Peace.

I do not think it is the case. Actually, the problem would not be that we have a "mandat" which would prevent us to exceed a certain amount of money — but would be in reality a problem of strategy/tactic, both in how we are conducting negotiotions and the players we aim. Evidences lead me to believe that this state of affair is due to a series of reasons such as : Trying to be smart arse — which leads the negotiations to be dragged on forever. We start with very low bids and only increase it by a few pounds each time. At the end, when we finally make a sensible bid, it is simply too late because : (i) the mercato has ended ; (ii) it is too late in the window for the "selling" club to find any replacement ; (iii) or because they have already sold too many "key" players ; (iv) the "selling" club, and more importantly, the aimed player, are getting bored and frustrated (when you do not know whether the club that wants to buy you will one day make a suitable bid for you, it is hard as a player to put pressure on your board to be sold). We have examples such as Modric and Coulibaly. Had we bid, in 2011 (?), £40m at the start of the window, Tottenham would have had time to find a good replacement for him and maybe Modric, seeing our heavy interest, would have been more vocal about his desire to leave (and thus "forcing" the hand of Levy). Instead, we waited the last days to make this offer while it was very clear it was not happening.... The same goes for Coulibaly. Had we bid £50m at the start of the transfert window and before they sold Higuain to the Juventus, we would have likely had more chance to sign him. Another consequence of this is that we can absolutely not participate to a bidding war... which make us unable to sign a great number of players. Aiming at the wrong player at the wrong time — for instance, Pogba. We made an offer to the Juve quite similar to the one made by United the following year, yet it did not work, simply because they would not sell him as they had already lost too many key players. Quite generally, we seem obstinate to aim at players who are not available, yet when they are, we are no longer interested. We have spent summer(s) — and more — to pursue players such as Modric, Coulibaly, Pogba, Aguero etc... when it was pretty clear they were unavailable — and when they were, we were nowhere to be seen. So yeah, I do not think the problem is the amount of money we can spend but how we inted to spend it. At the end of the day, we have to revisit radically our transfer policies. They have never been good, but back in the days, 25 million pounds could buy you great players — not today. We need coherence and continuity (i.e. not courting Aguero for five years only to buy Torres when he was finally available) ; and most importantly. we need to understand that buying three average players for £30m does not equal to buying a great player for £90m...

To be frank there is nothing impressive in that video and his "ultimate" skills are quite banal, to say the least. Not only that, but there are dozens of "skills" and moves that have genuinely nothing to do in a "skills compilation" video — and the fact that they are nonetheless included speaks volume about the technical abilities of the said player. He may be a good goalscorer but he is also an average football player. Here, he will most likely get the goals yet will not improve whatsoever the team as a whole, which is kind of problematic isn't it. This is not the profil of player that top teams should target to lead their front line — or to play anywhere within the starting eleven, for that matter —, but alas we seem to be unable to shot above that height...

To be frank, the reasons for which Dechamps does not selection Benzema are not due to footbalistic aspects but it is due to the fact that his personality is toxic ; and in that he only does what should have been done a long time ago. I know you rate him and would "like" to have him in the team, but we should not even touch him with sticks, and thus for the very same reasons.

This is the internet's fault. Ten years ago, most people would watch a dozen of games at best per season while only the few fortunates were able to see all the games (i.e. those who were going to game). And most importantly, those people who could watch only a few games per seasons were watching the best games : the Champions League, el Clasico, the Milan derby, etc... (or th internaitonal games that were still quality back then). On the other hand, nowadays there are literally millions of people and their dogs that can see all the games of their team via streaming and that can rewatch them via download. So while before you were only recalling the good things as it was a joy to watch games, now it has become a routine and "annoying" things are harder to dismiss...

