Reddish-Blue

Kepa is also here on a long term contract and he's done well (so far) under Potter and his coaching team. Feel like Mendy making way would be like clearing a pathway for Slonina to eventually come back to Chelsea and try to fight for the #1 spot (similar to how Courtois did well with Atletico and then came back and challenged Cech for the #1 spot).

That's where I feel Loftus-Cheek or another mid with that dribbling ability would come in handy. Jorginho and Kovacic are fine for retaining possession and keeping hold of the ball and controlling but sometimes you need that spark or that bit of physicality to break through and make that run into the box to keep the opposition guessing and create a chance for Aubameyang or one of the other attackers. That's where I feel we'll get picked apart by United as they have Fernandes in that sort of role and then Rashford/Sancho/Antony will be a handful to deal with for whichever player is selected in the fullback roles. Reece really was a cheat code on that flank!

Probably more the fact that alot of the media dubbed him as the next Lampard and you know as soon as Lampard's name is put in any conversation, all people want to see is goals, goals and more goals. Pretty crazy to think that we actually had a midfielder who could score 20 goals a season for us, was almost like a cheat code, him in midfield, Terry, Cole & Cech at the back. Also, he didn't have the best part to the season, but again that could be said for every player in that horrid start we had under Tuchel...

Wonder if the referee is going to be Anthony Taylor! This game has loss written all over it, they have enough in attack to get past our defense and we look to be out of ideas in our attacking third without Reece bombing that flank. Watching that Brentford game was painful, what is Kai's actually role in the side? All I see is him trying to make runs or be in the right spot but I haven't seen him try to take on opposition players, dribble past opposition players or create opportunities for his team-mates.

Hutchinson may not even make the trip considering Zakaria can't even get minutes off the bench (even though our midfield has been overrun the last few games)...and Zakaria's strength from watching him in the Bundesliga was physicality and ability to cover ground from box to box.

So people are now pretending that Zouma didn't help the defense at all, especially when the opposition would break at pace against us on a counter and Zouma was often the only one trying to make a challenge as Cahill was absolutely cooked by any decent counter.

I agree but forcing a player to do something they are not good at just points to poor man management by the manager in charge. It's like a manager asking a wide player/winger to "track back" or play out of position as a wingback because the manager is too lazy to adapt his tactics to the players at his disposal.

I hope we also supplement the key first team players with some of the youth coming through (who are hungry for their chance). Gallagher, Broja, Colwill (if he lives up to the hype) would be quality squad players to have around the club moving around. I feel like we've always done better in the transfer market in finding players without the massive price tags. Whenever we try to go big, it tends to go badly for us (Morata, Lukaku, Havertz, Pulisic etc)

You must have something against Zouma, he was a solid defender on his day. For a relatively low profile signing at the time (think it was around 12 million + add ons), he worked out perfectly for the club. Comparing him to a potential Declan Rice transfer is quite harsh as Zouma didn't arrive with an inflated price tag and a massive ego to go with it, we brought here on potential.

Then Sterling is also the same, he's been used as a LWB, LW, LM, RM, RW, ST....throughout his Liverpool, City and now Chelsea career (so far).

Not really, his technical play is far superior to both Timo and Havertz on the wings & would give him alot of opportunities to get involved in our attack from the wing. Timo was limited because he needed space to thrive (hence why he's scoring goals again in the Bundesliga), his previous manager at Leipzig even mentioned that Timo is a great player in certain situations but against teams with a low block, he won't offer many solutions in our attack (think that was before a matchup between Leipzig and Atletico Madrid who were one of the harder defenses to break down in the UCL). The problem with Havertz is that he doesn't really fit any role in our tactical system. At Leverkusen, he was basically the #1 option playing off another striker/playing between the lines. Not sure how Havertz has been utilized by Potter but he was effectively used either on the wing or upfront by previous managers.....and it all came with mixed results.

Bellingham won't come to us if the likes of Real Madrid and City are going after him and De Jong won't leave Barcelona till he gets his deferred wages. That leaves Declan Rice, let's see how much the new owners are willing to spend...

I highly doubt the club will let both midfielders just walk away on free transfers. I'd be shocked if a deal wasn't offered to Jorginho (whether he accepts it or decides to cash in on a nice deal + signing on fee from an Italian club remains to be seen).

Just when we start hitting a bit of form under the new boss, bam, our best wingback goes down! Will be interesting to see how Potter adjusts his tactics without Reece, he was becoming a bit of a cheat code down that flank.

This game has draw written all over it, would love to see us turn up and get the 3 points but I don't see it happening against a side that is hard to break down.

I wonder what the club does with Kante's contract situation....don't see how you can offer a player with niggling injuries and the amount of miles he's accumulated over the years on his body more than a 1+1 year deal I wouldn't be shocked if this is his final season with Chelsea as those injuries will only get worse as he ages.

H2H is decisive because Barcelona cannot match Bayern Munich's current total of 12 points, even if they win their remaining 2 games. As per the Champions League tie breaker criteria: 1.Points in head-to-head matches among the tied teams; 2.Goal difference in head-to-head matches among the tied teams; 3.Goals scored in head-to-head matches among the tied teams; If Inter beat Plzen, they are through as they have more points than Barcelona in H2H matches this season, it only gets interesting if they somehow drop points against Plzen...

It works for clubs like Real Madrid, Bayern Munich, PSG, Manchester City who are basically guaranteed UCL spots every other season.... Barcelona on the other hand... It's a real shame Inter Milan couldn't kill them off today, that would have been AMAZING to watch!

He would have picked him in the squad anyway, same with Kante & the French National Coach.

For all the criticism that Werner has to cop every other week, he did get the goal & assist for their win today. Not saying he had a great game but he got them the 3 points.

Think it was Fulham or another newly promoted side a few seasons ago that did the same thing in terms of buying a whole new XI and there was zero chemistry all season and they got relegated.

I don't think it was a strange signing, in the sense that the club & Tuchel knew about Kante's injury worries and Kovacic is only just returning from a nasty injury himself. Zakaria fits the bill of dynamic box to box midfielder (that's what I've seen him do in the Bundesliga as well as for his national team), it's surprising that he hasn't featured yet but there will be plenty of time to change that with the amount of games we are about to play.

The issue was, no-one really knew what a fair price for Tomori was going to be. At the time when he left the club, it was raw potential, don't think anyone expected him to go to Milan and become a staple of their first team defense so quickly. Fair play to AC Milan, they took the chance on him and they got a very good CB for a cut price fee. Hopefully for us, Colwill develops properly and he lives up to the hype as he would slot in nicely to our defensive scheme in the near future!

City look like they are in cruise control, basically just strolling around and then attacking the opposition as required. Pep's got a cheat code in midfield in De Bruyne, a cheat code up front in the Alien and even a cheat code on the wing in Cancelo.

Tomori should be added to your list. He sort of fits the 3rd dot point but I feel there was enough raw potential there for us to keep him. If only the club had a crystal ball about the Christensen contract situation, we could have saved ourselves 30-40 million by keeping Tomori/Guehi at the club.