Superblue

He's not as exposed in a double pivot in this system. For me, especially in some of the bigger games, his best performances have been under Tuchel whilst at the club.

I think there are huge positives to take from Tuchel. The biggest one being that for the past 18 months under him we've competed against the very best sides and often been at the very least their equal and at times superior. He hasn't lost in 5 games under Klopp's Liverpool (penalties notwithstanding), he's beaten Pep's City 3 times, Conte's Spurs 3 times, Simeone's Atletico twice, Real Madrid twice. From a competitive perspective we're back at that level consistently and he has to take a lot of the credit for that because the majority of these players under Sarri and Lampard before him struggled against the very best teams. There has been progress this season in the league. Obviously not enough to compete currently with Liverpool and City but we should finish 3rd and realistically our league season has completely petered out because we've been relatively safe in that spot for months. Consistency is something that needs to improve in our league form to challenge for the title. I saw a stat the other day too that we're in the top 3 teams in the league for most points lost from a leading position with 20 which is far too much for a team in 3rd. Rightly or wrongly, it also isn't coincidental that the two poor runs in the league we've had this year came over Xmas when we were ravaged with injuries and covid, and recently with the sanctions and dark cloud hanging over the club's head. It is also easy to forget the time Pep and Klopp have had at their clubs. Pep's City when he inherited them were already strong and it was a struggle him getting them in the top 4 the first season. He spent £400m in the first two summers in the club to reshape them. Klopp took a couple of years to get Liverpool in the top 4 and I'm pretty sure they also lost 3 cup finals before winning one. The process can take time. I believe with the right backing and recruitment, Tuchel is at a level as a coach where over the next couple of seasons he can get us closer to the top 2 whilst also keeping us competitive and in the hunt for cups. I don't foresee a situation where the new ownership coming in will be as trigger happy as Roman. I think they'll be realistic in where we're currently at in comparison to Liverpool and City and we may be a couple of years and a couple of good transfer windows away from sustaining a title challenge. But with this in mind, and perhaps a more patient and settled approach in the manager/coaching department, I think Tuchel is probably the best manager throughout Roman's era at the club to be trusted with a longer term, patient approach. For me, at present, there's no other manager around that I'd be happy replacing him with.

Both have played there but I think they are both better suited to playing in a 2. If we were to trade in a defender for an extra midfielder or a more offensive minded player, I would prefer someone more mobile and athletic to screen the centre backs. Jorginho reads the game very well but if he's left exposed like he has been in the past before Tuchel, it can leave the team extremely open especially to being counter attacked.

Boehly was apparently appointed on 11th May when the deal became binding. I assume the above would suggest everything is close now.

No doubt the system is suited to our personnel and he deserves a lot of credit for that as I don't think many Chelsea fans saw our future post Lampard being a wing back formation. Regarding the defensive and attacking player balance though, at our strongest our attacking players do become comparable because I'd argue Chilwell and James become as important as attacking outlets in our team very much in the same way Liverpool's attack would be viewed mainly as the front 3 and the full backs. The lack of athleticism and pace in Alonso and Azpi when Chilwell and James have been absent so much this season has no doubt been a huge blow to the balance in the team. The biggest difference is could we sacrifice a defender for a midfielder. That depends on the centre backs in our team being able to play in a back 4 and potentially have to match up man to man at times. Until we bring new defenders in this summer, realistically we only have Thiago Silva with the experience and current ability to play in a back 4 and he's 38 in September. I would like the potential to play 4-3-3, as I think as and when we move on from Jorginho and Kante, we have a crop of midfielders who are probably all suited in different circumstances and skill sets to play as 2 number 8's (I include the likes of Mount, Gallagher and RLC all in this bracket) and just need a true holding midfielder to sit behind them and screen the centre backs. Ultimately this is all going to boil down to Tuchel. He'll have somewhat of a fresh start this summer with some of the players leaving or likely to leave and I think he has the option to choose to go either way long term.

I personally think a back 3 masks Kounde's weaknesses or areas that need improving - mainly his lack of height, and at times a rashness and lack of defensive awareness in his game. I think the latter has always been in Rudiger's game too which is why he's so much more suited to a back 3 where he has someone sat in behind him covering. The price for me is a little worrying because we could do with multiple changes to the squad this summer, spending such a large portion of our budgets on Kounde does leave me a little apprehensive over the deal. If we end up paying anywhere near the 70m euros being quoted, we arguably could have picked up two excellent centre backs for probably a similar price to this. Given Sevilla's situation though that they need to raise money and Kounde will now be down to just 2 years left on his deal, you'd think we could maybe get that fee down a bit. Especially when it seemed last season we nearly had a deal in place for what was reportedly a lot less than now.

