OneMoSalah

Spain were far too slow under Del Bosque the last few seasons when Costa played regularly for them. If they'd move the ball at the tempo they do now when he was in charge of his last tournament he'd of easily fitted in better because there would arguably be more space for him to get into. Technically he has got good ability and actually does see things but hes not at the level that some of the other strikers they've had in the past are but one thing that is clear with Diego Costa is if you give him the ball in dangerous situations or critical chances he will score goals. He is probably their best striker in that regard but I think Morata is maybe a bit more favoured as was Paco Alcacer at times under Del Bosque (Morata not so much under Del Bosque but) because how they would all link together with their midfielder and wingers.

Yes hes talented but he has played 8 games of football in his whole career. And that brace are the only 2 goals he has scored this season. 25-30m for somebody who has played 7 games in Italy. Actually surprised we didn't try sign him because we like expensive young players who have not proved very much, I generally am unsure if he will ever become a top player. I think hes obviously got some talent but he will need what 4 or 5 years playing every week to grow as a player? Why did he not stay at Genoa and do that? Our own Lewandowski? People have been complaining about us signing up and coming players and not more established players for a while now. This just defeats the purpose.

More fuel to the fire. Hes gonna be gone end of season isnt he? Purely based on the clubs way of taking the previous comments about transfers etc apparently they asked him why he was saying these things to the media. Hes not wrong but hes picking the wrong fight I think now after that previous talk about transfers, if I were him I'd be trying to get somebody in Emenalo's role (if we keep this set up) that he knows personally or has previously worked with to give him a triumph card if there is any chance hes gonna be here next season (although maybe somebody from the clubs past as well could be considered, but personally would that be as beneficial as somebody who is the managers guy?). Give him somebody who will also fight for the players he wants, has the same ideology and will side with him more, I don't think Roman actually sits and butts heads with Conte directly but his advisors do/did. .

Mate Milan are 13 games unbeaten playing the best football they've played in years. De Gea is a good reactive goalkeeper. But Courtois is always in the right position and makes "easy looking" saves purely in comparison because he positions himself a lot lot better. I'm not saying De Gea isnt a very good keeper but his "world class" saves are severely overrated, he has good reflexes but his positioning at times is quite shocking and hes lucky he can get to them. That Seville header save is one of the most overrated saves I've seen in years, its basically right at him but hes made it look like some sort of fucking impossible spin required while the media have topped it saying he done that while completing a replica of the Mona Lisa and saving 32 babies from a burning building. Courtois makes that save? Nothing. Lloris? Nothing. Cech? Nothing. We benched Cech because Courtois was better and the long term solution, we talk about a lack of planning and vision but that was one of the best calls we've made recently because Courtois was 23 at the time, one of the best GKs in Europe and was a long term solution to replace Cech.

Na I disagree, I think hes a pretty good keeper but he's not world class. Would cost far too much money, arguably 60m upwards, I think he's maybe a better distributor than Courtois but don't think in terms of shot stopping or commanding his area he comes close.

Courtois, Costa and Hazard were really the only players who have repeatedly flirted with other clubs if you want to call it that, or talked/their agents have talked about other clubs and their interest in the past few seasons on a regular basis (Courtois - Real/Atletico Madrid, Costa - Atletico Madrid, Hazard - Real Madrid). Its not necessarily a betrayal for me because modern day football is what it is and these things happen on a seasonal basis at clubs all over the world but again it still doesn't paint the greatest image to us Chelsea fans although it happens now a days and it shouldn't be taken as extremely as it is. Really? I think hate is a strong word. Also plastic attitude? Why mention shit like that, other clubs fans say half of Chelsea fans are apparently plastic and normally I'd say its just bullshit although seeing posts like the one of yours I've just quoted, sometimes makes me think they aren't always wrong because that is just a stupid post mate and screams a similar sort of attitude as you put it, there's no way if your a fan of any club you 'hate' a player from that club. Players don't just sign for clubs play there for 4 years or whatever and not be committed in any sense or regard. He is not easily replaced, Alisson is a pretty good keeper but still not as good as Courtois who for me is in the top 5 in Europe without a doubt. Donnarumma still has a lot to learn although he is an impressive talent but again he's not as good as Courtois and who even says he would be? Also not hard to get? A 19 year old, Italian with over 100 appearances at his boyhood club? Not hard to get? Football isn't that easy. He'd easily cost in the upwards of 70M at least considering he's on a massive contract. Alisson was linked to Liverpool for something between 60-80m and no disrespect to GKs but they should never cost that much money, just as many other outfield players shouldn't.

