Superblue

In my opinion there's no problem with the quality we've brought. There will be a risk over buying Bakayoko and Morata to replace Matic and Costa who are Premier League proven but the long term strategy of these two moves makes sense and re-generates the team as a more youthful, mobile and pacier set up. The problem is the depth and whether it's the manager's doing, board or a bit of both, there is no doubt that it is an almighty cock up. We hardly had the biggest squad last season, we're not like Arsenal for example who would be looking to trim a lot of the fringe players before buying. We needed a bigger squad. Therefore there should never have been any harm in bringing players in first before letting others leave. On this basis we could have easily retained 3 or 4 players to bulk up the squad for now - people like Loftus Cheek, Traore, etc. They could've been sold or loaned out in the last few days of the window if and when we knew what other players we had coming in. Even with the players we have to come back in we still look desperately short. There is no way a club our size and challenging for trophies should be looking thin of resources with a couple of players out because over the course of the season you should expect a couple of players out at a time injured or suspended as a minimum. The quality is there, but the quantity isn't. People are laughing at us being linked to people like Drinkwater, but look at some of the players Fergie had at United in their glory days - O'Shea, Wes Brown, Jonny Evans, Ji Sung Park. Decent but nowhere near great players who all proved once they left United what their real level was, but within a winning machine they could come in when needed and perform and help the team get results. We have nothing like this within our squad at the moment and this is what will cause us to struggle this season if it's not addressed.

It's a sad state of affairs and whilst Costa is far from blameless, it seems the club continuously fails to learn from previous mistakes when people have left the club in controversial circumstances. The most frustrating part is IF Costa is genuine when he says he would be happy to stay and commit to the club, we would have a potentially lethal strike force of Costa and Morata with Bats as backup and our attacking options would suddenly look far stronger. However I do admire Conte that he is sticking to his decisions, you cannot be seen as weak as a football manager. The trump card I guess we still hold is Costa's ambition to play for Spain in the World Cup. If we refuse to sell, and he is left not playing all season he simply won't be playing in the World Cup that's for certain.

When I've watched him he looks a pretty good crosser so definitely the RWB would be more suitable. In my opinion the system we play, the width comes from the wing backs and therefore, unless needed in an emergency, players should play in those positions on their strongest side in order to provide width and crosses. Morata showed at the weekend he's very good in the air. It also then gives freedom to the two players playing behind the striker that they don't have to always provide width and are instead able to drift inside and create or become an extra body in the box.

Moses will be back I think mate.

That's exactly how I interpreted it when I saw that earlier haha!

I don't think Conte will play Luiz in midfield. Having lost Cahill, I would expect him to try to minimise the changes made to the defence and work with the back three we had today. Yes it was a shambles in the first half today, but I think we just completely lost our heads following the sending off. In the second half we did look much improved. I've got a feeling he might look at playing Azpilicueta alongside Kante. No logic, just a gut feeling that he may be the most trusted of everyone to be as tactically disciplined as possible in the middle. If I'm trying to find any logic I guess the game at WHL last season did expose Azpilicueta's lack of height in the air which would be eradicated with a back 3 of Luiz, Rudiger and Christensen.

I agree with the general consensus that in my opinion there are better, or potentially better, options available to be starters for us but some talk like he should never have played for a top club. We have won two premier leagues and two european trophies with him being a mainstay of the lot, and these weren't won despite him. Someone gets an opportunity now...it's up to them to take that chance.

No team does capitulation like us unfortunately.

Did they not buy the left back from hull?

I actually think this could happen but it would need Rose to really push this through. This is a dangerous game for Spurs, their wage budget is so strict that everything could fall apart if they don't manage it; having unhappy players in the camp I think is a far bigger negative for their club structure than it would be say for ourselves. They have Ben Davies who played admirably last season. Remember Spurs went on their end of season run without Danny Rose and they may be more open to letting him go not to upset the apple cart, when they already have a ready made replacement at the club. It's easy saying they won't sell to us, but ultimately City have brought their full backs and if United aren't interested, we would be the team to make a play for him. If he's unhappy and we're willing to pay the money, I believe they would sell.

Apparently there's an interview in tomorrow's sun that Danny Rose has given saying he would be open to leaving Spurs and wants to win trophies. Might be worth putting a reasonable bid in and see how unsettled we can make him.

