King Kante

Think this guy will turn into a proper CB, very impressed with his controlled aggression.

Caicedo has been very poor. About time he was dropped.

I was saying he was overrated before we signed him. So not sure about the one game reference. First part yes, second part, no. He isn't anywhere near technical enough to dominate/control midfield. He is essentially a ball chaser who can intercept at a high level. It was seen again today. He meshes well with Enzo, as he does the donkey work, but as soon as Enzo goes off, the midfield cannot transition the ball quickly and give away too many turnovers. This is also why Brighton barely played him in his favoured position in the second half of last season and instead moved him.about to positions of needs in terms of coverage. I am not saying the kid is awful, just that he has a lot of average qualities and a few outstanding qualities. Maybe he is young enough to improve but I just don't see the level of technical ability and passing range you're describing.

Yeah, all we need to do now to make to make sure we always play teams who give us pens, go down to 9 men for no apprant reason and also play suicidal high lines - do that and we're golden. Seriously, if Spurs kept it to ten men they would've beaten us.

That isn't going to happen. Essien was an absolute specimen of an athlete. His ability to dominate opposition was due to his ability to out fight, out muscle and out run everyone on the pitch. On top of that he could absolutely leather the ball in a way Reece is only able to get near to. If you mean, play like Essien minus all of the above, then maybe, as Caicedo isn't anywhere near the physical specimen Essien was. Caicedo's overall play is much more akin to players like Petit, Mikel and Jorginho. In that he is a pretty safe pair of hands in keeping possession as be isn't loose with his passing and can take a ball and move it on in tight situations and find a player. At best he becomes a new Maka if he can start breaking the lines with his forward passing by hitting it flat with pace and improves his vision to see the onward pass as soon as the advanced player looses his man.

Why are people surprised? This is exactly what I and a couple of others predicted. You cannot put a random collection of kids together and think you're going to have any consistency in the PL. Some of the optimism is pre-season was peak delusion. For me, I am ok with how things are going as this is what I expected. We won't be a top 4/5 side for another couple of years if things go well with the development of the group, or the board decide to buy some adults with experience. For me, a finish between 8-14th is about right for the quality and level of our squad at this moment in time.

CPO have announced that the plans should be with them soon. https://www.msn.com/en-gb/sport/football/Chelsea-are-finalising-their-future-plans-the-clubs-future-stadium/ar-AA1iOUDL Will be interesting to see how these play out. My wishlist would be: Location- Earls Court Freehold - CPO get the same rights at the new stadium. Capacity- 65k - I would like to see 50k general seats, and about 15k corporate. My worry with 55-60k is that there wouldn't be enough general seats added. Stadium features - Roof - may as well make use of the location and transport links and make a truly 365/24/7 venue. One tier stand behind a goal - this works really well imo at the Spud Bowl. A unique style - my ideal would be a nod to the old art deco style of Earls Court. However, would be happy with anything that isn't a spaceship bowl style like Spuds and Le Arse. I suspect, I am going to be disappointed on all aspects however.

We will have to put quite a run together to get top 4 now. We're currently 8 points off with a quarter of the season gone and we had a really soft start, our next 7 games will probably require us to get at least 5 wins but that run includes Brentford (h), Spuds (a) Man City (h), Newcastle (a), Brighton (h), Utd (a), Everton (a). That run is pretty horrific, we haven't won at OT for years, Newcastle and Everton away are both bogey grounds, Brentford and Brighton are very canny types of teams who know how to grind results in the league, whilst Spurs are on a good run. Personally, I think we have quite a bit to do already. That aside, I am also happy with the progress, especially from what we saw last season but we're still a very green team imo. Any half mature side would've beaten the Arse at home with the way we played, whilst also getting a point out of Forest and Villa. The West Ham game can happen to any team so, not holding that one agaist the side. However, this also makes me think we could play most of the teams we play in the next seven games off the park and end up with 6 points or something ridiculous by drawing all of them - bar City who I suspect will be ruthless with us.

I think you're giving him a bit too much credit. He is 26 in three weeks, he isn't some kid like Slonia who could blow up if things go perfectly with his development. I appreciate GK's mature later than every other position but he is pretty much at the age where, what you see is what you get. For me I have seen enough of him to say he is a B grade David James of a GK. He can pull off wonder saves - that he makes look better because of the way he can fling himself at shots - but he has pretty fundermental weaknesses that means he won't be a type of GK that is going to pick you up hard fought points. By this, I mean he clearly lacks in the following areas; 1) Concentration (probably James' biggest flaw as well, which is also probably the single most important aspect of being a GK due to the nature of the position.) This goes for both his passing and saving. 2) Positioning/movement of his feet - he allows too many shots in at the posts (both near and far) as he has the habit of trying to cover his angles quite late - this is also why he makes quite a few 'Superman' saves as has to rely on his reflexes (which are of a high level) to bail him out. 3) (This is where I rate him as a B grade David James, rather than in the same level) a poor ability to judge the ball from crosses - James also had an issue with this but he was able to use his larger build to go through players better and not end up on the deck so much. Then there is the issue that Brighton dropped him for a low level PL GK exactly because of what we have seen. This isn't something new with him, he got dropped for exactly the same reasons and I was saying this when we brought him. As I said, I am not going to pile in on the guy, anyone who watched him prior should've known these type of performances where coming. Additionally, as a GK2 I think he is perfectly fine, although way overpriced. For me, what happened with his signing was that some people got overly excited about his highlight reel of saves and probably looked at the hard data which highlighted some above average/excellent metrics and thought that there was something the people at Brighton had missed - while failing to appreciate his short comings enough.

