Liverpool urged to ‘take’ Salah money to fund £69m signing; ‘pathetic’ Chelsea in ‘non-stop chaos’

A Liverpool supporter wants the club to sell Mo Salah so they can ‘complete their rebuild’ with three more signings, while Chelsea come under fire…

Get your views in to theeditor@football365.com…

FSG, Liverpool and… selling Salah
Firstly, the idea of FSG out is ludicrous. It really shouldn’t need to be explained. They run the club sustainably, spending money on players they believe to be good value in the mid to long term and occasionally in the short term but many fans expect clubs to spend regardless. No, they don’t have the means to spend like City Newcastle or Chelsea ( though I don’t think even Chelsea actually have the means to spend like Chelsea while United are their own special mess) but very clearly nor are they paupers.

Someone claimed in the mailbox that Liverpool can’t spend as much as even Spurs which is clearly untrue, based on recent seasons. In relation to Jude Bellingham, I can’t believe Liverpool were ever truly in the running to get him while no one really knows what went on with Caicedo and the so-called extra 90 million Liverpool seemed to have sitting around the signing of Endo.

Liverpool is one of most well-supported and valuable clubs in the world and as such will always have a certain level of finance available but people really need calm down when comparing them to the mega-rich clubs. This is where the potential sale of Salah comes in. If Saudi want to offer 200 million I say take it. While comparisons to the Coutinho deal won’t really stick because Salah is a much better player, but the money coming in allows Liverpool to complete their rebuild. I’d use some of it to get Florian Wirtz *linked with Newcastle and valued at £69m* from Leverkusen in January, as well as a right back and centre back. 3 players could probably be signed for the same wages as Mo earns now. Ideally, he’d stay till next summer but if he really wants to go, let him with a big hug.
Alan (is Gravenberch any good, does anyone know?)

Chelsea clown car
It’s maddeningly obvious that one of the main problems over the last 2 years at Chelsea has been a chronic lack of creativity and cutting-edge in the final third, and yet so far Poch seems absolutely insistent on lining up with 5 defenders, 3 central midfielders and just 2 attacking players.

He currently has Sterling, Mudryk, Madueke, Palmer, Jackson and Washington at his disposal. When they’re back from injury, he’ll also have Nkunku, Chukwuemeka, and Broja, so that’ll be 6 wingers/attacking mids and 3 strikers (or 5 of the former and 4 of the latter based on where Nkunku ends up playing).

Even if he doesn’t end up fancying Broja, that’ll leave 8 attacking players, all of whom were signed for huge amounts in the last 12 months.

Spending over 300 million on 8 attackers, unwaveringly drilling a formation that only allows 2 of them to actually play and then wondering why we still cannot score goals is a pretty stunning encapsulation of the total incoherent incompetence of this football club.

A non-stop chaos sh*tshow behind the scenes and the most eye-bleedingly tedious football on the pitch. we’re like a clown car with tinted windows.
Ollie, London

More money, more problems…
Well, that was 90 minutes to forget if you were supporting the team in blue, first of all, I will give Nottingham Forest their flowers because they came to Stamford Bridge with a game plan and it worked out exactly as they rehearsed it, they sat back, then countered when they had the chance and scored with a good finish from Elanga.

Chelsea ended the game with 76% possession, 21 shots but only 2 of those were on target which sums up Chelsea since Diego Costa departed the club, of course it does not help that Christopher Nkunku is out long term but we cannot use that as an excuse, especially after we have spent 76 billion pounds in the last few windows, on the subject of money ironically during the game the home fans chanted “what a waste of money” which based on that 90 minutes it would be hard to argue with them on that front, of course it is very early days but the one problem is that we lack experienced heads on the field, we have bought a bunch of talented youngsters who are far from being ready to challenge for anything in Premier League, now let me be clear that isnt their fault, but the overall strategy of signing almost anyone who is not old enough to buy a beer is certainly raising many a question because so far this season we have relied on individual brilliance from Enzo and Sterling to get something out of a game, that obviously cannot and didn’t last long.

Take nothing away from Forest, they absolutely took us to school, stole our lunch money then ate our jam & coconut sponge with pink custard in front of us laughing, hopefully things will start to come together after the International Break.
The Admin @ At The Bridge Pod

…I’m going to list below the players Chelsea have bought under Boehly and Clearlake. The amount of money spent is sickening. The quality of players bought is shocking.

For my tuppence, I’m going to give my opinion on each. This is based on how they’ve played for Chelsea so far, and evidence of talent up to the point they joined the club. I haven’t considered price because then almost all would be a D and it’s not the players’ fault for the club spending so much on them.

A for average. D for disaster. G for good. P for promising. N/A for young players yet to play for the club.

23-24 Season (so far)
Nicolas Jackson – £35,000,000 A
Chimuanya Ugochukwu – £23,200,000 A
Axel Disasi – £38,500,000 A
Robert Sanchez – £25,000,000 A
Moises Caicedo – £115,000,000 A
Romeo Lavia – £58,000,000 A
Deivid Washington – £17,200,000 N/A
Cole Palmer – £42,500,000 P

22-23 Season
Raheem Sterling – £47,500,00 A
Kalidou Koulibaly – £33,000,000 D
Carney Chukwemeka – £18,000,000 P
Marc Cucurella – £60,000,000 D
Wesley Fofana – £70,000,000 D*
Pierre – Emerik Aubameyang – £12,000,000 D
David Datro Fofana – £11,000,000 D
Andrey Santos – £17,500,000 N/A
Mikhailo Mudryk – £62,000,000 D
Noni Madueke – £29,000,000 G
Malo Gusto – £31,000,000 A
Enzo Fernández- £106,800,000 P
Christopher Nkunku – £52,000,000 P

The * for Fofana is because his awful injuries aren’t his fault, but we can all agree the transfer has not gone well for anyone involved.

