Blue Armour

It's weird enough that people are quick to praise Foden, and discount Mount, although Mount had better stats last season, and then some Chelsea fans criticize Mount because his stats are supposedly not good enough.

Agreed. I'd rather we just focus all efforts on fixing the defense., with quality. Unless Boehly & Tuchel are interested in a title charge., back 4 is all that needs fixing for a top 4 finish. Without it, I'm heavily skeptical. Just think, we had Rudiger fit for almost all our games last season and he was the sole reason our defense held together, despite Silvas quality. Silva is year older now, and is not going to playe every game. Add an ageing (and possibly gone) Azpilicueta, we are in deep shit if our plan is to rely on a player like Ake. Only hope in that case is if Colwill somehow steps it up big time, like Chalobah did last year.

#TeamSkriniar. Fuck it. Deluding myself.

Only hope he does Pogba or a Lukaku and returns. To play good, of course.

Stunning that neither UEFA nor FIFA seem to raise an eyebrow. But then again the clubs doing business with them are probably even more dumb.

In other news, PSG are on the verge of making an improved offer for Skriniar to Inter. Not sure why we never even tried to make a bid here. Especially after the big favor we did Inter, your would think we would at least try to take advantage. It's like there's no real plan B for the deLigt bid failing.

Ridiculous if true. That is, if we actually fund them to get an even better CB to fill their squad, when we sign someone barely fit enough to be a squad option. I also don't buy the Rudiger and Christensen improvement argument. They suffered mainly because of Lampards system, and they looked better after Tuchel changed it. Tuchel couldn't work wonders with Saar, and I doubt he's going to make Ake grow an extra pair of wings. Steer clear of Ake, and put everything on a quality CB., even if it's only the one CB we end up signing.

I think some people see his workrate and tackling., and base their judgement on that.

On the fence about Raphinha. I know people like to make this comparison with Mane,. but when Mane played with Southampton I used to hate him as an opposition player. Because he was so dangerous! I don't have the same impression about Raphinha.

They had to go at some point. I'm only questioning the timing.

Hope so too..., but still feel he needs at least a decent back line to work with. Let's see.

I don't think it was expected that Marina, Cech & Co. would up and go at the start of the transfer window. Their departure might be a beneficial move long term, but if it somehow impacts our transfer window and a top 4 finish this year, then we're going to feel the burn for a lot longer than that.

We should just stop giving our incoming strikers a #9 kit number. Give them something random.

That's what we said about Lukaku, lol

Having a poor or mediocre back line is worse than having a mediocre attacking lineup. We are more likely to drop out of top 4 because of it.

Because of Lampards system. Let's not blow things out of proportion.

Yes. And go for Gvardiol next summer.

Rudiger vs Christensen for El Clasico

Also, if the rumors are true and Sterling is going to be the highest earner in the squad, I hope we don't try to lowball Mount and James with their contact renewals. Could end up in another ugly situation like how Lukakus wages ended up pissing off players like Rudiger.

No. But we should get annoyed if they haven't scoped out a decent plan B target. If that plan B is Ake then I would be more than annoyed.

Well...the people who made that mistake have moved on. The club is paying the price for that.

Skriniar? I mean his move to PSG is not yet confirmed...and they seem to be off Inters valuation.

Thought Pedulla and DiMarzio were both bullshitters. Liar vs liar I guess.

Not the universe..just Nike. But still, I'll give Nike a pass this season. At least they stuck with us during the sanction turmoil. Unlike 3.