Chelsea Banter Mobile

31 Jan 2026 07:39:41
{Ed's Note - Madman has posted a new article entitled, Wolves January Window and Championship Planning Concerns

29 Jan 2026 12:35:39
I thought the initial line up was rather brave by our new head coach with just one centre back and 2 full backs either side but in fairness he did eventually change it but if he continues to experiment in such high profile games against better teams it will potentially be his undoing. I saw shades of AVB in that first half.

The introduction of Cole Palmer changed the game as he and Jaoa Pedro seem to have a telepathic understanding with each other and the way Pedro took those goals shows just how good he can become and in this his first season he may well become the first Chelsea stiker in a long time to bag 20 goals and solve our need for a proper striker. I'm not getting carried away but the signs are very promising.

Looking at the draw for the next round shows we are likely to play PSG or Newcastle if they both win their respective play off games so no real reward for us finishing in the top 8 other than 2 less matches to play.

29 Jan 2026 18:25:32
Good post RPD and thanks for it. 'Brave' seemed like an understatement when I saw the lineup and funnily enough also thought of AVB while watching the first half. But have already commented on things I found strange there.

Yes CP did become a game changer as he is probably the best we have in terms of passing between the lines/defense splitting passes. Estevao and Enzo next best bets perhaps. Point is that though Pedro does his best as a classic hnumber 9 -playing hold up with back to gaol and pass ball to others or be fighting in box for headers etc - he will thrive far more if ball played through for him to run on to.

Who would we prefer PSG or Newcastle? Might be different reasons for choice.

30 Jan 2026 00:12:25
I don’t think it was a massive experiment. Both LR and Chelsea have played a back 3 in recent history. Many of us were frustrated with Maresca being unwilling to switch up his tactics ever. Granted it didn’t work with some players seeming to not know where/what they should be doing but LR recognised it and made the changes. I think he should be applauded both for the flexibility of trying to match up a system to Napoli and changing it when it didn’t work.

The line up boggled my mind and perhaps with different players/ more time on the training ground to work on it, it might have worked out.

Finishing in the top 8 does just get us spare us 2 extra games. Tbf it’s kind of expected that the last 16 will in general see any team matched up against a big team.

29 Jan 2026 07:39:36
{Ed's Note - thefutureisoldgold3 has posted a new article entitled, Planning for the Championship: Wolves' Financial Rebuild

28 Jan 2026 17:00:26
I see Sterling has finally gone; not reported how much of a pay off he got- I said it from the start- - what a waste of money.

28 Jan 2026 20:38:49
Huge mistake Jimbo to have paid so. much money and put him on such huge wages when clearly on the decline in his career and often on the bench for City.

28 Jan 2026 22:21:24
It will be interesting to see if he does end up signing for a club in London/South East England. It was reported he turned down offers from Napoli and Saudi etc in order to stay. Now he can sign for free, get a bigger signing on fee and perhaps higher wages due to no transfer fee, I wonder if he might end up elsewhere.

28 Jan 2026 22:30:04
I think he will end up at Fulham.

No further interest in the lad.

29 Jan 2026 06:05:32
A cautionary tale for those of us, me included, who want experience added to the group.

29 Jan 2026 14:31:02
I see what you're saying J, but as Jimbo's also said you could spot that one as a disaster from miles away. I might be misremembering, but I feel like that was one transfer where every single poster on this site expressed reservations, if not outright negativity, about it when it happened.

Just for a bit of fun, if you could add one experienced player to this team, who would it be? I'll say they can't have played for us previously, and has to be someone we realistically might have a chance of getting (so not Saliba, for example) .

29 Jan 2026 15:00:46
Yeah, but I can also see why, when fans and pundits are screaming for experienced signings, the owners look at the fees and wages forked out for the likes of Sterling and Koulibaly, during their first year of ownership, and say no thank you.

29 Jan 2026 15:02:30
Victor Osimhen, guaranteed goals.

29 Jan 2026 15:10:37
I was prepared to give Sterling a chance and had charity bets for two seasons that he would score more than 15 goals each season.

