Superblue

The one where Alonso was nearly decapitated by the keeper and he gave Spurs a free kick before VAR intervened was probably the worst of the lot.

Which highlights a failure in the set up right there. If a goal can be called back due to a foul in open play, or a penalty can be given or overturned, why are set pieces like corners and free kicks not treated in the same way. You have a situation now where the referee and the linesmen and 4th, 5th, 10th officials and VAR all speak to each other throughout the game. As an example, the linesman gets a corner decision wrong as to who the ball come off last. This takes literally 10 seconds on a replay to correct this decision, both ways from an attacking or defending perspective. By the time the ball has been handed over to the corner taker or the keeper, the decision can be reversed. It's hardly going to eat up much time. I understand your point on the Havertz foul for the first goal. As infuriating as it is because it's such an obvious foul, there is significant time between that and the goal. (although I struggle to understand how Richarlison on this one isn't obstructing the view from an offside position but isn't my point being argued) But on the Romero foul it is so blatant it's a puzzle as to why a decision can't be made on this before the next corner has been taken. Unfortunately the standard of refereeing has become so poor it has to be a consideration that it might just come to a stage whereby they are simply the man on the pitch to relay all decisions made by a VAR referee or system.

Gut wrenching to drop points in that way at the end but once everything has calmed down, for me there was a lot to like about today's performance. Very aggressive in the first half and although playing with a back 3, James regularly pushed into midfield in that first half to pin Spurs in and dominate them. There was a lot more urgency and quickness in our game too. Understandable we couldn't keep that level of intensity up given how hot it was and still early in the season, but still dominant in the second half and ironically had better chances that half too. After pre season and then the Everton game we looked still very undercooked compared to how Spurs had looked in their own pre season and first game of the season but raised the levels today and we've arguably not seen that level of intensity since the Madrid game. Still wasteful today and we have to start finding a clinical edge. Some of these chances are very good and we're not even hitting the target. Havertz worked his socks off today and you can't fault his effort but he has to score his chance. It is the difference between the win today irrespective of poor refereeing decisions. But this is a Spurs team who have spent multi millions to improve their bench and suddenly been cast into potential title challengers and a level above us for this season. They've been played off the park and know that they've got out the game with an extremely lucky point. I still believe we're the best of the rest behind City and Liverpool and if we could find a consistent goal scorer or two we'd have a chance of significantly closing that gap.

I don't mind the team today, it'll keep Conte and Spurs guessing on it's make up but also the personnel allow us to change into a different system during the game. Last season we had joy against Spurs with both a back 4 and 3. I think it'll be a back 3 with RLC at wing back but it's not to say we couldn't switch to a back 4 and pack the midfield.

It's not even a case of rotating managers, it's putting a plan in place that runs through the club for succession planning. When Pep finally leaves City, do you think they'll rip everything up that has been built or do you think they'll find someone in a similar mould to Pep who can work and get the best out of the players he has. We've flip flopped across multiple managers with different systems, philosophies, player preferences over the last decade and it's left us where we are today. We're not like the early years under Roman where Mourinho built a squad that had players who would form a bedrock of the side for the next few years and had a very organised, strong and cerebral way of playing and getting results. The squad we have now is a mish-mash. I think we're rather fortunate to be honest that our recruitment, whilst inconsistent, hasn't been anywhere near as bad as United's and we've been able to rely on some good academy players to fill out our squad in recent years because whilst we might all laugh at United's current predicament, we have to look at our own selves in the mirror and know that we've got a lot of things wrong and mixed little patience with managers alongside too much patience with some players to leave us miles off the title picture currently. For me Tuchel has earned the right for a proper crack at this job where he's given the opportunity to identify and move out a number of the players that have been here too long and need to move on, and be given an opportunity to rebuild the team. So far, I'm pleased with our three signings this summer. If these three are a starting point or measuring stick for the quality of personnel Tuchel is looking to bring into the club in the future then I'm very happy. What is important however is that if things don't work out with Tuchel and there comes a point where he is to be replaced, I hope the board make a decision on a new manager based on the fit not necessarily the name and reputation of the manager.

So who is the right manager in your opinion to lead us?

