BlueLyon

I think Alaba is absolutely impossible, but Alba might be a chance. I see plenty of rumours that Barca is willing to let Alba go. Considering their terrible buy-sell policy in recent years, I think it could be possible.

Once Ronaldo was to leave RM, I think Eden would fit their team absolutely perfect. True they would need better striker too because CR is scoring alot of goals, but the way Real plays these days, Eden would put his play 2 gears up. Him and Marcelo would be unbelievable. A tiny bit of me would love to see Eden reach next potential, because he would undoubtedly do that in RM with their players. But that said I hope he never leaves. I always loved watching Lamps, Drogba,...and in my eyes they are still far greater players for Chelsea than Eden, but Eden is without a doubt our best pure football player we ever had. Maybe Zola is close second. Its joy watching him truly and if we manage to keep him for rest of his career, he will settle down as our greatest player for sure. We need to keep him at all costs.

If Costa stays (hopefuly) my choice for backup striker would be Morata without a doubt. He would be expensive, but we would sell Bats who Conte obviously doesnt trust. CM, wingback or two and RW are priorities tho.

Because three things 1.) We dont have youth/players with national identity. Bayern, Real, Barca etc have players like Nacho, Kimmich...who are either a product of youth or players who identify with club. They are either super talented players ready to be on bench because they dreamed of playing for this club or they are youth products who are very reliable when called. And very loyal. We dont have such players. Actualy we do, but we dont trust them. Last season was a shit seaso and we could easily play RLC for remaining of season. Easily. Everyone was so bad, we werent in any race for trophy and should play RLC and Kenedy. But we didnt, because SHORT SIGHT. Hiddink was "cowardly" enough to inisist on Iva, Matic etc because they are safe options, to show he is doing good job, when in reality he should show some balls, realize we need to build for future and throw kids in fire, even if we lost even more games. At least they would gain experience. Usualy in title chasing seasons we cant do it, but last season was crap, no excuse and we still didnt give them a fucking chance. 2.) We make wrong purchases/lack of faith in them We paid 35m for Bats and we dont even use him. What else is there to say? For that money we could definately get someone at least good enough to replace Costa if needed. 3.) We are not as attractive club for better players Bayern has Costa, Boateng, Muller,...on bench and they are happy. Same for Real with Isco, Morata,... And even so Bayern was poor today because Lewa and Hummels didnt start. Very poor. You cant say they are equaly good. You are wrong about Barca and Juve. Both have very average bench too, no better than ours. If Msn is out, who they play? Arda or Rafinha? Neither is better than Willian or Pedro. Iniesta replacement is Gomes who is garbage. They dont even have proper RB. Juve without Dybala is much lesser team. They dont have quality replacement for him. If we pay 80m for Silva or Mbappe, they will be starters. They would be in any team. Sure if they underperform they would get dropped like Torres, James did. The problem is that we need a very strong bench. But we cant bring top players there because they wont join to sit. We cant bring top talents either because they will be useless because we dont have any faith. We cant bring there any youth for same reason. And we cant bring there any "utility" players; those who are not realy top, but would give 110% for club to help, because we are not big insitution. ---- Bottom line the best we can do, is bring some new players for our first 11 and KEEP our current players like Matic, Cesc, Pedro, Willian,...and obviously rotate enough so everyone has their play time. But you have to know one thing. What you talk about is team chemistry. Real can throw Nacho, Asensio,...whoever and they will perform because atm they are well drilled unit. Bayern, Juve are not as drilled, but close. Barca is far from it. One missing player and they play like crap. Last year we couldnt play well with our strongest 11. Because chemistry was shite. With Conte, we improved it massively. Just trust him. But one thing is certain. We will always be the dogs against Real, Barca, Bayern...they will always dominate. Its our dna to let them play their game and punish them. We will be masters of that if we create top team for such football. But we will also not lose 3:0 4:0 5:0 against them either. Yes we might not play fancy, we might be underdogs, but in the end, we have at least 50% chance to win everytime we will play them. Because we can grind out results. Because they can attack us all night. And we can play as shitty and ugly as possible. But we dont care. We care only about win. We need one shot and we beat them. And they know it. As long our players, whoever plays; give 110% those nights, I dont care about result or about how we play. I dont care if we dont have Galacticos in squad. If we dont have stars on bench. As long we do it our way, the Chelsea way.

