Reddish-Blue

Was a good player on his day, under-rated midfielder, did the simple things well.

Maybe that's why he didn't join Burnley on deadline day, probably had better offers on the table.

To be fair, they've made some good young signings in recent times. Udogie, Sarr, that Argentinian young striker, Vuskovic...

Still makes no sense as to why we needed Caicedo/Lavia/Ugo in the same window....not to mention Santos being wasted at Forest. Lack of planning from the club, seems like someone is playing FM and hoarding all the wonderkids and hoping a few of them come good.

That's the reason why he wanted the Arsenal transfer as he wanted to play alongside Zinchenko (his friend and buddy on the left flank). It's a shame but I just don't see where the improvement is going to come from. Feels like another Kepa situation where you hope the player comes good eventually.

Why use Salah as an example? He had to go to Serie A for 2 seasons, prove himself as a goalscorer before eventually being bought by Liverpool. It's not like Salah left Chelsea and immediately joined Liverpool, he actually had to go to another league to develop his game, same can be said about KDB, he went to the Bundesliga to develop his game.

Unfortunately, time has never been given to any Chelsea manager....especially when they can't get wins on the board. I doubt it's going to be any different for Poch. We saw what the American ownership did with Potter and if Poch can't get a tune out of this group, it's hard to say if he will still be manager next season. I actually like the rebuild that was undertaken (for the most part)....not sure why we needed 3 midfielders who essentially play the same role (on paper) but other than that, pretty happy with the youngsters we've got.

During his time at City, absolutely. If his numbers were that good at Chelsea, we wouldn't have struggled that badly last season. You can't honestly be comparing a 25+ goal a season striker with Jackson? And that is the problem. Jackson barely had 1 season of top flight football under his belt and now he's expected to lead the front line and score goals on a regular basis for a club that should be fighting for a top 4 place in the PL. In 2 seasons time, Jackson may become the striker we are all hoping for....but we needed someone to ease the pressure right now and that's not Jackson.

Who are you expecting to attract to the club? Funny thing is, we probably needed that Forest striker more than Jackson right now....i.e. someone that can come in and be that physical presence up front. We signed a project striker for our 'rebuild'.....when all of our traditional rivals for the top 6 have top class players up front. Haaland - Alvarez/Foden, Bruno - Rashford, Salah/Jota/Nunez, Jesus/Saka/Martinelli, Son.

We've played 4 games and I would say three very good players haven't even seen a minute of football yet (Nkunku, Badiashile, Lavia). If things don't improve from here, then that's on Pochettino as much as the playing group. He kept talking about winning during pre-season and now he's playing Colwill as a LB and Chilwell as a winger? Poch will face the same scrutiny as Lamps and Potter in a few months time if we keep seeing performances like Forest at home. You're at home in front of your own fans, where's the energy, where's the attacking lineup to put them under pressure? Instead you play Gallagher as a CM/DM and Chilwell as a winger.

I don't think Poch will have that much time on his hands. Considering our upcoming fixtures in October, November, December, he's gotta figure out the tactical setup as quick as possible....otherwise, it'll turn into Potter v2 and things will start to spiral in a bad way. I just hope we didn't add Poch as manager because he's another yes man who will 'accept' all these new signings....rather than going after someone like Enrique who wouldn't be happy with so many young players in the squad.

Such a stupid formation, Forest must have been delighted to show up at Stamford Bridge and see Poch using a LB as a pure winger and also see a CB being asked to play LB, fits into their counter attacking style perfectly.

