OneMoSalah

Going to Schalke would be literally be an amazing move for him, I still have my doubts about what he can contribute here but if he could get in the team there? Would be a great experience. German football is probably one of the most outstanding leagues for young attack minded players to develop in and Schalke were no mugs last season. Seriously think that him staying here and rejected this move will come back and bite him on the arse big style especially when Cesc and Kovacic are fit and back in the squad. Kovacic coming in on loan to sit on the bench is not happening. Someone said on other page learning from Sarri is better than playing 90 mins every week, I 100% disagree, hes a young guy, 22 years old, he needs to be playing.

Exactly and hes been the best striker we've had here in years. Just shows how easily fans turn on a player for next to fuck all.

Problematic? Like Kovacic who went on strike and didn't want to train at Real because he didn't want to be there unless he was guaranteed regular minutes? Before asking to train alone as he didn't want to be there? Unfortunately that is what footballers do these days. Its perhaps unfair to point it out on Kovacic but again it could be the same with Rabiot. Doesn't necessarily mean people are problematic if they don't want to extend contracts at their clubs or that, there is always other implications or reasons as opposed to automatically dubbing somebody "problematic". Yes there are rumours of an ego problem and yes he didn't want to be on the reserve list for France but I honestly don't think they will care seeing as they won the World Cup, if anything it was his loss. Anyway, Rabiot is a good footballer in my eyes, solid defensively, good technique, quite strong on the ball and wherever he goes if he doesn't remain at PSG beyond next season he'll be good. A lot of talk of Barcelona wanting him but now they have Vidal perhaps they've shelved that idea. I think as well PSG would be stupid to lose him because he came through their academy and despite all the money they have he is quite well suited to their midfield after maybe initially not being as regular as he would have wanted when they started signing big players. Only 23 years old, played over 150 games for PSG, plenty of room to improve and a lot of big teams will be after him.

Will still be Cahill when he plays 100%. Would be a daft move to strip a captain of it a year after giving him it on a proper basis and plus I think it would upset a few in the locker room perhaps to see that done. He won't play every week so it will be up to the likes of Azpi, Hazard, Luiz to take on the mantle. I think it will be Azpi.

Again don't see why anybody writes about this guy now. He left, we replaced him, why he left or whatever doesn't put me up or down. Nobody here should feel the need to have to cling onto articles about Thibaut Courtois considering he plays for Real Madrid.

I know but again Alonso isn't necessarily a bad player, hes been pretty solid and done well offensively since coming here, its just the lack of pace in a flat back 4 I think if he goes up or gets targeted by a Salah/Sterling/Sanchez or somebody who has genuine raw pace he will be found out a bit. He adds height, good option offensively and defensively from set plays, his attacking play is actually decent and hes obviously cool and collected on the ball so he fits the bill of what Sarri wants in a left back. I think Emerson is a good player too but maybe a bit more rough around the edges, maybe not, that couple of yards of pace he has on Alonso gives him a case but I am under the impression that hes not as defensively sound as Alonso. I'd like to see him be tried more this season than under Conte and even Zappacosta has looked a different man under Sarri in pre-season (which I suppose its only pre season but still) so I think our full back options (Azpi first choice at RB obviously) are more than decent enough just a few slight concerns regarding that. I am genuinely more concerned about Luiz than Alonso in terms of defending. No definitely 100% I think the pace is really his only weakness. Hes hardly slow as fuck but if he was a yard or two quicker I'd be a bit more confident in him defensively (hes more than solid enough but that bit of pace would be helpful against the guys I'd named up there, who are 100mph breakneck speed), maybe its an unfair criticism maybe not. Luiz's passing is a plus but I think its slightly overrated too, I think you look at Rudiger and Christensen, these guys are more than confident enough with the ball, they aren't going to panic and just punt it but there's been plenty of times over Luiz's career where hes willing to go for the spectacular pass too often, trying to force things and it doesn't come off and again it will happen probably, not always the worst thing but I am much more concerned about him defending at times because he can be extremely reckless or just doze off and he gets away with it sometimes and I feel that with this new way of playing, adapting to it for a while he might just get that complacency creeping in like last season before he got dropped/injured (the year after he had an outstanding season and was probably one of the best CBs in Europe I might add) and it could cost us. Hopefully not but I've never been 100% convinced about Luiz defensively.

