Cech and David Luiz moved after their primes. They’d already had success at Chelsea and weren’t good after they left. Arsenal thought they could do better than Giroud and were happy when he left. But he obviously was an important player for us and aged well.

Whereas Ashley Cole came from Arsenal’s academy, I’m pretty sure supported them as a kid and was one of the best players in his his position in the world. And was slap bang in the middle of his prime. From Arsenal fan’s perspective he left for money although it was probably more the principle and feeling valued by the club.

Chelsea fans feel exactly the same way about Mason Mount. Him going to a rival isn’t what made fans angry. It’s the fact he’d been at the club since he was a kid, had already had success with the club and was meant to be a key player for them moving forwards. And the fans feel he chose money over loyalty (again probably more to do with feeling valued).

I don’t think Chelsea or Arsenal fans would care unless a player is basically leaving for money or because they think they can win trophies at the other club. So Van Persie going to United is probably more insulting to Arsenal fans than any of the Chelsea ones you listed. Or Fabregas going to Chelsea after Barca. He was already an Arsenal legend and had left in a bad way. Then returned to London to play for Chelsea (although Wenger didn’t want him).

The rivalry means nothing if the player isn’t good enough. Havertz isn’t even in his prime yet but he wasn’t living up to Chelsea fan’s expectations and you could tell he needed a change to reignite his career.

And yeah they hate Spurs a lot more than each other. But the lack of transfers between them and Spurs comes from the Spurs end and Daniel Levy.

The only team I could see doing it is Bayern tbh.

Think Milan are the least likely to reach it of the 3. Just with the difference in financial power between Bayern/Liverpool and Milan that now exists.

Don’t forget Bernado Silva.

Tbf it’s not much of a criticism to get pocketed by James. The guy’s done the same to Sterling, Vini and Leao in big games in recent seasons.

Lol. There’s always a Liverpool fan out there crying about something. Playing good football, high up the table and you’re making posts that basically give the vibe “I told you so.” So pathetic and I feel sorry for the Liveprool fans out there who have to live with the reputation that fans like you give them.

Agreed. Would rather the game be decided by a soft pen than defenders get away with tactical fouls in the box. It’s just the lesser of two evils. Obviously ideally it’s decided by neither but if I had to choose between being on the receiving end of simulation from an attacker or something like Barca vs Chelsea 2009 (I’m a Chelsea fan so that’s the first thing that popped into me head), I’m choosing the former. There has to be a stict punishment for denying a goalscoring opportunity. There’s no worse feeling in football than when you’re possibly about to score, the attacker fouls/handballs etc in the box and the defending team don’t end up conceding.

21/22 was exactly the same. We (Chelsea) fell behind in December, City started to pull away but then dropped a few points and allowed Liverpool to catch up. Then they it went down to the wire. One of the best title races in recent times even if over time it gets overshadowed by 18/19. Hoping this season will be the same if not better. Arsenal, City, Liverpool, Villa all within 2 points of each other. Spurs 2 a further 2 behind and it’s early enough for United, Newcastle and Brighton to technically still be in it even if it’s incredibly unlikely. As in usually the teams 6-8 would be way more than 7 or 8 points behind the leaders after 13 games. When you’re team’s not in the title race the best you can hope for is a tight one and not one team running away with it.

Yeah I remember people use to make jokes about the fact that he’d been 18, 19 etc for what seemed like forever. He’s 25 in less than a month.

Being the best player is about more than being the best at a certain part of the game.

If a DM who is the best player in the world at tackling has awful positioning then they aren’t the best player at DM in the world. The best player at DM is the one who is elite at both tackling and positioning and anything else you need to be a good DM for your team.

If a striker is the best at shooting in the world but has awful positioning and can’t get into places to score lots of goals (e.g. always being offside, can’t find space in the box, doesn’t have the pace to get in behind etc) then they aren’t the best player at striker in the world.

For some reason when it comes to passing people really forget/don’t care about anything else. Not saying passing is the only thing Trent’s good at. His shooting, set pieces, vision etc is all great. Technically, he’s a brilliant footballer. So I get why people say he’s the best “player” at RB. But for me the best player at RB is the player who has the combination of skills that makes them the best RB. The best RB is the best player at RB.

