kellzfresh

Moses has to start. He can dribble past a defender, we cannot have only one player out of 11 that knows how to get past his marker so Moses has to start. Costa has terrible ball control and he prefers balls in behind the defence rather than ball to feet so a strike partner can make him play better. Enter batshuayi, very technical, good in the air, good with both feet, if we're serious about attacking, he should be starting as well. What has happened to Matic? Ivanovic has always been terrible but Matic my word..... He's so clumsy on the ball, no right leg, no ball control, awful when asked to attack. You could see the difference between him and kante when kante was allowed to get forward. Matic should be the one sitting back, he has no ball control in tight spaces.

This defenders lol. When Conte realizes the poor quality of our team both ttechnically and defensively, he'll convert to his tried and trusted 3-5-2

I don't understand why our defenders don't know how to head a ball to their own player. Everytime they head it into throw-in or to the opponent, annoying really.

That's rare, I don't think I ever remember Willian getting injured

Unless Willian is injured, I had a feeling Conte wasn't happy with Willian refusing to take on his fullback in one on one situations, being too careful like a central midfielder. But sadly pedro isn't any better, he'll only make runs in behind. He should have tried Moses

Me too. Especially against smaller teams. Moses is more suited to play the wings in Conte's system because he is direct, daring and always likes to take on his fullback one on one. Willian is more reserved, relaxed, doesn't like to take on his marker but because of his good ball control and fantastic ability to hold the ball under pressure he'll be more suited in the role that Matic played beside Oscar when we were attacking. I feel we need another daring dribbler like hazard on the other wing and Willian might not have a good offensive season with Conte if he keeps refusing to use his speed and take on defenders.

I watched only the second half but I loved how we spread out on the pitch when we had the ball, it even looked like the Bridge had a very large pitch. Westham had no sniff till the ghost freekick which led to the goal. Ladies and gentlemen we have a coach who instills a pattern of play that is visible on the pitch

Loved the last minute winner.... I wouldn't have had it any other way against the Westham pipes

Mane and Chamberlain have done what no winger in Chelsea except hazard can do: face your defender beat him with a dribble and score. No Chelsea winger except hazard can do this. Just petty leg overs and no dribble. Arsenal defenders

Finally that's an offer with a statement of intent. If this is true, I now have confidence that we could get Koulibaly

I'm not complaining about his passing like that, what bugs me is with all his speed and technique, he finds it hard to beat his man easily. And he has anelka moments where he slows down the speed of our game and passes back to ivanovic. I think we should try him in a 3 man midfield, instead of being on the wing, at least his ability to protect the ball under pressure will help us in possession. Because wingers should be more daring and attempt to dribble past his marker or be able to put in good crosses and for all willian's speed and technique he does none of the above. Maybe if he was on the left wing he'll be able to cut in and shoot with his right more. But he's the least of our problems for now. When we fix our defense, we can look into this matter.

Remember when we signed costa and fabregas and even if we were conceding goals, we were attacking with a high line, scoring for fun and winning with good football. Then suddenly costa had some injury/suspension/form issues and the goals dried up. We started drawing games, losing some (5-3 to tottenham), the goals we were conceding became costly and mancity eventually caught up with us. Mourinho then tailored our tactics to accommodate for the loss of form for our attackers since the defence could not do without conceding. They needed protection, they needed the bus back so we gave it to the defence and lost our attacking play till this day. This season the defenders are slower, older, and still can't mark one on one's or play a high line without getting burned(since AVB). Everyone in the EPL has money to buy attacking players, so we will face more dangerous attacking teams than before and we will concede. If our goals scored cannot makeup for the goals conceded at the back, Conte will tailor our tactics to accommodate the flaw at the back. He said it himself, he tailors his tactics to how it best suits the team so I wouldn't be surprised to see any high pressing goalscoring tactics we have practiced this pre-season scrapped for a defensive 3-5-2 to accommodate the defence. Hopefully we get a fast, ballplaying defender good in one on one situations so that Conte won't have to tailor his attacking tactics to cope with the slowest back four among top teams in Europe.