Lets just hope we got 10 penalties then Jorginho can get double figures. I think Morata can get double figures (wait for the reaction haha), as well as Hazard, Willian and maybe Pedro (maybe because I think he just looks at home when hes in around the box, always did at Barca too)? I think goals in big games will be a problem for us maybe, I expect us to be much better against the smaller teams who play in a low block because the style we will play, we will always have the better quality, more options, always have some movement that will open up chances eventually but being clinical in big games has been an issue for us for a while. I think Hazard as much as I love the guy, some games last season, the bigger ones he tended to struggle to impose himself a bit but then some of the other ones he played much better. I know last season that period where he didn't play well was a blip but again the bigger matches some of the others players like Willian (those Barca games he was pretty good I felt though), Pedro, Cesc.. all struggled. So I hope that changes. If Valencia play 442 and Michy can establish himself then fair enough but I think still from what I seen, Marcelino likes his team to work hard as a unit, Michy has so much to improve off the ball and even in terms of holding it up and combining with others (that one goal v Brighton will not convince me that his link up play is good enough, that whole first season under Conte the closer to the goal away frm the build up, the better) so lets hope it comes good for him.

Yes, Torres in his first few PL years was probably world class but he had more physical problems than mental, started picking up injuries and then rushed to get that op to make the world cup in 2010 and many believe that ultimately fucked him. If he didn't lose that bit of pace he'd still of been at least a bit more useful but that physical change affected him so badly, every time he ran he looked as if he was treading water. Falcao is a huge mystery, the guy was unbelievable, such a scary player, one chance one goal, that good. Big injuries and shit loans didn't help. Anyway talking about 20+ goals a season in the PL, Drogba only ever managed that once in his career if I remember correctly, year he scored 29 goals think it was 09-10. It means nothing. Realistically I'd say 15 goals a season in the PL is a good return for a striker, basically 1 in every 2 games, don't think its not achievable for any of our strikers in all fairness (unless Morata goes and does it). I'm not 100% sure but Costa didn't even score more than 20 in the league in a season (dont think he was far off the first year and the last year he was here but don't think it was ever 20 or over).

Its an interesting move for him because Valencia have got some other strikers who done decent enough for them last season and now theyve just bought Kevin Gamerio too so I dont think hes going to be a automatic starter from the off. Lot of people saying hes our best striker or our most efficient but the guy when he had a chance to play here had never actually looked that convincing to give off the impression. Fair enough he didn't play every week but he got a run of games a while back and was awful. Half a season in Dortmund scoring against teams who were in the bottom half wont change that. One thing I think he has over Morata is that mentality where if he misses one it doesn't affect him but he has so much other things he needs to improve on. Still remember when we signed him, articles saying he played like Drogba and he even said he wanted to emulate his career etc, the guy was never ever ever going to be in the same ball park. Hope the move goes well for him but I generally think there will more chance of us bringing in another striker than him ever being our number 1. He just doesn't do enough for a system like Sarri's.

Hes been doing a lot of ball watching his entire Chelsea career. Its annoys fuck out me because that and recklessly trying to step out and fouling someone or taking himself out the game trying that happens almost every week. Conte and that back 3 helped him the first season he came back but old habits die hard, we seen last season where the same errors became more apparent. His quality on the ball was always going to buy him a life line under Sarri but still don't think it should make him a shoe in. Defenders should be able to defend to a degree first and foremost, Alonso as well, he can defend but lacks the pace to recover or get back in if hes been high up, which is a shame because it will hurt the team and if he was a wee bit quicker he'd be more than solid enough but even in some attacking situations you see his lack of pace can let us down. I have big doubts about Luiz and Alonso in a back 4 against a top team, can't wait to see it.