We also signed Koulabily and that was a disaster. Over the years we have signed lots of so called experienced players who haven’t pulled up any trees.

It now looks to me as if lots of clubs are going for the younger player with potential rather than the proven but older pro!

Good question about potential experienced player signings. I like the look of Anderson from Forest but I think he will end up at City.

29 Jan 2026 17:55:24
You are 100% correct J, a very cautionary note to all who think adding so called "experience" to the squad solves all the issues and sets us on our way. You pay for proven quality and experience and as was the case with Sterling, Koudibally and the others signed early doors by Todd on huge wages they don't always pay dividends and can prove costly mistakes.

As for experience, surely we can now talk about Reece James, Enzo, Cucu, Moises and Trev as being experienced? after all you have a world and EURO Cup winners on that list.

29 Jan 2026 18:32:07
We still have a very young squad and still need experience in certain areas. True, Koulabily was a big mistake but Disasi and Badiashile are no better. As for getting an experienced player in; I see too many obstacles: our wage structure will not tempt a top class experienced player and frankly our current strategy does not demonstrate ambition to compete for big trophies.

29 Jan 2026 21:49:27
Koulabily and Disasi must rate as two of the worst defenders we have ever signed. In my opinion Badiashile is much better than both.

I personally don’t judge players because of age or experience. We have plenty of experience in our squad. Lots of internationals.

30 Jan 2026 17:25:16
tom sorry i don't buy your argument- sterling and koulibaly weren't just experienced- they were also both visibly past their primes similar to when we signed torres

more a case of bad decision making from the club- i for one like sterling and hoped he'd do well - glad for the saga to be over as feel whilst he was poor when he played, he has been treated a tad harshly- he's not our only big money signing that hasn't worked yet seems to get mentioned a lot more than some others.

30 Jan 2026 18:41:38
Kazblue, I’m sorry to disappoint you but there age isn’t my argument. My argument is their ability.

Over the decades I’ve supported our club we have signed lots of players that didn’t work out or who were just useless, some have gone to be successful at other clubs. There is nothing unique about signings our current owners/SD’s have made who haven’t been successful.

In my opinion age is no guarantee for success and that’s the reason I look at there abilities rather than being concerned about their birth certificates.

30 Jan 2026 20:38:02
Not age tom …EXPERIENCE …playing experience…theres no substitute for that… look back at every title winning side in the prem era you’ll see common themes. plenty of experienced pros who know how to manage things at key momebts and that's what we miss at the minute.

30 Jan 2026 21:59:29
This can’t be that difficult but I will try again. I don’t care about a payers age. I only care about their abilities.

I also don’t care if a player is 40 as long as he is a good player.

I personally don’t buy into the experience argument/excuse because I think we have players like Cucarella, Fofana, James, Colwill, Chalaboa, Enzo, and maybe one or two others all with plenty of premiership experience and I think all internationals. If needs be they can and should offer their experience to the younger less experienced players. I would also add that having experience doesn’t mean you are a leader. Players like JT were natural leaders at 19/20. I think he was made Captain when he was about 22ish.
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I also have very little interest in transfer fees and the subjective value for money argument. I would be interested if we broke, in my opinion the ridiculous PSR/FFP rules.

28 Jan 2026 16:53:24


RPD has written an article entitled, Chelsea's January Window Plans Taking Shape

28 Jan 2026 16:59:14
RPD, I enjoyed your article and I agreed with it all. I assume you meant the “managers influence” to be our current manager not Maresca?

28 Jan 2026 17:22:34
Thanks Tom. Yes, Liam not Maresca. A typo.

27 Jan 2026 12:36:09
Curtis Jones to Chelsea? Would Liverpool let him go to Chelsea? He does seem better than some of the midfield options being discussed.

27 Jan 2026 13:23:11
Lets wait until the summer then see who is available.

27 Jan 2026 15:49:07
Not for me thanks. I think we go for Anderson in the summer.

27 Jan 2026 17:43:17
Hopefully Tom but there will be many suiters and it depends if we are in the ECL or not.