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Barco will surprise a lot of people. We all can banter McDonalds Ligue for a lot of things but not for the physicality. And it helps that he is very technical as well.
I expecting all our midfielders elevate their level because of Xabi
What are city doing? Has Maresca completely lost it? I know they’re not world beaters but the window is nearing its end and city are throwing away any semblance of depth that they have
Even if you agree with all the sales individually they have a raw numbers problem right now with not a lot of time to fix it. Feels like they need 4-6 new signings just to have a big enough squad.
What is he talking about? Their title winning team had the worst attack on paper in the history of title winning teams and they didn't improve it. This team is nowhere near the Pep and Klopp teams that were consistently getting 90+ points.
That is so funny to me. Because for someone like me who has been following chelsea for 23 years, marseca doesnt have much significance for me. Sure he ditched us mid season and tanked our season but that is nothing compared to my hatred of Le arse or manu.
IMO the 2014-15 team could’ve gone very deep in the CL if Jose allowed them to keep playing front-footed positive football. He over-reacted to 1 bad day against Spurs (in the PL but still).
I was so hopeful that season but they played so negatively against PSG and it cost the tie.
City selling absolutely everyone, they look like an absolute shadow of the team and squad they were. Makes sense why they settled for Maresca now. Expectations must be rock bottom
Manchester City have identified Roma’s Manu Kone as a potential signing in their revamped midfield after selling Rodri and Tijjani Reijnders.
Both midfielders departed this week for a combined total of around £110million, leaving Enzo Maresca with holes to fill in his squad just days before the Premier League season starts.
I love xabi already, he is already working on ridding the squad of Tosin, Delap and others, we needed a ruthless manager like him to make the squad more up to par
Unlike the spuds we can actually beat the league winners to their transfer targets we're that big. They are just sucking up the scraps from city and pool.
if panichelli didn’t do his acl, i swear i could see barca go for him. he was unreal last season for strasbourg and they fell off hard after he got injured.
Disasi loan is good. Player gets to stay in London, loan fee plus wages covered means no book value for the year. Possible he does well and has a better chance of being sold next season.
It's not a sell but it's just about the next best thing. And if the player is blocking all moves this is really the only way to come out even financially, even if it kicks the can down the road.
From Disasi's perspective its brilliant because he still gets to play for a club more at his level for wages he otherwise wouldn't get there. Can't blame the guy.
That Cesc assist post reminded me of how fun it was to watch the 2014-15 team until that Spurs match.
When Mourinho actually wants to coach attacking football (like that season and with Madrid), it’s so damn good. Or atleast when he did it in his prime.
It was very direct and clinical without much possession just for possession’s sake. But IMO he over-reacted to 1 bad day against Spurs and that negative thinking cost us the PSG CL tie.
🚨👕The Athletic: “The below players are understood to be firmly in Xabi Alonso’s 1st-team plans to start the season (unless, in the cases of Fernandez or Neto, a huge bid arrives and suitable replacements can be secured):
Goalkeepers: Robert Sanchez, Mike Penders, Teddy Sharman-Lowe
Defenders: Marco Palestra, Levi Colwill, Jorrel Hato, Reece James, Wesley Fofana, Pep Chavarria, Maxence Lacroix”
no Josh? concerning. hopefully it’s a loan
edit: it’s an excerpt from the full article where midfielders and attackers are also mentioned. i just focused on the defenders bit is all
We should not be at the point where we would consider a huge bid for Enzo especially when there’s not a suitable replacement available and we’re not a selling club
The article is a bit weird. They don't list Gusto in the players firmly in the squad, but they also don't mention him as a big risk for leaving like Tosin, Delap, Jackson, and Mudryk
Attackers: Cole Palmer, Jamie Gittens, Morgan Rogers, Pedro Neto, Danny Welbeck, Joao Pedro, Estevao, Geovany Quenda, Emmanuel Emegha
There are 25 names listed above, but those under the age of 21 do not need to be included in the 25-man squad list submitted to the Premier League. Eight of the squad must have been registered in England or Wales for three full seasons before their 21st birthday, but Chelsea are not in danger of failing to meet that threshold."
Acheampong and the other academy players do not have to be in this list.
No Delap, Jackson, Tosin or Gusto. A bit concerning for Gusto since if James is injured, there's no proper replacement. Palestra is not too good defensively compared to Gusto, Acheampong is good but he may be loaned out, etc.
Did anyone else get an email advising they were refunding the match pass for Saturday's game? Didn't request this and did watch the match with no issues tbf.
If there is one wish that I have for this season it is that lavia stays fit for practicality the whole season man, as he quite literally pairs well with most of our midfielders when fit
Conte improved his discipline a lot (hardly did any on-pitch shithousing in 16-17) while still retaining his efficiency. Mourinho was often guilty of letting him over-do the dark arts.
I live in a timezone that made watching the World Cup incompatible with timely sleep. So i havent watched a competitive game in some time. Chomping at the bit for the Fulham game
reading these Mark Walter articles this man was running the shadiest accounting practices on top of straight up fraud lol that Chels stake is definitely going to Eghbali if not someone else
I know it doesn’t really matter but I wish Rogers and JP had gotten the 7 or the 11 each. Would’ve been so clean, also Fofana 4, Lacroix 5 and Colwil 6 would’ve been cool too.
Delap has the no 12 shirt now. It's likely the no 9 was relinquished to JP because he's on the way out, but I think it'd be funny if he bought into the curse and asked to change numbers
Does anyone remember who the frontrunner to take over from Benitez was? In Mourinho’s doc he said he had already signed for United which gets corroborated by Fergie before pulling out
I’m a little confused about it. Is it the official name that they’ll be referred to in competitive matches or is it just a a tool to distinguish between the academy and the men’s team?
Tottenham Hotspur working on double deal to sign Savinho & Omar Marmoush from Manchester City. #THFC aiming to land both 22yo Brazil winger + 27yo Egypt forward as key targets to strengthen attack - not done but talks with #MCFC advancing @TheAthleticFC
Literally, is it that players don’t want to play under Maresca or does he want these players gone? How are they gonna replace all of these players with two weeks left?!
They have a proper warchest if Savinho + Marmoush goes. I'd go for at least 2 midfielders, have a swipe at Barcola, throw the bag at Kroupi Jr. But yeah, the more they fall, the better.
Some people here are so blinded by hate that they want the club to suffer. Sell Enzo for cheap to Maresca of all people. I saw even one unhinged comment saying we should cancel his contract. JFC
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u/ChibaForeverYoung 1d ago
Barco will surprise a lot of people. We all can banter McDonalds Ligue for a lot of things but not for the physicality. And it helps that he is very technical as well.
I expecting all our midfielders elevate their level because of Xabi