BlueLyon

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.

I remember Barca wanted to utilise him as RB. While it probably wouldnt work long term, its amazing how can same player be considered as striker and defender on top level. That said he has been outstanding this season. Not just good and hardworking, but also crucial with goals and assists in many games. Kind of irreplacable atm. It makes me wonder if we will actualy go for top RW like Sanchez or Bernardo if Pedro finishes season on such good form, only to be replaced next season. Considering we seriously need to strenghten midfield and wings, possibly with Costa gone, a new top striker too, our RW might not be a priority after all. That said, I think Douglas Costa would be great addition, alot more realistic and cheaper than either Bernardo/Sanchez. Also the type of player who can cause all sorts of problems with his power, speed and trickery.

I know its impossible but if we actualy sell Costa for reported ~100m I would give Bayern an offer they cant refuse for Lewandowski. Im sure bayern would accept big offer, but its all up to Lewa if he wants to leave. I just dont think any other striker that we were linked with would improve us over inform Costa. If we sell Costa we need a type of player that United got in RVP when they bought him from arsenal. Instant impact, reliable and world class. Every signing is 50/50, but Lukaku, Belotti, Laca,...they all scream big risk considering the price and fact we will NEED reliable striker next season.

Its Hi, how are you.

Meh...Benz, Lukaku, Morata,...neither impresses me to say wow if we sign any of them. Anyone would be better than Costa on current form. But he should not be compared to others in current form. Would Benzema be better than current Costa? Indeed. But would he be better than Costa in his best form? Not even close. If we are targeting a new striker, then we should target someone who will be even better than Costa on his best day. Good luck finding such striker this summer. Lukaku to me still looks big fish small pond type of striker. He might be banging them goals, but his character is way off what you expect from leader. Morata is good but isnt lone striker. Benzema is benzema...very good on good day, but inconsistent as hell. Auba is the same. Belotti and Lacazette are unproven. Who else is there? We definately need someone near prime, experienced leader, but I dont see anyone fit that profile. I realy like the way Mbappe is developing, but he must stay in Monaco, he is too young for big club. Its a real shame Costa till january was the perfect striker we could possibly have. I still think he will return in form, no worry about that at all. But in long term we need a reliable striker indeed.

What you said is correct, obviously he waits, but what does that to do with my post? You talk about which side he decides to shot, I was talking about his execution in general, his power and direction. Even if he waits for GK, his shot is still low and weak, and I was talking about that only. If GK goes the right way, that is a certain save. If you add alot more power to it like Lamps did, its the kind of penalty that is alot more sure to end up as goal. Yes he did score most of his penalties in past, but now he plays on higher level. Im sure every opposition learns about his shooting technique and they read him better these days, hence he only scored half of last 6 pens. If he did score most of his pens, I would not complain, but thats not the case. Doesnt matter if he was 100% 5 years ago or even 2 years ago, because recently he misses half and that is not good at all. Generaly I realy dislike players who only take step or two in penalties. Its usualy a weak shot and I have seen it countles times being saved.

DP

His pens are very easy to save these days. Little power and considering he takes little space to shot, gk knows it will be a low shot. If Eden put the ball near either post, the save would be impossible, but he goes always for middle between gk and post. Gk only has to figure out which side so its relatively easy 50:50 save. Last 6 pens, eden scored only 3 so there is that. Either he needs to to take more power to his shots or someone else should start taking them.

Super important win. Shame Spurs turned it around tho.

Yup. Been saying that for a while now

Tbh when Costa didnt score he always rilled defenders and chased that ball like a mad dog. But people complained he is crazy. Now you got what people wanted. Calm Costa (well most of time). When he doesnt score he is invisible. Tbh I prefered that yellow card here and there because he at least showed great passion and character. Now he is like a dog on a leash.