Match day - Chelski v NUFC

[Donkey Toon]

His job is to the get the best out of the players he has though, and he's not getting anywhere near that. He can't whinge about not getting enough to spend when he's leaving a £15m striker as an unused sub every week, plus there's a load of Rafa signings not even making the bench. If he's doing it to make a point then I can't see how as a match going fan I'm supposed to back that.

To be fair Rafa has been tasked with making chicken salad out of chicken s*** with the squad we have and as for his signings you cant really expect every bargain basement buy to be able to perform week in week out in the premier league.

The target was 17th we are well on course for that

Rafa has set himself the task of making chicken salad out of chicken s*** that he ordered himself. Of the team that is currently playing awful football according to his own tactics; Gayle, Ritchie, Hayden, Clark, Diame, Yedlin, Atsu, Lejeune, Manquillo, Merino, Murphy and Joselu have all been signed by him.

People act like he has had this squad inflicted upon him and he has had nothing to do with assembling it.

If, as several have suggested, we have the worst squad in recent memory that is down to him.

[Colly]

Don't forget Gamez, Lazaar and Sels. This thing of comparing to Brighton and Huddersfields outlay (especially net spend, they didn't have the advantage of a huge incoming from Wijnaldum and Sissoko) is misleading. We spent a lot over the last 18 months compared to them.

[TBC]

To be fair Rafa has been tasked with making chicken salad out of chicken s*** with the squad we have and as for his signings you cant really expect every bargain basement buy to be able to perform week in week out in the premier league.

The target was 17th we are well on course for that

Rafa has set himself the task of making chicken salad out of chicken s*** that he ordered himself. Of the team that is currently playing awful football according to his own tactics; Gayle, Ritchie, Hayden, Clark, Diame, Yedlin, Atsu, Lejeune, Manquillo, Merino, Murphy and Joselu have all been signed by him.

People act like he has had this squad inflicted upon him and he has had nothing to do with assembling it.

If, as several have suggested, we have the worst squad in recent memory that is down to him.

He's done what he could with the budget given, Summer just gone especially.

[Sir Bobby]

Rafa has set himself the task of making chicken salad out of chicken s*** that he ordered himself. Of the team that is currently playing awful football according to his own tactics; Gayle, Ritchie, Hayden, Clark, Diame, Yedlin, Atsu, Lejeune, Manquillo, Merino, Murphy and Joselu have all been signed by him.

People act like he has had this squad inflicted upon him and he has had nothing to do with assembling it.

If, as several have suggested, we have the worst squad in recent memory that is down to him.

He's done what he could with the budget given, Summer just gone especially.

This.

How many of those players cost less then £5 million or so? In today’s market that buys you duds...

[Remember Colo]

Am I missing why Clark isn't getting criticized for his role in the first goal? Everyone giving Lejeune s*** but it was Clark that fluffed the clearance back to Hazard. Lejeune totally deserves blame for completely missing the cross for the second, and all 3 CBs looked like idiots for keeping such a high line and getting beaten over the top in the first half. We need Lascelles back stat!

I admit I haven't seen the goals yet, but I was driving to a match myself and the radio, and every website the guys in my car had up absolutely hammered Clark. I was really surprised to see everyone on here blaming Lejeune but like I said, I haven't even seen the goal. Not a criticism of posters on here mind, just surprising.

Edit: watched back the goal. Blame is on Clark for me. Isn't really much more Lejeune can do. You'd be expecting his defensive partner beside him to clear his block.

Yeah, I was wrong about initially saying it was Clark that fluffed the block, but then realized on those replays that Clark was more responsible for being out of position and then flatfooted not tracking Hazard on the follow-up. I know Clark was great last season, and he's grabbed a couple goals, but he's been mediocre this season, and the whole backline lately has been so passive and disorganized.

[Remember Colo]

He's done what he could with the budget given, Summer just gone especially.

This.

How many of those players cost less then £5 million or so? In today’s market that buys you duds...

Equally, he seemed pretty focused on signing players who were never going to come to us. A certain Napoli GK springs to mind! The budget was unreasonable, but I question how well he identified needs, or then identified obtainable targets.

[Sir Bobby]

This.

How many of those players cost less then £5 million or so? In today’s market that buys you duds...

Equally, he seemed pretty focused on signing players who were never going to come to us. A certain Napoli GK springs to mind! The budget was unreasonable, but I question how well he identified needs, or then identified obtainable targets.

