Lineup for 2019/20 with the ban?

[Tomo 21,681]

I think we need to start accepting the reality that the club are accepting the ban for this season. While i'm fully expecting a struggle for top 4 which is a little frustrating as i honestly believed we were a top fullback and top striker away from going up a level even with Hazard going i don't think the situation is the doomsday that some think.  Looking at it properly it is probably best we take the hit and get it out of the way now, firstly because of the threat of an extension, secondly everything will be rushed with negotiators knowing how desperate we are and lastly with Cech coming in this will give him a year to get his feet under the table, acess the situation and identify proper targets for 2020.

Now onto the likely lineup.

If i had it my way (when all fit), gunna also assume Alonso gets his wish and goes Leti as noises are pretty big atm.

 

                           Kepa                         

James   Rudiger  AC/Luiz   Azpi

                         Jorginho                   

                  Kante      Loftus           

Pedro/Willy                        CHO/Pulisic

                    Giroud/Tammy                     

 

  Notable other squad players: Caballero, Emerson, Aina (if we can convince him to return), Ampadu, Kovacic, Barkley, Mount.

Christensen or Luiz depending on opponents, likewise Giroud/Tammy. The rotating wingers to allow one youth and one experience at a time for a balance. Noises are Callum will be back for the start of the season which is a major boost.

Think it's safe to say we won't be troubling City and Liverpool with that side but I'm relatively confident we can retain top 4. The one thing that worries me is the goals, we badly need one of those four wingers to step up (or Tammy to return and do a Harry Kane) however the midfield, defense and (bar DDG if he returns to form) keeper is for me better (collectively) than anything any team outside City and Liverpool have to offer right now, i know there's still the transfer window to go for them but I'm not convinced Spurs and Arsenal will spend big on serious upgrades and while United could afford to they have a boardroom structure that makes ours look like City's.

I'm not usually one to say something like this and even now im cringing a little bit doing so, however top 4 next season with our best youngsters further integrated into the set up will feel like a trophy and will give us a perfect platform to kick on into the new era. Instead of seeing it as Arsenal lite see it as part of the process of getting us challenging in 20/21.

[coolhead23 1,146]

I guess we will need to wait until our Manager situation is sorted as well... Since there is nothing happening on the Ban front, Ban is pretty much in play. 

If Sarri stays then we pretty much have the regular lineup but if he goes then all depends who come in which change the formation and could be the difference in selection eg AC over Luiz 

[bigbluewillie 1,805]

I think we need to get a manager first, before we start picking teams.

[Strike 6,958]

Kepa

Reece Rudiger AC Emerson

Kante Jorgi RLC

Pulisic Tammy CHO

When everyone is fit. 

 

Azpi can cover Reece till he returns

Kova, Bark should be enough till RLC is back

CHO is the worry. Would love to see the coach promote Kennedy or someone else in case Pedro, Willian regress massively next season.

 

[Vesper 27,283]

32 minutes ago, Strike said:

Kepa

Reece Rudiger AC Emerson

Kante Jorgi RLC

Pulisic Tammy CHO

When everyone is fit. 

 

Azpi can cover Reece till he returns

Kova, Bark should be enough till RLC is back

CHO is the worry. Would love to see the coach promote Kennedy or someone else in case Pedro, Willian regress massively next season.

 

RLC will be out longer than CHO and it looks like we will not buy Kovacic now that Sarri is out soon. alo, Reece is injured (not as badly as the other 3, including Rudiger) as well.

 

25 man Roster

 

GK Kepa

GK Willie

GK Jamal Blackman

 

CB Rudiger (once recovered) 

CB Zouma

CB AC

CB Luiz

(also, loan Ampadu, UNLESS Sarri leaves and we do not buy Kovacic)

 

LB Emerson

LB Kenedy  (who can play backup LW as well) (SELL ALONSO!!!!!!!!!!! <<< my one one burning passion left to do, along with the metal satisfaction of selling Donkeywater)

 

RB Reece James (once recovered) << he gives CB depth as well

RB Azpi (sell Zappacosta)

 

 

DHMF Jorginho

DHDMF Kovacic (only if Sarri stays, if he leaves and we do not buy him, Ampadu goes here)

CMF Kante

CMF Bakayoko (SELL DRINKWATER)

AMF RLC (once recovered)

AMF Barkley  

AMF Mount (would have loaned him out, but RLC injury fucked up that)

 

LW  CHO  (once recovered)

LW Willian

 

RW Pulisic

RW Pedro

 

CF Bats

CF Giroud

CF Tammy

 

 

 

 

 

[Superblue 6,331]

I have to agree with @Tomo on this, our squad I don't believe is anywhere near as bad as everybody makes out and if we had a reliable striker I would be very confident of a comfortable third place finish, even without Hazard. We're not going to be challenging City and Liverpool next season but I don't see any reason why we can't still be competing for top 4 with the rest of the 'big 6'. Some areas could obviously be improved but with the exception of our strikers, the rest of our starting XI is on a par or better with what Spurs, United and Arsenal have.