Playing Azpilicueta at RWB would be a terrible mistake. Azpilicueta is a quite good passer of the ball for a ("central") defender — yet he would be a very bad passer for a midfielder. Additionally, Zouma is a terrible passer of the ball (whatever his position). The best thing produced by Conte's shift from a four-men defense to a three-men defense is that it has allowed to play Azpilicueta next to Luiz ; meaning we have, out of three defenders, two who are able to participate to the game construction, and more importantly who are able to start our offensives (or the building up). This has been critical to our success — just has it is critical for all the best teams out of there (Barça, Madrid, Juve, Munich, etc.). Leaving out (of the defense) Azpilicueta for Zouma would just undo all the good work Conte has done and we would be back to square one : a defense that has little usefulness when we are in possession of the ball — and no, one player (Luiz) out of three is not enough. Not only this move would worsen our defense but it would also worsen our midfield. Our biggest weakness over the last seasons (especially under Mourinho) has been the lack of ability on the ball displayed by our midfielders. Actually, this is by far our biggest weakness today. Do you imagine a midfield composed of : Alonso - Matic - Kante - Azpilicueta ? Oh my Goodness, it would be a sore to the eyes. Moses is not Iniesta neither I am his biggest fan, but in all seriousness, he is technically better equipped to play in midfield than Azpilicueta is. We do not need more denfensive quality — we do need more offensive quality. If people are so obsessed with Azpilicueta lack of aerial ability, then the solution is in front of him ! Why are opponent players are allowed to take in good crosses ? This is the real problem ! And to be honest, with the players we have at our disposal, this is the best we can produce and there is little room — nay none — for improvement. The only change of (positive) significance we probably could make would be to play Fabregas instead of Matic — that is, an offensive change. Otherwise, we will have to wait for the summer transfer window for any major change ; and even then if you bench one of our defender, it has to be Cahill and not Azpilicueta (playing the spaniard as a CB as been the best move that Conte has made so far). To play Zouma in defense while shifting Azpilicueta to midfield would actually be more problematic than going for the ultra defensive approach that Mourinho mark II adopted in his first two seasons, respectively after Stoke and after Tottenham — funnily enough, this is once again after a defeat against Tottenham at their ground and on the very same date (two or three days of difference) that people started to advocate for an ultra defensive move. P.S. On top of that, Azpilicueta is significantly a better defender than Zouma, the latter being better than the former only in the aerial aspect... which is a very meager upside in comparison to the many downsides.

There are three remaining days before the transfer window close, we should not waste time and sell him... And when it is done, we shall bring him and his agent to the Court because he is stealing £60k per week. Does he even want to play football ? I mean he looks like a ten years-old kid who is forced by his parents to play a sport he does not like. There is no dynamism, no will, no spirit, no effort, no commitment... One can indeed question his will to play football. In anyway, even the referee has more dynamism in him ! It is pretty clear that this *kid* has nothing to do in top level football, I truly hope that the board finally comes to realization because we have spent too much time and money on him these last three seasons or so ; and he is blocking the path for youngsters who are clearly better than him — for instance, it would have been more gainful if it were Musonda that was granted this crucial playing time.

Exactly. Also, this is simultaneously what has made our success and what has created our (huge) limitations.

Well Tomo, I would even be tempted to say Zouma does not fit our squad in light of the aspirations we have. Sentimentality put aside, Zouma is a bad ball-player and in regard to tactics he is kind of "raw" — which means he is a "mad dog". Unfortunately, our team is cruelly lacking of technic — lack of or inability to use it (either because of a lack of mobility or of football brain). We are not in a situation where our team is full of technically gifted players which would allow us to adapt a poor ball-player in the team. Because of this set of reasons, on the medium term, Zouma's futur here will not go further than — I am afraid — the bench. Christensen is considerably better equipped to take Cahill's spot in the team next season. That being said it is not a fatality because he has a good profile to be used as tactical substitute — either during the game or for certain types of games — when we need more muscle.

I cannot believe that he has the audacity to say such a thing — him from all people... Seriously, him who made us park the bus against a team playing with ten men for 70 minutes while we were at home ; him who made us play one of the most defensive, conservative and uninspiring — in a word, the shitiest — football that I have ever seen. At times, I wish genuinely that his name were to be erased from our history, even if that means losing our titles, I cannot stand being "grateful" to such a little man and I cannot stand the fact our club is associated with him. He is really a pathetic sad man — he is of the worst kind.

