I'm a little sketchy on this part, but I believe that Bulka would drop our quota by one. Basically meaning we would need one fewer foreign player.
Found this quote in the no chance Willian would have stayed at Chelsea is Conte was still coach article. Willian: "We have a lot of players with quality up front, players like Eden [Hazard] and Pedro. Players like that want to play football, no?" Is that a low key dig at Giroud/Morata or is it more likely that he's just closer with those two.
I think "creative" players think of themselves as different from strikers. Strikers are meant to score goals in any system - forwards/wingers can have very different priorities depending on the tactical setup.
Given the number of years that Pedro/Willian/Hazard have been together in the squad it's not a dig that he omitted players who have only recently arrived. He also likely has more of a rapport with those playing in similar positions (wouldn't be surprised if they break off into small groups for specific training and Pedro/Hazard/Willian get grouped together on the reg).
No doubt and I agree for the most part but after how he handled the Conte situation and saying it was his daughter that put the trophies over Conte I'm looking at him a little different.
Eh I feel like that's just as bad if you ask me. There's no need to include his daughter in his own jackassery. Simply say hey it was a moment of immaturity after enduring a difficult season with a manager that I had a falling out with. Hell don't say anything. Just don't bring a child into it.
Willian seems to think he didn't deserve to be dropped by Conte. Going by most of his performances last season, I thought Conte did right. Yeah, he is acting entitled.
He made a joke in his language that’s being misconstrued. Players are human beings, not machines. You’d think he was using his daughter as a cover - he’s not. It’s clearly not that simple. I like Conte a lot, but what ultimately sunk him was his inability to deal with some of the bigger players. We got rid of Costa because of Conte, and his performances were fine. Also, Willian was arguably our best player in our biggest games last season (vs Barca). He’s not entitled, he just had a disagreement with his manager. I used to work for someone who was a shit boss that I hated and complained about - that didn’t make me “entitled”.
You are clearly rewriting history here when you say Costa left because of Conte. The guy had been pining for Atletico even before Conte came. When China came with a mega offer and he kicked up a fuss, that is when things got bad between them. Costa left because of Costa. Conte made a mistake with his text but whatever, I don't mind it because of the way Costa handled himself. Willian's probably only good game was against Barca (only slightly exaggerating). He was constantly slowing down the game and losing possession in a majority of games last year. Maybe Conte was wrong in taking him off in the one game he decided to step up but he obviously had no vendetta in that. He had a plan to win (which in retrospect turned out to be flawed). He had maybe a point in that one game but he should have respected his boss who gave him countless other leeways. Instead he acted like a drama queen. He was not better than either Pedro or Hazard in the entire season and should not have been ahead of them. I know some of you love him but I can't wait for him to leave the club. His production numbers are simply not good enough for a top tier team.
Well Conte was great and he totally revolutionised the game in England by playing wing backs and everybody else followed suit. But managers like Conte and Jose have a tendency to play for results and they manage by bullying the players a little (especially Jose). All players are entitled, just look at how much money they earn every week. I think Roman has always wanted us to be a more creative side in the way we play. We now have the Sarri and Zola experiment which will hopefully work out better than Villa-Boas did and his _______*. It’s always a fun soap-opera supporting a club that changes its managers as frequently as we do * insert the Villa-Boas catchphrase here
1. Costa is a difficult player, but I think at this point it’s very clear he left because of Conte. All the reporting indicates this - I’m not sure why this is even controversial. That Conte caused Costa’s departure doesn’t make Costa an angel. 2. Willian is our second best wide player - I’m not sure this is very controversial. I appreciate you don’t like his game, but he’s still a massive asset other clubs would be happy to purchase. Pissing him off is unnecessary. 3. I really don’t understand the assumption that if a player is complaining he’s wrong. Pogba is currently 8mplying he’s unhappy with Mourinho- I think he has a good reason!
1. Not all players will get along with the manager and Costa being a prick really doesn't paint Conte in a bad light. Costa didn't get along with Jose either during his final days (bib incident?). Maybe the player is just an a**hole who wanted to run back to Spain 2. Yeah, I disagree. I don't consider him our 2nd best winger at least not from his performances last year. Will agree to disagree. He pissed off 2 players but the others still seemed to be behind him unlike Jose's last days. We even won a cup final following Conte's instructions. Jose v Pogba is another thing altogether. Jose has constantly berated him in public even after he won the world cup. Pogba is just giving him some of the same right now.
That game and 1 or 2 around the time he was absolutely electric which gave the world the false view that he somehow came close to reproducing form like that on a regular basis. Such a frustrating player.