Blue Armour

Not literally, but could be as good as gone, no? It's not like he has this emotional connection with the club like Hazard did., which allowed Eden to continue performing at the highest level even though he knew he was leaving. Doubt you'll see Rudiger be 100% committed like he has been in the early part of the season, and that could be a big loss, IMO.

All good,..but these are more like solutions for next season and after. What about this one? EDIT: Never mind. It's just speculation anyway. Let's see what happens in the coming months. Just miffed at the possibility of us ruining a good season because we couldn't tie down 1 or 2 first 11 defenders.

Well, it's the same situation now. But not in Jan if he begins official talks with other clubs. By then he will know for sure whether the club really wants to keep him. Hope his love for trophies goes a long way. The reason we've kept so many clean sheets recently is because our defenders and goal keeper keep going the extra mile., not just because of Tuchels back 5 formation. You saw what happened when Rudiger fell asleep against Burnley. Just worried that could become a more regular occurrence if he doesn't renew.

Is he any good? What if he ends up being a another Malang Saar? Either way it sucks if our solution for this season is to shoehorn a new player, make him adjust to Tuchels system., while keeping an uncontent player in the squad. Would be shame for a season to derail just because of that. We're already losing Mendy in January, FFS.

But what would it mean for this season though? Would you keep a player who's on his way ou5 and feeling undervalued by the club, in the starting 11? I wouldn't. How would that affect the dressing room? Not too concerned in the long term, but this could really deflate a potentially exciting season for us.

His personal opinion and personally, wouldn't 100% trust Matt Law with Rudiger stories. He was the one who circulated news about Rudiger getting Lampard the sack and getting into conflict with the younger players (which CHO and Tammy dismissed)

Miserable fuckers do this on purpose.

Why is this toe-sucker so obsessed with Chelsea? Knew he was a creep, but turns out he's another voyeur just like Wenger. Hope we smash them at the Bridge just to make this buffoon look wrong again.

We really need Timo and Lukaku available for those fixtures

Fucking shambolic result considering the way the game went. Who would have thought we would have conceded only our 2nd goal in open play against this shitty side. That being said, let's take a step back and look at the fixtures we've had since Lukaku & Werner got injured. Always a chance that we would have dropped points, and the fact that we'll still be top of the table right before the international break of it with only 2 points dropped, is not too bad considering.

What are the odds that the USMNT will call him up during the international break?

How you think it will go for Conte & Spurs? Make them an easy top 4 contender again?

Unfortunately looks that way. Don't think he has completely closed the door on him and sounds like he's motivating him to win his place. But we'll see. Would suck to see him playing for another club in the PL though. Hazard shouldn't go the Michael Owen route.

Yeah...It sucks because Kovavcic has been our best CM so far this season. But that's why we signed squad players. In anticipation of shit like this. Hate the fact that he's out for a while..it can disrupt a players rhythm., but then again the same thing happened at the tail end of last season and he return in decent form ahead of the CL final. For once, I'm not complaining about the international break.

Haha., I was being very specific when mentioning 'chances'😂

Makes sense for Fabregas to make this comment. If he were in the team right now, Werner's runs would probably result in 2x more chances

For all the flak he's got for his attitude in the past, his mentality under Tuchel is top notch. Could become a first choice keeper at another club, but has quietly accepted a squad role and raises his level for without question.

Probably glancing at how Rudiger is negotiating and is also thinking differently. Honestly don't know what's making the club drag their feet. Hope the club isn't playing some game thinking they have more leverage than they actually do. Rudiger and Christensen are entering their prime years. They will look for a better deal Hope this is just another JT situation., where JT waited ages to sign a contract (obviously to get more money), but ultimately signed.

Is it just me, or has Nike put out better looking merchandise for Liverpool? Just looking at some of the hoodies and jackets,..ours seem so generic.

I know! It's why I like to pretend most of the time that they never played for the club before. Especially when they scored against us. I agree about the defense, which is the main reason why I put us in within a shout of challenging. And yes you make a good point about Liverpool's squad strength. Although they would have to be really unlucky to suffer another season with injuries to key players. Keita is now out though, so who knows? I think they can get by Firminho & Jota during Afcon., but we'll see. If we're in a good position come end December I would feel a lot more confident.

Hey I said Tuchel could maybe reinvigorate RLC ahead of our game against Fulham last season. Where's MY cookie?!

Yeah, that's true. Looking at their attacking quality we are still short. We don't have a single individual player of the likes of Salah or KDB. The only department where I could say we can compete is in defense. But not sure if that's enough to challenge these guys for the long haul. Having said that, we have done as well as we could have in the opening fixtures.

Glad that they stopped. The GD advantage that we had over them has been fucked enough.

Wouldn't be surprised if Ronaldo was behind this.,

I have a feeling they will still creep through those matches unscathed. We're really up against a wall against the likes of these City & Liverpool teams.