I’m not saying he’s infallible! But the suggestion that the poor standard of our squad is somehow his fault is ridiculous imo

[Donkey Toon]

Equally, he seemed pretty focused on signing players who were never going to come to us. A certain Napoli GK springs to mind! The budget was unreasonable, but I question how well he identified needs, or then identified obtainable targets.

I’m not saying he’s infallible! But the suggestion that the poor standard of our squad is somehow his fault is ridiculous imo

Really. Who's fault is it then?

He inherited a squad that included Dummett. A player who in my opinion has been unfairly derided, but perceived by many fans to be the weakest player in the inherited starting eleven. Benitez has signed not one but three left backs and none of them have proven to be better than our supposed weakest link. If that isn't proof that he has failed to improve the strength of the squad then please tell me what it is?

How many of his signings have actually improved the squad at all? In terms of premier league standard i'm struggling to come up with a list that includes anyone but Merino, and I have doubts about him.

[Ramone]

Equally, he seemed pretty focused on signing players who were never going to come to us. A certain Napoli GK springs to mind! The budget was unreasonable, but I question how well he identified needs, or then identified obtainable targets.

I’m not saying he’s infallible! But the suggestion that the poor standard of our squad is somehow his fault is ridiculous imo

How so? He lumped us with a lot of s**** last season that we couldn't get rid of this season. If we hadn't blown money on Lazaar, Gamez, Diame, Sels and even Joselu and Manqiullo we could have bought a lower number of higher quality players.

[TBC]

I’m not saying he’s infallible! But the suggestion that the poor standard of our squad is somehow his fault is ridiculous imo

How many of his signings have actually improved the squad at all? In terms of premier league standard i'm struggling to come up with a list that includes anyone but Merino, and I have doubts about him.

Did you expect him to sign PL quality players two summers ago? We had a thin squad needed filling out for a long season as well as one or two key positions strengthened and imo he did that - Ritchie and Gayle two of three players who really helped us get promoted.

He hasn't been backed since so yes, we still have a fairly Championship standard squad.

I'd also argue that Clark, Yedlin, Merino, Atsu, and Ritchie are all decent players for a newly promoted team.

[Sir Bobby]

Tell me his expensive duds. Murphy is about the only one and it’s still early days. When you’re signing players for £5m a significant amount won’t hack it in the Prem, it’s quite simple.

Your average decent Prem starting player costs around £10 million and we have maybe 5(?) of those in our squad.

[Sir Bobby]

How many of his signings have actually improved the squad at all? In terms of premier league standard i'm struggling to come up with a list that includes anyone but Merino, and I have doubts about him.

Did you expect him to sign PL quality players two summers ago? We had a thin squad needed filling out for a long season as well as one or two key positions strengthened and imo he did that - Ritchie and Gayle two of three players who really helped us get promoted.

He hasn't been backed since so yes, we still have a fairly Championship standard squad.

I'd also argue that Clark, Yedlin, Merino, Atsu, and Ritchie are all decent players for a newly promoted team.

Essentially this

[Donkey Toon]

How many of his signings have actually improved the squad at all? In terms of premier league standard i'm struggling to come up with a list that includes anyone but Merino, and I have doubts about him.

Did you expect him to sign PL quality players two summers ago? We had a thin squad needed filling out for a long season as well as one or two key positions strengthened and imo he did that - Ritchie and Gayle two of three players who really helped us get promoted.

He hasn't been backed since so yes, we still have a fairly Championship standard squad.

I'd also argue that Clark, Yedlin, Merino, Atsu, and Ritchie are all decent players for a newly promoted team.

When you are given a transfer kitty that was essentially as much as the rest of the championship spent combined then I would expect a decent manager to buy a few players who could still do a job in the premiership. Especially if you are going to sign them on five year contracts, because you can't expect to offload them easily if you do and they aren't good enough. He should know this, but apparently he thinks he is reasonable to expect the funds to buy an entirely new squad on promotion. Although Gayle and Ritchie were fine last season i'm far from convinced that they are cutting it this season. With Gayle that is hardly a surprise because he flopped at Palace. Clark was my player of the season last year and is decent backup in the premier league. But it is pushing it to suggest that any of the players on your list are any better than the players we had when we were relegated and they were all signed from top flight clubs. Very few of our players were signed as championship pedigree players and one season in that league does not make your entire squad championship quality.

Brighton had a genuine championship squad and have added some quality to it, but on paper have far more of a "championship" squad than we do. And they are stronger than us.

