BlueLyon

Well KDB wasnt youngster either, he came as very promising player from Genk, already had CL experience... I thought we were discussing about Mou giving chance to young players, regardless being youth product or foreign talent, as long they are not established yet. Indeed Rash was brought by Gaal, but still he is 19 (or 20?) and considering Mou plays him, it kinda takes away the rule Mou doesnt play youngsters. He does as long they are performing.

Get world class L(w)B and RW and Im happy. Maybe R(w)B too if we insist on 3 ATB. Tammy, RLC and Zouma are having brilliant loans so far IN PREMIER LEAGUE, must be used in squad next year. Inded we might need another deep playmaker, but honestly, top RW and two quality wingbacks would do wonders. Before spending millions on CM, I would give RLC one more chance, this time a very serious chance to get in first 11 if he plays well for Palace whole season. He might not have the most talent in the world, but he is english, youth product and if he shows hard work, yes I would give him chance ahead of any midfielder out there. Having english youth player in first 11 is still big wish I hope comes true soon, now that Terry is gone. Obvious names would be Sandro, Rose, Bertrand, Ghoulam for LB, no idea for RB though, and either Lemar, Martins, Fekir, Malcolm or long stretch Dybala for RW. CM would be either one of Kovacic, Seri, Savic, Goretzka or Carlos Soler, who is perhaps my favourite option right now if we are buying.

TBH, all this talk of Mou not giving chance to youth is not entirely true. He gave chance to Zouma and he now plays Baily every week at united who was 22 when he arrived. Its simply a matter of quality and imediate impact. Yes, young players usualy dont have imediate impact, thats the point, but very very few do, and when that is, Mou plays them, regardless of age. Thats why Zouma played here, Baily and Rashford play at United, Varane did at Real. All under Mou. Pretty sure Christensen would too, if he Mou was still here, because the boy is quality and has imediate impact. On other hand, KDB simply didnt have that impact back then with us. Talented yes, but with much to learn. Even last year, he was very inconsistent, only this year he truly truly stepped up. Indeed we made mistake selling KDB, but I understand why he didnt play under Mou. It was series of misfortunate moments; Mou coaching him when he was not ready yet, Chelsea loaning him out and as result him wanting to leave when he was becoming realy quality player. If only we put buyback clause, thats where we truly fucked up. Still the beauty of football is when someone isnt at club anymore, someone else comes. In our case it will just take more time and money to find our KDB again.

I think you mean Monchi. He worked for Sevilla before and is now at Roma. One of best in recent years. Shame we missed him, he just moved to Roma in summer.

Plenty will be known when we play Atletico again and United at OT.

He broke a bone in his foot. Get well soon Cap

Yup pretty much this. I dont see us forever with 3ATB, because it creates either no proper width in 3:5:2 (plus exposed space for opponent between winback and CB) or only two midfielders in 3:4:3 Juve vs real was evident example why 3;5:2 is flawed. Only one wingback against winger and fullback is not going to work. Never mind defensive solidity isnt realy much better in 3ATB than 4ATB. Defending is more about personell rather tactics. So I guess 3Atb was more temporary, fitting current players. Luiz is good in back 3, but not in back 4 so I can see we will replace him sooner or later. Shame, because he is excellent character. Personaly wouldnt mind using him in midfield, but it wont happen.

Tbh we were brilliant against Atletico aswell. The question is were we brilliant because we improved something or were we brilliant because united allowed us with their tactics. Everyone knows we and Cesc can be quality if we have space and time. But the point is we have to improve when under pressure. The real victory will be when we beat opponent (be it united or someone else) when they press us and we still dominate. Results aside (they are not as bad as media says) we were outdone by watford and palace pressing. Cesc was great today, because he played well, we got Kante back and united allowed him time, but as soon they press us he will be his old self. As maybe whole chelsea. Lets celebrate this victory today, but dont get ahead of ourselves, we did same against atletico and big chance is next time we face pressing team, we will be poor again.

Because either 1.) They dont have motivation 2.) because they cant play against high pressing (lets be honest, even pressing palace gives us more trouble than sit back united or atletico) Win vs united was good, but IMO unless we change someting, next week we could be shit if wba decide to press us. Once we play comfortable against pressing opponent and win, I will feel great after victory. United win was nice, but they didnt realy challenge our weakness. Our performance doesnt depend as much on quality of opponent but more their style.

I hope this gets settled. Luiz may do stupid mistakes, but he is much more than a defender realy. Character, leader and scores goals sometimes too.

If you look at whole season now, Burnley loss wasnt that bad now, seeing they are doing brilliantly this season. Arsenal draw considering it was derby is acceptable. City loss, they are unbeatable atm so fair play. The only game we should win but didnt was Crystal palace, they are bottom and it was truly a fuck up. We won rest of matches in PL. Of top teams, we generaly had good games against Atletico, United and Spurs and poor against City and Roma, not disaster either. If we won palace too, we would be second with 23 points, only behind City who is on next level this year. Hardly saying we have shit season, bearing in mind we are probably progressing in CL too. Conte shouldnt be anywhere near the sacking if you connect these dots and take into consideration we didnt have as good summer business as Manchesters. Also, media are twats.

Interesting fact, Meunier just said he refused to join us on deadline day.

3:5:2 if we had great attacking wingbacks would be good. But right now, I can see teams figure us out since we dont have proper width. Just stack midfield and we are done (exactly what city did). As for Conte, I hope he stays, but I can see serious disagreement with the board over transfer business, potentialy leading to Conte departure on his own or due to bad results.

