Chelsea 2022/2023 | THIS IS LAST YEARS THREAD YOU NUMPTIES

[Bluelion7]

Comparing Boehly to Woodward is funny… Woodward literally doesn’t have the qualifications to get an entry level position at the Firm Boehly led.

Smart people know what they don’t know and make adjustments. Boehly now has an extremely qualified person for each particular job in the right position, from Vivell down. And since he started negotiating many of their departures from their previous employers in August … that was always the plan.

Woodward just kept doing the same thing over and over, maybe hoping someone important like Boehly would notice him?

 

[bringbackbebe]

Rival fans hated Abramovic as his money was spent on quality players like Makelele, Carvalho, Drogba and that influx of cash won Chelsea back-to-back Premier League titles shortly after he took over.

Boehly has spent half a billion quid in 6 months and has turned Chelsea into a shambles of a club floundering in mid table. So no, we don't hate Boehly. We're actually really enjoying his antics. He's like Ed Woodward on steroids.

Exactly this. We were scared of Abrahamovich when he first landed up and splashing cash because we hadn't seen anything like that at all. We're not scared of Boehly because we've been in familiar territory before with Woody.

 

[Dancfc]

Comparing Boehly to Woodward is funny… Woodward literally doesn’t have the qualifications to get an entry level position at the Firm Boehly led.

Smart people know what they don’t know and make adjustments. Boehly now has an extremely qualified person for each particular job in the right position, from Vivell down. And since he started negotiating many of their departures from their previous employers in August … that was always the plan.

Woodward just kept doing the same thing over and over, maybe hoping someone important like Boehly would notice him?

It's a shame really, whenever you try and engage in good faith with this topic (and many let's be honest) you just get one of the party lines thrown back in your face. The fact they haven't even bothered to do their research on who's actually leading the transfer business since the new team was assembled says it all sadly.

I remember a while back a poster made a thread on why he thought prime Kante was overrated, I (obviously) didn't agree but we had an interesting and enjoyable back and forth about it, trying to do the same with this topic has lead to things like sarcastic mocking (even when you take the time in good faith to give them a response) and even attempts to get you banned.

 

[bringbackbebe]

It's a shame really, whenever you try and engage in good faith with this topic (and many let's be honest) you just get one of the party lines thrown back in your face. The fact they haven't even bothered to do their research on who's actually leading the transfer business since the new team was assembled says it all sadly.

I remember a while back a poster made a thread on why he thought prime Kante was overrated, I (obviously) didn't agree but we had an interesting and enjoyable back and forth about it, trying to do the same with this topic has lead to things like sarcastic mocking (even when you take the time in good faith to give them a response) and even attempts to get you banned.

Leaving the non footballing portion aside and the money spent aside, do you feel you are better than last couple of seasons as a team?

 

[Bluelion7]

It's a shame really, whenever you try and engage in good faith with this topic (and many let's be honest) you just get one of the party lines thrown back in your face. The fact they haven't even bothered to do their research on who's actually leading the transfer business since the new team was assembled says it all sadly.

I remember a while back a poster made a thread on why he thought prime Kante was overrated, I (obviously) didn't agree but we had an interesting and enjoyable back and forth about it, trying to do the same with this topic has lead to things like sarcastic mocking (even when you take the time in good faith to give them a response) and even attempts to get you banned.

It’s true. BUT, I get it. Until they get a sale through they have the Glazers as owners and it rightly makes them angry.

Their fanbase and their team didn’t do anything to deserve what has happened to them over the last decade or more. And when they see teams owners doing things their people said weren’t possible it makes them mad. I would be mad.

But not THAT mad. United have an excellent manager and foundation of players, and are about to get a massive influx of spending power.

It’s just a message board though: if we all agreed it would be boring.

 

[Dancfc]

Leaving the non footballing portion aside and the money spent aside, do you feel you are better than last couple of seasons as a team?

As of this moment no but I don't think it's as simple as new owners coming in and butchering everything (although ofcourse there has been some green moments).

Contary to popular belief we weren't an amazingly run club in the last few years of the Roman reign (the Lukaku signing alone meant it shouldn't have been contary belief but I digress) which was part of the reason the new ownership had to dive into the market head first in the first place, for example had Guehi, Rudi and AC been retained that's over £100m off the bat that the new ownership didn't have to spend (although I do rate Fofana very highly).

