Tomo

I don't agree with that, Conte tried to play Christensen out of his rut post Barca and it permanently destroyed him. He should have played more than he's done in 2020 but mistakes (that were luckily going unpunished) were starting to creep into his game and it was only a matter of time until he made one as damaging as AC's that night. I remember even the Spurs game he looked rattled, i remember shouting "Fik calm down" at the tele about 4 times in the first 20 minutes.

If we were going for a title at all costs next season then maybe not but we're looking to build a dynasty. An elite midfielder for (hopefully) the next decade over signing an average CB (there's bugger all on the market atm, the only one that would drastically improve us who may be available is Giminez and he has injury issues, i think the issues are a lot with Kepa, if we don't replace him the issues like conceding from any clean shot will still be there) is a no brainer in my opinion. You're really underestimating just how much gametime 3rd choice wingers actually get. They're usually the first port of call to impact a game from the bench (especially player's with the explosive pace Cal has) and they still start their fair share due to wings being a demanding position. For example Willian was behind Hazard and Pedro in Conte's title winning season yet he still appeared in all but 6 of our games that season (and most if not all of them he didn't feature were due to him being on compassionate leave), this isn't a Musonda situation, there's plenty of minutes there for him.

I prefer your Viola Davis one.

With Lampard occasionally reverting to a back three and us as it stands only starting with 3 wingers next season, could it be worth bringing him back as a cup filler winger and ready made wingback?

He's used the Mourinho text book perfectly this last week, firstly by rattling OGS and now by having the media talk about his "meltdown" at Anfield instead of the squad before such a crucial match.

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Out of curiosity what position and points total do you think this squad (which you compared unfavorably to even Arsenal at the start of this season) should be hitting?

Trained on the squad's day off. Doesn't give a fuck apparently!

Yeah DDG past is irrelevant when discussing his present. He's everybit as finished at the top level as Torres post 2010 was. The longer United persist with him the better.

I've wanted to see that trio all season.

Not really, Kai will be playing in the middle and even with Ziyech signed he'll still be third choice winger at worst, which will lead to a lot of playing time when you consider the packed schedule and injury's. Furthermore, it's easy to forget now Puli's in the best form of his career but there were times last season CHO was outperforming him, infact this time last year he was considered the better prospect. It's also easy to forget he's still only 19, for perspective when Ziyech hits his 30's CHO will be 22 and still a good few years from his own prime. The notion his pathway is blocked couldn't be further from the truth. Reason we're signing Havertz before defense is you don't say no when these talents become available, theoretically in 2012 we should have ignored Eden and focused on the pivot but i think we can all agree 12 months more of suffering with Rami, Obi and aged Lamps was worth it, we're not winning the league next season so if getting Kai in means we have to wait a year to really plough into the defense then so be it, furthermore if we can get an upgrade on Kepa (even just a quick fix who merely masters the basics) i think we'll be surprised at just how much better/less chaotic things look, even this season we've had many games where we've conceded next to no chances.

I couldn't disagree more, I'm very socially orientated and as a lone flat liver i found it hell, literally every single pleasure in my life was taken away from me apart from PS4. If they banned fresh air and excercise like in Spain and Italy I think I would have lost my mind, or worse.....

Wasn't really 3 months 'off' though, they were stuck in a lockdown unable to see friends and family just like the rest of us.

It's context. If you look back to my posts last year I gave Sarri the benefit of the doubt for our attacking woes then same way I am Lampard with the defense, we simply don't have the squad to make both look good simultaneously. Of course next year excuses are out, if we're conceding 50 plus league goals with a keeper and (hopefully) LB of his choice and (by the looks of things) Kante playing as DM then it will be on him and only him.

How the hell has Wan Bissaka got votes? Excellent one on one but the rest of his game his average to terrible.

Yeah hopefully the back four can be as settled as possible but in attack we will need a lot of rotation to keep everyone fresh. We have a lot of players who's performances don't dip when they switch positions which should hopefully help enormously.

Looking at what's going to be a intense schedule next season do we bring him back for his versatility or let him go somewhere he's going to play every week? He can play DM, CM and winger to quite high standard, so with Gilmour out till October he could be back up DM, 4th/5th choice CM and 4th choice winger, he could even potentially be an emergency fullback Fabian Delph style (especially if we ask him to come inside for tactical purposes). That type of versatility is vital for a squad game at the best of time, let alone with a schedule as packed as what next season's will be.

Hopefully this puts to bed any ideas of a "first Xl", we're going to need all the squad depth we can get next season to avoid burnout.

In fairness we haven't actually seen those type of outrageous errors here, it's more lacking the fundamentals. if he done a few of them every season but also did the basics and made some great saves i'd be willing to give him another shot.

He was nowhere near one of the worst. Was average and shouldn't have been signed (especially at that price) but there's been many worse player's than him at fullback alone.

It's going to be fluid, there won't be a first Xl next season as the schedule will demand a lot of rotation to remain fresh.

https://mobile.twitter.com/AydenMalek/status/1286123653747310593 We're actually allowing less shots than some of the Chelsea teams of old (under Cech and Courtois) did.

I think he's looked pretty decent every appearance he's made since SHU all things considered. It's only the Watford one he looked shaky in.

Not really, he was never signing a new deal, I was referring to more the posts (which were prevalent in his last season especially) of people genuinely thinking he was an average keeper.

There's probably a few more but of the top of my head i can only think of three set pieces we conceded on Courtois's watch (Bournemouth home in 15/16, PSG 14/15 and WHU home on Conte's debut) he was ridiculously good at dealing with them, also in his last 2 years he had by inlarge the same group of defenders infront of him who went on to struggle with then under Sarri and Lampard.