Blue Armour

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

Hazard FC

Yeah I think they'll be coming with a point to prove. But I'm glad we're playing them at home rather than away.

Not sure if he will start, but hope CHO gets another shot at Arsenal. Unfinished business.

Funny how this article comes out just a few hours after we've won. No quotes. Nothing on this from any newspaper in Europe. The Express must surely be in close touch with the Madrid top brass. A couple of days into the new PL season, ..they look at the PL table...and the media get restless and paranoid.

Nice back-heel that led to the penalty. Need to see more of that.

What happened then was decent goal scoring chances ended up being thrown into the trash.. I'm hoping that doesn't happen here, which at least in this game, it didn't.

Exaggeration. Especially if you're saying that after today's game.

It will be interesting to see how he links up with Kovacic, since they've played with each other before.

Bit of stretch to think CHO is going to start games on a regular basis, unless squad rotation calls for it. For me, it would be good if he came on in 65th/70th minute of the game as a regular sub. That's still very good experience for a 17 yr old, with less weight of expectation.

Good performance by him today. Worked hard, led the line well.

Yeah I wish Courtois had a bit more sympathy...but honestly don't care what Courtois says from now on. What's concerning to me from the quote, is that the seed has already been planted. Whether he says it in public or not. I mentioned in the Hazard thread how agents can influence player decisions, and how Hazard operating without an agent would slow these kinds of moves. Courtois could very well be the agent Hazard never had.

Why wouldn't Madrid want him next him season? IMO, if he doesn't renew the contract, there's a good chance they can target him for a much lower transfer fee, plus one more player who is more of the 'galactico' goal-scoring category like an Mbappe/Neymar or even just a fantastic goal scorer like Icardi. It will be like the time they got Kaka and Ronaldo. Also, from Hazard's perspective, it would make sense to join next season considering there will be less pressure. He won't be viewed as 'Ronaldo's direct replacement'. The way I see it, thanks to Courtois or not, Hazard's head is already turned. The only thing keeping him right now is the fact that Madrid haven't strongly pushed for him, and plus, he has a sense of loyalty to the club and its fans, which is why he isn't handing in a transfer request. The only way I can see him renew the contract with us, is if we are absolutely flying this season not just in terms of stylish football, but also in terms of results. The one thing I hope the club will learn is to be prepared the next time a superstar is gearing to leave. The Courtois situation was too uncomfortable for my liking. We had to do it with Drogba, and we will have to do it with Hazard eventually. Meaning, have the next superstar lined up as early as possible.

End of the day, we have made the most of Courtois time here. 2 PL titles, 1 league cup and 1 FA cup. Not bad for 4 seasons of utility.

Possession...check Chance creation....check (or close enough) Pressing...clearly work in progress, but should get there The big question for me is....where are all the goals going to come from? The one consistent trend in our past few matches is the inability to maintain a-goal-a-game ratio Giroud is not the most prolific, and then there's Morata. Unless Sarri creates a Salah or Mertens out of one of the midfielders, I'm a bit worried. Its a shame Pedro isn't any younger. He could have been a suitable candidate for the Mertens role.

Tempting to think about this one though.. Quite a few reports stating that Chelsea and Lyon were in talks on Tue over price.. Hazard and Giroud are known to have talked with the player about a potential move Lyon manager doesn't deny that a move could happen in the transfer window.. And the other potential bidders Liverpool and United have seemingly backed away.

I think he is conflicted. That's when the agent can step in and remove that conflict.