Torres would get praised if he could complete a 5 yard pass because he was that shite but for me Morata had a decent enough game, except for not scoring (if it happens for the rest of August then yeah I'd say we maybe have a problem) and its not the same context to say its a Torres situation that we are praising him for doing "nothing". If Morata had played shit but had scored it wouldn't be an issue because hes done what people expect him to do. Its a tough life for a striker in terms of being criticised (same with goalkeepers), play alright no goal = bad performance, score a goal but play bad = done the job. Fair enough 60m or whatever you want more, we all do, still wouldn't say he let anybody down yesterday or played so much worse than anybody else who had a bog standard game. Lets not kid on Torres got every excuse under the sun, from memory heres some of the classics: team plays defensive football, team doesn't create chances for him, system doesn't suit him... its not going to ever get that bad for any other player. Some of the shit people would say to defend him were quite embarrassing, the guy went through about 6 managers and not one of them could get him scoring regularly except Rafa Benitez, who generally decided to build the team around him and Mata more or less. I wouldnt say that was a mental problem, the way his career panned was more physical because he lost like 5 yards of pace in the space of 2 years. Morata on the other hand I think its just a mental problem, he gets over that he'll be fine.

Yes Kovacic isn't a huge goal scoring player but I wasn't just looking at goals and assists, Kovavic probably wont have much more than what RLC had but he was a second string player and sub at Real, where as RLC played every week as a winger in a team where he and Zaha when he returned were the key players realistically speaking. We all know Kovacic is a much better and much more developed player than RLC. He will offer much more to the team. Ruben was always going to struggle because as a player hes still got a lot to get. Kovacic isn't world class or isn't as good as some other top MF players in the PL but the one thing the guy has going for him is he is more than good enough to contribute straight away, hes always had the ability but never played regularly at Madrid, in my eyes he can make that jump and get much better because hes playing every week. He won't look out of place for us, Ruben would. Its a nice option maybe but for a 22 year old guy who needs to play its stupid to sit and play minutes only in the Europa League and cup games. If Fabregas and Kovacic weren't injured/not match fit Ruben wouldn't have been on the bench yesterdat.

Not sure. Maybe the loan market is still open not sure but it was odd. I think Kovacic will be given that freedom to get forward more, Kante can do it all anyway hes just that good that hes able to get back in and do what he has to do but Kovacic getting closer to the front 3 could be a big bonus, hes excellent technically, not the best goalscorer but I'm sure you know he can see a pass, can take the ball under pressure, can beat a man or two, he is quite a outstanding footballer who with a bit of consistency and continuity of playing every week can easily make the jump to the next level I feel. The likes of Hazard, Kovacic, Willian all combining with each other is going to be exciting for us this season.

Yeah true but again, some games that sort of more physical powerful player would be useful (obviously if he had the technical side too), Pogba overrated maybe but he has that good blend of physical and technical qualities. Liverpool have Fabinho as well who has that sort of mix. It would be helpful in some games. Even your European games your Atletico Madrids, Bayern Munichs, all those teams have got a bit of that. The newly promoted teams are all changing too but there will be some games where its a bit of a scrap and having somebody who is a bit bigger and bit stronger as well as good enough with the ball etc would help.