He reminds me a little bit like Joe Cole. Obvious talent, massively hyped but struggling to fulfil his potential at his boyhood club. Like Joe was, I think Barkley tries to hard at times to do things on the ball and his decision making and tactical awareness need work but as you said he can be moulded. Joe Cole when we brought him wanted to be a number 10 but was moulded into an all round attacking midfielder who could operate in a number of different positions. I feel Barkley could do the same.

There are question marks about Pedro being a starter. We've need someone close to Hazard's level on the right for years now. I've said it many times but it's tragic how underrated the job that Pedro or Willian does for the balance of our team. Yes we could possibly look at bringing in someone who might offer an attacking upgrade but would it be to the detriment of the team. Freeing up Hazard last season had a huge effect on the team and having players like Pedro and Willian who are happy to be the support act to Hazard, and work extremely hard on the pressing, tracking back, etc to give him more space and licence to roam and exploit is important.

The intention may have been there but he never usurped Drogba as first choice. It's hardly like we were reliant on him like we were with Torres.

I think the hint of sarcasm in my post may have been lost on you. The whole point is this forum overreacts on a whim. If he scored 2 goals next weekend he'll be the second coming of pele.

I agree mate, I just hope that given there are shortcomings in the squad and we've severely depleted ourselves so close to the season start, time and patience is also given on the manager front. There was definitely a different vibe with Jose the second time that the club stuck with him for far longer than any other manager previously would have been afforded.

There is a big difference between strikers who have flopped for Chelsea and first choice strikers who have flopped. We've definitely brought some dross, but certainly in the last 20 years I can only think of Torres and Sutton as first choice strikers who have been pitiful. Zola, Vialli, Hughes, Flo, Hasselbaink, Drogba, Costa...we've far from had it too bad.

This wouldn't have been such a big problem if we had retained the likes of Ake, Chalobah and Traore. If we had kept these players and were integrating them into the squad throughout the summer with a clear intent on giving them opportunities next season, I think a lot of us would have accepted this and given everyone time for the situation.

It's the reality of the situation. If we're not prepared to give opportunities to academy players to breakthrough then we will always be looking at homegrown players from other clubs to provide the squad depth that we need. A lot of these players will not be as good as the foreign options (have you seen the England squads recently?!) and for the same reasons as everybody else carry a natural premium on their heads. But they are serviceable and important for the depth of the squad.

Morata needs time. The physicality and pace of the Premier League will take time, and it's not just him getting used to the team and how Conte wants him to play but it's also the team getting used to him and the best way he plays. Will we miss Costa? Yeah of course we'll miss his goal record, as there is no guarantee Morata will match his numbers, but the club will adapt to play to his strengths. If he scored 60-70% of Costa's goals but his link play allowed other players to score more goals then there's no problem. How were we going to ever replace Lampard, or Drogba, or Cech, or JT? They've all been replaced and the club has moved on. They haven't necessarily been replaced by better players or 'new legends', but the club has adapted. Fabregas was never going to score Lampard's goals but our style of play changed and his game suited Costa (in the same way Lampard and Drogba aided one another). I have no worries, the club will move on and push on again. We always do, so have some faith peeps and be patient.

To be fair to him he won more headers in the last 15 minutes than Costa did for 3 years. I think we all need to keep faith, he'll prove to be a good buy I'm sure of it.

You never know he could be Dennis Wise-esque and be one of those players that steps up alongside better players?!

It's having the personnel to be flexible to switch between the two. You need specialists to make each work but you also need those versatile enough to play differing roles in each setup and still be effective. One formation may suit an opponent better or changing mid game. I'm sure this is on conte's mind to have a proper plan b this season.

I'd be amazed if this happens. Sanchez doesn't strike me as the sort of person who will happily accept that and the loss of output you'd get from one of the players you most rely on, and potential damaging atmosphere in the dressing room would not help matters. I'm still amazed that he would go to Man City with the abundance of attacking players they have. They would surely have to consider letting someone go, and I would honestly take any of their first team attacking players to come here. We should definitely be pushing for Sanchez though, he would be perfect by giving us options both as one of the players in behind and the main striker, strengthening both areas.

For the reasons why we would buy drinkwater (home grown, depth, experience in prem), i would rather take a punt on Wilshere for a fraction of the cost. Our medical department seems to have worked wonders the last few years and if they could get him fit to add to the squad he would be a better option than drinkwater.