OneMoSalah

100k or 180k a week for someone whos not played 50 pro games for me is a disgrace. At those figures he has to deliver something this season. Rumours he wants to discuss his shirt number before signing new deal too. What has football come to.

If we could register players Id like to see us take a punt on Dalbert in a player swap. Think hes got potential to get better.

Exactly. Personally after seeing Edersons first season at City surprised Benfica didnt want 50 or 60m. Generally think for a Pep team with his distribution on top of being a very good GK, 35m is an absolute steal. Especially when you look at Pickford costing the same and being nowhere near as good. Still think ter Stegen for 15m or whatever and Oblak for 16m is two of the best value for money deals in the last 10 years.

Also if Kepa is here for the 7 seasons or whatever he signed for, hardly a bad long term investment. 71.5m for 7 season works out reasonable. Although we paid straight up but still looking at it like that generally dont see what the hassle is.

Do you honestly think Bulka was ever gonna be good enough to play ahead of Kepa at any moment in time last season? Lets be honest, if he was we wouldnt have kept Caballero about as a back up or signed Rob Green as a third choice. Or spent 71m on Kepa if he was ready to play. Kepa is much much better there is not even a realistic debate to be had, if you watched us last season, which I am sure you did, you would of seen Kepa was pretty good for his first season. Argubaly a lot better and consistent than David De Gea fared overall in his first season too (although he was perhaps not as physically filled out, although Kepa can still improve that). Not saying he will reach that level but he will be a very very good Gk undoubtedly and 71m over say what he penned a 7 year contract, if he sees it out, hardly that bad is it? Do you think the club would of spent 71m on a 24 year old GK if there was a kid in the academy at the same or similar level? I mean I know our record with youth is bad with the outfield players but it would of made absolutely no sense at all to sell Courtois and sign Kepa if Bulka was remotely anywhere near good enough. Outfield players I think its different because predominantly young goalkeepers if they are good enough, it is much much more clear to see than with outfield players. For example, Courtois at Genk, De Gea at Atletico and Oblak at Olimpija Ljubljana and Benfica. Sure there are the late bloomers too, which if anyrhing Marcin could have more a chance of being than establishing himself at his current younger age but still I mean I would be very shocked if Bulka makes the grade at PSG ahead of Areola or Kevin Trapp if he doesnt leave (who arent better than Kepa either). The fact we didnt try and push further contract talks with Marcin after November also makes me think the club do not expect him to go on and make us regret letting him leave. Yes he was decent last pre season and also did well in a few years at the academy but I didnt see anything from him that made me think wow he will be a first team player here. On to the game. Mount, Pulisic and Tammy all looked good for me. Lots of work still to do but it was encouraging to see some good intensity and pressing from the younger guys, if the whole team buys into it better than we did with Sarri at times last year (was one of our biggest problems out of possession) then it could be very good for us. Think now a days, with everyone trying to play and build from the back, that having an effective high press is an absolute must. Sure it can be bypassed by a long ball or passing through it but if we can perfect it with players like Willian, Pulisic, Mount, Ruben etc we can profit I feel. I think we have more chance of creating chances from counter attacking/transitioning from winning the ball high up than from playing through teams at the minute.

