Mails: A big summer for the Chelsea loan project

Daniel Storey

Are you on email? You simply have to be these days. Keep yours coming to theeditor@football365.com…

 

WENGER IN
I’m not sure what’s funnier. The fact that a contract extension was even an option or that people thought anything but a contract extension was going to happen.

Can’t wait for the fans to complain about his renewal in December 2017. Only for them to go on and praise his majesty when we qualify for the Champions League by one point.
Malcolm, AFC

…*opens popcorn and sits back*
Lee (Mailbox explosion in 5..4..3..), LFC

 

The Wenger revisionism has already begun
First let me say I thought Arsenal were bloody magnificent on Saturday, but the level of revisionism it seems to have triggered on Wenger is astonishing. One swallow does not make a spring.

A manager’s job is to get maximum output from the resources available to him, comprising current playing staff plus potential playing staff reflecting budget and desirability of club in question. To make the team more than the sum of its parts. Is there anyone out there (Arsenal or otherwise) who thinks he is the best manager available moving forwward? That there are no other managers who would lead to a higher probability of success in the league and the Champions League over the next 3-5 years? Diego Simeone, Massimo Allegri, Thomas Tuchel this summer. Jurgen Klopp and Antonio Conte in recent times?

The only possible argument in favour of keeping Wenger is consistency (other than finances which is of little relevance to us as fans). I get consistency, there’s probably a bigger chance of Arsenal blowing up to a 7th or 8th place finish with Simeone in charge, (is that any worse than 5th?), but there’s a much better chance of winning the title. Isn’t that what sports about? .

He is clearly outgunned in tactics, motivational capabilities and player selection/recruitment – basically the 3 key cornerstones of any successful manager. There’s a touch of the Ranieri’s about this one for me. He’s a bloody nice man Arsene Wenger, a classy bloke, but with him in charge Arsenal have proven they can’t compete at the top table. He should be judged on the same measuring stick to others no matter how successful he was 10 years ago.
Dan, Greenwich

 

A big summer for the Chelsea loan project
Talk turns now to transfers as the horror of a few weeks without meaningful football descends upon us. Chelsea were triumphant with the advantage of a relatively light season but, we all agree, reinforcements are required to a very settled first team. Many will look at big money signings from fellow top teams but surely Chelsea should be looking inward/outward to their entire squad of loaned out players. If ever there was a time to show the value of this system, it is now.

One area in need of reinforcement is central defense. With Terry finally excised from the club and the need for six decent CBs, let’s look at the options. Ake returned from Bournemouth after 10 strong displays but only got two run-outs. More opportunities should be available when midweek games are more frequent. Similarly Andreas Christensen has impressed at Monchengladbach and has Champions League experience. He must have earned the opportunity to add to single appearance for his parent club. Tammy Abraham is touted for a loan to a Premier League club after a standout season in the Championship. That seems fair enough. Bertrand Traore played in the Champions League and reached the Europa League Final (while being named in the competitions Team of the Season). Again, surely he deserves a chance to be one of the reinforcements before Chelsea dip into their pockets. Jury is still out on Izzy Brown.

The point I am trying to make is that Chelsea are not shy about touting their development system through mass loans. It has cost them a few decent players (arguably De Bruyne although Jose had a hand in that) but now is the time to show that it also works for the players as well as the club, that the seemingly endless loans do have a point and you CAN return to Chelsea with the work and performances from your time on loan having weight and meaning.

Or they could just go and spend £200 million.
Kevin (when are the fixtures out?)

 

A truly wonderful Mail about our weekly awards
Because I a) wanted to practice stuff in Excel and b) have a lot of time on my hands, I’ve kept a record of every prize handed out in the F365 weekly awards. 436 awards were handed out in 113 categories to 330 different winners, with some interesting (to me) patterns.

Starting with a cheap shot, because why not, Romelu Lukaku only won just a single award. Amazingly, that came in a week when Ian Watson was the compiler, and not Daniel Storey. Given that the feature appeared to be attempting to highlight as many different people as possible, it’s remarkable that two players were Premier League Player of the Week on more than one occasion – Adam Lallana and Alexis Sanchez both collected a brace of these imaginary trinkets to put with their equally fictional fourth-place trophies.

Likewise, only Anthony Knockaert and Alex Pritchard were named Football League Player of the Week twice. No one player dominated the Best Goal category, but Mesut Ozil was the only player to be lauded more than once. Clearly as he won this just twice he was still nicking a living for the other 31 weeks of the season.

Dries Mertens was the only person to win European Player of the Week more than once, and of the 31 winners, 11 were former Premier League players. I thought this one in the eye for people who think a player is a failure if they don’t make it at a top (top) English club.

Elsewhere, controversy abounds as although the F365 End of Season Awards gave “Dembele of the Year” to Denis Dembele, there are several namesakes who may take umbrage with this. Or not, as it isn’t actually real. The point is, Denis won the weekly award twice, the same as Bira, Karamoko, Mahamadou, Mana and Siramana; however, Aliou, Moussa and Ousmane all rose above their fellow Dembeles on three occasions apiece.

There were two awards each week for managers – Best and Worst Tactical Move. I looked at who had been nominated for both awards on a weekly basis, and applied a net score. Sam Allardyce and Marco Silva both finished with +2, while bottom of the pile, with -3, was Arsene Wenger, whose single Best award was overmatched by 4 Worst awards.