I have no issues with where we stand in relation to Barca and Madrid. Even United and Liverpool have found their places behind those two with regards to losing big players to their clubs. What does irk me and should never have happened is losing ground to Man City with regards to attractiveness of big clubs to move to. Given where both clubs started when money started flowing in, that we had a substantial foot up on them when they were acquired, location (London vs Manchester) and a lot of people outside the UK just assumed there was one club in Manchester and that was the team in red. There's no excuse that we haven't kicked on more than we have. Yes there is a winning culture within the club from academy to women to first team which is to be proud of but it always feels like the club is one day away from a car crash to have to navigate or recover from. The short term approach the club has had has offered a ruthless streak that I'm sure clubs like United and Arsenal will have loved in recent years to try and instil better standards into their clubs, but it's come at a price in the long term being able to regularly challenge for the league title which should always be the bread and butter of our season. Slipping to the point where top 4 is the aim each season quite frankly isn't good enough. I'm glad to see the new ownership willing to spend money and invest in the club but I'm also just as intrigued to see the longer term plans they put in place with regards to the people in 'power' positions running the club, stadium redevelopment, relationship with supporter groups, etc. Such things may not affect performances on the pitch but I do think they help to create a stable and warming environment at the football club which can follow into a more patient and stable model all round.

If Christensen was genuinely available, we'd be fools not to pursue that deal. I don't care about what happened towards the end of last season, he's a very good defender with his best years seemingly in front of him and somebody already used to the club, the coach, the system and slots seamlessly into either the right side or the centre of the back 3. I really like Fofana and I genuinely believe if he continues on the right trajectory he could become a superstar centre back of this coming generation but this summer we'd still be paying for potential. We will still likely need a new defender next summer to replace Silva so the topic of Fofana may come up again then with another year under his belt and maybe some more proof of this transfer fee. I assume the report on Christensen has been leaked by his camp and his social media activity is just a bit of scaremongering to apply pressure to Barca and it'll be resolved but if it did end up being more than that both parties should swallow their pride because he's a good fit for us and we're a good fit for him.

I think the Christensen and Kessie story is scaremongering and won't happen. However if it did, the club and Christensen shouldn't feel any shame to bring him back here. It would solve a problem area we're trying to throw serious money at currently.

That list should raise alarm bells immediately because how many of those were deemed a success? Granted a couple could still turn things around, and a couple like Neymar for example haven't exactly been flops but beyond Mbappe and maybe Bale, can you really argue any of the rest have been successful buys? You only have to then look at Chelsea's own list for most expensive attacking buys in our history and it's littered with disaster after disaster. I'd much rather see a couple of well thought out and scouted buys for attacking positions than splashing out big again.

The bigger difference is we can wait out to the end of the transfer window to see if he becomes available or agrees to leave Barca because if it doesn't happen I don't think Tuchel has a problem with the options he already has this season. De Jong becomes a cherry on the top for us this window. For United, it's essential they bring someone into their midfield and improve its quality and they can't really afford to wait on De Jong in hope in case they get left with nothing at the end.

Lot of respect for Timo. It didn't work out but he never spat his dummy out and never stopped trying to make it work. No excuses just an admittance that he hasn't been good enough here. Despite that his tireless work ethic and efforts went a way towards that Champions League win. Hopefully he'll be able to look back on his time at Chelsea fondly in years to come because you can't help but like the guy. I really hope he lights a fire back in the Bundesliga, and hopefully helps Leipzig topple Bayern off their perch.

His wages are a massive consideration in this deal. When it was discussed about being able to move him on in the summer there was only realistically a couple of clubs who might look at him so in that regard I think we've been lucky to find a willing suitor for a reasonable fee based on where he's at right now and this likely would have only dropped further if he'd stayed another season and played a bit part role. For us, it moves another player out who probably should be moving on and frees up significant wages which we would have been stuck with for another 3 years otherwise.

Is it now strictly for under 21's or are there allowances to play some players over this age. I get your point on lowering the age, but if you had a first team player coming back from injury is this the only place they could get minutes outside of the first team picture when working back up to fitness?

Werner's goal and assists record for us in the Champions League was actually very good, and I don't believe we ever lost a game in the Champions League that he played in either. But that there probably shows the problem and why it likely wasn't going to ever work here. He gets the spaces in behind defences in Europe in the same way he did in the Bundesliga. Those spaces aren't there as often in the Premier League, especially for a possession heavy and dominant side or you need an exceptional creator to utilise the smaller spaces you usually get. Taking that away from his game unfortunately severely limits Werner because he just isn't that good technically. He'll do well in Germany again, the league suits him far better.