As I said there's been green moments. Kouli and Auba should never have been signed, and although I don't think he's been close to bad as made out (he was actually playing very well until his illness) Cucurella for the price is looking poor in hindsight given Hall's emergence and Maatsen going from strength to strength on loan but I'm also liking the commitment to youth both in signings and the academy (Colwill would have probably been sold to raise funds the same way Guehi was under the previous regime whereas here we paid more for Cucu to ensure he was just a loan to Brighton).

They also got Reece James tied down to a massive long contract very quickly which was crucial with Real Madrid sniffing around.

So in summary, not the roaring start we hoped and there's for sure been a few head scratchers along the way but it's not been close to all bad and the comparisons with the likes of Woodwood and Moshiri are frankly ridiculous.

 

[Bluelion7]

Exactly this. We were scared of Abrahamovich when he first landed up and splashing cash because we hadn't seen anything like that at all. We're not scared of Boehly because we've been in familiar territory before with Woody.

Things don’t work that way anymore for …. So many reasons. With FFP you would never pour large salaries into older players, much less large fees.

The new key is controlling talent pipelines and engaging big talents at a younger age than moving on from them fairly quickly if you need to.

That kind of mobility takes money.

PSG is the last team to try it even remotely the old Roman way… and they have how many CL titles?

Want you can’t do is stagnate.

If you think Boehly is Woody, please feel free if it makes you feel better.


To the question “are we better?”: People only remember the CL tourney run, but we were a mush mash of failure in the league, constantly switching philosophies and headed towards an aging and disjointed squad. WORSE than what you are seeing now was inevitable.

How well we were playing: short memories, but we went from losing to Zagreb to playing beautiful football and topping our CL group. The younger players and new additions were playing well. We had a 9 game unbeaten run and our style was starting to gel. Then the injuries…

You guys were about to jump off bridges. And the. ETH’s coaching started to set in and Casemiro was shining … and life was wonderful again.

But yes, I DO prefer our direction now. I want a unified philosophy. I want the death of player power at the club. I like the playing style philosophy we are working toward, and I really like 90% of our purchases.

As injured people return, we won’t just have people like James back, we will have Kante coming off the bench for the final 20 to close out or press tempo as needed. Then we can continue to build in Summer.

Yeah, I like it. Not as much as I hope I will 2 years from now … but I like it.

 

[Red in STL]

Things don’t work that way anymore for …. So many reasons. With FFP you would never pour large salaries into older players, much less large fees.

The new key is controlling talent pipelines and engaging big talents at a younger age than moving on from them fairly quickly if you need to.

That kind of mobility takes money.

PSG is the last team to try it even remotely the old Roman way… and they have how many CL titles?

Want you can’t do is stagnate.

If you think Boehly is Woody, please feel free if it makes you feel better.


To the question “are we better?”: People only remember the CL tourney run, but we were a mush mash of failure in the league, constantly switching philosophies and headed towards an aging and disjointed squad. WORSE than what you are seeing now was inevitable.

How well we were playing: short memories, but we went from losing to Zagreb to playing beautiful football and topping our CL group. The younger players and new additions were playing well. We had a 9 game unbeaten run and our style was starting to gel. Then the injuries…

You guys were about to jump off bridges. And the. ETH’s coaching started to set in and Casemiro was shining … and life was wonderful again.

But yes, I DO prefer our direction now. I want a unified philosophy. I want the death of player power at the club. I like the playing style philosophy we are working toward, and I really like 90% of our purchases.

As injured people return, we won’t just have people like James back, we will have Kante coming off the bench for the final 20 to close out or press tempo as needed. Then we can continue to build in Summer.

Yeah, I like it. Not as much as I hope I will 2 years from now … but I like it.

Good to see a proper discussion where you can say something without being called a cnut or something if you happen to disagree.

Mind you anyone who thinks prime Kante was overrated probably deserves to be called something

 

[bringbackbebe]

As of this moment no but I don't think it's as simple as new owners coming in and butchering everything (although ofcourse there has been some green moments).