Disappointed in this one. I think there's a lot of upside in Kamara and even more so on a free. I'd love to see us in the mix for him, but until these sanctions are lifted our hands are tied.

The wage is unrealistic but I wouldn't be surprised if alongside a huge wage he's given a signing on bonus pushing £100m. Signed up long term, he's probably the most valuable player in world football right now and will be the most marketable beyond Ronaldo and Messi, especially for Real Madrid. I know we've been stung this summer losing players at the end of their contracts but I believe this will become a far more regular thing moving forward. There are a huge amount of big names likely to move clubs this summer on free transfers. Players will be prepared to see out contracts and pocket signing on fees that clubs will be prepared to hand out due to no transfer fee being required. We need to position ourselves moving forward to (1) protect our most valuable players (in our case currently it'll be the younger crop of players like Mount, James, Havertz, etc) and (2) put ourselves in the market to benefit from this ourselves with future incomings.

I guess Watford will be 'the' game to give a send off to those likely to be leaving. I can see a few players on the fringes getting minutes Thursday, Kepa for one, as I think Mendy will then play Sunday. If I were Tuchel I'd throw Mount straight back in to try and get the disappointment of the penalty miss out of his system, although I can see it being more likely Ziyech, Pulisic and Lukaku play as they're the ones with less minutes in the tank. I could honestly see something like this on Thursday: Kepa Azpi, Chalobah, Sarr James, RLC, Jorginho, Alonso or Saul Ziyech, Lukaku, Pulisic

You have to love this article. The most important part is that tweet. It's buried in about paragraph 8, almost as if it's a side note of disappointment to the football media. The main headline? The people working on a £4.25bn sale are getting rewarded with a handsome bonus, as if this isn't the norm on a deal as big as this. Oh how dare they!

I wouldn't be keen on Gundogan purely based on him being 32 shortly after the season starts and City will probably want a handsome sum to sell to us. The experience in our midfield is already there with Kante and Jorgi.

Maybe we can enjoy these last 2 games now. Would be nice to get some clarity on the takeover before the Watford game.

Seems very strange that in Chelsea's own statement regarding the sale to Boehly, they officially confirmed that the £2.5bn proceeds for the club will initially be paid into a frozen UK bank account. If this is the case then this news makes no sense as its irrelevant where the money might or might not go if its frozen anyway. The one part regarding Buck not being the most helpful working with the government is interesting. It either suggests this is a means for them to pressure the club to hurry up and sort details out, and/or to try and pressure the club to remove those with close ties to Roman, such as Buck and Marina. Or it could just be another PR move by the government to curry favour that it looks like they are proactive and showing zero tolerance. Also to note there's been no confirmation yet that the premier league has ratified the sale. This is apparently imminent but until then nothing can start to go through anyway.

Would the pressure at Gladbach be at the same level as Chelsea would be something to consider? If these issues are indeed true, it's also surprising that he's decided to join Barcelona where the pressure ramps up an extra notch or two from us. Madrid and Barca will eat you alive if you're not careful and I don't think it's the wisest career choice at face value.

But then we're also in the position potentially next summer where Jorginho and Kante both leave at the end of their contracts and we have to replace both at the same time, similar to the issue we have now of rebuilding the defence due to multiple departures. I personally think a holding midfielder is an important addition this summer. It opens up more options and potential with regards to Tuchel being able to use a back 4 formation if he chooses to.

Tom might be right wing but at least he's not pushing that narrative forcibly like other family members. I've always felt, rightly or wrongly, people are entitled to their own beliefs religiously, politically, etc so long as they're not trying to force those beliefs and issues on other people, or acting on such beliefs causes harm to others. I don't like or believe in most right wing viewpoints, like the abortion story you posted above. I also believe the Ricketts getting the club would have been an absolute disaster from the backlash their bid had. But I do think they copped a raw deal due to situations which weren't their own doing (Tom and Laura that is). Anyway, I don't want to get further into this. They don't have the club, let's look forward to what the Boehly consortium bring.

