Superblue

I agree, joining to replace Courtois with that price tag and a relatively young age for a goalkeeper with no Premiership experience I expected a bit of a rough ride this season but he has been excellent. And there is no doubt his distribution and ability on the ball is a different class. What we're trying to accomplish under Sarri and playing out from the back would not be possible without Kepa and Luiz. Rudiger is more than competent enough to play that way but Kepa is one of the best ball playing keepers I've seen around and Luiz for me is currently the best ball playing centre back in England, possibly Europe.

He played significantly better tonight. He looked far sharper, although i think the overall pressing of the team was much more in sync. He's never going to put his foot in like Kante but he does seem to intercept a fair few passes and tonight showed good anticipation getting in front of the opponent and nicking the ball. He was passing a lot more forward today too and looking at times to play the harder ball and penetrate.

And if that's fat, overweight or unfit then I'd happily swap with Higuain right now!

Before his Milan stint at the start of this season, most people I think would have looked at him as a top 10 striker in the world. Some people, especially those in Italy likely rating him closer to top 5. If he is coming here with a point to prove and is fit and raring (which he looks to be) we could have a real top player here who is also the type that could go on a goalscoring spree and kick start some momentum for us. A couple of early goals and showing a bit of steel up front and the crowd will be on a huge high for him having had to make do with Morata the last 18 months and he is the type to feed off that passion and enthusiasm.

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Yeah, I was a big fan of Carlo. Winning the double in that first season was superb, and I can also appreciate the success he has had across a multitude of big European clubs. But that rumour/story is a big taint on him if true because I think it was clear as day that Torres was a shadow of the player he was in his first couple of seasons at Liverpool.

Agreed, the warning signs were there with Torres for at least 12 months before Chelsea brought him. Liverpool buying Suarez in the same window and City buying Aguero the following summer for significantly lower fees makes the signing that much worse too.

Even if the club get this deal done today and signed off, I have a feeling that they may not announce it until tomorrow or if they do, it will be far later on. It feels it would be insensitive to do so at the moment with everything going on regarding Cardiff's Emiliano Sala.

This story this morning regarding Emiliano Sala doesn't look good. Let's all hope he and anybody else is found alive and well but it's not promising.

If we were going to bench Azpi in situations like that to favour a more attack minded player I'd rather stick one of our wingers there (Pedro or Willian) and at least have some proper attacking thrust. I've never seen anything from Zappacosta both defensively or offensively where I'd want him playing to be honest.

I'm still raging, got about 2 hours sleep. The NFL will bring a rule change in more than likely moving forward, won't change what happened. If anything it will probably come in and cost us next season given recent luck.

I do understand what you were saying because he does play in a risky way at times but I do think Luiz in Conte's first season and this season (besides the Spurs game) has shown a consistency to his game where he can now be trusted to be solid and dependable, on top of being an outstanding technical footballer.

I know what you're trying to say but we have won a Premier League and Champions League with David Luiz. He has his moments where you cringe but he's also just about the best ball playing centre back around and I do think during his second spell at the club his positives far far outweigh his negatives.

Exactly my point we replaced Lampard with Fabregas - a completely different player but changed the style and approach to his strengths rather than Lampard's and we've won 2 league titles since then. With regards to names I'm not sure, I don't watch the amount of European football i wish I could when i was younger but City brought Sane, Liverpool brought Mane and Salah. There are players out there who would suit the system we're trying to play with the characteristics we're looking for. The scouting department need to pull their fingers out. Or we convince CHO to stay and give him that opportunity.

The club would be silly to try and replace Hazard directly just like when they needed to replace Lampard, we brought in a completely different player and changed the approach. I think for the club to adequately replace him, it needs two players to be purchased. I don't see anyone else that can replace the chance creation and dribbling ability of Hazard being able to conjure something out of nothing. I do think though that there are wide players who are quicker, can play in a more direct way rather than feeling the need to drop deep and are more comfortable and prepared to press high and aggressively. There are players who can operate out wide also who may not be as creative but can offer similar or potentially better goal outputs. For me the club would need to concentrate on buying a goal scoring winger who plays more direct than Hazard and would replace his goal output and a much more creative player to play the central midfield role who would in theory take over the creative output that you lose from Hazard.

Ironically if City had tied up Jorginho quicker, and we had still managed to bring Sarri in I think he would have used Fabregas heavily in that role this season and I think it would have worked with him better.

One of the biggest things that a player like Coutinho would give us which we lack at the moment is a goal threat from outside the box. Lampard would lick his lips in a team like this that dominates possession and pins teams to the edge of their penalty area or deeper because he would get ample opportunities to have a shot at goal from around the edge of the box. Coutinho showed in his time at Liverpool that, given the opportunity he isn't afraid to have some long range shots.

I think the way that Hamsik played at Napoli under Sarri was a hybrid 8/10. He was given a lot of licence to join the attacks from a deeper position so I don't think it would necessarily restrict Coutinho playing in that position. Against the majority of teams in the league where we'll dominate possession that player should operate high up the pitch a bit like a number 10 anyway, that's a big part of the problem we have at the moment.

