Reddish-Blue

It feels like the biggest move of the window would be Benzema joining the PL from Saudi league. I don't see many clubs splashing the cash in the January window as it's usually squad depth or a different option due to injuries.

It's a shame he didn't get to play much for Chelsea, definitely the best finisher we had in the academy in the past few years.

Agree with not going after him for that sort of price tag but comparing him to Belotti is a bit harsh. The difference is, Osimhen actually has the talent to play for top clubs in Europe.

Think Udogie was brought in by Conte before he parted ways with Spurs Porro was quality for Sporting, sort of surprised other clubs didn't go in for him as a RWB.

Were they in a position to win anything? Seemed like they were quite happy getting that 4th place most seasons which helped get them a bit of UCL revenue over the years. The difference between those Arsenal sides and this current Chelsea side is that they didn't spend 200 million on two midfielders "hoping" that they come good in the next 5 years. If we follow that sort of path, Enzo will be at Barcelona/Real or some other top side in the next few years just like Fabregas had to move on from Arsenal to actually raise his game and win titles. Projects are fine and it's all good to go and buy 50 wonderkids in the same transfer window but if there is no structure or good manager in place, then what's the point?

I do question what Poch has actually changed compared to say Potter or Lampard as results wise we're still a mid-table club....and we still play like a mid table club. There is ZERO fear factor with the current set of players and teams know that we'll likely buckle under the pressure or give up if they get that 1-0 lead against us. The most concerning part is that he doesn't seem to know how to get the best out of Enzo & Caicedo in midfield.

Wouldn't be surprising considering Caicedo had better tactical instructions at Brighton, Enzo was used far better at Benfica and I doubt Colwill expected to be playing LB this season.

Bit surprising that there's been no investigation into the number of injuries at the club...and why they keep occurring. Shame that our attack went back into their shell as soon as Nkunku got injured, felt like Palmer, Mudryk and him were starting to form some chemistry.

Exactly....and then you add on the fact that both Liverpool and City were keen on getting him in the previous transfer window. Hopefully for his sake Chilwell/Cucurella get fit and he can focus on being a good CB and learning from Silva as much as possible.

I doubt that would be the signal for Poch to go. This will be dragged out similar to previous managers to the point where the players will give up again and then the owners will be "forced" to make the call.

I think there would have been managers out there good enough to get something out of this squad of players You don't think Conte/Mourinho would have been a good fit for the amount of money that was being thrown around by the Clearlake/Boehly group? At the very least, they could have taught these youngsters a thing or two about working hard and keeping them in shape. Feels like they chose Poch because he caved into their demands Also Poch needs to stop playing defenders out of position, if a player is a CB, play them in that role, stop asking them to play LB or RB, it never works out well.

I just think it was pretty poor squad planning to let 200+ games of experience walk out the door for minimal transfer fees and then put 200+ million into 2 talented but very young midfielders without any experience around them. I feel bad for both Caicedo and Enzo as they'll never live up to the price tags that were paid for them. When you spend 100+ million on a mid, you're expecting goals or assists or something special every single game (like a Hazard or Bellingham or even at a stretch a motivated Pogba).

Probably because they got players to fit roles within Klopp's system rather than buying every midfielder and hoping they work together in Poch's system. I mentioned it before the season started, the lack of squad planning under Chelsea's new owners is pathetic. Why did we need to sign Caicedo, Lavia and Ugo in the same window? Surely some of that money could have been used to get a different profile of player for our attack...

3 of those "10" players will continue to get injured every few games (Reece, Chilwell, Fofana).

I agree with your points but enquiring about a washed up Lacazette would be no different to the situation we had with Aubameyang. There's a reason why Arsenal were more than happy to offload them (Aubameyang being a bad influence on the younger players and Lacazette couldn't even get to 5 goals in the 21/22 PL season). There should be decent experienced strikers available within the Premier League.

I recall Gallagher being open to a move in the previous transfer window? From memory, he was keen on the potential West Ham deal. As I mentioned about 2 seasons ago, Gallagher is best fit for that squad midfield role where he might not be a guaranteed starter every single game but he'll still rack up 30+ appearances a season simply because he's a physical beast and he doesn't seem to have injury issues like our other midfielders. Happy to see him do well under Poch but it will be interesting to see what midfield is picked once everyone is fit (as I don't see Lavia/Carney/Gallagher fitting in the same lineup).

Unfortunately, feel like Gallagher being sold is only a matter of time to help balance the FFP books. Would be between him/Chalobah/Broja for getting pure profit on the books.

His previous club must be laughing all the way to the bank... probably the same with Madueke & PSV.

Seems a bit short signed from the club if that's the case? Similar to when we had Rudiger/Christensen/Tomori/Guehi developing on loan....and then we somehow lost all of them.

I'd be surprised if he gets anything more than 10-15 minutes. The sad part is, Sheffield have been playing decent of recent times and if they do somehow get a 1-0 lead against us, we would struggle to turn that around at the moment...

I highly doubt we'd be able to get Osimhen to Chelsea without European football. He's not going to come here and play for a rubbish side that will very likely finish 10th or worse in the league this season.

I don't know what style of football United are playing under EtH but the fact that Bournemouth can rock up at Old Trafford, put on decent pressure and actually attack them....and beat them quite convincingly says alot about our players under Poch right now. I don't mind the odd losses if the players are putting the effort in and scoring goals and have the right attitude on the pitch but we've looked 2nd best to a large number of PL teams this season (other than against Liverpool, City, Arsenal) and that's a massive concern moving forward. I'd be very surprised if Poch survives at the end of the season as right now he looks no better than Potter or Lampard considering the amount of money invested into the club.

I haven't seen this high pressing style on a consistent basis at Chelsea. Seems like the players are more content with keeping the ball than trying to create that moment of magic which could lead to a goal. Not sure if that is down to players not really understanding his instructions or whether they are just too young and need that senior midfielder (let's say for examples sake Fabregas/Jorginho/Lampard) to calm them down and coach them on the field. Like if you see Arsenal getting Declan Rice, he's got multiple seasons of PL football under his belt and he can read the situation very well. That was my one concern with going all out for both Caicedo & Lavia, you bring in two players who are green and they're somehow supposed to be starting XI midfielders. The people in charge definitely missed a trick by not going for that 25-28 year old midfielder to help out Enzo and the other young mids at the club. Losing the experience of Jorginho/Kante/Kovacic in consecutive windows was always going to hurt....but I didn't realise that we would go from hovering around top 6 to being uncompetitive in games and dragging ourselves to 10th place.

I feel like we have plenty of athletes in the squad that can probably run like crazy in a straight line but they don't have the ability or know-how in terms of breaking down an opposition who will sit a bit deeper against us and soak up the pressure. People on here were happy to see Werner sold as he didn't fit the tactics or whatever else but I feel we replaced him with the same player in Mudryk/Madueke. What we've sorely lacked for a number of seasons is that Hazard type attacker who can take the game on and create something out of nothing and lift the attacking momentum....and it's not easy to find that type of player in the market.

It's not only that, the top teams know they have a solid attack (that will produce multiple goals if needed) which means their managers can take a calculated risk and allow us to have a go in the final third. I agree that we need to give more of the ball to the opposition but I don't think we have enough technical thinkers in our attack to play that style of football effectively. Based on the players signed in the most recent windows, it seems to be all about counter attacking football. That's what I saw of Mudryk at Shaktar, Madueke at PSV, Sterling at Liverpool/City more known for his dribbling and ball carrying at pace, Jackson at his Spanish club...Palmer is the only one that came from the City system and even he was still making that breakthrough into the first team XI.