Watching as a neutral, the thing that struck me most - aside from the talent gap - was the commitment. Man U seemed to be relentless: always inyerface, closing down on anyone in possession, running back hard to help out when required. Everton seemed sluggish and even uninterested by comparison, giving the opposition loads of time & room on the ball, and coming back if at all at a jog that suggested they really weren't that bothered whether they got there in time to make a difference or not.
Unfortunately it is such a huge export and domestic value I can only see it getting worse. Watching the Chelsea vs Arsenal game and a bit of the Man Utd Everton yesterday makes you realise just how far apart the top 8 are. Not quite as bad as a La Liga but getting there. The rest of the team will fight it out but the money has corrupted the experience from the top to the bottom. Clubs will sell their soul to stay in the league for the income. So the game effectively becomes soulless. Normal supporters priced out of it and really do not feel that affinity with their club that was around 20 years ago. OK that affinity came with its own tribal problems as well but at least you felt part of it. I reckon we are a few seasons away from Sky offering Club season tickets for live games home and away, with a bigger proportion of the revenue going to the clubs.All this talk of Premiership unrest makes me think about how life's much simpler in the lower leagues. My team's doing ok at the moment. It's early days as they say,but Stanley are looking good at the moment. Could this be their year for promotion? http://www.skysports.com/watch/vide...ague-two/11039587/chesterfield-1-2-accrington
On about the Premiership,i noticed Rob Elliot is performing so well for Newcastle these days. He was our goalkeeper when Stanley won the conference 11 years ago. He was a vital part of that promotion winning side. I wouldn't say we wouldn't have won promotion without him,but i don't think we'd have won the league by 11 clear points. Is he one of the best uncapped English goalkeepers around? I'd say if he was from one of the lesser expectations countries like Scotland or Wales,he'd have 20-30 caps by now!
What pissed me off was this fellow.
Jimmy Connors was once asked why he tended to put his hands down his shorts and have a scratch,during matches. He said it was the adult equivalent of toddlers sucking their thumbs.
But, when questioned, quite a few of the loanees that didn't make it with CFC, but who have gone on elsewhere to decent success, have said that they thought the experience was brilliant and wouldn't have changed a thing.
Honestly if you can defend Chelsea's youth and loan out and sell on at 25+ I mean being loaned out to Hull aged 25 played for 13 clubs but not made a single appearance even worse you bought him on Deadline day 2015 aged 23 there is a scam in there somewhere because at no point has shown anything like getting close to taking Cahill spot!. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael_HectorThat's a rubbish statement. The fact that you have Loftus Cheek on loan and many other clubs also have Chelsea players on loan hardly suggest that we have taken away the opportunity for these young players to play does it?
And yes, we do want to bring them through but the reality is that very few will make it into the squads of the top clubs.
At the end of the day these young lads get a shot with a v.good club plus whilst they are with us they get access to world class training facilities etc. They also get huge opportunities when they are loaned out to (usually) decent sides to develop and prove their worth. Chelsea, in common with other major clubs, have long standing relationships with specific European clubs that afford opportunities to youngsters that some clubs simply don't have access to.
For sure it is a big business for Chelsea who have pretty much paved the way in England with the size of the loan squad - cue much slagging off although other clubs are already mimicking the approach.
Bollan gone....surely Gary Bollan must resign or the board sack him now.
