That's super fecked up.
Chelsea 2024/25
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In the latest episode of the United Hour Podcast, Nik (@Rood) and Jamie (@Vault Dweller) get the depressing job of reviewing United's 3-0 loss at Old Trafford to Liverpool. They discuss what went wrong, Casemiro's day to forget, and the pressure now on Erik Ten Hag. They also take some time to give McTominay a proper farewell, and give their overall thoughts on the Summer Transfer Window.
There has been a few other incidents, not saying there is anything into it. The videos on X show some of them.
This is what I would've predicted to be our starting lineup for the first game a couple of weeks ago. James obviously suspended from last season which gives Gusto the starting RB spot, and that midfield looks to me (on paper) very good. Now Enzo might be looking at a ban and I think he'll be replaced by KDH for the time being, and Fofana's form is unclear so he will probably be replaced by Tosin and slowly worked back into the team.
The main issue for me with the lineup above is the lack of width if playing with inverted fullbacks. Both Palmer and Nkunku have a tendency to want to influence the game from slightly further infield and not hug the touchline. Last season this worked well (on the right hand side) since Gusto is a very good overlapping fullback, however to my understanding when playing an inverted fullback then neither of the fullbacks become overlapping as obviously inverts and the other "becomes" the R/LCB. This to me looks like a similar issue to what England experienced during the Euros, and their left wing was neutered as a result.
With the current personnel I think I'd rather see both fullbacks push up in possession and have Lavia stay slightly further back to keep a similar 3-2-4-1 shape, but with the added benefit of having a more natural width. The drawback is that Lavia's influence is limited when we have the ball and that Cucurella does his best work regaining possession in the middle of the pitch, but I think without it we can become a bit too easy to defend against.
No there hasn't been any "incidents" at all.
A few troll twitter accounts made some dumb videos.
You might need to look up what the word 'incident'. I am in no way shape or form trying to call Gallagher a racist mind, as I wouldnt Enzo.
I just noted that both are called racist on social media in response to that post.
IMO, the current roster was really constructed with the idea of wide fullbacks occupying the 1st and 5th lanes in the attacking third and "wingers" like Nkunku and Palmer who end up in the half spaces. Chilwell is the most obvious one but IMO both James and Gusto are much better wide than inverted. James is a talented enough footballer that he can probably do anything on a decent level but you're taking away his superpower if you're asking him to shuffle around the middle of the pitch with his back to goal playing little 1-2s with the defense.
For me, Palmer is obviously a player who is best in the right half space, not hugging the touchline. To make an Arsenal comparison, his heat map from last year looks much more like Martin Odegaard's than Bukayo Saka's. I think Chelsea will lose a lot of his dynamism if they try to make him a touchline winger like Saka.
This is completely natural but I think Maresca has a lot to figure out in terms of how these players best go together and fit his system. He's going to have to show some flexibility too as you always want to impose your principles but the squad wasn't constructed with his football in mind. There's a balance to be struck between implementing your system and game model but also cooking with the ingredients that happen to be in your kitchen.
I completely agree with the James and Gusto point. I think the thing that makes both them, but especially James, special is going to waste by having them masquerade as deep lying midfielders. Cucurella feels ready made for that role on the left side, so I think and hope Maresca is just experimenting early to see if either can do the role. We know Chilwell isn't suited to it, so Cucurella looks like it's his spot to lose for now.
Watching the Wrexham game back, both Tyrique George and Madueke were hugging the touchline, though George looked more adept at moving inside and aiding the build up, while Nkunku was in midfield alongside Lavia and James. Chukwuemeka was in the one patrolling the half spaces, which could be Palmer's role.
I'm not sure how Maresca will tie it all together. He has a lot to figure out, as you say. He's going to have to make some rather big decisions early.
I know. Just high five the kid ffs.
Terrible club.
Seemed to have spent a fair few quid, albeit across a few players and not on a superstar signing. Is that fair/right?
Seems about right. It's just not really newsworthy when Chelsea sign players anymore, they sign that many. Looks like an Argentinian Central defender on the way as well.
It’s not newsworthy for me if the player in question isn’t coming straight into the first team. It’s not really newsworthy for oppo fans if it’s players like Jorgensen who have 0 international caps. Don’t think there would be any fanfare at all if this keeper had been signed by Arsenal or United either. It feels like a Tomiyasu/Kiwior type signing.
Yeah, I suppose it's a combination of the stature of player and just sheer quantity.
I don’t think the quantity plays into it at all. It’s just a player nobody knows or nobody cares about. If Chelsea signed Nico Williams, we’d all be talking about it more for example.
X videos? I’m trying to look up this incidents myself
Yes, I’m American. 3 people in my family have been professional athletes. There are hundreds of thousands of kids that would work hard and “want” to be part of a professional sports team. The idea that any athlete, blessed as they are to have time to make millions playing at the highest level, however long that lasts, is owed anything due to some sort of family or community is stupid and simply not accurate to the reality on either side.