Opening there for RLC, if he has anything about him Not a chance RLC will get a massive chance here, Barkley had a good opportunity because Kovacic wasn't match fit but once hes fit he will be directly competing with him and I'd imagine Kovacic will play more often with Barkley his back up/sub or whatever. Ruben still has a great deal to learn and to work on, he doesn't impose himself on games, doesn't seem to have any major attributes where you think yeah he'd offer something different or unique and his end product is well, its not anything really great, he got something daft like 3 goals and 4 assists in a full season at Palace in a counter attacking team where the onus was on him and Zaha, who when he came back had 11 goals and 9 assists or something. Maybe a bit harsh to look at his output in that but even chances created? How many did he get? Doubt it was a great deal. Hes a powerful player too, big frame but you don't see him physically go and dominate games, Yaya Toure was a big player, okay not a attacking midfielder but he used to bully teams and players with his sheer size and quality, Ruben maybe hasn't got that amazing quality yet but he has the size to go and dominate or bully a midfield. I seen somebody compare him to a Rolls Royce, I think it was Tim Sherwood, but honestly he still has a lot of work to do even before being considered to be ahead of Barkley in the pecking order, yet alone Kovacic who for me can be the real deal for us.

Wouldn't say they play the most boring football on the planet. In the big games they show up and they make it very tough but they've got certain strengths and had so much success/remained competitive with it so why change? They are probably one of the top 3 teams I wouldn't want us to play in the CL along with Barcelona and Bayern because they are always up for big matches and when we've played them in the past they've always managed to negate our threat easily and exploit our weaknesses. Also I wouldn't say they are necessarily better than us or worse but they have an identity, a coach who's philosophy is so clear to see on the pitch and also a very good structure so its a big lure for players, plus he'll have seen its not always greener on the other side just ask Filipe Luis and Diego Costa. Also there are plenty of good teams in Spain outside of Madrid and Barca. teams like Sevilla, Valencia, Villarreal, Atletico, heck even Real Betis... all competitive just not as competitive as Barca, Madrid and Atletico.

Yeah I think hes a great young player. We were linked with him years ago when he broke out at Porto. He went to Wolves for peanuts in all reality because he is easy a 30-50m midfielder in the next 1,2 or 3 years. Also coming from Porto and going to the Championship is an interesting step but probably makes his adaption to the PL much better because hes done the championship, which is a gruelling league physically speaking.

Regardless if we could have got him or not, we got somebody who has huge potential. I think we should stop looking at what ifs and give the guy we got every chance because he is extremely highly thought of in Spain. Even comparing him to Alisson or the price tags so to speak, Alisson had one season at Roma where he played regularly, I have no doubts hes a good goalkeeper (currently yeah hes maybe better than Kepa although theres plenty of room for growth still) but all this talk of Alisson being one of the top 5 in the world shite is insane. Neuer, Oblak, De Gea, Courtois, Navas all these guys are much better. Even the boy Ederson for City I think as a goalkeeper hes probably on par with him although hes his understudy with Brazil.

Would say good work by the board but it was their mistake (maybe a harsh word but generally think they extremely overestimated him) in the first place that led to us ending up with this guy, who unfortunately just didn't ever look good enough last season and is so uncharacteristically suited to how Sarri wants to play. Its a shame because I think that he may go on and rescue his career so to speak and the sort of physical profile he has (despite the fact hes on the deck more often than not going shoulder to shoulder with 5 ft 10 players) would compliment our MF a bit too, we lack height in it (unless Barkley is a regular gives us a bit but think Kovacic is nailed on for LCM) but ultimately no point in him sitting here not playing when we can get some cash for him and no point in him being here if hes not of any use to the manager. Even scarier, Chalobah isn't exactly a brilliant footballer but he would have put much better performances in with the amount of game time Baka got. Thats the harsh truth of it all.