Contary to popular belief we weren't an amazingly run club in the last few years of the Roman reign (the Lukaku signing alone meant it shouldn't have been contary belief but I digress) which was part of the reason the new ownership had to dive into the market head first in the first place, for example had Guehi, Rudi and AC been retained that's over £100m off the bat that the new ownership didn't have to spend (although I do rate Fofana very highly).

As I said there's been green moments. Kouli and Auba should never have been signed, and although I don't think he's been close to bad as made out (he was actually playing very well until his illness) Cucurella for the price is looking poor in hindsight given Hall's emergence and Maatsen going from strength to strength on loan but I'm also liking the commitment to youth both in signings and the academy (Colwill would have probably been sold to raise funds the same way Guehi was under the previous regime whereas here we paid more for Cucu to ensure he was just a loan to Brighton).

They also got Reece James tied down to a massive long contract very quickly which was crucial with Real Madrid sniffing around.

So in summary, not the roaring start we hoped and there's for sure been a few head scratchers along the way but it's not been close to all bad and the comparisons with the likes of Woodwood and Moshiri are frankly ridiculous.

Things don’t work that way anymore for …. So many reasons. With FFP you would never pour large salaries into older players, much less large fees.

The new key is controlling talent pipelines and engaging big talents at a younger age than moving on from them fairly quickly if you need to.

That kind of mobility takes money.
-> This can be used to add 2-3 players in key positions (a couple in attack and a central defender maybe)

PSG is the last team to try it even remotely the old Roman way… and they have how many CL titles?

Want you can’t do is stagnate.

If you think Boehly is Woody, please feel free if it makes you feel better.


To the question “are we better?”: People only remember the CL tourney run, but we were a mush mash of failure in the league, constantly switching philosophies and headed towards an aging and disjointed squad. WORSE than what you are seeing now was inevitable.

How well we were playing: short memories, but we went from losing to Zagreb to playing beautiful football and topping our CL group. The younger players and new additions were playing well. We had a 9 game unbeaten run and our style was starting to gel. Then the injuries…

You guys were about to jump off bridges. And the. ETH’s coaching started to set in and Casemiro was shining … and life was wonderful again.

But yes, I DO prefer our direction now. I want a unified philosophy. I want the death of player power at the club. I like the playing style philosophy we are working toward, and I really like 90% of our purchases.

As injured people return, we won’t just have people like James back, we will have Kante coming off the bench for the final 20 to close out or press tempo as needed. Then we can continue to build in Summer.

Yeah, I like it. Not as much as I hope I will 2 years from now … but I like it.

That's fair. In most cases, success rates of transfers is often 30-50% (there have been some exceptions like Liverpool between 2016-2021 where it was more than 80% but that's an outlier). Often, you'd bet on the fact that the successful ones make it "really" big and the bad ones can be rotated out quickly at a small loss. This is actually something Chelsea in the past have been very good at doing. That said, expecting Rudiger, Alonso & Christensen to be replaced in a single window in the midst of the takeover transition was always going to be a tough decision to crack - Koulibaly, Cucurella and Fofana (with his injuries) have not filled their shoes (yet). Badiashile looks decent.

The Boehly-Woody comparison strikes I think because we had to go through a similar period in 2014 when Woodward took center stage with his new manager LVG - Vidic, Ferdinand, Evra (then Evans & Rafael) were phased out in the 2014-15 season and replaced with Rojo, Blind & an injury prone, young Luke Shaw. The same happened in our attack (RVP & Hernandez were phased out for shiny new signings of Di Maria & Falcao) - it was just too much chaos in a single season with all the non-footballing people making the noise & resulted in a complete breakdown that's impacting us to this very day. Yours could turn out to be very different, but the reminiscence & similarity for us, having experienced it, is striking. You can take it anyway you'd like.

I think a few factors are going to benefit you going forward
-> You've basically prepared to replace people in every position - so there's not going to be a lot of additions going forward and this will leave you with a stable squad to gel & play cohesive football
-> Your net transfer spending will be negative in the next 2 windows given the number of players who will be sold (I can see you getting 150m in sale next window).
-> This can be used to add 2-3 players in key positions (a couple in attack and a central defender maybe)
-> Assuming Potter doesn't get the sack, he can start implementing his ideas right from pre-season
-> Lack of Champions League or Europe for one season is not the end all - might actually benefit you to cut your squad off excess baggage since you'll play lesser games

Interesting times ahead. Your turnaround will almost entirely depend on Potter & his ability to work with players who came in before him.