None of this is hate on Trent. He’s a phenomenal player. I just think he has weaknesses and those weaknesses mean he’s not the outright best in the world.

Lol this was his worst game in fucking forever I knew these kind of posts were coming. How come you didn’t make this after the City game? It’s because you couldn’t justify making a post like this after that performance. People like you wait patiently until a player you hate or have an agenda against have a bad game then you pounce. It isn’t exclusive to James. It happens to loads of players. Every fan seems to have a player or couple of players they despise, they wait for them to have a bad game then they pile on the hate after it.

How come we didn’t get a post like this from you after Walker got torn apart by Sterling? And if we had got a post like that I would’ve commented the exact same thing as I’m doing now, eventhough I’m not a City fan. Even elite players have bad games. James is as good as it gets from a fullback.

Like Koulibaly with us tbh

Depends how much I got going on in my life. When I was in school I’d watch quite a few each weekend. FPL gave me a reason to watch games I wouldn’t usually be interested in that have no impact on my team (Chelsea). At uni I don’t really do it anymore. Usually just watch the Chelsea game then maybe the biggest match of the weekend. Last season my first year of uni coincided with Chelsea’s worst season in my lifetime so for once I didn’t watch every Chelsea game.

Completely agree Kane’s been better this season and is a more complete striker thsn Haaland generally. But the revisionism around last season is also laughable. How about we start by looking at their stats in all competitions rather than the Prem?

Both Haaland and Kane were incredibly prolific in the Prem. Haaland maintained that goalscoring rate in all competitions (all games really) he played in. Kane didn’t. Haaland scored 36 in the Prem and Kane scored 30 in the Prem. 6 goal difference and 4 non penalty goal difference which is what you, all other Spurs fans and a lot of other people are referring to generally when revising last season. But why exactly would you ignore the 18 non Premier League games Haaland played in last season and the 11 non Premier League games Kane played in last season?

Haaland scored 16 in those 18 games. Kane scored 2 in those 11 games. That’s a massive reason why City were able to compete on all fronts last season and won an actual treble. It feels disgusting that I have to say anything against Kane because I love him as a player and I’m proud we have an English player of his bracket right now. But the amount of disrespect Haaland’s been getting from this same Kane comparison that only accounts for their Premier League goals is insane. It’s 52 goals and 9 assists all comps in 53 games vs 32 goals and 5 assists all comps in 49 games not just 36 goals vs 30 goals. And I’m all for giving a disclaimer with those stats to say Haaland played in a much much better side than Kane last season. But don’t be disingenuous by making out their numbers were basically the same last season, because they weren’t.

This doesn’t even just go for last season. This season Kane’s been the more prolific goalscorer. But Haaland’s scored a goal a game for basically his entire career (including at Salzburg, Dortmund and Norway so not just City) and he’s only 23. If you were to plot player’s careers as a curve on a graph, Haaland’s would be a lot steeper than Kane’s at the same age. He’s a lot further along at his age than Kane was at 23. And that’s all you can do to compare - look at their trajectories. If Haaland plateus and never becomes as complete as Kane is now in terms of holdup play and playmaking then you can say that. But up until this season Haaland has been a better goalscorer than Kane and it’s only November so there’s a good chance Haaland returns to his more clinical self and ends up being more prolific this season too.

I don’t lean either way Haaland or Kane in terms of who I like more. But I don’t like it when players get disrespected and fans start to twist the truth to big up their own player. From a neutral: Kane is the better/more complete striker right now, up until this season Haaland was the better goalscorer, we are currently only 15 games into the season so Haaland could still be the better goalscorer by the time the season ends, Haaland is a better player now than Kane was at the same age. All of these things are backed up by the stats as long as you don’t twist them to fit whatever narrative you’re trying to push.

Credit to Son for always being so clinical but you have to remember Haaland gets so many big chances because of his own movement and athleticism. Even outside City his nominal numbers are always high because he’s in positions to gets shots off on goal, whether that’s clever movement, the desire to challenge for a header, the pace ability to stretch for a ball that smaller players can’t reach etc.

