Chelsea Banter Archive January 26 2015

26 Jan 2015 20:26:59
Just a quick run through off our youth because I understand everyone wants to see someone come through.

Christensen - Good on the ball. A much better CB than RB. He needs to really beef up to convince me IMO.

Ake - Already in our squad. Great potential, seems to play well whenever he plays. Looks secure defensively, and for me he needs to play a lot more I would of played him next to Matic at anfield if I had my way.

Loftus-Cheek - This is the big one I think everyone expects. This is why I don't want us to sign Pogba because we could have our very own. Good ball player with the physicality of an athlete for such a young age. He's the shining light.

Baker - Was our most instrumental player in the U21 cup double we won. Currently on loan at Wednesday think he should have got some minutes this year against Bolton and Shrewsbury. I think his development on loan is his biggest challenge.

Boga - Brilliant potential. But still very young, a player I'd like to see on the bench now and again if we're in a comfortable situation. Still needs experience with the U21's though.

Brown - Another one very young. Hasn't been great this year. Still needs to keep playing for the U21's.

Solanke - 17 years of age and he's banging goals in left, right and centre. A player I have confidence in to be our 3rd choice striker next season. Just needs to get a bit more powerful.

I don't think we should be aiming to get so many youngsters through because no one will match the class of 92. We should comcentrate on a couple and try our utmost to develop them around the first team. Ake is now more or less a first team squad player. I would focus on Loftus-Cheek and Solanke. Solanke to replace Drogba in the squad and Loftus-Cheek as 5th choice CM. Them two should be our main focus. Why Loftus-Cheek and Ake aren't selected over the likes of Ramires in Mikel who offer nothing pains me. Loftus-Cheek needs games and experience under his belt. It's just a shame being out of the FA cup he probably won't get a look in till next year now. I would like to see him on the bench in home games in the next few months against lesser teams I.e Everton and Burnley.

Just my opinion anyway just focus on a couple of players. Boga can be great but he's still young. So for now I'd focus on Loftus-Cheek and Solanke.

Cheers

I'm excited for Solanke, but I think bamford should be 3rd choice next year

A fair assessment. My opinion is that Brown is sacrificing his game for the team, he is consistently rotated between the front positions. Like RLC the season before, I feel he's had some growing up to do. both of them have been captain and demonstrating more responsibility.

In terms of physicality, I'd put Tammy Abraham ahead of Solanke, though they are both clearly extremely talented players. For next season, I think Bamford will have a part to play ahead of any academy strikers.

I was disappointed Baker never got any minutes this season. he would have been a great example/role model to the academy had he broken through in any way. I think RLC has to find his best position and go all out to excel in it. For England he plays a more advanced role which he seems very comfortable with; the role we most need him in dictates that he needs to mature tactically but he has all the tools to be as good as he wants. Chalobah is another who would be a good option due to his physical stature, plus he can offer cover at CB too. Further behind is Jordan Houghton, though I think he is a bit of a dark horse. good leadership and a solid, dependable type of player.

One player I'd love to make it would be Ola Aina, he's taken to playing CB really naturally and he's a decent RB too. He has bags of potential and could be a good squad option in the next couple of years.

Lots of options. let's hope some opportunities present themselves for the youngsters soon enough.

Majority of these are not ready and taking them to be 3rd or 4th choice will do nothing but stunt there growth especially Solanke he is a child, I get that we are all very excited to see some of these fledglings break through but very few if any of them are ready, Ake is possibly the only one that maybe be ready to come in and do a job has cover, and before I get slated i'm not saying some of these kids haven't shown unbelievably talent for there age but there is a huge huge gap between playing in the u21 or Viettse and playing for Chelsea. We need some players that are of the quality and ready now.

There is also Piazon, Thorgan Hazard, Atsu, Chalobah, Triore and Swift. I would like to see 5 or 6 younger players in the first team squad next season - get rid of Mikel, Ramires, Remy, Drogba, Schurrle and Salah (I think Thorgan Hazard, Piazon, Atsu, Triore or Boga could all do better than Salah now!).
ALSO: we do not need Douglas Costa who is not an upgrade on what we already have.

Piazon good layer but not Chelsea Quality, Chabolah has the potential but needs a couple of seasons to gather some experience he's not ready .Atsu hardly got a game for Eveton again not good enough for Chelsea Traore is a possibility although I would like to see him have one more year on loan in a tougher league he might be able to do a ob has backup. Swift again good player but not ready.Of course just my opinion though only two I think are ready to do a job is Ake has backup and Bamford for 3rd choice striker.

And Thorgan Hazard surely?

Possibly has a squad player but i'd rather see Thorgan get one season long loan in the BPL he has major potential but I could also see him has a squad player next year.

26 Jan 2015 16:43:55
Ed 002 Would you expect Jose to be at the club beyond his current contract?
Are you aware of any problems behind the scene's currently?
Many Thanks
HoB

{Ed002's Note - I am not going speculate what happens in the summer of 2017. I have no idea what "problems" you might be referring to.}

26 Jan 2015 17:34:56
Why would there be any problems!

{Ed002's Note - There was a minor plumbing issue.}

I hope Jose will settle down at our club and become a legend like Sir Alex. He is a legend in my mind already. I love him with the club and I want him to stay as long as possible

25 Jan 2015 23:54:54
Jose has no faith in the youth team. Really sad as we have some of the top prospects everywhere.

We've lost Bertrand, who didn't get a run in the team. Now he's had a run he's looking like the best LB in the league!

