Chelsea Banter Archive May 12 2016

12 May 2016 21:43:57
Ed any chance of an update
Thanks.

{Ed002's Note - It will be easier for me to simply not do it. So no, tehre won't be one.}

12 May 2016 15:15:19
Duncan castles tweet - "Antonio Conte wants to keep John Terry at Chelsea. if the club does not renew the contract, it will do so against their managers wishes"

yes I know its just twitter but is there any truth in this? thanks in advance.

12 May 2016 18:56:16
Duncan Castles is a bit of a joke with his "exclusives" - take it with a pinch of salt.

12 May 2016 12:01:47
Ed002,

What are your thoughts on Pato and Falcao? Are you in agreements these have been 2 real dumb signings by the club?

{Ed002's Note - The issues that came with Pato took longer to address than someone at the club anticipated - and really that was no surprise. If he had been back to his best it would have been fine. The situation with Falcao started with a muscular injury that did not seem to go away and with Traore coming through he has really not been part of the plan.}

12 May 2016 09:59:44
Couple of points regarding possible transfers in and out and a view on our season.
Firstly after a superb performance by hazard last night I hope he doesn't leave but with ronaldo that one year older and Chelsea not having any European football next season, there is a huge chance he may leave.
If and it is an if he does leave, the club must sell for no less than £80m. Taking this into consideration greizman would be a excellent replacement, but again would he want to leave a club where he is the main man and possibly a champions league winner. Reus would be another good option but with ed telling us there is a situation with him and hummels off to bayern, I'm sure they won't want to sell him also. Not to sure on what's going on regarding courtois but he's another who I think has had a poor season. If he wants to leave then I can't see anyone paying any higher than £35m for a goalkeeper. For next season I would be happy for begavic to be no 1 and use the possible sale money on a top young defender. Possible defenders: stones, varane and Marquinhos. In midfield there is also rumours regarding matic and Oscar bearing in mind Ramires has just been sold without a replacement, so I think another two are needed in midfield as well as seeing a lot more of loftus cheek. With conte maybe going to use a 3-5-2 ( which I hope he does) then I would like to see kante, who reminds me so much of makelele. Another option would be nainggolan.
Another IF Costa does want to leave then cavani or higuain would be good replacements. Basically a lot of what I'm saying are big IFS but possible. Players are going to have their heads turned with us having no euro football and because of this I'm sure big wages will need to be offered for in coming transfers. At the end of the day the managers job is always the first port of call when things go wrong, so I just hope the club give conte full control especially when it comes to signings.

12 May 2016 11:21:47
I agree with you mostly, but I simply don't believe that Begovic is good enough. He's seemed shaky for many parts of the season, and while there is no doubt that he's suited to the Premier League, I don't think he's good enough for Chelsea (or, at least, how we expect to be) . We'd have to buy a new goalkeeper (IMO), and although a lot of people talk about Butland, I honestly think you're wearing British-tainted glasses - he too is a good keeper, but not good enough. A keeper who's been mentioned is Handanovic, who I think would be a better signing, or perhaps Bernd Leno. If we could sign Handanovic - fine, if we can sign Leno - great, then we'll have a top level keeper for a lot of years.

12 May 2016 13:37:43
Leno and Handanovic are way too good to be second choice goalkeepers mate.

12 May 2016 15:18:11
I agree. Don't know if I expressed myself wrongly - I was trying to mention them as people we should buy if we sell Courtouis.

12 May 2016 18:06:44
Oh haha I see I thought you meant second choice. If Courtois was to leave I'd personally have Leno.

12 May 2016 02:15:35
Opinions on Willian?

He's been really poor since February and even though he did carry us early season it wouldn't terribly bother me to see him moved on. If a Chinese club offer 50million plus I'd let him go. Apart from being a dead ball specialist now he just doesn't contribute enough going forward. If we could add someone like Griezmann instead and that's a big If I'd move him on. I'd then switch to a 3 man attack and midfield. Add someone like a Nainggolan/ Kante next to Matic and Cesc and then give the front three like Hazard, Costa and Griezmann more license to cause havoc.

