The College Dropout

Let off the hook there. Bad from Joelinton and Bruno.

Yeh Wissa does need better offside awareness

This a scrappy game man

Why doesn’t anyone else try that Schar and Joelinton run and pass? If they either doesn’t play nobody attempts it.

Lad they’ve brought on cost for a fair whack for a young lad

Thiaw so good there

In general play they are basically the same player but Elanga is faster.

Sale + option for buyback

Surprised more clubs don’t prioritise position/area specific development. Lyon had a policy of developing attacking players. Benzema, HBA and co because they sold for the biggest amounts. That requires an attacking manager too. Brighton don’t tend to develop attacking players so well fo example. Their slower footballing style tends to favour GK, defenders and midfielders to be sold because they prove they can control a game and build from the back. The only proper attacking manager they’ve had is De Zerbi and he had Mitoma looking like a £70m wide attacker. They got good money for JP but he was never prolific.

I don’t agree. The results and clean sheets would suggest otherwise. Agree with this. If everyone was fully fit and we had a cup final tomorow I would personally start Schar and Burn. It’s certified. As good as Thiaw has been individually he has not been part of a solid back 5 consistently. With the injuries we have he’ll have the opportunity to prove himself. Atm I think Schar and Burn have certain leadership, character, determination traits as a partnership that makes them our best pair. Botman definitely hasn’t been better than Burn. Burn has been a rock for the last 18 months.

We put that release clause in there for a reason. And it was the right thing to do. All speculation around Bruno ended when it expired and has largely been quiet since. Or we would’ve sold him, solved all PSR issues and would have money to buy a replacement. That was well managed by Ashworth. Even if we sold Joelinton for £35m in the summer it would’ve meant keeping Anderson who is now a £70m homegrown player atleast and a starter for the next 5-10 years. In the last 2 years we’ve arguably signed 1 player that has improved the team having spent £250m on players mostly at peak value. The team that won us the league cup and qualified for the CL was built entirely by the Staveley Ashworth era which has ended. we’ve pivoted hard from the approach that has brought us success which is damaging us on the pitch now and is likely to cause us issues in the seasons to come financially and on the pitch.

I like Wissa as a player. But his injury has likely meant the entire transfer has backfired based on the logic shared. It’s not a smart approach.

Btw I also said the league cup and CL qualification justified Joelinton’s contract and the sales. But I still think it was poor long term planning. And then we’ve done it again with inferior players and almost certainly not qualifying for the CL. I don’t think a club In Our position can continue to make such decisions and I expect we’ll pivot now. But we’ll see.

By your logic Elanga needs to win us a trophy to justify the transfer. ok - I agree with that. Sounds like a poor transfer approach but you’re right. If he wins us a trophy it justifies his lack of ability and resale potential.

I’m judging the entirety of our transfer approach not just Wissa. I’ve already said this - 1 maybe 2 is fine. We have 3 or 4 like this which makes the bulk of our recent spend. When you have £50m of amortised value and £200m in spend like this you do need CL football, deep CL runs or close. Evidently we aren’t going to qualify for the CL. Again it’s about profile and risk. Tonali being 23 an a high reputation player means that he’s missed an entire season where we didn’t qualify for Europe but 2 years later we would sell him for more then we bought him. Even if he failed we would get decent money for him. Do you get it now? It’s about profiles and risks. Yes Ashworth planned to sell Joelinton as plan B for PSR, plan A was selling Bruno with the release clause. He had a proper PSR exit strategy. As soon as he left Staveley have Joelinton the contract and closed that door. Similarly Villa sold Douglas Luiz for PSR for £50m. Replaced him with Tielemans. Also got Onana as part of PSR shenanigans. It’s just a smart approach.

Which CB has he been better than since his return?

If you’ve listened to some of the reasons Maresca was unhappy at Chelsea you know there’s basically zero chance Howe would go to work in that type of setup. The Chelsea head coach job is to qualify for the CL and develop players to be sold. That means enforced squad rotation. That means developing player for 2 years, they become regular contributors and then they are sold to sign a new 21 year old. Howe’s not going to join that.

If Nuno can’t save west ham they are done. Re football podcasts - The Athletic one has journalists that are clearly ok the Chelsea payroll or close to ppl at the club and it’s sickening. In some of their other reporting - it’s clear it’s clear the Chelsea head coach role is for a patsy and the ownership don’t care about winning.

Think he’s been 7/10 overall since he’s come back from the ACL. Not as good as the other CBs.

On fbref his regressions passing stats are poor.

Aye. This lad is not a progressive passer at all. He’s a safe passer so any progressive passes he makes will find his man. But he rarely tries them. Jenas had the same issue. In fact Jenas had better physical attributes. Really solid technically. But was so passive. Rarely passed it forward. Ramsey has ability too.

I’m not talking about outcomes I’m talking about profiles and process. You sign a 29 year old striker for a premium price - you’re not likely to make your money back. Even if he does well. Not many clubs will spend £55m on a winger as limited technically as Elanga with his same reputation. Brennan Johnson is a similar case - sold for £50m to Spurs - 11 PL goals last season, 5 in the Europa league including the winner in the final. But then sold for £35m. Maybe could’ve got £40m-45m but fundamentally he doesn’t have the technical ability to be a mainstay at perennial European contenders so the market for a player of that profile is limited. Conversely Thiaw is still young, quick, good in the air, might become regular international. He could be worth £50-60m. He has the profile. We’ve got a good number of players where we’ve bough them at peak value. With PSR constraints that doesn’t make sense. 1 or 2 is fine and probably needed.

Yep - that Vicario was getting loads of plaudits when he first joined. Put that ball on his head and he struggled majorly and everyone has clocked on.

I agree we’ve spent poorly. It’s just not going to be easy replacing cornerstone players that have taken us this far. No foreign league is as physical as the PL so whatever they do isn’t easily translated. Marmadashvelli hasn’t impressed in his few appearances and he was meant to be the dogs bollocks. We’re not replacing Martin Dubravka and Ciaran Clark anymore.

This is why I say you have to watch football with your eyes. Whether they perform excellent or not - Marc Guehi is a good footballer and so is Cunha. Highly regarded in the game - even if he flopped here he would get a move to a good club for good money. Cunha semi flopped at Atleti and was sold for a profit (Mendes fuckery). you’re theorising someone that may end up at Liverpool or Real Madrid might have flopped for us. Elanga and Wissa aren’t players of that stature in the game. They could do well and still only break even this summer or next. Wissa it’s just age. Elanga just doesn’t have the technical ability or reputation to justify the money.