Belgiannutt

1/ Think you're being a bit dramatic Jason. Looking at our starting lineup only Willian, Azpi and 1 of Cahill/Terry will be in the first 11.(if we sign a CB and a LB) That's 3 out of the 11 players. Also think it's a bit much saying Real Madrid played their B team. Marcelo, Varane, Cavajal and Casemiro are all starters for Madrid. Both teams played a mixture in the first half. They simply have better depth then we do. We played our second pre- season game 2 days ago. Not like we're further ahead in our preparation. 2/ True, no doubt we still need a new CB and a new FB. 3/ I actually like the 4-2-4. It's just that our defense and midfield are being way too sloppy on the ball. Our front 4 simply aren't seeing enough of the ball. 4/ I think we can, even if it was against Real madrid's C team. Ofcourse we shouldn't go overboard but still we shouldn't dismiss the good performances. This last part isn't really meant for you but more generally for people who already seem like their panicking. Should note that Conte has only had this group for 2 weeks in which we played 3 games and had to also travel to different locations. So he wasn't even able to train for the full 2 weeks with this group. Then there's also the fact that a number of our players weren't here from the very beginning due to the Euros. Kante just arrived 2 days ago. Hazard and Courtois 4-5 days ago. Fabregas, Azpi and Pedro a week ago. Also i'm sure those double sessions are taking their toll on the players. I mean Willian looked exhausted in the first half and he's probably the guy with the most stamina in the entire team.

DP

Came on in the 64th minute on the LW. After 10 minutes he was played as a second striker behind Batshuayi. Thought he did really well there. He scored 2 goals from that position. Also helped out with our build up by dropping off, providing an outlet for our defenders and midfielders while holding onto the ball to allow the rest of the team to get forward. Already looking sharper then i expected him to be given he's only been in preseason for 4-5 days. So good signs.

Let's hope so. Can't imagine us going into the season with just 3 fullbacks

Was impressed with his performance. Hope he can build on this and carry on like it.

Just too many weak links in our team atm.

No, he's training with the group but isn't taking part when there's chance of contact. Difficult to say when he's coming back but can't see him being match ready in 3 weeks

Conte added: “Eden will play in second half. For Hazard , the right moment is in the second half. “Now Courtois is back and tomorrow we start with Begovic and in the second half we play Courtois.” (Conte talking about Kante) : “He’s in good physical condition, fantastic. He’s a runner. He has great stamina and endurance. “He’s in good shape, but we want to respect the time in the training sessions and put him in to play with us in the future.” So Courtois and Hazard to play in the second half and Kante probably won't see any minutes. Conte does seem very strict when it comes to being fit enough to play in games. “In the last few days he (Costa) had a pain in his back and for this reason he didn’t train and didn’t play against Liverpool. “When Costa trains with us I always see the right attitude, but in these few days he didn’t train with us. “It’s important to see the players doing the training session. If I don’t see a player doing the training session I can’t put them in the game. “These are my rules and it’s important to understand this. “My concept is very clear. I want to see my players doing the work in the training session. “If someone is injured or there is some problem and I don’t see the player in the training session, it is impossible to think of putting him in the starting 11 or on the bench.” http://www.mirror.co.uk/sport/football/news/antonio-conte-shows-diego-costa-8524951

Team v Liverpool (4-2-4): Begovic; Azpilicueta, Cahill, Terry (c), Aina; Fabregas, Matic; Wilian, Traore, Loftus-Cheek, Moses. #CFC

Don't read too much into it. He's simply saying that if he ever leaves he wants it to be on a high note. Goal.com seems to have conveniently left this part out: "And if I must leave one day, I hope I can finish good here and be a champion again." http://www.telegraph.co.uk/football/2016/07/27/chelsea-winger-eden-hazard-vows-to-bounce-back-and-reclaim-pfa-p/

5:30 am for +2 UTC. It's 6 hours and 30 minutes before the game starts. Belgium and Sweden have the same time zone UTC + 2.

