Will likely root for Real Madrid domestically in Spain because of him. As a fan I am happy that he got his wish while managing to stay in the good graces of the Chelsea fans. That’s not an easy path to navigate.
What are everyone's expectations for CP this year? Assuming he plays a lot, I'm expecting something like 15 G+A in all comps.
I really want to see him knee slide after scoring in our first EPL fixture to salute greatness and then never again.
Love supporting the youth but could do without Ethan as one of the models. Probably confirmation bias/reading too much in to social media but the club seems much happier/more relaxed at training than they have in a while. Maybe that's just a function of actually having a manager in July.
I feel like we need him if we are playing consistently with 2 wingers but if CHO is healthy/signs extension, pulisic and lampard are on the same page and frank is serious about playing some 4-4-2 diamond, I wouldn’t mind us selling Willian.
Frank was with the club when we signed Willian wasnt he? Will be interesting if he can send him on his way being former teammates and all.
Glad he has signed back up. Unfortunately daishawn Redan has been sold for next to nothing to hertha In the bundesliga and there is not buy back clause. Can’t win ‘em all.
I watched the whole game. We looked like shit for a lot of it. Still would have won if Kenedy could have finished a few of his top chances. Kovacic and Jorginho pivot actually looked pretty good. I’m starting to accept the kovacic signing as a third option in a pivot if we are playing 4-2-3-1. In the second half the pivot of drinkwater and bakayoko was a disaster. We need to get rid of them both ASAP. Michy just doesn’t seem like anything more than a backup to me. Doesn’t do enough. I felt that girouds movement was far superior. Was nice to see pulisic put on the shirt but he only played 25 min or so and didn’t do much although there were 1 or 2 flashes of his skill. Honestly this team looked best so far this preseason when playing in the 4-4-2 diamond and I wonder if frank will use that and look at someone like Hudson-Odoi as a second striker.
We would need one of mount/Barkley to be a true scorer from central midfield and one of pulisic/CHO to become a real scoring threat form the wing. I just don’t see any of our forwards banging in goals consistently. The one advantage we will have next season will be set piece delivery. Mount and even pulisic seem much better than Willian and hazard in this space.
I still doubt that we have 2 good strikers and we 100% can’t play 3-5-2 because we don’t have the fullbacks for it. We did look good playing no wingers in a narrow 4-4-2 diamond. Competition was shit in that game and I don’t think we can play Tammy and Michy together. Can one of them play with giroud? Maybe. Can someone like CHO play as a second striker playing a bit off one of them? Maybe. I would like to see the 4-4-2 diamond against Barca to test it against top competition and see how it looks.
Reece James, Alonso, Emerson, Zappacosta? Shift Dave back inside regularly, use him at RWB in a pinch.
The 3-4-2-1 worked for us when conte implemented it because no one in England was using it at the time and it took teams some getting used to. Once teams figured it out we were an average team. We didn’t really close that season strong and we looked like shit the next season. There’s a reason conte fought the board for Alex Sandro. The good thing about that formation was it allowed hazard to play in more of a free role without hurting our defensive shape as much. The bad news was the space it provided behind our fullbacks that got very exposed. If Emerson continues to improve and Reece James recovers from his injury and adapts quickly to the premier league I could see it. I know he played well his first season but Alonso isn’t fast enough to recover when we lose possession as a wingback. Zappacosta can’t defend. I love a 3-5-2/3-4-3 if you have good wingbacks. I need to see more from Emerson and need to see Reece succeed in the premier league to even think we have one quality wingback let alone 2.
Looks like maybe ampadu loan to RB Leipzig. I don’t know what they currently have as far as personnel but that would seem like a good loan for him. Would prefer a premier league loan but playing good minutes in a top league has to be the priority.
Was an EPL loan even a realistic option? Indication seemed it would be more like a Championship loan.
There was some talk about Aston villa. It’s hard to look at a loan for him and determine if it’s good or bad until we hear from him or the manager as far as what position they want him at. Like a lot of our youth, determining his best position will be important. I like him as a defensive mid but a lot of people like him as a centerback.
I still don’t understand CHO’s injury. Never seen any kind of Achilles injury come back that quickly.
Have thought the same thing. Seen it reported that RLCs is a lot worse. Reading between the lines I think CHO had a small or partial tear and it was something that didn’t require a full fix. Unfortunately people will expect a similar recovery from RLC and blame it on his inability to stay healthy but I don’t expect RLC to be back for 7 more months. Even if he comes back this season, I don’t think he will be himself until 2020-21. CHOs injury I’m less certain as far as when he will be himself because it just doesn’t seem that serious as far as his recovery time.
You could look at RLC’s leg when he started his rehab. His injured leg had incurred significant muscle degradation.
Really glad we got him to sign a new contract. Hopefully he gets a good loan. Worse case we should be able to sell him for a nice fee in a year or 2. I think he has the potential to be a quality wingback/winger option down the left. If he has a good loan season he could potentially be a squad player the year after.
It is too fucking early to be awake but this lineup is awesome. Mount going to end up starting over Barkley as the number 10 against United?
TAMMMMMMYYYYYYYYYY very nice finish to take the lead. Deserved lead for us. Our press is giving them problems. Our front 4 have been really good at forcing their back 4 into mistakes. Jorginho pushed all the way up and forced the error to send Tammy in on goal. Pulisic looking good so far. As has Mount. The way Mount is pressing as the number 10 reminds me of what mourinho wanted but didnt always get from oscar as the number 10 in the same formation.
Since kante signed Chelsea have been reliant on him. This Jorginho/kovacic pivot with an aggressive pressing number 10 like mount gives me confidence that we can win a game without kante against a good team. Busquets is playing but they had 2 youth players in the other 2 midfield spots which likely helped though. I stand by the fact that kovacic/Jorginho/kante can’t play together with the lack of elite scorers in our front 3 but 2 of those 3 form a good 4-2-3-1 pivot. Starting to already second guess myself on the criticism I had when we signed kovacic. Especially with how bad both bakayoko and drinkwater looked this preseason when given a chance in the pivot.
Baka needs to play in Germany/France/Italy. He’s not technically sound enough to play in the EPL where his physical gifts are negated.
I think Kovacic will blossom under Lampard. It’s a total different animal when your skipper played in generally the same area on the pitch. He already has really good movement off the ball. Encouraged.
Far too much fuss being made about a jersey number but I guess this is what happens when your club sits out the transfer market rumor mill in the summer.