Pizy

What a finish again! Game over! 😀

Just allowing them back into the game a bit here. Gotta be careful.

OHHHHHHH!!!!!!

Don't fuck this up, lads! Good week and we can improve to 2nd by this time next weekend I think. Poor week and we could be 5th, right? Convincing win, please!

Even with so many changes to our XI there's a huge discrepancy in talent here between these sides that we really shouldn't need Hazard to come on and rescue us. Need Willian and Pedro especially to raise their game. We need them to be aggressive.

Reading the replies from their own fans to their official Twitter and they're saying Hughes has waived the white flag. Watch it be boring as fuck with Willian and Pedro scuffing loads of shots and wasting chances.

Jesus Christ, that Stoke team looks awful! Even with all our changes we should be blowing these away. Just heard on TV that Stoke have the worst defensive record in the league. And that was with all their defenders fit and available. If we don't win this it's a travesty.

Whyyyyy the fuck would we still be interested in Barkley? We have 4 CM's now plus RLC to return in the summer. Barkley wouldn't get into this side as is. I had hoped this was an Emenalo obsession and the interest would've died when he left. This is the sort of signing that we have to sto making if we want to take the next step. If the club wants another midfielder it needs to be a top player.

Precisely what my first thought was. While some of our fans on Twitter see these financial results and say "Yes! Now we can spend more!" I just think "Great, now that they've seen profits they continue the stupid 1 in, 1 out policy that's got us miles off Man City."

Honestly wonder what we'd do in terms of replacements. Do we go crazy and buy a superstar ourselves? Unfortunately, I think it's far more likely that we go out and buy a couple of talented up and comers like Zaha and Leon Bailey. If so it'll be a long while before we win the title or compete in the CL again. Surely Barca can't afford both Coutinho and Griezmann? Griezmann would be my top choice to replace Eden. Playing just behind or next to Morata and I don't think our level would drop too much. Assuming we get at least £150m for Hazard if he goes (which we better do) that'll easily pay for Griezmann with money to spare.

Bale finally and inevitably sold to United where he's always been linked and Hazard to Madrid. Chelsea simultaneously strengthening two clubs massively whilst weakening ourselves dramatically. That's a depressing thought for you!

Like others have said, I'd be absolutely devastated to see him go but I wouldn't begrudge him or be angry with him. It always just seems lame as hell when another world class player jumps ship and joins Real or Barca who are already stacked with other world class players. Can't blame them , of course, but it's like watching a billionaire add more billions to his fortune. To watch the likes of Hazard and Coutinho go from being superstar main men who have teams built around them is awesome. Them going to Madrid/Barca and just being another cog in the machine is lame. It's crazy that we could legitimately lose our best player, our world class keeper, and our world class manager's future is up in the air as well. For a number of reasons this could be our most important summer ever.

True, it's not the only reason he'll want out. But surely ambition in the market will play a big role. He knows that he'll always be surrounded by talent that's on his level and that Real Madrid will always attract world class players. He won't have that burden of having to carry a whole team there and maybe that's what he wants. Conversely, maybe being the main man here and him having a young, settled family in London will work in our favor. I hope so.

Another thing to keep in mind is that it'll be a World Cup summer. If we were to sell Hazard, any top class players we'd be after that perform well at the World Cup would probably see their prices skyrocket even more in an already crazy market.

I mean really, if you're Hazard and are seeing the level of player the club seems interested in signing, can you blame him for wanting out? While we should be shopping for the likes of the Pogba's, Griezmann's, and Dybala's of the world to take us to the next level we instead buy Zappacosta's and Drinkwater's. If we sign big time players and make Hazard the highest paid player in the PL I think he would stay.

Reading now that Shawcross could be out for this, too. So all their best CB's may be missing. Anything less than 3 points at home against a Stoke team in the midst of a defensive crisis would be unacceptable. This could be our weekend to overtake United and go 2nd.

I think if Real Madrid begin one of their very public tapping up campaigns like they've done recently with the likes of De Gea and Bale, Hazard won't be able to resist. I feel like the only way we'll be able to keep him is if we actually show true ambition by signing world class players to actually compete with Europe's top clubs. If he does go in the end we better absolutely bleed Real Madrid for a world record fee or close to it. Anything less than Neymar money and I'll be livid. He's irreplaceable by any single player we could buy. We'll have to bring in multiple great players to replace him.

Hmm, seems like he's a bit of a headache. A headache that I'm not sure our club would want after dealing with Diego Costa. Not sure he's the clear upgrade we need on Pedro or Willian either. He looks like he's at about their level and nothing more.

Good player. Wonder why they'd sell him?

I'm seriously not even bothered about them signing him. I would've been very annoyed if they had last summer before we knew how well Christensen would slot right in to the side and Rüdiger was yet to play for us. I mentioned yesterday that the only worrying/concerning thing about this deal is that even fucking Liverpool are prepared to step into the crazy new world of mega transfer fees. So that's now City, United, and Liverpool who are more than willing to go bananas whilst I just cannot imagine us spending this much on a player. Whereas many of our big European rivals are going after proven, already established top class players we seem to constantly go for decent but not great players like Zappacosta, Drinkwater, Bakayoko, etc. I mean, can we really expect to compete with the other top clubs buying like this? City needed new fullbacks so what did they do? Went out and got probably the best LB for £50m and arguably last season's best RB in the PL for £50m. We dithered around for the entire summer and panic buy Zappacosta who no one had ever even heard of at the last minute. So yeah, I'm pretty worried about our transfer approach going forward.

Though Coutinho is looking likely to go, Liverpool are assembling one hell of a team. Still weak in a few key areas but their style of football will ensure they'll batter most sides.

Keita will cost them mega money as well, right? Don't know the exact fee.

Only thing that's a bit annoying is that even a club like Liverpool who have been notoriously tight with fees are now willing to spend more than we are on their top targets. I cannot picture us spending £75m on a single player, even a world class attacking one. ☹️

This is absolute lunacy. A CB for 15m more than we payed for our star striker! Utter, utter madness. The days of Liverpool fans being able to have their victim complex about the other big clubs spending silly money are now long gone between this deal and Keita.

Don't think Roman is hurting for cash at all. Was reading just a few moths ago that he was granted permission by the city of New York to combine three big mansions he purchased into one massive mega mansion. I honestly think he still feels burned by Torres. Doesn't want to make a catastrophic mistake again. Hopefully him seeing Morata working out great and also seeing how much our rivals are all now willing to spend will push him to do the same. Otherwise we won't compete for titles for the foreseeable future.