Sanchez is quality, but Im not losing sweat if he goes to City honestly. They already have plenty of quality players in that position. Alexis is not young anymore, he isnt that out and out brilliant player every week, frustrating to watch sometimes. If they were signing someone like Dybala, I would be much more worried, because such player can stay there for almost decade and create dinasty, Alexis wont. As long we get super quality young player ourselves for that RW, I couldnt care less if Alexis goes to City. KDB is there as well, but we can counter it if we sign proper players ourselves.

Very good performance, 1 point from second place. City might be too strong this season, but if we continue like this from now on and hopefuly no injuries, we can easily finish second. We are very wasteful infront of goal, but at least we are making chances and finaly the game was much quicker, I guess thats big thanks to Kante. Also, many times I criticise him, but Cesc was excellent today. During the match I read some comments how Baka is poor, lol the man was brilliant today aswell. Poor decision making sometimes and poor finishing, but his overal presence in final third was superb and definately game changer.

He is doing brilliant so far. Glad injury didnt leave any serious consequences, he seems even quicker and stroger now. Him, Christensen and Rudiger, Azpi...our defence is sorted for years.

On another note I also dont get two things; 1.) Under Mou we became slow without any movement. Then Conte came and we were brilliant. Players moved quickly, many options to pass to, lot of dynamic to the game. This year its slow and no movement again 2.) Defenders under Mou were reckless in posession, get the ball and hoof it away. No control and composure in back. Conte came and we improved there big time. This season, again defenders have zero composure and we cant build from back at all. So the big question is, why? Because of Conte or players simply decide to turn off every second season?

The main problem with Conte that I see is he keeps playing Cesc and Cahill althrough they are poor. Last year he was decisive and benched Iva, Terry and Cesc. The results came. This year its same old story, players who are big at this club play and not those that actualy deserve to play.

Probably the best fullback of the season tore his ligaments...damn shame. He will be out for 4 months, but the first reports saying injury was bad and he may face many minor injuries in future now. Heck he would be on last 6 months in january. If there was a chance of getting top quality fullback in winter, it just went away...

Tbh people blasted them when they were losing to second tier teams last year, I think they deserve credit this year. Real and Bvb are no small teams and they did great against them. Meanwhile we got blasted by Roma. I hate spurs but they are doing great job. They have balanced squad, they have stability in board. They got destroyed under pressure many times in title race and european games, but if they stick together with Kane and Alli, they will be top top side sooner or later. At the very end, they played great game against Real. We would close down and Real would be all over us for 90min. Thats the reality atm. We might be winning game here or there with great tactics or players having their day, but to expect them to put top game 90% of time against quality sides, thats a fantasy now. Players have proven they are average in pressing, dealing with high press, passing, tempo, controling,...basics. One quality game or even one season doesnt change the fact we then look like second tier team next game or season. Zero improvement. Just step forward, step back, rinse and repeat... Our team atm still didnt peak, so there is some reserve, but honestly we are backtracking big time when others are making huge improvement. Results wise, we might still be competitve, but play wise, not even close. Even the likes of Napoli, Roma, Lazio, Valencia, Monaco are slowly but steadily coming ahead of us. And in long term, they will get results too. We have results for now and for alot of time very shitty performances. If the results are gone, our level is Arsenal and Pool.

Napoli lost Ghoulam and it could be different if he wasnt injured. But credit where due City was amazing. So were spurs. I hope Napoli goes through, they are brilliant side, certainly one of best to watch this year and it would be little disaster not to see best napoli in knockout stages. Feyenord and shakhtar are certainly beatable and if they do their best, they will beat both. City should beat shakhtar aswell. But funny tho, I ALWAYS wanted english football to rise again, to conquer the european throne and end spanish domination. City, Spurs are becoming formidable sides. United will too sooner or later. But Chelsea...we were the only english team not to be ridiculed for years, but now that english football is once again making serious impression in europe, we are falling behind. Yes we won two PL titles in past 3 years, but we looked average in europe since that semifinal with atletico, while City, United and even Spurs have improved massively. We are slowly becoming on level with Liverpool and Arsenal mentality on too many levels. Fuck, the board and players better wake up.

Hahah last year almost everyone was throwing Matic and Costa under the bus, now you cry after them and even question Conte? Surprise surprise...

Torres comparissons shouldnt even happen in first place. Torres was below average and saying Morata is better than him, doesnt make Morata quality. The real question is if he is or can be better than Costa.

I think he is good GK, however he should organise his defence better. But long shot goals are getting ridiculous. Opponents are popping euro goals on regular basis, Tibo should save more of those shots...

IMO he can be at least as good as prime Matic but with better dribbling ability and more dynamic. And for longer period than Matic too. That would be one damn great midfielder. But Im sure fans here are like; 1.) Matic isnt good enough on the ball etc etc. 2.) Fans want new midfielder who can pass well and playmake etc and at same time defend 3.) We buy Bakayoko as simple Matic replacement in DM position 4.) Fans expect him to turn into next Iniesta, Yaya and Makelele combined. ____ Since we dont realy have playmaker apart from useless Cesc, fans demand Baka and Kante to turn super saiyan Iniesta, while their role is entirely different. Simply because we dont have quality playmaker, it doesnt mean they have to do that. Their job is DM and B2B, but obviously some idiots will be found saying those two aint creative enough, dont have vision or ball control of Xavi. Yes Baka atm has atrocious ball control at times, aswell positioning and he should run more, but Pedro was shit too in his first year when the whole squad was shit, well this season isnt realy much different when it comes to players form compared to 2015/16. Real fans dont expect Casemiro to play like Iniesta. But they have Modric and Kroos and everything ticks. We need our own Modric/Kroos for this team, thats it.