The Skipper

Can't see anything else but us signing a new fullback. And soon.

The man loves coming off the bench with a brace.

Matic better watch out. Chalobah could be a late bloomer...

I'm too excited. I think Conte is going to take the league by storm. You know, if he manages to fend off all these great managers (Klopp, Mourinho, Pep, Wenger) and win some titles over the next few seasons, people will finally put the due respect on his name.

Because of the Higuain money too... They'll be reluctant.

You know their owner doesn't care about this...

If it was a simple case of bidding just a bit more then why haven't we seen a bid from Everton, who supposedly bid higher than us, accepted then? Napoli don't need money. They just got 94m euros from Higuain, do you really think they need to sell Koulibaly for a cut rate price?

There's plenty of locals here tbh. You won't ever find a purely local CFC forum however, club's too big for that.

He's not good enough to become a top winger, I agree with that. He misses certain intangibles for that to happen. If he can work on his defensive game though he can be a valuable squad player. If he remolds his game to maybe becoming a wing back he has a brighter future IMO. Irregardless, Moses would block game time for Musonda and Boga who are definitely more talented.

He's looking a lot leaner than when he came back next season. Good stuff.

Wishful thinking mate!

By dynamic I don't mean faster per se. Kante has a much bigger engine than Matic and I don't think Matic is as good as a tackler as Kante is. Kante is a technical tackler, he tackles the ball in a smart way without real use of brawn - he's shown last season that he can get the ball off bigger players without using power. Even so, for how short he is he has incredible balance so if you think you can boulder him over you're in for a surprise. He's strong for his size and more of an athlete than Matic. Kante might be short but he is not a light weight. Think of how Makelele used to boss the area in front of the defence with some great tackles via great anticipation. Now think that and add someone buzzing all over the pitch doing it - winning the ball in the final third, winning it in midfield, winning it in the first third... That's Kante. I can guarantee you that Kante will be more important for us in bigger games than Matic as well. I don't really view Matic as a powerful midfielder tbh. He's big, but not powerful. Like I said, Matic reminds me a bit of Schweinsteiger in his prime (if you put him in the B2B role that is), and I wouldn't call Bastian a powerful midfielder either.

Please. 30m euros would be fantastic. Come on Juve, stump up the cash! (Or swap him for Bonucci :))

Oh, I do agree. I do feel like he needs to put on about 5kg of muscle at least, it'll transform him into a great defender, as long as he keeps his finesse with it.

I'm not disputing that. What I am disputing is that we shouldn't spend money on an up and coming CB when we already have one in the ranks, albeit on loan.

Hey, he doesn't need exquisite pace when he has Zouma next to him. I love the fact that he's very classy on the ball, it complements Zouma so well. They are the future.

I really doubt it. You must be living in the past if you think that's still the same. I don't think there's pressure on Conte to win a trophy this year, just to finish well in the league and build his image of the team up.

I agree. If you look at other threads I've consistently said we need a new CB and a new fullback (LB preferably). Just don't want to see us spending too much on a CB who isn't top class when we have a similar player returning next year. IMO anyway for this season we need a good full back more than a pretty good CB. A good LB - X - Zouma - Azpi can get us into the CL I think.

Are you telling me Mourinho had no influence on who was sold and who wasn't? May I remind you about KDB? Mata? Schurrle? Filipe Luis? David Luiz... The list is so endless. You are hopelessly in love with Mourinho, more so than you actually like Chelsea. How can ANY Chelsea fan even hope that a former manager/player beats THEIR club? This is ridiculous. I can't blame people for calling you a Mourinho fan and NOT a Chelsea fan. I have barely even seen you active in this forum, not as active as you are in this thread any way. It's an exciting time with a manager who seems to be passionate about what he's doing and all I see you doing is still lusting after Mourinho even though he left the club in tatters!

Of course we can survive. Think long term. Football isn't just about the next season coming up, and we have been given a nice season off from Europe to rebuild. Christensen in my opinion is good enough to be a top CB in the near future, and he can play here for a very long time. We need to sign a new CB but I don't want to see us spending stupid money when we have a very good CB coming back next year. We should be able to pursue top four without spending stupid money on a CB that's not really much better than him. Patience is a virtue. It sets out club up much better in the long run.

Them trademark, long-ass Barbara posts. It's been a while. Haha.

This guy really brings an air of positivity to the club that I haven't seen in a long, long time. With Jose it was always 'us vs. the world' but Conte seems to bring a passionate humility about him. He seems so hungry to succeed, a hunger I haven't seen in Jose for a long time, probably not since his first stint. I feel like he'll utilise our youth a lot better than Jose too, we have one of the best academies in the world and some very talented players that just need polishing. I think Conte can do that. He has the track record. Let's hope a few guys come through soon. Early signs are extremely positive.

I hope he improves his technical finesse a bit. He has the ability to but he's too inconsistent with his basic technical stuff sometimes. He has got an interesting future ahead of him though. I'd give him a chance.

Unless we ship out Pedro and/or Cuadrado, it won't happen.

It's fine. Football fans are fickle. After a few good performances people will forget. De Laurentis knows this. I admire how he keeps extorting so much money out of clubs for good players - who just shouldn't be sold for the amount they should be. It's a stubborn stance but still.