Superblue

Tuchel pre game interview seemed to suggest that CHO will be in attack and RLC alongside Kova, so I guess Chalobah in the back 3 and Azpi wing back.

Is this Chalobah at the back, Azpi wing back and CHO in front 3? Or azpi at the back, CHO wing back and Chalobah in midfield? If it's the second one I'm guessing Loftus Cheek would be in a number 10 role behind Werner and Lukaku.

Big difference between the situation of Silva at PSG and Rudiger here. Silva would likely have accepted a one year deal on the same wages or probably even accepted a small pay cut to stay at PSG and was simply discarded. Such a decision would probably be comparable to if we chose not to extend Azpi against Tuchel's wishes, despite him likely being prepared to accept a year extension on similar wages. I'm sure the club want Rudiger to stay, but as reports suggest he wants roughly double his current salary.

We haven't played very well the last couple of games. The likes of Mount and Havertz are taking time to get going so far this season and we've become more reliant on Mendy to save a few shots. With the crowd, Spurs will be up for this today. Their line up seems to suggest this game is a bit of a free hit for them and they can just try and have a go. If we grab control of the game and make the right decisions picking through gaps that they may leave then we can do a job on them but I definitely worry about relying on Kepa if we're not very solid again.

Rumours on twitter suggest Mendy is injured so Kepa is starting.

It says a lot about the man and just how good he was that he's universally loved and respected across two clubs who really hate each other.

CHO does not have plenty of experience as a wing back. Hopefully there won't be any problems, we need a fast start and look to dominate the ball. I would have just been more comfortable with one of the two playing today and the other midweek.

That right hand side is very inexperienced.

I'm surprised there isn't a little bit more experience in there, especially across that back line. Chalobah and CHO together on the right worries me a little. I'd rather have had one play this game with Azpi and the other play mid week with James. Looking forward to seeing Saul play. It might be a really shock to the system for him but he's been training now with the team for over a week and a few of the guys in the team today and it's pleasing that Tuchel has no worries about throwing him in and using him. If he has full faith in all four of our midfielders and any combination of them, it can only help the season grind.

Think Chilwell will play the two midweek games in the UCL and Carabao Cup to get him up to speed. I think it's simply a case of at present Alonso hasn't done anything yet to justify taking him out of the team.

He's got 140 appearances in his first 3 seasons at Chelsea, he'll play plenty. We need the fourth midfielder because there's no way Kante will stay fit and play 2 or 3 times a week all season.

Interview on the Chelsea website and 5th Stand app. He talks very well. Really impressed that he mentioned he wants Kepa and the Spanish boys to talk to him in English as much as possible so he can learn the language quicker and communicate with the rest of the squad. It would be easy to not worry about things like that when there's a real possibility he's back at Atletico in 9 months time. But it sounds like he really wants to embrace the opportunity he has and does seem like he's planning on trying to make this a permanent move. Good luck to him, he definitely has the potential to do just that.

Love the recent Chelsea video of him partaking in shooting practice with the younger lads in the squad after training. You can see the whole mentality has changed from his earlier days. He's grown up and looks both comfortable and thriving as a leader within the dressing room. Don't ask me why, I just get that feeling he's primed to have a huge season individually, which I think in turn will be a key contributor to any success we have this season.

At least it gives Kante a couple of weeks now to rest. We can probably roll without him for that Villa game and the first Champions League game too, and try to have him fit for the Spurs game in a couple of weeks.

Some of the quotes coming out from an interview he did last night are very promising. He acknowledged his form in the last couple of seasons hasn't been the standard he expects it to be and he sounds incredibly motivated that this move will re-boot his career. If he can get anywhere back to his best then the deal we've negotiated with an option to buy for what seems an incredibly fair price could end up being a masterstroke. I'm excited to see what he can bring, and hope it works well for him.

And it should be noted to reach that position we haven't sold anyone who hasn't been deemed surplus to requirements. We've managed to strengthen our hand whilst staying profitable.

For anyone thinking about moaning about Chelsea's transfers, Barcelona are in the process of offloading Griezmann at a huge loss and bringing in Luuk De Jong to join Bratihwaite to their front line. Just let that sink in...

Incredibly clever move in my opinion. If he's successful then we can make the deal permanent for what is likely to be an extremely fair price in today's market. If he's not then we move on to another target next summer. Allows us to take stock of the situation, whilst at the same time increasing our squad depth with a midfielder who has played at the highest level for a number of years now and has shown the potential in the past to be real high quality.

Saul done according to Romano. €5m loan fee.

His priority if reports are to be believed was always a top striker this summer and the club managed to buy the best one realistically available. That's pretty decent backing considering we already had three strikers at the club, one of which was signed for big money the summer before. I completely agree that if we fail to get Kounde and/or Saul it leaves us a little thin, but I don't believe the club isn't backing Tuchel.

As things stand it looks like Chalobah will be the backup player in both defence and midfield at least until January. He could end up getting some real good minutes this season and really has the chance to carve an opening in the squad for himself as a utility player.

I'm not questioning if you're right or wrong, but I haven't seen anything reported that suggests Tuchel wants Saul to be signed permanently and the club is against this. I've seen reports that Tuchel would like him if possible, but this again plays into the possibility that he's discussed this option with the club and if he can be signed on loan then great, but they don't want to commit to a permanent buy currently. I guess some of these reports are unfortunately open to interpretation.

There is a very real possibility that Tuchel views Saul in much the same way as the club. A potential stop gap option this season that could develop into a permanent signing or otherwise move on to another target next season. If Tuchel was adamant that he wanted Saul permanently and he was the man for that midfield spot long term, I think the club would take the step to buy him at the prices being touted.

We do have the benefit of having a huge amount of players in our squad who are versatile and adept at playing multiple positions which I think could stop us from feeling too stretched if needed. For example, there is still debate over Chalobah's best position (defence or midfield). Christensen has also played midfield for Denmark a few times, and James has also filled in midfield a couple of times under Tuchel. Mount could also potentially play deeper too if required. I'm sure if the squad needed shuffling around a little it's not the end of the world. Would the additions of Kounde and Saul be welcomed? Absolutely, they would definitely improve the depth and quality within the squad. But neither are walking into our first XI like Lukaku did. Unless we are completely ravaged by injuries then I don't think either is essential for any success we can hopefully achieve this season.

Our best youngsters have made the squad. The ones sold or loaned out either aren't good enough yet or won't be good enough to make the grade. People do have to realise that we invested a fortune last summer in the middle of the pandemic and then have had another full year after this playing in empty stadiums, etc. There isn't just an endless pit of cash available, no matter what people might think. We've done really well to raise money through players that are surplus to requirements here to cover the Lukaku signing which is a serious investment and a potentially key cog into the team for this season. A lot of clubs across Europe have done far less business or spent a lot less money than us this summer. I'm sure if the opportunity was there we may have done more business this summer, but it'll be done on our terms which I think is the correct way.