Ake should be a constant in the 18 by now, Mikel shouldn't be here.

All I'm asking, is that the youth get time. As much as you may hate Pep, he's great at it. Always having faith in the players. That's what we need from Jose

In a dead rubber game against sporting Lisbon where we already had the game won, which was supposedly 'academy day', he subbed on Ruben Loftus-Cheek, in the 82nd minute. That is Embarrasing and a joke. The academy players that have played this year haven't got more than 8 minutes in the game, how are they supposed to show anything?

Kalas another example, played great in the two games he played, where is he? Failed loan at Koln and now playing in the championship. We bring in Zouma.

When Mata left, for 5th choice, we bring in salah for 15 million. Why not bring back Moses? Why not give youth a chance?

I'm sorry but it's beyond a joke now.

If I was ever scouted for Chelsea, I would turn it down. Chelsea and Liverpool I would avoid at all costs.

Aron

26 Jan 2015 05:20:07
Aron, I get what you're saying, but, you/we must take into consideration that our club now has a win at all costs mentality and the expectation of this from their fans. When was the last youngster from Real or Barcelona to come direct from their youth setup without first being loaned out(and their youth play in the equivalent of our championship) Defolou(spelling) is an example, great for Everton last year and obviously seriously talented but loaned again and not a look in with Barca. Again, I agree RLC, after over the nerves looked great when given a chance, Ake has never disappointed when played, but still we play Obi as a second choice. I know who I'd rather see start tbh.
I do think that we should be looking for premiership loans for our "preferred" youngsters, rather than championship as if they have the desired ability and drive the step up will not be an issue. The best players want to play against the best and be challenged to lift their own game. I however think that a lot of our youngsters are being bought cheap to showcase their talents and then be sold for profit having never been considered a possible Chelsea level player.

I don't care if they don't get through to the team, but they deserve a chance in a dead rubber!

Pep played Rode and Hojberg against man city in UCL where they didn't have to win, they got a red card and pep took off Rode, however trusted Hojberg for the whole 90.

I understand this league is more competitive than the spanish and German Leagues, but they atleast deserve a chance.

Barcelona beat Elche 5 - 0 the other day, Sergi Roberto got his game. Why can't one of our youths get a game when we are comfortably winning.

In the FA cup, I'm very glad Youth played, and it didn't work out. I just get the feeling the youth won't get another chance unfortunately.

26 Jan 2015 08:49:35
I tend to agree Aron. We'll never know if any of the youngsters are good enough if they aren't given a chance. It make no sense to me to pay silly money for players like Salah when we probably already have better at the club.

I also tend to agree with Aron but . . look how easily Christensen got pulled all over the place and turned so easily by Bradford on Saturday. It's no good throwing youngsters in before they're ready - it can do more harm than good.

You make a fair point, Mrs Costa. But Christensen isn't a right back though, and I understand Mourinho not trusting him to play centre back right now because he has to develop more physically to play the position. He'd get bullied against grown men.
It would've been a perfect game for Ake. He's played against better opposition and he's handled himself in a brilliant way in those games. Mourinho should be able to trust him.
I also tend to agree, Aron. I'm starting to lose faith regarding seeing youth play a significant role in the team. The only thing I can hope for is that Mourinho feels that he's under pressure to win something this season and maybe therefor he doesn't rotate often or integrates the youth. Perhaps if we'd win the league this season he'd use the young players more in future seasons.

26 Jan 2015 10:36:38
Well said Mrs Costa. The timing has to be right. We haven't got a clue on the young players mindset etc either! The coaching staff will know exactly when players are ready. These are top professional coaches who work day in day out with the players. If they are good enough coupled with the right physical and mental attributes they will get a chance.

Personally I hope we can win the league a game or two early, that way we might see some of our youngsters get a start or two

26 Jan 2015 12:01:52
Just to add a thought about kalas. If he didn't turn up good at koln how he can be suitable for us?

26 Jan 2015 14:16:21
Koln didn't trust him to get a start. He has the pace and physicality to be a great player. Jose trusted him and he looked good and he's the best manager in the world so why would you question it?

26 Jan 2015 14:54:17
There are a ton of layers to this debate but let me state that I do agree the youth need a better chance. It's tough to compare what we do with bayern barca and real as half of their leagues are championship teams so you see the blowouts on an incredibly common basis. Next you have to look at the squad. You're going to have a hard time keeping guys like schurrle and Ramires happy when you tell them they aren't travelling with the squad but a 16 year old from the academy is. Managers have to be very strategic about their subs, as many games can be decided by these kinds of margins. For instance there was a cup game where we through out a bunch of reserves and played rather horrible until we put Willian and others on. We could've had a guy like boga on the bench but would he have made the same impact and if he doesn't you're left with the kind of inquest that followed Saturday's result. The best solution is trimming the squad. For example we don't need a player in salahs role as I'd rather have boga fill the tiny amount of minutes he played. Another example would be to decide between Remy and drogba and for your third striker take a pick from the two gems from our academy (solanke and brown). In doing this it gives greater motivation to the kids because they know if they do it in the academy they will make squads with the big boys.

Good points tk