Ultimately, these awards are an indicator of the entertainment value of football – people who have caught the eye, whether for good reasons or bad, get nominated. That explains why the top award winners of the season were:

Jose Mourinho (9)
David Moyes (8)
Pep Guardiola (7)
Arsene Wenger (7)

There you go, Manchester United fans, you can no longer claim F365 is biased against you when two of your last three permanent managers have received the most attention from this feature. Mourinho took a league-leading four Best Tactical Move awards, and tied with Wenger for four Worst Tactical Move awards. The player with the most awards was also a Manchester United man, as Paul Pogba took five, but not like that. How nice as well, that Wenger technically finished fourth.

It’s half term, so I’ll have plenty of time to get out more later in the week.
Ed Quoththeraven

 

Second place trophy
I always thought it was odd that the winner of the playoffs won a trophy but the team who finished runners up received nothing.  Upon a quick Google search I came across a Southampton forum and it transpires that (apparently) a runners up trophy is given out but, more often than not, on the quiet.

I’ve only found evidence (granted I haven’t looked too far) of Norwich parading the (Championship runner up) trophy. I’d never claim to be a great trophy enthusiast or collector of fine silverware but it really is a sh*t trophy!
Deano (is the plural of “runner up”, “runners up” or “runner ups”?) Didcot

 

More on the play-offs/X Factor analogy
I feel this analogy falls down on two accounts. Firstly x factor winners release a xmas single, which is no guarantee to do well anymore and then, to quote Verbal Kint, “poof, just like that, they’re gone.

Does his analogy stack up on his issue with turgid football. Let’s look at the last 10 winners: Derby, Hull, Burnley, Blackpool, Swansea, West Ham, Palace, QPR, Norwich, and Hull

Some of these do seem to prove his point; particularly Derby, Burnley, Hull and Norwich. Blackpool (my home town) played exciting kamikaze attacking football and picked up many fans along the way, what has happened to them since is disgraceful (Oystons out) . Swansea were exemplary and arguably the best well ran club for some time until their sale. They still offer decent value. West Ham (who beat Blackpool…) and Palace show their value at times. Ok QPR weren’t good, but always pleasing to see ‘Arry struggle.

Even if the facts bore out his view, which they of course don’t, there are many ways to play football, whether it be swashbuckling attacking styles a la City, Arsenal, Liverpool and Newcastle of old. Or more defensively such as Chelsea, or trying so hard not to play, Jose got this mastered. The key is there are many ways football can and indeed should be played. Tactics and styles move in cycles and the football viewer is all the better served for it.

No-one, even Janice who used to stock shelves before her journey was realised for three months before going back to Asda, is not well served by X Factor.
Stu, (AFC, Manchester)

 

Rob Melia’s email caught my eye today where he dismissed the playoffs as a waste of time as the teams just go straight back down. My initial thoughts were that was a tad bit harsh, my gut feeling was that the playoffs have given us plenty of success stories over the years. So I had a look back at the playoff winners since 1992(when football began obviously) to see how each team fared the following season:

92-Blackburn- SAFE
93- Swindon Town- Relegated
94-Leicester- Relegated
95-Bolton-Relegated
96-Leicester- SAFE
97-Crystal Palace- Relegated
98-Charlton-Relegated
1999-Watford-Relegated
2000-Ipswich Town -SAFE
2001-Bolton Wanderers-SAFE
2002- Birmingham City- SAFE
2003-Wolves- Relegated
2004-Crystal Palace-Relegated
2005- West Ham- SAFE
2006- Watford -Relegated
2007- Derby County-Relegated
2008-Hull City-SAFE
2009- Burnley -Relegated
2010- Blackpool-Relegated
2011-Swansea- SAFE(And Still not relegated)
2012- West Ham -SAFE(And Still not relegated)
2013- Crystal Palace -SAFE(And Still not relegated)
2014- QPR-Relegated
2015-Norwich City -Relegated
2016-Hull City-Relegated
2017-Huddersfield Town -????

So 10 out of the 25 teams that have come up through the playoffs have stayed up the following season., All in all that’s not a bad percentage. And in the last six years alone we have seen three survive and become established Premier League sides in Swansea, Crystal Palace and West Ham. Also, for those Huddersfield Fans (and Winty!) who believe in superstition then there is good news: There has never been four play-off winners in a row relegated in the next season. So we are due a play-off survivor!
Steve (Brighton,Watford and Burnley for the drop next season) ,Ireland

 

For Sale: A penalty phone
I was lucky enough to go to Wembley for the Championship Play-Off final; supporting Huddersfield vicariously through two of my attending mates who are from the town. Incredible atmosphere throughout the game; I could have sworn the end I was in was at least 10 times as noisy as the Reading one.

Anyway, we get to penalties (a blessing considering how rubbish the rest of the match was) and I decided to film them with my rubbish, rapidly failing phone.

Thanks to its continuous crashing and dubious zooming capabilities, I manage to only film three of the ten penalties taken. Guess which three?

So if anyone wants to buy a three year old handset with a temperamental battery and operating capabilities, but 100% track record of filming missed penalties, for £500 and a promise to not use it on England/Arsenal players, let me know.
Tom, West Hampstead