12 May 2016 07:16:07
I agree. He hasn't been good the last couple of weeks. And he's not a dead ball specialist in my opinion, look at his corner kicks and his free kicks since January or so. They haven't been special in any way.
I appreciate what he's done for the club, and it's not that I want him out the door. But he can't be an automatic starter for us, because he adds almost nothing to the attack. If a big offer comes in, I'd allow him to leave. I'd rather have Traore starting right wing for us at this point.

{Ed001's Note - does it not show that when he was 'carrying' the team you were crap? Willian is an average player, and only achieves average because he works harder than most. It is because the squad is filled with players of his level that Chelsea sunk so far this season.}

12 May 2016 08:29:23
I have to agree with Ed001. I like Willian because of his work rate, mainly covering and that is not why we bought him. Personally I do not think we can get anymore out of him than we did this season which means a good offer and we should take it. His corners and free kicks are poor and for a man with two good feet his shooting leaves a lot to be desired. He WAS our best man for quite awhile but the others were shocking and the way he has tailed off is very worrying. Time for a change although I was slaughtered last week when suggesting as much!

12 May 2016 09:31:06
Not long ago I was slated for suggesting Willian was not good enough. Good to see people are starting to see sense.

12 May 2016 10:13:53
You guys are amazing to say the least. Willian is looking jaded because he carried the whole team for most of the season! He won't be going anywhere and fits the Conte player profile perfectly. We need have better quality players around him.

12 May 2016 10:36:10
G8. Always ones own perception but I think you are starting to lose support with Willian. Conte likes an end product with his players and Willian does not deliver.

12 May 2016 11:03:53
C1915. Next Season we can revisit this when Conte is here. I'm not looking for support but do have an opinion.

12 May 2016 11:10:19
I agree, Ed. I think he's a good depth player for the team, but he should not be starting. As an attacking mid he offers 0 in attack, and we just can't have that.
There are much better options out there, and Griezmann would obviously be the ideal one. But even if we can't get a new winger, just play Traore. His left foot is magic and he offers much more of a scoring threat than Willian.

I really really agree, Ed.

{Ed001's Note - earlier in the season I said something along the same lines and got crucified for it on here. Amazing how perceptions change over time as people get the time to really see what someone does. I am lucky enough to get to watch more closely than most get to do.}

12 May 2016 13:45:28
There are simply too many average players in our starting 11.

12 May 2016 13:46:04
I'm always arguing about him with my guys back here in Nigeria. Willian is an ok player and if you take away the free kicks he scored earlier in the season you will see he's just bang average. If we want to move forward as a team we must improve on players like him and Mikel.

12 May 2016 15:10:52
I hope I wasn't one of the guys crucifying you, Ed. Because I love reading your opinions :-)
Sorry if I did, but you were definitely bang on the money back then!

{Ed001's Note - I can't remember mate, but it was a long time ago and he was your best player at the time, so it is easy to get caught up in bias and stand by someone who is at least trying, when all else were clearly not.}

12 May 2016 14:47:25
Willian had a decent 3/ 4's of a season, but has fallen away. I don't think he's amazing but he's above average through work effort alone - as a few have stated a lack of end product is a major issue. However, whenever I think about the team under Conte next season, with potential signings, I struggle to see where he'd fit in. Maybe as an attacking wingback on the right - but I think Cuadrado will come back into that role. I see the three midfield positions being between Matic, Fabregas, RLC, Nainngolan, Baker and another more defensive signing. I think he'll be off to China and the fee will be, positively for Chelsea, mind boggling!

12 May 2016 15:41:19
G8. Relax, I and others value any opinion and we all have differing ideas as to what's good, bad or ugly. What I was trying to imply was that whether you have liked him or me, the concensus has moved in the direction of 'not good enough'.
Don't get me started on Rahman!

12 May 2016 22:57:17
Possibly a little too late to this conversation and whilst I agree he perhaps isn't as good as he's been made out to be this season, especially by pundits, and he could be replaced with better quality, I certainly don't think replacing him is a priority. That being said. If a ridiculous offer from China came we would be silly to reject it.

12 May 2016 23:40:47
He'd do really well I a role similar to the one that cuadrado occupies. He just doesn't offer enough attacking ability from open play and is too slow on the ball allowing the opponent defenders to get back and into shape.

13 May 2016 22:18:32
Relax 1915.ha ha ha. Chelsea Players Player of the year and Fans player of the year. do you actually support Chelsea mate?