Rekin

I was happy when Luiz got sold. I do however believe that there is a difference between the situations. Luiz had clear ability, and a passing range/technique rarely found in central defenders. There were games where he was pure steel in the back, while pinging accurate balls around the pitch. Unfortunately, he also showed a strong tendency to lose his head/focus, and negatively impact a game a bit too often. He played with us for several years, and that tendency did not disappear, so I simply assumed it something he would retain. Indeed, you can still see it when he plays today, such as when Spurs scored against us lately. For the amount of money offered, selling him was the right choice. The difference to me when comparing with Oscar, is that Luiz only needed to improve his concentration and decision making. If he managed that, he was a world-class defender. Whether it is Conte, his years in Paris, the new formation or whatever, it seems that he has improved enough in those two aspects to be at the very least close to world class. For Oscar, I can not say that he is amazing in some regards but just shy of some characteristics to become world-class. He is good at passing, he is strong for his size, he works hard and has a nice shot in him. However, he is not an amazing at any of those areas while also being slow, rarely beating his man and being inconsistent. There is simply too many areas where he is lacking, and some of them are related to what kind of a player he is. He is a Mata that is better defensively, but worse attacking-wise in almost every sense. At best I would put him in a team like Everton, but even then its barely. He is average, and I do not see him ever justifying such a transaction fee purely on ability for a team in Europe. The money can be put to much better use, it is an incredible deal for us.

I would like Veratti, but at the end of the day I believe Conte has proven that he deserves to get who he wants for the position. He pursued Nainggolan even after Kante was purchased, and I believe that that is the player type he is looking for. It shouldnt come as a surprise either, I see similarities with Vidal in him, and we all know Conte has a high opinion of the Chilean. I think that we will pursue a CM in January, especially as it seems Oscar is leaving. I do believe however that the player type we will look for is more in line of N'Zonzi, Tolisso, Marchisio, Good all-around players with dynamic profiles. It is also what we need. I like Matic when he plays well, but he is too static, he will often stay in position and ping it short to close by players.

Bye! Chelsea will obviously never turn down a bid that size for what is basically a fourth choice winger. One might wonder if Oscar will reject a move to China, but if they are willing to overpay by that much, I am certain that they will drown him in cash to such a degree that he is willing to swallow his pride (and career).

The WBA game today showed us that we lack creativity in the middle. The trio upfront cant do much if they have to drop down to receive the ball. Matic and Kante can play great balls occasionally, but we need a consistent passer that can find the trio upfront in semi-dangerous situations. Kante is way too good to be replaced, but I seriously think Matic will hinder us from taking the next step.

Guys, we all know deep down that this won't happen. The only chance, and even then its slim, that we get him is if he leaves as a bosman. I would obviously love to see him in our jersey, but Arsenal wont sell their best player to us, RVP was an exception.

The Times are reporting that Chelsea, together with several other English clubs, are after him. If the price is reasonable, it should be a no-brainer. I have previously mentioned that we shouldnt fix what isnt broken but Cahill is not first team material, we should look to substitute him asap. a back 3 of VVD - Luiz - Azpilicueta would be very strong.

