Jase

The static movement hasn't helped but I can't be the only one who's banging my head onto the table watching Cahill, Ampadu and Rudiger passing the ball to one another? None of them has tried doing something progressive with the ball. Cahill has been passing to Ampadu non-stop. Ampadu has been passing sideways. Rudiger has been doing pretty much the same thing as Cahill.

I've seen fans on Twitter wanting him back because we apparently played attacking football under him. Those 4 games where we scored 7+ goals have really brainwashed people.

http://www.chelseafc.com/news/latest-news/2017/12/conte-to-make-changes-against-bournemouth.html Some team news from Conte: - Batshuayi and Kenedy will start - Kante looks likely to be rested - Musonda (groin) and Luiz, obviously, out injured - Hudson-Odoi, Ampadu and Sterling may be in the matchday squad. Ampadu MIGHT start the match

It's Daily Express for FGS!

Bonucci was clearly available this past summer and the board probably didn't want to pay over the odds for a 30-year-old and a player with no resale value. On hindsight, we probably did the right thing there since we bought Rudiger instead, who has proven more than capable of performing at a high level. Not sure how genuine our interest in Koulibaly were in the summer of last year but again on hindsight, it was a good thing we didn't get him since we proceeded to buy back Luiz, who has been more than decent. Plus, it's not like Koulibaly is setting the world alight at Napoli anyway. As for Sandro and Nainggolan, easy to say they were "highly unattainable" now given what has happened but you never quite know if Juventus and/or Roma would be willing to sell if we came up with a big fee for them in the first place. Fair enough they refused in the end but in Juve case, wonder if they now regret not selling Sandro for the 60-70m we were supposedly willing to pay. And if it's not them, then what other major players that Conte could have gone for? It's also tough on Conte too when the club have been such stingy bastards and keen on continuing with the 'replacing an outgoing player with another one rather than adding to squad' policy. Pretty sure we failed to sign him because we refused to pay a high agent fee to Mino Raiola rather than him rejecting us and we certainly dodged the bullet in this.

If that is the case, then it says a lot about the different level of ambition between the ones aiming to be the best and the ones happy to just being in the mix.

Indeed. A player below the top class level and won't help elevate the team to another level.

Think the injury is real. Even before the reported bust-up, there were some stories about Luiz still having issues with the knee after THAT Aguero tackle last season and worth remembering that we also saw his knee heavily strapped on some occasions.

Not sure if Willian is the right player to use as a yardstick TBH given he's so average. Zaha has some qualities but I don't think he's top class material and while he can do great things, he can also be wildly inconsistent with his form or end product, which is something we don't need to add to this squad.

Say Milan (before they signed Bonucci)? Juventus (after selling Bonucci)? Even with the shitty side of the rumours, I don't recall many top clubs were linked with him.

Which reported major targets of Conte were "highly unattainable"?

Said this before, if we get Ancelotti again, we can forget about winning the league and prepare for lots of inconsistency.

So, we are at Everton next weekend and the 4 teams directly below us play each other - Arsenal v Liverpool and Burnley v Spurs. What are the odds of us screwing up against Big Sam and then see Arsenal/Liverpool and Spurs make up ground on us?

Wrong! Only 2 of his league goals have been direct winners (1-0 wins vs Southampton and Bournemouth). 4 out of the 10 contributed to points (vs Saints, B'mouth, Stoke, West Brom). Remaining 6 have come in easy 4-0/4-1 wins.

Not exactly a good excuse that really. Mahrez is average and I also find his play style a tad too predictable, always cutting onto his left foot and playing with that same foot. He's like a poorer version of Robben. If you can shut down Mahrez's left foot and don't let him do anything with it, then you have pretty much stopped him entirely.

It's obviously not the ultimate factor judgment but doesn't it say something that only Liverpool - and maybe Man City to an extent - have been genuinely interested in Van Dijk?

But if the manager doesn't rate the player at all, then there is no point for the club to keep him and continue to pay the wages, no?

Hazard constantly flirts with Real Madrid and always hints at leaving for them. Yet, people praise him till no end every week...

Is this the Cesar Azpilicueta thread? Asking for a friend.

Think those 3 have to be on the bench if they aren't starting. I know it's only Bournemouth but we're gonna need them if the game goes south on Wednesday. Have come to a point where we might need to win the League Cup this season.