Jase

That should be the XI + bench excluding Jamie Cumming. And just realized there's only 2 CBs in that squad!

More of a case going to a winning team than aiming for a redemption story.

That was only around 70 million. We're talking about 100 million or potentially even more here!

https://www.chelseafc.com/en/news/2019/10/22/chelsea-squad-land-in-amsterdam-ahead-of-latest-champions-league?cardIndex=0-0 The 19-man squad for Ajax tomorrow. No Kante, Rudiger, Barkley AND Pedro. Kepa Arrizabalaga Marcos Alonso Jorginho Tammy Abraham Willian Willy Caballero Kurt Zouma Mateo Kovacic Olivier Giroud Mason Mount Callum Hudson-Odoi Christian Pulisic Michy Batshuayi Reece James Cesar Azpilicueta Fikayo Tomori Jamie Cumming Emerson Palmieri Billy Gilmour

https://www.chelseafc.com/en/news/2019/10/22/ross-barkley-and-n-golo-kante-absent-but-toni-rudiger-trains-ahe Emerson and Rudiger trained today. Barkley and Kante were absent from training. Lampard's presser at 5:15pm UK time today.

But whether the club want to spend 100m+ on a player is another question altogether. Also, if Sane leaves Man City, you wonder if they'll try to bring Sancho back to the club.

In the seasons - specifically from 2011/12 onward - where we didn't win or challenge for the title, we certainly did not make it easy for ourselves when it comes to finishing in the Top 4, even when the other sides are stumbling. Furthermore, you said it so yourself in the Lampard thread that things can change quickly in football (how many times have we started the season well in the past before things go south after like 2-3 months?). After the first 4 games of the season, we looked nowhere good enough for the Top 4 but 5 games later or after 9 games, we look good for it. All this can change for the worse again if we suddenly drop points here and there while others pick them up. At the moment, not too worried about United but Arsenal and Spurs, despite their problems, still have enough quality in their squad and they shouldn't be ruled out of the Top 4 just yet.

Chill, Tomo. We're still in October (winter hasn't come!). If we're still in this position come January, then you could say we look a good bet for Top 4. Until then, best not get carried away just. We were doing alright at this stage last season and looked safe for the Top 4 but ended up crawling into it (partly) because the other sides all crumbled at the end.

Chris Wilder seems to be a lot better than the more mundane English/British managers like Pardew, Allardyce, Hughes, Moyes, Pulis, Bruce etc.

What Lampard is doing right now is building a cohesive, collective team where the players must be able to perform consistently and do their job going both ways. Taking Hazard, who turns 29 next January no less, is gonna disrupt that and bring back the same defensive/tactical problems encountered previously (several managers had complained about it).

Done.

Indeed. Hilarious to see some pundits/journalists hailed Solskjaer as some sort of tactical genius for getting a draw against Liverpool. Effectively set United up like a plucky smaller team playing against a big side and hoped luck go their way. They might have stopped Liverpool from doing anything going forward but there was no quality whatsoever in the performance. Even their goal, as has been the case of late, came from a turnover/debatable refereeing decision situation.

Erm, wrong thread?

It was very rich of Klopp to complain the decisions that went against Liverpool yesterday. They have been so lucky with them for the past 18 months! Also, Mourinho came up with zinger of a quote on Klopp's complaint about United being defensive - "He didn't like the menu. He likes meat and he got fish". https://www.espn.com/soccer/liverpool-engliverpool/story/3969281/liverpool-boss-klopp-didnt-like-the-menu-at-manchester-united-mourinho

https://theathletic.com/1307781/2019/10/21/ornstein-on-monday-man-utd-maddison-ashley-mexican-takeover-talks/

Lampard on Giroud's lack of playing time and future... https://www.football.london/chelsea-fc/frank-lampard-olivier-giroud-chelsea-17114792

And has beaten them only once in the league.

Klopp has a brain freeze against United. Only 2 wins out of 11 against them. That's worse than his record against us, Man City, Spurs or Arsenal.

And of course they've gone and scored...

Liverpool have looked dreadful in this game. Look clueless going forward.

Ajax haven't lost a game this season... 😬

https://www.espn.com/soccer/chelsea/story/3968465/chelseas-christian-pulisic-confident-scoring-touch-will-return