LDN Blue

Yeah I don't disagree we've gone more defensive when the situation calls for it. But the original point was Conte has no plan B in games, to which I direct at what manager actually ever does have a plan B in a game? Seldom do you see a team change tactically in any given game.

Very. very happy for him. Making the absolute most of his loan opportunity and clearly working with Paul Clement has been good for his own development. Has to be rewarded for his efforts next season, our very own Rashford.

Tbh, what manager right now does? Pochettino seldom shows tactical flexibility, if anything Conte showed he's more agile there when we played Spurs and he went with diamond formation. Granted his hand was forced by needing to draft Luiz in a DM. But he still managed to out-whit MP. Mourinho we know has no plan B. He has only one plan game-to-game as he showed vs Liverpool (Lmao the irony United fans are now defending 'park the bus'). So unless you're going to name me a manager outside the PL, I struggle to see anyone who every implements a plan B or C.

Combination of things have given effect to a 'red sun phenomenon' today. Leftover effects from hurricane Ophelia has carried dust and debris from the Sahara as well as effects from wild fires in Europe has culminated into this strange apocalyptic-looking skyline. More info here

Yeah I mean, aside from KdB who else. Lukaku wanted to leave and if anything, we fucked up by not being able to re-sign him like we could with Matic. Dude above mentioned Salah, who wanted to leave anyway and it was only because of what he was doing at Fiorentina and Roma that Liverpool wanted him (only Liverpool wanted him btw lol) but then we probably wouldn't have bought Pedro who was key last season. Mata's shortcoming were well documented and we probably wouldn't have bought Fabregas if he stayed. We've always replaced what we've lost lol. Is Mourinho also at fault for selling Chalobah, loaning out RLC? selling Matic and only buying Bakayoko? Hindsight is amazing. Imagine we'd forced McEachran, Sturridge, Kakuta for the sake of "what if they become world class somewhere else" theory lmao. Which is why I have no care for Musonda right now lol, until he does something impressive on the scarce chances he gets then he's just another "on to the next one" player.

Urgh, such belittlement of our season last year. People forget this time last year we were underdogs, from a poor finish the season before to an average transfer window. Can we say 2016 window was any better than this year? We bought a CM, FB and striker. Luiz was hailed a stroke of genius lmao. As for Willian, everyone's favourite fall guy. The Musonda wank-a-thon among Chelsea fans this season is beyond cringe. Same fans probably wanted to keep Tammy Abraham this season.

Hahaha I quoted it off your reply. Didn't realise how it came across

Tf dude The grass is always greener isn't it. All this short-term shit aside, we're still one of the biggest clubs in England and Europe thanks to the board and our owner. Maybe we don't like the way they're doing certain things now but they're not running us like Arsenal. 2 PL titles in 3 years is nothing to complain about, back in the Champions League, new stadium on the way, now you want to protest? Man we'd be out of existence rn dude.

Very emotional player. From crying on scoring his first goal to this very public meltdown. It's adversity where you see your mental strength tested and professional football is as much about how mentally tough you are as well as how good you are on the ball. Countless talents have lost their way because their emotions aren't channeled into their game. Those who can are your Diego Costa's of this world. Those who can't are your Mario Balotelli's. Musonda is at an age where he should be playing football at the highest level but this won't help. Even if Chelsea are holding him back he's got options to seek a move away a lot more cautiously.

Was gonna say his use of him early in the season when we didn't have a match-fit Morata, but looking back that was forced. I'm sure in Conte's ideal world Llorente would have been playing those games lol. It's easy to see why then Conte didn't want to let Michy go, with no-one coming in, shame Solanke isn't around.

Conte-Italy is such an easy narrative to write up for fishing journalists. In an ideal world the club would be doing anything they can to keep Conte beyond next summer but such is the structure of the club that they'll probably be happy they're not footing the bill for a huge compensation payout.

Interesting words from Mr Townsend. Incidentally has he replaced Christian Purslow or are they working alongside each other? Iirc if CP left as MD or not. Regardless the narrative is interesting. He alludes to the fact we have half the sponsorship quantity that City and United do so for sure I imagine we'll be increasing our income via those. And in fairness terminating Adidas' deal in favour of Nike early was proactive asf. Even though our books will show a loss due to the compensation owed by early termination, the £900m total will be undeniable. What I found funny is they also imply that's more money for transfers. Well I hate to tell you buddy, but regardless I think Chelsea's in a new era of spending. Whether that's due to that £500m stadium we're building or genuine pricing out, it's hearsay until now.

Were we terrible? I'd say we were worst against Arsenal in the 0-0 than we were in the 1-0 loss to City. Read Zonal Marking's analysis of the tactical battle than ensued at SB. I believe it was more of a case of Guardiola surprising us and getting it on point with his use of Delph, Silva, De Bryune & Walker. It's not like we didn't have chances, Alonso & Azpi were getting the run ins on Delph & Walker sometimes but our passing accuracy was highly lacking unfortunately. It's like I said before. Conte v Pep is a very interesting tactical battle, they're both adaptable but as stubborn as each other.. An interesting paradox. But it means one usually gets it right over the other. We got it right twice last season, only team to do City home & away. This game could've gone in any direction. 1-1, 2-0 to them or even 1-0 to us.

