Magic Lamps

Omg that Cahill overhead was heading right into the bottom corner. Would have been an epic goal. Shame

Huth take off now we should bring on bats and finish them .

Alonso and Matic have been quality today. A few misplaced passes but great interceptions and driving runs from those two usual scapegoats

Willian has turned in a Torresesque Performance today. Turnovers galore. Honestly, bats can't do any worse.

I don't know !Ich about the Costa situation yet and it is too early to judge. Sure the fact Moving is not getting chances in important matches but I can somehow see that even as false 9 Pedro/Willian are currently more suited, in form and familiar with the tactics. However this is the exact situation you win or lose titles in. The odds are against us the squad might be in disarray everyone wants us to fail and the signs are threatening. This is where the team has to stand and deliver no matter what. This is the type of game you want to face an want to win if you are a true champion. So come on guys shown the world what you are mad of!

First of all thank you, this is the kind of quality posts I am here for. However, there were plenty of people hinting at flaws in Kante's game during the winning run, e.g. Gilvorak did so in the Stoke and Bournemouth threads, Mr Excalibur in the Crystal palace thread,positive football did point out Kante's erratic pasing in the ManCity thread, so there is plenty of evidence that this is not a knee jerk reaction. Before we even purchased him I was one of his biggest advocats in the transfer threat but pointed out as early as then when he still was a Leicester player that his passing is horrible at times. I gladly agree with you that Kante is amazing player, a great purchase and I hope he will still be here right at the centre of that midfield for a couple of years. Still, his passing needs some drastic improvement. If you think I wanted to demand his immediate replacement or that he is not good enough for the moment you misunderstood me. Maybe I should have expressed that in a more diplomatic manner, but I maintain my opinion that he has some drastic flaws in his passing that need to be worked on otherwise they will jeopardize his long term future at the club without questioning that he is a great player and I am happy to have him.

Very funny, mate. But the news is if you like my opinion or not, I will state it wherever and whenever I want here is nothing you can do to make me shut up. Don't bother to respond, since you are one of the most superficial, petty and plastic guys on here, you are welcome to my ignore list.

Because some borderline fascist people on here obviously can't deal with a differentiated non-mainstream opinion I will clarify one last time. I said Kante needs a long term replacement as opposed to an immediate replacement. Whilst I stated that his level of technical skill is not on par with the ambitions of this club, his other redeeming attributes make him helpful for now but won't do so once his physical strengths fade. I don't think this is in any way an outrageous opinion given his displays in the big games were erratic at times and indifferent at best. But the problem is not even my opinion which I stated in a moderate, deliberate way, open for discussion. The problem is people dismissing it without any reasoning, slagging it with bullshit comparisons, berating others as retard. People who obviously lack any kind of concept of a decent, civilised debate culture. The localism, the inability of such posters to think outside their tiny boxes when confronted with a deviating opinion is the real issue here.

Me 2 which is crazy as all three are 31 years old. The same age all-time great finishers like Drogba, Klinsmann, Fowler, Lamps, Toni and many more had their highest scoring years...

That was some bizarre display of both brilliantly clinical as well as atrociously wasteful finishing. Great game other than that we were smooth af. Should have rested Pedro or Willian tho.

Do you really think Conte is gonna replace Cahill with Ake? Never gonna happen. Conte clearly values Cahill more than our supporters do. Moreover the goals we conceded show how suicidal it would be to have CBS as tiny as him and azpi.

Not buying a CB is a gamble that might cost us the title. Azpi is not a CB and Cahill is not good enough. It and iva can not be trusted in a 343. A reliable CB like manolas would help massively in whatever capacity. Let's hope it is just a mind game or stuff but Conte must have an ace up his sleeve ifmhe really passes on to the opportunity to sign some one here

I think you are confusing him with Ake who is indeed just 5'11 which will probably mean that we won't become a CB here. I guess Andreas is already lifting. He looks exactly like I did with like 18 or 19 years. Overtrained and undernourished. At that age, with that amount of physical activity and body type you might need 6000+ clean calories per day to even get near a surplus which is required to build muscle. Sticking to such a diet plan requires extreme discipline and stomach volume most people that age still do not have which is the major reason most natural young lifters fail.