An Everton CB? Yerry Mina has been disaster for them and Michael Keane is bang average. Zouma was probably their best CB last year. They are lacking CBs so loaning one to sign one wont happen on their part I would think. For all the minutes Tomori will play, as I would imagine Andreas will be used in place of Rudi with him out, it makes no sense to retain both him and Zouma. If we desperately need to we can use Azpi at CB and go to the u23s to give us depth. If we want to give Zouma/Tomori and Andreas a chance to get regular minutes we need to go into the season with 4 CBs. For me, Rudi, Andreas, Luiz and Tomori is more than enough. Or if we loan Tomori, retain Zouma. 5 CBs is a bit excessive I think. Plus if we are really screwed use Aspi there as previously mentioned and go to u23s to make up numbers for the bench if it comes to it. Squads bit bloated this year, in defence and in midfield. We need to get rid of a few players: Keepers is fine. -At RB either loan Reece James so he can play and retain Zappa/sell Zappa and retain Reece James. -CB, as mentioned, maybe see either Tomori loaned or Zouma sold. Last year we had Rudi, Luiz, Cahill (basically frozen out), Christensen and Ampadu (who rarely played there as it was). 5 would be 1 too much, especially in an area of the pitch where you want settled partnerships. Having 5 and chopping and changing is a bad idea. All good teams are built on a solid foundation so I would like to think this is the first thing Frank will try and do is establish his first choice CB pairing and defence. Then give the other 2 guys a chance to show their worth in cup games and try work their way in. Plus not even mentioned the likes of Clarke-Salter, Trevor Chalobah etc who could be considered for that area of the pitch although not sure theyre at the level for thay yet. -LB with Alonso and Emerson, we arent gonna see any changes there. Kenedy isnt a LB and I would hope he is moved on. -Midfield is a bit heavy. Kante, Kova, Jorginho, Ruben, Ross and Mason are probably safe and wont be going anywhere. One of Bakayoko or Drinkwater has to go for definite, if not both. Still worried about how Frank intends on using Ross, Ruben and Mason because they all play the same position basically as the most advanced midfielder. -Wings are fine because we know who will be there and who wont be, or wont be when those who need to be moved on, are moved on. Willian, Pedro, CHO and Pulisic will be the 4 in the squad. -Strikers, not amazing pick but Giroud, Batshuayi and Tammy, look like the 3 we will be using.

Sell him. 2-5m euros or whatever. No point keeping.

If Zappacosta doesnt go we should try facilitate a loan deal there for him. If Zappa goes he must stay, simple as that.

Still think their biggest loss is Ander Herrera. Brought energy and discipline to their MF. No coincidence that when he didnt play they struggled. If Pogba can get some consistency and they find a suitable replacement for Herrera I think they could surprise a lot of people. If Lukaku stays there too they will have their 20 goals uptop.

Nervous... or shite. He really looks illsuited in our team. That game vs United where he and Morata played well is a long long long time ago.

FL going to use mix of youth and experience. Squad of 25 players, at least 15 of them will be heavily experienced in football so yes point out the obvious. But still, in my eyes, very premature to write something like "to use perfect mix of youth and experience" because weve only played 2 pre season games in which I doubt he knows his best team and we will shift players still. I mean 3 academy players made over 60 games between them last season and you could argue that any of those 3 and 8, 9 or 10 other more experienced guys was the perfect mix at times if the result or performances went well. But hey. Theres no formula or equation to ensure a team has the correct number of young guys and more experienced. It will be what it will be, be it maybe 2 or 3 academy guys in the first 11 or 8 of them. People reading far too much into all this youth stuff, this isnt the same circumstances as Derby and I think when the transfer ban is gone people will soon realise that maybe this is the biggest reason why we will be using more youth in the 25 man squad as opposed to feeling they are all ready. Its a double ended sword. For instance, do you think if we could of bought a CF this summer say Tammy Abraham would be sticking around? Or if Ruben wasnt injured, Mason wouldnt be being looked at as a potential loanee (although hes caught the eye so far indeed and thats what pre season is for)? Fair enough before the season ended, probably well before May, Reece James had a very strong case for being included as he was arguably Wigans best player week in week out at 18 or 19 years old and Zappacosta was being linked away and didnt get a January move. But before the ban was confirmed how many thought Tammy, Mason, Tomori would be first team players this season? Probably not a lot. And if FL goes for the more tried and tested experienced heads the first few weeks of the season for the likes of United and the Super Cup games, will there be uproar? Or is it just sensible management? Suppose we will find out.

Brendan Rodgers has spent 30m on Ayoze Perez and will now spend 45m on Lewis Dunk. Jesus christ.

Honestly would rather see Christensen given more game time and Tomori being used in cup games if it means we can get 30 or 40m for him. Good defender but struggles on the ball for me still.

