Blue Armour

You're probably right about the marketing bit...I'm pretty sure they have some good design templates but I would imagine they would hold out on releasing all of those in one season. This season, the away yellow kit is bound to be a good seller. Next season it will be something else.

I hear the socks are going to be more 'orange' than crimson. Would be a very interesting kit to see on the players on the field

I could see potential lineups where Kovacic is asked to play the CDM role, and Cesc is tasked with being the creative force....In situations where both Jorginho and Kante require rest.

As far as number of goals scored? Yeah. He has scored the same amount of goals that Dider has ever scored in the PL, and he's just 25..basically the same age that Drogba was, when he JOINED Chelsea. But if they think Drogba was all about racking up goal counts, they don't have a clue. Just like the other 'statistician's who try to judge Hazard by his goal count. Drogba and Hazard are just two of a kind. Would take them over Lukaku and Salah any day (all respect due to the latter).

I'm curious as to what he makes of our last two games. We ended up grinding the opposition on both occasions, although it took time.

Just imagine if we had got Simeone instead of Sarri this season... sheesh.... We might not be like Etihad FC, but I would sure take our current administration over that of every other club in the PL.

So far, that's two opponent teams in succession that have decided to drop back and form a wall in front of their goal. We've managed to break them down in both occasions, albeit with some risk on counters. Wonder whether other small teams will try to adopt a similar approach or try something different.

From Daily Mail (http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/football/article-6121711/Chelsea-2-0-Bournemouth-Pedro-Eden-Hazard-continue-perfect-start.html) Freddie Mercury @Unionjack

Heh...I used to play as Bournemouth every time in FIFA career mode, back when they where in the championship. Never again.

Gary Cahill would accept that challenge

Believe me, I've been thinking about this a lot and its frustrating to me as well,....more so considering we're the only club in the top 5 that doesn't have at least one England international guaranteed to start every game,... But I understand Sarri's difficulty in this case: Only 7 subs to be named in the PL match day squad.. 1 FB, 1 CB, 1 GK, 1 ST, 1 Winger, 1 CM, 1 CM/Winger. In the case where we have 2 wingers on the bench, 1 of those positions will be MOST definitely taken up by Pedro/Willian (no arguing around this one, even if some people argue against it,... its a fail-safe). The 2nd winger spot, (again available only if Sarri opts to not take a backup CM), could be taken up by CHO. And honestly I would prefer CHO over say, Moses, for that one. But again, this is ONLY if Sarri chooses to keep an extra winger for the matchday squad. Considering how unlikely it is for him to start a PL game right now, I've accepted two things (hopefully): 1. Sarri still wants to get the larger team used to his style of play. The more gelled the other players are with the style of play, the easier it will be for players like CHO and Ampadu to slot in and out. (Of course, you could argue that right now, CHO and Ampadu have played in Sarri's system longer than many of the other players in the squad) 2. CHO and Ampadu will be starters on our B team, which we will have to use more often than not, considering the number of games we will be involved in this season. They should realistically get plenty of game time if that's the case, and will increase the chances of making the PL squad on occasion.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/football/article-6099855/Jorginho-outpasses-Newcastle-team-NBA-star-visits-St-James.html Jorginho outpasses the entire opposition

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/football/article-6099855/Jorginho-outpasses-Newcastle-team-NBA-star-visits-St-James.html Jorginho outpasses the entire opposition lol

Not sure about the Luiz analogy. Luiz back then is as Luiz right now. Luiz if he wants to, can raise his game and look like the best defender on the pitch. When that happens, is a different question.,

I just wish I could say with certainty that Emerson is better in defense. Rotation will happen nonetheless.

Tbh, in the Luiz case, I think he really did get kicked in the ankle. It just his giggling after the foul that changes the perspective

Have to admire his work ethic. Pressing non-stop, running all over the pitch.

Jorginho is going to dictate play from deep. Don't think anything is going to change that. The only change I can see happening is when playing the bigger sides, Kante drops alongside Jorginho to 2-man central defensive mid. Kante is most likely B2B for the majority of the remaining games.

Yeah good point about his defensive contributions. Played a lot as DM for Madrid.

I can see that he's going to have to rotate his squad a lot this season. The high intensity pressing is pretty draining, and when the entire team doesn't do it together, things fall apart, as it happened after 20 mins into the first half.. You could see Jorginho trying to get everyone to press in the first half, but sometimes to no avail. With the number of matches we have, and the physicality of the league, I can see every squad member having a significant part to play. Pedro was drenched at the end of the 90 mins.

Second half was different because Arsenal packed the box and Cech had upped his game. Honestly, when we went into half time at 2-2, I could see that happening, and never really thought we could get anything more, if not for a bit of magic from Hazard.

lol

Hinting at a possible false 9 role in the future?

Latest news (go figure) is that we're in for a DOF too. And speculation is that both us and United are looking at similar targets for DOF...unless we're looking at the ex-player route..in which case there's Ballack for us, and Van Der Saar for them.

Arsenal were always Morata's bogey team. Failed a penalty in the Community shield last year, another in this year's pre-season friendly, and missed those chances in the Capital one cup semi final. If scoring against any one team would lift a weight off his shoulders, I would think its Arsenal