I am not even sure that half of our first team would be selected for Barça's, Madrid's, Bayern's B team... That is how horrendous our players are.

This, this and this. To be honest, I am baffled that none of our managers has ever tried it. Ever since Willian is here, we have had managers that played a CB in the midfield (Luiz) ; a RB at LB (Azpi) ; a CB at RB (Ivanovic) ; a B2B on the right-wing (Ramires) ; a B2B as n°10 (Oscar) ; a winger at LB (Kennedy). Yet none have tried Willian in midfield, which is, quite frankly, a much more obvious choice than all of those aforementioned !!! Willian is a midfielder that happened to play as a forward solely because he runs fast. He is not a winger nor a forward ; he is useless when playing high on the pitch. His velocity and passing game (which is quite goodish when he has space) are "perfect" for the position of the B2B. Of course we have no concret proof that it would work... But why nobody tried it ? This choice looks way more logical than, for instance, playing Azpilicueta as a left-back ! It is worth a try... And to be frank, I doubt very much he could be any worse than Oscar and Matic. At least, he would add a lot of athleticism and energy (and somehow "passing ability") into this midfield — it would be a nice change from this slow-and-clueless-as-fuck duo !!!

Well said. The "worker" team and the "utility" players have be avoided like the black plague. The worker team, aside from the few odd years or games, does not win you anything. Of course there is Italy this summer, Chelsea in 2014-15, chelsea in 2012, Greece in 2004, Leceister last year, etc... but they are in the minority. And if you look more closely at those teams, you can notice that, although they are full of utility players, they still have a major strength upon which they can work. For instance, Conte had the best defense in the world during the last Euro and Chelsea had a magnificant Drogba in 2012. We do not have this possibility as our utility players are too numerous and also because our good players have too much flaws (clear example : Hazard goalscoring ability). Furthermore, look where ended up worker teams after they won (or made a good performance) !? Greece came back to nothingness after the Euro 2004 ; Chelsea was the first (?) CL winner to be eliminated in the group stage in 2013 ; last year Chelsea was the worst (?) defending champion in the Premier League ; this year Leceister seems to take the same route as us last year ; etc.. In other words, worker team do not win regularly and most importantly are "disastrous" for the medium to long term. And for Christ's sake, I thought that we were a football team — that is, a team of players that are supposed to play with a ball with their feet. Yet the overwhelming majority of them cannot do the basic with a ball at their feet. And the most pathetic thing out here is that they are paid at least 80k a week... I mean come on, this is grossly what a general practitioner win a year for fixing people's health problems while those so called "footballer" cannot even kick properly in a fucking ball. I do not even want to enter the debate of players' salary — my point is that, before you remunerate someone with millions pounds per year, at least make sure that he can do the basics for what he is paid for !!! I cannot believe that Abramovich is okay with the shitty mentality and football "philosophy" (or lack of) that we have had for years ; I cannot believe he is okay with all those players that cannot even do the basics... I just cannot. As you said, it is not the way forward and as long there is not a shift of philosophy within the administration, we are doomed to the mediocrity both on the pitch and in the table rank.

All this forum is plagued with tropes that are discriminatory toward the Board Members. It is our duty to educate the world in regards to this kind of sexist, racist and genderphobic behaviours which are the products of the football patriarchy. Board Members too are humans beings with feelings and we need to understand that. For the time being, we ought to create a safe-space for the Board Members so they can reunite while not being victim of any prejudice. We also ought to change the reality of games such as Fifa or PES where you can play as a player or as a coach but not as a Board Member — this state of affairs validates the hate held against Board Members. Anyone that sexually identifies himself as a Board Member should be able to play as a Board Member ; and for those who are gender fluid should been granted the ability to experience the game while being able to play every jobs at a football club — from the gardner to the owner. This forum really needs Board Members acceptance ! #IamMichael #IamMartina

Pff, you are a bitter hater. Don't you know that Terry can "do a Giggs" ?

