Chelsea Discussion

[True Blue]

No worries walking it next season 

[Spike]

8 hours ago, Danny said:

100% if your wing backs were better you'd be better, Moses ain't good enough.

Whats happening with Roman, not bankrolling the transfer funds for you anymore? You seem to be a bit more frugal these days

Chelsea do spend quite a bit but haven't forked out huge transfers for years, save Morata. Transfers are rarely above the 40,000,000 mark. If you were to examine the team since Torres, it's a marked shift in transfer policy. They are in a weird spot of trying to be thrifty but also spending a lot. I think the club hopes that if they keep buying 30,000,000 pound players they'll find a gem that is actually worth 90,000,000 pounds.

[The Liquidator]

I still feel the major contributor to the drop in standard of our team this season is the manager.

He was unable to control Costa & if we are to believe those who are said to be in the know at the club, the manager made it impossible for the board to fix the situation, a situation the board did not want to end with selling the player.

Conte alone put us in the weaker position and the constant whining and overall depression he has poisoned our season off the pitch, it must also be flagged he allowed Tammy Abraham to leave as well for the season. We the fans would have bent over backwards supporting Abraham and the managers decision to go with him over Costa, knowing its about the bigger future picture. The managers choice of a one footed Spanish Yellow card collector up to now looks a bit of a Turkey.

For me, we are at our most weakest up front and the continuation of playing Hazard as the CF (Sod the bullshit false nine) is as poor a decision making as I can remember. For me, Barca at home could have been a masterstroke by the manager if he had the balls to drop Hazard and play someone who can hold the ball up. He didnt and that is another nail in his coffin for me.

Manager needs to be moved on, straight after the Barcelona game if it isnt a positive result, although if they got rid of him now id be happy.

----------------------------------

Transfers:

I happen to think over the past 5 seasons we have operated the best in the market in buying players. Alas, during that time, we have also allowed some of those signings to move on who are now coming to fruition as the players we obviously, at one time thought they were.

Costa Fabregas Hazard and Kante have all been Blue Chip signings and none broke the bank in signing.

Dave has become probably pound for pound one of the best EPL signings in the last decade.

The problem is, since this manager arrived, of those blue chip players only Kante has joined the club and the manager has managed to lose a player (Costa) who should have his picture next to the line, you dont realize what you have until you lose him. All other signings look to need, at least, time or in some cases, to be moved on as quickly as possible.

 

[carefreeluke]

On 9/23/2017 at 02:22, carefreeluke said:

Thank you Costa. Morata isn't on Costa's level, let's hope he proves me wrong.

Morata was never an upgrade on Costa, I still believe he has the potential to improve massively in the future but I believe that's solely up to how Morata applies himself in the next few years. From various snippets I've read from or about Morata over the years, confidence seems to a big issue for him. One of the main reasons Morata didn't get a true go at Madrid was because of his general play, Ancelotti and Zidane much preferred Benzema's hold up play and his ability to link up with his teammates which is a department that Morata is seriously lacking in at the moment. Morata eerily reminds me too much of Torres and his bad side which we unfortunately saw too much of.

Costa had half seasons for us really but he was always a presence no matter how badly he played, something which Conte and Mourinho like. Yes his technical ability use to piss you off at times, yes he was a half a season man but his return was decent. And I have to say for the first half of last season, he was the best player in the league, just a shame he couldn't keep that consistency up. People talk about the fall out and his change in form but he's had a history of performing for half the season, under Mourinho he was only decent for the first half of that season,  the following season he only started to play well when Hiddink came in and last season he was only decent for the first half under Conte (he was fucking amazing in this first half mind).

I saw this photo in a Spanish newspaper the other day. Atlético fans adore him, Chelsea fans did / do as well.

A photo which pretty much sums him up....

Edited February 28, 2018 by carefreeluke

[Cicero]

He didn't want to be here though? Not much the club nor Conte could do, however the latter could of handled  the situation better. Conte probably doesn't like players who don't have their heart set at a club, however Costa did give everything on the pitch. 2 titles in 3 years justifies that. 

Fairly certain not one Chelsea fan hates him. 

[True Blue]

I was one of his critics (not because of the excellent football) but his attitude on the pitch and getting involved in shit every single game. His goal scoring ratio was insane, he could make a goal out of nothing plus he basically almost never missed sitters. In out last two title wins he was in both a top five performer. Morata started great but lately spending more time on the grass than on his feet is seriously pissing me off. Hasn't scored since December in his last nine games, managed three yellows and a red card. I understand that it is his first season, same stands for Bakayoko, Rudiger etc. I will give them all a chance, but overall in this system think Costa was a perfect fit.

[The Liquidator]

From what I was told Costa wanted to leave for China during the winter window. It was agreed with him and his agent that would be allowed in the summer. When the goal posts were moved between those two windows and the China club were unable to pay double the fee his move fell through. Mendes asked Chelsea for an improved contract as way of compensation to him losing out on the China money which I understand was being considered. It was the manager who wanted him out and made public the agreement Costa would leave in the summer and he was determined there would be no way back for the striker. The other players knew he wanted to stay and if you read quotes from them at the time, they hope it could be fixed.

