A thread for all things related to Chelsea FC.
They’ll score a lot and concede a lot and Lampard will remain a tool. Third or fourth place this season.
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deleted. Poll not what I expected, sorry!
10 games into the season and there’s a huge possibility of him leading the sack race. Because all new signings are supposed to be firing all guns from day 1. That’s a bare minimum plastic expectation.
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I think I have Hodgson down as first to go, as they’ve been awful for a while now and Palace don’t hesitate to pull the trigger.
But Lampard will definitely be under pressure to deliver and to successfully integrate Abramavich’s new £70m plaything.
Lampard to be gone by Xmas.
A lot of new signing all expecting to be 1st XI starters in a preseason so disrupted and cut up due to Covid means the team have no time/friendlies to build any sort of cohesion or understanding and add this to the fact that they are ignoring their 2 biggest issues from last season, a shit keeper that thinks he is far better than he actually is and a coaching staff that appear to not understand how to set up the defensive structure of the team means they’ll be an entertaining team to watch going forward, but defensively their fans will likely be hiding behind the couch
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Chelsea fans and their Tzar Roman will be expecting to win the league since they have spent a ton. So even a practical achievement like top four finish is unlikely to satisfy them.
They have bought some good players, but they have to develop as a team.
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Still not sold on the backline, Thiago is 36, if he was 30 then maybe but I’ve my doubts how he will cope especially as you assume they will be prone to the counter attack.
The team with the best defence will win it. I can understand it mind, there is so little you might as well try and improve Ake with a proven defender, there is nothing quite as good as VVD in the world right now and Gomez seems to be learning alongside him. We do have a gap in that backline for another defender considering Matip’s injuries but if he was to stay fit there is no better, considering we now have back up for TAA and Robertson.
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The Athletic:
Chelsea are increasingly confident they are on the verge of agreeing a deal with Rennes for goalkeeper Edouard Mendy, which will take their spending on new players this summer closer to the £250 million mark, reports Simon Johnson.
Sources have told The Athletic that talks are progressing well. One insider claimed that Mendy is expected to arrive at Stamford Bridge “within days or the next few weeks” in a move that will spark more speculation about the future of Kepa Arrizabalaga as the club’s No 1.
Chelsea are believed to have already had an offer worth £14 million rejected by Rennes, who signed Mendy from Stade Reims for just £3.5 million last year. Negotiations between the two clubs are ongoing and an agreement should be reached.
A combination of Chelsea’s asking price — they don’t want to make too much of a loss — plus his wages of around £170,000-a-week, has meant little interest has been shown in acquiring Kepa from elsewhere so far. Sevilla were thought to be considering a loan but it hasn’t developed into anything concrete.
Chelsea have considered a number of goalkeepers to buy over the summer including Jan Oblak, Andre Onana and Nick Pope but with Kepa now likely to remain, Mendy is seen as the best option for right now.
*The 28-year-old will be brought in to compete with Kepa for a starting position. Significantly he has a big admirer in Chelsea’s former keeper Petr Cech, who now acts as the club’s technical and performance advisor. *
Speaking to Sport.cz last week, Cech revealed Kepa is going to stay but with the likelihood of someone other than Caballero to challenge him for a first team role.
He said: “Additions will be made to the squad, perhaps even in goal, and this is what is being discussed now. But nobody is giving up on Kepa and we all hope he has a great future.”
Cech has a good relationship with Rennes having played there between 2002-4 before joining Chelsea and that is helping with the process of getting a deal done.
Mendy is five inches taller than Kepa at 6’6 and has built a reputation in France of being a commanding presence in the penalty area. The Senegal international boasted a save percentage of 78.4 per cent last season, which was the third best record in the division.
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Rather that than someone like Oblak.
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I know we’ve had a few accountants comment, and offer up their spreadsheets, but to my untrained eye Chelsea look like they are spending too much and run the risk of getting into trouble.
Maybe they think that splurging now, especially on young talent, will see them competitive for the next team cycle, and the longer reporting period due to Covid, plus maybe taking a leaf out of Man City’s book and not cooperating with UEFA, if push comes to shove, has given them renewed confidence to get the chequebook out.
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Indeed.
He’s crap in FM20 as well 
We’ll see, but I think we’re seeing the following at Chelsea.
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They have not spent a lot over the couple of seasons, so have plenty of space in this reporting window.
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They have also banked a lot with the sales of Morata and Hazard (and a few others).
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They have been effectively gaming FFP for years now with their creative use of the loan market - they’ve got something like 40 players on loan, and they just sell a couple if they get in trouble. (If the Loan market was ever tightened up, as I think it should be, they’ll be in trouble)
So I don’t think they’ll have that much difficulty with FFP, which itself has been relaxed to help football bounce back from Covid.
What I think is interesting about Chelsea is how they have taken advantage of the Covid summer and the slowness of the market to basically get a free run at a few coveted players. Time will tell if that will work for them, but I suspect that not all the players they have bought will work out.
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They have. I dont know where this idea comes from. Prior to this past summer they have spent over 100 million net every summer for about 5 years, a couple of times WA over that. Even last summer, when in a transfer ban, they spent 60 million quid in addition to the 55 or so they had already committed to the Pulisic deal.
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Pretty much.
Looking at Chelsea FC - All transfers | Transfermarkt in 17/18 they had a net spend of £50m, in 18/19 it was £120m net and this year it’s around £135m net… so far.
True, in 19/20 it was a profit of £140m, which they’ve basically spent this year (so far), but over the past 4 seasons as a whole they’re sitting at £160m net spend.
I guess in the normal course of things you probably wouldn’t blink at Chelsea spending £40m net each season, but these are pretty exceptional times with practically every other club tightening their belt, so their spending does rather stick out like a sore thumb.
I wonder what Super Frankie Lampard’s excuse is going to be when they finish 30 points off the league leaders again. Can’t say “I was forced to use some of the best young players in the country” this time.
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Funnily if it’s going to come to that, he’ll get sacked long back.
I’ve been very impressed with their signings
I have to say.
Gutted as I wanted Werner and Havertz.
Think they’ll have a good season
“We lost Tomori late in the window… Yes, you’re right, we did actually sell him but either way, we couldn’t call upon him anymore.”
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Pulisic given No. 10. Would Frank give him that number if he didn’t expect him to be a fixture? Still, that midfield is going to be competitive. Let’s see if he can live up to it. Would be a big story for America.