Superblue

I agree that LWB might not be the most important area of the squad that requires improvement, but when excellent opportunities arise to improve any area of the squad we should do so.

I've only really seen him in the Champions League games. He was poor against Juventus but everyone except Mbappe was poor over those two legs for Monaco. The other games, he did look like someone with the right coaching and tactics could become a dominating presence in midfield. People who have seen more of him, how would he compare to someone like Essien?

Bats tweeted something? Nah, you must have the wrong lad!

If Jose wants him so badly then swap him for Martial. He wasn't against selling top young talent at chelsea in order to buy ready made players. Would be a great option for us who could play as any of the front 3.

I think the board will agree this time it's necessary. There is too much money now in the Premier League, all the clubs around us will spend money and we cannot afford to stand still. The fear of what happened last season as well serves as a warning! On top of that all of the commercial deals we have negotiated are now paying out, and our dealings on the outgoing side of the transfer market has been very strong in the last couple of years. Also it's clear with how few players we used this season that this squad needs numbers.

I can't believe some people wanting to get rid of Costa. Yes he can be a liability at times, and look one decision away from a red card but I do believe he has curbed a lot of that controversy on the pitch. I also understand the argument that he is a streaky player and will then struggle for a period of games, this is the life of a striker, very few score throughout the season without lean spells. Harry Kane's season went from looking very good, to looking phenomenal simply because he banged in 7 goals in his last two games. But let's look at the positives, he's spearheaded our attack in two league titles in three seasons, those two seasons being our top scorer. I'm sure I also saw a stat that his goals and assists have directly won us more points then any other player in the league this season. It's easy for a striker to score goals when we're smashing teams and looking great, but there's very few players that can produce when their team really needs a breakthrough goal. Costa's performance away at Man City was up there as one of the best games I've seen from any of our strikers in such a difficult, big game. There is no guarantee that bringing in a new striker will produce better than him and his goal record in his three seasons at Chelsea is up there with some of the best strikers to ever grace the Premier League...and that's considering last season was terrible! I think if he wants to stay and his head is right and heart is fully invested in the club then it would be suicide to let him go. I do agree he needs help. I believe a hybrid style forward would be our best bet. Sanchez would obviously be fantastic but someone that could play either as a second striker or one of the two in behind, and could provide an option up front to replace Costa when he's struggling or injured. I would keep Bats too. Three striker options would be required for next season to challenge on all fronts.

He is popular and loved though. I'm sure I read somewhere he has a bigger twitter or facebook following than Chelsea as a football club does. The thing with popular big name players if they don't play for your club though is you love to see them make a mistake. If Zlatan missed a penalty or Pogba shanked a pass. And it's no different with David Luiz apart from if a keeper or defender makes a mistake it's highlighted more because it often leads to conceding a goal.

Yeah agree with this. Ramos is a very talented player, but I've always felt he is no more than a slightly above average defender. His mistakes aren't generally highlighted because he plays in a Real Madrid side who almost score at will at times, and a Spain side that have dominated until recently, so they aren't mistakes that cost games. Unfortunately the Premier League is much tighter most of the time and a mistake can cost points.

I like David Luiz when his head is screwed on and he is a better player than Cahill. However, it's clear he isn't our first choice and we are getting to the point where we are going for anyone and everyone in defence. This mooted loan deal for Abdennour sounds better. Get him in, see how he is for a year. If he's no good get rid of him next summer with no ties. We still have Zouma and Christensen to come back in and it's important not to block their paths to the first team with an expensive panic signing.

Yeah it's weird but I've noticed this. The only reason I can think is that he plays against a lot of inverted wingers and cutting in against him makes things easier for him on to his right foot. It does completely cock our balance up though when attacking. You have Ivanovic on one side who is Cafu in his mind, but fucking Frank Sinclair in reality, and Azpi who can't attack down the left cos he needs to cut back onto his right foot all the time. I agree the defence is brittle but I think if we had two full backs who were equally good attacking as defending it would give us so much more impetus and put teams on the back foot which would also help the defending indirectly.

I would actually say full back is more important than centre back. At least if we brought a full back it would free up Ivanovic to play at centre back when needed where he is a much better player and less exposed than out wide. Also, if we only brought a centre back it would be a guarantee then that we would have Dave at LB and Ivanovic at RB for the rest of the season which is a lot worse than Terry and Cahill at CB.

