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RichUT

Burnt Ends
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Everything posted by RichUT

  1. Not watching, but up 2-0 and my Twitter timeline suggests that it’s a well deserved lead.
  2. Feels like a discussion to take back to the main Chelsea thread, but whatever. Their three biggest failures have been 1) being slow and/or cheap, 2) spending stupidly on highly questionable plan B’s/plan C’s in response, 3) giving up on talented youngsters before they have been given a chance to get on the pitch. A few recent examples: Papy Djilobodji (don’t even recall who we were after at CB at the time) Alvaro Morata (after dragging our feet on Lukaku, who has been up and down at ManU, but I think that’s due to how much he doesn’t like it there) Danny Drinkwater (mind boggling and indefensible even at the time) Playing it slow/cheap with guys like Neymar, Modric, Koulibaly, Stones, any one of the Mendy/Walker/Danilo trio that went to City, etc, etc. Giving up on KDb/Lukaku/Salah There are more that I could go find, but these were just top of mind. Again, they aren’t batting zero, but they have been hampering the club for a solid 5 year stretch and it’s getting really fucking old.
  3. They purchased Christensen at 15, along with countless others. Eventually one was going to work out, though he has received very little play time since switching back to a back 4. Rudi is a fine player and I should have included him. Emerson theoretically has potential, but he hasn’t beat out Alonso and Marcos has been a whipping boy this season. The board hasn’t been 100% awful, as that would require some level of intent to avoid the occasional bit of success. That said, they’ve been too often lethargic and unquestionably poor for a pretty long stretch of time.
  4. We crossed the 20 minute mark against City without conceding an opening goal. Progress?
  5. Chelsea will appeal in order to have access to the market this summer, and hopefully they get the ban reduced to one window vs. two. To TexArcher's point, it wouldn't be the worst thing in the world if Chelsea's board had to take some time off from the transfer market. They have fucked up in spectacular fashion over the last few years. Outside of Kante and (hopefully) Pulisic, it's hard to find any positives in the decisions they have made.
  6. My favorite part was where you said “if”.
  7. I see bad Chelsea showed up today. I’ve seen way too much of them lately.
  8. So the mods have just totally thrown in the towel on attempting to moderate this thread? Awesome.
  9. It's only real if the shoes on his feet are not actually Off White branded. Authentic Off White shoes (either the stand alone brand or their collabs with Nike) come with the tag already attached to the shoe. In EJ's case, I think he's wearing actual Off White shoes. Dude looks like a total tool regardless.
  10. What the fuck is going on?
  11. https://www.thesun.co.uk/sport/football/8299546/chelsea-transfer-ban-fifa-probe-academy-youngster-signings/ It’s about this. And it’s not good.
  12. And of course he scores a goal today. Lovely first touch to gain separation.
  13. Fuck.That.Noise.
  14. Frustrating, but I suspect our history with young players is working against us. He’s seen several promising young players not get any run and ultimately leave the club. He may not feel like sticking around and potentially being the latest example. Or he may not care for Sarri and his staff or their training methods. I’m certain we would regret his departure but he has the ability to force us into it. I’d prefer to see us take less money for him in favor of a buyback clause if it comes to that.
  15. Well if there is one thing this staff is long on, it’s optimism. Not saying he won’t get the waiver but I wonder about the precedent that it would set and if the NCAA is ready to go there. The portal has already changed the sport by effectively enabling free agency. Granting waivers to play immediately due to assistant coaches leaving is another pretty big step in that direction. I think you’d want some friction in the transfer process or coaches will essentially be forced to recruit all 85 players on the team in addition to uncommitted high school players as well as free agent transfers from other schools.
  16. Shaka should be fired, without question. That said, people need to prepare themselves for the possibility that he survives for another year simply based on the economics associated with his contract. I’m not saying it’s the right thing for the program, but it’s definitely possible that CDC decides to kick the can down the road for another year. I’d imagine there are feelers out there to potential successors. If those feelers come back lukewarm (or worse) from our top 2-3 choices then I would not be shocked to see Shaka survive. As bad as another year of Shaka would be, compromising and hiring the wrong successor would be even worse.
  17. Higuain isn’t splashy, but brings a level of consistency and mental toughness that this squad has been lacking. He’s not any sort of long term answer at striker, but will still provide a solid boost to our Top 4 aspirations.
  18. There’s an argument to be made that he’s a big part of the weak mental makeup of this squad. Teams are often a reflection of their best player, for better or worse. Losing alpha dogs like Terry and Lamps had a big impact on the mental toughness of the squad and Hazard doesn’t appear to be capable of filling their shoes.
  19. I really miss the squirrel recruiting thread.....
  20. Hazard is gone, and it’s hard to blame him. We need to give CHO more starts and convince him that he’s part of the future (along with Pulisic) in an effort to get him to stay. I get that we’re in the hunt for the top 4 and that we can’t just go full on into rebuilding, but there has to be some thought given to the next 3-5 years as well. We’ve let too much great young talent leave the club and we have to draw the line somewhere and hang on to players with that sort of potential.
  21. Well this fucking sucks.
  22. He also made contact with exactly nobody despite being kept in the block. No idea what he was doing on that play.
  23. We will regret how we are jerking around CHO. No question in my mind. He’ll be the next Lukaku/DeBruyne.
  24. America, Fuck Yeah!!!
  25. Big 12 offenses are scheme dependent, so I would not count on QB or WR turnover to make things materially easier on our defenders. In some respects, the learning curve for DB’s is steeper than it is for offenses as they have multiple potential responsibilities based on the coverage call. Now, if coaches like Riley or Holgo move on and those schools have to implement new schemes then that could certainly make things easier for a period of time.
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