Blue-in-me-Veins

Nah Manpe you make a great point. It's not stupid to note that a Verratti-Kante midfield lacks serious Aerial ability, especially in the PL, where winning the Aerial battles, especially the 2nd ball is very important. If you look at the other CM option CFC fans have been clamoring for aswell, Nainnggolan, he's also a shorter figure. Having a quick look, Milan Badelj (someone we've been linked too) has some impressive Aerial Duels won %, but I don't know if that's misleading. But like BCS said, if Conte is given a different profile of players, he'll change the formation to suit those players' skillset. And Verratti is the type of player you change your entire setup to accommodate. Although, as much as i'd love to see Verratti here, Conte is the only salesman that could get him here. A player of his stature will most likely be off to either Real Madrid/Barcelona as the long term replacements for either Modric/Iniesta. Pretty sure he'll end up at either of those two clubs as well.

Nah fam, I disagree. Proper Buildup play is too important for top footballing sides. Cahill will always be a liability when tasked with the responsibility of passing from the back. He's a great squad option like you said, but should be relied upon for rotation/injury purposes, not as an undisputed started in the Fist XI. Yes CM is another massive liability, but Chelse have more than enough resources to address both issues at the same time, especially given that Oscar money. I know we also have Zouma/Christensen, but competition breeds excellence. Sometimes you have to buy first, and ask questions later. If Van Dijk is available in January, Chelsea gotta be all over him.

And you know. I was wondering. Why the fuck is the Oscar thread showing as "hot!". Thank you for all you've done Oscar, but he's CLEARLY not progressed/taken that next leap, and has no future at the club. This is incredible news. Ivanovic Next!

THERE IS A GOD!!!!!!!! HOLLY FUCK!!! THIS CAN'T BE LIFE! WHOOOO---HOOOOOOOOOO!!!

Im assuming Azpi also recieved a wage bump too. Wonder what he's on now, hopefully its atleast £100K per/wk. Man absolutely deserves it, and has been a Great servant to the club. Hail César!

Hopefully we win the title, can't have him going out like Ashley Cole. Still hurts to this day. The time is right, regarding this being JT's last season at CFC. Couldn't have him leave after that clusterfuck of a season last year. Conte has established himself, (or atleast it appears so), and the players look very motivated and happy (winning 9 straight does that). Crazy how the club was more concered with kicking him out last year while rewarding the worst player by a country mile, Ivanovic, a new contract.

That's a madness...and frankly a sadness. I like what @manpe saying, and would like to see him voted in as Admin, Because It's clear that some new/different ideas are needed to try and liven up TC a bit, and add more active users to the site. Don't know how CFC, the team we all love and support, can be on a 9 game winning streak, and TC be as quiet as It has been, in the past couple of months. There's literally like 20 users who post... That's it. Lot's of users have come and gone, but CFC is a global club that has more than enough dedicated fans that want to discuss all things Chelsea, all of the time. Is there anyway we can get Manpe on the Admin Staff with his conditions met? Don't see how it'd hurt to try something different.

Guess we were lucky the Board/Conte kept the faith with him, and simply refused to sell him back. And now that Atletico Madrid are barred from registering new players for all of 2017, it looks like he's here to stay for one more year at least. his contract doesn't end until Summer of 2019 btw, but yeah an extension, if even for 2 years, should be in the works asap. I wonder if his love for Atleti is moreso for Simeone, or the club itself. Obviously it can be both, but Simeone is gonna be at Inter Milan by 2018 me thinks (thank God), so hopefully a big part of his desire to go back/be at Atleti, is predicated on Simeone (much like it is for Griezmann). On another note, If Costa reaches 27 goals in the league, i think we'd be in great position to win the league. All his goals matter. Read a stat on twitter, he's responsible for 15pts this season in the league. Madness.

Content with that United win. Hopefully they can mount a serious chsllenge for 4th along with Spurs and City continue to drop points, especially without Fernandinho & Aguero.