 

[Biggins]

And who would have thunk that Abramovich was the one who was conservative with the transfer spending…

 

[bond19821982]

Mudryk
Nkuku
Sterling
Madueke
Havertz
Pulisic
Ziyech
D.Fofana
Auba
Borja


For 3 positions ? Assuming Auba,Pulisic and Ziyech will leave ,still too much.

 

[Zaphod2319]

Mudryk
Nkuku
Sterling
Madueke
Havertz
Pulisic
Ziyech
D.Fofana
Auba
Borja


For 3 positions ? Assuming Auba,Pulisic and Ziyech will leave ,still too much.

D.Fofona goes out on loan. Mudryk, Nkunku, and Madueke will be given preference. Sterling and Borja will see playing time, especially given injuries and Madueke's history with them. The rest will be gone.

 

[SirReginald]

Mudryk
Nkuku
Sterling
Madueke
Havertz
Pulisic
Ziyech
D.Fofana
Auba
Borja


For 3 positions ? Assuming Auba,Pulisic and Ziyech will leave ,still too much.

D.Fofona goes out on loan. Mudryk, Nkunku, and Madueke will be given preference. Sterling and Borja will see playing time, especially given injuries and Madueke's history with them. The rest will be gone.

For sure, next season i reckon it’ll be:

Sterling, Mudryk, Noni as wide players
Mount, Nkunku inside forwards
Havertz 9

Still lacking a 9. Havertz will stay and be a 9 if we don’t receive a reasonable offer, which I don’t think we will due to his form.

 

[MayosNoun]

For sure, next season i reckon it’ll be:

Sterling, Mudryk, Noni as wide players
Mount, Nkunku inside forwards
Havertz 9

Still lacking a 9. Havertz will stay and be a 9 if we don’t receive a reasonable offer, which I don’t think we will due to his form.

I think the plan is having Mudryk and Madueke either side of Nkunku.

He’s not a number 9 but he’s a goal threat and will be more clinical that Havertz.

The midfield 3 will hopefully include Enzo and Zakaria with possibly Kovacic. Would love to see Kante in there against top half teams.

For teams we need to break down, Zakaria, Enzo and a goal threat from midfield would give us a lot more attacking options.

Looks a lot more exciting but a lot rests on Enzo.

 

[WeePat]

I think the plan is having Mudryk and Madueke either side of Nkunku.

He’s not a number 9 but he’s a goal threat and will be more clinical that Havertz.

The midfield 3 will hopefully include Enzo and Zakaria with possibly Kovacic. Would love to see Kante in there against top half teams.

For teams we need to break down, Zakaria, Enzo and a goal threat from midfield would give us a lot more attacking options.

Looks a lot more exciting but a lot rests on Enzo.

For sure, next season i reckon it’ll be:

Sterling, Mudryk, Noni as wide players
Mount, Nkunku inside forwards
Havertz 9

Still lacking a 9. Havertz will stay and be a 9 if we don’t receive a reasonable offer, which I don’t think we will due to his form.

Do you think we won't sign Felix in the summer? It was reported the other day that there is a clause in the agreement that would allow us to sign him permanently at the end of the season.

 

[MayosNoun]

Do you think we won't sign Felix in the summer? It was reported the other day that there is a clause in the agreement that would allow us to sign him permanently at the end of the season.

It really depends on his performances and his fee.

He’s very similar to Nkunku as a centre forward but not a striker. Nkunku has more output in terms of goals and assists.

I hope he performs and we do have an interest though. He was impresssive in his debut despite the sending off.

Read online Enzo left Benfica training today. Seems a done deal.

 

[Ayoba]

Bring back Roman!

This boely guy is singing everyone

 

[SirReginald]

It really depends on his performances and his fee.

He’s very similar to Nkunku as a centre forward but not a striker. Nkunku has more output in terms of goals and assists.

