Well, Valencia has finished 8th-16th every year for maybe 4 years now? With maybe 5 coaches? At a certain point the issue is with the players, and it’s not their fault, they’re at the level they’re at, unfair to expect more. The real problem is ownership. They’re is a ton of debt with Valencia having 2 stadiums still, and Spanish liga financial rules are very strict. There just isn’t a lot of money to spend. That being said, what money that has been spent has been done so poorly. Players that could bring money to the club have been grossly mishandled (Ferran Torres, Goncalo Guedes, Geoffrey Kondogbia, Lee Kang-in, etc). Ownership is running this team into the ground. As far as Gattuso goes, I don’t mind him. This team has been much more fun to watch (at times) than previous teams. He plays guys in their right positions (like Musah), which hasn’t been the case the last few years. La Liga needs more teams with grit and energy, less tiki taka, so I’m fine with Gattuso. Other Valencia fans, not so much. But they’ve said that about every coach, so can’t take them seriously, they bitch about everything. Sacking him now does nothing, the problem is ownership and infrastructure. At this point, Valencia is the Spanish Everton. Relegation is a real fear, has been once or twice the past couple years. The issues run deep, starting at the very top, and that won’t change anytime soon
I always take the approach that “it’s not my money,” so I don’t mind if a club/team spends as long as the project is sustainable. But, again, they are bidding against themselves. Nobody came close to the release clause this window except Chelsea. They are desperate and after trying every trick and dishonest play in the book they are likely going to pay the full release clause. Enzo is a great player. But, like this summer’s departure Darwin Nunez, the expectations placed on him by EPL reckless spending will make it almost impossible for him to live up to them.
I never understood why people care about how much a team pays for a player. The only way it would make any difference to me is if it inhibited the team from buying other players, which it clearly does not at Chelsea. I have no idea what I should be pissed about.
I’m not speaking for Kyle here, but to the extent that Chelsea fans should be pissed about the spending is that this is clearly a panic buy. It’s an admission that the project as put together is nowhere near good enough. And when you repeatedly panic buy to cover up mistakes from previous purchases, it makes for instability and a incoherent strategy. It’s great that Chelsea fans want to flex their muscles or measure their dicks according to a stranger’s wealth. But in actuality none of these rubes knew about Enzo before the World Cup. Benfica fans have known since he was rumored to be arriving before last summer we had him for 1-2 max, hence the massive release clause. In the end, we get the money 6 months sooner than we thought. And Enzo’s contribution put the club in a great position to achieve the Champions League quarters, and to win the league. It’s up to Schmidt and the squad to finish the job. That’s the sign of a well constructed project, and a well run club. And to be frank, Benfica hasn’t been well constructed or well run for about 5 years prior. The club has handled near everything perfectly here. It’s great to see.
I do love have English media and fans complain that young English players never get a chance, that soccer is about more than transfers, that their league is so superior to those silly people on the continent, etc… and then all they do is devalue young English players by paying exorbitant fees for foreign players from ‘farmers leagues’ and spending billions of pounds. Having a guy come in that knows literally nothing about soccer and is spending close to a billion pounds in just six months is…. a choice.
Oh, I just saw Gattuso got sacked and ever-present assistant Voro is coming in for his SEVENTH stint as interim manager. He’s actually been a good interim manager for the most part, but results have been diminishing recently when this card has been played. I honestly would welcome relegation if it made Peter Lim sell the club. The problems are that 1) there is no guarantee that Lim sells and 2) just like Everton, getting relegated while having a ton of debt tied to an unfinished stadium is a very scary proposition.
What “project” are you talking about? Chelsea was put in an untenable situation with a complete freeze on all business while their owner was being forced to sell. If you thought they would just easily keep top 4 status and contend for a title, well, just keep your attention elsewhere. You know nothing of the EPL.
Chelsea were a top 3 club in EPL even on Net Spend for the 18/19, 19/20, and 20/21 seasons. They were first in 2021. Even with the frozen window that you speak of they are now again at the top of the EPL over a 5-year period. If you don’t think that shows that some of their purchases haven’t panned out, or that their project has been incoherent I don’t know what to tell you. You are more of an apologist than I expected. As for not understanding the EPL, you’ve shown me all I need to know in your response. It’s not about developing players or implementing a strategy. It’s about throwing money at the problems. It’s riveting stuff.