https://www.thesun.co.uk/sport/3312566/frantic-mum-left-fearing-brain-damage-for-tot-after-he-was-whacked-in-the-head-with-football-from-a-family-kickabout-involving-chelseas-cesc-fabregas/

His link up for winger is often quite frustrating, and we hopefuly wouldnt play him as striker. I wouldnt say no for fair price of about up to 50m and thats pushing it, but it realy depends on how much we have left then. The problem is that our main player is Hazard. Our second key player is striker. Be it Costa or whoever else. Because we need someone that can score 20+ goals per season. That means, our RW has to be top top player, but at same time play for others. I think Alexis being a good player is considered a main star player, but we already have that in Eden. Maybe Eden and Alexis could be our Robbery, but who knows. Alexis only played for barca of the very best clubs and there he didnt do particulary well. Maybe he will get it level further under Conte. He has been brilliant for Chile whenever he plays, but with Arsenal, he is that typical Arsenal player. Talent and skill wise, he outgrown Arsenal. But character wise, not so sure. He goes missing when team struggles and he looks like he doesnt give a shit or gets frustrated, after that he plays poorly. Maybe he is upset with Arsenal form, but for a 28 year old and arguably one of top 5 players of season, you expect him to deliver his best week in week out without any bullshit. Payet last season was absolutely unplayable in average West ham squad, there is no excuse for Alexis to throw tantrums and suddenly not give a shit. Bottom line, like I said, Alexis is taking maximum of that striker role. His decisions and passing are not very good for winger, nevermind I dont want any wannabe dribbles and shots from wide areas when he should pass to our striker in the clear.

I wonder why they always pull some turkish, polish,... refs who are quite unknown. Why not go for Proenca, Clattenburg etc. While they arent great, at least they are big names. With refs like today, it almost feels they are picked because no one would give a shit if they never judged again but they would help barca continue for this particular game.

Barca without MSN is nothing but a good team. Two of MSN are in their 30s already. IMO they have so many positions to upgrade and bench, with not much money available. Their era is coming to an end I believe. And as a fan of football, I cant wait for the return of english and italian clubs to the top like they were in the past.

Well if we sign someone as equaly good as him or even better like Dybala, Bernardo,...I wouldnt care less.We will never have all the apples anyway. And while Sanchez is having absolutely brilliant season and would improve City, I dont see him THAT great player to offer twice what he is actualy worth just to have him and not city.

I doubt he would be interested in reading and posting on talk chelsea. Unless we create a dog thread.

Indeed and I still am. My point was that he is not better in air than Cahill, and we already struggle in set pieces. Meanwhile Luiz and Azpi are atm not replacable. For obvious reasons I would never compare Buli and PL when it comes to defenders. Just take example in Boateng. Not saying he is the rule, but there is obvious that doing it well in germany wont mean the same in PL. Now obviously Christensen has plenty of time to develop further, after all Carvalho wasnt buff either. But what is more, Christensen never realy impressed me against better teams tbh. Not yet at least. He can be fantastic sometimes, but everytime they faced a better opponent, it ended with poor performance of both, christensen and bmg as whole. Generaly I will always prefer old school defenders, more so in such physical league like PL. They are reliable, there is certain guarantee they wont do some stupid shit and will get the job done. Also, players like Terry, Rio, Vidic gave alot more danger in corners, than what Christensen can offer IMO. Stones, Marquinhos, Christensen, Silva, Ramos (Luiz in past) all these modern CBs are doing so many awful mistakes in some games, its not even funny. They make nice passes and control the ball realy well for a CB, then suddenly all the hype they are awesome CBs and one of best in the world. Ramos is a joke of defender in so many games, but he replaces that with leadership and goals. Thiago Silva is a joke since he moved to PsG. Marquinhos has fart moments like against barca. And we all know how Stones plays and how Luiz played. Tbf if Christensen wasnt already ours and a product of youth development, I wouldnt even consider him for Chelsea. I would prefer Dijk any day. Christensen right now is good, he gets so much hype because of his smooth ball skills. Wouldnt surprise me if he had same problems Stones has right now. But since he is already ours, lets give him a run. Maybe Im horribly wrong and he will turn great. I think he can be good defender, dont get me wrong, but just not my type of CB for this league and our current needs. We need powerful, decently skilled and experienced leader type CB if we are about to replace either of our current 3 CBs.

