Rekin

I honestly think we should just try and go for both of Nice's wingbacks (Dalbert WBL and Pereira WBR). I only saw them in some of the bigger Ligue 1 games, but they seem capable and are also of a different profile than Moses & Alonso. My biggest concern is that time is starting to be a bit of an issue.

I agree, right now there is little reason to change the back three. All of them have weaknesses, but they have shown that they can be relied upon. Having said that, Conte have shown that he can make changes quite fast. We started last season with Ivanovic and Terry, and they are no longer at the club. Rudiger is just starting to train with the club, Christensen is 21 and is learning Conte's methods. Neither of them have to slot in straight away, but if they show promise in training and during the games they get, I feel confident that they will play. Furthermore, it needs to be said again that Christensen is 21. That is really young for a defender. There is no urgency to make him our starting CB just yet. Let him learn from the veterans this season, get maybe 10-15 starts and he will be better for it. It is too optimistic to think he can just be thrown in and start performing on the highest level straight away.

I thought Bats was poor. In his defence, he did not get much to work with just as the other front two, but never the less he just seems to struggle to be aware of his surroundings. When he gets the ball in a somewhat dangerous area he instantly seems to only see the goal, and he is not very good at holding on to the ball. Getting a goal does not equal a good performance. Alonso scored as well, that did not mean that he had a good game (also, Bats missed an absolute sitter in the sequence where Alonso scored). I think he will be great as either a super-sub, or as the main man against lower quality teams.

Agreed. I dont think the squad will be perfect this season and I am ok with it, but I do find it imperative that at least three positions per window get some elite players that are meant to be carrying this club to greater heights. Bakayoko and Morata so far are great, but we need at least one more (Sandro would be amazing) together with more width

It was just a friendly, but it showcased many of our weaknesses. With Fabregas in the middle we just get overrun, while the WB's are absolutely massive for our gameplan. With Moses and especially Alonso not tracking back properly, we were wide open. With them staying back, we had no attack to speak of. The two WB positions are a priority, we need to find upgrades on both Alonso and Moses, they might be enough to compete for PL, but they will never be good enough for CL. I also think we really need another CM should either of Kante/Bakayoko get injured. Sanchez is actually an interesting option, should he be available.

Not impressed at all. Great technique, but off the ball he was horrible. Out of position in terms of defensive duties almost all the time, which Alonso had to compensate for a couple of times. Granted, off the ball movement improves with time so I suspect he will become much better eventually.

Good technique. Hard to really evaluate though, played as a winger for most of the game when we barely had any possession in the opponents zone. I think for sure though that his cameo was better than anything Bats did (except for the goal). I hope he gets to play a bit longer as a CF next game.

Sandro is still realistic. There are plenty of reasons why it is dragging on. It could be Juve trying to make him sign a new contract, could be Matic being negotiated into a deal, could be Juve demanding time to find a replacement first, could be fee negotiations etc. These type of deals can take a really long time. There are many factors that reinforce pessimistic thinking here true, but also keep in mind the ones that give reason for optimism: 1. All our LWB rumours have involved Sandro, up to this very day. 2. Sandro has not signed a new contract. 3. Juve wants Matic. Does this mean that we get Sandro? No, but it indicates that there is still a good chance of it. EDIT: ok, all the bullet points disappeared for some reason.

Yeah City is building quite the team, they really feel like Chelsea did in the first years post Roman. It just feels weird that they can spend so much time and time again without any repercussions. It also makes me feel like it is hard to really evaluate Pep. Barcelona with prime Messi, Xavi, Iniesta and many others followed with a freshly treble-winning Bayern and now a City where there is next to no limits to their expenditure. The season as City where he actually had to play with some mediocre players ended with him withing absolutely nothing. Coincidence?

It is certainly nothing to celebrate, but we are currently pursuing the better option. If we get Sandro then Mendy is irrelevant. My only hopes on the matter is that Chelsea actually have a clear target that is either equal or better than Mendy. If we end up with Clichy then suddenly this transfer is very much an issue.

Do you know for a fact that he is joining Ajax?

Some comments about him from different reddit threads (I personally know nothing about him): "He needs to leave this summer, still quite raw but huge potential seeing as hes built like a gazelle. Milan would be ace but stepping stone in a weaker league would be a good idea. If he tidied his mistakes up a bit he could be a Cristiano lite." "Good up and coming player. Is he worth that much? I don't think so, but after the money that was fropped for Vinicius Jr. nothing surprises me anymore. Richarlison can definitely be worth that price if he continues developing like he has." "He's our second top scorer this season with 14 goals, but is a bit raw, he still has a lot to develop. He can do both (on whether he is a striker or winger), he will be a great striker, he finds himself on scoring positions quite often, but he needs time to develop" "He's been the best talent in that U20 team so far (i.e Brazils U20 team)." "He is worth it. I don't know how David Neres is doing there, but he wasn't proven in Brasileirão yet. Richarlison is already proven." "Agreed. We played against Fluminense yesterday and playing against Richarlison was an absolute nightmare. He drew and scored the penalty last night." "Plays winger or secondary striker, skilful with the ball, almost ambidextrous, relatively fast, and very young. Good prospect!" "Definitely worth 12M, if not more. He kinda remembers me Gabriel Jesus but a bit less physical and a bit more skilful."

