One thing Jose has always wanted is a BIG squad, but its not enough to have 10 or 11 great players and the rest of the squad is pants is it?
When Jose first arrived he wanted to acumulate TWO squads, each one as strong as the other, and he was begginning to get there too. Then as will happen, certain important players could not live with the playing restictions that a squad ethic entailed. These players wanted guarranteed, regular first team football. When it was explained to them that at Chelsea, every player is as important as the next player to the club, and what it could achieve. These individuals didn't like the idea of being part of a squad. They wanted first team status. I understand quality players feeling that way. We are lucky at Chelsea to actually have as many quality players as we have, who do appreciate the concept of being part of a squad. There will always be those players who do not.
So they leave Chelsea for pastures new, with Chelsea actually making it very easy for them to go thanks to reduced transfer fee's for instance. That left the club short of QUALITY players. People always say that we have two great players for every position on the pitch. That might have been true for a very short time during Jose's first season, but since then it has definately not been the case.
Anyway....So Jose wants to fill the gaps and purchase some more players of quality to replace those players that have left. Roman says NO. Make do with what you have, he more or less tells him. What happens?....JT gets a serious injury. We have nobody of quality who can fill in for him, and our season begins to nosedive, (by our standards of course:mexican
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I can understand Roman's attitude when I look at some of the players Jose has bought in the past though. Del Horno for one and the jury is still out on Khalid I think. Admittedly he has also made some wonderful buys too. Drog and Mikel to name two. Roman I think, just wanted to make a point to Jose that the money that he is willing to spend on Chelsea is not endless if it continues to be wasted.
The point is though, is that there is no point in buying players and having a big squad if a lot of that squad is made up of inferior players. Jose wants the best players on the market for Chelsea, and if Roman says "spend wisely, because I am not gonna be throwing money at you", then I understand why Jose has opted for sticking with who we have, and add one or two new quality players in the summer, plus anyone else within reason, who happens to be a free agent this summer.
You can't just lay the blame for anything squarely at Jose's feet. He would prefer a big squad. Obviously the "Powers that be", have told him that he must think carefully before making a move for a player.
Some of the unrest at Chelsea earlier in the season was because, Jose was actually told that because of a couple of "mistakes" he had made in the transfer market, that Frank Arnesen in future, would be helping Jose make any decisions regarding new players coming to the club. Jose wanted first and final say on playing staff but Roman had other ideas. Personally I'd go with Roman on this one.
Whatever way you want to look at it though, we have a very talented squad of players right now. We are short of a couple of positions and those are the gaps that Jose needs to fill in the summer. He certainly doesn't need to go mad and buy just for the sake of buying. That would be just silly.
I just found this article. Pretty relevent I thought
http://football.guardian.co.uk/breakingnews/feedstory/0,,-6636967,00.html
but hes good cover tho 