Superblue

In fairness the difference between Brighton pre and post Potter is night and day. Under Chris Hughton, they were just about keeping their neck above water in the league whilst playing turgid football. Under Potter, it wasn't so much a sense of them playing this out of the world total football, but they dominated possession, territory and the majority of games regardless of opposition. Given the resources available at Brighton, it takes a team with real belief and courage to stand up and fight the likes of Man City and Liverpool for possession and control, and to go into game after game with that mindsight. The jury is still very much out on Potter. There are some managers who thrive in an underdog capacity, there are also others that just enjoy the right "fit". This job might be too big for him. However it should be noted that what he had above with Brighton wasn't immediate - they only just stayed up in his first season, but over the last couple of seasons he's got that team into an extremely comfortable position in the league where you wouldn't have them anywhere near a conversation for a relegation battle. Can he convert that into challenging for trophies here with bigger resources on hand? The one thing I do think he has is time and I think in the current position Chelsea are in it makes sense. I would have given Tuchel more time and opportunity to work with the team and try to find solutions but the ownership made their decision and I do believe now they should and will show some patience. This club hasn't bought a midfielder since Sarri was in charge - that's 4 managers later with a midfield that has been allowed to decline with age and injuries, whilst leaving the same vulnerability issues in the middle of the park. We're 3 managers into a reliance on a 38 year old defender to anchor the team. We're 5 managers into lacking a 20 goal a season striker. The old ownership had their own way which ultimately worked more often than it didn't, but left a situation where a number of players were allowed to decline in time here, and transfer decisions were made which left an unbalanced squad. We've got progressively further away from a title challenge over the last 6 years as a result. At some point that band aid has to be fully ripped off instead of short term fixes. We've been heading a way that the likes of United and Liverpool suffered, only for cracks to be papered over by developing a niche as a cup team who could raise our game when needed but not consistently. The one thing I would like to see from Potter is a ruthless streak this coming month and for the rest of the season. If he has the patience and full backing from higher ups, and this season is heading into a position where it's becoming a bit of a free hit, then make use of that. He's being let down by some senior players who are either playing poorly, or simply aren't good enough anymore. Starting to make some big calls on them could go a long way to fans being willing to give him time. It was clear as day in the last half hour against Bournemouth and again today, that Azpi and Koulibaly looked a struggle on the right hand side of that defence. Going into the City game with that again feels like a disaster waiting to happen and Potter needs to find an alternative solution, even if it means turning to a younger, less experienced option and placing trust and faith in that.

I think this one was harder. Ronaldo only scored after about 25 minutes so to then go the best part of an hour and a half dominating them, in which time we also hit the post and bar and then ultimately the game was essentially decided by Drogba's brain fart about 3 or 4 minutes before penalties was brutal. I think it was the worst one of the lot simply because it was there in front of us for the taking. The Liverpool and Barca semis were injustices and bore more anger than anything else, but in both situations there would still have been a final to navigate against a strong Milan or United side in both situations. It wasn't a given in either situation we'd have gone on to win, whereas in the 2008 final there was nothing else stood in the way beyond a United team that got very lucky on the night.

With the contractual issue he's in with Sporting, he'd be an idiot to renew with Milan. His best option would be run his contract down in 18 months time and leave on a free, where I'm sure a team would have no problem forking out for the compensation that Sporting are owed in the shape of a signing on fee. Can't see that being as obvious if someone needs to pay Milan circa £100m too. Obviously in the situation of a free transfer, he'd likely have all the world's top clubs vying for his signature so would be a difficult deal to get through the door but hopefully in 12 months time we'll be in a much better, stronger position too to be attractive for such a proposal.

Does seem a tad coincidental that very shortly after the Badiashile links, the Enzo rumours ramped up. I think the club might have weighed up the Enzo and Gvardiol potential deals given the money involved and decided that they can currently only afford to do one. I guess with that in mind, the question is going to be considering likely similar prices, would people prefer us to buy Gvardiol or Enzo?

Wouldn't be surprised if transfer fees are included also, but cannot see it extending through to 21 year olds. It'll be interesting though at what stage something like that would stop. Would it be anything under 18. It does make you wonder how some of our purchases of younger players in the summer were accounted for.

No idea if the above is true or not, but if it is the case then it's a huge loophole Chelsea are exploiting and would further explain why they're looking to invest so heavily in younger players without the concern of FFP constraints. Would be amazed if it's allowable, but you never know with UEFA/FIFA.

Is he not the player Benfica are being linked with buying to replace Enzo if he leaves?