Well hes going for 352 from the looks of the game against United earlier so that will mean no wingers and using wingbacks (Dalbert/Asamoah and Candreva/Lazaro). Dont think anyone would go around using Perisic as a wingback as he wouldnt be great defensively. Nainggolan is an odd one though but his age maybe and the fact Conte looks like hes going to build around younger players in midfield like Barella, Sensi, Brozovic, Vecino and Gagliardini is probably why. Plus he is probably on bigger wages and Inter need to sell to comply with FFP as they really want Edin Dzeko and Romelu Lukaku. Nainggolan and Borja Valerjo are probably 2 MF players he is looking to move on, due to their age and the fact they have plenty of options. Honestly think he will get an real improvement out of Inter in all fairness, theres no doubt with the defenders they have he has a very very solid base to build on (having the choice to pick from Godin, Miranda, Skriniar and de Virj is a very good selection) and as we seen here with him in that first season the way he had our back 3 playing and team set up, made us extremely hard to beat. Plus Handanovic seems to be defying age in goals, still a very good GK. Surprised he hasnt looked to reintroduce Icardi into the group but Icardi probably fucked that for himself. Icardi upfront with that Martinez could be a very good duo I think. Think he could keep Perisic for a 343 if he needs to change it up but cant see Perisic who has been a regular at Inter settling for a bench role and they have Politano who can play both wings too. Its gonna be interesting in Serie A this year I think. Sarri, Carlo, Conte all up against each other.

Keep him instead of Alonso? No thank you. If taking 5m means sellling him do it. If Alonso isnt up to standard then this guy really isnt either.

Its not just about that. I mean as somebody who watches the SPL even Neil McCan had Dundee setting up like that to play out but the lack of trust and goos combinations from his players made it difficult to sustain. Positioning players for that style of football is easy maybe at the likes of goal kicks or whatever but coaching them to continously play like that under high pressure and difficult high quality teams is a different level. Everyones got to know where to stand or when to be in a position to relieve pressure off their team mates and know where they are etc to make quick one and 2 touch combinations to break a press. I dont think we struggled getting out of our half last season doing this, which meant Sarri laid the groundwork. Hopefully Frank can maintain this and improve our offensive play.

Gnabry didnt get a game at WBA because he played under a dinosaur coach who rarely focuses on developing players or a style of football that doesnt require punting it 60 yards. Left Arsenal and within a year was at Bayern. Nothing to do with physical attributes as the Bundesliga is arguably just as physical as the PL. Lookman again played under Big Sam Allardyce, who was struggling at Everton who were already struggling already and he went for more senior pros, signing the likes of Theo Walcott instead of opting to use Lookman, who would probably have done better. Everton fans were angry they loaned Lookman to RB Leipzig then. Next big step of CHOs career? Never mind a big step, the next step would be playing regular first team football at Chelsea. He has achieved nothing to be looking at making a next "big step" so if that is his thinking or anyone else associated with him then he is deluded. Hes not even played 50 games. Next step should be knuckling down and playing regular minutes. Think here is the best place for him now.

I dont think he will think playing every week in the Bundesliga will make him look better than playing in the PL most weeks, plus the lower German teams are arguably better than those in the PL outside the top 12 or 14 and are much more similar standards to each other unlike the regelatiom candidates here like Fulham, Huddersfield, Brighton, etc who are miles behind the others. Easier platform or not I dont get it. He rejected a 85k a week offer from us a while back then there was talk of Bayern offering 100k or 120k a week when they wanted him. Now theres talk of us offering 100k a week. While the figures are all hear say I would imagine him not signing would be more down to financial looking at everything else, as Frank said he can be central to this team which I think means as long as he shows effort and can maintain performances, he will play a lot. I honestly dont get what else he would be interested in not staying here for in all honesty, Bayern he would have less a chance of starting than here in all fairness, plus theres been talk of Kovac saying to the board and players if they dont sign more players particularly wide areas, hes gonna play 352. Obviously CHO being a winger is a position they need.to strengthen but his playing time is going to be less there than here. It makes no other sense to leave a team who sold their best player who played his position, whos manager has basically talked him up in the public and behind closed doors, said he is very interested in using young players from the academy who feel the club...

Well thats Frank done as much as he can. In all honesty if Callum decides not to renew then its probably due to financals or the fact he has no interest in being here now. Im hopefully he will renew as we are short on wingers if he goes but again if he doesnt want to be here whats the point? We wont fall apart without him. The academy is very good so I wouldnt be surprised if we get another young guy similarly talented popping through. I have been a huge fan of CHO since he made his debut under Conte but again, while he will be an excellent player one day there are many better youngsters out there regardless. He isnt a one in a million generation talent for me. An academy player who could be very very good yes but again, if hes not wanting to be here or is up for rotting on the bench at Bayern? Let him go for it.

