TorontoChelsea

Disagree entirely. Maybe at a lower level, it's about chemistry, but at the top level, it's all about fitness. Who is going to play and where has already been decided and there is no correlation between playing well or poorly in the pre-season and anything in the regular season . Our best players in the last 2 preseasons were Marin and De Bruyne and neither played much of a role in the following year. You can also see this by looking at every single year of the past. Our second to last pre-season game featured 5 starters who wouldn't start our first game. (And if the last game weren't a personal game for Mourinho against Real Madrid, you would have seen the same thing again) Managers play with different things but they know the players they have. Barring injury or a late transfer, the rotation will be Azpilicueta, Ivanovic, Terry, Cahill, Luis in defense. Hazard, Willian, Oscar, Schurrle, Ramires, Matic, and Fabergas in midfield (with Salah, and probably one of Van Ginkel or Mikel likely also getting some minutes) and Costa, Lukaku and Torres at striker. Zouma will probably get a few games but apart from that, the rotation is done and no matter how poorly someone in the rotation plays or how well someone outside it plays, it won't change a thing. It's what makes sense at this level anyway. These players have track records of years of competitive play that are infinitely more important.than what, 150 minutes, 200 minutes against bad teams or teams also trying to get in shape.

Football is mirroring the real world. The economy for the top-10 teams (the less than 1%) is so absurd and it doesn't even matter because they just get who they want. Did Barcelona with Messi and Neymar need Suarez? Not at all. Does Real Madrid need James Rodriguez. Not in the least. This kind of stuff is so bad for football because great players, players we should be seeing every single week, sit on benches and play as a subs once in a while Madrid now has Ronaldo, Bale, Isco, Alonso, Kheidera, Kroos, Rodriguez, Modric, and Di Maria for 5 positions. That is a complete and utter waste of talent. The rich just keep getting richer and football suffers.

Hard to know but I don't think that's likely If he makes the most of his chances early, I can see him being a fairly regular player. When Mourinho takes a shine to you, he will play you and we don't really have someone who is as natural on the right side as Salah is. On the other hand, Willian, Schurrle, and Ramires will all play on the right and all of them have to play. I don't see 25-30 games as likely, because I think he's behind Hazard, Oscar, Willian, Schurrle, and Ramires/Fabergas at attacking midfield and the 6th attacking midfielder isn't going to play much. Also, Mourinho does like to use a second striker as a sub when the team is behind which means fewer appearances for midfielders.

Mata still led the team in through balls. It was a system thing, that's it. Barcelona played five through balls a game last year. Chelsea played one. Mata is extremely capable of playing through balls as we've all seen.

Liverpool would have had a hard time repeating their performance even if they kept Suarez. They had a lot of luck and got had no runs in other competitions. Without him, they are going to have massive problems. They have bought some good players but elite players are hard to find and almost impossible to replace. I can see them finishing behind a resurgent United. Arsenal's moves have been a lot better and unlike Liverpool, they were quite unlucky last season. They have a lot of depth on their squad and a ton of talented players. They are the only team outside of us and City I can see winning this year.

It was our biggest issue for sure. Mata didn't fit Mourinho's system but you can't counter-attack against everyone and sometimes you need to break down teams. Too many times, it was down to Hazard to create something magical for us to score. Fabergas will hopefully give us some of that creativity Mata did from a deeper position.

I wouldn't have Torres start at all unless there is an injury. Costa is our #1 and Lukaku should get all starts he doesn't get. Torres has been a poor (in terms of performance only) player for years now and having a good game against Schalke the CL doesn't make him a European specialist,

I'm good with this if Drogba is being brought back to mentor and lead. With Lampard and Cole leaving, it's not a bad idea to have someone who other players can look up to and he could help Lukaku a lot. If he's brought back to play, it's a bad move. His excellent play in the Cups, disguised what was some pretty poor play from Drogba his last couple of years at Chelsea. 16 goals in 50 games is not good. He's 36 years old and hasn't really been an impact player in about 5, 6 years. I can see him as a sub in a game where we want a striker who can defend late or we need someone who is an aerial threat, but I don't think he should even make the bench most games.

Yet despite spending about 60M more pounds, being able to mold a team in his own image, not starting in mid-season Mourinho who is a top manager, didn't accomplish any more than Rafa did. We finished third and trophyless and at the end of the season actually looked worse than we did at the end of the last season. Avram Grant had more success in the CL than Mourinho ever had with us. RDM won the CL. Managers don't matter much and certainly not a fraction of the way the media and fans treat them. Long-term successful managers are managers that are on high spending clubs. Managers do matter in a couple of ways 1) Controlling egos. Big name managers can handle players' egos with their own. That is important. 2)There are managers whose games suite different styles of play and may be a better fit at different clubs. 3) Managers can make a little difference and at the top level that little difference could be between winning and losing. People always blame managers for losing and give managers credit for winning but they relatively little impact, about, I would say, the impact of a squad player. It goes against everything people learn about football but football is in the dark ages still where people think teams win because of heart and will and so on. Teams win mostly because of money.

