Chelsea 0 Real Madrid 2 (0 - 4 on aggregate)

[Chelsea_Matt]

4 minutes ago, JaneB said:

Interesting.

And I was thinking they spoke the same language but they actually don’t.

True. Spanish is waaaay different to Portuguese too. I’ve been learning Spanish for a while. Amazing language, I have to say. 

In any case, Thiago speaks English 🙌🏻

Edited April 19, 2023 by Chelsea_Matt

[JaneB]

42 minutes ago, Chelsea_Matt said:

True. Spanish is waaaay different to Portuguese too. I’ve been learning Spanish for a while. Amazing language, I have to say. 

In any case, Thiago speaks English 🙌🏻

Not that well though ☹️ He did the whole of his post match interview in Portuguese.

[east lower]

7 hours ago, My Blood Is Blue said:

Sorry if this has already been posted, but just seen what Silva said after the game:

"I think the first step has been made. An incorrect step, but it has been made.

"We can't be blaming managers if we don't take responsibility. It's a hard period for the club, with a lot of indecision - change of ownership, new players arriving...

"We had to increase the size of the changing room because it didn't fit the size of the squad.

"A positive point is that there are amazing players within the squad but on the other hand there is always players that are going to be unhappy. There is always going to be someone upset because not everyone can play. The manager can only pick 11 from 30 something.

"That's tough. Some can't make the squad. We signed eight in January.

"We need to stop and put a strategy in place otherwise next season we could make the same mistakes.

He is spot on, we need to make sure we keep him around for as long as possible, even after he stops playing.

Read this at work and couldn’t post then. 
 

This man is a Rolls-Royce on the pitch and a Champion off it. He’s called out the owners for what was clearly thought by him and probably some of the other players as an unmitigated mess of recruitment. He sees the number of unhappy players and again calls it as he sees it without too much political correctness, namely you cannot have a functioning squad with the numbers we have because there’s too many that’ll be cheesed-off and thus dysfunctional.

As a player I’d have run through walls for this bloke.

I have muted that this fella’s the real deal for a potential manager. Don’t let him away Todd, that’ll be yet another mistake to add to the lengthy list.

Edited April 19, 2023 by east lower

[Chelsea_Matt]

41 minutes ago, JaneB said:

Not that well though ☹️ He did the whole of his post match interview in Portuguese.

Maybe he was more comfortable making these kind of nuanced comments that can so easily be taken out of context - was it Brazilian/Portuguese media?

[JaneB]

1 minute ago, Chelsea_Matt said:

Maybe he was more comfortable making these kind of nuanced comments that can so easily be taken out of context - was it Brazilian/Portuguese media?

Doh!!!! I didn’t think of that.  Yes it more than likely was 👍🏻

[Bob Singleton]

It was a post-match interview given to the official UEFA CL TV where he responded in Portuguese

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/av/football/65329857https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/av/football/65329857

[xceleryx]

9 hours ago, Bison said:

We have some technically skilled defenders but there are still weaknesses in that regard.

We are set at RB. Reece is as technically skilled as you can wish for a fullback to be. And from what I've seen, Gusto is another really good footballer. It's a  real shame we don't have that level of ability at LB.

Chilwell is terrible with the ball and regularly destroys our build up play. He is a pressing trigger for the opposition, it happens near enough every game. Cucurella is a little better than Chilwell as a passer but he's slow and can't defend so there's very little upside there. We already have a solution at LB in Lewis Hall but the optics of an academy kid playing ahead of 50m Chilwell and 60m Cucurella simply won't allow it to happen any time soon.  Hall is comfortably better than both with the ball and that isn't an exaggeration. He was brilliant when he played earlier in the season (the only poor game he had was at Anfield where he played CM).

CBs are largely fine. Badiashile is a progressive passer and is calm in possession. Colwill is brilliant with the ball. Fofana is probably the weakest passer but he's capable of driving with the ball which offsets that a little. I see those three as the future of our CB positions.

As for goalkeeper: Kepa has undeserved reputation as a ball-playing keeper. It is truly bizarre. In fact just last night, he very nearly cost us a goal with an awful pass. No point discussing Mendy because he seems to be heading out.

Of course, it's not going to be entirely 100% perfect on that front and it rarely ever is in most cases. In the grand scheme of things however I would say we're competent enough technically in the defensive part of the pitch with the current options on hand. Some players are more astute than others, but I don't think the disparity is big enough to cause us huge problems for the most part. 

I didn't want to go through and break down every player because that's naturally a pretty long winded process, but just to touch on Hall who you've mentioned. He's not a LB, and certainly won't be a high quality one at this level imo. Maybe in a pinch he can plug the gap as he did for a period of time this season but his only real strength in the role comes through his progressive passing - something born through being a midfielder and coming through the ranks as one. He's still young so course so that may change but it would take converting to the position full-time asap if he's to have any real chance of learning the finer details of the position properly. As it stands, I'm not of the opinion that he was quite as good as you've claimed. He was okay in my books, nothing more, nothing less. But an experiment that was rightfully abandoned. 

