Danny Drinkwater

[Fernando 6,585]

Not a bad signing for squad depth. 

Basically taking the mikel role. 

[Fulham Broadway 17,306]

Passing and tackling is very good. CL experience and won the PL

-ex Utd Manc so play him against Mourinhos Mercenaries 

[kmk108 1,186]

I don't even think Matic would have wanted to stay had we not bought Bakayoko. He wanted to leave last season after the Mourinho sacking and Conte convinced him to stay a year and see.

And I couldn't care less about the fee. The club know what they value a player at and know their finances. We don't. 

[Sideshow Luiz 2,310]

1 hour ago, petre.ispirescu said:

Tired of all this talk mate and it seems that the media and the opposition fans have once again turned your head upside down and made you see whatever they want you to see.

Exactly like Mourinho did last season when he underachieved with the most expensive squad ever assembled. "If it wasn't for all the missed chances..." - this is what I kept hearing during all last season from Mourinho and United fans. Somehow Mourinho turned their minds and mislead them into thinking he did a great job, but players let the club down by missing chance after chance.

Wow, what a great logic this is!!! Let me tell you something - if every club would put away every goalscoring chance they have, even WBA would finish the season with 100+ goals scored. 

Every team misses tons of chances during the season. We've scored 85 goals during last season. But did we have only 85 chances of scoring? Or 90? Hell no, we've probably had 250+ scoring opportunities. What if we had capitalised on at least 80% of our chances like Mourinho kept talking about? We'd have won the league title by February... But this "If it wasn't for all the missed chances..." was only a United thing last season because Mourinho and the United fans were the only ones that kept talking about it. 

Like they were the only ones missing chances and others were scoring with every shot on goal...

It is exactly what is happening now with Matic. We've all wanted him out of our starting line-up for two years now. How many of us have asked for his head, especially after EVERY SINGLE match against a big team in which he was completely useless and got exposed everytime when Chelsea faced a decent set of midfielder? Matic is a decent option to have against lesser teams, but he is of no use against big teams.

But this has no relevance now that he is at United and United fans keep spouting absolute shite, with some Chelsea fans biting the bait every single time. It's like they've signed Iniesta's heir and we're left with a poor man's Charlie Adam.

"Wow, they let Matic go and replaced him with Danny fucking Drinkwater! Haha" - it's something coming from the United fans, that you hear and read everyday now. When the truth is we've replaced Matic with Bakayoko and Chalobah with Drinkwater.

We've replaced Matic with a younger and better version, French league title winner and UCL semi-finalist at only 22, playing in a two-man midfield. Exactly the tactics we use. 

Drinkwater for Chalobah - An England international, former EPL winner and Kante's former partner in a two-man midfield, to sit on the bench and act as a back-up only.

Chelsea have not signed world beaters, but at least they are players to fit Conte's philosophy - Rudiger and Christensen (basically feels like a new signing) have played in a three at the back formation at Roma and Gladbach, Bakayoko and Drinkwater have played in a two-man midfield, Zappacosta is a wing back, Morata is versatile and not only a target man.

But when some listen too much to the oppositions fans taking the piss out of hate and envy, reality gets disrupted. Afterall Chelsea have won two out of the last three league titles in England - time in which United were always deemed as favourites to win it after assembling the most expensive squad in football history. 

I've actually been a fan of Matic.  I don't think he should get the stick here that he does.

I didn't say anything like why did we sell Matic and get Drinkwater in respect to their qualities.  Personally, I think they're pretty similar, which is why I scratch my head.  So, my question was more like what's the point?  Isn't it a bit like selling a Honda Civic, then stressing about trying to find a Toyota Carolla?  Why bother?

I've said numerous times that Bakayoko + Drinkwater >>>  Matic + Chalobah. 

I agree that the narrative that we've sold Matic to buy Drinkwater isn't exactly the correct narrative.  Bakayoko is going to get Matic's minutes which is a better fit for us.  But, for a time, we had both Matic and Bakayoko.  Which is what Conte wanted, apparently.

So, on the other hand, the narrative that Bakayoko is Matic's replacement and Drinkwater is in for Chalobah is true, it's not the full story either.  This assumes that having Bakayoko and Matic wasn't an option.

Now, maybe it wasn't an option.  I'm not too involved in the homegrown status of our squad, I don't know if it absolutely needed to happen.  To go back to a previous analogy, I can understand selling your Civic for a Carolla if you live in a town that will only let you drive a Toyota.  But, if it's not necessary, then what's the point of doing all the work?

 

[Johnnyeye 7,501]

wish him all the best here, HG player, experienced in the PL, already got a taste of Champions League football last season, a PL winner along with Kante with Leicester in 2016, he knows what it takes to win the PL, good combatitive midfielder, can score goals from outside and inside the box, good passer, what more can we want? he will be very useful for us as the season progresses, wouldnt have minded to have Mahrez here too, but its ok. Welcome to Chelsea Football Club Danny, KTBFFH

[Artandur 939]

Do we know the status of his injury ?

[Special Juan 28,111]

1 minute ago, Artandur said:

Do we know the status of his injury ?

Think it's called Leicesteritus

[Artandur 939]

11 minutes ago, Special Juan said:

Think it's called Leicesteritus

If that's the case we might've just cured it

[CHOULO19 24,332]

Will everyone STOP saying we've replaced Matic with Drinkwater, FFS!

We replaced Matic with Bakayoko and time will tell if that is an upgrade or not.

If we insist on making silly comparisons then Drinkwater replaced Chalobah, not Matic. And THAT clearly is a huge step forward in terms of quality of depth. 

[Dimitr 488]

#welcomedrinks 

lets drink together 😁

[Pizy 18,859]

I'm wondering what the specific role Conte has in mind for him. Probably will be competing with Cesc I think. I'm not sure we'll ever really see him without one of Kante or Bakayoko beside him. Can also envision using him in a midfield 3.

[Chelsea? 892]

13 minutes ago, Pizy said:

I'm wondering what the specific role Conte has in mind for him. Probably will be competing with Cesc I think. I'm not sure we'll ever really see him without one of Kante or Bakayoko beside him. Can also envision using him in a midfield 3.

He's Kante n Bakayokos back up. Cesc plays a different role. 

[CHOULO19 24,332]

12 minutes ago, Pizy said:

I'm wondering what the specific role Conte has in mind for him. Probably will be competing with Cesc I think. I'm not sure we'll ever really see him without one of Kante or Bakayoko beside him. Can also envision using him in a midfield 3.

Obviously for depth as we're in 4 competitions, but I also think Conte quite likes the possibility of moving to a 3-5-2 in certain games when needed. 

[Tomo 21,751]

32 minutes ago, CHOULO19 said:

Obviously for depth as we're in 4 competitions, but I also think Conte quite likes the possibility of moving to a 3-5-2 in certain games when needed. 

Remember Conte's quote where he said he was going to play Matic a lot and bleed Bakayoko in slowly? Maybe Drinkwater will start games (at least initially) more than we think.

[CHOULO19 24,332]

6 minutes ago, Tomo said:

Remember Conte's quote where he said he was going to play Matic a lot and bleed Bakayoko in slowly? Maybe Drinkwater will start games (at least initially) more than we think.

He does have more experience playing in a 2-man midfield...with Kante. Not at all unlikely.