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Lol, and tbf I think today is the best I've ever seen Alonso play.

Can you not judge him on parameters other than simply if the club sells him or not? Otherwise Sturridge, KDB, Salah are automatically not Chelsea quality too just because they were sold. He's of similar quality to Alonso. If I was playing 3atb I'd prefer Alonso and with 4atb I'd want Bertrand. I agree he's not as good as other targets, I don't want him, I want to improve on Alonso, doesn't mean Bertrand isn't Chelsea level, he's literally a perfect, reliable squad player for a top club. Ake has got player of the month at Bournemouth for the out of the last 4 months btw.

Let's not pretend he's not a good player. If Alonso, Bakayoko and DW are Chelsea level so is Bertrand, I don't know why this term 'Chelsea level' is only thrown about when discussing former youth players who we didn't give a chance. I wouldn't take him as a wingback but were we ever playing 4atb he's exactly the type of player I'd want to supplement the squad.

The second fallacy to how great Alonso is going forward is that he's a 'great technician'. Ambiguous phrase but compare him with Fabregas and Hazard, two people who actually deserve that description. Alonso's touch/composure under pressure is poor (see Newcastle goal), he can't dribble, his passing is average and vision non existent. He's no more 'technically' apt than, say, Jordan Henderson. Having said that I agree he would be probably of similar quality to Baka/DW in midfield, then again he's not technically superior to either.

With due respect to what looks like an impressive stat at first, it's probably equally important to take into account that no other wing/full back in the top 6-7 clubs has had Alonso's privilege of playing in a 3 atb (not four) formation with no injuries and no competition, hence nearly playing every minute of every game in what is usually a heavily rotated position, for the last 18 months. I'll give him he's got an accurate free kick from a specific position that helps his goal tally too, an edge over other full backs who can only contribute from open play. But in terms of open play, no, Alonso still isn't that great going forward (in its most traditional sense) and is reposponsible for so many attacks of ours breaking down. A post before described him as efficient in attack - his breakdown of so many of our attacks going forward is paradoxically inefficient. I wouldn't hesitate to replace him with Rose, Mendy, or even Kolasinac.

Morata has 3 goals in his last 14. I think they're both young strikers having decent, if inconsistent, starts to the season

Semi-realistic potential LWB targets/experiments: Acuna (Sporting), Lemar, Sandro, Alba/Alaba (as a Sandro style high profile £60m target), Grimaldo, Masuaku (may not be that much better than Alonso but at least could provide competition and a pacy alternative), Telles, Rose, Gaya, Emerson, Tierney. In fact in a totally ideal world I'd sell Alonso, have Masuaku/Tierney/Emerson/Sessegnon (all would probably be cheapish (£20m and less?), are young and may be happy being back up), compete with one of the other options mentioned. For RWB there's not a lot out there and it's arguable we're best with Moses starting and Zappa back up, as opposed to shifting Zappa on after a year for a probable loss and spending £40m on someone not that much better than Moses. There's a few who I think would be good by improving on Moses or having potential to improve on Moses, e.g. Ricardo Perriera of Porto, Gelson Martins. Florenzi, again he'd probably be near Alex Sandro price, and probably wouldn't leave Roma, still. I know little about Odriozola and Weiser (from Bilbao and Hertha Berlin respectively) but they're two young fullbacks I've seen a lot of praise for on twitter. Another thing I'd be happy to do but unrealistic is to assimilate Sterling as back up to Moses. Unlike RLC and Ampadu I believe he's exactly the type of profile who may not need a loan and would benefit from a squad player role to build from. Won't happen though. I think we criminally missed out on so many good, obtainable and not expensive wingback targets last summer, it's a shame. Ricardo Perriera (mentioned above, at Porto) had a €20m release clause. Toljan, at Dortmund, was available for €4m. He wouldn't be great but he'd also do what Zappacosta does, just be an average player to cover both sides, difference is his cheap price and he's also young. Joao Cancelo who again would be like Zappacosta but actually young enough to improve. The two biggest mistakes were missing out / not being in for Theo Hernandez for £20m to Real and Nelson for £35m to Barce. Two of the future best wing/full backs in the world right there going for £35m or less. Just late night wittering, am aware some of my 'ideal' situations are a bit football manager but they'd still work lol. But I genuinely think better wingbacks would transform this side and I'm disappointed with the club's lack of foresight last summer.

Ndombele is another one I'm keeping my eye on

This guy would be a good experiment at RWB

He'd be on my list of people to upgrade on Alonso from. But he's quite injury prone

...no. What 'defensive nous' exactly . Would rather see JCS, Rudiger, Cahill, Zouma..then trying to shoehorn Marcos Alonso, of all players, into our starting XI

Not trying to be an 'I told you so' but I just hope my previous comments about him being overrated (*was overrated as I now believe people are starting to realise how average he is) are qualified now. Scroll back 3 pages to when I first mentioned it and it's full of the usual fallacies about how great he is going forward, or that he's a great technician. A travesty he's ended up being our only option at LWB. Absolutely no surprise most teams target our left side these days.

From what I can see on twitter (from BCFC fans) he appeared to perform well on his start. Indeed they've been clamouring for him to start for weeks. As one of many Boga fans, however, it is worrying that this is the third loan he's struggled to get into the team but there's a lot of the season left, I hope for the first time in his career he can enjoy starting regularly.

Mason Mount vs ADO: Accurate passes: 77% Crosses: 12 Key passes: 4 Shots: 2 (1 post and 1 crossbar) Dribbles: 2 Assists: 1 Goals: 0 working/worked his way into the XI

Mason Mount vs Lazio 23/11/2017 | HD: youtu.be/6I-jYX4pKLE?a via @YouTube

8 - Mason Mount has created 8 chances v Lazio, more than any other teenager ever did in a single game in Europa League history. Top.

Moura had 19 goals in 52 appearances for PSG last season. I didn't watch him but it is quite impressive.

Barney Ronay‏Verified account @barneyronay7h7 hours agoMoreFascinating to hear Southgate say Loftus-Cheek has a struggle playing 90 minutes even when fit. Always considered this a key factor in being contracted as a professional footballer @theskipper RLC has had stamina problems since he was 15/16

I'd argue playing Ruben more advanced does exactly that at this point.

He did create his own chance that game that Courtois did well to save and the way Mourinho sets up his teams in away games not surprised he's isolated, he's playing for 0-0 exactly like he did for us playing away. Morata before United didn't score for 6 games either, droughts happen. In that time he's had two assists and hit the woodwork twice.

RLC in our 3-4-3 is equally as suited to playing as one of the forward two as to playing in the midfield two, if not more suited. Last night I was under the impression we played a diamond in which case it's fair enough. I think people get themselves tied into knots on where RLC's position is, but he's shown a lot of qualities that for now he's best in a more forward role, nothing wrong with that.

Rumours he's going to get called up to the full England squad in the coming minutes

Video of some of Ola's highlights. Starts off not impressive but as video goes on shows some good runs from him, control in tight spaces and two assists from good quality crosses.

He's kinda come back from the wilderness out of nowhere to be one of our best loans so far this season, starting week in week out for a top Championship side. He's 24 now, but could well make sense in the future as a back up for us.

No more posts on his first full start? I think he has a lot of grit, aggressiveness and looks like a leader. Experience of men's football already with Wales and Exeter, bet Conte likes that and why he's leapfrogged poor Kyle Scott to 5th choice. in terms of talent though there have been a lot of better 17 year olds and I also don't believe this position suits him, got to remember he plays CB for youth and believe he did so for Exeter to.