The College Dropout

The Obi One (Wan). His interview of Terry was interesting. Terry is super narcissistic as you would expect. Obi seemed in love with him though and it sounds like the Chelsea players in general really liked and respected him. But he’s obviously a prick.

A 3rd choice LB over a first choice RW is brazy. I think the lad is 4th choice now. I think we pegged his readiness too high. And I think that will hurt us this season.

I don't think so. There's always quality players around. I would've been happy with Palmer, Szob, Maddison - all less than Isak. If he could stay fit, i'd take Neto.

Bernardo Silva was 70m euros, including add-ons in 2017. Factoring football inflation that's a £90m transfer today in total. That was mega money. Ederson was the second most expensive keeper ever when he signed. That was mega money. You just signed someone from Wolves who had a mediocre season for £50m. He doesn't even play. Another 50m on a winger. You've got a £100m signing on the bench. Akanji & Alvarez very astute business. Media reported that Alvarez fee was a bargain at the time.

1. Like I said - statistically speaking, he's more involved in games than any of our wingers and the vast majority of wingers in the league 2. Palmer is playing most of his minutes at Chelsea at RW. He does come off that wing and plays a lot in central areas. Our wingers find themselves in that position a lot but don't create much. We are desperate for some type of attacking playmaker. It will need to come at 8 or RW IMO. 3. I like the look of Szob. But he's playing mostly at 8 for Liverpool and we went with another profile entirely for that in Tonali Athletic have Hall at £28m + £7m in add-ons. £35m in total. Athletic have Palmer at £40m+ 2m in add=ons. £42m total. 35m total compared to 42m total - that's similar money right? Like I said. I think we'll eventually be delighted with Hall. But with CL football and taking all cups seriously - we needed first teamers.

This is all fair. I’m just looking at the fee, wages, profile, age etc. he would’ve been perfect. Im glad we didn’t go in for Diaby. Good player but not what we need. Szob would’ve been good. Maddison would’ve been great. But Palmer is him. Im glad the lads we were linked with are good players.

Statistically speaking (small sample) Palmer doesn’t go missing like.

Not saying Hall won’t be a good signing. But he doesn’t look ready to nail down a first team place. For this season we’ve got a 3rd choice left back. Palmer would’ve been ready to start at RW. In 2-3 years. I expect he’ll be a great player. But we needed players that can contribute more now.

Maine blue seems to dislike the lad. Watched last nights game and highlights of a few other Chelsea games. The lad looks class. The best academys sell youngsters that can’t get minutes for a lot of money all the time. We are going to spend Palmer money on Lewis Hall. I’m a bit annoyed we got Hall instead of Palmer.

You sold him for £40m. You think he's worth £10m? He looks a great playmaker to me. Small sample size but: Just keeps play going forward. Gets on the ball loads, passes it forward loads, carries it forward loads, creates for others.

Interesting. Villa & Liverpool have deeper squads and less intense European campaigns. Ignoring Man U because they've been bad. They've also suffered from playing in the CL.

We are high-press + relatively low possession. That's a massive difference to us and other teams.

Great post. How did Liverpool's possession stats compare to ours? I remember when they beat us at SJP when they were going for the quadruple. They were so much more athletic than us that day despite playing a ton of must-win matches and us being in good form. They could've won 3 or 4 nil. Everyone was talking about inhalers because it absolutely didn't make sense to me. Mo Salah is built different. He must still be on the inhalers.

Our whole team really. If not Bruno, we start looking at our RB or CB, which is not a good sign. I was banging on about a Maddison-type player for ages. I'll switch it up a littleand call for a Cole Palmer-type player instead. Different player but same function. Get a foot on it and play it into areas we can attack/score from.

For me. Palmer is more my type of player so perhaps I'm biased. He gets on the ball way more. He's a better dribbler in tight spaces and his passing is way more vertical and creative. His ability to receive the ball under pressure, quick feet into some space and play it forward, accurately, through the lines is that bit of elite class. He plays like a 10 but has physicality, some pace, pressing. He is precisely what we need on the right. You know that guile, cuteness, put his foot on the ball and make something happen. We don't have that player. He's the player we needed man - better fit for us than Szob, Maddison or Diaby like we were linked with. I think Gordon is a different type of player altogether andcould score more goals though. I like his instincts and movement in the box. Gordon-Isak-Palmer would've been a beautiful blend of skills and ability. EDIT: I'm not trying to denigrate Gordon. He's proved me wrong and I think he's a good player. But to me, Palmer looks a more talented footballer would be better suited to slow international football and has less competition at RW than Gordon has at LW. Again, I'm not trying to denigrate the lad but Fabio Vieira won player of tournament before Gordon ahead of Rafael Leao & Goncalo Ramos - neither of whom even started the final.

We could make up some of those points as we have so far by winning those home games we drew and continue to beat the likes of Man U, Spurs & Chelsea at home like we did last season. But we still need to pickup the away form.

TBF Palmer being left-footed changes the game. And I do think Palmer looks the better talent. But I do think if situations were reversed, we had Palmer and they had Gordon. Gordon would be capped by now.

The LC victories have been great. But would we have been better off losing to City and playing 2 less games? Almiron & Wilson didn't need the Man U game in their legs (Targett too I guess). I'm just thinking out loud. Learnt a lot about Livra and Hall in those games.

2-0 was a fair enough scoreline. 1.38xg to 0.55xg. We didn't deserve anything and didn't play well. Aye. Winning away comfortably at West Ham, Everton, Fulham, Southampton, and Leicester.. and then big wins against Forest, Brentford, Spurs. Good draws at Chelsea, Arsenal, Brighton and Man U. That will be difficult to replicate. We were better in our defeat to City last season too. From the games I've seen - we've not looked good away from home at all bar Sheff U and Man U in the cup. The press has largely been off, and we've conceded 2+ a few times. Obviously the extra injuries and games is the most significant factor.

Eddie needs to give Livra the keys. He's good enough to rotate with Trippier. 65/35. Thought Willock was bright. But we need more players capable of putting their foot on the ball. The two that should have done that for us were suspended.

They've underperformed for so long in front of goal. i won't believe it until they can score and win 3 or 4 on the bounce. As a fairly avid FPL player, Chelsea players have been fools gold since the second half of the Lukaku/Tuchel season. James was excellent for the hour he played too. If they can keep him fit that will be massive. There's a massive drop off at RB

Why would it be PR driven and not from his heart?

But seriously- has he apologised?

Don’t think we’ll spend any meaningful money at ST unless Wilson is sold or Isak continues to have injury problems. RW and a Tonali replacement is the clear priority then a CB.

Chelsea simply can’t finish regularly and struggle to create a bit against low blocks.