OneMoSalah

If we continue to play 3-5-2 and theoretically he was to come here then where would Eden play? Dybala is an amazing player, on par with Eden in my eyes (still both have so much potential) but I doubt he'd be happy to be shoehorned into a right forward position at Chelsea, for instance if he went to a Real or Barca maybe he'd understand that he isn't going to be the main man and would accept such a role but he is a second striker, not a winger and Chelsea isn't Barca/Real. For me him, Mbappe, Dembele and a few others have the potential to be the Messi and Ronaldo sort of level players for their generation.

He was pretty poor but honestly was Hazard, Cesc, Kante or Baka or in fact anybody else in MF and FW positions that were involved really that much better? We struggled because we didn't have any real width or a focal point in my eyes. Once Morata went off we were fucked, nobody to occupy their center halfs and to turn them the other way, to free up space for those guys to get into the half spaces. Even the wide center halfs were struggling to find Hazard or a Willian in those half spaces like usual. I think we could of done with another winger/10/second striker in the summer to compete and replace a Willian or Pedro but then we would struggle to shift those two guys and Musonda would be loaned again, to the uproar of everybody (probably).

People were asking before the season started why actually loosing Matic would matter because of Bakayoko's pending arrival and after seeing his performance vs Man City a few times over, he just doesn't have the technical attributes Matic has. Matic is no Busquets or Casemiro like I've seen his stats being compared to and also about two seasons ago I'm sure there was plenty members on here saying he was the best DM/top 5 in his position in Europe, which was ludicrous, but technically he is a sounder operator than Bakayoko is. I think Baka's physical side is his strongest attributes along with his ability to win the ball back at present: he is mobile, powerful, good at breaking into space, has good stamina but he just lacks that bit of composure when under pressure and that technical skill with the ball which Matic has (despite this Matic is still quite limited also) but ultimately this is what we could of done with in the middle of the park playing against City and their high energy pressing, a little bit of composure. Although again he came on against Arsenal and took the game by the scruff of the neck, so perhaps just an off day but still think he can improve how he uses and is with the ball. And teams will look to press us after seeing that match I'm sure. Although I'm positive it will come, Bakayoko is by no means poor technically and playing every week at Chelsea against teams who will mix it up between sitting off and pressing will give him the chance to improve these aspects. I've been quite impressed at times by aspects of his performances, winning the ball back especially, some of his distribution has been good, his cameo against Arsenal was excellent and his performance against Atletico as well. There is potential there, for somebody who could grow to a Patrick Viera-esque sort of player (although I can't imagine he will go on to be as good as him, few will), very rounded, powerful and dominant midfield player but he will have to improve.

Conte got it right tactically and personnel wise against Atletico but got it wrong against City. Swapping Azpi for Moses was odd and sent out a message. Also we definitely need another CF, if Conte is willing to sub on Willian instead of Batshuayi at like 30 odd minutes, it says it all, Batshuayi isn't trusted by Conte. I don't think the schedule helps but we turned up against Atletico and played fantastically, I don't think Man City are that much better than Atletico, albeit different styles, so it was disappointing to lose and not to have created many chances.

Think Nagelsmann is a good coach for them maybe not this season or next but if he keeps getting experience at Hoffenheim he'd be a good fit eventually. Think he would be an AVB like move for them at present haha, perhaps overwhelm him with the demands there, at least Tuchel has gotten a bit more experience than Nagelsmann and had two decent seasons at Dortmund despite how it ended.

I think Carlo getting sacked at Bayern has been coming. He's never really set them up to the standards they showed domestically under Pep and has failed to find an alternative to reinforce the team and try to move away from relying on the use of Ribery and Robben who are both getting on. Sure losing Alonso and Lahm can't of helped either, coupled together with the sale/loan of Douglas Costa - another strange one - and failure to improve the current players he had, if it didn't happen now, it would of at the end of the season.

Aguero missing out doesnt matter. Gabriel Jesus has been just as impressive for them since moving there.

Had Alaba on toast all night. What a performance. Decision making is extremely impressive for a 18 year old.

Best all round performance in the shirt so far. Wasn't bullied off the ball like he had been at times in the PL, held it extremely well at times and showed he has got the strength to hold off players like Godin and Lucas, which by no means necessary are push overs. He also has got excellent pace at times, he doesn't look quick but he has shown in the last few games he can shift. This is him only just getting started here, wait to he's had a few more months here he'll be completely used to the system and league, I can see him becoming a firm fans favourite here.

