Jase

The reason is explained in the article actually. It is essentially to curb clubs' excessive spending on foreign players (just look at some of the ridiculous numbers below - graphic from The Sun) and likely force clubs to focus on homegrown talent instead, especially at a time when China aren't doing great as a footballing nation.

If you believe the rumors...

We were terrible that day for sure but go watch back the game and tell me playing Kante as the sole DM in front of the defence was the best idea. I'll ask again. Why do you think Kante's best work as a DM has come when playing with another DM alongside him in Drinkwater at Leicester and Matic here? Why do you think Kante hasn't been tried as the sole DM in front of the defence if it was a good idea? Problem with our team at the moment (and it has been for years) is that we have a collection of good players but they don't quite together cohesively into a system, a style of play etc. We have had to mix-and-match them to put together a competitive side.

Zlatan back to Milan confirmed, as expected.

Think Lampard did that with the Pedro sub. Brought him on out of the blue, instead of Batshuayi.

Want to try something new, fine but not when that something has been tried before and failed miserably. Conte tried playing Kante as the sole DM at Arsenal and we got ripped apart in a 3-0 loss, remember? Kante may be a DM but he's not the kind of DM who sits solely in front of the defence and mops up attacks. Why do you think Kante's best work as a DM has come when playing with another DM alongside him in Drinkwater at Leicester and Matic here? If we're going to return Kante to the old role, then we need someone else to sit and sweep up attacks while allowing Kante to move around and do his stuff. Just because we have 3 CBs, that doesn't mean he's free to roam when he's the sole protector in front of that backline. If he does that, we'll just end up with the same problem we've been having, opposing teams running through the center of our team in turnover situations. Problem with Kante is, his qualities right now feel like a misfit of the more progressive football we're trying to implement. He looked great at Leicester and under Conte because the systems used were counter-attacking/defensive/pragmatic, which suited him down to the ground. Now, he looks great at times and looks like a lost kid at other times. Assuming we're going to continue with the more attacking style of football, then perhaps we need to find a different kind of DM, someone similar to Makelele perhaps, who can sit in front of the defence and have a good passing ability to start attacks or give it to the more creative players further forward.

Read the full article earlier and saw this bit...

Will people even learn that Kante as the sole, sitting defensive midfielder in front of the defence will never work?

Malouda was great for like 1 1/2 season after Hiddink replaced Scolari.

Almost every manager we have had over the past decade experienced the same thing Lampard has this season - started the season well with the team playing well, team picking up good results but then things started to fall apart and became inconsistent from November-December onward. Scolari in 2008/09, Ancelotti in 2010/11, Di Matteo in 2012/13, Conte in 17/18, Sarri in 2018/19 to name a few. Obviously Lampard has made mistakes this season, but so did the more experienced managers before him. So maybe there is far deeper issue here at the club than just the manager.

But did we even need to play the back 3 against Southampton? Emerson and Azpi are already suspect as full backs as it is but playing them as wing backs made it worse because it exposed their limitations especially going forward. Had Alonso and James been available to start, then maybe things would have turned out better but since they weren't, it made little sense to play the system. The back 3 has only worked this season when there is a specific purpose and it hasn't worked when there isn't.

Not as mind baffling as starting with the back 3/5, I think. We played that system to specifically counter Wolves earlier this season and Spurs on Sunday and just because it worked, Lampard somehow decided to stick with it in the following game on both occasions and what happened? Two terrible performances and two terrible losses to Valencia and Southampton.

Lovely...because he is gonna play 3 games in 7 days, isn't he?

It was like Fabregas + Matic at their worst.

If there is any consolation, 3 of our next 4 league games are away from home. The one at home though is against Burnley.

It is certainly an interesting situation with CHO right now. Am seeing people on another forum heavily suggesting that he should be loaned out to regain his form and confidence while folks on Twitter keep on saying we should be patient because he's only 19 and just came back from a serious injury and while those are true, they are being used so often till the point they feel like excuses for someone who we may have overextended ourselves for.

Why summer 2021? If the situation with CHO remains the same come next summer, we need to consider a loan possibility because we can't operate with just 2 or 2 1/2 wingers, which we are right now.

That wasn't the point of debate but yeah, okay.

Read the post again. I was talking about the team selection.