Superblue

It's too slow at the moment, but we have 5 players in a line in attack, and then a big gap between them and Kova and Mount. We have to get someone in the half space in between to link everything. Can't expect Kova to thread a ball through a back 5 on the edge of their box all game. Someone has to take the initiative to drop a bit deeper.

Orsic is very quick and is running on to the ball compared to Fofana having to turn and run. He's done well too on edge of the box as Fofana has come back, he's shifted slightly away from him. Difficult one for Fofana as any mistake and he's sent off in the first 15 minutes. What was a mistake however was him not dropping off a couple of yards when Koulibaly challenged for the ball. Has to anticipate that, especially when Dinamo's striker looks about 6 foot 5.

Be interesting to see how Mount plays in a deeper role.

Kepa due to start too apparently.

If he gets going, would certainly add some much needed size and power into our midfield.

Chelsea website just updated the contract as 6 years now instead of 5. Not sure if this is 6 + 1 or just straight 6. They've changed it back now to 5 + 1 😂

He's already at a price point which doesn't leave many options though. I cannot see Barcelona being in position to go for him. PSG seem to be going down a different route now and would have to move Neymar on to make way for him. Doubt United will after their investments in Sancho and Antony over the last 2 summers. Liverpool unlikely to commit to that fee and if they did, they won't commit to both him and Bellingham for those sort of fees. Bayern have just signed Mane so unlikely. City possibly but they already have the likes of Grealish and Foden operating there. Madrid are probably the most likely but even then they have Vinicius playing in the same position unless one operated from the right hand side. If the talk is going to be £100m or more, I don't see massive competition for him in all honesty. Whether we would be prepared to drop that sort of transfer fee when we still need to sort our midfield and potentially keep tabs on our striking options for next summer I'm not sure. I don't like spending huge sums on a player because they regularly don't work out here!

5 + 1 effectively takes him through until he's 29 years old. Huge statement by the new board to recognise he's one of our best players and to pay him and tie him down as such. There's been a lot of talk in the past how Marina and the previous board didn't value defenders the same as attackers, and also didn't place the same value on our own academy players compared to new signings. Can only feel like they'd not even entertain negotiating yet with Reece with 3 years left on his deal, and if they did it would be a significantly drawn out process as they'd be reluctant to put him amongst the highest earners. I'm impressed with the speed this has been sorted by Boehly/Clearlake and how it has taken precedence over Kante and Jorginho for example. Hopefully Mount is next, he's been poor so far this season but it's clear he needs signing up with only 2 years left on his deal. Get him done and we have a lot of players either already very good or with very high potential in the 18-25 age range that are tied to the club for the next 4, 5, 6 years.

Regarding Scott McLachlan has he been placed on 3 month gardening leave from now, or has he just 'served' his 3 month gardening leave hence why it's now being announced? It's a real clean slate for the new ownership to put their own stamp on the club in key positions behind the scenes. These decisions could go a long way to how successful they become here.

@Vesper

One point on Cucurella - I think he's a good signing and will be a very good player here but from an attacking perspective the difference between Chilwell and him was night and day today. It's nothing to do with technique as Cucurella is a very capable player on the ball, it's the mindset and mentality to attack the spaces and run in beyond our attack. James and Chilwell have both pretty much mastered it and it has a significant positive impact on the overall attacking impetus of the team. A lot of people mention about attackers, especially wide ones, taking time to adapt to Pep because he likes them to take less touches on the ball and develop a mindset to consistently make runs into the spaces to overload attacks. We need a similar approach from our wing backs to support the attack so we're attacking with 5 or 6 players rather than 2 or 3, and Cucurella doesn't really offer this yet, his comfort is sticking wide and offering an option in the half spaces. Chilwell and James when fit last season and this have stepped that part of their games up compared to Tuchel's first half season here and I think in Cucurella's case he'll need some time and patience just to develop that part of his game.

It's a soft decision. I can understand why it's been disallowed but it's one of those I'd be furious if we were on the wrong end of. I have full sympathy for Moyes having to come out and do an interview so soon after too, just like Tuchel the other week. It's not fair that managers are put in a position so soon after a game and given such a short leash with which to talk, moan and criticise decisions and incidents in a game.

Lucky but maybe this makes up for the Spurs game (Although felt they were fortunate to still have Antonio on the pitch to score their goal). Either way we needed that, we looked so devoid of confidence, too many players looking scared to make a mistake and playing safe. About time we came from behind to win a game no matter how we managed to find a way. Have to look at this as a building block and onwards to the Champions League now.