This thread is getting realy fishy...

I think our odds are quite decent. We will go for safe win. If United allows us to keep posession we will score sooner or later. If they take advantage, we can hit them on counter. Eden is in brilliant form, while Costa not scoring in so many games, he should be on score sheet any time now, maybe it will be against United (its first time in Diego's career at Cfc to not score in 4 consecutive PLgames). Ibra will be a threat and I feel Pogba will have a good game against us sooner or later, but I hope Conte preps our players to give 110% again.

If they didnt have Casemiro already, it would be quite possible Kante was on their list. Those wankers always target whoever they want.

Its true he had to work harder in defence, but he was still unplayable that season despite having to " work his ass of becsuse of mou". Mou made him play best football of his career and no one said in 2015 that Mou is killing his potential. It was the opposite. This year he is performing even better, but not that much better than in 2015, because he was on fire back then too. Sure he would thrive in spain, barca more, but that doesnt have to do anything with either Mou or Conte, but Chelsea as whole and PL. Last season was off for everyone its hardly only Mou fault. Everyone was just as guilty for shit performances. Same is with Leicester this season pre and after Ranieri.

Athletic players usualy have great leap even tho they arent very tall. Matic is very tall, but far cry from athletic midfielder. He isnt dynamic either. Like someone said, he is getting those few headers only because of his size. Same goes for his strenght. He could be realy powerful for his size, but doesnt have athletic body or balance and you see him getting beaten by the likes of Shaqiri or Aguero. IMO all in all he did good job this season, much better than last one. But I agree we need new midfielder, someone who is more dynamic and athletic for those same reasons mentioned above (with good technique)

True but the comments here were like stop chanting to Costa and tell him he is shite in attempt to tell him he is not replacable...awful

There were 10 posts a day and not by "3" persons saying stuff like sell Eden when he is still worth something, sell him soon before other clubs realize he is garbage...and similar shit. I wont go by names but I remember few, tho its pointless. Its the same thing going on with Costa thread. We would look very stupid if sold Eden and all Im saying, Costa being in bad form right now doesnt equal selling him to china for 100m, buy someone else and we will be much better. For all you know Belotti or whoever else might flop here and same people would blame the board for selling Costa. Its clear as day he is in bad form, he has bad touch and recently a bad finish too. But despite that he still contributes to the team in nearly every game. What is dissapointing is that people want him out and calling him names after HE performed absolutely amazing till january. In other words, we wouldnt be first if we didnt have him this season. No other striker performed better than Diego in first half of season. Not even Lewa or Suarez if you ask me, given the differences of the leagues and teammates. If Diego leaves, so be it, we will have damn hard job finding replacement. But these knee jerk comments about selling players the moment they hit bad patch are what bothers people and me. It makes the fans look like cheap followers with neighbours grass is greener or spoiled kids mentality. Regardless of Costa form atm, there is one thing without him we would not be on two titles in last three years. Some appreciation and respect would be nice.

