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Pre-season:
Watched the extended highlight against Western Sydney, our young players seemed to be able to compete against them. But the defense as usual looked suspicious. Tosin should not be anywhere near the starting eleven in my opinion. Acheampong did not look good either. The attack looked good though. I don’t think we can watch the streaming live for our pre-season matches without CFC+. So I will wait for the next extended highlight against Tottenham.Transfers:
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I don’t know what to say with our transfers. Morgan Rogers is a fantastic player but for that price? I don’t think he is worth that price. And it’s not even the area we need to reinforce the most. And soon Welbeck (35 years old) and Henderson (36) will become our players: why? I don’t understand. I fully understand we need experienced heads but couldn’t we find players in their peak age (between 26 – 32 years old)?
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Moreover it worries me that we are not able to sell. Apart Cucurella, Tyrique George and Andrey Santos sale that generated money, other transfers out are loan. Garnacho for one. And soon Jorgensen. Didn’t we already received some fines last season due to financial violations?
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Much has happened since your post. The loss to Tottenham only because of wholesale changes and inferior players coming out cold in the 80th minute or thereabouts. Other than that we were better than Tottenham which went into preservation mode after the red. Henderson and Welbeck should add valuable professionalism to the joint (something I was hoping JT could do). At least BlueCo under Alonso are doing the right thing now. Lets see what unfolds. Tonight we play Juventus so that will be interesting.
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Blues1967: If I’m not mistaken, you’re from Sydney, is it correct? Were you able to see one of Chelsea preseason matches there?
We just lost 0-1 to Juventus. I could not watch as I don’t have CFC+. I will watch the highlights once available. Without trying to judge to soon, I still think we haven’t solved our goalscoring problem. Welbeck was and maybe is still a consistent goalscorer, but he is not a no:9 that’s needed when we play against a defensive side. Somebody like Drogba or Costa is needed. Delap is but it’s starting to be seen that he lacks quality.
Welbeck’s transfer I can see the logic as he can add something on the pitch. But not Henderson’s. He cannot add anything on the pitch, just off the pitch.
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Aindro, I happened to be in Hong Kong so I went to the game tonight. We dominated possession but, as ever, we looked exposed when Juve counter-attacked. Unfortunately we looked like Maresca’s Chelsea – a lot of sideways and backwards passing, some passing out to the wide areas before wingers checked back and passed backwards and sideways. We looked dangerous only when Juventus made errors or we were able to regain possession high up the pitch through pressing. I’m not taking too much away from this but I observed a lot of what I complained about under Maresca.
Player-wise:
Palestra looked alright. It seems he wants to get forward, and he can cross off either foot.
Caiceido looks very sharp, as does Joao Pedro. Estevao looked good too; you won’t appreciate that off highlights but his movement and attitude were great.
Mudryk doesn’t seem too far off the pace, and got a great reception when he came on, but I would be 100% onboard if we sent him to Coventry on loan for the season under Frank.
Quenda looks like a real talent but needs time.
Gittens remained unconvinving but worked hard.
Juve’s goal was a decent strike but I felt like Cech/Courtois would have saved it. Penders let the goal in, but I much preferred witnessing him on the ball and his communication style than when Sanchez was playing – but I admit that I have long wanted Sanchez moved on. As an aside, their goal came after the previous phase of play should have been a Juve offside but the local officials were really quite poor throughout and give the sense they’re FIFA accredited as some some of inclusivity thing.
Lavia also looked decent when he came on. Jackson got most of the 2nd half and looked a handful – Delap put himself about but we all know his limitations.
All in all – we were the better team and we certainly have more quality than Juventus, but we still had that ponderous Maresca-ball style without being able to be incisive or unlock things.
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Ed de Goey, thanks for the summary!! Indeed I could not see much of Estevao, Joao Pedro, Caicedo from the extended highlights. Even Quenda who got glowing reviews from articles, cannot see him much in the higlights. Palestra I could though, as he created chances and had 2 shots on goal. Their goal I don’t think you can blame Penders, the shot was good IMO.
And how about Welbeck? I know it’s early but he played before with Joao Pedro at Brighton and I expect them to form a connection already.
Are we still missing creativity like under Maresca? Would Morgan Rogers solve that? He is a technical player who can be comfortable in close space. And as with Palestra on the right, I hope that Pep Chavarria on the left would bring some more directness. More crosses. If we don’t cross, we don’t create chances.
