Hybrid Angel

My god, can't imagine the horror of watching a pre-season game at 4:30 AM. The last time I had to do it was against Red Bulls in our friendly last year (I was on vacation in Asia), we got a shite result and I was dead for the rest of the day. Thank fuck I'm back in Canada now.

Christ almighty, 15 pages and we haven't even been linked with him by one remotely reliable outlet? I don't wanna imagine what happens if someone decently reliable links us with him.

Lets not kid ourselves here, Ivanovic then was nowhere near as bad as he is now. Cahill you could argue is still the same, but Terry has regressed massively since our title-winning campaign. Not to mention that in the second half of the season Jose very often set up the team very deeply which really suited Cahill and Terry. I don't think they will get the same privileges in Conte's high pressing system.

I hope a top/very good center-back joins us. If we don't sign any CB and Conte somehow manages to win the league with this shambolic defence, he deserves a statue right beside Ossie.

Bang average player and very overrated imo. If we want a young Portuguese center-mid we should seriously look at Ruben Neves. He reminds me of a certain Luka Modric in the way he protects the ball so well and dictates the play from deep areas of the pitch.

I'm being serious, could we start a petition to give @Peace. a job at Chelsea as some sort of a footballing advisor or something? Your posts are top-notch bro.

Do you believe he would leave his starting position in the best team in the world to play with Ivanovic?

We don't need a #10 when we're not gonna play with one. What we still need is someone to pair up with Kante in the middle. Nobody in our team fits the profile.

I literally don't have a clue where he will fit into Conte's plans this coming season.

I like to think Conte body-slammed him at half-time.

Just watching this interview and wow, this guy is starting to become more and more a huge leader in the squad. That last line, "I want us to win lots of titles this year. We can do it and we have to do it." just oozes charisma and leadership. Without a doubt, imo he should be our future captain. From one Frenchman to an Englishman, and hopefully soon from an Englishman back again to a Frenchman!

I would much rather overpay for Morata than overpay for Romelu. Trust me, this guy doesn't have what it takes to cut it at a top club. His first touch and horrendous link up play are his biggest limitations and the reason a midtable club is his ceiling.

Willian is an absolute madman. You wouldn't believe this was a this was a pre-season game if you were only focusing on him

Disgrace of a bid. Shouldn't go for anything less than what Stones goes for.

Clips dont do it justice imo, this guy can really become a big player, and he's already really good. He has outstanding technical qualities and is an absolute workhorse at the same time. He's only 23. Sign him up.

I like this. Him and Kante in a 4-2-4 would be perfect.

Verratti would cost more than Pogba, I'm sure of it. In fact I don't think PSG will sell the best young midfielder in the world at all.

I'm aware that he has more than decent technique, he was brilliant at Leicester because they get all the space in the world in counter attacks. Kante is a box to box player in a sense that he can run from box to box. He is not very skilled at getting the ball forward. Good at running in a 3 v 3 situation where he can make open passes, but against teams that sit deep? No, he doesn't have the vision and technical ability for that. Therefore, he is not really a box to box midfielder. Matic and Kante is way too defensive. Nainggolan/Gomes/Mario would provide power in the middle and also creativity going forward as they're all more than capable of creating chances.

That Kante-Matic pivot gives me nightmares. How are we gonna transition between defence and attack with those two in the middle? And imo Willian is not a #10, he is a pure dribbler. A quote from Roberto Mancini's thesis on this position: "The magic of the number 10 comes from the trequartista's feet, the player of inventiveness, the one who is capable of wrong-footing “everyone with a piece of skill perhaps he is not even fully aware of.” Besides, I really doubt we're gonna use the 4-2-3-1. If I'm not mistaken Conte has played two up top wherever he has gone. Yesterday it looked obvious that we were playing a 4-4-2 formation. If we sign Mahrez, that is one massive if, and plan to use the 4-4-2/4-2-4, I would want to see someone like Nainggolan or Gomes to be signed to pair up with N'Golo in midfield because as of now nobody in our team other than him can play there.

About having him in the starting XI: 1- Are we operating under the assumption that Matic has improved from his last season form? From what I saw, every player but him and Oscar made some sort of improvement towards the end of the season. 2- Conte said that he will play with two midfielers. Having Matc and Kante would cripple us offensively more because Matic is shocking going forwards. I don't know anyone other than Kante in the team who can play as a midfielder in a 4-4-2. Nainggolan/Gomes/Joao Mario is a must.

I would gladly take him but only if it didn't prevent Koulibaly from coming in.

His situation is nothing like Evra's. Evra is still decently fast and not so long ago played in the Champions League final. Besides, I don't think Evra was ever as big of a disaster as Ivanovic in the prem. We should have sold him after Mourinho's first season. Salah roasting him should have made it clear.

Hello darkness my old friend, I'm back to see Ivanovic again.

With Conte coming in and his love for fitness I hope he drastically improves RLC in this aspect of his game. Ruben is a box to box midfielder, he's wasted as a CDM or #10. I think he has the potential to become a top b2b mid, but as anything else he would be bang average.

"Les Londoniens seraient même parvenus à un accord"