verlaine1979

As said on the Watts thread, he's the only one of the kids who looked to have genuine class about him. His close control and passing looked good - can we not convert him to an attacking midfielder and fast track him to be real competition for Armstrong et al? We've been crying out for a central creative presence in attack for yonks.

100% - he just had a level of confidence and composure that the others didn't, along with the first touch and close control to back it up.

You have to go back 8 matches for the last time we scored two or more in a league game, and looking at our passing around the box, you can see why.

He said that Ings won't sign until the summer, which means he'll be in his last year under contract. Who was the last first team player (or manager) we had in that position that saw out their contract and left on a free?

Tuchel's habit of falling out with owners and leaving after 2 years suits Chelsea perfectly.

I wonder how often a player who doesn't want to talk contracts until the end of the season actually ends up signing a new one. Seems to me that saying he won't sign before then is the same as saying he's more likely to leave than not. If he only has a year left, he'll be a cheap deal for anyone that wants him (and there will be plenty that would take a £20m Danny Ings as back-up), with a decent amount of the money saved going towards his signing bonus.

Aside from the risk of catastrophic injury between now and June, he's holding all the cards. He'll either get a move to a big club in the summer (through a last-year lowball or a lowball release clause allowing them to sign him as very decent backup) or in the unlikely event that no one wants him, he'll get a decent enough contract offer from us. He's got almost zero incentive to sign anything before then.

We're definitely a better passing side with Hoj gone.

Watts has a great first touch.

I'd take off Long and Chauke and give someone else a try.

Long is so technically inferior to the youth players. Embarrassing to watch him trying to take part.

Didn't Walcott have the ball after the foul and just ran into trouble giving it back? We were under pressure from the turnover that should've been a foul, but we still could and should have cleared.

US commentators just said we're closing in on one goal in 8 hours of play.

Walcott is where our attacks go to die at the moment. Don't think he's completed a forward pass in the final third yet.

I suppose its feasible that if the world economy has recovered and capital markets are a bit more optimistic by the time it becomes due, we could refinance the $80m on more favorable terms with another lender.

Based on his current form, I'd move JWP to Armstrong's place on the right and start Romeu and Diallo.

You'd think that Forster might make a sweet connection with a clearance by accident at some point, but no, somehow he conspires to not to hit a single kick cleanly.

You'd think that Forster might make a sweet connection with a clearance by accident at some point, but no, somehow he conspires to not to hit a single kick cleanly.

Forster looks to have gotten even worse with the ball at his feet. He's taking a deep breath and a run up to even the shortest kick.

Long is just an absolute moron.

In terms of goals/assists, Zaha is basically twice as productive as Redmond. In fact, even Andros Townsend has been more productive than Redmond over an almost identical number of PL games and minutes. Redmond isn't quick, he isn't a reliable finisher (particularly from distance) and as his last game proved, he doesn't have great technique or control. He's not terrible in any of those aspects either - just really, really middle of the road. Not a bad player to have in the squad, but if he's your main creative force (as he has been until very recently) he's going to disappoint more often than not.

This is a fair point, but Djenepo is also right footed, but still regularly tries to get by his fullback when playing on the left. Unless he sees an easy chance to drift infield, Redmond is where our attacks on the left go to die.

When did Redmond ever regularly take players on? He almost never tries to take on a fullback on the outside to get a cross in - almost all of his runs are inside/across the face of the box in the hope of finding a yard to spoon a shot over the bar. Driving to the byline to get a cross in is something he does so rarely that you can count it as a per-season rather than a per-game occurrence.

Racists are evil, I never said they're stupid - it was a strategic retreat into their political narrative for the sake of avoiding further scrutiny and criticism. Inevitably you'll turn around and ask why I'm not taking their reaction at face value - which is, of course, exactly what you've already done by refusing to accept that the kneeling is purely intended as an anti-racist symbol.

The only people acting in bad faith here are those trying to argue that it's okay to boo anti-racist protests because of a spurious set of political objections that are - at best - only adjacent, and at worst, offered with absolute connivance. People hate being confronted by their own ignorance and prejudice - it's no reason not to do it.