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He came into the team as your typical prospect, fearless and dangerous but unreliable and inconsistent. His problem was that several managers tried to mould the rough diamond into a midfielder you can build a team around. Moyes' idea was to loan him out as soon as he made one costly mistake in the first team which ruined his confidence and he ended up not even getting a game for Sheffield Wednesday. Martinez' idea was to give Ross trust and freedom. This saw him flourish in an attacking role for one season when we were flying forward with Lukaku, Deulofeu, Baines and Coleman but then when the team struggled in the next two years he didn't take responsibility and instead went missing most of the time and showed no ability to take a game by the scruff of the neck which was what we needed from him and by this time he's edging toward his mid 20s and still playing a bit like the new kid on the block. Koeman tried to turn Ross from the boy into the man with a bit of tough love. It sort of worked, he became more consistent and made less mistakes, but his attacking output was also far less, he made fewer things happen, while the likes of Alli, Loftus-Cheek and Oxlade-Chamberlain have usurped him in the England manager's thinking. You can make excuses for Barkley in that he's had so many different managers, had a major injury when he was just breaking onto the scene which saw him miss a year, and another write off season last year at a really costly point in his career. However, for a player who broke into our first team squad about six years ago, he just hasn't developed enough. When he was 18 he was a raw talent with huge potential that demonstrated poor decision making and inconsistent output on the pitch. As far as I can see, now, at nearly 25, he's a raw talent who makes poor decisions on the pitch and generally gets accused of having poor football intelligence. For me a really good player makes more progress than that and he's the type of player who will continue to tread water unless he hits the jackpot with a manager that can strike the right chord with him in a way that no previous manager has. My guess is that Barkley will continue to play 'not bad' for Chelsea and the fans will continue to give him time until they suffer a few more difficult results, realise he isn't that much of a game changer to be playing for a top six club that wants to challenge for major honours and identify that spot in the team as an area in which they need more quality. Sarri is meant to be a top class coach though so maybe he's the man to change the story.

i know cricket isn't the most popular of sports on here with only a handful of people liking it, but this is a story that is a nice to listen to if you have a couple of minutes. Quite sincere but poignant at the same time For anyone that doesn't know, TMS is BBC's cricket platform for commentary on test matches for England.

That was certainly the feeling of many at the time, and when Koeman left before the January transfer window, there was a reaction of well maybe that means Barkley could stay after all. Unsworth publicly said he'd try and convince him to stay but obviously he nor Allardyce were able to. It's unclear whether Koemans influence ended up having an impact or not. It's a theory that had Koemans managed him differently he'd have signed a new contract and never gone on the cheap in his last year. Another popular theory is that Barkley isn't the brightest spark and pretty much did what his agent wanted him to do which was to take the better pay packet at Chelsea and delay the transfer until January due to his injury to save Chelsea some money and allow Ross and the agent a bigger cut. I don't know which it is to be honest.

Also no argument for the fundamental tactical differences or similarities between ‘midfield aggressors’ and ‘holding midfielders’; just one word followed a punctuation mark and another dime-a-dozen condescending remark. Really riveting reading; makes the fellows at ‘the shed end forums’ proud. Reminds me of people pidgeonholing Essien as a holding mid as well.

Love how he defends Barkley by stating its only two games, yet is so quick to criticise Jorginho and thinks he needs to be moved out of position in favor of Kante. Also funny this is now the third time he's brought up Barkley's "pass" to set up Alonso's penalty against Huddersfield, but has yet to acknowledge the brilliant ball Jorginho played to Alonso that set up Pedro's goal against Arsenal. That and the fact he is much more instrumental for us than Barkley. Agenda?

Found it on Twitter when the director, Motwane, retweeted it. Had a proper laugh for good few minutes. Here's the link by the artist if you want the version with better pixels. https://mobile.twitter.com/PrasadPBhat/status/1027175645695102976

To be fair that was just a quick flick on that created that chance.. A very good one I grant you that and more play like that from him and he will be a major problem for any defence, things like that suddenly unlock the opposition in a blink of an eye, I am talking more about when he carries the ball on his run and uses his pace to burst forward, sometimes he gets himself boxed in and loses any outlet.. Again he had a very good game against Arsenal , very sharp, good short passing, his movement and involvement was good and more of that I will applaud all day long.. Indeed, There is a long way to go yet and the whole team not just Barkley need to adapt to Sarris way of thinking and playing.. The play is great to watch at times but also agree with what you said a little before the season kicked off that playing more attacking/attractive football in this set up with the players still adjusting means we will be vulnerable and lose that solidity we have been used to before under previous managers.. Though I would say playing that way last season did us no extra favours and we still caved and lost games we should have won only we had no intention of even trying, That may have been Conte or it may have been the players showing discontent and possibly a bit of both, so why not flip it around and try it the other way for a change..