It was because of the Conte stance & making everything public, Mendes informed the club Costa would only leave for Atletico.

Costa would still be at the club if it wasnt for the manager.

-------------------------------

I must state, at the time I was all for the manager decision cause I sensed Costa downed tools after the winter window and had heard of his antics in training ect.

However, pretty obvious now.... major mistake.

[Cicero]

Not buying that. From his constant complaining about the city, the weather, and his continuous flirtation with Atletico and Simeone, it was evident his heart was never set here. 

Whether it be China or Atletico, Conte or no Conte he was bound to leave regardless. No manager will put up with a player that doesn't want to be here. 

Edited February 28, 2018 by Cicero

[The Liquidator]

2 hours ago, Cicero said:

Not buying that. From his constant complaining about the city, the weather, and his continuous flirtation with Atletico and Simeone, it was evident his heart was never set here. 

Whether it be China or Atletico, Conte or no Conte he was bound to leave regardless. No manager will put up with a player that doesn't want to be here. 

You obviously havent been around many professional footballers  ~ Money is the cure for 99% of their bullshit.

[Spike]

I don't buy that a wage increase would cure what ailes Costa. He is a habitual malcontent, a wage increase is like putting a band aid on cancer.

[carefreeluke]

6 hours ago, Cicero said:

He didn't want to be here though? Not much the club nor Conte could do, however the latter could of handled  the situation better. Conte probably doesn't like players who don't have their heart set at a club, however Costa did give everything on the pitch. 2 titles in 3 years justifies that. 

Fairly certain not one Chelsea fan hates him. 

Oh yeah not a lot the club could do really, more just pointing out that he left a whole that hasn't been filled properly yet. We're still waiting on Morata.

Drogba, Terry and other big names for us under Roman have flirted and done even more with other clubs, I'm not so sure why such a big fuss is made when the likes of Courtois and Hazard do it.  Don't get me wrong, if I was in their shoes I wouldn't do it, I think it lacks respect still no matter how strong their connection is with the club and no matter how modern football works these days but it is what it is. Drogba was adamant on more than a few occasions that he wanted to leave Chelsea, his words were even stronger than anything Costa said.

I think Costa's character is also misjudged partly, teammates and people at the clubs he's played for have always been full of praise.

Edited February 28, 2018 by carefreeluke

[carefreeluke]

Drogba...

Quote

 

"Nothing can stop me from leaving now."

"Since the day I arrived, I wanted to leave Chelsea and then again every summer," he said.

"I know that Ronaldinho and Kaka are linked to come next season but even that won't change my mind."

 

His book is also a very good read as well by the way!

[Spike]

25 minutes ago, carefreeluke said:

Drogba...

His book is also a very good read as well by the way!

Drogba was a fucking prick when he was younger. Everyone knows that. He was once reviled.

[Danny]

I don't get the hate to Conte for the Costa malarkey, if he wants to leave then send him on his way.

Who other than Morata could have replaced Costa in the Summer?

[carefreeluke]

6 minutes ago, Danny said:

I don't get the hate to Conte for the Costa malarkey, if he wants to leave then send him on his way.

Who other than Morata could have replaced Costa in the Summer?

It's more just pointing out it's another one of the factors that explains our current situation, regardless of how well we could have replaced him or not. I don't think the current system or playing style plays to the strengths of Morata or Batshuayi for the matter either.

A random one as well, on Kante. The bloke is fucking brilliant and we saw the difference his absence made earlier on this season but his ability on the ball doesn't help the team at times as more and more teams start to press us. His downside has always been his ability on the ball and it's become more apparent this season.

 

[bozziovai]

44 minutes ago, Danny said:

I don't get the hate to Conte for the Costa malarkey, if he wants to leave then send him on his way.

Who other than Morata could have replaced Costa in the Summer?

exactly.    morata was the only viable option Chelsea had that summer.    his form in madrid that season was good enough to convince the Board in chelsea to pay that much amount for him.

but this fall from grace of Chelsea has Conte to blame.   I

[Cicero]

3 hours ago, bozziovai said:

exactly.    morata was the only viable option Chelsea had that summer.    his form in madrid that season was good enough to convince the Board in chelsea to pay that much amount for him.

but this fall from grace of Chelsea has Conte to blame.   I

How? Conte's only fault during the summer was naming Cahill captain. The board are responsible for not strengthing effeciently (something we never do after a title win). Buying injured players and not upgrading our wing backs, let alone getting any wingbacks. Only Zappacosta, who doesn't scream quality, on fucking deadline day. 

It's like giving a soldier a water gun in and telling them to survive. 

I'd like to see any manager do what Conte has done with the squad at our current disposal. 

