Which I'm actually OK with. It's a new season, new coach etc everyone starts from zero again, and he prefers Sanchez, then so be it. I think neither are first choice options long term anyway, so we'll most likely dip into the market for a starting goalie in the next window or two.
Chelsea 2024/25
- Thread starter duffer
- Start date
Which I'm actually OK with. It's a new season, new coach etc everyone starts from zero again, and he prefers Sanchez, then so be it. I think neither are first choice options long term anyway, so we'll most likely dip into the market for a starting goalie in the next window or two.
Basel were poor last season so meh on any of their "talents" and this guy looks like Abel Xavier had a baby with Carlos Valderrama
Isnt that better than your academy kids not being wanted by anyone?
Chelsea academy players were primarily brought along to join the “loan army”. There was no continuity between how the academy developed players and the needs and style of the first team. There are teams and models that have done a better job in this area, especially recently; City in particular. Joe Shields has now raided City to fill these positions, and I’m excited to see how they use the resources of Cobham, some of the best player development people and recruiters around, and all the different platforms they will control.
I like Veiga. He is apparently well thought of in the Portugal setup, and we sent scouts to watch him for the first time nearly a year ago.
My biggest concern is goal. Costs was always going to be a high cost big competition signing. Now the other goalie we were scouting a lotMarma is also going up. I still like Jorgensson.
Jacksons steady improvement against expected xG as the year went on was a great sign, and Nkunku could still be set for more of a CF role with this team.
Unless they feel David is a certified upgrade, or a target they feel is that upgrade gets dropped down more to a level closer to their value, I could see us going with Jackson, Nkunku, Washington and Guiu. Nkunku is a top grade finisher, and Jackson gets better every game he plays, so unless you know the option is better, keep the money and invest in other areas.
Excited about training being underway.
KDH gives us a ton of flexibility. If Palmer starts on the right, Hall gives us that clever creator coming forward from the 8. If you need to shift things and get more direct, you play Palmer in that forward central role with Madueke or Angelo on the right.
fun stuff ahead
I like Veiga. He is apparently well thought of in the Portugal setup, and we sent scouts to watch him for the first time nearly a year ago.
My biggest concern is goal. Costs was always going to be a high cost big competition signing. Now the other goalie we were scouting a lotMarma is also going up. I still like Jorgensson.
Jacksons steady improvement against expected xG as the year went on was a great sign, and Nkunku could still be set for more of a CF role with this team.
Unless they feel David is a certified upgrade, or a target they feel is that upgrade gets dropped down more to a level closer to their value, I could see us going with Jackson, Nkunku, Washington and Guiu. Nkunku is a top grade finisher, and Jackson gets better every game he plays, so unless you know the option is better, keep the money and invest in other areas.
Excited about training being underway.
KDH gives us a ton of flexibility. If Palmer starts on the right, Hall gives us that clever creator coming forward from the 8. If you need to shift things and get more direct, you play Palmer in that forward central role with Madueke or Angelo on the right.
fun stuff ahead
I haven’t checked but pretty sure that in the PL Jackson scored more non penalty goals than any Arsenal player. For a then 22 year old in his debut season not really a bad return particularly as it wasn’t expected he would have to play such an important part in the attack in season 23/24.
As for Nkunku his injury record hasn’t throughout his career been that bad he just had a bad season and if what has been reported is correct a chunk of that could have been down to Poch’s training methods
Training methods… maybe. I would think the bigger factor is the teams playing style not resembling a Tasmanian devil with an attention disorder. The strain of constantly pressing to chase down possession you just lost is something only Gallagher enjoys.
We’ve also had a declining rates of general fitness since Eva left frankly (yet another thing to thank Jose for … who wanted KDB on our team anyway ….).
But they have been clearing out and changing the structure of our sports medicine department for nearly a year now (no other team had more doctors on staff than physios … it was just weird). I was worried last year the moment pictures of players about to start preseason came out and guys like Chilwell looked like the primary thing they had worked on was bench press. I am hoping for significant changes in the area of player fitness.
I'm about to accompany dozens of Italian middle school kids to Stamford bridge, won't be upset if one of them takes a little wee on one of the walls.
Please tell me you are a teacher or a parent.
That's being kind
I'm their on call doctor.
Isn´t Chelsea the team which has spent more money last five years?? How is it possible?? Why UEFA and Premier league don´t penalise them??
First team players in each squad currently listed on Transfermarkt.
Arsenal - 26
Liverpool - 28
United - 29
City - 29
Tottenham - 31
Chelsea - 41
This Chelsea number does not Veiga or the players like Paez, Estevao, and (maybe?) Anselmino they have bought but won't be formally transferred to Chelsea until sometime in the future.
A number of these guys (Lukaku, Sarr, etc) will never play for Chelsea again and others will be loaned/sold but that is still a lot of players! In the end, most top level squads in European competition only really give meaningful minutes to maybe 16-20 players, even with fixture congestion.
Arsenal - 26
Liverpool - 28
United - 29
City - 29
Tottenham - 31
Chelsea - 41
This Chelsea number does not Veiga or the players like Paez, Estevao, and (maybe?) Anselmino they have bought but won't be formally transferred to Chelsea until sometime in the future.
A number of these guys (Lukaku, Sarr, etc) will never play for Chelsea again and others will be loaned/sold but that is still a lot of players! In the end, most top level squads in European competition only really give meaningful minutes to maybe 16-20 players, even with fixture congestion.
