OneMoSalah

I dont think Conte planned to use wing backs this season he started with a 4-1-4-1 probably thinking he could get it to work but since the change to 3-4-3, hell he gave Moses a chance so why not Baba?

50m for van Dijk would be a mistake. But thats modern day football for you, over priced players in the Premier League.

would rather take the 50M and throw it at Juventus for Alex Sandro or Bilbao for Laporte... So I am extremely glad than hes not leaving Southampton.

Fuck the goal difference. Win the game, then win the next game and win the league. Who gives a fuck if its 1-0, 2-1, or 3-2 as long as its two wins from the next 2 games I couldnt care less.

To be honest even at Juventus he was hugely inconsistent (think a few CL goals made everyone think he was this genuine top player) and has been the same at Real. Honestly would be a mistake to sign him to replace Costa I think. If he was an alternative to Costa from the bench maybe but like I said in another thread is he really good enough to push Costa and create healthy competition with him? Like Batshuayi, I don't think so.

Do you really think he is going to play on the left/ring ahead of Hazard, Willian or Pedro here? Regularly? I think we all know the answer to that. Not a chance. His best football has come down the middle (to be fair his one full senior season before we all get too excited regardless) and at the age of 18 he has shown composure and movement of an experienced center forward. Unfortunately now a days, as we've seen with many players in the premier league, different levels to what Mbappe is (better and worse), talent guarentees nothing. If anybody says Batshuayi wasn't a player with 'talent' before he came here, they are lying but just look how that has panned out so far.. talented still yes, but needs to progress and honestly I don't think hes a bad player just now but not at a high enough standard to compete with and push Diego. I doubt signing anybody who is still learning and still developing to compete with Diego is a good idea because chances are they aren't ready and will hardly play, we need to go down the lines of a Torres, okay not the best comparison but still, someone in their peak years, to come in, no need to develop for a few seasons and compete straight away.

I think technically he is excellent. He really suits playing closer to the striker, he has got a good footballing mind and unpredictability, can play one and two touches either simple or even with a flick eg assist for Hazard v Everton at the Bridge, assist for Costa v Spurs a few games ago as well as he can hit it with either foot incredibly well, similar to his mate Cazorla at Arsenal. He doesn't look remarkably quick but he always seems to have a good burst of acceleration when he needs it. Also his experience and attitude is very pleasing to see, not that I ever doubted it because even when he was at Barcelona he would play anywhere and work just as hard but I think Conte has free'd him up in comparison to last year and that along with his footballing intelligence has helped a huge amount. Under Hiddink he played a lot on the right and it didn't suit him really because he wasn't always close to the goal or striker. Different story now.

Surely bullshit. I can't imagine any manager, let alone Conte, replacing the fiery sort of player Diego Costa is with a different sort of player like Alvaro Morata.... no disrespect to Morata, he is good but he isn't even able of getting in the Real team ahead of Benzema who this season has struggled a lot (despite Morata outscoring him, Benzema has almost double the starts). Its not like Zidane hasn't been fair either when you consider Vasquez, Casemiro, Asensio, Kovacic, Nacho, even Morata considerable time from subs bench, all getting playtime ahead of some other guys too who have struggled. Plus who lets anybody sign a transfer deal away from the club who is at this important stage of the season with the league and cup final coming up? I could imagine Morata coming to compete with Diego but honestly can't see him replacing him.