I agree. We have more than enough players. I think we bought too many similar players (would have loved a Jesus Navas-like player to actually stretch the field) which is a problem but the talent and depth is already there.

People have to stop blaming managers for everything. The team lost 7-1 at home. No team, with any formation should ever lose like that. People are complaining that Willian didn't start or why Fed plays or other changes. It would have made no difference. Brazil was destroyed. You think Scolari said "Hey Luiz, go walk around central midfield and don't mark your man?". "Hey Fernandinho, give the ball away to the opposition every chance you get?" Managers ultimately make very little difference overall. If a team loses 1-0, you can point to some tactical mistake or sub that seemed strange (which people still do too often) but at 7-1? It's 99% the players fault. They were, to a man, atrocious and they have to take responsibility for that.

He won't be the scapegoat, you can't give up 7 goals and scapegoat the #10 but he played most of this World Cup like he played the second half for Chelsea. Running around, pressing. It's all useful defensively, but as we saw last season, you need some creativity from the #10 or you won't break teams down. It's possible that this is what Oscar just is and that's still a good player but we had all hoped (and still hope) for more.

You don't think Pogba has the potential of Fellaini or Hulk? Pogba is probably a better player than either already and he's much younger. Pogba is being massively overrated for where he is right now, but he has tremendous ability and potential.

It's funny to me that people are more excited about a possible Pogba signing than the actual signing of an immense player. This is a player who can play multiple positions, was on the UEFA team of the year TWICE has won everything and is still only 27.

Pogba is most like Hulk. Sort of unknown quantity who people love way more than they should right now. (He has more upside than Hulk long-term though). I remember people saying we should bid 50M on Hulk. Similar to Fellaini. People thought 30M was a bargain! People get certain players into their heads and build them into players they are not.

Enough with Pogba already. He had one good season. We have 3 very capable central midfielders. He costs way too much money. Why are people so obsessed with youth?

We have spent about 50M on central midfielders in the last 6 months. We have Matic, Fabergas, and Ramires who will all play regularly and Mikel, and Van Ginkel who are also capable of playing significant minutes for 2 spots. We're not buying another central midfielder unless we are going to sell Ramires which seems very unlikely.

1 goal every 10.5 games and 1 goal every 11 shots games for an attacking midfielder is flat out bad but he's never been a scorer. He scored only 20 goals in 140 games in Russia. He is not a good finisher.

Willian does not have a decent finish. He had 4 goals in 42 games with us despite playing the #10 in most games. Hulk was overrated by many on here (who wanted to pay 50M pounds for him) but he can score. The way the team is setup, it is definitely understandable to go with someone who can score (and cut in from the wing) than it does a work-rate guy.

Not really because if we move into the 4-3-3, we can add Oscar and even Willian to the central group which would give us 4 or 5 regular starters for 3 positions and Van Ginkel as the 5th or 6th player and Mikel as the 6th or 7th. I doubt Chelsea see Fabergs as the #10 if we keep the pivot because we have Oscar, Willian, Hazard, Schurle, Salah, and Moses as attacking midfielders already. Anyway, if Mourinho didn't want Mata in the #10, not sure why he'd want Fabergas.

have Matic, Fabergas, Ramires, Van Ginkel, and Mikel right now as central midfielders. Matic and Fabergas will play almost every game and Ramires will play a lot. Even if we sell Mikel, we really don`t need another central midfielder (5 players for 2 positions is too much). Besides, what would be the point of selling Mikel to buy Song? Mikel makes more sense for us as he can come in and cover for Fabergas late in games as a defensive specialist.

Central defenders were a joke but they are more established and Spain have fewer options there. Casillas should never have been starting anyway. De Gea is a much better keeper than he is right now and has been for a couple of years.

Had an awful game as did all of the Spanish defenders. In normal circumstances, one bad game wouldn't matter, but in the World Cup, he could be benched because of it.

Not sure if he fits our system perfectly, but he is an absolutely fantastic player. He was one of the best players in the world for years with Arsenal but never quite fit in with Barcelona. He's versatile and extremely talented and for less than we paid for Willian, it is a brilliant signing.

Win the league. The CL is a bit of a crapshoot so it's hard to say. (Is losing say, in the quarter-finals to Bayern a worse season than losing in the semis to a team we should beat?) but at least QFs. Domestic Cups? You expect at least a QF in both but I don't care nearly as much. (If it were me, I'd play mostly young players and subs in the League Cup). League is key to the season. We've spent way more than anyone except City in the last while and we've finished 3rd, 3rd, and 6th in the last 3 seasons. Enough already!!!