We usually go with two strikers in the squad but this coming season I would definitely keep the three of Giroud, Batshuayi and Abraham and let them compete to see which is the best. The hope is Abraham or Batshuayi strike hot as I think both have that capability to be clinical if chances are created. Failing that we will need to find an effective way of playing through Giroud with players willing to run in behind him. There's a reason why players like playing with him because he's a great team player and I have hope that CHO and Pulisic in particular with their pace and youthful exuberance will be prepared to do this and hopefully cause team's lots of problems playing in such a direct manner.

In midfield, RLC is a big loss and if it was down to me, I would be inclined to tweak the formation next season to more of a 4-2-3-1 at least whilst RLC is out. Kante has proven time and again he's excellent in a midfield two and I think Jorginho would also benefit from Kante playing closer to him. It would also push a player further up pitch where we need more goalscorers and help solve the lack of depth in our midfield because the three behind the striker doesn't need to include a Barkley or Mount all the time, it could be made up of 3 of CHO, Pulisic, Willian and Pedro.

More than likely controversial but I would prefer to keep Drinkwater over Bakayoko, especially if we changed back to a 2 man midfield. Drinkwater reminds me of Cahill a little bit in that his qualities aren't top level but he is a solid and dependable player who could slot in and 'do a professional job' if called upon. I just have this thought in my head of a big game against City, Liverpool, Spurs, etc and the two options were Drinkwater or Bakayoko I would have more trust and faith in Drinkwater compared to Bakayoko who is woefully inconsistent and has alarming technical deficiencies to his game.

Central defence with Zouma coming back we actually have a very good group in there with different qualities. Full backs we can either stick or twist with Alonso and Zappacosta. I would be inclined to sell both if the right offers came in and place some faith in Reece James and Jay Dasilva. If we moan about Alonso's defensive qualities then Kenedy definitely is not the answer as a left back option.

 

[ulsterchelsea 3,213]

Kante DM. Fit the rest around him.

[BlueLyon 9,359]

The only way we can get out of this shit situation is to bet on youth. Heavily.

I like Lamps but he isnt ready yet IMO.

Jardim or Hag please. We have so many young promising players. And we cant buy anyone, so please dont fuck this up. They know how to improve youth and they play nice football too. 

Allegri, Mou and other pragmatic managers will take us steps back with their style, ruin our youth and they wont achieve results because this squad isnt ready yet.

For once Chelsea, please look into the future. And convince either of those two to join us, whatever it takes.

 

[MoroccanBlue 5,194]

Jardim or Hag would be looked as long term options. 

It's Lampard now or never imo. 

[Spike 12,049]

Like everyone, I very much approve and enhoy Loftus-Cheek and Hudson-Odoi but to bank on them being starters with their injuries is naive. We aren't even garuanteed them returning to their best abiliites. 

[milka 3,306]

----- --------------Kepa

 

---Azpiluceta- Rudiger- -David Luiz -- Emerson

------------Kante ----- Jorginho

-----Willian--- Mount -----Pulusic

---------------- Giroud-----------

 

Caballero

Alonso

Christensen

Zouma

James

Kenedy

Barkley

RLC

Pedro

Abraham

Ampadu

Moses

Hudson-Odoi

 

[OneMoSalah 8,611]

I love the optimism but I generally think other than Hazard and Pulisic the starting 11 will be the same as usual until RLC and Callum are fit, maybe apart from instead of playing 433 it will be 4231 if Lampard comes in but Im going 433 for now.

Kepa

Azpi - Rudiger - Luiz - Emerson/Alonso

Kante - Jorginho - Barkley/Kovacic? (RLC)

(CHO) Pulisic - Giroud/Higuain? - Willian

 

Lets be honest change of manager and transfer ban gives everyone, who are good enough or not good enough a fresh slate. The likes of Willian, Pedro, Barkley, Alonso, Luiz will all get clean slates and will probably feature in 75% of our games next season as they are older more experienced players who any new manager will look to get onside and get support from in the dressing room.

