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2021/22 Abdoulaye Doucouré

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Nymzee said:
I mean Chelsea refuse (or did) to give contracts greater than 1 year to anyone over 30.
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Don't get me wrong, I prefer younger players myself for a club like ours, I am just saying some people seem to think 30 is this magical cut off point that must be adhered too and if we were in the 80's early 90's it was a good point as players did decline but advances in science and medicine and nutrition etc etc helps players have longer careers.
 
TheBigIguana said:
There are teams in real life who do a lot better than us because they operate a transfer system that doesn't pay big fees for players getting closer to the end of their career. You can even read about it if you want.
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See above but I'll have a read if you have a link Mr Ig
 
Terrarian said:
See above but I'll have a read if you have a link Mr Ig
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I don't have one off the top of my head, I'm just saying if we're going to build a squad that can even have half a chance to compete we're probably going to have to adopt a policy that avoids signings that are going to end with them getting old and seeing out their careers. We're really far away so it is kind of a discussion for another day.
 
bluerobert said:
I think the 2 major differences between now and then;
1) There was an established top 4 at that point to break into. One of which didn’t perform in the league as they had a champions league to focus on. Now in addition to those 4 you have Spurs who are a better squad, Leicester and Man City who are an absolute force in the game.

2) under Moyes we played to our strengths, we were hard to beat and could play some decent stuff for the majority of his tenure.

Now since him we’ve had no clear direction and our current squad reflects that. You’ve also got the fact the money in the league has gone through the roof (Covid aside) and even mid table teams have the ability to attract half decent players l. I know this has always been the case but it’s been amplified by the gap in money between the Prem and the rest of Europe over the past 5 years
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1. Top 4 ?! There's optimism and then there's delusion. Top 6 (7?), now that's optimistic...though that's not a prediction.

2. Not to get into the Benitez debate, but maybe the plan is to go for a manager who gets more than the sum of the parts and is hard to beat?
Time is going to tell all.
 

TheBigIguana said:
I don't have one off the top of my head, I'm just saying if we're going to build a squad that can even have half a chance to compete we're probably going to have to adopt a policy that avoids signings that are going to end with them getting old and seeing out their careers. We're really far away so it is kind of a discussion for another day.
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haha oh right thought you were going to point me in the direction of an article. My only point about it is not everyone starts declining at 30, whether it is good business model signing them is a different subject again.
 
Terrarian said:
haha oh right thought you were going to point me in the direction of an article. My only point about it is not everyone starts declining at 30, whether it is good business model signing them is a different subject again.
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No not everyone does but it is about playing the percentages. A club in our situation has to do that.
 
TheBigIguana said:
No not everyone does but it is about playing the percentages. A club in our situation has to do that.
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I don'[t completely agree, the only real metric for success at any age is how they perform and what they achieve, we have had a fair few here for a last payday which sucks and you can tell they aren't really into being here and we've had the likes of Distin who was incredibly fit and kept getting better, I think he was a success for a player over 30.

Anyway, Doucouré had a great game Saturday.
 
MassBlue said:
1. Top 4 ?! There's optimism and then there's delusion. Top 6 (7?), now that's optimistic...though that's not a prediction.

2. Not to get into the Benitez debate, but maybe the plan is to go for a manager who gets more than the sum of the parts and is hard to beat?
Time is going to tell all.
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Oh no mate, I’m not talking about now. I’m talking about the relative success we had back then. I’m saying back then there were only 4 teams head and shoulders better than us, now there’s at least 7.

I agree, I think that’s what the plan is
 
Terrarian said:
I don'[t completely agree, the only real metric for success at any age is how they perform and what they achieve, we have had a fair few here for a last payday which sucks and you can tell they aren't really into being here and we've had the likes of Distin who was incredibly fit and kept getting better, I think he was a success for a player over 30.

Anyway, Doucouré had a great game Saturday.
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But again, percentages.
 


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