If we look at our squad it is extremely clear who the preferred options of Conte are. I also think it is clear by the players we targeted during the summer what the pattern is. Summer 2016 we wanted to have two good strikers. Bats seemed locked on early, but in case Diego left there was interest in Morata and Lukaku. Now, I do not know how highly Bats is rated considering him basically not playing, but we need to remember that Costa is currently in an unreal form, Bats is not going to ever get priority over him as it is now (except for cup games). If Conte rates Bats, then we are unlikely for now to be working the striker angle. For the winger positions we did not really do much. We kept the previous players, and werent really linked with others in those positions. Hazard is untouchable, while Pedro has been in a somewhat good form. Willian and Oscar have lately seen their opportunities limited, and specially Oscar seems to be out of favour. I think we can do better than Pedro as RW for sure, and selling Oscar is also something that needs to happen. There is no rush with this at the time though. Star wingers are rarely available in January, and we have acceptable depth for now. I really doubt anything will happen in January there. Midfield is a more interesting position. We secured Kante early on, and it was a great purchase. But even after that, we were still looking for additions. Either because Matic was close to leaving, or because Conte had his eyes on someone he considered better. He might have been convinced by Matic now, regardless players like Nainggolan will not join in January. The City game showed us the lack of depth though. Fabregas does not work in our current formation, and I have my doubts about Chalobah. Even if both stays, it is a false type of depth. Fabregas is a tactical option, not a direct replacement for Matic or Kante. We need to make sure we can put on someone who can do a relatively similar job to either of those two. I strongly suspect we will move for someone like Badelj or Brozovic during January. In the defence, the purchase and great performance from Luiz has plugged some holes. Cahill is doing better, and letting in 2 goals in 8 games is something we need to remember. One does not jump in and start changing too much in those circumstances. Even though I do not consider our defence to be individually amazing (Cahill, Alonso and Moses all have their weaknesses) I would honestly not change it right now. You do not fix that which is not broken. Unless we start letting them in again, January should be quiet for us. Let Conte assess Christensen and Zouma, and if he dislikes both, then we should look at replacements in the summer. GK is fine. TLDR: My opinion is that the only thing we need in January is a CM that has his main strengths in passing and defensive capabilities. For the summer we should look at RW, LWB and CB options.

Not sure I like this guy. He is a bit like Zouma in being an absolute powerhouse, you are unlikely to outmuscle him. However, I find him somewhat awkward on the ball, and sluggish in reaction speed (not to mention pace). He would be excellent in a low defensive line where you are concerned with dealing with balls into the box. He is 21 of course, for a defender that is extremely young. Even Luiz has only started living up to his potential around now, and he is pushing 30. I am not sure though that we should be buying young talent for the CB position. Luiz and Azpili should be nailed on for now, even though I think Azpili could play a role as a wing back. Zouma and Christensen should be in contention for the Cahill position, and if Conte lacks trust in them (which we need to respect as well) then we should be looking at someone like Romagnoli (yes he is 21, but Conte is likely to have a better view on how well he would fit, and he is also quite experienced for his age) or Van Dijk. January should be about squad depth first and foremost, summer 2017 needs to be primarily about buying players that go into the starting eleven.

The players have already publicly stated that the recent results gave them more faith in the coach, and adhering to his methods. Beating the messiah of football/the grand philosopher/the soccer think-tank Pep Guardiola will do so much to improve his authority. The board did everything they could to get Guardiola, one can imagine they promised him transfers, authority and so on. Now the coach they got instead have gone to beat him, away from home. Ferguson once said that the manager needs to be the most important person in a club, and the only way for this to happen is through results. I feel more optimistic than for a long time. Even when Jose won the title, I already felt like the football was boring, Mou was bitter and tired etc. Conte has really done a grand job to make the club feel more like a happy family. I really hope we can build from this.

I know some people will praise him for his assist, but for me he had a really poor game. I dont fully blame him for it, he is simply not adapted to what was expected of him. The pass to Costa was excellent, but it is easy to forget that by the time the pass came, we could have already been in so much trouble. Fabregas did very little to help Alonso, meaning that the left flank was completely open, leading to the own goal together with several other dangerous situations. The way City was lined up meant that we could have been in control of the game if we had been stronger in the centre. Matic would have closed down KDB a lot more, and we would not have been forced to rely on a miracle to come back. Is calling it a miracle too harsh on us? Yes and no. City played better. They had a very exposed starting eleven that depended on constant pressure in our half. The gap between defenders and midfielders was huge, but as long as they dominated possession and got a strong lead, they could bring in a few defenders and see it out. Aguero twice and KDB missed absolute sitters, and if Otamendi would have shut down Hazard the way Aguero was shut down by Luiz I would have been screaming for a red. We were extremely lucky in the first hour to only be down by one goal, and it allowed us to come back because Guardiola pressed for a second instead of trying to play more carefully. We countered beautifully, and punishing an opponent is something a manager/team deserves credit for, so there is that. What I want to say about Fabregas is simply that he does not work in our current formation. I am sure he could see games here and there, but he will never be a starter again as long as we play the same way as now. It is unfair to Cesc to expect him to rely on injuries. The best thing for everyone is to cash in on him while he still has a value, and get another midfielder that better fits the way we play. Conte adapted the way we play to the team we have, but that does not mean that everyone fits in. We have 5 games coming up where we are expected to win, IF that happens that would mean 13 wins in a row. Rarely is a manager in such a good negotiating position with the board to push for his transfers. I know January is hard for recruiting, but if we lose one of Kante/Matic/Costa/Hazard/Luiz/Azpili to an injury, we could undo a lot of hard work. January must see us reinforcing if we want to go for the title.