I think hes the only big player we have who isn't actively looking at his options along with Kante, which shows a great side to him, where as Eden/Courtois maybe re-evaluating their options a bit more. Nothing against them doing that either but, thats modern day football and life in general.

Yeah the media are nuts, they need to stop thinking we are going to buy a 29 year old who is on about 350k p/w considering the penny pinching we've done in the last few seasonss.

Yes from that core but the main successes came in like what a period between 2004 to 2010... we’ve won the league twice since then with these “weak minded players” and a worse team than the one from 2012 (we started trying to change the team and age in 2010/11 in Carlo’s second season by using youth players), fuck Mourinho and Conte must be miracle workers, surely? Or again your over exaggerating about the lack of quality of the squad.

Moratas been here’s 6 months or something and he’s just as bad as Torres... sums up Chelsea fans.

Not a chance, 2011-12 was shocking and even then the year under Jose/Hiddink was just as bad although we were on about Torres' time at the club. Sure, 11-12 was salvaged due to 2 cup wins but lets not even say that those two cup wins can just magically sweep the 6 months of utter shite that happened in that whole season under the rug. If this team or squad is nowhere near the quality we had in 2012, which had the likes of a 34 year old Didier Drogba, Frank Lampard, Florent Malouda, Michael Essien, Paulo Ferreira, Ryan Bertrand, Ashley Cole, Raul Meireles, Branislav Ivanovic, Jose Bosingwa, Solomon Kalou... then we are seriously fucked. Or you are just extremely over exaggerating. Maybe a bit more character than this team yes but quality? Not a fucking chance. 2011-12 despite the CL win was a very poor season by all accounts.

Nobody ever said Morata was as good or at least meant to be as good as Drogba and Costa. Drogba in his best years was undoubtedly world class and if anybody disagrees I'll argue to I am blue in the face, I mean 10 winning goals in 10 cup finals, if your not world class with that sort of record or never were then fuck knows (although he ever only scored 20 goals+ in the same season like twice). Costa is probably as close to world class without actually being world class, seeing as many people here believed he was a limited footballer or whatever, although in almost 3 months at Atletico without 6 months of football he has been absolutely crucial for them it just shows that he is a top player and now we've got a striker who is struggling, a huge miss. Morata is a good player and will eventually be an even better player but to even say hes as good as Diego Costa who was arguably the catalyst when Atletico won La Liga and has scored maybe 100 goals in the past 5 seasons is a bit much, although Alvaro is a good player in his own right and has huge potential to become a top top player. Also at least with Torres we weren't as bad as this? Are you serious? We finished like 6th in 2012 and only qualified for the CL for the next season because we won it. I mean its okay to say we are struggling but that is an outrageous statement if I've ever seen one. Torres, ironically, was supported thoroughly by probably 50% of the fan base on here for over 2 seasons and many believed that we needed to change our tactics to accommodate him to turn him back into the player he was despite the fact his knees were shot and he was fucking shit but Morata after 10 games without a goal is all of a sudden a Sunday league player. Or so I'm gathering from various posts on here. 100% pal. Absolutely bonkers. It will change again, I think hes only a goal off changing his fortunes, if that goal v United counted it would of helped big time or if he stuck that one away in the first 5 mins but he was unlucky.

Think it was like 6-8 weeks but it was announced after the Arsenal game I'm sure?

Nobody gave us a chance last season either though particularly after the first half. Also vs Barca nobody gave us a chance and we should have won the game. These things are possible but it will be tough and a week after that second half performance vs United, the team needs to stand up and be counted. Would be good but like you said we need to be clinical and City need to play a bit poorer.

Out with a hamstring injury, which is a shame because I think he could have been useful against United. For an attacking midfield player hes quite a physical player, takes the ball well on the half turn, would of opened up a bit more room for us in the final third imo, only criticism I'd have of our first half is we only got behind United twice, I think somebody like Barkley taking the ball on the half turn in certain areas could of allowed us to break through them a bit quicker and get in behind more.

