Jase

Good to be leading at HT but all very toothless in attack.

2 goals in 3 games against them.

Is @killer1257 watching? Also, WERNERRRRRRRR!

Oh god, here we go with the Reguilon v Chilwell comparison...

It's not confirmed (yet)... https://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/football/article-8785063/Serie-SUSPENDED-two-weeks-14-positive-Covid-19-tests-Genoa.html

No.

Only 2 players in our current squad have scored winners against Tottenham in recent years (assuming I did not miss out on anyone)...

Interesting Lampard said "I hope" in his comments about CHO yesterday...

How true is this, @killer1257?

Given we like to attack with almost reckless abandon, it might not be the worst of ideas to have 2 DMs sitting but am just throwing it out there. God knows what Lampard wants to do. Bigger point for me is that we need another defensive midfielder.

If we get a new DM and sell Kante, we'll just end up with the same problem we have now - zero depth for a defensive midfielder if the main one is out. Also say if we get Rice as the defensive midfielder, it would be silly to expect a 21-year-old to come in and solve every defensive problems we have in midfield. And while Kante doesn't work as the lone defensive midfielder in a 4-3-3, he would work alongside another defensive midfielder in a pivot like how we set up previously under Conte (Kante-Matic) and how he played at Leicester (Kante-Drinkwater). One person sits in while Kante himself goes seek and destroy.

Lampard revealed that Loftus-Cheek may well go out on loan... https://www.theguardian.com/football/2020/sep/28/ruben-loftus-cheek-may-leave-chelsea-on-loan-says-frank-lampard

Arteta's game plan against Liverpool was no different from ours last weekend but their system/setup was even worse because they essentially gave Robertson and TAA - two full backs who are a BIG part of Liverpool's attacking approach - free reign with that back 3/5.

Maybe one can point to bad finishing but those chances that Arsenal had, they highlight the importance of having a quality goalkeeper. Alisson saved those while for example, we had Caballero in goal on Saturday and we conceded 3 goals from West Brom's 3 shots on target.

He signed a 5-year contract and then went out on loan. Fair point but did he not leave us because he wanted to play? Instead, he just traded our reserves for another team's bench and then went out on loan (to a second division side at that), which would have happened anyway had he stayed with us.

Ultimately, we are looking at two different type of players here. Ideally, I would want us to get someone who can at least do a decent job with both sides of the game - attacking in the passing ability sense and defending. With Jorginho, he is neither here nor there. He is such a limited passer and is atrocious when having to defend. But unfortunately, it is not easy to find a player that can do both sides of the game well. I don't know how Rice will fit in - it's hard to know what Lampard is trying to do exactly with all these players - but if he can help provide a defensive solidity in the team, then I'd probably settle for that right now. As for Kante, well, he is a defensive midfielder like Rice but they are different kind of defensive midfielders.

If only that tells the whole story... NGL, I thought the midfield setup of Jorginho, Kovacic and Kante was decent last season, especially during the September-November period. But ultimately, the setup is flawed because of the players in that setup. Jorginho is a limited passer and can't even be half of what Fabregas was for us. Kante is essentially defensive midfielder despite his best effort to make the attacking side of this work. Kovacic, for all his ability to dribble past players, break the lines etc, just does next to nothing with the ball when he gets to the final third and is arguably the most frustrating player of the three, IMO. Feel like he could do more with the ability, quality he has, be more decisive in the attacking third but he just disappoints. Never mind the defensive side of things - which two of the above are not so good at, to put it kindly - if Jorginho and Kovacic are actually good in an attacking sense, we really wouldn't be having so much frustration and conversation over the midfield setup.

From our reserves to PSG's bench to Spain's second division...

Hard to believe Sky Sports these days if the rumors start from them...

All rumors but nothing has actually turned out to be concrete. Both are still here despite the persistent Inter rumors, for example.