Diego Costa is on a fucking mission. His conversion rate must be insane. He literally had no shots before that, and the one chance he gets, he blasts into the top corner on his weaker foot. What a menace. Cesc had to come on earlier, imo. Maybe could have knicked 2 goals and made the game easier on ourselves. I felt again, Conte waited far too long before bringing him on, but this time it didn't cost us. They can't all be sexy wins. On to the next one! Up the Chels!

Batshuayi needs to come on. And i think switching to a more cross-scentric play would cause WBA more problems. Kante's passing also been erratic. Why isn't moses taking on Philipps? He's not used to defending, make him defend!

need greater ambition. Griezmann or Dybala.

That must be some cruel joke. I'm already boiling at just the mere mention of this. #BunchOfTwats

Same.. And if its goalless at 55th min, i want Batshuayi & Cesc (if he doesn't start) brought on by the 60th min. Before this run, Conte had a habit of making subs maaaaaad late. Gotta go for the jugular, especially because playing at home.

No they certainly aren't dropping points. There unbeaten since opening day. They've been on a tear. But until they're hoisting that trophy on the final day, they will always be "same old Arsenal" in my eyes.

I tell you fam, my hatred for City knows no bounds. But when a 'rival' like Arsenal has been this irrelevant for this long... it's hard to take that joke of a club seriously. Honest question, who you more afraid of come spring, City or Arsenal? It's a no brainer for me man. Arsenal are like the only club in past 10 years (or something like that) to be top come the new year and still bottle it. Imo, the sooner City are knocked down a peg, the better. They even beat the champs Leicester Home & Away last year too .

We need to win tomorrow. We simply HAVE to. Possibly going 7pts ahead of City would be HUGE. Would be an unreal turnaround by Conte and boys. On another note, Hoping United win tomorrow, so they can mount some resemblence of a fight for 4th place, and that next week Arsenal beat City so that Man City acould be demoted to the second teir along with Spurs and United in a race for 4th place. My hatred for all things Man City knows no bounds. I pretty sure I despise them more than Arsenal. Just want City's Title challenge to be put to death as soon as fucking possible. I'd be a lot more comfortable competing for the Title with the likes of L'pool & Arsenal, much more comfortable. But back to Chelsea; "Just Win Baby Win!"

Thats crazy that he was "only" on 150K/wk at PSG. They pay ridiculous wages for nearly all their players, and surprised that even after paying that much for him, he was on relatively sound wages. Luiz still did a solid one, taking that pay-cut though.

Your latter paragraph is absolutely correct. The PL simply put, is a Striker's league, always has, always will be. And ours is on fuckin fire. But we have absolutely no goal threat CM, none. Hazard and Pedro simply have to be a consistent source of goals if we are to have a serious title challenge. Costa has 11 goals, Hazard 8, And everyone else has 3 or less. And Matic, Kante, Moses, Willian, Cesc, are simply NOT known for their goal scoring. When we won the PL title two years ago, the top goal scorers in PL were: Costa-20, Hazard-14, Drogba & Remy (combined)= 11goals, Oscar = 6. So thats 45 goals from our Forwards, and 6 from CM. Unless Pedro gets 11, idk who else becomes our 3rd goal scoring threat, because we also don't play with 2 Strikers either. May just have to hope Costa stays healthy and is put in a position to net 30 goals. Which would be a Herculean effort from him, but not out of the question. Dybala/Griezmann needed immediately in the summer. Or some other WC option to play RF.

Does anyone know what wages Luiz is on? Have a feeling it's like in the range of £125--150,000. Pretty sure he took a wage cut too to play for us, because I have no doubt he was on €200,000 PLUS at PSG.

You have way more confidence than me brother. I still feel like we'll implode sometime come February/March, and this season will mirror the 2013/14 Season with City winning out in the end. I look at the lack of depth we have in several positions, more so WBs and in CM, and can't get it out of my head that an injury crisis to either department, and we're royally fucked. Just this bad feeling I have, because I look at the work that Conte has done the way these past 2 months have gone in particular, and it all feels too good to be true.