Superblue

If we're resigned to keeping him this coming season, I've got to the point where anything that may give him a psychological lift is worth trying.

Depends what spurs would want but Rose would be possibly a risk worth taking. Although worried he'll never show his form before last season's injuries.

I think he needs to be given a chance. He by no means deserves to walk right in and command a place in the starting XI but he definitely earned his place amongst the squad last season and in the summer. Slightly off topic but for me not only is Bakayoko not good enough on the ball,but he doesn't even press well which was supposedly going to be one of his other strengths. He cannot be cover for any of our midfielders in my opinion. What Sarri has shown (albeit forced) this pre-season is that without Kante he has played two players more offensive minded in Fabregas and Barkley. If Kante were unavailable I believe he would revert to this under preference of the ability of said players as opposed to if a far inferior player is a little more suited to the role. This is where I think RLC would have a chance for game time. I'm not rating him to the same degree that the media have over this summer, but he has earned his opportunity to prove himself over a season this year. Bakayoko and Drinkwater as far as I'm concerned had their chances last year and didn't take them (Bakayoko in particular had plenty!). The other thing I would worry about is if Chelsea let RLC go it would be an extremely high profile player from our academy, without really getting any chances at Chelsea. The media would be all over this, and eventually there has to be more and more questions asked about why players cannot get through into our first team. The biggest worry about this is if it starts rubbing off on the academy players coming through. We've already lost a couple of fairly highly rated youngsters over the last couple of seasons under such circumstances and the last thing we need is more to be encouraged to follow suit.

Yeah complete overreaction. He's been back in training for a couple of days. He needs time to get used to the system, players, etc. We've seen Bakayoko and Drinkwater, are we seriously going to chuck a promising young player under the bus when we've got these two still on the books?! He's done enough last season on loan at Palace and forced his way into the England squad to justify a place in our squad this season and more importantly an opportunity.

I see absolutely no point when we have Barkley and RLC on our books.

It's quite possible that Alisson was seen as someone who was on a similar level as Courtois by the club. None of what we have been linked with since are anywhere near the level of Courtois - Pickford, Butland, Areola, Donnarumma, Cillesen, etc. Some of those may eventually reach a similar level to Courtois but currently none are near him but will cost huge amounts of money. It is pointless us panic buying someone for huge money. We are far better placed to keep Courtois this season and try to convince him to re-sign. If he doesn't we have a much longer window next summer to get someone in we are much more confident about and at a fairer price. The last thing we want is another situation like Morata and Bakayoko, somebody brought in for big money who fails miserably and we're left in a position of an expensive player we're struggling to offload and requiring a new player to replace them.

For me the two biggest holes in the team are centre forward and left back. I understand your point on Fabregas but to me he looks probably the fittest he's been since he's been at the club and I still think he could do a job. I'm not expecting him to start every game and I am hoping that both Barkley and Loftus-Cheek take their own chances this season and one establishes themselves alongside Kante and Jorginho in what would be the 'first choice midfield'. He's not the quickest and most mobile but what Fabregas does have is the technical ability to play in this system, far more so than Bakayoko and Drinkwater and I would far rather have him as an option for the midfield than not. Centre back I can understand your point, I just think some of the players need to be given the chance, particularly in what is a huge transition phase, to see if they can make that step. In particular I'm looking at Rudiger and Christensen out of everyone as the eventual centre half partnership and off the back end of last season, I would hope Rudiger continues to develop to become that leader at the back. We do also have Azpilicueta at full back who should still be crucial in the leadership and organisation of that backline and things will also improve with a more influential keeper behind them to also help organise them. Alonso is a huge worry as a point for teams to target and even a number of the smaller teams in the league still have tricky, pacy wingers who could cause problems or run in behind of him. The biggest problem bar none though is a goalscorer. It will take time to produce Sarri style performances for a full game, and if we don't kill teams off when we are on top and dominating we will struggle with challenging for the top 4 or beyond this season.

If anyone deserves to be tired it's us Chelsea fans waiting for Morata to look remotely like the first choice striker we paid for and expect from him.

One thing that does need to be considered is Sarri has been training us for 2 weeks. In that time too we've travelled to Australia and back. This is going to be a work in progress and i don't expect us to fully click until we're a few weeks into the season. There are however some clear and positive signs in such a short space of time.

If batshuayi can't come in and prove a better option than morata do we seriously have to start looking at one of our midfielders playing a false 9 role. Hazard or hudson-odoi doing a mertens? Not ideal but then again morata is far from ideal.

How did we get caught out 3 on 2 at that corner?

I think Areola in similar position too with one year left on his contract if I'm not mistaken. So he shouldn't cost a huge amount of money.

I'd love for this to happen, although I assume if we did manage to get Martial then he would be played up front as opposed to on the right wing and as a result we'd need to try and offload one of our strikers and still buy a right winger. If this doesn't come to fruition though I wouldn't sell Willian to United for cash. With our recent track record and so late in the window, we'll end up messing up negotiations for a replacement and end up with a player that doesn't sufficiently replace Willian. Also Mourinho wants him desperately apparently and not letting him go there will only piss him off even more and hopefully add fuel to the current fire that's brewing over there.