Chalobah wanted that Bayern move bad and it was during January(?) he was liking posts by Rudiger saying Trev should be his heir apparent at Madrid. He would leave us in a heartbeat the day before first match if it suited him: don’t believe otherwise.
I am saying that for Chelsea to go further, to leave him at home… they have had discussions about him leaving the club, they have failed to reach an agreement … AND they probably don’t trust him at this point. He’s telling people he’s suddenly being forced out after we have been in discussions to sell him for more than a year.
Gallagher has a clause in his contract, that was negotiated, giving a level of say over whether he is sold, and where. I do not believe Chalobah has such a thing, making it very different situations.
After we lost yesterday he quoted John 14:14 “ask anything in my name and I will do it” . So he pled to God for bad things to happen to his teammates; over a money decision, and what color shirt he’s going to wear. Which, again, did NOT bother him when it was Bayern. That sounds reasonable and wholeheartedly not self-centered and unthankful for the many blessings he DOES have at all.
Well yes, Chalobah obviously feels if he has to move then let it at least be to a club involved in European competitions. I'm sure he'd still prefer to stay at Chelsea IF he was given a fair treatment but would accept a good move if one were offered in these circumstances.
What he clearly has not been interested in is a move to a club like Nottingham Forest, Fulham etc. despite the club trying their best to force that down his throat and resenting him for not automatically being on board with that idea. Twist it however you want but ditching Chalobah home and taking injured players along for the tour was 100% a dickhead move by whoever made it.
Care to elaborate? Because I'm having a really hard time believing you're not talking your usual nonsense here.
What kind of a contract clause, or lack of one, could possibly make it so compared to another player Chalobah has little to no influence over his own transfer matters? In European football, every single professional football contract is designed in a way the player always 100% of the time has final say. By signing the contract the club have agreed to pay Chalobah the negotiated salary till 2028 and any change to that deal always needs the player's signature. So whether it's an extension, a temporary loan move away or a permanent transfer to another club the player's blessing is always required.
The kind of clauses you're implying are 100% illegal and simply do not exist in European football.
Jesus fecking christ. I've read a bunch of your posts before and always thought you're a bit delulu, but this one takes the cake.
How far up Clearlake's arse must your head be for you to take that quote and interpret it as Chalobah wishing bad things to happen to other Chelsea players?
Do you think that quote after their defeat implied he was praying for good things for them?Well yes, Chalobah obviously feels if he has to move then let it at least be to a club involved in European competitions. I'm sure he'd still prefer to stay at Chelsea IF he was given a fair treatment but would accept a good move if one were offered in these circumstances.
What he clearly has not been interested in is a move to a club like Nottingham Forest, Fulham etc. despite the club trying their best to force that down his throat and resenting him for not automatically being on board with that idea. Twist it however you want but ditching Chalobah home and taking injured players along for the tour was 100% a dickhead move by whoever made it.
Care to elaborate? Because I'm having a really hard time believing you're not talking your usual nonsense here.
What kind of a contract clause, or lack of one, could possibly make it so compared to another player Chalobah has little to no influence over his own transfer matters? In European football, every single professional football contract is designed in a way the player always 100% of the time has final say. By signing the contract the club have agreed to pay Chalobah the negotiated salary till 2028 and any change to that deal always needs the player's signature. So whether it's an extension, a temporary loan move away or a permanent transfer to another club the player's blessing is always required.
The kind of clauses you're implying are 100% illegal and simply do not exist in European football.
Jesus fecking christ. I've read a bunch of your posts before and always thought you're a bit delulu, but this one takes the cake.
How far up Clearlake's arse must your head be for you to take that quote and interpret it as Chalobah wishing bad things to happen to other Chelsea players?
That would make you pretty dim
What you are implying is not true on the clauses and contracts either. Players can put in stipulations relating to specific teams. The Athletic were the ones who specified he wanted to dictate European Football as a requirement. We don’t buy and sell humans at all in American sports
Something isn't right at the club if any Chelsea team are getting blown away by Celtic, preseason friendly or not.
Again, at one point in their game Celtic were beating City 3-1. There needs to be perspective on preseason. The biggest issue is that Badiashile and Desasi cannot be counted on to play the ball under pressure. And if they have to actually play, against a quality team that presses, we will struggle badly
I take the Chalobah quote as a slight dig at the club, not aimed at anyone in the squad in particular but rather towards those in the leadership positions (Winstanley/Stewart) who've decided he's not good enough. Something along the lines of "I'm still here if you decide you need me after all" having just watched the players supposedly better than him ship four goals against a mediocre Celtic side.
I sure as heck do not see it as him wishing terrible things on anyone else. If that's what you're reading from it, you're not just dim but a full blown fecking imbecile.
So tell me more about this clause then because clearly you're the fecking expert here.
What clause does Chalobah have (or not have) that allows the club to dick him around and sell him against his wishes to a team he wouldn't otherwise fancy joining? This really is the first I'm hearing of such a clause existing in all the 20+ years following European football so I'm dying to hear more about your superior expertise on this.
