it's pretty wild how we got rid of Giroud and Tammy, along with sacrificing some youth players like Guehi, all for Lukaku. It didn't even seem like that terrible an idea at the time, but really set us back.

comment by NPE - Maresca's Minions (U22712)
posted 9 minutes ago
I am curious to see how Maresca approaches rotation of the squad over Christmas. He's done brilliantly with the whole A and B team thing but won't have that luxury of that over Christmas.

Once Shamrock Rovers is over (where I expect us to play a C team) we have 4 PL games over 12 days where we'll need the best team we can put on the pitch for each game.
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he did good rotation in the league for Southampton, but you can easily afford to rest everyone against the worst team in the league.

Gonna be tougher against real opponents like you say.

We had a lot of absentees today. Gonna need to have most of those guys back during the busy period, apart from Reece ofc.

https://x.com/ConnCFC/status/1868401365531431096

Cucurella got a second yellow for this apparently ^

comment by CSTP (U1453)
posted 3 minutes ago
it's pretty wild how we got rid of Giroud and Tammy, along with sacrificing some youth players like Guehi, all for Lukaku. It didn't even seem like that terrible an idea at the time, but really set us back.
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The only one of the above I regret is Guehi, and that was more to do with Tuchel's love of AC and Rudiger who the club failed to sign new deals for.

But your general point of crap transfer decisions holding us back is fair.

Lukaku was so bizarre:

- started brilliantly
- picked up an injury - gave an interview saying he regretted coming or something along those lines up
- came back from injury and stopped scoring

we're still suffering from sacrificing our youth defenders, only to lose AC and Rudiger on a free, all these years later

would take Tomori and Guehi over Disasi and Bads any time. The French guys aren't even better than Chalobah.

comment by NPE - Maresca's Minions (U22712)
posted about a minute ago
But your general point of crap transfer decisions holding us back is fair.

Lukaku was so bizarre:

- started brilliantly
- picked up an injury - gave an interview saying he regretted coming or something along those lines up
- came back from injury and stopped scoring
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you missed out one detail - he actually did look good upon return from injury. Scored against Villa and then Brighton. So he showed how important he was.

The problem is the interview came out after the Brighton game and then immediately he nosedived.

I don't love Clearlake's use of Cobham for PSR, and their strategy remains a huge risk that may or may not pay off.

But I think sometimes people forget how bad the transfers were in last 4-5 years under RA. Must have been an 80 percent failure rate with signings between 2017-2021.

Marina's ability to get huge fees for our outgoings meant no one scrutinized her performance with the incomings enough.

Remember the hype in 2020 for signing Ziyech, Werner, and Havertz. Or the 2017 window where we were champions and replaced Matic and Costa with Bakoyoko and Morata...

comment by CSTP (U1453)
posted 4 minutes ago
comment by NPE - Maresca's Minions (U22712)
posted about a minute ago
But your general point of crap transfer decisions holding us back is fair.

Lukaku was so bizarre:

- started brilliantly
- picked up an injury - gave an interview saying he regretted coming or something along those lines up
- came back from injury and stopped scoring
----------------------------------------------------------------------
you missed out one detail - he actually did look good upon return from injury. Scored against Villa and then Brighton. So he showed how important he was.

The problem is the interview came out after the Brighton game and then immediately he nosedived.
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Ah yeah, I am still baffled by that. I am just amazed how he blew his one big change to build a legacy with a club. For a player of his quality he's such a journeyman. Attitude stinks.

pretty much their only good signing after winning the league with Conte was Rudiger. And even with him, it was at the expense of Ake, who also turned out to be very good.