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There really wasn’t much of a highlight reel to be had, but you can tell which players possess quality and which do not. Juventus are a shade of their former selves but I won’t dwell on that.
I haven’t seen the highlights but their goal just seemed like it wasn’t right in the corner and Penders could have got a hand to it. It made me immediately think of Pickford, because he lets in goals for England that top tier keepers would not.
Creativity-wise – Rogers/Palmer weren’t playing and we obviously need them when the season starts. Quenda/Estevao provide spark but are young. Welbeck was a handful and I have no issues with us adding him to the squad. That being said, we’re missing a talisman striker of the Drobga/Costa type which were key to our past success.
Palestra looked decent – I read that Gusto is miffed at not getting a bumper pay increase. IMO he can leave if we get a decent offer; he’s not bad but I don’t think we would miss him.
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hi Aindro, I could have gone to either the Western Sydney Wanderers or Tottenham games but the cost up to $220.00 (cheapest around $150.00) for the privilege of watching what are effectively training sessions for the players in less than 10 degrees where my eyes would have watered the whole experience. No, I paid $7.99 and watched both matches on Paramount + for the monthly outlay of $7.99 from the warmth of my home. I saw Chelsea play Sydney FC back in 2014 and even then it was so so to watch.
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I went to the game because, having been based out in Asia for a while now, I hadn’t seen Chelsea live for more than 12 years. Tickets bought a few days before the game – I was up in the nosebleeds but the face value of the ticket was still about 60 quid, and with the various ticketing platform fees actually doubled in price.
Agree with 67 – will be avoiding these preseason games at that sort of price. These kinds of tours will continue though as the new stadium in HK is 50k seater and still managed to get 45k or so along to the game at exorbitant prices.
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handy link this. Shows plenty of pre season replays and says it will be showing a full replay of the AC Milan match.
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I don’t think Chelsea ever have played a pre-season game in Canada in the recent years. Financially wouldn’t make too much sense I think. They did once use Canada as a base though for pre-season but all matches were played in the States. A much bigger country with a much bigger population. But if one day Chelsea have a pre-season game in my city, I think I would pay to watch.
While these are pre-season matches, I hope the next one tomorrow we will get a win. It will be good for the morale after 2 straight losses. We haven’t solved our goalscoring problem.
With no European football, the size of the squad worries me. We’ve bought so many players this summer but we haven’t sold (or loaned out) enough. I think Acheampong should go on-loan to get experience. I would loan Gittens too if Pedro Neto stays. We don’t seem to be able to sell unwanted players like Badiashile, Disasi or Datro Fofana.
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I just wanted to comment about our latest preseason matches in Indonesia and in Malaysia.
- Pre-season:
Only watched the extended highlights for both, it seems to me to be 100& bizarre to organise 2 friendlies in a space of 2 days in two different countries. I think Chelsea needed the money but did not want to prolong the preseason in Asia. Anyway it looks like the new set-pieces coach has been successful to improve our set pieces. 2 goals in Jakarta from corners, Caicedo’s volley was a beauty. I hope that this set-pieces improvement carries on in the league. Arsenal won the league thanks to set-pieces. Where was Palmer though? He regressed a lot since the Clubs World Cup last summer and then his injury.
The 2nd friendly in Malaysia raised a lot of question marks about our 2nd strings. Jackson looked good but was still not able to convert any chance. Same as before, lacking in his finishing. Delap looked ok but could not convert an easy 1 on 1. The defense was so bad. Our bench doesn’t have the necessary quality. We were second best against a Malaysian side who were not able to achieve any glory at Asia level.
- Transfers:
From the friendlies: Tosin has to go, Anselmino I think has to look for a loan. Both aren’t Premier League quality. Gittens IMO should be loaned-out to a Premier League side. Mudryk should be loaned-out to RC Strasbourg IMO.
A sad news as Chalobah left for Como after 20 years with the club. I would have preferred Fofana or Badiashile or Disasi to go, but it’s Chalobah who left. Filip Jorgensen is also only just waiting for the confirmation as it seems that everything is agreed for his loan at Strasbourg._____________________________
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Aindro, I’d rather see Mudryk loaned to a Premier League club. Coventry with Frank in charge wouldn’t be a bad shout. The reason I say that is because we then get to see him perform in the PL over the course of a season, rather than gathering insight on how he is able to perform against Toulouse or any other random, average, French leacgue team; I’m sure you get my drift.
Agree about Tosin – his contribution is to pile into any confrontational situation rather than actually be a good player. Probably hoping to score ‘leadership points’ as a slightly older member of the squad.