[The Liquidator]

Seems people here are being selective in what they remember. The manager losing it with Costa during one training session screaming at him that its always something and he can fucking leave. Plus the text to Costa when he was under the impression he may get a new improved contract only for the manager to inform him there was no change from the winter window agreement he could leave at the end of the season. Which I might add was supposed to be to China. It was then Costa said only Athletico.

As a point of order, how many of you think the board were happy to move Costa on?

 

 

[Cicero]

Seems people here are being naive if they fucking believe the story Conte texted Costa that he isn't part of his plans 

 

Seems Courtois has been opening his mouth again. In all honesty I hope we sell in the summer. If a player doesn't want to be here, flog him. Must be complete torture when you are letting shot after shot in and still getting paid thousands. Hope he fucks off. 

Edited March 1, 2018 by Cicero

[The Liquidator]

52 minutes ago, Cicero said:

Seems people here are being naive if they fucking believe the story Conte texted Costa that he isn't part of his plans 

 

Seems Courtois has been opening his mouth again. In all honesty I hope we sell in the summer. If a player doesn't want to be here, flog him. Must be complete torture when you are letting shot after shot in and still getting paid thousands. Hope he fucks off. 

 

I think you will find the text said no change from the agreement during the winter window. Ray Wilkins said as much on Sky.

Training ground incident didnt happen?

Yeah, board question is difficult to answer!

[Cicero]

1 minute ago, The Liquidator said:

 

I think you will find the text said no change from the agreement during the winter window. Ray Wilkins said as much on Sky.

Training ground incident didnt happen?

Yeah, board question is difficult to answer!

Ray Wilkins spouts nonsence which isn't new and Costa has no credibility given his history. 

Excuse me If I fail to believe that a man as professional as Conte told Costa he's not a part of his plans, via text message. 

[The Liquidator]

9 minutes ago, Cicero said:

Ray Wilkins spouts nonsence which isn't new and Costa has no credibility given his history. 

Excuse me If I fail to believe that a man as professional as Conte told Costa he's not a part of his plans, via text message. 

Given your importance to his professionalism one would have thought he would have preferred to have a clean conscious on the lies being written about him, afterall, he already has the history of deciding not to mention match fixing claims in Italy.

If it wasnt true can you imagine the payout he would get from ALL the media outlets writing the same story.

Lets jog your memory on how forthright they all were 

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/40229168

 

 

[bozziovai]

1 hour ago, Cicero said:

Seems people here are being naive if they fucking believe the story Conte texted Costa that he isn't part of his plans 

 

Seems Courtois has been opening his mouth again. In all honesty I hope we sell in the summer. If a player doesn't want to be here, flog him. Must be complete torture when you are letting shot after shot in and still getting paid thousands. Hope he fucks off. 

sadly that's the trend we're seeing now.   Aubameyang in Dortmund, Sanchez in Arsenal, Coutinho in Liverpool, them players did something rebellious against their ( former ) clubs for them to be transferred.  ... and now Thibaut is talking about madrid and how he misses his family.   He should have thought it thru before making a move to London... 

 

back to Conte, isn't that the manager's job to bring the best out of the squad he has ??    but if we look at the table, chelsea is just 6 points away from United and just two points behind Spurs, knowing how the EPL is, we can't predict to what the table will look like on the final Match Day.  so, it's not that too bad for Chelsea and Conte.

 

[Cicero]

34 minutes ago, The Liquidator said:

Given your importance to his professionalism one would have thought he would have preferred to have a clean conscious on the lies being written about him, afterall, he already has the history of deciding not to mention match fixing claims in Italy.

If it wasnt true can you imagine the payout he would get from ALL the media outlets writing the same story.

Lets jog your memory on how forthright they all were 

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/40229168

 

 

The same BBC that said we signed Alex Sandro and the same BBC that said Conte had been sacked. Twice. Guardiola has doping and Mourinho also a match fixing. Not every top manager is clean. 

Also, Not the first time media outlets took a gamble on a story before it being bollocks, is it? 

Edited March 1, 2018 by Cicero

[bozziovai]

2 hours ago, The Liquidator said:

Given your importance to his professionalism one would have thought he would have preferred to have a clean conscious on the lies being written about him, afterall, he already has the history of deciding not to mention match fixing claims in Italy.

If it wasnt true can you imagine the payout he would get from ALL the media outlets writing the same story.

Lets jog your memory on how forthright they all were 

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/40229168

 

 

let me just have my say about the news outlet these days ................. i don't believe in anything they say 100%.   Not unless it's an actual video interview of an athlete saying this and that.   but if i see that's it all just WORDS.   i just breeze thru them.   Because now with the internet, these news networks just like any publication needs the traffic to generate revenues and the more JUICY their story is, the more people will read them, the more traffic in their website the more money they'll get.

let's just take that link of yours --- it's from the BBC - a very credible name in the news industry.     BUT -- if you look at the note below that supposedly "text" of Conte to Costa .. it reads ::::  A recreation of the message Antonio Conte sent to Diego Costa  ...     it's not the actual screenshot of Costa's phone.