 win for me.

[trackdemon]

Hope you're right! We're inconsistent, and without Morata & Cesc tonight. I'm leaning towards a full time draw, then absolutely no idea in e/t. If Hazard/Willian play like they did on the weekend, it could be a treat - but I doubt they'll be allowed the same time & space.