I hope he performs and we do have an interest though. He was impresssive in his debut despite the sending off.

Read online Enzo left Benfica training today. Seems a done deal.

Think FFP will decide it since we won’t be able to spread it over 7/8 years. However if we can sell Havertz for a reasonable figure then perhaps it’ll happen.

 

[rajds89]

Honestly, feck them and there new crazy owner. If this were us doing what they have done this window the media and football fans in general would be up in arms.

 

[MayosNoun]

Think FFP will decide it since we won’t be able to spread it over 7/8 years. However if we can sell Havertz for a reasonable figure then perhaps it’ll happen.

I’d try sell Jorginho now and get something before his contract expires.

I’d sell Havertz and Ziyech if the money is right.

I’d also attempt to sell Koulibaly but we won’t get anywhere near what we paid. Same with Lukaku.

We will clearly get 40m+ for Gallagher if we choose to sell him. I would have liked him to stay but if the money is right he will leave.

I don’t think Mendy will be too happy being second choice either and he will bring a decent fee.

 

[jakko]

I’d try sell Jorginho now and get something before his contract expires.

I’d sell Havertz and Ziyech if the money is right.

I’d also attempt to sell Koulibaly but we won’t get anywhere near what we paid. Same with Lukaku.

We will clearly get 40m+ for Gallagher if we choose to sell him. I would have liked him to stay but if the money is right he will leave.

I don’t think Mendy will be too happy being second choice either and he will bring a decent fee.

Jorginho is the only DM we have, silly to sell him for peanuts when we could just keep him until the end of the season.

 

[Lay]

Madness. Anyone else had an offer from Chelsea? I’m patiently waiting mine

 

[Berbaclass]

Barely a football club anymore

 

[Zehner]

Tgis is getting crazy

 

[Zaphod2319]

Tweet

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[ZolaWasMagic]

Tweet

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[ZolaWasMagic]

seems psg in for ziyech, too

 

[NicolaSacco]

I might be missing something but I’ve seen nothing in Enzo Fernandez that tells me he’s a £100m player. I’d like to see him do well but the numbers are astronomical..

 

[slored1]

Tweet

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Spending 700 million on 19 new players plus the manager in the span of 7 months might be the most insane thing ever in football. Nothing comes close to this.

 

[ZolaWasMagic]

Spending 700 million on 19 new players plus the manager in the span of 7 months might be the most insane thing ever in football. Nothing comes close to this.

caicedo wont happen. i think we can all agree

 

[NicolaSacco]

Spending 700 million on 19 new players plus the manager in the span of 7 months might be the most insane thing ever in football. Nothing comes close to this.

It’s absolutely absurd, to the extent that I can’t quite believe your numbers are correct! He did say that he’d do this didn’t he? I seem to remember he committed to putting X amount into the club, but I never expected it to be done like this!

 

[redcucumber]

Soulless husk of an entity.

 

[Sandikan]

This is utterly unprecedented.
Unless we look back at Jose's first Chelsea spell.

 

[EtH]

We will clearly get 40m+ for Gallagher if we choose to sell him. I would have liked him to stay but if the money is right he will leave.

As if you lot weren’t a laughing stock already. No surprise really though as your club sold its soul decades ago.

 

[HookedOnAPhelan]

caicedo wont happen. i think we can all agree

Right, because that would be insane.

 

[ZolaWasMagic]

Right, because that would be insane.

 

[mu4c_20le]

This is utterly unprecedented.
Unless we look back at Jose's first Chelsea spell.

It was 10 players, and they'd finished 2nd the year before . He won them the league in his first season.

 

[Sandikan]

It was 10 players, and they'd finished 2nd the year before . He won them the league in his first season.

It's more the massive buying up of players at top of market prices then..and same again now. Way above anyone else.

 

[mu4c_20le]

It's more the massive buying up of players at top of market prices then..and same again now. Way above anyone else.

The only reason I even checked was because it didn't feel the same as it does now. Besides the obvious Robben, most were players the manager knew and trusted rather than poaching rivals. And they actually reinforced the positions that they needed.

I guess in a way this isn't totally new to them.

 

[Sparky Rhiwabon]

It’s Saudi money that’s funding this spending.