Tbf its easy to say that and in some ways I agree but at 24, a year or two in China, makings shed loads of money, he could go and do what Paulinho did for instance... from what I could see he wasn't playing as often at Atletico and when he did play was quite poor in comparison to what he had showed beforehand for them, also he had fallen out with certain members of their training staff as well (or so I thought I read?). Its an odd one but it could rebuild his career if its a short term solution. He won't be first or last guy to do this either, to move to China at a younger age, I mean Oscar did it too... although I am glad we found somebody who was willing to pay what they did for him because he was beyond average.

To be honest, if we finish inside the top 4 (its still possible), tie Hazard and Courtois down on new deals in the summer and make some good purchases will we still be in crisis? I think its inevitable regardless of who's in charge, we will sign at least 4 or 5 players in the summer, purely because I doubt that whatever manager and the club is so blind to see that we desperately need to rejuvenate parts of the squad, particularly wing backs/full backs and attack, after the whole I need new players talk from Conte and also the fact we've signed some second rate footballers recently. I think if we get Hazard and Courtois on new deals for the summer it will set a good precedent and the club will hopefully try to build on that because they along with Kante and Azpi are crucial to our team. I don't think we are that much off many of the other teams, certainly the likes of United, Liverpool and Spurs. City maybe we are a bit off but who isn't? Lets say a new right wing back, another winger, a better CM to play with Kante... think the likes of Morata (first half of season was good, second half so far not so good), Barkley, Emerson and (despite my reluctance to say this as he has been a disaster for us so far) Bakayoko will all be better next season (well surely he can't be any worse?). Also if we change manager, like we seen with Conte last year, it could also rejuvenate players who have under performed (although I don't think we should be looking to change manager as the first resort, its hardly like Conte has said the players betrayed him or anything like Jose did) but who knows? Any manager who comes in has got a much better platform than we all think at this moment in time if last season is anything to go on (considering how shockingly poor Hazard, Costa, Azpi, Courtois and the rest of the squad was in comparison to their usual standards), even more so if Hazard and Courtois stay and sign new deals. If they don't, its a bit more difficult but they will still have guys like Azpi, Christensen (will be a key player for sure in our future) and Kante to build around and a bit more money to spend.

A repeat of last seasons result would be nice. Think this game will actually be quite close, I know we've had dodgy results and performances lately but can see us upping it for this game.

I think last season he looked good because the amount of times he actually faced up against opponents 1 v 1 was very minimal because full backs weren't sure to pick up Willian or Pedro or the actual wing back themselves, we could always overload centrally or have Willian/Pedro come out wide to create 2 v 1s in wider positions. When hes got space to run into from diagonals or whatever hes a different player because he doesn't have to do anything particularly spectacular except be there. His ability to take players on, for a former winger, is shocking. His end product is even worse. I thought last season he'd turned a corner and looked like he could of been a more than decent player here but this season, backwards steps.

He’s still arguably one of the top 5 CFs on the planet. If we have a chance and don’t take it because of his age we are stupid.

Honestly thought he was good in the football or first half too. Always seemed to be in right place. Obviously second half he went up another level as they did but

Tbf we all thought the same thing prior to the Barca game and in all fairness we did pretty well. Only thing is its almost impossible which Chelsea will turn up now a days.

There's still so many aspects of Morata's game that trump Lukaku's, I think scoring 20 plus a season consistently might take a while for Morata but I reckon he'll get there eventually but again as a CF when you've got Willians, Pedros, Hazards, Cescs all playing you've got to be able to do more than just get on the end of things. I think despite the lack of goals Morata is better suited to our team than Lukaku would be. I think we'll see a difference next season, Morata has got a good level of ability and I think a years experience of ups and downs in the PL will go a long way in his progression.

Selling him was incredibly stupid. Regardless of who we replaced him with, he has a good balance of technical and physical attributes and in certain games (like today) they would of been very useful. Today for them he was pretty fucking good. Like arguably the best player on the pitch.

100% but even then the club has to compete financially with the bigger clubs again in order to really progress, regardless of the coach or style. The transfer markets so inflated now a days 40m gets you Bakayoko, 5 years ago 40m got you Ozil or Sanchez etc so we cannot afford to dilly dally about penny pinching for the more established players if they are what we need or the coach wants. I generally hope Conte gets another summer and season to try and fix the problems we have and try another title challenge because he has shown that he can build a team like he did at Juventus. More technically proficient players would be a bonus as well, although Id still like to see us get another one or two bigger athletic players who have a pretty good technical skill set as well, Matic's been a huge loss and today showed that big time.