Well, that is better news, but let us hope he is not the next RLC Or rather, he is the next RLC minus all the injuries.
I get that Chuk is a very high-potential player and it's great that he's sniffing first team minutes. But he shouldn't be starting for a club that Chelsea is pretending it wants to be. Our midfield is defensive-heavy and lacks any goalscoring threat. It's also incomplete and lacking gametime together, which is our fault in terms of ********ing up the Caicedo deal as badly as we did. Let's look at some midfields for the top clubs in our league. Chelsea are well lacking. Chelsea Enzo - Caicedo - ??? Caicedo as the anchor and Enzo playing further forward along with..who, exactly? Chuk is inexperienced. Gallagher runs all day, but so does my dehumidifier. At least my dehumidifier shows results. Arsenal Havertz - Rice - Oddegard One anchor in Rice and two attack-minded players. Manchester City Kovacic - Rodri Two quality holding box to boxers. Newcastle Joelinton - Bruno - Tonali Joelinton is a man transformed, whilst Tonali is better than Enzo and Caicedo. Add to that, Bruno, a wonderfully creative player. Liverpool Gakpo - MacAllister - Szobozlai MacAllister pulls the strings to let Gakpo and Szobo be creative. Tottenham Maddisson - Sarr - Bissouma Hell, even this is a more balanced midfield. Maddison is a wonderful, forward looking player. Bissouma is hitting his peak as a solid destroyer/creator. Sarr is a pain in the ass. Manchester United Fernandes - Mount - Casemiro I don't love this midfield as Mount is surplus is basically negated by Fernandes, but I admire the attack-mindedness with the quality of Casemiro to protect them. In closing, our midfield blows and offers no goals. Goals win games.
[Nice post. i was waiting for someone else to bite/respond. Nobody did. so here goes]. Chukwuemeka is a great prospect. We also have the Santos kid. Lavia another DM. I guess we are also hoping that Enzo can be more of a Fabregas once the DM's are more settled in. Goal scoring full backs/wing backs and wingers means we are a little defensive in the midfield. The team is still looking for that balance. https://www.chelseafc.com/en/teams/men The squad is odd. I really don’t know what to say at this point as I just haven’t seen the majority of these players PLAY. It is really too soon to pass judgement. There does seem to be a lack of fluency to the team. The team needs to play together more. Needs more time playing together. The pieces are in place. The pieces are very talented. A lot of this will be down to Pochettino. Ben Chillwell is already a big Poch fan and Ben has also been singing the praises of Misha Mudryck. I realise that you do not like/rate Mudryck (you see Pulisic as a better player I know). But I do feel that it is too soon to judge him and I have not seen enough of him yet to form a judgement. I have heard that he reminds some people of Gronkjaer in that he has great pace, but his decision making and final ball is weak and it has also been stated that this aspect of his game can be improved through coaching. I remember some fans deriding Salah as nothing more than a "speed merchant" at the time when it was clear he had way more in his locker than that. I have seen Mudryck hit some great long balls playing for the Ukraine and I still hope he can be the next KDB. KDB vibes as well as some Salah vibes. That is the hope. I need to see a LOT more games before I can decided tbh.
Claude Makalele is our technical mentor. So there is hope for all our DMs. What does a Technical Mentor do? https://www.chelseafc.com/en/teams/profile/claude-makelele
I'm fine with Mudryk being potential and having a high ceiling. I don't think he's a starting XI for Chelsea Football Club. I don't think he's a bench player, either. He's worse (right now) than CHO and we sent him into Loan Exile. Mudryk needs to build his skills and confidence somewhere that isn't West London. There are SO many better wingers out there that can help us RIGHT NOW. Keeping Pulisic was the best option. Going after Diaby would have been nice. Doku even better. The club is assembling a squad of Super Potentials. But they forget that to sustain this model, we need to qualify for Europe. And I'm not saying Europa. Losing to West Ham is amateur hour.
I think if you spend €70 million (£62 million) on a player he should be in and around the starting line-up regardless of age.
Our midfield for this season is. . . .we have even MORE potential out on loan 'Butch' Casadei and the Santos kid. . . I think the idea is a BIG strong, very fast and very athletic midfield allowing our wing backs to be extra wingers and all of that. I really need to see them play more. Enzo has convinced me and he has the talent, but even he - the generational talent - has issues that can only be resolved imho through having experience. We shall see. Lesley Chimuanya Ugochukwu [19] 6tf 3” Roméo Lavia [19] 5ft 11’ Carney Chukwuemeka [19] 6ft 2” Enzo Fernández [22] 5ft 10” Conor Gallagher [23] 6ft Moisés Caicedo [21] 5ft 10”
FFS https://www.standard.co.uk/sport/football/romeo-lavia-injury-chelsea-fc-latest-b1105882.html Honestly you couldn't make this up!
It sucks when one of your players goes down. I just don't understand the transfer policy of buying so many defensive midfielders. 1 goal with Soton. 0 across all ages/international comps. I know it's all small sample sizes as these players are very young. But its just seems like bad, bad policy to buy so many untested players and expect to win in the meantime without knowing what they might develop into. When the opposing teams know that Caicedo, Gallagher, Enzo couldn't hit the broadside of a barn, Mudryk couldn't hit oxygen with a ball if he tried, Sterling is streaky - you just triple team Jackson and it's all over.
We need a half rep / half groan button, (like on many of your posts), first/mid part got rep, 2nd part a bit of both ,I do think Conor and Mud have goals in them and as you say Sterling on occasion, and NJ if we ever play 3 or 4 attackers at same time I could see him exploding,, but I still think we are even money to finish either 7th-ish or be relegated. Unless Pooch changes approach to more front foot I do worry.
Chalobah's personal trainer Ed Hodge's theory on why so many injuries: View attachment 245582 🚨 Trevoh Chalobah's personal trainer Ed Hodge has appeared to brand Chelsea's injury crisis 'an absolute mess'. 🤯 [@MailSport] pic.twitter.com/uBvC5PweHJ— CFC-Blues (@CFCBlues_com) September 19, 2023
When the injuries are displayed in a list like this it almost makes me want to cry:- https://www.90min.com/posts/chelsea-injury-crisis-players-mauricio-pochettino-missing When you consider that its been an ongoing theme since the start of last season is it perhaps the worst injury crisis of any club in Premier League history? I reckon so. It HAS to be more than just bad luck, obviously there is a MASSIVE issue with the medical team and if we don't change it QUICK we are going to end up screwed, the players themselves even more so! Nice summary here:- https://theathletic.com/4612629/2023/07/02/injuries-premier-league-2022-23-data/
Just as you thought things were getting better https://weaintgotnohistory.sbnation...r-setback-in-hamstring-injury-recovery-report