I don't think you can pin this on Tom and Laura. From what I had seen Tom at least publicly seemed to stay very neutral and Laura was doing a lot of positive things. It's not easy to simply denounce siblings and family members, and probably more so in such a public and political setting. Ultimately I'm glad we didn't end up with them and everything I've seen, read and heard so far regarding Boehly and his consortium is positive and leads me to believe we'll continue to be successful under his ownership. With Tom and Laura I felt it was pretty unfair to tarnish them with the same brush regarding their family. I was more concerned with the negativity coming from Chicago and the Cubs about how they ran that organisation.

Definitely a topic worth a debate, but I'd be inclined to consider Kante more disposable than Jorginho this summer. We are in a bit of a difficult spot because besides Thiago Silva and Kovacic, most of the other players either leaving, being linked with a move away and/or potentially dispensable are all experienced players. The club would be gambling that the likes of Mount, James, Havertz, etc are in a position to take up that mantle or a couple of the players we look to buy can replace that experience going out of the door. Whatever people say or think about Jorginho he is a leader. He's both vocal and leads by example on the field, not hesitant to accept and assume responsibility on the ball. Ironically his biggest weakness (his athleticism) is also probably the reason why he's less likely to show a quick decline. I worry much more about Kante declining because he's not as good technically.

It's difficult to be too hard on him if he has some sort of nervous disposition about playing, he can't really help that and something like that is really difficult for us to help him with. It is ironic that probably his best ever performance in a Chelsea shirt was coming on in the Champions League final and playing a blinder, where he'd have had no time to think about things and get nervous he was just thrown in. The problem is somebody like that will never be fully trusted and relied upon by their manager. Sarri seemed to suggest it was an issue with picking him and having done this a couple of times now to Tuchel, I think privately he's probably not too bothered about losing him so long as he can bring a replacement in. On a side note, I think Trev deserves a lot of plaudits. That's a couple of times now in recent games he's had to come and fill in late. He played both finals, and had to go up against Diaz who just looks brimming with confidence at present and is arguably Liverpool's most destructive player in attack currently and he performed admirably on both occasions. He'll be so much better off for the experiences he's had this season and hopefully uses that as a springboard to developing further next season because there's still areas of his game that need working on but he's starting to blossom nicely. His recovery pace is a big asset (although he needs to develop on not having to recover as often) and his ability to drive with the ball from that right centre back position is somewhat similar to what Rudiger has provided from the left side.

It's very refreshing too that it's a manager that has already been here for 18 months and it appears the power may well be shifting somewhat. The new board seem to be high on Tuchel according to reports and I think Marina, Cech, etc also like him a lot, and I think he'll be given a lot more power and influence than other managers have had at the club to be able to reshape and rebuild the squad. Unless we fell apart and dropped out the Champions League positions, I honestly think Tuchel will be given at least the next couple of seasons to try and build a squad capable of challenging the two above us.

As I said the annoying thing is I do think he has 'it'. Whilst I think all of them need to become more consistent, especially if we're to show progression in our league form next season, at least Mount and Havertz have shown improvement and progression in their numbers and performances this season. Both have improved on last season. I haven't really seen the same with Pulisic, it just always seems to be one good game and then a couple of poor ones.

The biggest loss of Christensen is that he is comfortable playing both centrally and on the side of the back 3 so if we're planning to keep the back 3 we need someone comfortable to compete with Silva for the central position. But ability wise he is very much replaceable in my opinion. His mentality unfortunately just doesn't seem to be strong enough. I'd rather Tuchel continue pushing and developing Chalobah.

I thought he was Inter bound?

The concern with someone like Kante is he is still so highly regarded and also so loved by the Chelsea fan base that the new owners will be worried that selling him or not extending his contract could be seen as a negative PR decision. Someone needs to make a big decision on him which might not be the most popular. I don't think this season he has justified a new contract on the wages he earns, especially as he'll be 32 at the end of next season and has had 3 years of struggles staying fit. Would a summer of rest help get the best back out of him for another season or two? Possibly, but I wouldn't bank on it. I wouldn't really like to take the risk of trading him off to United but if they were the only team that came in for him and were willing to offer good money I think it needs to be considered as we've got some work to do in the market this summer. Have to believe though PSG would fancy him if we showed any suggestions he was available.