I think this kid would be incredibly stupid to move here this summer coming up. Look at Michy Batshuayi, he has more first team experience than Mbappe, all Mbappe has to do is look at how his season has panned out playing week in week out for Monaco in comparison to Batshuayi's who has played maybe 700 minutes if hes lucky. I would hate to see us or any club sign this kid and kill his development, I watched him play v Dortmund in both legs and against Juventus the other night, he is fast, obviously intelligent off the ball in terms of his movements, reacts extremely well in the box and ice cool in front of goal and for me that strikes a resemblance to Thierry Henry (unfortunate comparison but anyone here to say Henry wasn't a world class player with those qualities is a liar). If I were him I would stay at Monaco for another year at least, hes 18 years old, he has got time on his side. On the flip side if hes moves, who is to say he will be anywhere near as successful as he has been at Monaco this season? He has also got the advantage of the standard of the French league not being as competitive or high as most of the other 'top' leagues in Europe, he should play another season or two and perhaps become a big fish in a small pond so to speak but by then he'd only be 19 or 20 or 21 and could make that move to a bigger club still. If he goes here, Manchester, Madrid, Barcelona, Bayern wherever he will have his development killed.

Watched him play at Celtic and also seen him vaguely in games for Southampton. Not worth 50m. He is a good player but still 50 million? When we have Zouma, Christensen, even Ake (not sure if he will ever make the grade but would rather let him get a chance than pay 50m for Van Dijk). 50m would get Laporte from Bilbao...

Pardew can fuck off. Inexperienced? Alonso has 220 senior games to his name... and even then if he was inexperienced Alonso has been along with Bertrand and Rose, one of the best left back/wing backs in the league this year I think. Plus hes going to be a Premier League Champion come end of this month, Pardew cant exactly say hes done that can he? Theres a reason why hes only managed at certain clubs because he has no idea what hes going on about.

Think he suits playing a slightly more advanced role close to Costa and Hazard in all honesty because he can get in those half spaces and find the runs from those two but Pedro looked decent against Everton and provides a good goal threat so its a tough choice.

I think there is genuine interest from Real and mainly Zidane, in Eden so if there was to be a bid deemed acceptable enough, I would imagine he'd go. No disrespect to Conte or Chelsea but Real Madrid, one of the household names in world football and Zidane, Eden's childhood hero, as his manager? Do people think he really would be 100% for staying? Not a chance. It would be the same if it were Barcelona. No clubs bar maybe Bayern and United (probably more of old) in terms of global stature can compete with these two on any level.

I'm sorry but there is no way either Neymar or Dybala will ever sign for Chelsea, Neymar is Messi's heir at Barcelona, if they dont go and sign Dybala that is. Even if you throw all the money in the world at them I doubt they come here. Also I'd have Neymar over Hazard, most definitely, Eden is excellent but Neymar is another level because he has that attitude that Messi and Ronaldo have to want to be that player. If we sell Hazard then Yannick Carrasco would be a good player to buy as a potential replacement, although I'd like Isco because he is very much in that same sort of mold Hazard is I'd say bar not as quick.

If we can sign two wing backs (Semedo&Alex Sandro would be unbelievable), a center back (or recall Christensen), central midfielder, winger and a striker of a good level then I think we will be doing well. But again I don't know because I can imagine Baba Rahman being a good option to play left wing back along with the likes of Baker and Abraham being considered for the next phase in their development here. Who knows but we cant stand still. We need to go and sign 3 or 4 quality players to provide depth and the ability to change games.

Deservedly chosen as captain I thought. Has been nothing but consistent and also he always has improved each year since being here. He is in my eyes the next logical option as captain if Cahill doesn't play next year.

Did we all see his celebrations for the goals when he was on the bench? "Bad apple" "wants to leave Chelsea" yeah about that.....

Not sure if this is serious or not but no I am not John Lennon. That isnt even John Lennon in the picture.

Can't believe people still think De Gea is a lot better than this guy. I have no idea why De Gea is seen as the best or second best keeper in the world because hes not. Hes not even the best in the Premier League.

As long as there is more hunger, desire and commitment than in some of the other games we've played recently I'll be happy because regardless of the result we need a positive performance so these guys can look in the mirror and go "fuck this, we can do better, we can go on to win the title" I have a feeling some of them are probably not as sure as they were 4 weeks ago and I don't think Conte believes as much that we can still do it based on the Man United game and also the interviews after the game.

