OneMoSalah

Rio Ferdinand... proving that you don't need to be particularly clever to get a job in the media and in particular BT sport. Don't think he's not got the technical ability (sure he's not the best ball playing defender but there are worse), is it not quite normal for teams in the premier league in particular to punt the ball long or lose it when they are being pressed high and being squeezed in... even crap teams have made teams like Barca, Real Madrid, Bayern etc. look like we did in the first half when trying to play out. I think he's looked much better out on the left side of the back 3, usually you wouldn't see him being keen to go out to the channel to play against a forward/winger in a back 4 but he has to at times and isn't doing too badly imo. Hes looked 10 times the player he was last season and let's hope it continues. I think a left footed Center back arriving in January would be a massive threat to his place in the starting 11 because I think Azpi is a better defender.

I'm not sure how he's doing and wasn't really impressed with him last season but he could be a viable option to compete for the left wing back role next year but again maybe not. Still having two left footed options for left wing back would be nice rather than one leftie and a righty, just need to dump Ivanovic now to keep him away from right wing back position if Moses ever picks up an injury because if Ivan ever plays there he will get destroyed.

I think him getting marked in games like that is sometimes good for guys like Pedro, Moses and Costa because it sometimes frees space up for them in central areas (well if they could keep control of the ball at times lol). It's also a compliment to how good Eden is that he needs to have so many people are him to make sure he can't have a huge effect and there will be other games like that but I think if other teams wants to focus on him and let guys like Pedro get that sort of space like he got for his goal it could end up costing them, like the equaliser. Sure we all want Hazard free and to be able to get in scoring positions and create chances but im sure other teams will also stifle us like Spurs did first half. Can't believe he's being slagged for his performance though, Messi would have struggled for a while if he was in our team and we were playing like that first half. Surprised we weren't 3-0 down

That was one occasion if I remember right in the first 10 minutes where Tadic beat him then did two or three faints (thought it was quite needless after the first one to be honest as it was an excellent chance to get it in early to catch our defence out) before crossing the ball in where it came to nothing. I've checked the stats and on average they aren't great for him in 1v1 duels but I don't think that means he struggles in 1v1s, this is his first season in England (he played in England for Bolton and Sunderland yes but I'm discounting these because he played in Italy after for however many years) at a top club, he's only played 7 or 8 games and he's already been declared a weak link or someone who struggles 1v1 although he is more than competent at this as he has shown bar two or three moments that stick out with Adama Traore, Kyle Walker and Dusan Tadic (I think the three of them would give a lot of people problems to be honest). He is an excellent option because he offers a different threat, some of his crossing is very good, he's got good stamina and is strong in the air, perhaps he's not to everyone's taste as he looks quite lethargic in comparison to some players but I can't see why people would want to think of him as a weak link already when we've conceded 1 goal in 7 games and he wasn't even involved in the goal we did concede. I think next season he will be even better, Conte turned Lichsteiner from an average defensive player to a very good one so I have high hopes he can improve Alonso even more.

You mean when Adama Traore blitzed past him (and for me, he rather intelligently didn't try and touch him where he would of conceded a foul) v Middlesborough and when Kyle Walker flicked the ball over his head? To be fair they are probably two of the quickest players in Europe, or at least I would think Traore would be in that list anyway, Marcos is not slow but I wonder how many players will be able to cope with Adama Traores pace in situations like that? Not many. Again Walker took it over his head in a 1v1 what is he meant to do foul him? I wonder how many fouls he has conceded in all honesty because it cannot be that many. Willians football last season was better than the year we won the league. No denying it. It's too soon to write him off, or we might as well have written Hazard off after last season.

If he comes back next year he will likely be competing directly with David Luiz. Both play in the middle of the back 3 (or at least when Gladbach have used a back 3 this season AC has) and it is probably the best place for both of them, as both can step in to midfield and play without leaving us too exposed. Will be interesting to see who gets the nod next season if we continue with the back 3 as Luiz has been good since coming back but showed signs of his old self for the Spurs goal and in a few other instances.