For sure. I went into this window hoping for three clear upgrades, two depth signings and one or two players that were bought for mostly their potential. If the following is our window (and I still hold hope for Sandro), it would be close enough: Morata - perhaps not a clear upgrade on Costa as a pure striker, but a clear upgrade on the striker situation (better fit both in terms of competence and personality). Bakayoko - Imo better than Matic Alex Sandro - Clear upgrade on Alonso Rudiger - Width that could in time become an improvement Ox - Width that could in time become an improvement Caballero - Width Richardinho (w/e) - Bought for his potential Really, really good window if it happens.

Chelsea should act as a meritocracy. If someone is good enough, they will play. Youth integration shouldn't stand in the way of us recruiting players and potentially missing out on the next world beaters.

Disagree. Chelsea should always look to buy talent. I don't know this guy at all, but a quick look at what people wrote on him when he was close to joining Ajax/Milan suggests that there is plenty of potential there. Ajax was close to buying him for a very high fee by their standards, and with their eye for talent that is a strong endorsement. Worth the risk in my opinion.

Yeah, I think that is fair. I guess my problem with Lukaku, and why I was lukewarm towards him, is that I feel his strengths (and I do agree that he is strong in the box) demand some pre-requisites that I feel are harder to come by for a top team, making him more inconsistent.I like Morata because I feel that he is more likely to exchange passes with Hazard/Willian/Pedro/Fabregas to set up a goal and dribble himself into a shooting position against tight defenses. I do not mean by this that Lukaku is unable to do so, just that Morata on average will manage it more often. On the other hand, I think Lukaku will offer more in the box than Morata. Between those two examples, I think we will find more use out of Morata's skills. For the record, I have always been convinced that Lukaku would have scored a lot of goals for us, and that he will do so for United. However, my perhaps strongest reason to prefer Morata is because while he is very good technically, he also possesses more physical attributes such as being somewhat strong, good in the air and very fast. He is great or above average in most categories, rather than really good in a few. I also feel like he is the one that still has more room for development, as he has been under-utilized during his career.

Tricky situation this, if we miss Sandro and Mendy I'll be a bit worried about us having at least one really good WB. Who would you like to see us go for at LWB & RWB?

No I did not. I even gave the example of someone who has a high football IQ based on his skills without the ball. Did you read what you responded to? I gave examples of hold-up play, skills with the ball and then skills without the ball. I gave an example of someone I thought played smart with the ball (Morata), someone who played smart without the ball (Makelele) and then someone who I felt was in between (Costa).

To me football IQ (which is a fluffy term, I agree) means a player with good decision-making on the pitch, including a good awareness of his surrounding. Some players just put their head down and make a break for it, others will hold the ball forever even though there are players in better positions. If we talk about advanced positions, then to me a smart player can quickly spot a run from another player (or see the correct run himself), knows when to try to take on a man versus just trying to hold it, knows how to gather the attention of the other team to allow space for others and similar actions like that. It basically comes down to a player that is able to achieve synergy with the rest of the team. Some players have this "football IQ", but lack the technical skill to make the most of it (Costa to me, he was not stupid but was not a very polished player). Others dont have it and try too much to do everything themselves (my opinion of Lukaku). I sometimes feel like Makelele is a good example of high football IQ. A player who didnt have to rely on strength to be an effective anchor but instead had an excellent awareness that allowed him to often anticipate where he needed to be.

He is also not playing out of position right now. I was talking about his stay in Roma, where he was injured and then played as a right back a lot.

If he has shown improvement in his attitude then sure, but we are currently trying to get rid of sources of conflict, not add to them. It is too bad really, Aurier seems like he could become quite the star, but talent without hard work and good attitude is just not enough.

Not that I could see, I dont frequent the forum as often as I used to so perhaps I missed it. Rudiger being injured and played out of position for a while could also make him a bit low-key compared to Morata. Overall reactions to Rudiger there seem to be a bit negative, calling him a limited player better suited for EL than PL. I guess we will see.

A guy on another forum I spend some time on who is a massive Serie A & La Liga nerd and also happens to hate Chelsea wrote this about Morata: "Morata will do very well at Chelsea and I will be quite surprised if he doesnt score more than 20 goals. I see nothing strange with the transfer fee considering his quality, previous clubs and goal production from somewhat limited game time. He has qualities that I think will fit Chelsea superbly, especially his ability to run between the lines and to carry the ball forward at a very high pace. His arrival may very well bring Chelsea's offense to another level". It just made me smile as he has been very accurate with a lot of transfers coming out from Italy. Of course it is just his personal opinion, but always great to hear someone who watches like every game of the league be positive. If we can bring in Sandro I barely care about the rest of the transfers. Getting Bakayoko, Sandro and Morata would be a truly amazing transfer window, and the opinion seems to be that once Rudiger can polish his decision-making a bit he can be world class too.

Honestly I think the problem lies in a lot of people either being underage and not understanding business that well, or spoiled from where Chelsea were the kings of transfer windows. I mean, it looks right now like the Morata deal made absolute fools out of United, and the person behind it is the same person being called bitch and cunt on this forum several times. Since the window opened we are signing players at a rate of over one per week. It is also not some random players we are talking about, but some very exciting young ones that have showed that they can perform in the later stages of CL and on the international stage. This is a time to be happy about supporting the club, and yet people on this forum are making it sound like its a huge sacrifice to do so.

Rudiger? Done. Bakyoko? Done. Conte? Done. Morata? Done. Time left? 43 days Fuck Marina and fuck Emanelo. Incompetent fuckers for getting a striker Conte wanted for £20m less than Lukaku. Fuck them for doing a good job.