The College Dropout

Yep. That was my biggest issue with Almiron. He very obviously struggled with the basics of football, trapping a ball, moving into a dribble etc. not only did he make it look like a struggle he wasn’t good at it. From what I’ve seen so far from Elanga, he’s worse. (Elanga can clearly strike a ball mind). Wlanga’s struggle with the basics is why he can’t get his game off. His baseline footballing ability is low. I thought he would be Gordon-like in terms of touch - he’s much worse.

Agreed we got 6 points from Spurs right? 6 from Man U. 3 from Arsenal. 1 against a Liverpool. Points for once against Man City will be lovely.

We are down 5 points from the same games last season I believe? We do need to start winning we drew or lost to make it up.

Many of them didn't play much first-team football; it is Chelsea after all. Can add Reece James to that list. There are notable exceptions to: Gallagher, Chalobah brothers, Aina, Hutchinson, Guehi, Maatsen, Gilmour. But from the last 10 years more than half have had serious injury issues.

Is it me or are Nearly al the Chelsea youth products fairly injury prone? Abraham Mount Colwil Tino RLC CHO Solanke Ake Lamptey A lot of ACLs between em. Ok maybe not a lot ur a fair few.

The crime in London is over-emphasised because of who the Mayor is. Lived in London all my life. It's no more dangerous now than it was 20 years ago. It's a lot safer for me now personally, than it was 20/25 years ago. The moped driveby phone robberies seem to have increased but is something 15+ years in the making. I see lots of people casually walking around or at functions with Rolexes.

Yeah that much is obvious and where we disagree

Top teams now have 4-5 top, top choices at CM. If we are competing in the CL we'll need the same: Arsenal - Rice, Spanish lad, Odegaard, Eze, Merino

Aye this is a weird narrative that’s developed this season about CMs.

He’s under rated here because he’s left and improved so much. And people have a narrative they won’t change. Not a dig Tron but he’s said Anderson isn’t good in tight spaces. There’s plenty of video evidence that he is good in tight spaces for where he plays. Again, I didn’t see it for him here. Like Miley is now, Anderson was figuring out what type of player he is and needed physical development. People still have that version and in their mind.

Forest have been a low possession side so the pass completion will be low. Otherwise he’s a great all action midfielder. Passed it forward. Carries it. Gets into the box. Good creativity right. Not a massive goal threat but young enough to improve. I didn’t see it for him when he’s here. But he’s a proper player. He can definitely talk to Big Joe and would rival him for a start - maybe surpass. Geordie. HG. BHH.

Anderson again is another one that is particularly perfect for Howe. Howe is part of the reason for the player he's become - that urgency and snap Howe demands of all his midfielders. In a slower more possession based game, Wharton might be better. But Howe-ball? Bring me Anderson back pronto.

Minteh? You ever seen a young player and buy stocks in them? They don't even need to play for my club. Signing for us obviously helps. I also think he's perfect for Howe. Pressing monster, direct, quick, great final ball/shot. Biggest weakness is limited build-up, Howe doesn't believe in that anyway. It's a match made in heaven. I don't like Brighton for him. They price their players out of good moves so often. Palace will give a lad a decent release clause - Olise and Eze could've gone to a dozen clubs. Unlikely Minteh has a release clause, the distressed nature of the sale, he didn't like the alternatives etc. He's got to stop scoring against us mind.

I want him and Minteh back.

At some point we’ll need to do more business in Europe. Unless we keep qualifying for the CL we can’t continue with the Wissa, Elanga, Barnes model. Bought all 3 at peak value.

We can’t just keep letting players drop in value due to age. We need to start selling them at close to peak value. Every summer is critical imo. Any 1 year only has 3 years of relevance. Unlike the cartel clubs we don’t have a pipeline of sales. We can’t even use Saudi for UEFA PSR while they can.

He moved here as it’s his biggest opportunity to secure his future tbf.

Unless we get immediate success I don’t think our current transfer approach is going to help us significantly with PSR. Next summer will be interesting. What do we do with Barnes and Joelinton?

I hate that he’s got my boy Minteh with almost 4 years left on his contract. Playing at Brighton and then Chelsea is such a waste of a career.

If we play a back 4 against Brighton, Minteh is going to smoke Dan Burn.

Yeh fairs. But if we are serious about keeping top 6 level players, we are going to have to pay top 6 level wages or somewhere approaching close.

Shit offer that. We weren’t serious about keeping him.

In 2024 or 2025?

I love him.

Aye. Weird. That's a big part of his magic. Roll it into his feet and he'll find Wirtz and Gnabry and the attack can go from there. It's one thing I love about Howe's system. It prioritises the striker.