Chelsea in for Ayala in January

[Clan]

http://www.skysports.com/skysports/article/0,,46-1109671,00.html

At 30 years old though do we really need him?
Gallas
Terry
Desailly
Huth
I would have though that would be sufficient cover untill we could find somebody in their mid 20s to replace the aging Desailly.

[BridgeMonkee]

Nope we don't need him. At some point we may need a fast young CD, either in the window or at the end of the year. Till then you have to say that at CD we have much better options than Man U or Arsenal.

Huth
Melchiot
Gallas
Desailly
Terry

We don't need anymore NEW players now. None at all. Lets just see what the players we have can do.

Joe Cole gets some praise from Claudio:

"Joe Cole was fantastic. That was his best game for us," Ranieri said.

"Everything he did was the right thing. I have a lot of confidence in him, he is quick when he needs to be, then slow.

"Every time he received the ball he made things happen."

-----------------------Makalele
Joe Cole--------------Lampard-----------Duff

[comme]

Chelsea don't need anyone, but Ayala is pure class. Even though he's 30 he has a fair few good years in him, and only Nesta is a better centre back.

[fernb8]

Does this signal the end of Dessas playing days, or does it mean that Billy boy will be out the door, or does Claudio want another toy to play with?

He is a class player, and I am sure would be a nice addition to the squad. Sounds like the Lucio rumour as well.

[Harry Ottis Guff]

Originally posted by BridgeMonkee
Nope we don't need him. At some point we may need a fast young CD, either in the window or at the end of the year. Till then you have to say that at CD we have much better options than Man U or Arsenal.

Huth
Melchiot
Gallas
Desailly
Terry

We don't need anymore NEW players now. None at all. Lets just see what the players we have can do.

Joe Cole gets some praise from Claudio:

"Joe Cole was fantastic. That was his best game for us," Ranieri said.

"Everything he did was the right thing. I have a lot of confidence in him, he is quick when he needs to be, then slow.

"Every time he received the ball he made things happen."

-----------------------Makalele
Joe Cole--------------Lampard-----------Duff

Cole is a genius, I hope he starts more often for you! I thinkthe only reason Gronkjear gets in ahead of him is becausethe type of player gronkjear is on the right, pacey, adds width. J cole is worthy of a place though, if not on the right in the centre

[Andy Bennett]

Originally posted by Harry Ottis Guff
Cole is a genius, I hope he starts more often for you! I thinkthe only reason Gronkjear gets in ahead of him is becausethe type of player gronkjear is on the right, pacey, adds width. J cole is worthy of a place though, if not on the right in the centre
I like the cut of your jib...

[dunkel]

Originally posted by Harry Ottis Guff
Cole is a genius, I hope he starts more often for you! I thinkthe only reason Gronkjear gets in ahead of him is becausethe type of player gronkjear is on the right, pacey, adds width. J cole is worthy of a place though, if not on the right in the centre

cole is a bit better though, in my opinion. nothing against gronkjear but think the guy can't cross for *#*#*#*#. plays around too much.

[Clan]

http://www.thisislondon.co.uk/sport/football/articles/7491882?source=Evening

[starman1994]

Terry has been playing with the same bunch of lads for a few seasons now..... so it's understandable he feels that the squad is full as it is.

But for CR however, he will be under pressure to produce results if not this season, it will be the next. Therefore, he would be obliged to sign a few more world class players for positions he felt that it would be warranted to do so.

Ayala is a proven pedigree in central defense but as many has pointed out, age is not on his side. There are many other younger talents out there I'm sure of, we should not rush head long into the transfer market as we still have until next summer to do so.

I shall reiterate that the squad should stay as it is until next summer or until we are faced with multiple injury layoffs (to start buying players).

[starman1994]

I'm afraid that either Valencia is holding out for more money or they are not keen on letting Ayala go.


http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/football/teams/c/chelsea/3237645.stm

[dunkel]

i think these are short term solutions. We need to think of it in a long term situation. Sure CR could spend the millions on top class players but the problem really is age. I think the investment should be in finding the newer talent and working with that. There are a few players like that, Terry being one of them, in which Chelsea have invested much to train him to be the best Chelsea player he can be, and I think he is pretty spot on.

I think arsenal does a great job of finding young players who are great at what they do and investing into making them even better. (of course their problem is that what the do doesn't work in Europe).

Any thoughts?