As for Kepa, he's not world class but he's not Mendy awful either. I think he's in that "next best" bracket outside of the big players like Ederson and Alison in the Premier League when it comes to having the ball at feet. He's in the 75th percentile for passes attempted, so he does see quite a lot of ball for a keeper. 42.2 touches per game, with his passing breakdown pretty solid in itself with a 92% accuracy in his own half and 80% accuracy as a whole per game (keeping in mind this gets impacted by incomplete long passes/kicks upfield). The other thing he does well with is his movement off his line, for a keeper he's quite quick and agile with his mobility and that allows him to sweep up quite well when needed. There's keepers out there with a lot better fundamental keeping qualities, but with the way modern football is these days it is an aspect that does get sacrificed for more on ball quality, more so in sides that do look to build from the back. 

9 hours ago, Bison said:

The reason I push back so much in support of Kante is for two reasons:

1) I don't believe he is as technically limited as he's made out to be. No need to rehash this point but it's key to the debate for me.

2) We have a lot of players who fit the description 'aren't up to snuff technically' that provide none of things Kante does off the ball.  Kante is a far more useful player than anybody in our midfield not named Enzo. There are 10+ players who need removal from this squad before we should even consider thinking about Kante's role.

But to go back to the main point: our squad is what it is for a number of reasons. Nobody in charge really knows what they're doing, they're not working towards an overall plan and the recruitment has been outrageously bad. I hate to use this term and I'm sure many are going to roll there eyes but here it goes....there is no identity here.

1) Matter of opinion I suppose. For every one that thinks similarly to you on this matter, there's arguably just as many that recognise just how limited he is technically and seen the countless times it's hurt or hinders us in the attacking third when play breaks down because of it. Doesn't matter as much in the deeper areas where there's more support around him, but if he's going to spend more time up the pitch like he has then it's a serious problem imo.

2) Agree, we do have several also fitting into this mould and don't provide what Kante does, or has done in the past. Be that as it may, Kante of present isn't that Kante of 4-5 years ago either. He plays higher up the pitch and has done since the days of Sarri, largely because of his strongest quality in being able to press and win the ball back. That's a great quality to have for any side that wants to press higher up the pitch. However, and we've seen this on a consistent basis, that good work he does in winning the ball back gets undone by his lack of technical quality, vision and passing ability. And again, he's not alone in this but that's kinda the point - it's a problem. I don't think we can excuse it purely because it's Kante and his overall reputation or likability.  More so once you start factoring in where he fits tactically moving forward. 

But yes, I wholeheartedly agree and this is the years of aimless spending without any defined plan, but also the constant turnover of managers who've all got their own styles. There's not been any real cohesion for years on end now, and in large it's a big factor in why we've not sniffed the Premier League title in like 6 years. 

[Lump Of Celery]

19 hours ago, JaneB said:

Interesting.

And I was thinking they spoke the same language but they actually don’t.

Probably both speak some French from their time at PSG, and some English from their time here. Throw in some Spanish and Portugese and they can have their own version of Esperanto!

19 hours ago, Chelsea_Matt said:

True. Spanish is waaaay different to Portuguese too. I’ve been learning Spanish for a while. Amazing language, I have to say. 

In any case, Thiago speaks English 🙌🏻

I was with some Brazilians in Argentina and they were able to converse pretty easily with each other when speaking Spanish to Portuguese and vice versa. I know it is way different when written, but spoken simple conversation didn't seem too much of a problem. Or could be that the South American versions of each are more similar than the European versions, I know there are differences in the languages between the two continents

[Chelsea_Matt]

1 hour ago, Lump Of Celery said:

Probably both speak some French from their time at PSG, and some English from their time here. Throw in some Spanish and Portugese and they can have their own version of Esperanto!

I was with some Brazilians in Argentina and they were able to converse pretty easily with each other when speaking Spanish to Portuguese and vice versa. I know it is way different when written, but spoken simple conversation didn't seem too much of a problem. Or could be that the South American versions of each are more similar than the European versions, I know there are differences in the languages between the two continents

Yes, same with one of my friends 

[chara]

1 hour ago, Lump Of Celery said:

Probably both speak some French from their time at PSG, and some English from their time here. Throw in some Spanish and Portugese and they can have their own version of Esperanto!

I was with some Brazilians in Argentina and they were able to converse pretty easily with each other when speaking Spanish to Portuguese and vice versa. I know it is way different when written, but spoken simple conversation didn't seem too much of a problem. Or could be that the South American versions of each are more similar than the European versions, I know there are differences in the languages between the two continents

Only in Portugal once and my poor but confident Spanish was enough to easily get by...and a conversation using the same suspect Spanish in Simi with a Greek "older" lady who spoke Italian managed to get a vegetarian dish on the table!...pre "aware" type times and not for me!

Edited April 20, 2023 by chara

[Holymoly]

On 19/04/2023 at 12:31, My Blood Is Blue said:

He is spot on, we need to make sure we keep him around for as long as possible, even after he stops playing

I think Isabelle has been coaching him.

[Holymoly]

On 19/04/2023 at 15:58, boratsbrother said:

If true? It's another awful mistake by the owners!

All players should be treated the same, regardless of ability and importance to the team. This can only cause friction and a divide amongst players, especially bad  at a time when we need everyone pulling in the same direction.

Why blame the owners? If the players are upset they should be pissed off with their agents imo.

[Holymoly]

22 hours ago, JaneB said:

Interesting.

And I was thinking they spoke the same language but they actually don’t.

Also putting an Argentinian and a Brazilian together isn't going to end well. 😉

[hallgalley]

4 hours ago, Holymoly said:

Also putting an Argentinian and a Brazilian together isn't going to end well. 😉

It would be a great midfield for years to come Enzo and Santos