Yeah the fan base has a shorter patience than the board at times. Without this coming out the wrong way (and I don't want it to be seen as a knock on anybody) but our fan base has grown to ridiculous levels over the last 10-15 years. That is also a generation of success. There is a significant proportion of fans who have started supporting Chelsea or kids growing up supporting Chelsea who have only ever experienced success and I do think this has an effect on the lack of patience when you see comments on social media, etc. I view it as the same for me watching NFL. I'm a big New Orleans Saints fan but I have only been following it for 10 years and they've had Drew Brees at quarterback the whole period who will go down as one of the all time greats. In all likelihood he will retire in another year or two and it'll be difficult to adjust to the team being led by a new quarterback and the comparison and expectations will always turn back to Drew Brees, and naturally I think there won't be much patience because fans are used to how great the quarterback has been.

There were a lot around that time - Makelele, Drogba, Essien, Ashley Cole all had ordinary first seasons and became great players. Different circumstances because they were probably not brought as first choice immediately but Ivanovic and Azpilicueta I would say because excellent and very important players following a period of adaptation. But you are right that at Chelsea there is very few examples in recent years of players becoming great following a period adapting. However I would argue that some of that comes down to the culture at the club that we seem very quick to judge a player and cast him off. I would not at all be surprised if Sarri were to get sacked this season at some time, we would then see Jorginho out on loan somewhere next season. Compare this to clubs with a longer term vision and a manager more comfortable in their position and some players have been afforded time to adapt. It's not a full season but Klopp kept Robertson and Fabinho out of his side until he was comfortable that they were ready and accustomed to how he wanted to play. Fabinho in particular was a great example given the money spent on him and the pressures on Klopp to play him. Outside the club the biggest example would be De Gea. I would argue Bernardo Silva looked pretty average last season and has kicked on massively this season. There are examples but you are right they are few and far between nowadays.

I worry for Sarri here. If he can't get a tune out of the players or show no signs of changing things up personnel wise a little and we lose I think the atmosphere will turn toxic on both him and some of the players. Spurs should be there for the taking though and you would like to hope that if this group of players have personal pride that they'll be hell bent on righting the wrongs of the Arsenal game.

The worry now will be if the board are starting to have doubts over Sarri and considering whether to make a change or have a contingency plan, they may pull the plug on this deal as a result. I couldn't copy the rest of the season with Morata and Giroud as our choice of strikers at the club.

He is spot on with his assessment. Us fans have questioned this for years and I'm glad he's had the bottle to come out and say it. You only have to look at the likes of Hazard, Willian, Luiz, etc on these social media videos and interviews, etc. Their natural mentality and approach to life in general is carefree and laid back. When some of the main players at the club have this mentality it will rub off on the squad in general especially given the lack of leaders we now have at the club. But Sarri in turn has to show some flexibility because his stubborn ways are killing us at the moment. I'm not expecting him to abandon his philosophy but some of the personnel need changing, even if its simply to give them a rest. Alonso and Jorginho are being slated but they literally are rolled out every single game. If Sarri believes they are the best players at the club to play that position then I'm fine with that, but he has to learn to rotate a little more and give them games off. I can't understand why he hasn't tried Kovacic in Jorginho's position in some games, especially against some of the weaker teams. He's played deep for Madrid before, is technically proficient to play the role Sarri demands of that player and he is also more mobile than Jorginho. Playing Hazard left wing and bringing in a striker who (1) understands what Sarri is wanting and (2) a proper striker who will lead the line should have a big impact on our attacking ability regardless of who plays on the right. But the other position we are struggling in which doesn't get mentioned enough in my opinion is the attacking midfielder (Kovacic/Barkley role). We do not have a player like Hamsik who will chip in 10 goals a season from a deeper position. I'll probably get roasted because he's a lot of people's public enemy number 1 on here, but I wouldn't mind seeing Sarri try Willian in that role. I think he could play that role and whilst he's never been a big goalscorer he is capable and willing to shoot from distance and coming into attack from a deeper position might be a benefit to him. I remember Ancelotti doing something similar with Malouda in the title winning season when we had some injuries and he played alongside Lampard in midfield and if anything he got better and scored even more goals coming from a deeper position.

I believe he mentioned in his press conference before the Arsenal game that he played sometimes with Napoli a 4-2-3-1 but feels the players need to get better at the main formation first before he tried this. I personally think he would be better served working the other way around. This team is far better suited playing 4-2-3-1 at present and would possibly improve performances and results to give Sarri more time. 4-3-3 maybe his long term plan but it might need less drastic steps to reach that and still be competing at the top end. I can understand Sarri's predicament though. He's been brought in based on his Napoli side and the style of football they played and with this club's history of a lack of patience for quick results he probably feels the need to keep banging his head into a door in the hope that it opens in time.

Giroud sub is too late. Arsenal have brought wide players on to cut that supply now.