I really hope Luiz is ok. Before he left for PSG he was a defender who could be brilliant, but lost his concentration too easily, like a puppy basically. His years in France has shaped him into top class, provided he is utilized the right way. I think Luiz also shows an interesting side to how hard it is to find good defenders. Take City for example, they have forked out a fortune for the likes of Otamendi, Stones and Mangala and every single one has been a disappointment. If we would have gone for them, the board would have been praised, while instead it was slagged for how it handled the summer with the likes of Koulibaly and Romagnoli.

Oh man, what a fucking game, my heart is still in my throat. Aguero, there are no words how much I despise that man. Second time he have tackled David horribly. And David himself, aside from that tackle in the first half, such a performance. I cant believe it, we went to Etihad and got 3 points. 8 freaking wins in a row!!! City loses their cunt striker for a few games, and Pep gets his so called genius ruptured like a colon. What a great feeling Seriously though, we were lucky. They should have been 3-0 up by the time we scored. This was one of those games where 90% of the decisions and results went with us. Still, I.Will.Take.It

Creating one chance is not even close to being good enough. City has a wonderful attack, but their defence is super shaky. If we control the midfield, we can exploit that, but with Fabregas doing nothing we are put under constant pressure. Fabregas-Alonso have contributed to us losing the midfield, while constantly seeing crosses into the box.

It was bad from Cahill, but how much can a guy do? Alonso has allowed City's right flank to cross again and again and again. He is ok when we are applying the pressure, but boy is he flat-footed when put under pressure himself. The Matic injury really fucked us hard, this here basically guarantees that we move for another midfielder in January. Fabregas has seriously done nothing in this game, I would prefer to put Chalobah or even Oscar instead of him.

Fabregas has been nothing but a passenger, no reason for him to play second half. Alonso has also been terrible, constantly stopping nothing from his flank.

AIK is actually my team, I played for their youth setup years ago and I still watch them quite often. Isak is the most exciting talent in Sweden since possibly Zlatan. He is tall, quick, his technique is excellent and his finishing great. The supporters of AIK are hoping that he will beat the swedish transfer record, and go for 9-11m euro (which for a Swedish club is a disgusting amount of money). The thing with Isak is that even before he turned 17, he became a starter and showed absolutely zero nerves, scoring twice in the local derby among other goals. He is also a level-headed individual, working hard and letting his action speak for him. Now, it should be made clear that the swedish league is inferior to many others in Europe. It is not terrible, but most Swedish talents end up in The Netherlands, Italy or Germany where they rarely make an impression. It is simply really hard to judge based on their performances in the Swedish league. Having said that, Isak has the potential to become world class based on what he has shown so far.

Not sure I agree with this. My impression is that he is similar to Pedro in terms of creativity. He can link up with some neat one-touch passes, but overall I do not think he creates much. It is to be expected of a striker on his level to sometimes offer a nice pass, but I would absolutely disagree that it is one of his strengths. If you look at the statistics, he has one of the lowest amounts of passes per game in the squad, and also the lowest pass success out of everyone except Thibo. He does contribute with a respectable amount of key passes, but once again it comes from the way Chelsea are playing now. My point previously was that while Costa is capable of scoring from what seems to be a safe situation for the other side, he rarely does what Hazard can, which is to grab the ball from a good distance away from the box, and through a quick dribble/sprint suddenly create a dangerous situation, and do this consistently. Pedro does not do this either, which is why we need someone who can help us rely less on Hazard to be the main threat against defensive teams.