Along with Juventus, Spurs and Crystal Palace oddly enough but yeah based on your other posts in this thread it seems you've written off a guy 4 months into his Chelsea career. Along with a ridiculous comment about Ba and Remy being two of the best strikers we have had at the club under Roman.. I seen him play for Marseille last year a lot and I was impressed, he was a bit raw but he always seemed to make the right runs, had good strength to cope with the center halves and ended up with 17 goals. The season before he had 9 goals in his first season in France, most of them coming from the bench because Gignac started most of their games but I suppose that doesn't really matter either does it? Marseille fans didn't just like him because of his personality, it was because of his onfield feats. also are footballers not allowed to have personalities or do they all have to be emotionless, boring robots who can only play football and do nothing else?

Brilliant second half v Spurs, along with some of the other games since going to 343, he has been one of the best signings in the league for sure.

€20M when they win Serie A, on top of €5m from this season along with a €4m bonus after so many matches and however much we got for him last season (think it was €1.5m). So €30m or more? For someone who was absolutely shite for us and played his best stuff in Italy as a second striker/number 10 for Fiorentina? Good deal. Also not covering all his wages for 2 years... not the worst deal.

I think he's becoming more and more composed in possession now too with us playing out with this 3 man defence, which along with his defensive skills is very good for us although I think he struggled with Kane a lot first half. Ps. He has to be considered as the new captain/vice captain of Chelsea when Terry and Ivanovic go in the summer because he has also developed in to a real leader too as well as an excellent defender here. Crazy to think he cost £7M.... £7,000,000.... brilliant

I think loaning him to Watford was logical because they have an Italian manager who usually sets up with a 3 man defence and wing backs where he could develop and learn the role before maybe being considered for a place here in a similar position... and I'm sure the club thought the same considering Conte always thought about using 3 at the back and wing backs eventually. Shame it's not worked out but would have been a good loan if he could get in to the team in that left wing back role ahead of Holebas.

Are the people who are criticising Alonso the same ones criticising Willian. Nobody can win at this club can they haha? I can't remember him putting a foot wrong in all honestly, it's not possible to win every 1v1 (well it could be but honestly find me a player with 100% defending in 1v1s) and I'm sure Alonso had created the joint top amount of chances in the match, or so they said on BT Sport.

Oh come on, he played 15 minutes when we were shutting up shop and missed one chance.... Some of you lot are ridiculous, wasn't that when we needed to upgrade on Pedro in the summer because we didn't have good back up to Willian, who was our best player in the PL last season. Ridiculous.

Yes let's try sign Mahrez who has been anonymous for Leicester this season, which I'm not surprised because last season was definitely a one off. There are other players, better players out there. Could James play in a role like Hazard or Pedro? Perhaps but I don't think it would be a natural fit for him, although he played RW for Porto.

Not a chance Barca are going to try sign him, no disrespect to him because he's been good for us this season but let's not get carried away. I've seen him being called a world class wing back too but he's not world class, he's been good in this new system but if your world class after only 4 months then god knows about everyone else. The first half we were poor... him and Pedro couldn't hold on to the ball to save their lives. Still I think we should look to reward him with a new contract, along with Courtois and Costa.

I know Zouma is just coming back from his injury and playing more and more now with the u23s but I think he might struggle to dislodge Azpilicueta from the team in that right center back role just now, firstly because I think Azpilicueta has a huge advantage playing that role from when he was a full back, he knows when to go wide to engage an opponent and when to stay narrow and secondly I think Conte won't want to change a winning team despite Zouma being a central defender and Azpilicueta being a fullback. Both can be quite sloppy in possession too and Azpilicueta still needs to come wider when are playing out at times to stretch the pitch and give Luiz or Kante or whoever an option. I can also see Conte trying to sign Romagnoli (or whatever he's called) from Milan again in January or in the summer to give him a left footed option for the left side to eventually replace Cahill. His Italy and Juventus defence was very much similar, he always had a right footed center back on the right side of Bonucci and a left footed center back on the left side and I would be surprised if he doesn't eventually get a left footed center back to replace Cahill in the team just for balance and especially for playing out.