Antonio Conte is just about to give his first press conference in LA. Highlights to appear here... Conte: 'In these two days we worked a lot but we want to play a good game against Liverpool and I want to see improvement of my players.' Conte: 'When you have a bad season like last season for Chelsea I think the blame is a bit with all.' Conte: 'For this reason it’s important to create a good spirit and stay together, both if we win or lose.' Conte: 'We have to trust in our work, our ideas and our confidence. This is the most important thing.' Conte on fatigue in his players: 'I know they are a bit tired but it’s normal. It’s important to prepare a good season.' Conte: 'Matic is an important player for me, a very important player. In my idea of football he is an important player and he knows this.' Conte on Kante: 'He played a fantastic season with Leicester, for me a good Euros, and now I can’t wait to see him and work with him' Conte: ' N’Golo, Nemanja, Cesc, Oscar, Chalobah and Mikel who is in the Olympics, it is not easy to choose. I want to have this problem.' Conte: 'The spirit is always important. You can have a fantastic player but if there isn’t a team, good spirit, then it’s very difficult.' That's all from Antonio for today. More to come online later... From Chelsea's twitter account.

But we don't play with a 10 under Conte. We play with 2 out and out strikers and 2 wingers

A number 10 ? Why ?

I do think we were playing really well in the beginning. After that it's difficult to say what triggered the drop in quality in our game as a lot of things happened. Yeah i agree with your last sentence. We really need a quality injection in that area.

I wasn't talking about the personel of our defense. I was talking about the system, about the use of the 4-2-4 this season. The 4-2-3-1 which we used is very similar when defending as it's also relies on 2 banks of four. So i said it worked, with Fabregas and Hazard, because we were able to dominate the opposition. Fairly obvious that our defense needs strenghtening. Ivanovic should be nowhere near our starting lineup and apart from Zouma whose still recovering from his knee injury i don't have any faith in the other cb's at our disposal. So yes a CB and a LB are necessary and even then we'll have to pray that Zouma recovers quick and doesn't hurt his knee again otherwise we're stuck with 1 of Cahill, Terry or Ivanovic again.

I think the problem was that apart from defence Mourinho didn't drill anything else. When it came to the attack the players were left to improvise on their own. Basically just telling hazard to "go out there and express himself" for example. A lot of times our gameplan seemed to be pass it to Hazard and hope he does something with it. Now about the defensive side. I think it can work as it did for the first 5 months of our title winning season. As long as our attacking players are in form we can dominate the opponents and force them back. Problem is when players go off form or when we go up against teams that have equal or more quality in their squad. Personally i don't think we'll play the 4-2-4 against the top teams and simply revert to a 4-3-3 with Matic taking the place of one of the strikers. It's all just guesswork for now. We'll have to wait and see how it all comes together.

Well in defense Conte's 4-2-4 is just a regular 4-4-2. So i'd assume we'll see our wingers drop deep and tuck inside helping out our midfielders by protecting the central midfield area and essentially becoming "a cm". Both our strikers will likely drop deep and act as buffers in front of our central midfield forcing the opposition to go wide while also making it more difficult for them to switch play.

You do realize the players themselves don't decide when they come back right ? It actually makes sense that they get longer off then Batshuayi since both Courtois and Hazard played every minute of the tournament while Batshuayi only played 21 minutes in total.

I suppose that also means the other players that went to the euros will return aswell ???

Ivanovic...

Yeah it's some sort of weird construction where if 2 or more clubs trigger the release clause it still turns into a bidding war.

Does anyone know when the players that played in the Euros will return ?

I don't think so. I think he's simply a reliable back up to Costa. They're too similar imo. Both goalscorers, poachers inside the box but Costa has better off the ball movement while Batshuayi has more ability on the ball and is technique wise better.

4-3-3 with a midfield of Matic Fabregas with Kante as the defensive mid or maybe we're still looking for a box to box midfielder to complete our midfield 3.