I mean people did this last summer when Chelsea signed a couple of players before sorting out sales and loans. It makes no sense to look at squad size and make up in the middle of July when a lot of the squad construction is still yet to be done.
There about 5 academy players returning from loans, there’s the 4 players we’ve already signed, there’s Lukaku and Kepa returning from loans etc. I’d say when all is done at the end of the summer, we’ll be at around 26-28 players.
Yeah, I have no doubt the size of the squad gets slimmed drastically. But I still think Chelsea has a different squad strategy than any other big six PL side and that itself is a notable thing worthy of discussion. Most big clubs put more priority on how players fit into the first team, whereas Chelsea is putting more priority on just accumulating talent and taking advantage of market opportunities that seem good value. And after a couple years of pursuing that strategy they've got a very different kind of squad than, say, City or United or Arsenal right now.
I don't think we will know for a while whether the strategy pays off or not - its easy to poke fun but we could also look back at the new ownership as being way ahead of the curve in a few years. At the very least, I give the ownership some credit for being willing to think differently about this stuff.
I wonder where this guy fits in with their depth chart at CM. Without ever seeing him play I am willing to bet he's not going to come in and start over Enzo or Caicedo. And I then lose track of how many other CMs they have.
Think he's being brought in to replace Chilwell who may be on the outs - as someone who plays at LB and CDM, one would think he'd be ideally suited for an inverted FB role.
There is this thing in football that if you sell some of the players you buy…you can buy more players!! It’s crazy! Chelsea still sells players rather well.
Ahh yeah that makes sense then. Thanks
Does anyone else find this kind daily mainstream reporting on what is basically just a 15 year old child moving from one academy to another a bit much?
Romano's a freak. Sooner people realise this the sooner he fecks off.
Could be our most important signings after recent season's injury woes.
He was born in 2003? What the actual feck
Dont know where to place Chelsea next year. I pretty much only got Chelsea and City final position right last season, but not sure how much they will improve this next one. Pool and Chelsea are hard to gauge especially since they have a new manager.
Expecting Spurs and Villa to go down a little in point total...Man Utd and Newcastle to do a little better...
Pool down a spot or two...Chelsea goes the other way on the up?
Expecting Spurs and Villa to go down a little in point total...Man Utd and Newcastle to do a little better...
Pool down a spot or two...Chelsea goes the other way on the up?
He does not look 21. Kids...stay off drugs.
It depends on injuries, Chelsea will definitely finish higher if they can keep 5 or 6 of the best players fit..it can't possibly be worse than last season can it?
Can they do a DNA test to determine his age, would that be unethical?
Exactly. There is no way he is four years younger than me
That isn't even remotely close to how DNA works
If we keep our key players fit then I think we’ll be competing for 3rd or 4th. Like I’ve said before, I don’t think it’s some certainty that Liverpool will just hum along and not skip a beat post-Klopp. City and your club will still be locked in but everything else is up in the air.
I really, really like our squad if the likes of Reece James, Nkunku, and Lavia who all missed most or all of last season can stay fit.
All depends on the start. Chelsea did have momentum in last few weeks and very often that can carry on if there are minimal tweaks to formation/line up.
Man. City usually drop points in opening three months so you'd rather play them at home in August than April. Wolves away is a better barometer as that's the type of team Chelsea have usually lost to in last two seasons.
Then Palace at home and back to back aways at Bournemouth and West Ham up to end of September so it's similar to last season when the only league game Chelsea won in the opening two months was at home to Luton.
Need a good start aswell as their October-November schedule is very tough so that's where Marseca could get some heat off the press/fans.
Man. City usually drop points in opening three months so you'd rather play them at home in August than April. Wolves away is a better barometer as that's the type of team Chelsea have usually lost to in last two seasons.
Then Palace at home and back to back aways at Bournemouth and West Ham up to end of September so it's similar to last season when the only league game Chelsea won in the opening two months was at home to Luton.
Need a good start aswell as their October-November schedule is very tough so that's where Marseca could get some heat off the press/fans.
Also really intrigued to see what Wesley Fofana is like after recovering from his injury hell. Is he still any good or have the injuries done too much damage? And even if he is still good, can he actually stay fit?
On paper Fofana has everything to be a starting CB alongside Colwill but honestly I have no idea what to expect of him now.
Dental Natural Age..
What's Lesley like then?
Score the issue with his hamstring I thought he played really well in his appearances.
To be fair, our entire medical staff had to be replaced last year, and we were using a concierge medical service to cover gaps. Just fired another Massuer from the previous regim two days ago. We had a LOT of hamstring issues.
He is surprisingly light on his feet and quick technically for such a large footballer. I mean , dude isn’t just tall… he is a big guy
I believe he is starting for Henry’s French Olympic team. So you will actually get a chance to watch him if you want.
We don’t play with a genuine 6 here, which is what he is. Everyone on the team seemed to like him. I think he will fit in really well in your squad next season.
Why is he a freak?
A less developed Onana might be a good description. He was a good prospect at Rennes. Injuries and lack of opportunity has stunted his development a bit, so a loan was always on the cards for next season. Going to Everton to replace Onana would be a good move for him I think.
He’s obsessed with transfers to an unhealthy degree, he is always retweeting his own stuff, he constantly updates the same information on transfers about 15 times a day with zero new information, he photoshops 16 year olds into kits, he is always there one minute after Ornstein because he cannot bear to be seen to not know something. He’s a weirdo.