[BridgeMonkee]

Chelsea will sign Valencia's Argentine defender Roberto Ayala (aged 30) for £8m when the transfer window re-opens in January. According to the Daily Mirror he is on his way. Which must be bad news if you are young Scottish under-21 defender Stephen Pearson at Motherwell who is considering a move to Manchester United, Chelsea, Liverpool or Manchester City apparently. Join Man U son, there defence is crap and you have much better chance of getting a game! I mean they still have Nevilles for Crissakes!!!

Of course the Daily Mirror also brought us the story of Joe Cole join a Russian team on loan this season.

[nicephoras]

Originally posted by dunkel
i think these are short term solutions. We need to think of it in a long term situation. Sure CR could spend the millions on top class players but the problem really is age. I think the investment should be in finding the newer talent and working with that. There are a few players like that, Terry being one of them, in which Chelsea have invested much to train him to be the best Chelsea player he can be, and I think he is pretty spot on.

I think arsenal does a great job of finding young players who are great at what they do and investing into making them even better. (of course their problem is that what the do doesn't work in Europe).

Any thoughts?

But we don't need any more youth, really. We have Terry and Gallas, both of whom are quite young. We have Huth coming up, and he's looked terrific for his age whenever he plays. However, as the Arsenal game showed, we can still use another quality CB; not to groom into a starter, but to play now. Desa has another year after this one, at most (and he's injured more often these days), at which point Ayala will be a splendid replacement. He's never relied on his pace overmuch, so age shouldn't affect him greatly. Unless we can get someone like Mexes, Boumsong or Van Buyten - to get young and experienced at once, Ayala is a great choice. Especially if you want someone to mentor the youngins.

[Clan]

Well, with the way events unfolded in Italy tonight i would bet that priority is switched to getting a right full back again in the January window.

[Andy Bennett]

Originally posted by Clanblue
Well, with the way events unfolded in Italy tonight i would bet that priority is switched to getting a right full back again in the January window.
That was disappointing, wasn't it. I've been very impressed with him so far but you just can't do that sort of thing at this level.

I think both full backs struggled, actually, and I tend to think the problem was with CR's mid-field diamond formation. it's the same thing with England - it provides more bodies in mid-field but allows the other team to play too easily down the wings and isolate the full-backs. Bridge has enough experience to stick to his task, although he was caught out a few times with the wingers speed, but Johnson, whilst faster and more athletic, simply didn't maintain his position well enough.

I bet he got an absolute bollocking from CR - it started whilst he was leaving the pitch.

[mst77]

I thought they both did rather well and the diamond helped us dominate the first 35 minutes of the match. You're right, with the diamond the fullbacks have to both defend and make the long runs up the flanks which many times leaves them out of position. But then it is the C-Mak's and the middle diamond players' responsibility to cover that gap if the oppo counters.

GJ lost possession a few times and made some impatient passes when he could have waited for the play to develop a bit more but I thought it worked out rather well on the whole. GJ getting forward got the ball to Mutu and Duff in some very dangerous spots up near their box. Sure Lazio's few real chances all came when the ball was delivered in from the wing, but our CB's dealt with those pretty well. That was always going to be the weakness for us in this game - I thought the performance was top notch.

[BridgeMonkee]

CB – We need a young CB as under study for Gallas, someone with pace. Big lads who can get stuck in we already have with Desailly, Huth and THE Terry – Tough lads who have enough experience and are totally committed to the Chelsea cause.

Young Glenn is a great player, put him in the England team immediately. Disappointed that he got red carded, showed his inexperience and showed that he is perhaps NOT a model professional. Model professional? How quickly we forget Dennis Wise.

[Clan]

Originally posted by BridgeMonkee
Model professional? How quickly we forget Dennis Wise.

LOL
Yeah, i can just picture Wise belting yer man right in the mush if he had spit at him.

Always one to hold his temper our Dennis was :)

[Andy Bennett]

Originally posted by mst77
I thought they both did rather well and the diamond helped us dominate the first 35 minutes of the match.
I suppose it is a bit churlish to complain when we beat a good Italian side 4-0 away from home.

Actually I wasn't really complaining, just commenting on something somebody else said about GJ. In a sense I was trying to be fair to the lad and point out that he'd had quite a hard time of it up until that point. To be honest I don't think anybody played less than than very well with some performances absolutely magnificent, i.e. Carlo, Mutu and, dare I say it, Veron???

[starman1994]

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/football/teams/c/chelsea/3237645.stm


So now what?