Sideshow Luiz

I think he's going to kill it.

Kante will play where Fabs is playing now. right now, we kind of have 2 DLP on the pitch. But at Napoli, Allan played where Fabs is playing now. He's a B2B ball winner. The right side of the formation was more of a workhorse type. Callejon more defensive than Insigne. Allan more defensive than Hamsik. Hysaj more defensive than Ghoulam. Allan is a rich man's Bakayoko. Kante is an Abramovich man's Allan.

It's not a surprise, but Pedro and Fabregas have taken to this like fish to water. CHO looks like he knows what he's supposed to be doing as well.

If you have a VPN - https://www.sbs.com.au/ondemand/video/11774531982/live-stream-perth-glory-v-chelsea-kick-off-930pm-aest I didn't try it without, but that was the word.

Kante plays where Fabregas is playing. He will be winning the ball back and pressing all over the pitch. The guy that is going to struggle is Alonso. 1 bad touch and he's well out of the play.

We should definitely go in for him. People are talking about Bakayoko or Morata as KDB 2.0. THIS is KDB 2.0 He owe's us (or we owe him depending on how you look at it), should make it happen.

Yeah, he had a little pissy fit when Roman sold a 33 year old Cech to Arsenal. His head would absolutely explode if a 22 year old Martial came to us and terrorized him for the next 10 years.

I don't disagree with you. If he went to Utd, he'd be on the right, for sure. That's where Jose used him before. He'd do better at Barcelona, and I'd rather see him at Barcelona than Utd, but I think the hold up there is that we've got 2 clubs (with money) interested in him. It's my only guess as to why we haven't taken 60M from Barcelona for him.

Jose. He'd prefer Barcelona, sure. But, that doesn't mean he wouldn't want to go to Utd.

Sure. I was just clearing up the contract situation. He has 1 year + 1 year club option.

I think that this is hold-up with Willian and Barcelona. We're interested in Martial, Utd are interested in Willian. So, we have 2 suitors for Willian which means that Marina is going to play hard-ball (her only kind of ball). If Utd value Willian at 55M, but Martial at 80M, we've got a stand off.

Until Utd activate his option. He effectively has 2 years left.

At this point, all of the points have been made here.

https://statsbomb.com/2018/07/should-chelsea-sell-eden-hazard-to-real-madrid/

You're probably right. I suppose it all depends on what he thinks he has to work with. At Empoli, he played a 442 diamond (4312). This is not so different to a 433 with a CF who drops deeper. Everything I've seen of Fekir, seems like a slower Hazard, in a way. Really strong on the ball, great dribbler. Playmaker, first and foremost. Just not sure that he's got enough pace to be a full time winger.

Anyone know what happened with his contract situation? I believe a bunch of player have terminated their contracts, or something like that. I know that Atletico are sniffing around Gelson Martins (who looks very promising). Fernandes could be a good alternative to Golovin if we are looking for an attacking mid.

I'd rather go for Fekir instead of Higuain. I'm not sure that Fekir could play as an "8", but I think he could kill it in the Mertens role.

I'd think that AC and Rudiger are ideal. I really like Rudiger though, so I might be biased. We, of course, still have the best ball playing CB in football (Luiz) who can still do a job when need be. His defensive wanderings may be less of a liability if we have the ball 65% of the time.

Underwhelming. We've been spoiled for keepers. Haven't had to think about it in ages. Arsenal are in a better GK position than we are. ARSENAL.

Joe Hart? Really? Christ. Jorginho was a mirage, it's as shit as it was the past 2 summers. If we weren't trying to wrap up a manager's buy out clause Jorginho would be in Manchester.

I want him to stay, but it's really important that we decide what we're going to do now-ish. We need to see what we're working with. If we're going to sell, just do it (agree it confidentially) and get to work on what needs to be done.

If we are saying no, does this mean that we're selling Hazard? If Hazard goes, I can see Willian moving over to the left (where he's much better than on the right). I know he takes some shit, and trust me, I wish he was better, but Willian on the left cutting inside is as good a Hazard replacement as there is on the market. Bailey comes in and plays on the right. Of course, we could just sell Willian to Barcelona, turn around and buy Bailey and have Hazard and Bailey. It's such an easy choice, that I have to think it all relates to Hazard.

Do you guys think that we will ever hire a DoF? Luis Campos was supposed to be the man, but apparently didn't want to leave Lille in the state they got themselves in to last year. I know former players get these types of roles, but I feel like Chelsea need someone who can identify targets.

the fee's getting a bit ridiculous for a player that no one is convinced that we need.

Maybe the Lucas Paqueta rumours have more truth in them. I think Golovin turned us down, to be honest. Right from the start, there was talk that he wanted Juventus. I was looking forward to all that energy in midfield. Who's up next?