Yeah 100%. Having a striker in the team who's not scoring, ok he isn't scoring that is an issue but hes not exactly letting the team down because hes doing everything else you'd expect. I watched the City game today, ok Aguero didn't score but he did everything else you'd want him to do, fair enough its not exactly a perfect comparison because Aguero is an elite striker, one of the best finishers I've seen and will get goals but he contributed without scoring today. If Morata can manage to get goals (I'm honestly thinking he can get 10-15, some might agree I'm sure some will disagree but no doubt there's plenty of ability in him although I think mentally somethings not quite right) but lets say the games he doesn't score and do what he did the other day, fair enough. I think people are under the impression hes not got anything else to offer but goals, where as we've all seen he can play a bit as well. Obviously as well his price will never help him. People probably automatically expected he was close to being the finished article when we got him, which when you spend 50-60 odd million on a player who scored 21 goals for Real Madrid the season beforehand, its a very fair assumption but many also knew he was still a project because he had never actually been the lead guy for any other team in his career (bar maybe half a season at Juventus?), again it shouldn't be an excuse good players can play anywhere but we seen at the start of last season he definitely can play and can score goals.. he missed some big chances, maybe affected his confidence, maybe hes not as good a finisher, maybe not ruthless enough but this sort of thing reminds me of Edison Cavani at Napoli (I think when we played them he could probably have scored 4 in that game in Naples but he missed some big chances) and even now he still misses some big sitters but it doesn't affect him, he just gets on with it and goes and scores another fuck knows how ever many he gets in a season now a days haha. I think its mentality that's the problem for Morata, I think if he had that sort of mindset and confidence these guys have he'd be fine, its all in all being a clinical finisher yes and we've seen it with Costa, Drogba, Anelka, even Lampard guys like these over the years but how often do you think they let a miss get them down?

True but I think when everything clicks in MF and attack we will manage to get a top 4. Maybe not having a 20 goal a season striker will prevent us from going further than where we will this season, some people will say as well that we might not make top 4 just because we don't have a top CF but I generally don't think that will make a difference and wasn't the reason we didn't get it last season (defensively we weren't as good last season and there was a run of 2 or 3 games against smaller teams - over Christmas time I think - that I feel ultimately cost us because we gave up far too many stupid goals and some players seemed to down tools). As well as that, if we don't get trampled over in the bigger games against teams who will be trying to get top 4 as well, we should be fine but I don't want to get this idea of us having to score 5 to win 5-3 or 4 to win 4-2 etc because we've given up stupid goals, which with the style and individuals who could potentially make errors (particularly Luiz and Alonso defensively) will maybe happen sooner rather than later. Regarding Morata and the Torres feeling I'm getting the same one sometimes but still think there is something there that wasn't with the whole Torres situation, hopefully he can get a few goals in the next games and get the monkey off his back so to speak because its an inevitable comparison if he continues to struggle although they are different players.

We were never going to realistically challenge for the title regardless if we had Aguero upfront or Morata. Our defence is still a big big problem still. Left full back will be an issue eventually. I like Alonso and think he can do a job but against the bigger and better teams he might find himself targeted along with David Luiz because when we don't have the ball he tends to do stupid things, always has and always will just the way he is. We will be a good team to watch when everything clicks, its going to be a good change but at the same time we won't be title challengers in Sarri's first season. Top 4 has to be the most realistic target but again if hes thinking we need 2 or 3 months to be a very good team then who knows. Morata's performance yesterday wasn't awful, like many have said missing a goal and a goal can change his fortunes perhaps but no Higuain was a huge mistake, hes guaranteed to score goals.

Sarri expects some issues with the whole team adapting never mind one player so it’s only realistic to expect it but I think in 3-5 weeks we’ll have a lot more of a grasp Of things and will still only improve from there one . Good players can play anywhere, I have no doubts regarding Jorginho or Kovacic adapting.

Think in another 3-5 games we will really start to see the gains of his philosophy. He’s changed a bit in short time but get these boys who were st the WC up to match fitness and integrated in the squad as well as being more fine tuned with his style and we are looking at a good season. People complain still about goals but we scored 3 today, 2 from open play. How many times can we say under Conte last season we scored more than one goal from open play after December?

Good start, plenty to work on, plenty of players to still get match fitness and in the first 11. All in all a pretty decent first game.