I do feel the likes of Reece, Ruben, Callum and Mason perhaps will also feature regularly in some capacity be it cup games (RJ & MM), starting (CHO & RLC 110% capable if they show what they did last season) and rotation (RJ & MM). I dont think Reece will start over Azpilicueta regularly next season. Dont think Azpi can play any worse than he perhaps did in the first half of the season either.

[Blue Armour 4,158]

13 hours ago, Superblue_1986 said:

I have to agree with @Tomo on this, our squad I don't believe is anywhere near as bad as everybody makes out and if we had a reliable striker I would be very confident of a comfortable third place finish, even without Hazard. We're not going to be challenging City and Liverpool next season but I don't see any reason why we can't still be competing for top 4 with the rest of the 'big 6'. Some areas could obviously be improved but with the exception of our strikers, the rest of our starting XI is on a par or better with what Spurs, United and Arsenal have.

We usually go with two strikers in the squad but this coming season I would definitely keep the three of Giroud, Batshuayi and Abraham and let them compete to see which is the best. The hope is Abraham or Batshuayi strike hot as I think both have that capability to be clinical if chances are created. Failing that we will need to find an effective way of playing through Giroud with players willing to run in behind him. There's a reason why players like playing with him because he's a great team player and I have hope that CHO and Pulisic in particular with their pace and youthful exuberance will be prepared to do this and hopefully cause team's lots of problems playing in such a direct manner.

In midfield, RLC is a big loss and if it was down to me, I would be inclined to tweak the formation next season to more of a 4-2-3-1 at least whilst RLC is out. Kante has proven time and again he's excellent in a midfield two and I think Jorginho would also benefit from Kante playing closer to him. It would also push a player further up pitch where we need more goalscorers and help solve the lack of depth in our midfield because the three behind the striker doesn't need to include a Barkley or Mount all the time, it could be made up of 3 of CHO, Pulisic, Willian and Pedro.

More than likely controversial but I would prefer to keep Drinkwater over Bakayoko, especially if we changed back to a 2 man midfield. Drinkwater reminds me of Cahill a little bit in that his qualities aren't top level but he is a solid and dependable player who could slot in and 'do a professional job' if called upon. I just have this thought in my head of a big game against City, Liverpool, Spurs, etc and the two options were Drinkwater or Bakayoko I would have more trust and faith in Drinkwater compared to Bakayoko who is woefully inconsistent and has alarming technical deficiencies to his game.

Central defence with Zouma coming back we actually have a very good group in there with different qualities. Full backs we can either stick or twist with Alonso and Zappacosta. I would be inclined to sell both if the right offers came in and place some faith in Reece James and Jay Dasilva. If we moan about Alonso's defensive qualities then Kenedy definitely is not the answer as a left back option.

 

So much this. If I wanted something out of the transfer window, that we couldn't manage with our reserves or our loan army, it would be a goal scoring CF. 

[1905didierblue 748]

Gk - Kepa, willy

Rb - azpi, James

Lb - Emerson, Jay da silva

CB - Luiz, rudiger, zouma, Andreas

Cm - Kante, jorginho, RLC, Barkley, baka, mount

Rw - Pedro, pulisic

Lw - willian, CHo

St - Tammy, michy, giroud 

Sell - Alonso, zappacosta, DD

Last chance for michy and baka to prove their worth

 

 

 

 

 

[Strike 6,958]

4 hours ago, Spike said:

Like everyone, I very much approve and enhoy Loftus-Cheek and Hudson-Odoi but to bank on them being starters with their injuries is naive. We aren't even garuanteed them returning to their best abiliites. 

Hey Spike

Also, with the transfer ban, there is no other option 

[Spike 12,049]

7 minutes ago, Strike said:

Hey Spike

Also, with the transfer ban, there is no other option 

Hey Strike

I don't disagree, but I think it is risky and threatening to their long terms careers if they are overplayed.

[Strike 6,958]

Just now, Spike said:

Hey Strike

I don't disagree, but I think it is risky and threatening to their long terms careers if they are overplayed.

Agree. Both are out till November and should be fully fit only next year. 

[communicate 2,703]

Puli - striker - willian 

Kova - kante

Jorginho/

Alonso/Emerson - Rudi - Christensen - azpi

Kepa

I think that is pretty much our starting 11 for next season. I don't see any changes from last season. I think the key is Kovacic. He has a chance to be a star for us.