DYC.

Nothing wrong with Conte. The hype just went too far. All of sudden he was painted as some magical mastermind who would come in and lift Chelsea to the highest plateau. I like Conte. First appointment I've liked since Villas-Boas (sad how things turned out but I still think he's a very good coach, probably not the best manager but he's still young). I doubt we'll ever see very exciting football under him but he could eventually make the team very organised and solid in all areas. As long as it isn't dull and too reactive. Just needs to get that top 4 finish and strengthen the team (a lot) more next summer. But I'll keep saying it, it's not going to be easy. City, Utd, Arsenal, Spurs, Liverpool... Everton could be the surprise of the league this season (there's always one or two). A top four of City, Spurs, Chelsea, Everton would be amazing and hilarious.

De Gea Valencia/Darmian - Smalling - Bailly - Shaw Herrera - DM* - Pogba Mkhitaryan - Ibrahimovic - Martial/Rashford *One of Schneiderlin, Blind, Carrick, Schweini That's not a side to rival Barcelona but that's a good team. Plenty of potential as well. They have good alternatives as well for rotation and tactical changes (Young is still Utd player haha, amazing). Hazard, Kante, Azpilicueta and possibly Cesc are the only players who could demand a spot in that team. City is better. Arsenal can match their quality on paper. Man, top four is gonna be tough.

No he's not. He's just not the new Messi people envisioned he'd be. You can't fault a player for failing to meet the expectations you projected on him. Hazard has a couple of bad games and it's the end of the world. He's not reaching his potential, he lacks the hunger of a top player, he doesn't care enough, blah blah blah. The likes of Neymar, Reus, Bale, Sanchez, De Bruyne etc. go through bad spells as well. Whether that's a couple of consecutive games or (much) longer. I remember how Neymar was dominating in the first half of 15/16. He was a force and he was looking like a Ballon D'or winner. The level he reached in the 2nd half of the season was well below that though and no one is talking about him being the best player around anymore . It's completely normal. You can't perform at top level every game. Even Messi and Ronaldo can't do it but they can masque performances with goals (that's what makes them freaks) and the perpetual hype train makes sure poor performances are quickly forgotten. And Hazard has it worse by being surrounded decent attacking players and without the support of an offensively capable fullback. Chelsea is still rebuilding as well because the foundation of the team has been exposed. People seriously need a reality check. Two average games. What a disaster... He can't win games on his own. Pass the ball to Eden and let him do everything is not a sound gameplan. I'm not saying you can't criticise him but don't tell me he's not a top player.

I never believed in this worker team and never will. It's not the way forward. Italy was a worker team yeah but that was a handful of games. Chelsea need quality on the pitch. Players who can bring fear to their opponents and cause them to make changes and play differently. Willian, Oscar, Matic, Kante, Azpilicueta, Ivanovic, Cahill. It's too much. They work but they can't play. Even Costa who offers little outside of goals. Chelsea need players who can play.

I doubt that. I think the troubles will continue because none of those players are that good. But it would be nice if you were right. Definitely looking forward to a defence which does not include Dumb and Dumber though.

Agree with that first part. Gary is one of those players who has just been very fortunate. These types of players somehow end up at a top side but when they leave it's always for a midtable or relegation side. He could've easily been playing for a team like Stoke or Swansea these past 4/5 years. He must have a good agent.

This is why you don't label a player a FK specialist when they score a few free kicks. I doubt we'll see him banging them in again. This is why I wanted Cuadrado to stay. Conte is stuck with Willian. Moses isn't good enough and Pedro has been very disappointing. I've been wanting to see Willian for well over a year. It never happened. It probably never will.

He is a pretty good tackler but you can't always tackle. You have to use your body in phsyical tussles as well. Same with using your body to shield the ball. And I wasn't merely referring to strength but also his stamina (tires in the second half of the season). He needs to be able to run full season as that's one of his few strengths as a player. And if he's box to box (he said so himself), he needs to be able to cover ground quicker a la Arturo Vidal.