Notice I haven’t given anything better than good to any of those players because other than Madueke. This is because he’s one of the few CFC players to look like he gives a damn combined with his performances. But he could easily be put under P.
Will (how long before this ownership is declared worst in sporting history?)

…Just getting home from the dust settling on a pathetic performance 5 games into the season built up of a 3-1 loss to our 10 men rivals from West London, stumbling over the line against a team leagues below us in the Cup and a loss to a team with a question mark over staying up this season in a new season which with a new manager and new fresh hope and just feeling bewildered. The starting XI gets released on the tube on route to the game followed by a FFS because we’re playing 3 at the back at home to Nottingham Forest and wondering where the best £1 billion has been spent on those starting.

I get Todd & Co.’s business model of buying the best young talent in world football and the long contracts to bypass FFP but it’s the wrong business model for a club and manager that need instant results. The majority of Chelsea’s success in the Abramovich era was built on buying the best world talent in their prime i.e. Ashley Cole, Carvalho, Cech, Essien, Ballack and Costa to name a few very with a sprinkle of young talent like Hazard and Oscar whilst other young talent wasn’t given the time and have gone on to become world beaters elsewhere like Salah and De Bruyne because they weren’t an instant success. We are craving a household-name striker and they didn’t learn from last season’s last-minute reliance upon a last-minute purchase of a very questionable striker in Aubameyang brought in for a manager sacked a month later.

We said the same thing with Potter but Poch needs time, these young players may well go on to become world beaters but not overnight like Poch’s future relies on. We do hope this works out for Poch otherwise he’s sent packing out through the revolving door with a new manager and more signings come Xmas.
Gaz, CFC, Sidcup (still bewildered)

A defence of Chelsea
I’m not naive enough to think that F365 has an agenda against Chelsea but I find the coverage of the club’s dealings quite funny. The transfer window winners and losers list is one example of it. Somehow, Todd Boehly was top of the losers list and we were also not part of the winners list

Chelsea went into the transfer window with a few action items in mind:
1. Reduce the squad size.
2. Reduce the wage bill.
3. Get a competent partner for Enzo Fernández and rebuild midfield.
4. Get a competent striker.
5. Get a competent goalkeeper.

We’ve achieved every single one of those items except for maybe the goalkeeper part. But even at that, we’ve strongly upgraded from Kepa.

The clear-out and massive reduction of the wage bill alone was impressive. And now we’ve also lowered the average age of the squad.

A valid criticism is that we overpaid for some players but at those players were the right players. At least on paper. It’s not like last summer when we overpaid for Cucurella (as well as Potter and his staff). If Caicedo and Lavia end up performing like they should, we’ll all forget their transfer fees.

Will the strategy of buying almost exclusively young players work out well? Only time will tell. But at least there’s a coherent strategy that sounds good on paper. And they’ve fully backed the manager (who was rightfully in the winners list in my opinion).

Now we wait and watch them become either the greatest genius of our time. Or the worst clowns in history. It’s 2023 so there’s no in-between.
Abdulazeez, a Chelsea fan (if it wasn’t obvious for some reason).

Son and Solomon are ‘looking aptly sexy’…
As an Arsenal fan, I was happy to write Sp*rs off for the next ten years once Kane left. I appreciate Postecoglu is a good coach, but, I was preparing my “the age of Kane and Son is over…” posts. Now, I’m a little concerned. I had a good laugh at Tottenham getting knocked out of their best chance of silverware this season in midweek. It’s happened again… Honestly, I’m gutted they signed James Madison, who I highly rate. Is it too early to call them top four challengers? I don’t think so. Dropping Richarlison proves Ange knows what’s up. They will be a threat this season. Just ask United. Son & Solomon are looking aptly sexy (if you’ll pardon the extremely weak Biblical pun). I had Chelsea as a top four team this season. But, after buying Jackson for my FPL team this week and sitting Ferguson on the bench, I’m thinking maybe Sp*rs could sneak in.
Simon, Norf London Gooner (P.S. Should we just give City the title now?)

READ MORE: Son spreads his Angeball wings to show he, not Richarlison, was always Spurs’ best Kane replacement

Evan sent
Hi Ed, I hate to say I told you so, but… I told you so. United should have signed Evan Ferguson. He’s the same age as my godson/nephew but I know who I would prefer to have Christmas dinner with. He isn’t even grandmothered into Ireland. ‘Tis a wonderful broad Meath brogue he has on him.
Rearguards, Liam.

Freemason
“So, Mason, it’s been a tough eighteen months. Obviously, you’re an innocent man, unfairly convicted by the social media courts, and United have to let you go. We have to be so careful with your next move – these are politically charged times, and the treatment of women within the game is under more scrutiny than it has ever been. We need to find a country where you can sneak in, quietly, without the media or the public making a huge fuss. Somewhere where they are not discussing toxic masculinity and the harassment of women.”

“Agreed. So where do you have in mind? Saudia Arabia? They barely let women out of the house, and I could probably earn more in a year than I could have in ten at United.”

“It’s an option for sure. But hear me out: Spain.”
Matthew (I’ll be amazed if he ever kicks a ball for Getafe. And these fellas take 10% of his income?)

READ MORE: From Rubiales to Greenwood, Mendy and Saudi… an ugly summer for The Beautiful (broken) Game