Van Dijk seems likely to go to a better club in the summer. I doubt Soton will sell him for anything else than crazy amounts in January. He seems like a no-brainer to go for though. Luiz, Azpilicueta and Van Dijk with rotation options in Christensen and Zouma would be extremely strong, maybe too much so. I would like to think that for Pedro we can finally look at a replacement who is only qualified based on his offensive capabilities. No more "can he track back?", we have wing backs who deal with most of that just fine, and it has worked so far. Rodriguez seems like a good option, as he is a bench player in Madrid, although the transfer ban might be an issue. Douglas Costa is also being a bench player in Bayern, could be another option. If we do not want to go for other clubs reserves though, it would also be cool to look externally/internally for a top class talent there. I would also be curious about Adama Traore, he seems to lack a footballing brain but maybe under the right coaching he could improve? Badelj is a really solid player for the CM backup/competition role. I think his main weakness is that he is rather slow, he could be truly world class otherwise. He is an excellent passer though, and as Matic is not exactly a sprinter (although he is faster than I initially thought) I think it would work. I think this is one of those transfers that would make perfect sense. Three class midfielders with different playstyles allow for more tactical options, and also ensures competition to keep the others on their toes. Alonso and Moses are solid, I like both and I would not look for replacement unless something truly great shows up. Either an amazing talent (I like the look of Grimaldo), or one of the best players in their position. I just dont think replacing them are priorities, we should look for internal options for depth. I would also like to utilize Conte's experience in Serie A to import some of their talents. If Conte doesnt rate Bats, and Abraham is considered an understudy for the next few years, then perhaps someone like Belotti would be an option? Either way, the right way forward is to make sure Conte is seriously included in the decision-making. Our new formation is working extremely well so far, and while it wont yield this kind of results forever, it is viable enough to invest into. We need to get players who fit the way we play, and not only based on their abilities. It has been a long time since I looked at Chelsea's starting eleven and thought "Wow, there is little weakness here", but if we can over the next two windows replace 2-3 players with better options, we could be there. Furthermore, I believe that we are title contenders provided that we increase the depth in January.

Important win. We did however see more of our weaknesses today. While Pedro was unlucky to not score twice today, he was invisible otherwise. Matic and Kante were somewhat solid in the middle, but offered almost nothing going forward. Hazard and Costa looked tired, and did not have a lot of good link-ups. Our success is extremely reliant on having all our key players available. I think we need to buy 1-2 players in January, but we still need to buy a few starting players next summer. I also think that while Costa is in great form, he is a finisher. He relies on others creating either space, or opportunities, for him (not to say he never creates something out of nothing). Hazard is the only player really capable of making plays happen, and if he is out of form/injured our offensive suffers. It is imperative for our future success that the right flank gets someone who can do more than run quickly and/or make short passes back and forth while running a lot. We are simply not going to get a lot of chances created by Pedro, Matic, Kante, Oscar or Willian. Their strengths lie elsewhere.

We should really avoid him. He is good at disrupting the other team, but is also a poor passer. He might win the ball, but instead of quickly setting up a counter-attack he will hold on to for way too long. He is simply not a very smart player, more of a pgysical one. With our current tactics, he would be a liability, or a choice to kill a game in the late stages, something he would be too expensive for.

What do people think about Fabinho? He has been excellent for Monaco since joining them, and the club has showed that it is willing to sell for the right amount of money. While my idea of the perfect midfield is Verratti - Kante, I think it might be hard to accomplish. With the midfield we have now, we could most likely wave goodbye to any title chase if either of Matic or Kante got any longer injury spell. Fabinho might be a bit on the defensive side, but he could cover for either of those two, and I believe he would also challenge Matic for his spot. If we can not get Nainggolan or Verratti, then I would personally like to see us go for him.