He always starts the season well, bar last season. This is nothing new. We'll see what tune fans will be singing at the end of the season. He could very well be a late bloomer but the boy hasn't improved in four full seasons. That's a very, very, very long time. What has disappointed me the most is his complete lack of phsycial progression in his time in England. Four year and he still makes Harry Potter look like Mr. Universe.

We're going to see usual with Luiz coming in for Terry. But I'd like to see this. Courtois Ivanovic Cahill Luiz Azpilicueta Oscar Kante Matic Hazard Batshuayi Costa Begovic; Alonso; Mikel, Fabregas; Willian, Moses, Pedro Would provide a nice surprise for Pool. Think Hazard could exploit that space between the defensive and midfield line with Liverpool lacking a (true) holding mid. Coupled with Michy and Diego moving around, each commanding the attention of a CB. Bats providing extra fire power and since Costa likes to roam so much, Bats can remain central and play targetman. If play is too narrow you can always sub in one or two wide men. Bring on Cesc when the game slows down to provide that late creative spark.

That's not what he said. There's actually a lot of sense in what he said. He's specifically talking about a certain type of player. When Pogba signed, I immediately questioned how he was going to fit in Mourinho's system. And in his current role, I'm not surprised by him looking out of place. Paying whatever silly amount of money on a player doesn't mean that player should be capable of doing everything. If a team were to buy let's say Diego Costa for 70 mil and then asked him to drop deep in midfield and exchange short passes like a false 9, I ask you, who is failing? Diego for playing a role that does not suit him or the team that bought a finisher to turn him into Franceso Totti? Pogba is a midfielder in the ilk of Lampard and Gerrard. They possess some fantastic qualities but they are anything but tactically astute. Play Lamps in any other role than that of a #8 and he looks like a (much) lesser player, which was proven in his performances for England and his performances for Chelsea when different systems were deployed. Same for Gerrard at Liverpool. Benitez even had to play him on the wing for a time to fit him in his team. They can only truly excel in a certain role, more specifically playing with certain amount of positional freedom. Pogba is a #8. He's now playing the #6 position. He won't be (nearly) as good in that role. Simple as. You can fault him for that but then you have to do the same with Lampard and Gerrard, both considered bonafide legends. Pogba isn't the superstar midfielder who would come in and save Utd, regardless of the money it took to get him, which is not his fault or problem btw. He isn't even a genuine world-class player. But he definitely possesses the talent to become one. But even if he was world-class, he'd still need a proper system and team to excel. You're always depedent on those around you in a team sport.

He's far from perfect but he's the best striker Chelsea can get their hands on. The superior strikers are out of reach. I'm not a fan of his but at least you can count on him to finish, even in high pressure situations (he's been disappointing in the CL though). We can only hope Michy develops into a true world beater. As for his disciplinary record and behaviour, I'd advise anyone to stop fussing over it. It's never going to change. He'd be a lesser player without it. It's his strength and his weakness. If only he could keep his general play simple. That's definitely possible, depending on his own will to change/improve. The pretending to be Henry thing he does is very annoying. He needs to know his limits.

Let's hope the fitness levels of Aguero, Silva, Gundogan will remain dodgy and fatigue will hit Fernandinho in the second half of the season. That could break them up. As for Christensen, a good spanking is not a bad thing. It will only make him stronger.

Living the Bats life. This guy and I would be great friends. It's unlikely but I'm hoping he'll start alongside Diego tomorrow.

I agree. He's the exciting new toy. Everything he does is exaggerated. If he's decent, he's good. If he's good, he's great. If he's great, he's Makelele 2.0. It will wear off eventually. That's just how I see it anyway. Not to say he hasn't been good. He's been a valuable addition to the team. I'm just waiting for his form to drop, which is inevitable really, and I want to see how quickly he'll bounce back (if he bounces back at all). I desperately hope he is the real deal. I like his distribution btw. May he keep this simple and clever play on forever.