That's pretty appalling and extra frustrating because these big money players ended up not being clear upgrades on academy players. That's why the transfer ban actually worked out kinda well lol.

comment by CSTP (U1453)
posted 3 minutes ago

it's pretty wild how we got rid of Giroud and Tammy, along with sacrificing some youth players like Guehi, all for Lukaku. It didn't even seem like that terrible an idea at the time, but really set us back.
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It didn't. A CF was the final piece of the jigsaw & all the vibes felt so right about it (to me anyway). In hindsight taking Lukaku away from an environment where he felt a sense of belonging was very dangerous, if I'd removed my Chelsea specs I'd probably have seen it

Our troubled relationship with strikers isn't just about the players themselves, a lot of the time the striker who might warrant a serious crack at the whip is already here - Drogba (not Shevchenko), Sturridge (not Torres), Lukaku (not Costa), Abraham (not Werner), Werner (not Lukaku). We should experiment with giving these players those chances more, and I'm glad we did w/Jackson.

it doesn't help that Lukaku claimed to be a Chelsea fan and there's a video of him crying as a kid when at the stadium. Like how hard is it to enjoy a proper connection to a club and fanbase. Feels like an easier thing to do than burning bridges everywhere.

I think in those situations bringing in an extra striker as competition for someone who we already have, who is promising but not quite there yet, is a good idea.

The problem is going overboard and making that new striker a crazy expensive signing. Then it's no longer about competition and more like automatically putting them on a higher platform, regardless of how they're actually doing.

With Jackson he was seriously lacking competition last year, but the main difference is Nkunku is actually alive at the moment, so he filled that role without needing to buy anyone new.

I am interested to see what we do with forwards.

Nkunku isn't a natural CF, he'd rather be a no10, and I don't think he is ever going to get that role with Palmer there. So, I just can't see him staying beyond this season.

Probably want to be competing for the title next season - so we need to know by the summer whether Jackson has improved enough to suggest he can be that a clutch player for us or not.

I think be it a first choice to relegate Jackson or a squad player to supplement him, it will need to be a signing. Guiu obviously needs a loan in the Championship. Broja is a bust.

Would like to see us try some games with Palmer on the right and Nkunku 10 behind Jackson

comment by CSTP (U1453)
posted 6 minutes ago

I think in those situations bringing in an extra striker as competition for someone who we already have, who is promising but not quite there yet, is a good idea.

The problem is going overboard and making that new striker a crazy expensive signing. Then it's no longer about competition and more like automatically putting them on a higher platform, regardless of how they're actually doing.

With Jackson he was seriously lacking competition last year, but the main difference is Nkunku is actually alive at the moment, so he filled that role without needing to buy anyone new.
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I agree, but given our history would've approached it a slightly different way.

e.g. this summer I wasn't into the idea of signing Samu. All I knew about him was he was a young CF built like a tank (now having watched him can see the appeal), but that, to me, wasn't the right type of competition. On paper made a ton of sense - similar reputation & price range as Jackson & offers different things - but it would've made Jackson feel a competitive heat rather than a helpful nudge.

My idea of competition would've been a seasoned pro in the Giroud mould - players like Taremi or Ben Yedder on frees. The message to Jackson being you're still our boy, this guy's just insurance

what if we had signed Dhuran

Same thing.

Nkanku's good competition in a different way, his versatility means it doesn't have to be a him or Jackson thing. Marseca's made it that (so far) but they could play in the same team.

Jackson could offer competition for the left wing position too if we did sign another striker, so it wouldn’t necessarily mean benching Jackson. Assuming Nkunku goes in the Summer it could be:
————————Jackson/Another——————
Jackson/Sancho——Palmer/Felix——Madueke/Neto

Thing is it's not about having competition per se. It's having an alternative/cover. One striker with no real back up IS problematic, and we have been struggling since we got rid of Giroud/Tammy. If Jackson gets injured we are gonna struggle, or as we have seen when Jackson isn't concentrating he is useless. What do we do? We bring on Felix or Nkunku, and as in the past the false 9 doesn't really work (not saying we can't score goals). We need a Giroud, a completely different type of striker, to sometimes even go 2 up top or cover.

Nico Jackson has most non-penalty goals in Premier League since start of the season 2023/24.

23 goals, while Mo Salah reached 22
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Looks like we have the best striker/attacker in the PL.