Jase

A defence can be shit but if the keeper is good, then he can still prevent goals from going in. Keylor Navas at Real Madrid or De Gea at Man United are examples. My point was, a keeper should be solid and consistent regardless of the defence in front of him. If he only has that because of the defence, then he's not all that good, is he?

If a keeper needs a good defence to do well, then we have a problem.

We ditched a club legend for Courtois, we made changes to the goalkeeping coach for him and this is how he is repaying us - by behaving like a c**t? Honestly, I can't decide which is funnier here - Courtois going AWOL to force a move to Real Madrid or the board letting this situation drag on with 3 days to go in the transfer window. The board have known for some time that Courtois isn't going to sign the new contract. So, why have they allowed this to get to this point? Were they dumbly hoping he has a change of heart? Now we are facing a big mess in the transfer window...again! The board are truly fucking incompetent!

cc @kellzfresh

We already know this team can't adapt to Sarri's tactics. Well, not all of them. So I guess the question is, are the board willing to back Sarri and give him the players that he wants? Highly doubt it. So, if Sarri continues with what he does and doesn't get the results, then this is only gonna end one way and the whole shit cycle will start again.

Explains why no other clubs have gone and bought him. (watch us sign Butland on deadline day...)

Mate, is that really necessary? You might disagree with others' opinion but I don't think you need to bring nationality into the equation. Please avoid such comments again next time.

Okay, I get the point that Azpi isn't the modern full back you see around these days but putting him in the same bracket as Alonso? CHRIST! Guess it's the state of things at the club that people are suddenly picking out Azpi as an issue. We have many of them and Azpi isn't and shouldn't be high up on the list. Hell, he probably shouldn't even be on it at all!

I would agree that Azpilicueta is not a modern full back who will pose a big attacking threat but I would think with time, he would do just fine under Sarri. The least he will give is being reliable and consistent defensively, which I believe are the qualities you would want from your defenders first and foremost, and let's not forget that even in a defensive system, he was able to contribute a decent amount of assists. There's no reason why he cannot at least replicate that if worked correctly in this Sarri approach. Out of the two full backs, Alonso is really the bigger concern. He is just downright slow, isn't going to win many 1 v 1 battles and take his goals out, he hardly provides assists to the team. Since Alonso joined us, he has contributed only 7 assists in all competitions and he was playing in the attacking wing back role under Conte. Azpi matched that tally in last season alone. Sarri's continuous use of Alonso so far has really been the peculiar thing and Emerson wasn't even on the bench today! I know we have many issues in this team - and Azpi shouldn't even be high up on the list - and one of the things that hasn't been mentioned is Jorginho from a defensive point of view. He is great at what he does offensively but defensively, he is pretty terrible especially with him being given the role to screen the back four. Doesn't seem capable of winning 1 v 1s and can get past pretty easily as we have seen so far. Kante's return should help him out a bit but I kinda fear this could go down the same route as Fabregas unless Sarri tweaks the side. And oh, playing Jorginho, Fabregas and Barkley in the midfield three is just horrible. Barkley is like neither here nor there at the moment. Jorginho isn't the greatest at defending judging by the displays so far. Fabregas...well, don't think I have to mention about it. It's really suicidal that Kante is our only solid midfielder from a defensive point of view.

Chelsea 0-0 Lyon (Chelsea win 5-4 on penalties) PRE/POST-MATCH DISCUSSION, LIVE CHAT AND ANALYSIS 2018/19 Pre-Season Match 4 7th August, Tuesday, 2018 Stamford Bridge 20:05 Kick Off (UK time)

Why are you so desperate for the pictures? Are you a stalker or something?

https://www.theguardian.com/football/2018/aug/04/maurizio-sarri-chelsea-jorginho-manchester-city-pep-guardiola

Mertens can play as a wide forward too, no? Not that we will sign him anyway.

Yeah..pretty sure De Laurentiis mentioned it and I wouldn't believe that Mertens rumor one bit since it came from a French source.

Absolutely. Everything has gone absolutely quiet since Alisson went to Liverpool and Golovin to Monaco. Not that it would have made a massive difference with us but it was an idiotic decision to close the transfer window so early for the first time in a World Cup year!

Are we actually even looking for Courtois' replacement? Ever since Liverpool signed Alisson, we have heard absolutely nothing on the GK front with the exception of a few fleeting rumors and that Schmeichel rumors seemingly came about only because of his penalty heroics against Croatia. Would think if we are searching for a new no.1, we would have heard something concrete by now. It feels like we're either willing to keep Courtois and let him go for free next year OR somehow maintaining the hope we can persuade him to stay.

Curiously, the La Liga Twitter account just tweeted this...

Sarri has indicated a midfielder. Not even sure what's going on with the Courtois situation given there's less than 1 week till deadline day. Imagine that would be a separate case to what Sarri was talking about.

Mana meltdown in 3, 2, 1...

Drinkwater out. Grealish in.