I think it would be a mistake for him to leave. I know that Oscar gives more intensity to a pressing game but Matic and Kante can offer that too, and I think the notion that Fabregas is a 'lazy' player is a myth as I've seen plenty of instances of him getting stuck in, making tackles. I do feel last night when we started dropping off after 60-65 minutes and West Ham slowly were getting back into the game we missed Fabregas to wrestle control back our way and keep possession. 4-3-3 is the best possible formation imo for him to thrive and I hope he stays and gets back in the team because I do think we're a better and more dangerous team with him than we are without him.

Very good couple of performances for France recently and has had some stellar games against ourselves too for Newcastle. His consistency is a big issue, but that maybe comes with his character and with the greatest respect to Newcastle, perhaps in his mind he feels he should be playing for a bigger club challenging for trophies. On recent performances he does seem to be a 'Conte' player for the midfield, and also someone who clearly looks near unplayable when motivated. With Conte seemingly the master motivator this boy might just be worth a punt.

If he were to take Remy's spot in the squad then I'm all for it. Would offer something completely different to the squad with his size, presence and hold up play with proven premier league experience.

Rumours that Conte wants him as part of his backroom team

Cool, and it also makes me a little less concerned with the transfer activity for the club. People are having kittens at the moment because we've yet to splash £30-40m on a player, however (correct me if I'm wrong) I'm sure Conte never spent more than £15m on a player at Juventus and brought some real top drawer players during his time. I can possibly see one or two 'lesser' signings that people aren't overly thrilled about, but they will work within the framework that Conte wants to create. You only have to look at Belgium currently and England a decade ago to know that a hugely talented pool of players doesn't necessarily make a great team.

A lot will depend on what system Conte plans to use. I think he will have a couple in his head and want players flexible and versatile enough to use a couple of different ones. Centre back, centre mid and striker is the absolute minimum we need though.

What impressed me most about last night is how much he got out of what is on paper a very average bunch of players (excluding Buffon and the defence). If England had to make do with the likes of Giaccherini, Eder and Pelle as some of our strongest attacking options (not to mention a player as piss-poor as Borini made their preliminary squad), we wouldn't even qualify for the tournament. I've read a lot about how he took a lot of players to the next level at Juventus, and last night seemed to confirm that. We clearly need 3 or 4 top signings to go into the team, but I have high hopes that Conte can also get more out of some of our squad options and younger players.

For me he's the most complete defender in the world. Excellent all round at defending and reading the game, and uses the football like a playmaker to top it off.

This Oscar/Willian stuff is such bollocks! I can understand the argument that Oscar has more upside than Willian. I think he's a technically better player, I just don't think his game is fully suited to English football. I think he would thrive in a slightly slower, more tactical league. Willian's strengths of pace, work rate, directness though perfectly suit English football, which is why I think he is definitely the better fit for Chelsea. That doesn't necessarily mean he's the better player. Can't we all just fucking move on though...

Bat shoe wee ??!

I think it's safe to say we'd all give anything for Alex or Carvalho from then back in our team now. Our defence is a fucking mess and if I'm honest real top draw centre backs are few and far between!

Yeah that year we did what we had to do and somehow pulled it off. With Barca I have bigger regrets the year we were screwed at the Bridge because we should have taken the game to them more at the Nou Camp. They weren't at the level back then that they become. Those comments were aimed more though at PSG games and just in general at times over the last 3-4 years. Sitting back when we had such a solid base in defence and midfield back in the day worked, but sitting back and trying to contain when we've had the likes of Hazard, Mata and Fabregas in recent years hasn't worked for a reason.

For me though this will become a huge problem over the coming seasons. It's easy to say sell Matic abroad but unless it's to PSG, Bayern, Barca or Real Madrid (and in any of those cases you'd then ask the question why are we selling in the first place if those teams want him) then the best offers we are going to get are either loan to buy's or £18-20m. The money that is coming into the Premier League clubs is going to create such a gulf between our clubs and everyone other than the above mentioned throughout Europe that if we want top dollar for players, we will have to consider the opportunities available selling players within England at overpriced values.

Right or wrong, what annoys me the most is it is yet another needless event that has left us with more negative headlines and reason for mud to be thrown at us. Funny how it seems the case between Chelsea and Eva has dominated headlines, and Mourinho's case and any negative press has been nothing more than a side-note. Although now he is United's manager, I'm not surprised he's gone from zero to hero in many people's eyes in the press.