I think there is a player in Fofana, but he needs to be paired with the right person – would be great if we could dig out another Thiago Silva type who can mentor Colwill and Fofana. Badiashille will probably go and Blueco will give Disasi away.
Delap apparently played well in Malaysia, but he’s not clinical and he’s not the get-out clause that Drogba/Costa were, so basically he’s not good enough. When we had that lump it up the pitch to Drogba or Costa, it was such an effective pressure valve if we were under the cosh…plus they scored plenty of goals, often out of nothing.
We still need a keeper. I can’t understand why that is not prioritised.
I was talking to my Uncle the other day who is a Brighton season ticket holder – him and his mates are gutted that Welbeck left, such is the high regard he is held in there.
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Ed de Goey, I have to agree. If we can loan Mudryk to Conventry, he will have gained a precious experience playing in the Premier League under Lampard’s tutelage. I hope Chelsea will sanction this move. And also as CFC website just confirmed Jorgensen’s loan to Strasbourg, we only now have 1 loan spot left there. And I would prefer using that spot to loan Satpayev to Strasbourg or Anselmino.
In Jakarta & Kuala Lumpur, Xabi started to play his signature back 3 instead of back 4. So about Fofana, I don’t think he will be starting. Lacroix fills the right side with Colwill in the middle and Hato on the left. Supported by right wing back Palestra and left wing back Pep Chavarria (not confirmed yet, but it looks to me that it’s a done deal).
I was always against you about GK, but I think Xabi will regret not to buy a GK. Sanchez is good but not good enough for an ambitious team. He makes mistakes too often.
And about our attacking area, my understanding is that Joao Pedro is our main striker with Welbeck as his backup, or as the preseason showed us: it’s Welbeck as the main striker and Joao Pedro in the no:10 role. This flexibility will help Chelsea to me more unpredictable for the oppositions. One or both of Jackson and Delap have to be sold to raise money. And simply there’s not enough place for both of them. If I could prefer, no matter how good Jackson is, I prefer Delap to stay than him. Delap is a pure no:9 and he is still 23.
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Palestra looked good in Hong Kong and can cross with either foot which makes him unpredictable for opposition defenders when going forwards. Chavarria is now a done deal.
But yes, we need a top quality goalkeeper. I struggle to think of many teams that win titles consistently unless they have one. We had Cech and Courtois when we won the PL. Alisson was the missing piece of the jigsaw for Liverpool. Having Pickford in goal for England is a massive weakness, he plays for Everton for a reason etc..
Jackson looks a real handful coming in from the left but his finishing isn’t particularly good. I’m guessing they will try to raise funds from selling Badiashille and Disasi. There are also rumours around Enzo and Neto to Man City, but I detest the notion of selling to Maresca who basically downed tools because he knew Pep was leaving.
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About GK, I think the club (or Xabi) believes that Penders can be the one. I have never seen him play but he is Belgian, tall, young and it must remind us of Courtois. Cech and Courtois joined Chelsea when they were young too. We just can hope that this decision will pay off.
I don’t think you can blame Pickford for England’s failures though. England had David Seaman for so long, he played his trade at Arsenal, and England didn’t win anything either during his reign despite having Beckham, Owen, Lampard etc. Look at Brazil, they never had good GKs IMO and they won the World Cup. With Taffarel, Dida at the goal. And Argentina won the World Cup with Pumpido (even worse than Brazil’s GKs) in 1986.
Back to Chelsea, I think the problem now is offloading some players. Badiashile is looking on his way out, a loan to Napoli. We won’t make money from him then. I don’t believe we’ll make money with Disasi either, with any of our bomb squad. I am not sure about the financial state of the club after spending more than 400m. It doesn’t look that there’s any panic. But if we need to get some money to balance the book, the only way is to sell Enzo, Jackson, Delap and/or Neto.
I also lost respect and am still angry to Maresca. He single handedly jeopardized our last season. And I (wrongly) blamed BlueCo and everything else but him. But it turned out that it was Maresca’s doing. I hope that Pep’s shadow is just too big for him and City will fail miserably.
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Penders played 2nd half against Juve and while conceding their goal, no keeper was going to save it. He looked pretty composed overall.
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Blues1967, it seems to me that Xabi is still undecided between Sanchez or Penders between the posts. We will see Monday next week, but my feeling is that Sanchez will start.
