Stats

Fofana was brilliant second half. Took leadership and control.

Watching George up front is like walking in on your mother getting rattled, should never be seen 

I knew this would not be easy. Playing a physical, bigger team on their own turf, but Lord, this is embarrassing. Hopefully this is the the last time seeing George up front. It actually hurts my eyes. Gittens, I want to see continue out wide on the left tbh but big improvement needed. They could have been 3-0 up. No exaggeration. The stats are no lie. There chances have been genuine.

So it turns out Guiu isn’t cup-tied because of a rule change, but Chelsea didn’t know so he hasn’t travelled.
George will start as a striker😏 😏

Have they been watching us play?! 🤣

The decisions are ALL based on money and orientated around profit margins.
It came out the other day that the SD’s advised not to sell Madueke in fear of it being a mistake. Now he might go on to be utter shit but the owners still sanctioned the sale against the SDs wishes. That tells you everything you need to know. How can we put up with this.. these owners are taking the piss. Maresca crying out for a CB and they buy Garnacho. Now Maresca wont play £95m of wingers instead a young George who was neary sold. Wtf is this.

Based on what? He has been near our best player since the CWC - and had one bad game out of his more favoured position against Bayern. 
Craziness. 

On the bench though. No surprise. He would have been rinsed and with what happening tomorrow, wise not to start him.
You just woken up? 😄 

I was surprised Buonanotte was hooked off at H/T. He looked tidy and dangerous and was connecting well with Pedro. For his first appearance, I thought he did well and deserved to continue.

lol the player that is offside try to play the ball

Smart decision. 
True, they have the benefit of a better squad with less injuries, but you dont treat a PL game like a cup game against a small team.
We have 8 CL games to play. 1 away result against Bayern who are the best team in the group isn't going to be the big deal breaker.
Just like last season, Maresca seems to think that every European game is a costly knockout round.

Exactly. No Europe this season..and no more clumsy GK to take advantage of.

I agree but I was more saying that Kudus would have offered a different physical profile to the rest of our attack.   
It would be similar to Arsenal getting Eze when they have Odegaard already.   Arteta wanted that technical skill and they will have more than enough game time over the season.

Surely Maresca would have found a way to play with Simons & Palmer 😄

Not just that. They have whole week to prepare, whilst we play Bayern in week.

Someone remind Maresca that Lincoln is our fixture in 2 weeks and Brentford today. I get they wear the same colours but think Maresca has got the two opposition teams confused 😄 

I don't know if it's been mentioned but Ecuador has like a golden generation. 
I don't remember players from Ecuador being good in Europe like this. 
Kind of like what happen with Belgium with their gold generation. Granted that Belgium generation was amazing with Hazard and company, but it's interesting to see this boom in Ecuador, something never seen before for that country. 

Chelsea to sign Strasbourg striker Emanuel Emegha in 2026
https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/6622905/2025/09/12/Chelsea-transfer-news-strasbourg-emegha/

 
Chelsea have agreed a deal to sign Emanuel Emegha from BlueCo sister club RC Strasbourg.
BlueCo, the company the Todd Boehly-Clearlake Capital consortium created when buying Chelsea in 2022, owns both clubs involved in the deal, which will be formally processed in 2026.
Last season, the 22-year-old scored 14 goals and provided three assists in 27 appearances in Ligue 1.
Having started his career at Sparta Rotterdam, the Netherlands under-21 international went on to play for Royal Antwerp and Sturm Graz before joining Strasbourg in 2023.
 