After the Broja contract confirmation yesterday and Vale the day before, there's talk today that Charlie Webster has agreed a new deal (contract was expiring like Vale's at the end of the season) and Reece James is signing a long term deal too. I have to say it's refreshing that these moves are being done so quickly by the new ownership. I have doubts Broja would have been given a new deal this summer so soon after his last one (bearing in mind that Mount and James haven't had new deals since their breakout seasons here 3 years ago), and a deal like Reece's would have been dragged out for a significant period in my opinion. With 3 years left on his deal, I have doubts we'd even have planned on discussing a new deal with him yet. Vale and Webster would probably have been moved on for nominal fees like Bate and Livramento were last summer. In the case of Vale and Webster, there has to have been some sort of shift in the mentality of Boehly/Clearlake or their plans/roadmap with these players to get them to commit to the club, which they weren't doing under the old regime.

I'm glad Tuchel has dropped the likes of Mount, Havertz and Jorginho - too many players need a wake up call given our start to the season, although on paper at least it does make our team look weaker. Personally would have started Broja today but it's a chance for Pulisic and one he must take. He's been nothing short of shambolic for a long time and needs to step up to save his career here. I can understand the idea behind having a third midfielder today. Gallagher has the energy and should have the licence to get up and down and support both the attack and defence. It does make us look a bit lightweight in attack though I'm not going to lie.

Whilst he's not a relentless pressing machine, Auba's pressing stats are actually pretty strong, especially compared to how bad Lukaku's were for us last season. Pretty sure there was a graphic which highlighted how poor Ronaldo and Lukaku were at pressing last season and Auba was around mid table or a little above average on the metric and this was despite there clearly being issues between him and Arteta at the time. Before they fell out, the year before Arteta played him a lot at left wing to accommodate Lacazette and he essentially sacrificed his own game for the team and was willing to put a shift in there so I don't think that carefree attitude he has necessarily means he's lazy and individualistic. Tuchel also mentioned it in his presser today that it is something from his time at Dortmund that he found was a strength to his game.

Genuinely intrigued by Zakaria. He looked a genuine superstar in the making a couple of years ago and seeing a couple of videos of him post injury he doesn't look like he's had the drop off that is being assumed. Hopefully it's just a case of Juventus wasn't the right move for him. Easy to compare to Saul, but let's not forget we put together a similar deal for Kovacic a couple of years ago and that went a lot more successful.

Not sure how true or accurate but just saw a tweet suggesting that Chelsea have reduced their wage bill this summer by around £36m per annum with the incomings and outgoings at the club. If it is indeed anything close to a figure like that, I think that's another significant positive this summer. For too long we've allowed players to stay at the club and each summer had to expend far too much energy finding solutions for these players. A lot of them have now been moved on permanently and hands wiped clean of them. The loan system will still be hugely important for the club but it should be for creating pathways for young talent to either develop to play for Chelsea or develop to be sold elsewhere for a good fee.

Ironically taking away add ons in some of the deals, I believe the club's net spend this summer was very, very close to that magical £200m number that was bandied around when the new ownership first come in. Given all the circumstances and playing catch up from the start, I think we've had a pretty good window overall.

No chance he's got 3 games or he'll be gone. The board have leaned so heavily on him to get them through this transfer window that they will give him time, I think so long as we don't completely fall off a cliff he'll be here until the end of the season. It's easy to say 'this isn't Roman' but ultimately we're in unchartered territory and have no idea what patience the new ownership will have. I understand from his interests in other sports teams that Boehly thinks highly of a settled structure and longevity in a project but on the flipside the pyramid and structure of English football is completely different and far more rewarding of success than American sports. I do think though for this season the only thing that would go against Tuchel is if the fans turn on him if things aren't going well and whilst there will always be murmurs of discontent with anyone, I think that stock for him is still high and he has the credit in the bank that someone like Sarri didn't have for example. I probably wouldn't be currently as receptive as I might have been previously to handing him a long term deal for now though. That is something that can be revisited later in the season, hopefully just leaving him now to fully concentrate on the group he knows he now has for the very least to January will be a positive.

Whilst I don't think we're signing the Auba of 3 or 4 years ago, I still think he'll offer an experienced hand in a position we're crying out for someone to take some responsibility and shoulder some of the burden of finding the net. I can see him being a bit like Eto'o when we had him.

Christ he's brave!

@Vesper how about Caicedo from Brighton as the mystery bid?