Honestly think because of the level of opposition this game was almost on par with the game against Everton at Stamford Bridge last season in terms of high level performance. David Luiz made an arse of the first half effort but honestly we were always in control, always looked threatening, the 352 worked a treat so kudos to Conte for having the balls to change from the title winning system as well. Hopefully more of the same against City

Cesc has to start in this game in some position even if it's as a 10. If not we will struggle to play through an extremely stubborn Atletico side. Will be interesting though have a feeling they might go with a front 3 to play up against our back 3.

Always seems to have a pass up his sleeve when he's under pressure, honestly I think he is the best CB we have speaking in terms of using the ball. Sure Luiz is great on it too but think Andreas is better with it. Very impressed

Second goal was something else. His finishing is top notch all round anyway.

Poor decision making all day long. Too many touches or not timing passes right, shame because he carries the ball well in moments and can open space up for people but today he was frustrating.

Not going to beat around the bush to be honest but who cares what he said. I read the article and the quote "The times I did play it was like an audition. And that is never healthy." got me thinking did he expect to be given the starting birth or wouldn't have to make an impression in limited playing time if he wasn't in favour or first choice? Just a crappy dig at the club.

Thought we were pretty crap to be honest but I did see enough of Conte's Juventus to know this isn't a big worry as they could get results like this playing poorly. Surprised we kept a clean sheet as Stoke really had some excellent deliveries from corners in first half that normally we are pretty strong at defending but we struggled to cope with them at time.

Looked good tonight. Hopefully he can get more minutes in the next few games

What I'm meaning is if ANYBODY else gets a red card its nowhere near as big a deal. At least we've found a scapegoat now Iva left, always one positive.

Here we go again. Hopefully no transfer window bans.

I seriously hope your joking. He's been one of the standout CM in the PL so far for me and it's no surprise United are sitting joint at the top of the league now that they've added that balance to their team. He's pretty fucking excellent for a donkey. Okay sure Baka has age on his side being younger than him but they aren't exactly the same player and for me, he would of been a better option than Danny Drinkwater. Like mentioned above he's proven in the PL and if he wasn't 29 and was a bit younger, people would be annoyed with the decision the club made even more than they are now because it was widely reported that Conte wanted to keep Nemanja (despite what people were made to believe). We didn't need to sell, we turned down a fortune for Diego Costa in January so it isn't like we were struggling for 40M. Just baffles me.

Honestly Neymar is such a wank. Imagine strutting about demanding to take all free kicks penalties etc and then getting upset when someone who has been there for like 4 seasons questions your attitude when you've been at the club for maybe 2 months, trying to call all the shots to help himself more than the team. He'll never be in Messi or Ronaldo's league. If he thinks he will ever win a Ballon D'or with that attitude he has another thing coming. Imagine leaving an extremely challenging and high pressure environment like Barcelona for PSG anyway. I mean talking about Cavani he was fine playing second fiddle with Ibra years and years ago, maybe he wasn't overly impressed playing on the wing but he did it can't see him being too annoyed about having to play with Neymar.

He's average and perhaps not even better than Rudiger, well he's definitely not better than Rudiger who in an ideal world would start ahead of him most games but he's getting some flak on here which is maybe OTT. He's like our scapegoat now. Red cards happen in football.

Your not serious with the whole Cahill ruining shit are you... so what he got sent off it happens, Luiz got sent off but he didn't ruin anything. Jeez. People will be blaming Cahill for everything this season ranging from anybody missing an open net to any sort of disaster at this rate. "Gary Cahill to blame for Kim Jon Un shooting nuclear missiles" Anyway, hopefully Charly gets a good amount of minutes in the match to show us what he is all about. Kenedy at LWB too would be nice. Actually hope the two of them play the full 90.

Or because he's our longest serving regular first team player? He's won everything yeah but he's been here since January 2012 and has very much been involved in every success we've had since then.

I hope so. The game he played against City for Gladbach last year at the Etihad in th CL he looked a bit overrawed with Agueros pace though which is another concern I have, he's no slouch but Aguero alone is a handful let alone with Gabriel Jesus too who has really impressed me. Still hopefully he goes with Christensen and although I didn't think Gaz had a bad game v Arsenal, i really liked Rudiger in that left centre half position.