Yes because let's give Batshuayi, a center forward, in Pedro's place just for the sake of giving him minutes, ahead of Pedro who is being very productive right now in this role to the point where he's keeping out our player of the year from last season. Also lets not start this again, buying 25-30+m pound players who play in a certain place only to (eventually) play them in wrong positions ahead of players who are better suited to these positions.... have we not learned from using Luiz at CDM, Torres at RW, Mata at RW, Ramires at RW etc from previous years? Fair enough Moses is doing excellently at right wing back and Azpilicueta the same at right center back but I couldn't see Batshuayi having a great deal of joy or even getting playing time as a right winger (well they really are playing more like number 10s to be honest) when you consider William and Pedro are much more better suited to these positions. He will get minutes and has to also realise that he might need to wait a bit before playing 90 mins every week but let's be honest you wouldn't want him starting ahead of Costa right now, would you?

Would you take off Hazard, Costa, Pedro, Moses etc. when they are playing that good before the 75th or 80th minute mark anyway? We have no mid week CL or Europa League games. Also Batshuayi is good enough it's just Costa is playing excellent.

Hopefully we can get him a premier league loan next season to a team like a Bournemouth or Southampton because despite the fact he's come on leaps and bounds, to go from Vitesse straight to Chelsea is still a step too big I think... But he is probably the closest out of the group of u21s out on loan along with Bertrand and maybe Musonda.

I see a lot of people saying we still need an upgrade but I think he's been very good since we've gone to 3-4-3, he looks like he's got that bit between his teeth, to prove a point, where as last season he was a rabbit in the headlights (he did okay in some games for Guus to be honest), it's a testament to him that he's been keeping Willian out the team (despite the circumstances which meant Willian missed one or two games) because he's been rejuvenated and showed not only a good attitude that little bit of class he showed at Barcelona when he first broke in the team there and was playing regularly... not sure why Willian wasn't even in the squad despite playing for Brazil last week either.

Was surprised we signed him but boy has he been excellent since coming into the team. Moses is getting a huge amount of praise but I think Alonso has been even better, excellent engine, technically sound and has a great cross on him, always puts it in to great areas. I am also surprised how strong he is in the air (although he is 6ft or there about) because he has quite a slight build but he gets up well and you often see he has a similar role to what Ivanovic had for when we are playing out/at goalkicks, if we have to go long and play aerially to get a knock down, he is quite often a target and normally wins it. If he keeps playing well he could get a call up for Spain for the next international break next year I think, they've been experimenting with 3-4-3 in some matches and he could probably slot in at LB with ease in that team.

He's not even played a full season for Ajax and we are already linked... Ridiculous. If we want a young striker - although we already have Batshuayi for a start (probably spelt wrong), Solanke and Traore - I would much rather see us pursue Marcus Rashford because I can't see Mourinho dropping Zlatan for him or making him first choice although he was probably their best player when he played last year.

If we sign Verratti then there's no way we will continue with 3-4-3... Kante-Verratti is far too short and lightweight in midfield, fair enough they are mobile and get stuck in but I've always believed we need some sort of physically imposing pivot player or box to box midfielder in there and Contes always had that with Juventus and Italy... although if we play 352, then maybe Matic-Kante-Verratti with Costa as a 9 and Hazard as a second striker...? Sounds interesting.

Boy how wrong was I saying Icardi would be a better player for us haha. Ancelotti said Dybala and Neymar will be best two players in the world soon and I totally agree. Would be a dream signing.

When do Chelsea ever get it right with young academy players though?