I said he didn’t have those clauses. My literal first post on this subject was that he was making demands about his sale and DIDNT have any such clauses.
You just said that such things do not exist in ANY contracts in European football though, which I was merely pointing out isn’t true from what I’ve seen. Such things can be negotiated in; release clauses that only work under specific conditions, things of that of that nature.
You take that biblical quote wrong then. It is an exaltation that his prayers were answered specifically by the demolition of the team on the field. He wanted Fofana, Badiashile, Colwill, James and the others to fail; point blank.
And this isn’t surprising, because we originally extended Chalobah. We never offered Gallagher an extension. It was only after we hired that expert sports psychologist from the All Blacks to observe and report on the squad, specifically to root out the self absorbed and overly negative, that Chalobah was allowed in the shop window to begin with. People are always forgetting we did that. The attempted sale to Bayern came like two weeks after he finished his nearly 8 month report.
Chalobah has been for sale ever since. He IS better than Desasi by a mile (although I prefer Bashir Humphreys for academy products). So why does he have to go? It isn’t money. They slapped a ridiculously low valuation on him that will barely smidge PSR. They shifted Hall, Hutchinson, Maatsen and others to this next year. So why?
Answer that, and we will know why the relationship is so strained. I think it goes all the way to the whole saga surrounding Mount, and the attempts at “player control” that have plagued Chelsea for more than a decade that they are trying to get rid of.
Everyone knows a lot isn’t right at Chelsea. But this new fellow has been there for a minute.
Tbf, Chelsea had their share of chances. The Celtic keeper did a Brad Friedel and the ball just wouldn't go in. The goals let in were schoolboy errors where they were out of shape defensively. This can be set right, but I hope they fail miserably in doing that and get relegated by December instead.
So if no such clause exists in Chalobah's contract then it's the same as just about every other player contract where he has every right to refuse any moves he doesn't want to make and the club have very little leverage to force him into a transfer for as long as the contract is valid.
I believe the kind of clauses you're talking about are like for example Michael Olise's release clause which was only valid for UCL clubs. Even in those cases any move still requires the player's signature and if he didn't want to move then it doesn't matter one bit what kind of clauses the contract has. Those are clauses that give the player even more power because there is no need to even negotiate with the selling club so the player can leave even against the club's wishes.
The opposite kind of clauses are completely unheard where the player's job security is compromised by giving the employer full power to dictate where and when they get sold. If any club tried to pull off something like that during contract negotiations, it would get thrown out in an employment tribunal faster than you can say 'I love Todd Boehly'.
Saw that earlier on Twitter, that's a lot of players and money thrown around for a debatable ROI. 
10 of that "lineup" and all 4 "subs" will have been gone (on loan or otherwise) by the time the season starts.Saw that earlier on Twitter, that's a lot of players and money thrown around for a debatable ROI.
Gallagher to Atleti for 35-40m euro (with bonuses) per Fabrizio.
That seems like a good deal for all parties if it happens. Gallagher and Simeone should be a really good fit together. He clearly didn't want to leave his boyhood club but kudus to him for being willing to take the plunge and go abroad.
All things considered, I think that's a decent fee for Chelsea. It's not easy to sell players that everybody knows you are desperate to sell.
That seems like a good deal for all parties if it happens. Gallagher and Simeone should be a really good fit together. He clearly didn't want to leave his boyhood club but kudus to him for being willing to take the plunge and go abroad.
All things considered, I think that's a decent fee for Chelsea. It's not easy to sell players that everybody knows you are desperate to sell.
I love seeing Chelsea fans justify their club’s outlay on players. Let‘s face it, they sign an armada of players seemingly every summer transfer window regardless of departures.
Plus they hoard young talent with any semblance of ability. It’s a bit of a joke that if you’re a somewhat sought-after teenage Brazilian talent, I’m half-expecting you to be snapped up by Chelsea, farmed out somewhere on loan before being sold on for a profit. Their whole business model is detestable.
Plus they hoard young talent with any semblance of ability. It’s a bit of a joke that if you’re a somewhat sought-after teenage Brazilian talent, I’m half-expecting you to be snapped up by Chelsea, farmed out somewhere on loan before being sold on for a profit. Their whole business model is detestable.
Quote some of the people doing that please.
Don’t give Todd any more ideas!!
One year ago. What a muppet night it was.
Joins the exclusive list of glorious Danes we’ve had at Chelsea.
Bjarne Goldbæk
Jes Høgh
Brian Laudrup
Jesper Grønkjær
Andreas Christensen
Pernille Harder
And now Filip Jorgensen
Bjarne Goldbæk
Jes Høgh
Brian Laudrup
Jesper Grønkjær
Andreas Christensen
Pernille Harder
And now Filip Jorgensen
What a player indeed. Unfortunate that he didn't last longer than 6 months at Chelsea but his career was dwindling at that point, we just didn't yet at the time. He retired 2 years after leaving Rangers.
I know but he represents Denmark now, so for the purposes of the point I was making, he's Danish.