If everything was about "talent", then some of our previous squads under Mourinho, Conte and others wouldn't have won league titles. You mention Costa and Willian and they ended up being two very solid signings. Compare that to Mudryk/Madueke and some of these other signings and I still don't know why we bought them. Costa wasn't a project that we had to develop, he came ready and showed everyone what he could do, scored 20 goals in his first season of PL football. I agree that it isn't more talented but in saying that, we had far more experience where it mattered in that 2021 CL final. Jorginho, Kante, Rudiger, Christensen off the bench, Alonso on the bench. Compare that CL lineup and look at our current lineup, other than Silva/Chilwell/Sterling/Reece/Enzo, who actually has the experience of being in finals and going through those tough periods? Jackson, Palmer, Caicedo, Lavia, Madueke, Mudryk, Colwill, Broja.....are all effectively talented U-23 kids, bright future for sure but will they step-up when it matters, do they have a Lampard/Terry/Essien/Drogba etc to lead by example.

It's interesting you say that as Nkunku would ideally be that player once he's fit. Liverpool got multiple players with those attributes when you think about it...Nunez, Jota, Gakpo, Salah, and the new fella from Leipzig. Arsenal have enough weapons all over the pitch, City have the alien up front, even Spurs have Son, Maddison & others who are more than capable of getting a goal from nothing. Seems like it's just us that are lagging behind in players with that x-factor.

Yea I agree with that, they kept most of the team together from last season as well. The major difference being the upgrade in midfield as they have Rice instead of Xhaka.

Not sure if Mount is the right example as he rejected the opportunity to sign the long term contract, wanted a shorter deal.

As of right now I'd say it's Rice > Caicedo. Maybe once he's settled and had his pre-season, it will change...

I would say the system is broken if you're having to rely on Gallagher to play deeper. Hopefully once Lavia is fit, Gallagher takes up the sub role.

And that's the biggest problem with the lineup. When has Colwill played "LB" during his young career? He's a ball playing CB, not a LB. No point in having 3 CB's on the pitch as well as a LB playing as a winger against the bottom sides.

Let's see how long Poch sticks with the 3 at the back combination. I see some heavy score lines coming up if he doesn't figure it out as Arsenal, Brentford, City, Brighton and United have the tools to score 3+ goals against us and Spurs under Ange look like they're on fire at the moment with so much energy.

Change was definitely needed, it's just a shame that we had to wait until the opening week of the season to sign the midfielders that we wanted so badly. Like what happened to getting your business done early and allowing the new players a chance to settle down and integrate with the rest of the first XI? Caicedo looks like he's going through pre-season now and who knows how long it'll take Lavia, Badiashile, Broja to find their feet in the first team again.

Put it this way, if you can't start one of the actual wingers in the team against Forest at home, then it raises the question as to why they were brought to the club. Chilwell should play LB with someone like Maatsen/another pacey winger ahead of him, not sure why Poch threw out our pre-season tactics (that appeared to be working and players seemed to be understanding their roles) as soon as Nkunku got injured. Playing 3/5 at the back is fine for Liverpool and the other sides but it makes no sense against teams that are just waiting for 1-2 chances on the counter attack.

City are just a machine at this point, they had cheat codes all over the pitch and they managed to get the cherry on top as well with finishers like Haaland, Alvarez and co. It is borderline pathetic when our attack can't score a goal at home in front of our fans. Forest were good against both Arsenal and United but their attack stepped up when required....that's the biggest difference between where we are right now (outside the top 6) and the top 4 teams. Saka, Bruno, Rashford are all game changers in the final third. Where is our game changer in the front 3? Who's going to step up and actually get the team across the line against a low block? We'll be lucky to get 8th place this season with the lack of attacking output.

That would mean the remaining 1% of fans are on this forum....as everyone seems to be quite happy to see the back of CHO. People making comments like good riddance to an academy player is just borderline pathetic. Academy players should be given every opportunity to show that they are good enough for the club. Just like Tammy, Mason, Reece and now Gallagher of recent times, it's nice to see players make their way through the ranks and play for the first team. Fingers crossed that Colwill gets a proper run in the side.

The most interesting one was Moreira getting a loan deal with Lyon, thought for sure we would be sending them Santos/one of the other brazilian kids. Still can't believe we actually sent Santos to Nottingham Forest, they've signed like 10 midfielders on deadline day.