I mean, are people surprised by this? He was Brighton's 2nd choice GK for a reason. I am not going to get into calling him names, him playing for us as GK1 is on whoever signs the player, as this isn't a case of him downing tools or dropping his level. The kind of stuff I am seeing from him is exactly what I expected of him in the first XI as he simply isn't a GK1 for a top 10 side in the PL. It is also the same with Caicedo who a lot of people were creaming themselves about. I said before we signed Caicedo that I was concerned about how he was being deployed in multiple positions by Brighton last season rather than him being played in his principal position - then people cry about his turnovers and lack of incisive play on the ball, but forget this is why Brighton didn't play him consistently in the middle of the park.

I think that one was always a tough ask. Firstly, Battersea was apart of the wider Nine Elms development which is designed around residential buildings, retail outlets and offices. Second the connections down there aren't great, the Northern line extension was added but it isn't apart of the wider Northern Line in that you have to connect at Kennington. Vauxhall is relatively close but it is full of roundabouts down there so the walk isn't great and the station is not really suitable for the amount of people that go through it currently - on matchdays it wouldn't be fit for purpose. Third, the stadium design required demolition of a large part of the power station with the Chimmney stacks only included. The proposal that was used was a lot more sympathetic to the power station overall. The Earls Court site on the otherhand has Earls Court, West Kensington, West Brompton and Kensington stations all within walking distance - the last two have overground connections. That means it is has a direct tube connection from Heathrow, London Paddington, London Victoria, London Liverpool Street, London King's Cross, Cannon Street, Blackfairs, Moorgate. Second, the site is already cleared and there wouldn't be such a need to dig down, if at all, while that area has developed over decades - even centuries - as a recreation area so the locals wouldn't have as much say about what can and cannot go there. Third, the site has Road access in multiple directions thus ensuring safety as there would not be such bottle necks. Fourth, the build there would be a lot cheaper than at either SB or Battersea so this would allow for more wriggle room to add something like a retractable roof which would make the stadium suitable for events 365 days a year; which would mean much more income. Lastly, the EC site has been in development hell for close to a decade with no-one being able to make it work. It is ripe for a development back into a events arena/stadium.

This will be a good indication of where our season will go. A win, following the others should boost the confidence of the team and may indicate we have turned a corner at the start of our horrific run. Lose and we may have to get the lube for Nov-Dec and expect a pounding. A draw will be inconclusive, as we got a decent draw against the Dippers then went back to last season form almost immediately.

I honestly don't know why we do not make a serious play for EC. Even if we we get planning, digging down in London is a nightmare. If they find anything of historical significance, it will open a massive can of worms.

He was never a bad player. Just a whipping boy for a large part of the fan base. Chelsea fans - particularly those online - love nothing more than a whipping boy. That aside, as for today's game the first half was poor, then second good. For me, I am not taking too much out of it. The next nine games will be the real barometer of whether the squad is good enough.

I agree. Jackson should've been played into the side - I have said throughout that our transfer policy was incredibly dangerous as it was essentially buy all 'potential' and we seriously lacked experience. As for my comment about the new Kalou, that isn't a bad thing per se as he was a serviceable player who always gave his all. Where, I am concerned, and this is why Kalou was never more than a 'squad player' is due to decision making in the box/finishing. Jackson is showing a lot of the same qualities in that he creates good situations/gets himself in good situations- however, he needs 10 chances to convert 2 goals.

The new Kalou.

It what happens when you decide to go out and buy a team that could play in the U12's league. Everyone we brought was essentially done on 'potential', I and some others warned that we needed experience as otherwise it could quickly turn into what we are currently seeing as no-one knows what is needed to win games in the PL.

Because it was preseason. People getting excited about our performances during preseason was one of the most moronic things that I have seen on here, so that was a pretty high bar to clear.

May get this one. First shirt in about 8 years if so.

This is much more likely. £500 a pop isn't going to move the needle for him, he is a multimillionaire. I very much doubt he is getting about of bed for £10k to go talk to some people around a dinner table. I know he got involved with NFT's but that was because a lot of people got wrapped up into thinking crypto/NFT's were going to be a goldmine. Even a athlete like Tom Brady, who is the definition of a model pro and dare I say it, role model, got burned by that.

Until Toney starts betting on us to lose.

He isn't like Diego at all in my opinion. Diego wasn't actually that great technically, what made him a great CF was his drive, passion and ability to score when it mattered. For me, Jackson has technical ability for the 1-2's and can make good runs. During preseason I said he looked most like Torres to me, having seen him and bit more a with his concerning conversation rate, I am also seeing a bit of Kalou. I have always said, I need 10 full 90 minute games from a player before I can make a final decision on a player, so I am not saying my thoughts are final, however, Costa for me was such a unique player that I think I can safely say he isn't that.

Caicedo was just as much at fault, if not more.

Thank god we upgraded the side this year according to some on here.