Our defense was 'impenetrable' party because of the individual and collective performances of the 3 players playing center back but also the system and the fact Kante-Matic give so much infront of it. I don't think that its just David Luiz that has held the defense together like some would suggest, I would hate to imagine the team without Kante-Matic in front of it when we had that big unbeaten run because the work they did in their and the organisation as well was a huge help before teams even got in at the backline. Luiz's performances have been good, fair enough and he deserves to be in the team of the year but I feel the same as I did when we resigned him, we know he can have an absolute nightmare at times, over commit, overplay, lose focus, hes human fair enough and can make mistakes but hes still not much better than he was when we he left for PSG 2 or 3 years ago.

I dont think Torres was disliked. He was just shit. Its not like he was running about saying "Chelsea is shit, London is shit, Abramovich is a wanker and all the managers I've worked with here are cunts" or doing anything to be hated upon by the fans, he was just very poor and that had a lot of people frustrated because we all know what he could do 1 or 2 years before we got him. The only person I'd say that the fans at games made it hugely known that they disliked in the last 4 or 5 years, was Rafa Benitez purely because he is Rafa Benitez, because of all his Liverpool links and clashes with the club in past as well as the fact Di Matteo had won the CL beforehand. I wouldn't say people go to the games like "yeah that Costa is a fucking dickhead isnt he, I dont like him bla bla bla..." and the rest of it. People are frustrated by his performances, I get that, hes probably just as frustrated as anybody right now too but to say hes despised by supporters? Don't make me laugh. I'm still not sure how hes disregarded the club and fans here? This whole China offer is mindboggling, we are talking about a £100 million fee and a £650,000 per week pay packet, the clubs constantly being linked with other strikers like Morata (which is just a rumor although quotes from Morata show the interest was real but again these links are only discussed because of this Chinese clubs huge proposal to buy him) and at the end of the day football is a BUSINESS, players will look at moves to these odd leagues purely for the paypacket to be financially safe for the rest of their lives, to make sure their family have a great life etc. To say hes despised is almost as bad as when the guy/women was at the game with the 3 rats banner solely blaming Cesc, Costa and Hazard for Mourinho's sacking haha. Despite the fact we hadn't won in like fuck knows how many games and were 16th. The Costa I seem to remember at Atletico was the one who was world class and instrumental to their biggest success in recent history, we all knew he had a firey attitude and his performances at times weren't great but he had the balls to toe the line and would go head to head with guys like Ramos, Pepe, Varane, Mascherano etc, which is what we needed first and foremost and also who we wanted to sign. We do this every time we are linked with a player, we eventually get him after giving them all this praise saying they are great, what we need etc, that they may have issues but we can look past them then bang after a year or two years or three years they arent good enough or are bad apples or were never good enough to wear the shirt etc. Its odd but also its easier to look at somebody else and go they have better shoes than I do, or in this case they have better strikes than we do...

End of the day if he wants to go let him go. We've sold big players before and done alright and I imagine it would be the same even for someone like Eden Hazard.

One full season of professional football... playing every week... linked to teams for 110 Million euros. What suckers. I think if he came here he'd be like Batshuayi, stuck on the bench. He should stay in Monaco and develop play another 1 or 2 full seasons at the level he is right now. Then maybe he should look at moving. For all we know he might struggle to maintain the performances hes getting right now.

Was expecting this to happen sooner or later. I think hes been good for us most of the season but last few games hes shown glimpses of the good old lack of concentration hes always had. Its not particularly a major issue for me right now because he along with Azpi have been two of the most consistent center backs in England this year but I think he is the sort of guy who needs to be reminded constantly to be 100% focused. He has a shit tonne of experience though, so really it shouldnt be happening but hey we are all human. Saying that too I don't think hes looked fully fit since Aguero fucked him up either but hes been in the team ever since so I doubt its a major concern that would make Conte take him out indefinitely to rest/recover, especially now we have 6 games to go in the most vital part of the season for us.