akgw13

After watching the AC milan game live and again today my best guess for our starting xi against west ham is this: Courtois ivanovic cahill terry azpi (pains me to write this but unless we buy someone new what can we do) Kante(should never ever ever ever ever ever be subbed off) willian(cuad) fabregas(oscar) matic(chalobah) hazard(moses) Costa(Bats/Traore) I think conte hasnt found the solid strike partnership that he wants, during the AC game when we ran this formation we obviously took over the game. Azpi was pressing aggressively all over with kante covering and we looked great. I would prefer chalobah but i think matic is getting the nod as the B2B/high press man covering hazard so he can play freely and attack. I am hopeful this can unlock fabregas a little bit as he has basically no defensive duties surrounded by willian matic and kante. My in game subs would probably be oscar for fab, chalobah for matic, bats for costa I pray we buy a proper LB or RB and CB (ideally mustafi/koulibaly, and Ricardo Rodriguez/slide azpi back to RB)

sign him up, tired of dealing with napoli. Young german CB to pair with zouma once he is healthy (which is coming along quickly) is excellent. is comfortable enough on the ball to play in a back 3 next year if we want. No bidding war, put in a real offer and lets get him in.

I'm a huge fan of his and thought he would be perfect for conte but it seems a loan is coming which is disappointing

What a great first impression. I think I'm in love. Absolutely spectacular.

Kante is magnificent. My favourite player by far. It seems like he knows the play before it happens, his read and react is amazing. Feels proactive whereas matic/fabregas have felt very reactive. He snuffs out the ball, they chase. Great signing! Conte/Kante 16'!

Would like to see Willian play with them then bring cuadrado in around 65 but I totally agree with this setup

Moses, traore, Aina all deserve squad spots based on performance. Fabregas is no where to be found, we should be controlling the tempo but feels very disjointed between D and attack. Nothing Courtois could do on that free kick, great hit.

I think we can survive once zouma comes back, hopefully Aina can play well enough to give us a boost. with all the youth(Clarke-Salter, Tomori, Christensen, Dasilva) + Ake it would be a shame if we over bid to fill the need and shutting another path to the 1st team with an expensive import. The numbers are outrageous this summer for defenders that im sure are great but its just ridiculous at the moment. I hate ivanovic as much as the next guy but i truly believe he can be useful as a CB this year. I am very torn in that i think we need a CB(and LB) but 50mill for koulibaly!? we were balking at that much for Bonucci at the beginning of the summer! Azpi + Ivanovic + Zouma + Aina for me with Cahill + Terry covering depending on matchups Unless a proven stud is attainable im very nervous at these prices

good point. very fair. just gonna have to trust conte if he believes in RLC that he can use him effectively

my thoughts exactly!? why cant we see RLC lineup next to matic for a little bit

I have been discussing lineups with a friend of mine and wanted more opinions on willian. Do we think he can play next to fabregas in a midfield 3 with kante and be able to provide enough cover? (The reason i have mahrez in the lineups is we were discussing his possible fit) willian fab kante Mahrez Costa Hazard (Morata, bats, traore, whoever in mahrez place) I personally hope we can develop to play 3 at the back eventually and look something like this courtois koulibaly christensen zouma willian kante matic kennedy mahrez costa hazard (Morata, bats, traore, whoever in mahrez place)

The Morata rumours wont go away, i dont know how i feel about this. is he a good young player? yes. is he worth the monetary figure being discussed? i dont think so. But conte seems to be determined to get him and start him with costa. Do we trust that conte knows best and over pay for what he wants?

begovic azpi - terry - Ivanovic - Aina Willian(moses) RLC Matic(chalobah) Kenedy Costa Bats(if too soon, Traore) As much as i dislike Ivanovic as an RB i am somewhat ok with him as CB(prefer him to cahill) would love to finally see RLC in the role I want him in as B2B but its beginning to feel like it will never happen. I think Aina has earned a starting xi role with his showing last game. would love chalobah to get more run

agreed, but part of that could be playing out of position? he is most certainly not a 10. With a clearly defined role and support from the coach i think he will feel more confident in himself and what he is supposed to do. He certainly has the athleticism to fill the role, just needs to up his fitness and understanding of the system (both come with learning how to be a professional + experience) i have high hopes for him with Conte working on him.

My feelings exactly, RLC needs to focus on fitness(he has no choice with conte!) and learning what he needs to do for one position(b2b). a fit focused RLC as a b2b is ideal in my eyes and hopefully conte can work his magic like he did with Pogba.