Someone commented earlier that they weren't sure Enzo on his own would cure our midfield issues and I would agree, and I also feel the same regarding this statement about Bellingham. Both are potential world class players, and very safe picks in a discussion as to who would be amongst the top 3 - 5 midfielders in world football in the next 2-3 years. But we still need a more defensively minded player to sit alongside either one. Without that protection, particularly in a back 4 system we'll be left vulnerable in counter attack situations and greater emphasis would be placed on someone like an Enzo or Bellingham's defensive abilities, likely limiting or restricting their attacking output. In both their circumstances, you want either to be given a free role to go and dominate a game for us, similar in a way to how Kante has been given this freedom over the years (but not with the same attacking quality). I honestly don't know if Rice is the answer or not to the above. I keep flip-flopping in my answer to this. He's probably the most obvious option out there but he's also the costliest. You'd like to think with the new recruiting network being set up, that there are other options out there far cheaper that could fulfil the role that Rice does, but either way it's just as important we get a player of that ilk from a defensive standpoint for the future.

The problem with Reece is the exact same problem Spurs have had with Kane for years. If Reece is fit, he's an automatic first choice starter so unless someone coming in can be flexible to play multiple positions to a high standard then they are coming in at backup level, which could limit us. It's why someone like Azpi sitting in behind Reece looks good in principle, until a situation like this where he misses substantial gametime. I'm just wondering whether Potter looks at someone like Dion Rankine as someone who could perhaps get some play time and opportunities in Reece's absence if he's out for a while again now, to develop into his backup moving forward.

It does seem a strange one as I can remember reading Chilwell mentioning last year that initially they delayed surgery and he actually went back into training but broke down again. It seems a bit of a coincidence that seemingly the same situation has transpired with both Fofana and Reece and questions something that seems to be done wrong. Ideally you want them both out on the pitch and in Reece's case, he's hands down our most complete player and we look that much poorer without him, but ultimately given the ages of both, you want them out on the pitch fit and firing for years to come. If surgery is the fixer in this situation then I think so be it, bigger picture is more important than the next few months.

For me, today's game further confirms my opinion that Zakaria should and will be used more in the second half of this season. With all the midfield talk, we have a first hand opportunity to really check on him and make a long term assessment on him because I've no doubt we could go back to Juventus and get him at a significantly cheaper deal if we want him permanently.

If he's still performing the most practical decision is to renew his contract and push back shelling out millions to replace him for another year.

We are missing this profile of player at the club. Could get away with it to a degree when Kante played regularly, but we're far too easy to play against and through. If we are to switch to a back 4 formation long term then it's essential we have a top DM sitting in front protecting it. I like Enzo and I love Bellingham but ultimately for me you still need a defensive minded player playing alongside them unless you're prepared to curb their attacking instincts and as a result remove a large facet to their game. Every man and their dog could see for England how much Gerrard and Lampard needed a midfielder to sit deep and allow them both to play their natural games and I feel in Enzo and Bellingham, the same would be required to get the most out of them.

It's pointless discussing Sterling then as you've just shown above that you have an agenda against him regardless of what he does here. Regarding the ownership you can't have it both ways. In one instance you're praising Abramovich for buying players from Mourinho's say-so, but then critical of Boehly for doing essentially the same thing with Tuchel. Whether it was first choice targets or not, it's been widely reported that the new signings were his choices and he was happy with who we brought into the club. It's easy to romanticise now and forget that in the early days, Roman too got sucked in with agents and people around him and bought some duds. No one is going to have a perfect strike rate on transfers and it does seem ridiculous to judge a situation so soon, seemingly because that is what us Chelsea fans are now accustomed to - immediate success and results or significant changes made. At present I can only take Boehly at my own face value. He did what was needed to be done in the summer and leant on people to do that. It was a rushed window due to the club's circumstances and a steep learning curve for him. Following this, the moves he has made in the scouting and recruitment areas of the club look to be very positive with a structure being built that a lot of people have requested for years now. I also like what has been mooted regarding a planned club network operating below Chelsea. But I'm realistic to know that all of these things take time and the opportunity to see things play out.

Martinelli joined Arsenal from the 4th tier of Brazilian football and he's not been bad. I think the key here is this is a deal that over the last few years, Chelsea wouldn't have pursued, similar with Fofana. Give the new scouting and recruitment network chance.

Nice to see deals seemingly getting done before windows are even open as opposed to scrabbling around for last minute deals on deadline day because we've spent the entire window negotiating a couple of percent discount on any deals.