Incidentally, as far as the EPL goes, I love Jorginho to Arsenal. A player who the British Press and Chelsea fans shit on all the time when all he delivered were trophies and great performances. Happy to see him hopefully get another trophy at Arsenal this season, who have been a complete joy to watch.
Chelsea is gonna pay twice as much for Enzo than City paid for Haaland. They paid 70 million for Pulisic lol. They signed Aubameyang. A world record fee for Kepa. Just imagine if they had someone competent to focus their spending.
No question some of the buys haven’t panned out and injuries to James, Chillwell, Kante, Pulisic an others has exasperated the issues as well. New ownership is obviously inexperienced. It all plays a part. I never expected the new owners to come in and not have a learning curve, the EPL is simply too competitive.
So the project hasn’t panned out do to poor personnel decisions, poor purchases, and inability to develop players internally or adjust to injuries. And the solution is to have inexperienced, unknowledgeable ownership bid against themselves and spend wildly before even approaching the bend of the leaning curve. There is literally no other solutions available because it’s an entitled club and fanbase with no imagination. It’s the Football Manager mindset, but with no attention paid to tactics. And when asked about how a club that spends as much as Chelsea can perform as poorly as they have it’s due to competition, or bad luck, not their own poor decisions or how the club is run. Excellent stuff.
You really enjoy filtering the words of others through your own opinions. What you just said and what I said are not even in the same zip code. Keep hating Hang. It’s all you know.
Again, I probably followed and came damn near close to loving Chelsea before you were even invested in them. If you need to lash out in reaction and call the guy with two unnamed Chelsea jerseys in his foot locker and a Drogba jersey a hater, feel free. I’m just now able to approach the club from a distance and with a bit of objectivity. I don’t feel the need to be an apologist. I recognize their is distance between apologists and haters. But, nuance and objectivity were never your strengths.
This is what conversations with you always evolve into if someone even remotely disagrees with you opinion. Have a nice day.
Just you, James. The guy who only knows hate congratulated the Napoli fans here, Roma’s 2nd most direct rival, on the scudetto. Shame that you lack the same grace. At any rate, my world view leads me to believe that nobody is beyond redemption. Maybe someday…
Agreed. Losing Roman's staff certainly didn't do the team any favors this year but they have been searching for consistency since the days of Lampard and Terry. Success has come in unexpected spurts but the ability to sustain that success has been difficult. I'll take the trophies though.
Not so long ago, Chelsea apologists railed against a certain Portuguese club for keeping a supposedly unhappy player, while at the same time refusing to meet his release clause to purchase the player. After dragging the process out nearly a full month, after lies to the media, the player, and his agent, they finally met the release clause and paid a British record for a midfielder that said Portuguese club purchased for only 14 million just over 6 months ago. Meanwhile, Chelsea has a certain unhappy Moroccan midfielder in their squad. They had an agreement to send the midfielder on loan to PSG. Except they couldn't get the paperwork right the first, second, and third time and missed the transfer deadline. The unhappy Moroccan midfielder remains at the club and PSG has filed an appeal against the London club's incompetence. It's almost as if this is a poorly run club who only knows how to throw money at issues, but can't even manage the basics of club management. Maybe another half billion will purchase a steering wheel to navigate that learning curve.
Do you have another word for failing to get the paperwork correct for a loan move three times? Or are we gonna blame this on the "competitiveness" of the fax machines and paperwork?
You concern yourself with so much crap that I really don’t care about. Congrats on pointing out there were paperwork issues. You got me there Hang. Maybe you should post more about how the Crew season is in the crapper because Cucho didn’t score against the US. That will show your support! Paperwork and international failures. I bet you are fun at parties.
In regards to Cucho, I’m more concerned about his performances down the stretch than his inability to score in a meaningless friendly. I’m ever optimistic that Nancy is able to get more out of him than Porter. Nancy got way more out of a 37 year old Kei Kamara than Porter did Cucho down the stretch. Minimize paperwork all you want, it was a failed transfer window move due to incompetence. But again, nothing money can’t fix. I’ve never met anyone in my 46 years more desperately curious about my behavior at parties than you. I promise James, I’ll invite you to the next one. The top secret password is “Fidelio.”