Tomo, in normal times I would be agreed with you — yet we are not in normal times. In our back four, out of four players, three have to be benched and one needs to be changed of position. Then we have Zouma but we do not even know what will happen when he comes back ; he suffered a serious injury. We are well placed to understand the implication of the injury he suffered : Essien had the same and it has ruined him. Moreover Zouma's playing style is based upon athleticism and he is not very good technically... Thus his future is a big question mark. Outside of these five players (for four positions !!!), we have an army of youngsters that will probably see little playing time. The problem with our current back-four is that it is anti-modern and cannot cope with current football. All of them are not good with the ball at their feet, and the trio Terry-Cahill-Ivanovic are slow, unagile and immobile and they cannot defend on one on one situation nor exercise a pressing game. For these reasons they hinder both our defence and our attack. And for me, the most alarming observation is that Terry-Cahill-Ivanovic are not average — they are bad. Not only they are bad and are anti-modern, but their dynamism is very bad as they are on the decline (and the three of them have had a very, very bad season last year). We are in a situation where even an average defender — as long as he is mobile, can pass the ball and defend on one on one — would be more valuable for our team as he would improve, even marginally, our defence and our attack. If were in 2012 and we were thinking of renewing our defence, okay we could be nitpicking as we still would have a "few years" in front of us. But we are not in a situation where we can allow ourselves to be demanding like a Sissi. We have three position to renew for Christ's sake ; so while we are trying to get a great defender, we should buy one who is average/good and that can be expandable when we will get better defenders. You gave us example where we waited till the end of the transfer window to get good players — but do you remember Modric ? There too we were nitpicking and we eventually ended buying in panic, on the deadline day, Meireles... Thus, should we eventually buy an average player, at least we should buy him in the right time so he can be introduced in the team before the season starts, and more importantly, before the possibilities are narrowed down to panic purchases.

The question is, does the Board has even identified our weakness ? Sometimes I doubt of that. For instance, they waited the ninth defeat in the League and to be at one point of the relegation zone to dismiss Mourinho, while it was pretty clear in the first few games that we were going right into the wall, especially when taking into consideration that we were in a free fall since the start of 2015. Then they renewed both Ivanovic and Terry, who played both a big part in our collapse and that were shadow of themselves for the last three years (at least). On top of that, we only bought two players for the first team, players which are not even in positions of our most pressing needs. It would be okay if like some other teams we had decided to overpower one of our departments — but it is not even the case ! All these clues lead me to believe that our administration does not fully understand the alarming situation we are in.

*2 out of 4 play out of position. *2 out of 4 lack cruelly of agility, pace and mobility (and Cahill is soon to join them). *3 out of 4 cannot play the high-line and the pressing game. *4 out of 4 are not ball player. In other words, our defense is anti-modern. And the most alarming observation is that it is not even a problem of individual, but a problem of our whole defensive line. Our back-four should have been overhauled a long time ago and it is overdue for at least three years. Benitez, for as much as I do not appreciate him, started to reshuffle our defence (Terry on the bench and Azpilicueta introduced as right-back) yet the Individual-One came and, with his exceptional long-term vision, undid this reshuffling. He kept and affirmed as indisputable starting players the defenders that should have been benched ; the only change he made was to waste our should-have-been right-back at the left-back position. The outcome is that have have now in defence three players that should have been phased out three years ago. Most worryingly, the Board is making the same mistake it has made during the pre-Emenalo era. Back then they were happy to basically keep the team of 2006 until 2010 without altering it — the outcome was that horrendous Ancelotti's "Bad Moment©". On the one hand, we are fortunate that right now the mistake is only regarding the back-line and not the whole team (it is already an improvement), but on the second hand we have a far worst situation in world football that we had in 2010. For a starter, Terry should not have seen his contract renewed this summer as it would have forced us to buy a defender. Sometimes you need to untie your rope, leave your comfort zone and make the big jump. We already made the mistake with Lampard (i.e. holding on him till the end) and right now we still are in search for a central playmaker (Fabregas is a stop gap)... And we are making the same mistake with Terry and to a lesser extend Ivanovic. Anyway, we are in a dire situation and the defence overhaul should have started weeks ago (in regards to this mercato) — such a dire situation that we are not even in need of a world-class defenders ; no, just above average defenders that can do the basics correctly (i.e. pass the ball, run, defend one on one). Because as of right now, not only our back-line jeopardises our defensive solidity, but it also jeopardises our whole team functioning. Look at Barcelona : they have individually average defenders (some of them are not even defenders), yet they complement very well their attacking players. As for us, our defenders are heavy concrete bricks that drag us to the bottom of the Thames. Thus, if nitpicking with the best defenders is not working, we should aim lesser targets and buy modern and competent defenders in stead of holding on our decadent defensive line.