- Pre-season:
Watched the extended highlights against Real Sociedad, our attack looked decent. Joao Pedro continues his fine form and I hope he can carry it in the league. The club decided against investing in striker and in GK, I wonder whether this will backfire further in the season. 0 goal for Palmer (and 0 assist I think?) during pre-season is a bit concerning. Where is the Cole Palmer that we knew before his injury?
Xabi played again 3 centre backs. Not sure how quick Fofana and Colwill will adapt but Lacroix is used to play 3 CB at Palace. Fofana looked weak though, with back 3 may be Xabi should start trusting Josh Acheampong?
- Transfers:
Neto and Enzo Fernandez are continually linked with exit despite the club’s deadline had passed for Fernandez. But with Rodri’s transfer is confirmed, and Savinho is expected to leave to Spurs: I think Man City will have some money to spend and it won’t be a surprise if they come back for Enzo. I can’t see them bidding for Neto though. The idea of selling players to Maresca isn’t pleasant but after spending so much money this summer, I think Chelsea won’t have any choice but to sell some players. And to be honest, I am more afraid to lose Neto than to lose Enzo. He already had stated in the past the preference to leave and I hope that Chelsea can make a lot of profit from his sale.
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Joao Pedro looks like the real deal for sure, but I do question his credentials as an out-and-out striker. Welbeck can be used in that manner but not for a whole campaign, and we’re rumoured to be letting both Jackson and Delap go. I don’t mind letting them go, but I’d like to see another striker brought in if we did so.
Neto I have mixed feelings over. Great work rate and speed but too often he lets down with end-product. I’ve read that the club value him at 100m and that Saudi clubs are interested, I would bite their hands off at that price. We have Quenda and Estevao (and Gittens I guess….). Against Sociedad it looked like Neto was being played as a wing-back; we have Palestra, James and Gusto who can perform that role.
Enzo is a typical Argentine prima donna. That being said, he’s probably our best central midfielder and genuinely world class, so I wouldn’t want to sell him, and definitely not to Maresca. I would rather send him to Spain or, preferably, the Middle East.
Badiashille seems to have gone. Also to go, hopefully, will be Tosin and Disasi. Hopefully a good loan move for Mudryk is getting cooked up.
In terms of incomings – my wishlist would be a top GK and a Premier-league proven striker. Lacroix I will wait and see on but I would have preferred a top CB to play with Colwill and Fofana. In any case, the business so far has been shrewd and Blueco are showing glimpses of learning to listen to people who know more than they do…
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I also have doubts whether Joao Pedro can play no:9, as a lone striker, the whole season. As far as I know, at Brighton he played kinda no:10 behind Welbeck. But Welbeck is now with Chelsea. And for this reason I would prefer Delap who is a pure no:9 to stay than Jackson.
Rumours say that Chelsea increased Neto’s price to 100m, so it looks to me that we don’t want to lose him. It bothers me to see no one departing since quite a time. Even Badiashile whose deal with Napoli has been touted for awhile. Our squad is too big with no European football.
I cannot see anymore incoming though to be honest unless there’s big outgoings like Enzo or Neto.
Anybody watched the Community Shield? I could not here, but Maresca looked to be outclassed by Arteta. I cannot help but to smile with that 3-0 defeat. Rodri’s departure has been confirmed, with a sizeable transfer fee, so I wouldn’t be surprised if City will bid for Enzo Fernandez or for Neto.
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We also brought in Emegha who plays up top – I overlooked that, but I also didn’t seem to notice him invovled much in pre-season. He apparently is training with the ‘main squad’.
With Neto, I get the sense we would be more than happy to take 100m off a Saudi side, but also see a role for him in the coming season. I’m ok with him – tries hard, runs hard, just lacks that end product on a consistent basis. But a good squad player.
Other likely sales seem to be Tosin & Disasi (hopefully). If we sell Tosin it’s pure profit as I recall we got him on a free. Delap and Jackson – who apparently we want 50m+ for each, which again is profit. Guiu we might sell for 20m+ after getting him for 5m if memory serves.
Mudryk should be loaned, as should Anselmino.Then there are other randoms like David Fofana, Washington, Kellyman and no doubt some others I can’t recall. We’re quite good at this player recycling/moneyball stuff but it’s a sideshow to the actual business of winning on the pitch.
I saw the Community Shield highlights – Maresca was always out of his depth, and Arteta is a manager that managed to cling on in his role until the stars aligned and other clubs were weaker. Anyway, good to see Maresca looking unhappy.
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