Ok so their leftback is injured and they'll pull an ivanovic to accommodate having five center-backs, I understand. I don't know how long the leftback will be out for that will require adding two new centerbacks. If they line up like this Jesus-Manolas-Vermalen-RB Fazio and Gyomber will be on the bench. Then Rudiger will be back in January on the bench too. I haven't seen their fullback options, but If they really don't have any other leftback then the situation of having six center-backs is not as bad as I first thought. But it'll still happen when Rudiger comes back in January.

We're scoring goals with his system, but what about the defence? Will this slow back four allow him to play the high line we saw in the first 20mins ?? Will they force him to make hazard defend and cover for their inability to defend one on one for themselves?? Very annoying the potential we could achieve but are held back

Our defenders don't know what to do in one on one situations except to back off. They want us to park the bus for them to shine. Matic is having an in between game. Willian is a mystery to me. I thought he's one of the fastest players in our team, he doesn't know how to use his speed to create chances or beat his man. We thought it was Mourinho restricting him but I'm beginning to think this is how he is normally. Hazard is now shooting more, I cried out for this so much Costa and Oscar are up for it... Kantelele beast on the pitch so far....

How have we survived with the slowest back four in football history.... Not one player can defend on his own one on one against an opponent. Damn it, it's frustrating me...... Breathe......Breathe.......

Maybe they will try to sell paredes instead. But I hope we make them lose Manolas instead. @FCBarcelona With the Club's permission, Thomas Vermaelen has travelled to Rome to undergo a medical with AS Roma #FCBLive 11:20 AM - 7 Aug 2016 If they get Vermaelen, they would have six center-backs (Manolas, Rüdiger, Juan Jesus, Fazio, Gyömber & Vermaelen) in the squad.

If they go out of champions League against Porto, they won't get the 30mil they expected to balance the books too. Something has to give, if we offer them something after they are knocked out, they could take it.

It's like we're not really serious about it at this point. We badly need a centerback who is good at defending in one on one situations. So far only Azpi and pre-injury zouma as defenders can defend in one on one situations in a whole Chelsea FC. It's a catastrophe, we need to prioritize a defender at all cost, and if Koulibaly is delaying and arsenal is competing for mustafi the chances of getting an instant improvement on someone comfortable on the ball with one on one defending is low. Hopefully we're trying behind the scenes because this defense will pull the whole team down if it's not addressed.

When he was with us I thought he criticized city for buying Bony, saying some teams respect the Ffp while others don't?? http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/football/teams/chelsea/11350844/Jose-Mourinho-FFP-rules-are-different-for-Manchester-City-than-Chelsea.html

Ruben will be a huge potential in the future. I can trade Oscar for him without blinking. But I'm not sure our board will get a centerback if they get another player in another position. So I hope our next signing is a centerback who is good at defending in one on one situations. So far only Azpi and pre-injury zouma as defenders can defend in one on one situations in a whole Chelsea FC. It's a catastrophe, we need to prioritize a defender at all cost, and if Koulibaly is delaying and arsenal is competing for mustafi the chances of getting an instant improvement on someone comfortable on the ball with one on one tackling is looking slim

Roma just drew against Porto to qualify for the Champions League. I'm rooting for them to lose, so that they don't get champions League money. Then we could bid for Manolas since they'll be short on cash. Or I'm I just too cruel?

I just wonder why our board can't prioritize technically gifted players who are mobile. So damn annoying, all the top teams in the world get technical footballers in every position, I mean look at marcelo against us the other day. The greatest football teams nationally and club (Barcelona 09-12, Brazil 94-02, Spain 08-12) had the most technically gifted teams ever but we seem to think differently for some reason. Technique mixed with mobility should be the way we should go.

The RLC experiment so far