Marco has for a long time been my dream signing. I think the current formation, and pursuit of Nainggolan suggests what Conte wants in the midfield. I looked at the defensive stats of the current player next to Kante, the alternative in the squad, and two signings that could take that place next season (yes, the seasons differ. It is so that we can see how they have played during a full season more than anything). Judging by the statistics, I think it is fair to say that Verratti is no slouch when it comes to defending. He is very comparable to Nainggolan, although there might be a significant difference in physicality there. The way we play now, Matic has a lot of the ball and is often passing directly. He is also often breaking up plays and countering. He has done it well to be fair, but I dont know if Matic has any particular tools that I think Marco is without. The problem with Fabregas was that he was not tenacious enough, often able to simply be dribbled past since he was too slow to recover. Marco is faster, and has that stocky build that Aguero also has which makes him less of a pushover. I think that a midfield with Verratti and Kante could compete with any other in the world, without sacrificing too much defensive strength. Considering Matic is an important part of the build-ups now, imagine having a passing master in his place. EDIT: Seems the formatting doesnt work. It was a comparison between Nainggolan, Verratti, Fabregas and Matic, where it can be seen that Matic and Verratti have comparable stats in the defense, while Marco blows Matic out of the water in the offense and passing.

I agree that is it a bit cold, but Pedro has not exactly been amazing since joining us. I am sure that the talk of replacing him will cool down if he can replicate his form from the last few games for the next month or two. Still, I think it is hardly unfair to say that Pedro is more limited than Hazard. This season getting into the top4 is the goal, but how long is that enough? Costa and Hazard are world class, but can the same be said for Pedro? I see him as an excellent squad player, kind of filling the same role as Kalou, but to be our first option for RW in the years to come? I think it is a position we should look into reinforcing, maybe not in January, but next summer for sure.

I have followed Chelsea for a really long time, and yet I am not sure I have ever seen the club this consistently dominant. Sure, I have seen many great performances, where we have either attacked with great ferocity, or where we have avoided putting a foot wrong in the defence, but to utterly nullify the other team to a point where you forget there are two halves on the pitch while combining beautifully in the attack? Mourinhos first season is probably the closest thing, or Ancelottis first season at times. Of course, those two managed that over a season more or less, our current run is 5 games which is not enough yet to draw too many conclusions. I feel we are very vulnerable to injuries, which is why I think January will be crucial for a title challenge. Lukaku is one of the best strikers in the league, and Barkley is very talented. Ibra and Pogba are some of the best players in the world. Soton away is never an easy game, and Leicester are the current champions. These are not easy teams, they are all top8 teams that are more than capable of stealing points away from any other team. Not only have we beaten them, but we have utterly dominated them. Their strikers have basically not seen any screen time since they are always out of frame. How much of the ball did Lukaku see yesterday? I am truly impressed. We are combining attacking fury with a defence of steel. We benefit from individual efforts, but also from excellent team-play. Players who have been out of form are suddenly on fire. Conte has been exactly what we needed. It is important to not get carried away though. Our streak will end, at some points we will let in some goals, and lose some games. It is important that the team is capable of bouncing back, and not thinking themselves invincible. I simply cannot see our form continue as we are so dominant, it always stops at some point. For now I am just going to enjoy it. Other team supporters say we will be found out, but I do not think our strength lies in some intricate team strategy. The players are simply working extremely hard, understand their tactical roles, while the formation is adapted to the strength of the players. This might be one of the few times over the last 10+ years where I do not see an obvious hole in the squad. I think Matic, Pedro and Cahill are the most obvious candidates for upgrades, but even then it is not because they are bad, but because they are not concistent in high performances (although they have been excellent lately).

If we could sign Van Dijk and Fabinho I would be over the moon. Young Weigl from Dortmund would also be interesting, his future will be bright.