Sideshow Luiz

I thought we never had to hear from this guy again, especially since we're not allowed to buy any Napoli players. He needs to get on with his current relationship and stop talking about his ex.

Ultimately, I'd like to see Cesc get his time in Jorginho's position (because that's where I think he'll be playing). But, don't know if that's possible with RLC just coming back and Kante still away.

Azpi, Luiz, Rudiger for me, ATB. I think that's 75% of our first choice back line, and I'd like to see them get pitch time together. Wouldn't mind seeing a midfield of Jorginho, Bakayoko, Barkley to start. Let's see Bakayoko with the strongest 2 options (at the moment).

Depends if Sarri considers standing still step overs a "touch". Hopefully, Sarri can get him to play quicker.

Anyone else think that Arsenal are going to be pretty good this season? I think they made some good moves in the transfer market. And, not many of their players were at the World Cup (or at least didn't make it very far) which gives them an extra 3 weeks under the new manager to get bedded in.

It made me chuckle because it was a common phrase on this site during our 13 match winning streak under Conte. It became a bit of a meme that you'll still see around in pre-match discussions.

I don't know what feeds you guys were getting but when the match kicked off, the commentator said it was Chelsea's "first real test". I got a chuckle out of that.

The Green candy (decision) isn't THAT bad, but it kind of tastes like Butterfinger (for you non-NA members, image included) It's home-grown, organically. It's not going to keep, but it temporarily improves our numbers. Causes fewer heart attacks than the Argentinian candy which is straight up bad for your health and will rot your teeth. Last summer was a big problem. We bought some diamonds for the bracelet, and they turned out to be fakes. The problem you run in to with a store like ours, where you try to break even, is that you can't afford to buy any duds. Last year we bought 6 gems. 3 of them ended up being fakes. The jury is still out on 2 of them, and the last one is pretty good (IMO). That's an effect that will be felt on the bottom line for years to come. I think I've taken this analogy about as far as I can go.

I like that, a lot. The ball needs to move faster. Bakayoko is truly fucked. We haven't seen the best of Morata either, so hopefully Sarri will get him towards that ceiling. Right now, we're looking at CHO as the bak-up LW. So, if he's not going to play in the Premier League much, I'm not sure what the plan is.

You may well be the only one that's seen him play, to be honest.

Saw that too.

The ciggies are better for Sarri's health than Bakayoko. He's going to give him a heart attack.

I think Fabregas will be fine. Out of the 3 midfield roles, he was playing the one he was least suited to. Bakayoko is the one that Sarri obviously doesn't rate, that should be his spot when Kante isn't playing. Aaaaaaannnd, on cue.....Bakayoko!

I know.

It's nice to have this much of the ball even without a real "ball winner" in midfield.

That's from the darkest timeline.

No longer suffering with the TV?

Going forwards, they are more cohesive than I thought they'd be at this point in time. You can see, though, that they're still a step slow on the press. A few times a couple of the players have looked at each other to work out who's supposed to step up. Not complaining, this is to be expected.

Barkley made the wrong pass in the end, but that was a nice build up.

Scored against Wolves. Ajax were rumoured to be looking at him at the start of the summer. I wanted us to buy an attacking midfielder this year, but in the long term, it might be for the best that we didn't get Golovin. We could potentially have Barkley, RLC, and Mount next season and for the next 8-10 years. Hope we get to see further development this year. I'm really excited for his prospects.

Everyone is so quick to dismiss him, but I don't want him to go anywhere. And, I want him to get a new contract as well. Okay, he's limited, yes, but IMO, that's why you have him do the thing he's really good at. For me, that's finding the space and making the smart pass. Not trying to be a Vidal or Nainggolan. In our 343, he had to cover 40% of the pitch as a box to box player. That was never his game, but he made it work as best he could and forced himself to be selected. I think he is a great bench option to have. Jorginho can't play every match, and no one else in the team can find the space and link up play like Fabs can. He's the only back up for Jorginho. He can also play further up the pitch in a pinch as well.

The posts about late years Ivan make the current Cahill posts look like they're on Lampard's thread. It was a shame. Ivan was immense for us. Better to leave a year early than a year late. Unfortunately, in this case it was more like 2 or 3 too late. It wouldn't have been so bad if he wasn't a nailed on starter.

NO TRYING ON Kalidou Koulibaly 2nd best CB in world, after Verane - That's quite a statement. He's a beast, no doubt. Faouzi Ghoulam (he would be perfect LB for us if Emerson ends up a bust (Alonso is not up to a back 4 I fear) - Alonso looked exposed against Perth. 1 misplaced pass in the build up (which is going to happen, especially in these early stages) and he was completely out of the picture. Elseid Hysaj (I rate him 6th or 7th RB in the world) - Azpi > Hysaj. 1 of our 3 RB need to go. So, 1 of the 2 not named Azpilicueta. Amadou Diawara great young DMF - He's going to be excellent. He's why Jorginho was able to leave at all. Napoli seem to get their replacements in a year or 2 before they know that their first choice will leave. Allan box to box strong MF, superb player, so underrated - He'd easily replace Bakayoko as Kante's back up, but still a back up. Piotr Zielinski poor mans Milinkovic Savic - this one would be good to have. Poor man's SMS is for us. Utd. and Juve can fight over SMS, we're never going to get him. José Callejón even though 31, he is still a great RW in Sarriball - great engine, smart positionally. Pedro will have to do. Dries Mertens I dont see a place here for him, others love him - I think he's excellent, but I agree, I don't know where he goes. He always had the skills. Sarri playing him at CF has taken him to another level. Hope we have a future Mertens in the squad (could be Barkley, not as a CF, but someone who's game gets to the next level). I'm one of the ones that's not crazy about Rugani. It's not that I don't rate him or anything. I just know that we're all about keeping the net spend down and I think that spending the money on another area of the pitch would be better. I'm even more against Higuain. To be honest, I don't think there was ever anything in it. I just couldn't/can't see it. There's a low enough price where I can get on board, but there's no way that's going to happen.