Next season : Terry and Cahill (and Ivanovic) out. That leaves us with Zouma, Christensen and the new competent CB — that is, three players competing for two spots ; two out of three (maybe even 100%, depending on the new CB) as (very) young players ; and we do not even know yet what to expect from Zouma after his serious injury. Thus with the limited insight on the situation we have right now, having next year Zouma-Christensen-newCB is far from being a luxurious fantasy (it does seem a bit short in terms of quantity). So yeah, buying a very good center back this season seems to be the minimum we should do. And if it happens that the three of them turn to be very-good, then we would have a lovely problem on our hands.

There is an even bigger mistake, which is to have made him the indisputable starting center-back after that Benitez had benched him. Even if it was for the "wrong" reasons — which is what everybody seemed to believe back then, even though the turn of events suggests that Benitez did not bench Terry out of dislike toward him —, we should have taken the opportunity to start to phase him out and to introduce our new defensive spine. For a reminder, it was a period when transfer prices were still reasonable ; our club was not a joke and still had the aureola of the European Champion ; our defence was decent and was not yet the dramatic shambles that it is today. But no, instead of renewing our back line gradually, we kept hold onto the old furnitures — relics of the past — and we now see ourself facing an uncertain future and an uncertain back-line. The worst thing being that it has hindered the progress of our team for the last three years (and I am being generous and polite).....

We are seemingly locked up in time — that time being 2005. And we seemingly cannot look past the cliché representation of the Chelsea of that time and what appeared to have brought us our success, that is big powerful and athletic players. Unfortunatly, this belief is outdated and it is a frustrating pastiche : we have the form (the physic) yet it is void of all content (the technic). Indeed behind that athletic aspect of their game, players such as Ballack, Drogba, Essien, etc... had all at the very least a decent technic, and for some a very good. It is even more frustrating when you realize that big European teams have defenders that have a better technic than most of our squad and that would be amongst the three best technical players of our team. It is so wrong and we do not seem like heading in the right direction (as I have already pointed out recently, we are apparently not in search of a central playmaker, for instance). As long as the Club does not understand that spending millions and millions on donkeys will not solve the problem, and that technique is the basic requirement, we will stay behind the other big teams.

I grab the opportunity to tell you that I am glad that you are back ! This forum really missed you and I hope you stay around !!

In a theoritical point of view I am agree with you : as long as we do not improve our defense and our central-midfield — both in terms of attack and defense —, buying quality attacking players will not change a lot of things. Yet on a practical point of view, things might be more complicated. First, as I have mentioned it yesterday on this thread, we are seemingly not interested in buying a central playmaker. All central defenders of quality are unattainable for us — either they are too expensive, their club are not selling, they signed a new contract or are not interested in us. As for the full-back, we seem to be happy with what we have. So indeed it would have been perfect if we could have bought Modric, Bonucci and Alaba (random names), but as of right now, it appears that it will be very, very difficult to dramatically improve our back line and our central midfield (at least for the short/med term). Thus we have to think in terms of opportunities. The advanced-midfield is not the priority yet it still has to be improved — actually, all our departments, bar the goalkeeping position, need to be improved. Therefore, if very good defenders are not available but we have the opportunity the sign a very good attacking player, we should do it even if it is not the priority. Furthermore, mediocrity all over the pitch — or "balance" if we want to be polite — should be avoided like the plague. Pep's Barcelona was that good because Xavi-Busquets-Iniesta was out of this world ; Enrique's Barcelona because Neymar-Suarez-Messi is out of this world. We have to take a clear stance a decide to overpower one of our departments, be it our defense, our midfield or our attack. Yet today all of them are mediocre. Finally, our attacking department is not good enough and there is only Hazard that can make things happen. So having someone else that can share Hazard's burden would not be a lust but a necessity (I am waiting to hold judgment in regards to Batshuyia, but the more the merrier). For all these reasons, if we have the opportunity to sign Mahrez — or any "very" good attacking player —, we should grab it. Of course if the choice is either Bonucci/Modric or Mahrez, we should take the former(s), but I doubt very much we will have this choice.

