Blue-in-me-Veins

Sadly, with those wage demands Alexis is reportedly asking for, there's no shot he comes here. The reported wage demands he is making would throw everything out of whack here. Him and Ozil both want to be paid Pogba like wages, which is like £ 20M a year net which comes out to nearly 390K Quid a week. Not saying both players don't deserve that type of money ( and I always want the players to earn as much as they possibly can), but that would cripple the wage structure here. He'd be the best-paid player at Chelsea by a ridiculous mile here, and that never goes over easy in the locker-room, unless your signing undisputed ELITE footballers like Pogba, Ronaldo, Bale, or Neymar. And even then, you heard stories about Ronaldo and Messi feeling threatened, and demanding even more $$$ to make sure their top spot at the club was never questioned. Alexis is a baller, no doubt. But Alexis on 390K a week, when Hazard/Costa are on 200K-185K!? That's mad. They'd be lining up for improved wages before the ink even dried on Alexis' deal Someone made the point on twitter that, Bayern are probably waiting in the wings, trying to poach either Ozil/Alexis. But at the end of the day, if Alexis/Ozil want that type of money, they're better off holding Arsenal hostage because they have all the leverage in the world to demand such a contract over there and are Arsenal's biggest stars/sources of commercial revenue. Don't think people fully grasp this, but the Chelsea Board don't fuck around with this wage structure man. All I know is that Hazard/Costa/Cesc (btw what wages is Luiz being paid??) are the top dawg's in terms of pay structure, and everyone else is on sound, reasonable wages, and off by quite some distance from those big 3.

Bare jokes.

I just have this eerie feeling, we'll stick with Cahill and watch him go to Manchester. Van Dijk, Luiz, Azpi, Christensen, and Zouma? Jah Bless.

Ya joking fam...

Nah I hear exactly what your saying Barbs. And I agree entirely with this part right here. What Conte has drilled very well into this team is how to control space, and everything you highlighted here speaks exactly to that.

We need Jose Mourinho to stay at United for atleast 2 years. Cannot have him fired after 1 season. That match vs Everton was absolute shite. Had it not been for that idiot Steklenberg, United wouldn't have scored a goal. Contrast that match to ours vs City's and the differences are insane.

No problem pal. Thanks for all you do around here.

I know But even that I would like too. Plenty forums of other clubs do same, which is the: one match thread for everything. (Atleast for me) it is kind of disheartening a bit, when even after major victories, Post-match thread be <6 pages. I mean I could just be getting all nostalgic, cuz i remember back during the Carlo/AVB/RDM days when Match threads would be on fire. With discussions galore. Kinda sad to see all the users who used to log on to TC no longer be on.

Just a suggestion, but I feel we should change the setup of the match threads. So like, have a Pre-Match thread that gathers pace throughout the weak. And then have the Live-Match-Day thread, and then once the match is over, leave that same thread open for all the Post-Match thoughts/analysis and just add the MOTM poll afterwards and the Post Match Tag. reason im suggesting such a change is because the # of pages for the post match threads be hella low, regardless of the result. And for lurkers/newcomers seeing lots of pages for threads (more specifically match-day thread), will portray a more active/lively forum. I know this comes across as a Term-X sort of suggestion, but still.

I always rated him.

I was thinking of the exact same match too. Because after KDB missed those 2 chances and Aguero fumbled on top of the box when he was all free, City then went balls to the wall throwing the kitchen sink trying to score that winner, much like that 2nd half vs Atleti at home. And much like how Atleti countered with the Griezzy goal, we did the same with our Willian goal. For some reason, City took upon this mentality that they simply "had to score"/ going for the jugular when in reality, if they regathered themselves and played more methodical, they most likely would have won the game. However, it must be stated, that Pep Guardiola has a habit of turning big-games into these frenetic end-to-end, helter-skelter matches, but his sides end up on the winning end of said matches because he posses the better finishers on the field. You know what else this match mirrored? City vs Barcelona at the Etihad 4 weeks ago.

Didn't know Costa had a long lost son in Nicolas Otamendi. Costa proper sonned him 2x on the day. Once for goal, and then on his assist for Willian's goal. What a Monster Diego Costa has been. He's been on a fucking tear, doing it all for the team. Proper Lad too innit. Typical Costa

Chalobah and Batshuayi are from Endz mate, they weren't havin it. Proper Chelsea lads, sticking up for the mandem. Was screaming for Conte to bring him on when we went 2-1, and even more when we went 3-1. Thank God that didn't cost us, because we needed more legs in CM.

But it doesn't have to be mutually exclusive. Pep had Conte figured out. 55% of their attacks came down Alonso's half, KDB/Navas were having supreme joy whipping balls in for that flank. And in the 2nd hald Silva joined that side too, where they simply overloaded our lef-side, creating chance after chance after chance. Pep can't finish for the team too. He clrrectly identified our weakness but City failed to convert those 2 KDB chances. We also didn't help ourselves by giving the ball away so cheaply as well in that second half, but that was also a result of their pressing somewhat imo. All im trying to say, is that while we were the more clinical team on the day ( 3 shots on target, 3 goals). If you play that exact game 10 times, im sure more often than not, we'd walk away with a loss. But that doesn't matter right now, because, WE'RE TOP OF THE LEAGUUEEEEEEEE

Raaahhh Raaahhhh We just pulled a madness at the Etihad. 3 shots on target, 3 goals. We were being played off the park, but the lads made them pay for failing to convert their chances. What a match.

Alonso been the whipping boy in that first half. KDB/Navas were having everything they wanted vs him. And even Moses has been poor imo on defense, been switching off like crazy. Hazard gotta finish that/shoot on goal man. Really liked our defense shape though overall. Like that Conte has instructed Pedro/Hazard to tuck in, and takeaway central passing lanes. Hopefulyl we can knick a goal.. Think we will.

Tears.

Look at that Xg map. We were properly played off the park that entire first half, and same for the first 15mins vs Southamptopn Away, but the team still rarely conceeded clear goal-scoring opportunities even when on the back foot for large chunks of time. Spurs were limited to long shots, like that entire 1st half. Very underrated aspect of Conte's switch to the 343. And another win for Conte in a "big game". Now 2W's and 2L's. Conte has found his stride. Next week's match vs City is going to be lit af.

THERE YOU HAVE IT! Pedro nicks the ball off Dembele and we're off on the counter to lead the game. Exactly what I wanted to see.

I feel Conte has to rearrange the front three. And place Pedro & Hazard more centrally so they can block the distribution to Dembele/Wanyama. What's the point of marking Wimmer/Walker, let them have the ball as their bound to make mistakes. The distances kante/Matic have to cover if they decide to close down Wanyama/Dembele is not efficient at all. I feel if we fix that, and then tell Alonso/Moses to press higher up field and meet Spurs's FBs, we could have a chance of imposing our will. So happy Pedro equalized, but that was a shit first half.

Im about to watch like 5/6 games from RB Leipzig next week. Football Twitter been going crazy praising his performances. What a special talent he looks to be, and what a special story RB Leipzig are shaping up to be.

Sums it up really.

Yes! What a coup that would be for Chelsea if we signed him.

Curses!