El P.

To-sell list: Zappacosta (we need new RWB and Moses is somewhat better) Drinkwater (he is not good and we need new CMF) / or Bakayoko (less likely) Pedro (we need fresh blood at wing positions, and Willy is more valuable to us) Cahill or Luiz (Luiz is better and I would rather keep him, but Cahill is skipper and English, so that would be unlikely - and yes, get new CB, he doesn't even need to be young, 27-8 yo, Christy and Rudy are both young) We actually need to sell in order to buy, we are loaded everywhere on the field with average players. Also, we could use some money.

If he would push for transfer, we could get him without including Willy in deal, why not? But we should really sell Pedro. He is not bad, it's just, Willian is more valuable.

Courtois is really calm and good so far I think.

Our front three plays like they hate each other. No chemistry at all.

Good to know. We are linked with him for months now, it would be nice to know about him a bit more. Even if we don't get him, going for him is step in the right direction.

We are giving the ball to Giroud too early, he is not Aguero. Also, we need to include Emerson more in play. Rudiger was really good, Cahill on the other hand...

Type of a player we need I guess, but I think there are better options in market. He will be 27 in the summer and I rate Jorginho more. And I'm not even sure Seri could play in mid-2, seems really lightweight. But well... this would be light-years improvement on Drinkayoko.

Giroud > Morata Emerson > Alonso

He is fucked up. He is not the best striker, but every solid striker would score chances like those. Difference is - he is fucked up. His head is, and always was messed up.

Buffon should've been mad at Benatia, not the ref. If Benatia had done just a little body-check, it would push Real's player out of a balance, giving Buffon chance to defend correctly. But no, Benatia had lift his leg, catching player's chest and side before (if even) catching the ball. Also, both hands at the back... It's pitty, I wanted Juventus to advance. Because Messi is better than this central-forward guy CR, nothing else.

Willian key player here? He may be the key of really ruined garbage old door, not of a good new one, if you know what I mean.

Well, I think he has made a lot of mistakes. His subs are always somewhat too late, also players like Emerson and Giroud should've been given more chances. But, he tried 3-5-2. He tried 3-4-3 with false 9. He tried Cesc as CAM, he tried Cesc in 2-man midfield. He tried some things. Reverting to 4-man defense, with this squad which is really suited for 3/5 in defense, isn't really a problem. I mean, yes, we are desperate, but changing to 4 in defense with this squad would be just that - one desperate try, an empty shoot, so what happens happens. You all must be thinking - well, we cannot do any worse than this. Well, guess what - WE CAN. No one can convince me that Azpi - Christy - Rudy - Alonso defense would bring us anything special. We actually have the worst defense, by names, in top-5 now. There is a reason why we play with 5 defenders - to cover all their weaknesses. Even Liverpool have brought VVD and are looking solid and better than us now, no need to mention Spurs or City.

Him being "tactically stubborn" isn't the result of him wanting out of the club. He just doesn't think that this squad can play better under different tactic. Either he wanted to stay, or to go, he would play this tactics. You are writing as he is playing bad tactics on purpose.

Without 2-3 really good transfers we can forget about that, regardless of who manager is.

What are evidences for that? Man copes differently, he is not crazy on the line like before, but I really don't understand people who think they are psychologists and can read Conte's mind, with no real evidence. He just said that he cannot sleep most of the nights when we lose.

I have a weird feeling that he could stay after all. Weird because we are Chelsea and we don't do that. He maybe moans sometimes about transfers, but when you ask him about leaving Chelsea, he is always clear - he wants to stay and work until the end of his contract at least. And I trust him about that, fuck this "OMG he is not crazy and passionate on the line like before, he must want to leave" talk, just listen to him at the press, man is committed. And board re-signed him with a new contract so I think their interest too is to keep him at least for that another year, also financially-wise.

I think he has never played in 2-man midfield, I don't know if he would be suitable for that role in Conte's (or some other coach's) eyes. But I would like him for sure, he is great talent. Also, let's not forget Milinković-Savić, also a very good young player. Sell Drinkwater (or loan him), buy Weigl/Jorginho/Savić/Kovačić, and 35-40% of our problems are gone.

Ok, Julian Weigl is also a good option. Point is - there ARE suitable players out there for that position. And Dembele is too old, I agree.

Again, I will write something about central midfielder. One may say I am obsessed with CM, but I get that a lot. Ok, we for sure miss creativity. A lot of creativity, and I would say, "game controlling" ability. I haven't seen us really dominating the midfield for significant period of time (for half a season at last), since Lampard-Ballack era. And I don't even mean possession dominating, I mean dominating in a balanced way, like our past team did from 2005-2010. So I am asking, can some new wing-backs give us that quality? I really really don't think so. Even Sandro or I don't know. Because their quality is mostly running up and down the pitch, providing width and stuff, they won't give us any control. It would be a lot easier to find midfielder with those qualities than WB. Koke, Saul, Rakitić, Jorginho, just to name a few, who could be available. Dembele from Spurs would be ideal if you ask me, but he is too injury prone.

Yes, Bakawater.

Not buying proper central midfielder was the biggest mistake we have made in recent years, one huge let down that will go down in history as a main decision that put this club into the dark. In defense we have brought Christy, not our fault Luiz went totally AWOL. In attack we have brought Morata, well, nobody could know that he wouldn't be good. But either of our defenders or strikers are more useful that Drinkayoko, or Fabregas. I mean, even on their good day, Drinkayoko doesn't offer us enough. We have Kante for all they are offering. And Fabregas isn't even good with the ball anymore and that was coming for years. We may be having some average defenders and strikers, but we have no midfield at all. EDIT: All top 5 teams have a much better midfield than ours, I only rate Liverpool's as not that good, but even their is more balanced than ours, with Can and Wijnaldum, I rate both way more than any of ours (except Kante of course).

We just got what we deserved.

Him and Hazard both backed off Real Madrid with displays against Barcelona, I think. I mean, they are still great players, but they just cost too much for playing like that in two big-stage games. Can't see why would Real go for Hazard and not Dybala, and for Courtois instead of Oblak, considering their performances and how much they would cost.

Bring him, sell Pedro, switch to 3-5-2, and rule the world. It's a pity that we would still have hole in midfield playing alongside Kante, even if we bring Isco. But good thing then - we wouldn't need some complete creative midfield like Saul, Koke, Rakitić etc, to partner Kante. Actually, if we had Isco, Matić (or player like him) would be enough I think. But I would go for someone slightly better with ball than Matić, of course, even with Isco in team.

This is actually game of the season for us. I know we have had many of those "games of the season", but can't find any game more important than this one. We have a chance to win this. If any game was a time for some of our players to turn up - it's now. Lose this and UCL is gone. Draw this and getting UCL will be really really hard.