Leif

I don't know why individually we want this guy, it'll be for different reasons for each of us i'm sure, but the pros I see are pace, strength, physical presence, ball distribution, positioning, anticipation. Bare with me here. Azpilicueta offers all that bar the physical presence (yet he's taller than Cannavaro & the same as Puyol.) I really think we already have the ingredients all here, but the wrong recipe. Azpi / Christensen/Zouma could work wonders theoretically, I really believe so. I've so much faith in Azpi and I know when he loses his pace he'll slip into centre back for whoever we eventually offload him to. Let's start the party early and get him in there. Splash this cash on new staff members.

His son probably secretly runs our club. I imagine he abuses Roman behind the scenes with verbal abuse and stinging slaps. It makes complete sense.

I personally do doubt it. Which board member above Conte do you have faith in & trust to do their job to the best of their abilities?

The guys upstairs pick the players who must not be removed from the XI. They will not allow Ivanovic to be removed. Azpi will never be outplayed by anyone we sign. So there is really no logical reason to play with the idea of some new elite full back coming in, I think.

Yeah I'd run out of tissues if this happened

Our players are definitely avoiding passing to Kante when they can. Instructed by Conte I presume?

It already feels like we didn't sign a new striker, it's like we unspokingly all know already we'll see as much of him as we saw of Remy.

Well if Arsene wants him i must've been wrong about him.

My gut tells me there's been a conspiracy for a few years, some of the biggest football journalists got together and agreed they'd subtly start to change the economics of football via. well-timed articles and buzzwords. I mean it IS the journalists and vine users after all who made Pogba look like he's worth a freakish fee; it was regular fans who shed light on Neymar; it's journalists who highlight the new 'next big things' in football, which clubs always pay attention to. It's regular people like these journalists who decide who is/isn't a good player, and our owners/scouts/etc. all read the papers and eat up the shit put forth. They are responsible. Journalists are the voice of football even moreso than the fans I believe, and none of them rub me the right way. All of them have a smirk on their face like they couldn't care less about the future of football, because they have something to write about at least if things get out of hand.

Eh. Chelsea, United and probably Madrid or some big Milan team at the time were chasing Mikel.

An issue is, how many players too do want to leave but don't voice it? More than we know. For sure Hazard in my opinion. Tis the result of (still) boring football. Unimaginative management. The stands not rocking enough. All these things come together and make a player feel depressed essentially, especially compared to past pastures. I mean honestly, the thrill of going far in European competition with Benfica, with their atmosphere, with their pre-match rituals & their constant attack-minded football, that far outweighs this feeling we create for our players of expectancy, 'You must go out and win all these things, and even then we won't show much gratitude.' There's always a sombre mood at this club, like the lid is on us and we're not letting the fireworks pop. Players want those fireworks. It's why so many leave Ligue 1 and why so many people don't watch it - because all the teams play like Chelsea, and 90% of the crowds sound like ours. (There's definitely enough technical quality in that league to enjoy, so it must be other factors we don't measure which push people away from it, like the ones I've suggested. These same things are pushing Matic away from us, imo.) Or maybe it just looks like we won't win another title until Matic is 30 and that's why. I'm being harsh probably, but it is too often that i think 'How on earth is *this player* still here?' 'Why on earth would Ashley Cole want to come back as a scout?' My point is, we, or the management, created this situation and will continue to. Players lose their smiles when they come here, they just do. Not for the first month or 2, but the energy they had for whomever they played for before us certainly fades. Look at any player we have right now and compare their personality now to before joining us. Oscar, Hazard, Costa, Matic, perhaps even Azpilicueta. I'd put money on those guys being less happy here than they were before joining. That's too much of our XI. These players used to be ecstatic people. Courtois was obviously happier at Atletico Madrid too. Why? It wasn't like they were winning more titles. It must've been... all that shit i just said. It makes sense that the only people still content with our situation are Terry, blue through and through, Cahill, an idiot, Ivanovic, an idiot, Kante - a new signing, Fabregas a passive idiot, and then who knows about Willian. I doubt our youth are happy here too. So we probably have 10 happy players if we're pushing it.

Our new Solanke, you gotta get excited about that.

Nice move

i felt like scum, now i feel fine again

Well we know how our board sees things. Conte had a great team defensively at Juventus, so that should automatically mean he can turn whatever players we give him into similar.

If he'd never scored a few long shots for the Vines that circulate on Twitter....things would be different. The entire future landscape of football and the cash involved would at least change more slowly, instead of the stupid fees we're about to get used to for 2-3 years until something happens like a transfer fee cap. Take away his 1.5 to maybe 3 long shot goals per season and what you've got is an Essien or Ballack but who can't defend nor go KABLOW and shoot from 35 yards and consistently have it go in. So then what is it he offers? It's never properly answered. Is it physical strength,/presence? In Serie A I can understand that being an asset, but over here it's expected of most players. So essentially it seems he's made out of... the ability to not be pushed off the ball, + the standard central midfielder qualities found in an abundance of players. His former asset will no longer be an asset here. So. He's a standard central midfielder with qualities found in an abundance of players. Can we agree?

I think he's our new Kalou. Unshaken in confidence with the composure and instinct of a poacher. But at the same time not all that, for other reasons seemingly unquantifable at this time. To our new super-sub.

Training with Napoli and training with Conte are worlds apart

scenes when we sign him on the last day + he takes 2 months of training before being fit enough to slide into the XI

In the case of Willian I believe in my gut we haven't seen the best of him, simply because of the players around him. I think if he was at Barcelona or Man City he'd be a top 10 player.

I might be wrong but as slow as he is, I don't think Terry has less pace than Barzagli, who is a really elite defender still these days, thanks to Conte.

Azpi doesn't have the confidence to tell Conte "I was actually a right back before. I played left back during the mad man's experimentation." To Conte's knowledge Azpilicueta is a left back. He'll have watched us last season and every game I'm sure Azpi was on the left. Communication is important off the field as well as on it, and i've noticed our players aren't exactly vocal about much.

I'd rather finish 4th with Terry than 1st without

Stringing 3 weak inaccurate passes around their box is as exciting as we're getting so far.

You only take shots and score them from 30+ yards if it's evident the goalkeeper & defence aren't up to par.