Off topic, just wanted to say that I love your avatar After Gaitonde, Katekar is the next best character in the series!

Sanches has looked good in the pre season but yes probably still a bit of hoping more then anything. The way the squad is now im generally fine with, there is depth in every position currently. BUT if the words in the press mean much then theres something to Boateng and Rudy possibly leaving, there goes the afformentioned depth in a couple spots. I dont see how we can keep 4 world class CB's happy. It has seemingly been hard enough with 3 and Süle largely outplayed Boateng last season when Boa was fit. There has been alot of mention as to what nudge is talking about as well. Which is why there was heavy contact and links between players like Pavard for example; squad planning for next year. Whether I or you like the fact the Robbery is still here is one thing but the fact is they are on the books for another season you cant just go ahead and purchase more wingers and have 6 wingers in the squad and keep them all happy. Squad shakeup will come, it is inevitable with the ageing core one way or another. I do like the giving the Sanches's and Gnabry's a chance at the same time and thats exactly what they should have this season.

Switching Kante to the DM role won't do anything. Every one of our midfielders were guilty of ball watching. Ridiculous we still have Chelsea fans who think Kante is a DM. The quicker people realise Kante isn't actually a defensive midfielder, the better. The issue is a positional sense that all of our players are still getting used to. For two seasons, we went from having 5 defenders and two midfielders, in a system where we sat deep. We now have a system with 4 defenders, three midfielders, in a system where we have a possession based game and press high up the pitch. Talk about a knee jerk reaction thinking players need to be switching positions due to not understanding their roles perfectly. It's been 4 bloody weeks Also, Jorginho's role as our holding midfielder is the very reason why we are moving the ball with so much fluidity and dominating possession. It is part of Sarri's system and its so naive to think that putting Kante in the middle would provide the same outcome. Asinine you are so quick to slate Jorginho, who has been nothing short of elite for us in our way of playing, yet praise Barkley who's nothing but a clog atm. I've seen far more positives than negatives. And some of those negatives are part of the transition of learning Sarri's football. Relax