Exactly while this isnt the best comparison I see it as a similar situation to when Neymar left Barca and what Real should have done. They strengthened as a team rather than relying on Neymar Messi and Suarez, being more reserved and less flamboyant using Rakitic and Paulinho to solidify the team defensively. Although we arent lucky enough to have those ilk of players like Messi and Suarez in offensive positions we still have got to look at it as a chance to let others come to the fore and not just look to one player for inspiration as well as being able to build up other areas of the team to be stronger in other aspects. I still think with Hazard gone and if Sarri remained we would have seen a more functional front 3 like he had at Napoli as opposed to everyone just passing to Eden for him to dribble past X amount of players etc or just expect him to make things happen. I hope Lampard can get a more functional front 3 as that part let us down after a good start last season. The likes of Willian, Pedrox CHO and Pulisic will need to play faster, with less touches, being more direct than our wide players did at time last season to fully exploit what I believe will be a similar philosophy although not as ridgid as Sarris. While it will take some time I do expect big things from Christian.

Okay fair enough if Nike have confirmed it. Still dont see the huge fuss. The guy gave everyrhing for 7 years if it is taking people to acknowledge his class with a pair of boots then God help them. He was at a Chelsea training camp like 3 weeks ago I would say that is more classly than a bit of blue on a pair of boots. Or his farewell statement. But yeah pair of boots, every Chelsea Twitter page going into meltdown 🤣

Not going to lie the colours could mean anything. Sure nobody doubts how much he cared about the club etc but they are just a pair of football boots with blue on it, could be his favorite colour, could be "honouring" the club, could be his kids or wifes or uncles or auntys or dogs or whoevers favorite colour think people get a bit too literal and read too much into these things. Could be someone who has gone onto Nike ID and designed these himself and then posted them on Twitter saying they are Edens.. also with half the shit that's on twitter, would be more than likely.

People said the same when we had the blip last season but he adapted to the league and showed he is more than able to do the defensive side of the game. Generally dont think it will be as huge an issue.

Hopefully people who have been apprehensive will be proved wrong by this Christian this season. I do hope he doesnt take the 10 shirt though. I dont know who will, few interesting numbers avaliable in the squad this season, 4, 9, 10.

Kovacic over Jorginho? Dont see it personally. I do think we will end up playing 433 of some variation eventually, even with Frank preferring 4231 based on his season at Derby (could argue 4231 is a variation of 433 regardless). In terms of being effective in a double pivot or not, with the ball Jorginho will more than likely drop deeper than his partner anyway to get on the ball from the likes of the CBs and control the tempo of the game, his position may be slightly different but it won't affect how he plays and then obviously Kantes biggest strength is getting the ball back. Jorginho also showed huge defensibe improvements, yes playing in a 2 isnt the same as playing as a sole holder and Kovacic can play every midfield position which gives him a chance of playing a lot but I still really dont see him playing ahead of Jorginho. I mean if your concerned about Jorginho not being effective in a double pivot then I dont know how your not more concerned about someone who is tactically inferior and also takes much much less risks with the ball as well as having a more limited passing range. I really think this will be an issue for Frank this season, fitting in the likes of Barkley, Kovacic, Baka, and Mason when Rubens back because Ruben if he can recapture his performances from the back end of the past season, will be one of the first names on the team sheet as well as Kante 100% and I would stick my neck out and say Jorginho will make the starting midfield for us this season too most weeks. I would say we are a bit heavy in MF, Baka is potentially a good option to be a back up for Kante. Drinkwater and Barkley (depending on Franks plans for Mason) could find themselves not featuring as often as theyd want to. Competition is good but realistically we have got Drinkwater, Barkley, Jorginho, Kante, Bakayoko, Kovacic, Ruben, Mount all competing for 3 spaces in the line up every week. Sure some play more advanced like Ross and Mason as well as the fact Mateo and Ruben are more than capable of playing as out and out 10s (dont forget Pulisic and Willian are able to play there too but theyll play wide I would imagine) as well but realistically when Ruben comes back to full fitness we are probably more stocked than we need to be. As I mentioned above Drinkwater, Barkley, Bakayoko are 3 players who could find themselves on the peripheral at somepoint this upcoming season.