Blue Armour

Fit now apparently. I would have still kept him even if it was a for a few games, in a more Silva like role to help manage the game., and break-in the newer CMs. Even Kovacic or Jorginho., regardless of their shitty form. All said and done. Our current CM 3 are clueless., regardless of their potential.

Sorry to burst that bubble, but that's also unlikely to happen soon, or this easily, with the payoff he is going to get. All the PL clubs are spooked after what's happened to Everton this season.

But hey, we've managed to tremendously lower that wage bill. Removing Ol'Kante's near 300k weekly wage bill, was just too tempting for Clownlake to get rid of. Gotta get'em cheap.

Keep saying it again, at least having one experienced midfielder (named Kante) for one or two seasons could have helped out our inexperienced CMs this season. But no, Clownlake needs to keep that cash counter running on overdrive

No, he probably means that the current regime see any Cobham product as pure profit. Raise their value and ship them out. Regardless of whether you could improve the Chelsea first 11.

Disasi is experienced, but he is lacking in quality. Unless he undergoes an Alex or Rudiger type evolution, I don't know what more we can expect. Signings like Alex, Ivanovic & Azpi were super shrewd. We probably should have pushed for Skriniar in that window of last season

I agree with those points, especially with what you mentioned about our defence and midfield. IMO the midfield two of Enzo and Caicedo could have benefited immensely, playing along side an experienced midfielder like Kante for at least 1 or 2 seasons. We were too quick to ship our experienced CMs (Kante, Kovacic, & Jorginho) regardless of their fitness & form issues (Kante has had very little issue since moving in fact), just for the sake of profit. I agree that in defense, we were screwed partially by the old board, that let go off Rudiger (which in turn worsened Tuchel's reign), but in the first season we recruited poorly. Fofana with a poor injury track record, and Koulibaly who, despite some underwhelming stats, was made a first choice CB on high pay. The mistake was not bringing in a quality experienced CB in the last summer window, despite knowing that Silva isn't likely to stick around.

Will probably see Jackson and Nkunku link up again, like preseason. That is, if Poch starts Nkunku

But how can you definitively say we are better? 4 seasons ago we were a top 4 side. Under Lampard of all managers. You need a magic ball to say that all the young talent that we have is going to magically hit new heights next season. If the new management is serious about FFP, like you say, then the next window will be quite slow, in order to balance the books. The lack of European football for two consecutive seasons is going to leave a dent, for sure.

Poch maybe shite, but I think he is far from the biggest problem in the club atm.

Fucking annoying if it happens. More danger from the current stooges we have upstairs, than we were under Roman. Thanks to their kamikaze management. Top 4 team dragged to midtable., all on the prayer that this young squad will miraculously improve next season.

Delusional to think that Chelsea could overtake United or Newcastle this season for a European spot. 8th is the most realistic upper target for this current Chelsea side. Haven't changed my mind.

Not going to happen. Not if the board is serious about FFP.

Ah the ol' injury during warmup. Our players are so well conditioned.

Yeah., it's likely going to happen. And tbh, having more quality managers will make the league more enjoyable. Just like the Ferguson-Mourinho-Wenger-Benitez era, an influx of great managers is what makes the league as good as it is, more than superstar player imports. Leads to more competition., and more exciting fixtures.

Hack media is still perpetuating that story. Some journalists are truly scum of the earth.

Clownlake FC

They're turning Chelsea into another post-2004 Wenger era Arsenal. The only difference like you said, is that Chelsea is overpaying like crazy to acquire all this youth talent.

This article states exactly what I've been saying when those FFP charges came up last year. We are in more danger of violating FFP (or the PL equivalent of it) under the current regime, as opposed to the previous one under Roman. With each year outside Europe, we're losing ~ 80m pounds of revenue. And we are at risk of doing that again. That's why I don't really buy that argument from @Thor about making do with a mediocre season for a year or two to reap the rewards later. It's just too much of a slippery slope. The more the team underperforms and finishes lower in the table, the less we'll have available to re-invest and fix the squad. IMO, taking a top 4 team into midtable just to 'fix' it is just counter productive. Especially for the money that was spent. If the squad doesn't somehow click in the coming months (be it this season or next), that's it for the club. Why Chelsea HAVEN'T been charged over Financial Fair Play rules despite Todd Boehly spending £1BILLION and paying-off two managers... but trouble looks on the horizon next year https://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/football/article-12968471/Chelsea-billion-players-Todd-Boehly-two-sacked-managers-broken-Premier-League-financial-rules-Everton-Forest.html

At face value, decent goals and assist stats but that's from ONE bloody half season (this season) in the Portuguese league. Plus he seems to be a technical player, rather than one with physicality. In the PL, you need to be REALLY skilled to succeed as a technical attacker. On the flip side, what's the point of this shiny new recruitment team of ours, if all our targets end up being overpriced like this one?

One of those kits that looks better on the player. Well, like most kits. Would be nice to see the entire kit.

Lol,..this article is advocating Poch to move away from a double pivot and play a typical 433 with Enzo and Gallagher further forward of Caicedo. IMO, not sure if I agree with this. I think Enzo and Caicedo play too far apart., to even function as a pivot. Caicedo is no Makelele to play the deep lying role on his own. Not yet, at least. But who knows 🤷‍♂️

Either that or Enzo and Caicedo need to play closer to each other, like a staggered double pivot. Not sure if the fault is due to Poch's tactics, or the players inexperience. Probably both.

Playing Enzo as an 8 is an odd decision. He's not good enough to directly contribute in goal scoring, and he doesn't have the pace to track back quickly enough when we lose the ball. And to top it off, Caicedo is not capable enough to play in the lone CDM role. The last 15 minutes of yesterday's game were mess because of this. There were situations s where Caicedo got the ball and had no clue on where to pass because Enzo decided to rocket up the pitch (along with Gallagher). Inexperienced midfield following shite tactics.