Yeah the hope under Sarri is by playing a high line and shortening the pitch, pinning teams back will result in creating more openings inside the penalty area - this is where he should be alive and thrive under this system. The games against the bigger teams where we won't have things our own way as much I agree could be more of an issue. Again though that comes down partly to Sarri to coach what he wants him to do and partly Batshuayi to learn and develop. With no clear links to any strikers now Higuain seems Milan bound, he does seem our best chance of a player that could potentially push towards the 20 goal mark we desperately need.

Agree that side of his game needs some serious coaching from Sarri. But he looked a lot more confident at Dortmund and a far better player as a result. Something as simple as Sarri's faith and confidence in him may bring a lot more out of him. Also whilst we need him to be able to help with the build up play at times, it's far more important we have a striker willing to make the right runs off the defence and in the right positions to finish. The change in style should create more chances than we were creating last season and we need someone to finish those chances. On current reflection, I would have to say that Bats is probably the best bet for finishing those chances over Giroud and Morata.

I don't get this idea of Willian being a 'rat'. He made a mistake that was petulant and childish but we don't know what has gone on behind the scenes last season. Going on media reports, Conte has been difficult to work with and in particular seemed to give the Brazilians a hard time last season after the Diego Costa debacle. Is Willian any different to some of the old guard wanting managers like Scolari and AVB out of the club, his frustrations have simply come out in the public domain as opposed to privately. Everything I've read in the past is that he's a very popular and likeable member of the squad. He's not the greatest player in the world but he's by no means the worst. The fact United and Barca have been sniffing round him this summer should suggest otherwise and given our struggles replacing Costa and Matic last summer I would be careful before he's just bombed out the club. Of course we could improve the RW area but Pedro and Willian are more than good enough to fill that position this season. I would be far more concerned with improving our striker and left back positions before the right wing.

So long as he is given the time to do this. Although Liverpool have shown significant progression they've still won nothing in 4 seasons with Klopp. To be fair Klopp's been pretty on point with most signings. A couple I thought looked reaches such as Mane and Salah given the prices paid have proven to be excellent pieces of business. They fit Klopp and his system perfectly and that is what I am hoping of with Sarri that he can identify a couple of players that may not be world beaters but will suit his style and system well and as a result have a significant impact. Hopefully there are a couple of players at the club already like that (Barkley?) that will prove to almost be like new players for the club.

Ramires technically was fine, he proved it on many occasions. His problem was a mental issue where he had time on the ball to think and do something he'd more often than not fail. When he didn't have time and he had to do something reactive he was effective. There are lots of players like that over the years for Chelsea. The likes of SWP and Kalou were similar. Torres you could argue was similar too. Bakayoko to put it simply isn't technically good enough whether it's in a reactive or proactive way. Add to that his confidence is rock bottom and he looks laboured, and we literally have the worst player on our hands since Torres given the money we paid out for him (with Morata not far behind).

From what I gather he would come in as the alternative to Kante. Ball winning, engine in the midfield. I expect this role was earmarked for Bakayoko before Sarri realised he has no hope. The biggest problem I have with this signing is we have holes in our starting XI to fill which will significantly improve and upgrade the overall level of the team. Both the money and time being wasted on this deal has a direct negative impact as a result. Concentrate on getting in another signing or two of the Jorginho ilk and then if the squad needs filling out do that at the end of the window. We seem to prioritise the wrong way around.

A lot of rumours have died down now as some of the players we've been heavily linked with have moved or are moving elsewhere. I seriously hope that the board don't think that a change in manager and one player is sufficient enough to suddenly make us challenge again.

Don't agree with the article whatsoever. However what is rather ironic is that Loftus-Cheek has already reported back to training a week early. Hopefully with a point to prove and confidence he can play a big role this season because he has a real chance.

I would prefer to see if they would be open for swapping for Morata instead. There were links with them earlier in the summer, that they would prefer Morata to Bats. The difference between Bats and Morata is mentality and whilst he isn't as naturally talented, i would rather keep Bats at the club. He won't drop his head over missing a chance or hide away, he'll keep trying. Morata on the other hand reminds me so badly of Torres, his confidence is so fragile and if he's not playing well and lacking confidence he'll go into hiding. Also I think the club would bring a striker in alongside Bats, whereas I get the impression because of the money we paid out that they would be reluctant to do this alongside Morata. Which is why finding a way to sell him is so imperative.

Too physical isn't the problem, not technical enough is the problem. We're not even talking the need to be Jorginho standard on the ball. Kante isn't the most technical player on the ball and his other strengths such as pressing, winning the ball, etc are far more important all round for the team, but at least he can control the ball and pass to a more than competent level. I watch Bakayoko and I don't understand how a professional player, playing at the very highest level, can be so inept on the ball.

We'll never sort out all of the gaps and weaknesses in our squad this summer, but the striker situation for me is the most important thing now we've brought Jorginho. I'd also be more than happy to see some of our younger players get chances this coming season. I'd be happy to see the likes of RLC, CHO, Ampadu and Abraham fill our squad out. I would trust these to suit Sarri's style far better than the likes of Cahill, Drinkwater and Bakayoko.

I would be more than happy for him to be hazards direct understudy for that left wing position. He's capable of getting a good amount of game-time next season if sarri trusts him.