I like that backline too and I also like the idea of Dave as a wing back. He is an excellent crosser, rapid and would completely shut out any danger once it passes the halfway line. But Andreas is 6'2" and still growing. In England that is kinda tall. 10 lbs more muscle however and he would still be a skinny bastard :D, so that picture made me chuckle a bit. H Great to hear that we will have Kurt in contes plans. Really missed him.

Didn't Conte himself state that bats will not go on loan? As for Llorente he used to be a great player like 5 years ago. Not sure he still got it

Nope. The cracks have been there all the time with people on this forum pointing them out continuously. Just visit the Alonso, Cahill, Matic and match threads. Off this is criticising on a high level but it is still allowed. Also 1) 433 is hardly a new system. But we might ponder changing the formation to add some tactical flexibility. No one suggested we have to adapt to something completely different. 2) no idea who said that. Sure he will fail at some point. Might be this season or in 5 years. But who knows... 3) Azpi is no CB and people here insisted that since the very beginning of 343. He also is no lb and no wing back. But he is too good to leave him out. 4) I thought that was irony by whoever posted that.clearly we have shown progress esp in games against minor opposition. Though I expected more from us today and I guess I am not the only one. Finally ofc we should be top 4. We got the 3rd best squad in the league, 4 absolute world class players and loads of decent ones. We got the 3rd highest budget and world class facilities, a huge brand etc. We should be top 4 consistently without doing an Arsenal and celebrating top four like a trophy. That is the bare minimum you should expect from us no matter what kind of toxic atmosphere killed us last season.

The thing is his passing has always been shit. When he is able to get the ball forward by dribbling that doesn't matter but when he gets pressed by a stronger player before he can accelerate he will get dispossed every time. Spurs, arsenal, city and lpool all did that. His energy and tenacity will still be helpful. Of course he needs a long term replacement. In 3_4 years he will be done because he relies heavily on his physical attributes. For the league he is fine but can you imagine a team winning the CL with a midfielder that limited? I can only remember one team to do so and that required shitloads of luck...

IMO it is pretty clear that we can not continue with this formation and/or personnel. This is no overreaction, the cracks have been showing since the first spurs game and ee have not found a solution for that in the big games. We do not need that many major changes right now but a bit of tweaking would help. Moses and Alonso are clearly defensively overwhelmed in the big games, azpi is too short and matic tends to become a passenger in big games even though he made some vital interceptions today. Maybe we should try something like this in the big games mid term Zouma. David Luiz. Cahill/new CB Azpi. Kante. New Cm. Pedro/Moses/new lwb Willian/Moses/new Rw. Hazard Diego Costa However it would require fewer signings if we just change formation back to 4 3 3, add fabregas and simply buy a better left back finally. Esp at Liverpool I fear getting outnumbered in midfield as soon as their full backs push forward

He always has been a horrible passer but yesterday he could not complete the most basic ones. Dembele and wanyama completely outmuscled him and matic. I know we all love him here but short term he needs a rest and long term a replacement with better technique ( same for matic)

Bring on batshuayi Willian and fabregas. Thank fuck it's transfer window . Kante Alonso and Moses have beenn punching well above their weight for months now. Nee some serious reinforcements for these positions to keep playing the system

Getting beaten by a top side is fair, can happen. But this spuds side is bang on average, they have just been using their scarce chances because of our sleeping backline.

Holy crap his can we allow the Sam combination twice? Just attack Eriksen ffs

Fun fact: ac features on the top speed ranking of the buli of the 20 players with highest recorded sprint speed. https://www.google.de/url?sa=t&source=web&rct=j&url=http://www.spox.com/de/sport/diashows/1701/fussball/bundesliga/topfacts-hinrunde/schnellste-spieler/bellarabi-heller-aubameyang.html&ved=0ahUKEwiR-OXK9qfRAhUDXRQKHQdvCzUQFggaMAA&usg=AFQjCNE6MJoP3X2NkygGI87aIpVUWhcmjQ&sig2=Rzf1-FlbhLr2kgEjm-ANYA

13 years ago I was at whl for this very fixture. It was my first ever time to visit a football match and the day I became a Chelsea fan. Since then I have seldom been so anxious for us to win a game as I am today.

Holy crap after 4 games without a defensive mistake, we make one every time they enter the box. At least Willian is on fire