Pizy

So like...what does this dude do on a daily basis? Does he even train with us or what? Just chill at home and wait for his January move?

Changing my username to Manny Pellegrino soon. Our savior.

You're right, I forgot to consider Courtois. Can definitely see Real Madrid sniffing around. Like Hazard, though, the club clearly thinks of him as a fundamental cornerstone of the club and I doubt they'd sell at any price.As for Willian, he seems like he genuinely loves Chelsea and plays for the badge. I know it's stupid these days to think modern players truly care about their clubs but Willian seems like an exception. Think he'll sign a nice new contract soon enough. When it comes to signings I think the club will back whoever the new manager is significantly to get him up and running and the fans on their side. I have faith we'll spend a big chunk of change this summer. Doubtful we'll be able to sign the absolutely top players like Pogba and the like, but we can still sign very good, CL level players. We can pull an Arsenal and go to clubs like Real Madrid/Bayern/Barca and sign the players they longer want but are still top players.

Agree with all of this except for potentially losing our best players. Honestly, Hazard is the only one any top clubs would be after considering our other star players have been so poor recently.Hazard is far and away our best and most important player. No chance we'll sell him. Short of him handing in a transfer request and pulling a Raheem Sterling I think Roman and the club will refuse any offers. The supporters would go mad if we sold him. We may become Liverpool of the past decade if we start selling players. We won't allow that to happen.

Pellegrino being backed with a HUGE transfer kitty (I'm talking £150m) would be the only way I can see him being accepted by our fans. If he gets a few top class players in straight away like we did with Cesc and Costa and shows to the supporters that we'll be set up nicely I think we'll be happy. Otherwise there could almost be a Benitez-like reaction. I'm just trying to think of positives here to reassure myself in case this actually happens. He's an admittedly classy and understated guy who can play attractive, attacking football so it's no wonder our hierarchy would want him. He's proven that if he's backed in the transfer market he can succeed so you would hope that if we appoint him our board wouldn't sign any more Papy's, Hector's, or any other nobodies.

See a lot of people saying this. Wishful thinking.

This is pretty stupid reasoning to be honest. Barca have 3 of the 5 best players in the world on their team. Juventus had far and away the best team in Serie A and could almost sleep walk the league over the past few seasons. Bayern are light years better than anyone in Germany.David Moyes or Big Sam could win the Bundesliga or Serie A with those squads.

I know, and that's why I can't hate him for taking the opportunity. Just hoped he'd maybe go back to Real Madrid.Also kind of lends credence to the reports that he has always coveted that job. I honestly wouldn't be surprised if he was relieved a bit to get out of here. He seems desperate to go there.

Yeah, our CB's usually do well against the more physical strikers. I really hope that Guus emphasizes playing with the ball and dominating possession. No more setting up as a counter attacking side. We need to be asserting ourselves on sides like Watford. Get at them straight from the off and use the massive talent gap like any other big team does.

Seems inevitable now. Going to be gutting seeing him introduced there and all the media slobbering him. Going to be even more gutting seeing him actually sign every target he wanted here but couldn't get. It's 100% nailed on that John Stones will be a Man United player next summer. Wouldn't be surprised if they get Pogba back either. One of Bale or CR7 eventually as well. What stings the most is him saying for years how much he loves Chelsea and is "one of us," yet he's going to go and manage another English club. Surely if that were true he wouldn't do so? I realize he's gotta be royally pissed about getting sacked again but it's like a dagger in the hearts of every Chelsea fan. It's pretty disheartening, I have to be honest. Makes me kinda hate football right now. Our greatest ever manager and one of my favorite football people probably second only to Drogba and he's going to be managing Manchester fucking United. Makes me sick.

With the way we've defended this season I think top 4 is impossible. Top 6-8 finish and the FA Cup and we'll have done brilliantly to rescue the season and have at least some positivity going into the summer.

I've been saying it for the past couple of seasons and it was never gonna happen under José, but I'd love to see Oscar play deeper in midfield. It would allow all four of he, Hazard, Pedro, and Willian to fit in the same XI.

A manager that a direct rival deems not worthy and will be dropped like a sack of potatoes for Guardiola is good enough for us, I guess. Fucking hell.

Our board did a phenomenal job last season and then completely failed to build on it this past summer.Despite all the issues you described, they're still in perfect position to compete for the league.

Already worrying about our CB's getting bullied. This is a team we have to shell shock early by scoring quickly like we did yesterday. If we let them play and knock it up to their two brutes they'll get a result. I'd definitely play a really pacey XI with Remy starting. I hate to drop Pedro after his last performance but he's the only one I can see being dropped for Hazard. Think Hazard will be ready to explode back into form now.

Agreed. He isn't the saboteur. He's just been diarrhea.Hope he'll be so determined to win the fans back and prove his loyalty to Chelsea that he'll return to his normal self soon.

Oh, fuck off! Exposed last season as Wenger-light. Tactically inept when things go against him. Can't adapt his tactics and can set his teams out in basically one way and one way only.

Imagine how City fans must feel right now. Likely to win the league this season, CL campaign going well enough, have an owner that doesn't give a shit about FFP and will spend whatever it takes, and now they have Pep Guardiola coming in next season.They missed out on the title last season by 8 points and have now set themselves up brillinatly for the future. We won the league at a canter and have taken a massive step back and could be rebuilding for a couple of years. Don't think there's a club in Europe with a brighter future than them.

Exactly this. I think Roman will indeed put a blank check in front of Pep and try to sell to him that he'll have total control over everything, that we have great young flare players like Hazard, Willian, Oscar(?) and that we have a great academy to build from. He'll show him our ambitious new stadium plans and all that.I just think Chelsea is too big of a "project" for Pep. Even if we offer him double what City/United offer we have a whole lot more work that needs to be done than either of them. If Simeone refuses to leave Atleti we're a bit fucked. We'd have to appoint a massive gamble of a manager and are looking at yet more years of uncertainty.

Warming to the thought of Simeone more and more myself. He's looking like the only "top" manager that's a possibility. Don't want to go into the matches against Pep, Mourinho, or Klopp next season thinking we're immedietly at a disadvantage due to them having far superior managers. Simeone would go toe to toe against that lot. I could be wrong, but it seems like he's got all of the good traits of Mourinho but none of the nasty ones. He's fiery, arrogant, and demonstrative but doesn't seem to pick fights with everyone and isn't hugely outspoken in the press.

Yeah, it would be saying "you were wrong to sack me and I'll make you pay for it."Hope all the people saying that he isn't the "United type" are right and that Mourinho is too brash and classless for them.

The nun in the first pic looks like she just gave birth to that football.

Really hope Guus can do something that José may not have been able to do and that's to coach Zouma a bit more. He's so panicky and puts us into so many dangerous situations. His positioning and frankly terrible footballing ability are worrying.

Who does Hazard come in for after that?

My god....quit giving them opportunities to cross it in!