bababoom

Not really, yes the goal came from a long ball to Batshuayi but that was really the only time we really went direct. Straight away when we changed to the 4-2-4 the wingers hugged the touchline to stretch the game and get crosses into the box, it just happens that Kante and Matic were struggling to play the ball out hence the reason we went direct for the goal.

And even then the tactics were to just lump the ball in the box and hope something materialises, Allardyce and Pulis would have been proud.

To be fair Jose would often throw on another striker if we were losing or badly needed the win, but the thing is that when he did it - it felt forced, the players weren't sure how to setup and the team was unbalanced, basically just asking to be countered. Conte has actually trained using the 4-4-2/4-2-4 formation with the squad already, they know their roles and duties so it's most definitely not foreign territory to them anymore. It's so refreshing knowing we can play two different systems if need be.

Maksimovic looks like a very good ball playing defender. If we cant get Koulibaly we should just get him. The thing about Kolibaly though is that IMO (i've only watched videos online and read articles so take it with a pinch of salt) he's not really a great passer of the ball - not saying he's a bad passer of the ball, mind, but he's the type of defender who will use his acceleration to move forward into midfield but still lacks the vision to dictate play and start the moves of. This guy though seems like a hidden gem - he was injured for large parts of last season and played only 13 games so it may be the reason why he's not on the radar of the bigger clubs - but Napoli are getting one hell of a deal if they sell Koulibaly (who is a fantastic defender) for £50 million and replace him with this guy for only £21m.

Even IF we get him i feel like we still need a passer at the back. Koulibaly is great at running high up the pitch with the ball but his distribution is still hit and miss, once Zouma is match fit i assume he'll start, and as we all know his distribution is pretty poor, his only fault IMO. If we continue with the 4-1-4-1 formation it doesn't really matter as Kante/Cesc can drop deep and collect the ball but if Conte still favours the 4-2-4 formation we most definitely will need passers at the back to counteract against the opposition high press.

Reports saying he's going to sign a new contract with a 45 million release clause and that he'll stay for another season and most likely leave next summer. Thats that then.

Whenever the agent comes out and says that everything will be resolved the next couple of days, you can bet your house he's singing a new contract.

Yeah 4-1-4-1 is basically a 4-3-3, Kante was the holding player while Matic/Chalobah and Cesc/Oscar were more advanced.

Personally think he needs to be loaned out, needs game time and to work on his stamina, it'll do him good IMO.

Hope he continues with the 4-1-4-1 formation, clearly suits us the best and allows us to dominate possession more. The thing i was most happy about with last nights match was the intense pressing (mostly in the second half), it wasn't just your typical Jose Mourinho high press where the strikers and midfielders will press and maybe 1 fullback, no, the whole team was pressing insanely high up the pitch, and it was great to see Conte on the sidelines barking instructions telling which players should press who. Also i dont think we should completely ditch the 4-2-4, because it will take some time for the players to get used to it considering most if not all have been playing in a three man midfield for the majority of their career, and Conte seems a real fan of it, but from that second half i'm a big fan of having a three man midfield, Chalobah and most noticeably Kante looked right at home.

Never really saw the hype, think the reason most people wanted him to start was because he was our only left footed left back but even then never really impressed defensively or in attack. The other main reason was because it meant Ivan was dropped (azpi moved over to the right), and lets face it that is a huge plus, but even so he's been very ordinary whenever he's played. Defensively naive and overrated going forward, doesn't really dribble well with the ball, rarely ever beats players and was only good at overlapping and putting in a decent cross. I may be a bit harsh but i just think he was/is vastly overrated on this forum

He's young and inexperienced, he'll learn from the bad games.

Hopefully his passing is good (from the videos i've watched it looks that way but you can never tell from a 3 minute highlight reel) as JT, Cahill and Zouma are not the best at playing out from the back, Zouma especially IMO. It's the only part of Zouma's game that is pretty average/below par IMO. Im also pretty skeptical with the price tag considering he has only had 1 great season in seria A, before that Napoli wanted to get rid, but then again i'm not sure he got much of a chance under Benitez. He does have all the physical attributes to succeed though, the guy just bulldozers his way past players like a prime Yaya Toure. Hopefully we can pull this one off.

Anyone else getting error when they try and watch the Chelseatv stream?

Is he still on loan?

Yep, madness if we let him go, he's really our only creative player.

Getting tired of this transfer window already, gone are the days when we got things done early, just going to wait it out and see what happens.

Why all this love for Matuidi in this thread? he's simply the left footed ramires imo.

Well if we do sign Morata then it's pretty much confirmed we'll play two up top. Costa and Morata as starters and Batshuayi to be a super sub.

Looks like we're close to signing him.

Interesting, think he'll fit us nicely. At this moment in time we have no real striker who can hold the ball up and play with his back to goal, Pelle is perfect for that. Cheap and unspectacular yes, but think he'll do a good job here.

How good is Mendy? they actually wanted him last season but their offer was rejected so they bought Kante instead, seems like he's the guy Ranieri always wanted.