This summer, Chelsea completed the signings of strikers Liam Delap and Joao Pedro, while Nicolas Jackson joined Bayern Munich on a loan deal with a conditional obligation to buy.
Chelsea also recalled striker Marc Guiu from a previously agreed season-long loan deal at Sunderland following an injury to Delap, which is expected to rule out the striker for several months of the campaign.
Enzo Maresca’s side, who have collected seven points from their opening three league games, travel to Brentford in a west London derby on Saturday.
Why have Chelsea signed Emegha?
Analysis from The Athletic’s Chelsea Correspondent Simon Johnson
The summer window has been closed for under a fortnight and Chelsea have already made another signing for the future. The obvious question is why?
Emegha has been under consideration at Chelsea for some time — it helps that they can keep a close eye on his progress at sister club Strasbourg.
The multi club model worked in Chelsea’s favour here. Champions League clubs in England and abroad were beginning to show a lot of interest in the forward earlier this year but Strasbourg were able to keep hold of him this summer.
Emegha was spoken to, assured that he’d be better off staying one more year and developing at Strasbourg before moving elsewhere. A sign of the trust and value placed in him was that he was also made captain for this season.
At that point a move to Chelsea was not promised or guaranteed, but clearly given the relationship between the two clubs it could not be ruled out.
What You Should Read Next Liam Delap, a hamstring tear and a frustrating start to life at Chelsea The summer signing from Ipswich made an impact at the Club World Cup but will have to wait to show the home supporters what he can do Emegha has increased in Chelsea’s thinking in recent weeks. For starters he is seen as a successor to Nicolas Jackson, who was granted his wish to leave Stamford Bridge last week and has joined Bayern Munich on loan. There is a contractual obligation included which can make that permanent if certain conditions are met, but even if that does not happen, the plan is for him to be sold permanently in 2026 regardless.
Emegha is regarded as one of the fastest strikers in Ligue 1 and a player who likes to run in behind defences as well as down the channels – essentially what Jackson has been doing over the past two years but Chelsea feel his potential is greater.
When Chelsea were assessing what to do following Liam Delap’s hamstring injury at the end of last month, which will rule him out until November, they deliberately decided not to add another striker in the last few days of window. They did not want to block the pathway of Marc Guiu, who they decided to recall from loan at Sunderland. Significantly the same reasoning was applied to Emegha as they stepped up thoughts of buying him with 2026 in mind.
Chelsea felt it was too early for him to come now and that another year at Strasbourg will make him even more polished. The fact he will also get experience playing in European competition via the UEFA Conference League is seen as another positive.
The club also feel there is a strong possibility of Emegha being part of the Netherlands squad for the World Cup should they qualify. That means getting a deal agreed in advance before facing possibly even more competition for his signature is so important.
Chelsea want strength in depth for their attacking positions and with Joao Pedro able to play as a No 10 as well as up front, Emegha will provide another useful option leading the line along with Delap in 2026-27.
What would Emegha bring to Chelsea?
Analysis by Thom Harris
Standing at 6ft 5in (195cm), and Europe’s fastest centre-forward per SkillCorner’s PSV-99 metric, Emegha instantly fits the physical, line-leading mould.
The 22-year-old is another forward bought and sold by Austrian side Sturm Graz, along with Rasmus Hojlund and Monaco’s Mika Biereth, a sure-fire seal of approval regarding his athletic, goal-poacher profile.
At the top of an exciting Strasbourg side, Emegha is often the man to stretch in behind and keep opposition centre-backs on their toes. His opening goal away at Marseille back in January was almost comical as he recalibrated his run three times to get in behind a slack defensive line.
Emegha is more about bundling home from close-range and finishing his chances with finesse, but his shot map below illustrates just how much danger the Dutchman’s darting runs can generate, with almost 97 per cent of his league shots this season falling inside the penalty area. Only five Ligue 1 players scored more than his 14 goals.
His expected goal (xG) value per shot of 0.28 was also the highest of any player in Europe’s top five leagues this season, pointing to a striker who consistently gets himself into threatening positions, even if his finishing can sometimes leave a little to be desired.

Despite his more slender frame, Emegha can still hold his own and create something from nothing with combative channel runs.
On occasion Emegha’s height can work against him — he can sometimes look clumsy in front of goal while he sorts out his feet — but his speed, strength, and magnetism to high-value shooting opportunities makes him an intriguing profile who will continue to cause damage as he sharpens his striking instincts.

Matt Law says the club feel like it’ll just be a fine rather than anything serious.
If they punish the current players on the pitch or even the ownership who weren’t even here back then it’ll be a complete disgrace.

The problem, of course, is that none of this is Sterling's fault. Many of us were furious when he was linked, and apoplectic when he was signed. He should not have been recruited. Not even as a free transfer on a trialist contract. The people, or person, who made the sporting and financial decisions is/are to blame.
The bad decisions aren't limited to the ones which were made when Raheem joined from City. No doubt there was some Club who made us an exploitative offer to take the player on loan this summer. Something like no loan fee, and Chelsea cover 80%, or more, of his wages. If it was made such an offer should have been accepted.
In the absence of any kind of move for Sterling we are stuck with implied contractual obligations to provide him with top level training facilities and opportunities. This necessarily includes professional grade players to practice with and against. If we made the emotionally satisfying decision to ban him from Cobham we'd run the risk of being sued.

Thanks. Hope its true and he is ready to go. 🙂 

That is good news. Could do with the rest.

Check what @NikkiCFCposted in the Caicedo thread mate.

That is good news. Could do with the rest.