I don't follow the bundisliga but have seen him play a few times and I am excited, good, fast, and can allow us to play Azpi at RB. From the Club Website; The 21-year-old Ghanaian international was a member of his country’s Africa Cup of Nations squad which finished runners-up to Ivory Coast in February. Rahman said: 'I am very happy to sign for Chelsea, one of the biggest clubs in the world, and I can't wait to train with my new team-mates and very much looking forward to working with them and Mr Mourinho. 'I am also looking forward to having the opportunity to meet the fans as soon as possible.' Rahman, a pacy and attacking full-back who can also operate as a midfielder or winger, made more successful tackles than any other player in the Bundesliga last season. He also attempted the most crosses from the left flank. He arrives after one season with Augsburg, in which he helped them qualify for the Europa League, making 31 league appearances. Rahman previously spent two seasons with Greuther Furth in Germany, having been spotted as a youngster with Asante Kotoko in his homeland. Cannot wait!
They were good for the early part of last season but not so good later on. This season both look a tad out of sorts.
Yep. In the 80s and even some way into the 90's if I recall. When they did final score on grandstand it was a watershed moment when the first table of the season popped up. Personally I look at it from 10 games on but only seriously from boxing day.
Let's look at the unfortunate reality, Manchester city (among others) have a better team than we do, I can't really see us challenging for the title and I think it's time to 'bite the bullet' and finally blood some of the youngsters, maybe next season it will pay dividends? The only thing that's imperative this year is to finish in the top four (and I genuinely believe this is going to be a tough enough call).
Are you kidding me? After the 2nd match you are saying our season is over and our goal should be to hope to stay in the top four? We will fight with City till the end for the title and if we make the few right moves before the windows closes I still think we can edge them out. Right now City's players ( 2 games ) are firing on all cylinders, Silva, Aguero, Yaya, Kompany etc but this is a very long season and we will have spells where our players will look world class again and their players will be out of form. Silva always has spells where he loses form, Aguero has injury problems each year, Yaya get's tired and uninterested and Kompany was terrible last season. If after 30 games we are 10 points behind the leaders then we can worry but right now LMAO..
If you're writing off our title challenge after just two games then it's incredibly hard to take you seriously.
That was three years ago and we really can't be relying on one or even a few moments of brilliance to justify keeping him around when the fact is he is more consistently poor than good for us.
I know just remembering what he did contribute for us. Man he was a pretty good finisher back then. We really should not have Mikel / Ramires be our go to backup's for CM
This along with the Ramires offsides goal hurt. But in reality, they could have had 2 or 3 more. We were outplayed, plain and simple. Defense was a strength last season, this season we've been shredded in both matches by pace. We need to finalize the deals for Stones and Rahman ASAP and get another winger. Willian is useless. He has been and will continue to be a black hole for us offensively. He refuses to take on defenders when out wide. The ball is played to him and he hits it back to either Bane or Dave. There were a few instances with him on the left where he got it, after a good run, in space only for him to play it right back to his first outlet which was either Dave or Matic. He tries to get defenders with stationary step overs or tries to get them for pace on the right with no room to manouver. If Witsel is well and truly available, I'd have made the call at halftime.
Rahman is official as of now Kennedy I think looks promising. I would much prefer if we spend any money that would go towards a winger towards a CM.
That's what was worrying today. How much weaker the defence looked in comparison to last season. Terry being subbed at HT could be a sign that last year was the last quality year you will get from him. I know there was talk of an injury but touchline reporter during the match seemed to say there was no sign of any pull or limp. There also seems to have all of a sudden become a lack of options available when chasing games. Cuadrado has looked so poor in his shirt time in English football, its nothing more than rolling a dice when he comes on hoping today might be the day. Same for Falcao - although to his credit he almost bagged a goal at the end. There is certainly a need for fresh blood - but it must be right.
It's so bizarre to me that he's still at the club. It's not just that our attacks break down unnecessarily (you could have also posted the one where Hazard laid it back to him at the edge of the box, only for Ram to get the ball stuck under his feet), it's that it also exposes our backline. Look at the space Kolarov has in front of him after Ram loses it, and the ground Fabregas has to cover in response. Jose of all managers appreciates how important transitions can be in football. It's strange that he has persisted with a player who so often puts the backline under unnecessary stress.
You have to say, though, that was a superb piece of defensive play, the way he managed to backheel it away from the goal like that Just a shame he was meant to be kicking it INTO the goal
Even a key signing couldn't change things drastically, we haven't prepared well, we will challenge for the title, we can even still win it, but this bad start will cost us. I just hope not severely.
they really look like they're still hungover from the champagne in may. cesc, diego, ivan, they all look like they've got a case of the ********its. fat and happy is no way to start a season. you don't see the hunger or urgency to get goals.
Yes, that's been the problem. You look at the guy on the ball and think something might happen but, y'know... probably not. The thing is, if that's what we think as supporters, that's what the other side think as well. When Hazard gets the ball you expect him try and take people on... and he normally does at least make an effort. But when Willians, Ramires or Cuadrado get it, you think... NAH! I realise Cuadrado's a winger but, just checking his record and, at age 27, other than at Fiorentina he's played 96 games and scored a grand total of 5 goals. Even at Fiorentina it took him 3 years to play 85 games and he scored just 20 goals which is hardly outstanding. So that's about 180 games and a total of 25 goals. The thing is we paid £23.3m which might rise to £26.8m for that. With WiIllian we he's played about 230 games and, likewise, at age 27, he's scored 29 goals. He cost us £32m. Ramires is 28 and has played 249 games, scoring 32 goals. He was a veritable snip at only £22m. So that's 3 players that cost us OVER £80m, that have played about 670 senior career games and scored a TOTAL of 86 goals between them. My point isn't that these players are no good at all. My point is that you can have players like that available if they're mixed in with other fellas who are are a genuine threat for the opposition... but to have the number of guys we've got, all of whom work very hard and run around a lot, (but often to very little effect), is simply too many... particularly bearing in mind we already had Mikel who has played 224 games for us and scored a grand total of ONE goal. If Hazard's going past people... if Costa's on song and scoring out of nothing... if Fab is threading balls through the eye of a needle, we can do well, as we did at the beginning of last season. But if those things AREN'T happening, (and they haven't for a while now), the chances of us doing well against even quite modest opposition, are slim.
I almost think Kalou was trying to shoot and missed so badly his heel hits it to Ramires. He tries to follow with his right foot but the ball is already gone. For me, that makes it even better than Ramires' whiff. The amount of money soent on Willian, Cuadrado, Moses, and Schurrle to effectively replace Kalou is depressing.