Reddish-Blue

The other question is, can you play Nkunku and Felix (if we did go ahead with his transfer) in the same starting XI? Feel like our tactical setup would be too narrow with two players who like playing in that #10 type role.

That's because our team is built to play 3 at the back. If you want to play a flat 4 at the back formation, you need a workhorse midfielder in the engine room to pull it off. Go back to previous years where we won the league and beat teams properly and there was Makelele, Obi Mikel, Essien....then years later we had Matic in that role, then the focus changed and the Italian managers brought the 3atb and we had Kante who was a cheat code in midfield.

Feel like Crystal Palace needed a change, similar to Dyche taking over at Everton.

Hazard at full pace was something else for defenders to deal with. Amazing video

We wouldn't be able to match Real Madrid over 2 legs, they have too much firepower for us (the way they ripped apart Liverpool for 5 goals could happen against us as well as they have finishers all over the pitch). Same with Bayern & City. Ideal draw would probably be Milan clubs (as they haven't had that many high scoring games in the UCL), followed by Benfica/Napoli.

It just depends on who we have lined up to replace the outgoing players. If Kovacic wants to go back to Serie A, that's his choice and it's better that we get some sort of fee for him rather than watch him walk out the door like Rudiger/Christensen and lose out on 60+ million worth of transfer fees. It's a shame about Mount but he doesn't look like the type of player who would be happy as a squad player and he's not worth 200k a week.

If he gets called up for France, he'll get injured again. Deschamps was always intent on picking Kante even when he was injured. I'd love to see Kante continue at Chelsea but it's up to him. If he decides that he wants to retire elsewhere (e.g. playing another year or 2 in France), I'll respect his decision.

Our attack needs to improve massively to dream about winning the league.

Very good prospect but feel like he needs another season of development before taking that next step.

Have to agree, I like the fact that Kepa is growing in confidence and playing well. I didn't think he'd be putting in these types of performances after some of his performances in previous seasons.

Kane & Son are built for each other, I don't think he would have as much personal success at United and as much freedom as he does at Spurs. It's a shame he didn't put in a release clause in his contract as he could have easily retired with some proper trophies to his name (as Bayern were keen). The one positive would be Spurs not having a talisman and hopefully that would push them out of the top 4 for a few seasons.

I can just see an overweight Lukaku reporting for pre-season training....

This makes the whole transfer look even worse as the last thing we needed was a system player. In January, you go after players that can help you right away, not players that will take at least 12 months to settle down, get used to the intensity of the league before making any contributions to the team. It's like we signed him just to give Arsenal a headache rather than signing him because we actually needed that type of player.

Could you imagine the press if Potter decided not to give Mudryk minutes after splashing 70+ million on him? He'd be killed the next day. At least now there is a reason as to why he's not playing, it's because he's nowhere near good enough (yet) and looks well off the pace. Will go back to my previous comments on Mudryk, you don't sign a player who isn't ready to play significant minutes for 70 million in January, it's just bad business. Go look at Liverpool, they needed someone to top up their attack, they go and get Gakpo for 30-ish million, already has 4 goals to his name and looks like a proper finisher. Badiashile, Enzo have been good for the most part since joining Chelsea (was actually sort of shocked that we went after Wes Fofana in the previous window instead of Badiashile considering Fofana was coming off a pretty bad injury for a young defender). Madueke and Mudryk made less sense as January signings as they won't massively impact the first team for a while. Even the PSV coach said that he hoped to keep Madueke for his development but when Chelsea came along and doubled his value, he had no choice but to accept the deal.

Arsenal are not an inferior side, they've just been very very lucky with injuries this season (i.e. I don't recall them having multiple first team players out with injury at the same time). They had a stat the other day where it said Arteta has made 20 or less changes to his first choice XI across the season....compare that to Potter who has had to make 70+ changes in the season.

Him & Havertz are like the exact same player. Haven't really lived up to expectations after a big money move, always show a few flashes of brilliance but they both lack that killer instinct in front of goal. Interesting that Atletico seem to have picked up a bit of form since Felix left the club...

Considering both of your points, it makes zero sense as to why we signed him in January. What we needed was someone to lift the attack immediately, not another project that will take 6+ months to get used to the league.

Still not sure why we actually got him in January...he was always going to be under-done fitness wise without a proper pre-season and let's not even mention the fact that he was twerking for them on social media game after game. Cucurella & him may go down as the worst signings we made in a few seasons time (alongside Lukaku).

My biggest concern is that there may not be anyone available to come in straight away. Flick, Enrique would be obvious candidates considering their profiles and then there is Pochettino (however I'm not sure that would go down well with the fans...might be a Benitez 2.0 moment). Whether any of them are actually keen on the challenge remains to be seen.

Potter just strikes me as the type of manager who wants to play it safe. He never looked like the type who would confront his players or even bring in an assistant who was a bit crazy or vocal just to shake things up in training or in the dressing room. Even AvB had Di Matteo as an assistant. Imagine if Conte, Mourinho, Tuchel had this run of results after spending that much in the transfer window, they would have let the players know the pathetic level of performance but with Potter all I hear is: "the players are trying, we're close, we feel it..." as if being mid table is acceptable.

Even Arteta mentioned that at one point, you just have to win. Potter trying to use either of those managers as an excuse to get more time at Chelsea is pathetic. The most concerning thing is, he's not IMPROVING any player at the moment. Klopp is at least playing Elliot and that other young midfielder, Arteta has given Martinelli & Saka so much confidence...whereas none of the youngsters or new signings have shown any sign of improvement under Potter so far.

Well...there is a certain Portuguese manager out there who has a history of winning at Chelsea and he shows his emotions on the sidelines..

Imagine the headlines if Chelsea actually got pulled into the relegation battle with Potter in charge.

I would have thought the pathetic loss to Southampton at home would have been enough to push the trigger I'm interested to see whether the players actually turn up against Leeds/Dortmund and save Potter or whether they continue to jog around the pitch with zero intent to actually score a goal.

It would be more humiliating for the new ownership group if this club went into a relegation battle...because based on form that is where we are headed. We have the worst form line in the Premier League at the moment and every game looks like 3 points to the opposition and Potter hasn't done a single thing to change it. Tuchel, Mourinho, Conte would be going ballistic in the training ground, on the sidelines, watching this rubbish game after game...but Potter is as calm as can be, like he's managing a mid table side, not a side that just spent all that money in January.