White_Wall

1 hour ago, Zatman said:

I think @White_Wall thought he was entering a Liverpool forum. This is our year

Welcome

Thanks and yeah, I probably did!

Trouble is that Chelsea have been winning things for so long, you forget what it's like to support a club that has been struggling and starts to come good.  I did know once, I promise!  I'm old enough to remember when Chelsea were a game away from relegation to the old 3rd Division and probable bankruptcy if so.

It may not mean anything to people here but I was at Stamford Bridge for the first game of the Abramovich era.  We had already signed Veron, Makélélé, Crespo, Duff and a whole host of others.  Many fans were drooling.  Abramovich walked round the touchline before the game (with 6 or 8 minders) to wave at the fans and the team ran out to 'Kalinka'.  Personally I felt oddly depressed, like it wasn't my club anymore, like it had become a rich man's toy and didn't really belong to or need the fans any longer.

Obviously you get used to a new state of affairs and, to be fair, Abramovich has been about as good an owner as you could get.  But in the 18 years since then, Chelsea has become less and less rooted in the community.  Nowadays it is an international/global brand that just happens to be based in West London.  In many ways it could be anywhere.  You get people turning up - wealthy Chinese tourists for example - who are clearly more interested in getting a selfie at Stamford Bridge than in supporting the team.  Sometimes (back when we could actually go to games), visiting fans would come and sing songs like "is this a library?".  And I often regretfully reflected to myself that actually they are right.  Stamford Bridge - even on its best days - generates not a fraction of the noise and atmosphere it once did, especially back before all-seater stadia.

I guess this has affected all clubs in one way or another, but probably the 'elite' clubs most of all.  So, truth be told I probably envy you a bit in some ways.

Chelsea visitor here.

I understand the pleasure you guys have in the great start, it has been nice to see.  Personally I have been to Villa Park a few times (and never seen Chelsea lose as it happens) and have a bit of a soft spot for your club, especially with JT there.  A strong Villa makes the PL better and there's no gainsaying that the Holte End in full throat is impressive (or used to be, anyway).  So that's all good.  But you are surely getting way ahead of yourselves thinking about the title.  Maybe it's more a relief that the corner seems to have been turned after a difficult few years for Villa and that you look like a team on the up.  Plenty of teams (WBA for example) manage to be yo-yo type clubs that vacillate between the Championship and the PL but Villa look like they may well break out of that level this season and start to establish themselves as a solid PL team.  The club is big and well-supported enough for that and it begins to look like you have assembled a good enough squad as well.

Incidentally, Traoré was always considered to have great potential when at Chelsea and I have no doubt that JT gave him a good recommendation.  From what I know, he's a bit like his namesake at Wolves - blindingly quick and dangerous going forward but doesn't always make the best decisions and doesn't offer much cover defensively (which Trezequet does from what I have seen).  He's one of those where good coaching could make all the difference if the Villa staff can get inside his head.  If that happens you'll find yourselves with a top player I think.

If it were me, I'd be delighted with any top-half finish and anything over 50 points or so.  Villa could perhaps qualify for the Europa League but I'm not sure I'd be desperate for that if I were you, it puts a hell of a lot of pressure on a club.  I think Villa need another couple of seasons before they are ready for European football; it's not just a matter of having a big enough squad because you also have to account for the effect of only having 2 days to prepare for PL fixtures - even if you rest players in the EL, the focus doesn't come on to the weekend PL game until you have got the Thursday EL game out of the way.  That's why only the really big clubs - those that have squads built for the CL and a lot of experienced players - can really handle the EL without it damaging them in the PL.

As for the title, surely there are only 2 teams with any chance, possibly 3 because Mourinho has assembled Spurs' best balanced squad for a long time and he is a serial winner whether you like him or not?  Bale will be a huge signing for them and gives Spurs as good a front-3 as any team in Europe.  I don't see Chelsea or United challenging, both are works in progress and too defensively iffy.  Add Everton under Ancelotti (another serial winner that has radically improved his squad over the summer) and I think that's your top 6.  Villa are shooting at teams like Leicester, Wolves & Arsenal really and will do well to get amongst those.  I hope you do but 9th or 10th would be a great season really, wouldn't it?

51 minutes ago, Laughable Chimp said:

I expect his goalscoring to slow down a lot in the future tbh. Statistically he's generally been more of an assister than a goalscorer in the past, and particularly with Chelsea.

Or, he could just have a permanent change in playing style. Who knows.

Chelsea member here, used to visit this forum when JT was on loan.

Barkley is very well-liked by Chelsea fans and was the one we let go on loan that most surprised many of us.  But Lampard has his own ideas and he is also sympathetic to player preferences, especially with the Euros next summer.  Barkley really wanted to play regularly enough to have a chance of making the England squad and as Chelsea will be 4-2-3-1 this season, his chances would have been more limited.  That was what drove the willingness to loan him.  I'm not sure Villa would have got him without JT's influence, however.

Barkley has never been seen as a 10 at Chelsea, more an 8 and suited best to a 4-3-3.  He hasn't played the 10 position since his Everton days so you can reasonably expect him to do better than his Chelsea stats playing 10 for Villa.  He went straight into my fantasy team anyhow.

He's a very good lad by all reports.  Used to have a bit of a big-time Charlie thing in his Everton days but being in a much better squad at Chelsea knocked that out of him.  He's physically a bull, as some have mentioned, very talented and works as hard as you'd want.  Honestly, considering Villa's finishing position last season you have done very well to get him, he's easily good enough for a team that's in Europe.  He's good enough for Chelsea in fact, but maybe not as a regular 1st-choice.  But none of us ever complained if we saw him in the starting line-up.

Regards the future, Chelsea will likely end up keeping either Barkley or RLC.  But I think something like 35-40m would be accepted for Ross if we let him go.  And Chelsea will need to sell 1 or 2 to balance the books.  I reckon that if Barkley was keen on a Villa move you'd possibly get him for that kind of fee in January and Villa might be well advised to try to do it then rather than waiting till next summer.

Congrats on the great start to the season, by the way.  I always liked Mings but he seems to be getting better and better.  I'd like to think JT has something to do with that but maybe that's just my fondness for a Chelsea legend talking.