[Donkey Toon]

Tell me his expensive duds. Murphy is about the only one and it’s still early days. When you’re signing players for £5m a significant amount won’t hack it in the Prem, it’s quite simple.

Your average decent Prem starting player costs around £10 million and we have maybe 5(?) of those in our squad.

Seriously? I doubt Burnley and Bournemouth have got more than half a dozen players they have paid that much for between them and most of the bottom ten would have the majority of their players that have been purchased for well below that.

The truth is Benitez had been backed with money and he has spent it very badly.

If his budget was really that tight, then why did he spend £12m on a player (Murphy) that he obviously didn't think was ready and has hardly been used? Surely a decent manager would have prioritised his signings and spent that money more wisely?

[Sir Bobby]

Tell me his expensive duds. Murphy is about the only one and it’s still early days. When you’re signing players for £5m a significant amount won’t hack it in the Prem, it’s quite simple.

Your average decent Prem starting player costs around £10 million and we have maybe 5(?) of those in our squad.

Seriously? I doubt Burnley and Bournemouth have got more than half a dozen players they have paid that much for between them and most of the bottom ten would have the majority of their players that have been purchased for well below that.

The truth is Benitez had been backed with money and he has spent it very badly.

If his budget was really that tight, then why did he spend £12m on a player (Murphy) that he obviously didn't think was ready and has hardly been used? Surely a decent manager would have prioritised his signings and spent that money more wisely?

Bournemouth have signed Ibe, Begovic and Ake for over £10 million in the last 18 months. Burnley have signed Cork, Wood, Hendrick, Brady. We've signed Murphy, Ritchie and Gayle. So since we were relegated from the Prem, Bournemouth and Burnley have signed as many £10m players as us, or more.

It's also quite clear he DIDNT think the budget was as tight as it was... I don't think it's any surprise Murphy was signed very early in the window when Benitez thought his assurances over the budget would be kept.

[Donkey Toon]

Seriously? I doubt Burnley and Bournemouth have got more than half a dozen players they have paid that much for between them and most of the bottom ten would have the majority of their players that have been purchased for well below that.

The truth is Benitez had been backed with money and he has spent it very badly.

If his budget was really that tight, then why did he spend £12m on a player (Murphy) that he obviously didn't think was ready and has hardly been used? Surely a decent manager would have prioritised his signings and spent that money more wisely?

Bournemouth have signed Ibe, Begovic and Ake for over £10 million in the last 18 months. Burnley have signed Cork, Wood, Hendrick, Brady. We've signed Murphy, Ritchie and Gayle. So since we were relegated from the Prem, Bournemouth and Burnley have signed as many £10m players as us, or more.

It's also quite clear he DIDNT think the budget was as tight as it was... I don't think it's any surprise Murphy was signed very early in the window when Benitez thought his assurances over the budget would be kept.

So you came up with 7 players out of 22 and still maintain that £10m is the average price. There really is no point debating with you.

[Sir Bobby]

Bournemouth have signed Ibe, Begovic and Ake for over £10 million in the last 18 months. Burnley have signed Cork, Wood, Hendrick, Brady. We've signed Murphy, Ritchie and Gayle. So since we were relegated from the Prem, Bournemouth and Burnley have signed as many £10m players as us, or more.

It's also quite clear he DIDNT think the budget was as tight as it was... I don't think it's any surprise Murphy was signed very early in the window when Benitez thought his assurances over the budget would be kept.

So you came up with 7 players out of 22 and still maintain that £10m is the average price. There really is no point debating with you.

Good way of negating the rest of my point

We're talking about more or less the cheapest teams in the Prem here. Not the average teams, nice try though!

[Donkey Toon]

So you came up with 7 players out of 22 and still maintain that £10m is the average price. There really is no point debating with you.

Good way of negating the rest of my point

We're talking about more or less the cheapest teams in the Prem here. Not the average teams, nice try though!

Mean average is pointless in this instance. What Man City, Man Utd, Chelsea et al spend is not in anyway average. I made it quite clear that for most of the teams in the league, certainly the lower half, £10m is well above the average price for a player.

However, median or mode average are more relevant. Which is actually what you were suggesting because you were highlighting numbers of players signed for more than that figure and not the average of their prices.

[Colly]

I want to see some confidence intervals from both of you.

[Donkey Toon]

I want to see some confidence intervals from both of you.

Fat chance. This pointless discussion is becoming less worth the time with every post.

Would love to have seen the stick Pardew would have taken for spending the same money on the same s*** players. Benitez it would appear is Teflon coated to some of our fans.