The problem is genuinely what is out there? I feel that anything currently on the market is going to be a roll of a dice deal in the hope that they're more successful than the current crop we have at the club. We finally look like we're starting to move out players who shouldn't be here and the last thing we want to do is add more of that ilk. I think Sterling will be a big player for us. He senses opportunities that our current crop don't, and attacks the pockets of space. He's also capable of carrying the ball and drawing fouls or creating space for others which we've not had since Hazard and to a degree, Willian. I also liked Broja when he came on. He's raw and there was one occasion where he beat the man out wide and first time could have put the ball in the box as Sterling was in there (so his decision making needs a bit of work) but elements of his game give me Diego Costa vibes. He's really filled out in the last 12 months and looks like he can really handle himself now, and is deceptively quick and willing to press. I have a feeling that if Havertz struggles early on this season, Broja could end up taking his spot and making it his own this season. I'm not saying Broja is definitely the long term solution as he still has a lot of developing to do, but given the attackers we've been linked to like Depay, Auba, Sesko, etc, my preference is to give Broja the chance this season and see what he can do.

Definitely shouldn't be underestimated how big it is to get two of the biggest earners off the wage bill this coming year when they've been two of the biggest under achievers last season. The other high earner I believe in that top tier bracket is Kante and he could well be gone this time next year too.

The problem with these deals is that so much gets leaked from multiple sources to try and make the buyer look like they're striking as good and cheap a deal as possible and the seller to look like they're getting a good transfer fee and selling as high as possible. The base fee seems to be going up and down at will but I would assume that with the bonuses the total of the deal would be close to £25-30m.

Sky Sports reporting United have agreed a deal for Rabiot so I would assume they're moving on from De Jong now. I think De Jong would be an outstanding signing if we could get him and really answers a lot of question marks over the makeup of our midfield from next season onwards with Jorginho's and Kante's contracts expiring. However I don't think it's a position we should force a move. There may be some excellent options come up on the market next summer, namely Bellingham and Rice who we could look to position ourselves to try and buy. So for me this summer it's De Jong or no one in midfield, and as a result we're in a position really where we can wait it out and see whether Barca try to force him out or not.

Given the size of the bid, I don't think the Raphinha bid was random or not much thought had been put into it. The problem was the sanctions left us in limbo to be able to put any work into a deal for the months leading up to the transfer window. In that time Barca had put a proposal to him. I think the club played the deal right and in the only way possible really, even at risk of being burnt. We went in and agreed a deal with Leeds which put a lot of pressure on Barca to put up or shut up and I think we were probably confident Barca couldn't get a deal done which would leave us free to get him. Disappointed because I think he's a player that would have done very well for us and the combination of him and Sterling would have been a very good upgrade in the attacking positions. I think from a proactive standpoint the issue is there doesn't seem to be a huge amount of quality currently on the market in attacking positions and even younger players you could perhaps take a bit of a calculated gamble on would cost huge transfer fees.

City announced Haaland before our new owners were even confirmed so even if we hadn't signed Lukaku and tried laying groundwork for Haaland it would have been scuppered by the sanctions. Fair play to City they took full advantage of the situation.

Some of the rumours coming out last week were that he'd be willing to take a wage cut to facilitate a move. At that point it looked like being a loan deal and seemed to suggest he'd drop his wages to fit into Leipzig's pay structure. I don't see any reason why that would change for a permanent move, as it seems that he wants to go back to Germany and be playing regularly. Good luck to him, he's a very likeable character and I would have loved things to work out here but he just doesn't have the technical ability to fit in. He'll be more suited back in Germany to the higher lines and playing off the shoulder of the last defender.

I think the difference there is that Leicester would be selling Fofana reluctantly, whereas having bought Cucurella we'd be looking to move Alonso on. So for them the incentive to leave him out isn't really there, compared to us protecting Alonso from injury.

At this stage of the season all that matters is the win. Liverpool looked awful yesterday and dropped points as a result. Arsenal blew out after half hour and rode their luck in the second half on Friday night. I couldn't care less about the performances right now, at this stage of the season you dig in and grind out and I think an away win at Everton is a massive start considering the recent form and results we've had there. We looked undercooked which seemed to be the case throughout pre season seeing as we played so little games and instead seemed to go on a PR exercise during the summer. That fitness needs building up and will over the coming weeks but should question the balance of pre season between promoting the club and preparing for the new season. The biggest positive was the new signings. They genuinely looked a cut above our other players on the pitch. Particularly impressed watching Cucurella's cameo, just his ability to spot and execute a pass out of a press sounds simple but I see very few capable of doing so regularly and effectively.