I dislike that argument so much. Cech had an amazing defence/defensive system in front of him as well (Roman's Chelsea part I). Yet praising him as the best GK in the world at the time was a popular opinion, especially among Chelsea fans of course. Buffon has played with amazing defences in front of him as well, including legendary defenders like Maldini, Nesta, Cannavaro etc. He was still dubbed as one of the greatest GKs, if not the greatest, of all time. And rightfully so. Genuinely great goalkeeping is great goalkeeping, period. He was delivering great contributions when he was in top form. I remember when he was an absolute force at coming off his line quickly to close down space and safe 1-on-1's. Also pulling amazing highlight saves from time to time. His positioning is normally so great he doesn't need those Hollywood saves though. Imperial in the air as well (a GK failing in that aspect from time to time is not uncommon). He was even stopping penalties. Seriously Styles, what's with the short memory? He wasn't flawless, had some infuriating moments, but who doesn't? Mehh, I disagree. Even now, Cech is far from his prime. He looks quite mortal nowadays and he was worse in his off days. He's still great though, don't get me wrong.

Yeah, world-class. He was brilliant in his time at Atletico and his first season for Chelsea. It has but it happens. Cech went years not looking like himself and then got back on top. De Gea was ridiculed not too long ago (I love how he is now so easily forgiven for a mistake). Even Buffon. I remember when people said he was past it. And it's not just goalkeepers. Drogba was frustrating for a few years for example. There's not a player around that hasn't gone through it. Courtois is very young and has been on a constant and rapid rise since he was a teenager. I'm not surprised he's going through this. I'm confident he'll bounce back.

That was amazing. I smile whenever I think about it. Barca's first half, in the first leg I think, vs City in 14/15 was almost as good. Orgasmic stuff. Didn't see the full 90 (end of the 2nd half) but yeah. It was frustrating but there's no reason to panic as the team should have won. I still think Cesc needs to come into the team asap though.

He's still world-class. Just going through a rough patch. Happens to everyone, But he is weak in situations where he has to come off his line yeah (except for saving 1-on-1 shots). Cech was the same though.

Keeping count of the amount of times Diego loses the ball is a full time job. Shocking stuff for the striker of a club with domestic and European title aspirations really.

What is it with people and 3 CBs? Because of Conte? The three CB system is a big part of Italian culture. The land of cautiousness and defensive security. A lot of teams playing with two strikers being a big reason for that. I know Italy looked good at Euros but that's a handful of games. How would they have coped playing 40-60 games? No need for 5 defenders in England or European football (even Juve reached the final of the CL using a back four). You mostly face a lone striker and actually deal with wing play. Look at the most succesful and dominant teams of the past five to ten years. All using a back four. Not a coincidence. 3-4-3 looks nice on paper with the right players but there must be a reason it's barely used. I remember Guardiola trying to implement the system after the CL win of 2011. Didn't really work. And that's with Messi, Villa, Sanchez, Iniesta, Xavi, Thiago, Busquets, Dani Alves, Puyol, Mascherano, Pique, Abidal.

People place too much importance on who wears the band in my opinion. As long as it doesn't look ridiculous, for example Oscar as cap. A leader will lead with or without the title as captain.

Verratti is way past potential. I'm not a big fan of rankings but you can't name me five better midfielders than him. What a player.

A number we'll without a doubt see often when watching Chelsea.

Maybe he enjoyed life in London more. Maybe he enjoyed Premier League football more. Maybe he found out he impregnated three women in the UK after his move to Paris. That message could mean anything. People need to find something better to do. At the end of the day I'm happy to have him back to be honest. I'll take the good, the bad and the ugly. I just love the bloke. Let's just hope the last window (Chelsea spent +/- 120 mil) is an indicator of the club not resting on their laurels anymore. I don't like his number though.