I don't think that will be the case, I think the club will look to make a couple of 'first team' signings each summer alongside moves like this. Nkunku already looks sealed, and we're being heavily linked with a midfielder and Gvardiol still in the summer. It looks very much like a two pronged transfer strategy compared to what Arsenal were doing during that period. It is however important to also consider the make up of the squad, and we don't want to cull all the experience in the group all at once. When Arsenal lost the likes of Vieira, Henry, etc they were replaced with younger players who had no experience of winning trophies. In our situation at the very least we do have younger players in our squad who have experience of winning trophies and playing in finals over the last couple of seasons which should put us in much better stead but I still think the real experienced players in our squad do need phasing out over the next couple of years as opposed to 4, 5, 6 of them all leaving in the summer at the same time.

I agree, I think you have to give this time. With the exception of Koulibaly and Auba due to their ages, the others have time on their side. Cucurella and Fofana's starts here have been completely derailed by illness and injury respectively. Did we overpay for them? Probably yes. But certainly in the case of Fofana, he could very easily end up playing here for the next 8 - 10 years as a first choice centre back. If that happened, we could well end up looking back and thinking what a great buy he's been despite the price. It remains to be seen, but I'm excited about the young players we're targeting. It feels a little bit like 10 years ago when we captured De Bruyne, Courtois, Salah, etc. Only this time, you'd like to think that the structure the new ownership is putting in place is one that'll lead to these players having a much better opportunity to develop over time and 'make it' here. From Hutchinson, Casadei, Carney and Slonina in the summer, to Fofana, Santos and (hopefully) Zakaryan now - they all look capable of playing for Chelsea in the future if they follow their development paths.

One of my favourites in my childhood. Was at the Cup Final in 97, and will always remember his reception when he came on for the last few minutes. You have to be a real legend to be completely forgiven for buying Chris Sutton! I actually liken him in a way to Thiago Silva - coming here as an absolute superstar in the twilight of his career, could have quite easily taken it easy and collected a pay check but put every inch of what he had left in the tank into helping and embracing the club. Got my fingers crossed that Luca pulls through this again, would be great for him to do so and get an invite as a half time or pre game guest at the Bridge one game to be reminded just how much he's loved here.

Maldini met his match the day he came up against Dennis Wise!

Yes although I believe the recent changes in loan rules would impact us being able to buy talent and park too many into other clubs for a year or two on loan. Isn't there a rule with regards to being able to loan a number of players to the same team at one time? In any event, I'm guessing though where the multi club model works well is it gives us effectively first dibs on top talent at a fair value, in the same way that Salzburg and Leipzig have operated (think Sesko was being touted in the summer at £40m and then Leipzig agree a deal for next year at half the price). In return these clubs are benefitting from our scouting and recruitment experience and expertise to bring in top young talent cheap and develop them. So as an example maybe a Portuguese or French club buys a player like Fofana and develops him for a couple of years and if he reaches the level his potential expects, then we might be able to buy him for £20-25m rather than being shafted with a £40-50m price tag like seems to be the norm nowadays. People can turn their noses up at a multi club model and question the ethics behind it, but in the current and evolving climate of football, I believe it could form part of an extremely solid business plan.

This has been my argument for years. You're not going to sign everyone and players will develop at different stages but in recent years we seemingly backed away from opportunities in favour of buying "ready made" players irrespective of their increase in price. It almost felt like the club was being lazy and not prepared to put in the hard yards to scout and identify emerging talent, instead the thought process being ready made = less risk when in reality it's simply not. A club that once had the likes of Courtois, Lukaku, Salah and De Bruyne on the books, all plucked from much smaller clubs and leagues in deals similar to this one, you'd have thought trying to go back to method and actually showing the patience to see if through a secondary time might have been a reasonable idea. Deals like this carry much less risk. If he's not ready then build a development plan for him and put those hard yards in. He either becomes part of the first team squad which will likely save us 3, 4, 5 x this fee down the road, or at the very least if he doesn't materialise to what was hoped then he can likely be moved on in the future for a few million and he's not looked at as a colossal waste of money like so many others that have come before him have. The simple fact is if we like him but we don't get him in this move, we'll be paying £30-50m absolute bare minimum if we go back to him in a couple of years and he's showing potential at a smaller Premier League team or a team in a bigger league like France or Germany.

Just a note that this kid was being linked with Brighton, amongst other teams a few weeks ago so you'd assume that this might be the first player with Winstanley's prints over it.

To be fair though he's literally turned 18 less than a month ago, I think he's held his own reasonably well given his age. Certainly if he's available on a free transfer in the summer or a discounted fee in January, he'd be definitely someone I'd be intrigued in taking because the potential with him could be huge. But in hindsight just look at the players we bought around this period and the careers most of them have gone on to have - Mata, Oscar, Hazard, Azpi, De Bruyne, Salah, Lukaku. We were shopping in the right place, we just didn't have the patience and foresight to see it through. I've got no problem focusing on younger talent, just so long as we don't clear out all of our experienced players in one swoop.