People will somehow always mention other players yet Drogba has always been our true Leader ; the real driving force behind this team.

Of course it would be fantastic if we had the opportunity to get someone like Modric. But we have many problems with that CM position. First, we do not have anybody in our ranks, neither our senior players nor our youngsters — at the exception of Fabregas —, that has the technical ability to play as he central-midfielder. Fabregas as too many weakness to be considered as our "undisputed" central-midfielder (in the sense of playmaker). I believe that he could still be useful, but as a squad player and not as a starting-eleven member. Secondly, it seems that we are not interested to get a central playmaker — now but also in the past. Apart of a few exceptions, we seem to only consider strong and powerful players — and not fine and technical — when it comes to compose our central-midfield. And I do not see it changing. Finally, these kind of players are expensive ; at the exception of the Lady Boy — and despite the rumored bids for Pogba and all —, we never spent more than £32-ish million upon a player. For all these reasons I believe we will not have a central playmaker at the end of August (once again, bar Fabregas but he causes huge problems). In consequence, we have to find an alternative. The solution could of course be from the Academy. However, I do not believe that there is anyone ready to be our undisputed starter — especially for this strategic position. Moreover, I am not even sure that we have anyone good enough at this position in the Academy ?(???) Maybe, just maybe, Mosunda could be that player, but he is on loan right now. And anyway, we do need someone right now, for the short-term, not for the futur (and as Willian is 28, he could be that stop-gap). _____ Additionally, I do not agree with you regarding the fact that it would be wasting Willian's best attributes. "Pace" and "endless energy" were exactly Ramires' best attributes ; yet Ramires was a very poor winger and he excelled as a central midfielder. It happens that Willian is a Ramires with hair and technic — and I am pretty sure that if Ramires had technical ability he would have been devastating midfielder. So why not Willian ?

To be honest I do not even consider him as an attacking winger and he has nothing to do that high on the field ; he is a central-midfielder and I am bemused that no one has ever tried to use him as a CM. He is perfect for that role. He has a great engine, a great work-rate and a great pace and thus he could be physically everywhere in that midfield. Moreover, he has a very good and net technic, a very good passing game with a good range of passes, and he does see the passes. The problem is that when he is in the last third of the pitch, he does not have the spontaneity and the spark to make use of his technical ability. However, when he is sitting deep, he can be a very good passer of the ball as he proved many times. If we could use him in a similar fashion that Barça used Xavi or that Madrid is using Modric, I am confident that we would have a really good midfielder in our hands — and this would spare us to research a quality CM which we desperately need and which yet we are not researching for*. With his technic (first touch and passing game), his engine and his stamina, he could make the central midfield his own (he would most certainly not be as good as the aforementioned names, but could be very good good). I am thinking something along these lines : 4-4-2 : Kanté - Willian (central midfield) // Hazard - new winger (wings/attacking midfield) // Costa - Batshuayi 4-2-3-1 : Kanté - Willian // Hazard - new n°10 - new winger // striker 4-3-3 : Kanté - Willian - new CM // Hazard - Costa - Batshuayi etc.... Against the small teams that will sit deep, we could even play a 4-3-3 with Kanté-Fabregas-Willian — in other words, we could make use of Fabregas' passing game without losing too much of work-rate in the midfield and neither be forced to play a donkey to balance Fabregas' defensive deficiencies. Well of course it may fail, but there are many signs that tell us that it would be very well worth to experience it for some times. *It would also settle the dilemma that we have with Cesc.