Dec

Sell Tomori and bring in Alaba and he will cover LB and CB.

A family member of mine is an analyst at Leicester and we were talking about Chilwell. He says physically he's one of the best at the club, however, he just doesn't have the tactical capabilities to understand what is required. This is a major worry.

A family member of mine is an analyst at Leicester and we were talking about Chilwell. He says physically he's one of the best at the club, however, he just doesn't have the tactical capabilities to understand what is required. This is a major worry.

A family member of mine is an analyst at Leicester and we were talking about Chilwell. He says physically he's one of the best at the club, however, he just doesn't have the tactical capabilities to understand what is required. This is a major worry.

A family member of mine is an analyst at Leicester and we were talking about Chilwell. He says physically he's one of the best at the club, however, he just doesn't have the tactical capabilities to understand what is required. This is a major worry.

We do need to close the gap and I agree that defence will win titles, but it's the attack that we have struggled with this season. We've dropped points against Bournemouth, Southampton, Newcastle, West Ham (x2) and Brighton this season despite dominating. If we put the ball in the back of the net more then teams won't get that hope that leads to us losing/drawing. Those 17 points alone would take us above Manchester City with an 80 point total and none of those are games we didn't deserve to win.

We do need to close the gap and I agree that defence will win titles, but it's the attack that we have struggled with this season. We've dropped points against Bournemouth, Southampton, Newcastle, West Ham (x2) and Brighton this season despite dominating. If we put the ball in the back of the net more then teams won't get that hope that leads to us losing/drawing. Those 17 points alone would take us above Manchester City with an 80 point total and none of those are games we didn't deserve to win.

Does anybody know about David Soria? He made a great save against Real Madrid recently and seems pretty tall. I don't watch La Liga that much but at 27 he could be a cheaper GK option, though it seems he had a bad game against Villarreal and conceded a penalty in the game.
 

Have to due tk the new rule of a max of 6 loanees. So can't have so many player's wages on our books.

I was talking about Alex Telles in response to King Kante's post. For some reason, the forum software used here creates a fatal error when I quoted it.

I was talking about Alex Telles in response to King Kante's post. For some reason, the forum software used here creates a fatal error when I quoted it.

I was talking about Alex Telles in response to King Kante's post. For some reason, the forum software used here creates a fatal error when I quoted it.

It's shaping up to be a very good window for Chelsea but the center back issue reared its head again yesterday. We cannot keep dominating games to go behind from a set piece or lapse in concentration. I suspect Werner and Ziyech will help us with this but we need to sure up that defence and I don't think a left back will be the only solution.
 
I echo sentiments about us being crazy to pass up on Romagnoli. Given that Rudiger is currently our first choice CB, I cannot see Ruben Dias complimenting the German and I worry about Ake's form and leadership. For me, I think Skrinar and Gimenez are great but unrealistic options given that Atletico are notably hard to buy from and Inter aren't that far off the title race this year. However, saying that by my calculations we should have a lot to spend given that FFP has been wiped out. But even if it hasn't we'd be in a healthy position as the Ziyech and Werner deals would go into this season and not next season's budget.
 
Out:
Hazard (last season) - £100m
Morata - £58m
Zouma - £25m
Batshuayi - £25m
Pasalic - £13m
Jorginho - £40m (I just don't see him working well in a 4231 which Lampard favoured most of this season and looked to favour in second half vs Villa)
Emerson - £25m
Barkley - £20m
Bakayoko - £25m
Rahman - £10m
Zappacosta - £15m
TOTAL - £356m
 
In:
Ziyech - £35m
Werner - £50m
Havertz - £75m
Chilwell - £70m
Centre Back - £60m
TOTAL - £280m
 
Please note that these are rough values, but that's over £75m of profit with a £60m spend included for a centre back, as well as paying over the odds for Chilwell. We've got room to afford big players, and we will have the versatility to rotate with a smaller squad akin to Wolves.
 
Squad:
Kepa / Caballero
James/Azpi - Rudiger / Tomori - ? / Christensen - Chilwell / Alonso
Kante / Gilmour - Kovacic / RLC
Ziyech / Hudson Odoi - Havertz / Mount - Werner / Pulisic
Abraham / Giroud
 
Other back-ups - Cumming, Maatsen, Van Ginkel (I think he will try and breakthrough next season and then leave if not), Anjorin, Broja

Chelsea kit 2016/17. It will contain the stripes down the side in white.
Source: http://www.footyheadlines.com/2015/11/chelsea-16-17-home-kit.html

Just done a very rough mock up of the away kit with inspiration from the Umbro kit that we all love:

Just done a very rough mock up of the away kit with inspiration from the Umbro kit that we all love:

This confuses me, I know Lampard is a good player but in a 4231 we need someone who can run from box to box and move the ball from defence to attack with energy. You say Ramires cannot pass but his pass percentage was 85.1% which is pretty reasonable (ranked 12th in our squad) and in comparison Lampard had 86.9% so not that much more. While we compare them Rami had the most tackles on average per game in the squad (2.8) and the 6th most interceptions (1.9). Attacking wise Lampard had the most shots per game (2.2) but Ramires had a respectable 1.6 whilst he was also the top dribbler with 1.4 successful dribbles per game.
In my opinion, this seems the perfect for the role of a player who can bridge defence and attack on a fast counter attacking move but also play a solid line when needed to plug gaps and stop the opposition attacks.
To see more of his statistics from this season please see here.

Totally agree with that and I believe in a 4231 Ramires suits the role beside the defensive midfielder more in order to act as a carrier of the ball with his energy in counter attacking situations. This is also a reason why I think Dembele should be bought in as cover as Lampard with his age and as he's always been hasn't ever matched the energy of other players but managed to do what he has done with a superb footballing brain, yet in a 4231 with him being more attacking against big teams he can struggle to outmuscle the likes of Mata or Hazard for that place in the centre to do what he does best and that is attack.