Son’s always been so clinical but he’s also always thrived in games where there’s space to exploit vs low blocks. I get the comment was probably tongue in cheek rather than serious but there’s probably loads of people pit there who genuinely believe lots of clinical players would score as many for City as Haaland does. They had Aguero for years in arguably some more stacked City teams so you can directly compare what would happen if you replaced Haaland with a different top striker/forward.

Yep and that isn’t a slight on Haaland either. You need those players that rely on the creativity of others. Someone who converts the majority of their chances is massively important for a team. As a Chelsea fan I appreciate that a lot because it’s the one thing that’s been holding us back recently. Lewandowski was the same. Unbelievable at club level where his job was to convert the chances the team created for him, more underwhelming at international level because he didn’t have the quality around him to shine. You just have to remind yourself of what a realistic expectation is for those mind of players.

Bro just take a step back from the social media. It’s always incredibly negative and creates the illusion that things are worse now than ever before. Objectively, the quality of football is higher than it’s ever been before. We don’t have to watch horrendous leg breakers any more. People can say the sport’s gone soft but I never liked watching those challenges. If you do like watching more physical football, there’s plenty of that available in the lower tiers of English football. There’s also none of the micro analysing of offsides, fouls etc in the lower tiers. But the top tiers now offer better quality football than ever. Despite City’s dominance there’s actually a lot of competition. There’s always been a couple teams that dominate for a period of time (e.g. Arsenal, Liverpool and Everton, United etc). Right now it’s City but take a step back and remind yourself it won’t last forever. When Pep leaves it won’t feel like they’re nailed for the title every season. City, Chelsea, United, Arsenal, Liverpool, Newcastle and potentially teams like Brighton or Villa all have the capabilities to compete in theory because the floor of the Premier League has been raised. The bottom teams are richer than ever. As clubs like United have proven, you can’t just throw money at the team and guarantee titles any more. People will point to City but the biggest factor is them having the best manager of our generation. If they had anyone but Pep the money they spent on players, the facilities etc wouldn’t have had the same impact. Refereeing has always been shit because there’s an element of subjectivity involved and human error. Goal line tech has removed one controversial aspect. The longer we have VAR, the more professional the process will improve. It will only get better, not worse.

But if you’re constantly letting social media dictate the way you feel about football you’ll never be happy. It’ll lead you to believe refereeing is constantly getting worse, there will never be competition in the league again, players are worse than ever etc. It’s just not the case. People just look back on the past with rose tinted glasses. Clubs like Chelsea and City may have bought their way to the top but it’s better having 5, 6, 7 rich clubs that could potentially compete one day than just 3 in United, Liverpool and Arsenal. With the Prem increasing in value massively through the 90s and 00s, if billionaires hadn’t thrown money at the likes of Chelsea and City, the gap between United, Arsenal and Liverpool would’ve been massive and insurmountable. That’s an alternative reality that we could’ve gone down and it’s a shit one. Imagine the dominance of City but their only relevant competition was Arsenal and Liverpool. Great for their fans and no one will say they’re cheating but a horrible viewing experience - worse than the one we have now.

Idk man it’s all social media negativity and grass is greener type shit.

As a Prem fan 18/19 was one of the most entertaining seasons ever - domestic and UCL included. Went down to the wire in the league (98 and 97 points with the Kompany screamer to keep City in the title race). And then the UCL was just amazing. City vs Spurs, Liverpool vs Barca, Liverpool ev Ajax etc. So so entertaining. Also as a Chelsea fan that season just reminds me of Hazard in his prime. Just a very hard season to forget.

Yes

But he wasn’t the best player in the world that year? Even in the world cup he got player of the tournament but Hazard was the best player. And just because someone doesn’t think he should’ve got the Ballon D’or doesn’t mean they’re shitting on Modric or think he isn’t food. You said it yourself, won the Champions League a third year in a row. It felt like an appreciation award for everything he’d achieved in recent years rather than just that season. You shouldn’t be talking about what happened the season before or two seasons ago in a Ballon D’or discussions.