HAHAHA I mean it was the worst kept secret in football almost but won't stop being funny . Arsenal finally beaten after Invincible and then Fergie getting caught up in Pizzagate. As a neutral, let alone a Chelsea fan, you've gotta enjoy that.

Nothing is happening in January. We're short term philosophy and will only address the situation in the summer depending on what the damage is from this season. It will be the worst time, post World Cup with little time to implement with god knows who as our manager. It's the consequence we live with but you've alluded to it anyway. This is how we win trophies, it's a frustrating model but it's tedious to keep complaining about it now when we've seen it cyclical over the last 14 years. I don't actually think our team is that bad. We have some obvious shortcomings from this transfer window, no doubt, but we're still competitive enough to be finishing top 4 and have a decent push in the CL. The loss versus City was more down to Pep finally getting it right against Conte but that's tactical battle that can go either way in any given match between those 2. Only 6 points off top place, topping our CL group so far.

I want whatever you're smoking bruh!

The curious case of Michy Batshuayi . Sometimes it looks like Conte's his biggest fan, others its like dude's never wanted him in the team from day one. Of course, we've seen this all before. When Diego Costa missed games for us Batshuayi didn't lead the line. I get what the idea was against City, Eden as a false 9 because he was class up top with Morata v Atletico. Problem is, something quite alarmingly obvious, is Hazard needs that quality next to him to be playing acute 1-2's off. Michy doesn't really offer that type of play, in fact no-one aside from Morata does and therein we had a problem. Is Michy required in this team? Absolutely. Atletico proves that, but he's also a different option. But he's our Giroud. He's better coming off the bench in latter stages, that's just the way we're set up unfortunately.. Moving away from the big center-forward to a more ball playing sriker. Look at our run of games while Morata is expected to be out, Palace, Roma, Watford, Everton (EFL), Bournemouth & Roma it's alarming if Michy is our only forward option. So I'm expecting a lot of experimenting with false 9. Imo Pedro is the most ideal to be playing there with Hazard playing his natural wide roaming role. Over to you Conte, I'm not going to doubt his tactics. He's got it wrong far too few times compared to how many times he's got it bang on (Spurs for example).

was wondering wtf you were before I checked your profile xD same amount of years as me! I just about remember what this place looked like back then

Oh really? And yeah agreed. Anyway good signs, Michy still needs work but I guess Remy is here to fill the third striker void lol? Anyway best of shitty situation allowed Morata, Christensen and Rudiger to make solid debuts.

If only he didn't touch the effort after Anyway, fantastic debut. It was the opportunity for him to do something of individual brilliance and be the shinning light of a shitty situation. Credit to him, he capitalised very well. Us losing when he wasn't on the pitch gave him the clean slate he may not have received if he started. Hopefully he'll get more comfortable on take-ons and assist/create goals like he did v Bayern for Coeman.

Precisely this. Before on a global stage there wasn't much support and, consequently, sympathy for their situation. Anyone who had heard of Qatar before had known 'they've done a few bad human right things?' and etc. Now, by flexing through PSG, they are embedded in people's minds as those who entertained. Goes back to my favourite analogy of comparing Roman coliseums to see gladiators fight to football stadiums. Keep the masses distracted with faux passion for mercenaries 'entertaining' in what customary sports is favourite at the time while going about the political stage covertly.

Hope he does! There's a lot of pressure on Hazard when he returns to make our team flow as well as last season, so let's hope Willian, Pedro and others Musonda are scoring too

Will never forget that goal against Wigan. Was listening keen on the radio and my cheering on hearing them announce the goal was as loud as Drogba's penalty in '12. Continues to show our ex players never have a bad word to say about us moving on. Gallas continues to big us up, Joe Cole trains with us time to time, just look how well Ballack identifies with us!

Indeed. It's a shame because I do think Morata could be a great player but when we're not spending £30m+ on anyone else fans are gonna play Torres card on Morata . Poor guy probably should've taken 11 and Pedro takes 9. It's a shame Costa can't be around to play for 6 months then go back to Spain. Costa, Morata & Michy would be amazing and would solve a few problems already

Power move by Qatar, giving a middle finger up to the biggest frenzy in Europe to take notice. Especially when they're having domestic problems of their own. PSG are now going to drop Fly Emirates as their sponsor and pick up, guess who, Qatar Airways. Anyway, since Platini's gone his lovechild that is FFP has diminished. City started the loophole trend when they siphoned money through their 'sponsorship' with Etihad "Etihad are owned by the Abu Dhabi government and the airline's association with the City owner, Sheikh Mansour, a member of the Abu Dhabi royal family"