Was at the game and I have watched it on TV twice. Point on the Real Madrid player. Interesting what Luke had to say. For me it was obvious what happened. As he walked on the pitch he was joined by the best player in the league. Everything went through him, every 2nd ball Luke said. Well I would not agree with that at all. He benefitted with our forward play being aimed at Hazard, his side of the pitch. Its not the Real Madrid player who was the magnet, it’s the best player in the league. Once Hazard was on the pitch Jorginho only looked to the left (I say a bit about Pedro during this time later on). The truth of the matter is Alonso played further forward linking up with Hazard down that left side. Proof of this is the goal. Also, for a bloke who had everything go through him, Kovacic had nothing to do with the winning goal (Other than diving for the free kick before the build up to the goal, but I am sure nobody wants to lay claim to blatant cheating) and from a quickness of moving the ball point of view, passes given to him would have been much faster if they had missed him out and got the ball directly to Hazard as they did with the goal and was obviously the objective of the team once he entered the pitch. Hazard attracts players to him which in turn makes space for others. If he hadn’t joined Hazard on the pitch I am sure the guy who was playing in his position before he came on would have benefitted from more possession because the best player in the league was standing next to him. We must also remember it was Kovacic who did not run with Ramsey who’s shot was spilled by our young keeper allowing Lacazette a free pop at the ball which caused objections from those around. Pretty simple stuff really, but I think your comments are more aimed at having a pop at Barkley than having any real substance of proof on the Real Madrid player performance. The applause Barkley got leaving the pitch leaves nobody without any doubt what Chelsea fans thought of his performance. If he starts next game I would tell him to get further forward, gamble more. Id much rather have someone busting a gut to be alongside Hazard as an option in the box, ala Frank, than behind him as Kovacic was. We have Alonso for that. If I was assessing Kovacic 30 minute cameo I would say he was very neat n tidy. Defensively naïve watching the ball rather taking notice of the guy he was marking which almost cost us a goal. Hardly the second coming of Lazarus as some would have you believe, but obviously another player who is comfortable on the ball. It’s his first game & I am sure he will do us some good, but he isn’t our player and there is no fixed fee for him, so for me you go with the players who will be with us next season. Obviously that would change and he would become an equal if he was to become our player. Anyway, the real problem in the midfield is defensively Jorginho. I have to say this manager needs to swallow some pride n return Kante back to the middle. I am not fussed if he finds another position for his fav player. He can play when the ball is at his feet, but as others are now pointing out, what I said within seeing him play 2 pre season games, he is a huge liability without the ball. I am not saying he is at fault alone for the mad 20 minutes when Arsenal should have won the game, but I would offer he was about as much use as an heart attack during that period. Now as I am sure people have worked out, I am not a fan of the high line, press, but this manager has played it for sometime elsewhere, with Jorginho as his central midfielder. So why is the manager highlighting we need to time our pressing better and need to work more on this. The most guilty bloke is his fav player who is always far too much up the pitch! Fuck me, if his fav player who has been playing his system for a number of years cant time it right, how many mad 20 mins are we gonna have this season? I think the bottom line is, our defence isn’t good enough to have a central holding midfielder in the quarter back roll. It needs a proper defensive midfielder and when you have the best in the world in that position on your books, don’t play him out wide. It’s common sense. Fabregas managed to influence games from the right sided midfield position for years, so why can’t Jorginho? I have what Aurelio De Laurentiis said about Sarri nagging in my head. One trick pony. Makes me wonder if we are saddled with a QB in the middle all season or does this manager have it in him to tweak something to make us more solid? Goalie. Ok two games and in our house and I am sure many other Chelsea houses up n down the country is is now known as Teflon. Nothing sticks at all. He is young & the Chelsea boards are all stating we need to cut him some slack. We paid a lot of money for this slack needing keeper and one would have thought he should have stopped at least one of the two goals as he got a hand to both. Granted his hand did not find the middle of the ball either time… I am just saying. He is good with the ball at his feet, although when hitting with his left foot the ball balloons rather than gets drilled. Often see him allowing defenders to attack his clearances\passes he hits with his left foot. It’s obvious there is a keeper in him, just hope he can catch a few balls in time. Wow Morata has a left foot Morata has a left foot na na na na, na na na na. Never doubted the chap (I Jest), but he needs to do it again n again n again before the end of September or he as advertised, Shit. Interesting he has now said Conte’s style did not suit him. After playing for him in Italy, makes you wonder why he would sign for him in London if he had questions over his style. "For me, it's easy. I could have gone back to Spain or Italy, all the people believe in me there, but I want to change things here, I want to, not for all the haters, but for me and for Chelsea. Chelsea gave me everything that I needed and now I have time to give back all that Chelsea give me.” …………Hey, I hear yer feller, would love to see it, but…….. lets wait n see eh? Plus points. Hazard was outstanding when he came on and it was nice of him to pass on what Madrid have told him to say after the game ~Rollseyes~. He attracts players to him, wins free kicks, set up goal chances, although the last one to Giroud he should have taken on himself. You could see our team shift everything to the left when he came on. Jorginho only looked the one way from the moment Hazard entered the pitch which meant we became one dimensional. I was disappointed after he came on and Arsenal shifted players onto his side, that Pedro did not hug the right hand touchline. We needed that “out” with so much given to the left. Pedro while too far inside late in the game did have another good game, again scoring. He was staved so much of the ball once Hazard came on that late in the game Pedro was seen right over onto the left flank. Meanwhile Willian so far isn’t up to scratch. Again Barkley played well and there were groans around the ground when his number was put up to pull him off but brilliant loud applause. I like many others would have liked to seen him with Hazard, but we all can see how this manager is looking as he ok’d the sweetener. Lastly on the day, Dave, captain, gave a great interview after the game on BT Sport. I never saw it till Sunday, but he represented the club very well. Shame he got the run around during those mad 20 minutes. Talking of those 20 minutes, I feel sure we would have heard after the game our manager, being Italian, would have been up on a match fixing charge had the game ended 2-2. How else could anyone explain the Chalk n Cheese first half performance. Next weekend we have our hardest fixture of the season

The astrophysics of Interstellar is based mostly on Kip Thorne theories, that's the part of the movie I enjoyed most. If you haven't read it before, I highly recommend his Black Holes and Time Warps, a book for lay readers written in a similar style to Sagan's and Hawking's best ones, although much more complex and harder to understand.

I want to learn a bit more about astrophysics, and I have heard from people much smarter on the subject than I, that the amount of experts they spoke with throughout the movie to make sure it was as accurate as possible, gives the movie more kudos in my opinion.

Yennefer. im only like 2 hours into the game to be fair

Plenty fine for CSGO because it has some easy to render stuff, you just wont be playing it some ridiculously high reso.

I’ve never seen a second of any James Bond film.

Congrats mate, beautiful.

I wanna see you

The new arrival is finally here!!! Say hello to Mia... Another soft bundle of potential chaos into our lives.... Leelah getting involved early... Both mum and baby doing well...

Isn't that Australia as a whole?

'Jûbê ninpûchô (Ninja scroll)' 9/10 'Ivanovo Detstvo (Ivan's childhood)' 9/10 'Shock Corridor' 8/10 'The Last Seduction' 7.5/10 'Avengers: Infinity War' 8/10 'The Gunfighter' Love Gregory Peck. 9/10 'Deadpool 2' Much more inferior compared to the first one. 7/10

I love this man

Interesting, we should try swapping Darmian+Jones for Messi.