Adnane

So we would be basically replacing a toxic inconsistent ( albeit world class when in form ) striker with one of the brightest young talents and most complete strikers in world football for a couple of quids ?

Our first real test.

Not starting against Greece today, it's a crucial game in which Belgium could seal their qualification for the WC and he said himself that the opponents would probably kick him. Perfect for Chelsea, if he comes in by the end of the game should things go south for Greece, might have a solid 90 minutes overall in the legs for Belgium this week, get back, make an appearance off the bench against Leicester and make his full return in our Champions League opener against Qarabag. Still, I think he is 3 weeks or so ahead of his initial recovery Schedule announced in June, has to be delightfully surprised by his healing speed.

Indeed, reference to the long running joke from our 13 wins streak of last year.

Our first real test.

Looks like a lot of stuff is going on in the background in the last 2 days, we still have no update though.

The Champions League squads are also to be announced tonight, that would be a real indicator if he is included. Sent from my SM-A510F using Tapatalk

Which physicality ? He almost systematically loses the ball under pressure. His strength is his vision and passing accuracy/weight, maybe the best in the world at that, when he plays one two touches of the ball he is great, if he needs to retain the ball for his team he's systematically useless. Plus De Bruyne on a double pivot would be suicide.

It depends on the positions. Christensen was normally brought back to replace Luiz, in the centre of the back 3, at the moment Rüdiger seems to get the two remaining spots, which means that if Cahill is replaced I'd think that the German is the first choice. They both have quality, but very different profiles, Christensen is a much better passer of the ball, with great game reading skills and anticipation, Rüdger is decent on the ball, but relies much more on physical impact. Maybe we will see less and less of Azpilicueta in the RCB position as well, those two are more natural in that role. All in all, we have a lot of great profiles in defence, it's good to know that this area has really been adressed, can't criticize the club for that.

Why are we still talking about Aubameyang ?

Our first real test.

THE WHITE ROBERTO CARLOS.

Those are last year's shorts tho, probably kept them around.

How typical would it be to strengthen the only fine spot in our team by splashing half our budget on a defender, loan Christensen and spend fuck all on other positions ?

It's basically his brother saying that he is match fit and might start against Tottenham. Not entirely convinced tho, the snap picture earlier seems legit, but for the text, anyone can rename a snapchat contact to Tb14 Industry and ask their friend to ask them the question etc. Someone correct me if I'm wrong tho.

I think it's fairly simple, he looks way better in a 3-man midfield than a pair, especially like ours, with our wingbacks having so much license to go forward and the double pivot having to cover up ground for them. He might look better at United, sure he will alongside Herrera and Pogba, but the real issue here is not replacing him ( actually not replacing Chalobah and RLC, since Bakayoko is a direct replacement to Matic ). If we get a good mid this window we would have upgraded our whole midfield, if not, long season ahead of us.

Ironically, what was our second game after the Swansea opener 2 years ago ? Yes, a trip to to the Etihad, dismantled, 3-0.

That's a great comparison with Matic, the club would have probably settled for less money if it meant putting an end to this childish saga, had he been more professional about the situation as a whole.

Winning this would be reminiscent of our 1-0 at the Etihad three years and a half ago, where everyone was writing us off because of City's unbeaten home record and their form at the time, at the end, we ended up winning and could even have scored 2 or 3 more in the 1st half. Sadly don't see this happening this time around, I know the boys will put all their heart in it, I'm very happy with the performances of Rudiger, Morata and Christensen, they're all great additions to this squad but we're still not balanced yet, we are under huge pressure because of our recent form and shortage in personnel, and if there is one thing that the 2012-2017 generation taught me is that they don't respond well to pressure, we have mostly won our two league titles by being very consistent against the smaller sides.. Let's hope I'm mistaken, in any case, I'm waiting for mid-end September to start being optimistic again, once we got our marquee players back and had time to work on our best formation/set-up. UTC

The question would be, who are you willing to throw in Midfield ? Christensen, a man who impressed today, sure has played there before but who is still relatively inexperienced and new to the team ( and almost to the league ). Or Luiz, a man whose positioning could cause us issues at times but who had bags of experience, played there before and even bossed some games ( PSG and City mainly as cited before ). I love Christensen, he got bags of potential, but I'd definitely put him somewhere where he is comfortable, in central defence, Luiz' hustle could make him work in any position on the field, plus, against Burnley, he arguably played the last 30 minutes as a Central / Attacking midfielder.

Guess we all understand why Diego was starting week in week out last year now.

If Cahill is still starting ahead of Christensen AND Rudiger after his suspension I'm having a meltdown until he's benched/sent off again.

Our first real test.

He also confirmed that he wasn't aware of Conte's interest in him this summer, and that Chelsea directly became his preference when he knew.