Very good game from him, his pace and power was missed against palace and city. Interesting how much impact he has for the team. I wonder if this exact 11 makes us play so well, it certainly feels so that as soon one player is not there, we dont have that same confidence. There is just the right amount of balance of speed, pace, hardwork, skill, power. Each player covers eachother weaknesses. Thats what Conte did absolutely amazing. If our right side has no Moses, we lack power and speed there. On left, without Alonso we lack height and his composure. Kante realy performs best along Matic in our standard 3:4:3. If you replace Alonso or Moses with someone even more gifted, but not as physical, I wonder if our system still gives that same balance, because it could have quite an impact on rest of squad. On paper Alaba or Sanchez or Dijk certainly look better than our current options, but they are entirely different players and maybe the system Conte built might not work properly then. Its clear that Conte puts alot of work into perfecting the team as whole, that is also why we are performing so brilliantly even with perhaps not such great squad. Its entirely possible that if you replace one part of 11, the remaining 10 will not function as good. Moses and Alonso are absolute workhorses and it gives other players great foundation. Bringing more skilled players, but with less work input, it could destabilize the squad Thankfuly we will have whole summer to adjust and its crucial to get the business done soon.

Again he is showing that extra quality, IMO he has all the chances to be our first choice LWB next season. His technique and composure are unbelievably good for fullback, Conte realy nailed it with this transfer.

Tbh I feel more confident playing against Mous united than his predecssors. The games dont look as tough as before, we know Mourinho tactics and they dont have that drive they always had in derbies. Its just another game for them. Its not going to be easy game, but we know what to expect from united and we can prepare well to hit their weak spots. They seem to look more predictable and dont have that extra fire they always had against us (except for all the unnecessary fouls). We need to improve our defense tho. 9 games straight we couldnt keep clean sheet which is as bad as 2011 Avb season. Hopefuly Diego and Eden will be fired up, then everything is easier.

Great player, he is very young and all, but cant keep his shit when things go south for them. Also whoever celebrates with those handshakes and dances Alli Kante would never work. Our defense would be shit and Alli would not reach his potential there. Even Lamps who was less offensive, never realy flourished in double pivot. Besides there is not even 0.1 chance Spurs would sell anyone to us and their players have some hate towards us.

Worst game of Costa?...yet he was key for that first goal and got a foul after which Alonso scored the 3rd. His linkup is shit these days, but he was there for 2 of our 3 goals. Never mind he is ALWAYS surrounded by at least 2 or 3 players, he gets very very little space.

Past two games we won 3:0 and 4:1; seems their style suits us well. But they are on good form and King is playing great. Im fairly confident about this game, as long we dont get unlucky like against palace.

Mate the only good out and out strikers we had since Hasselbaink are Drogba and Costa. Thats around 15 years. With Costa we are on two titles in three years. With Costa being, besides Courtois and Hazard the only who had giant impact. I agree that Costa long term can be issue, because he seems to have these problems every season making him unreliable, but please...dont talk of him as if he is average, easily replacable striker. Unless we manage to pull right strings and get third good striker in 15 years, lot of you will soon see that Costa was not just some inconsistent replacable striker, but our key player. Its ok to mention his possible departure after all this exit talk, its ok to criticise his form. But it should be self explanatory by every chelsea fan that Diego is one of our best players in recent years and should get all the respect. People seem to forget what he gave to the club. This same thing went on in Eden thread year ago, screaming to be sold. Now everyone is kissing his ass again. Part of supporting club is also supporting players when they are not in form, not try to sell them the second they underperform. Yet all you see in this forum is as soon this or that player has shit game, comments incoming lets replace him with someone... Its just so sad when people scream for Lukaku and Belotti when the odds are they will perform worse than Diego. And yes it can happen. Would be funny to laugh at some smartasses then, but it realy has no point. Fucking appreciate the fact we even have a good striker. Seriously comparing him to Torres, do you even watch football or what? And just to remind you and others, 4 months ago, Diego was definately top on form of 5 players in the world, more important than Eden or whoever else. Dont forget that.