If we had kept the youth like RLC, Chabolah, Boga, and Aina then we wouldn't have had to scramble like we did this window. Also, feels like the club and board want to control transfers till late and then we panic and go for someone Conte wants.
Would rather have Chalobah over Drinkwater, but Zappo seems like a definite upgrade over Aina (for now, at least), Kenedy, or Rahman in terms of quality. That said, is Kenedy really going to be our only back up to Alonso? Woof. This Chalobah thing is going to bother me for years.
I refuse to believe that we gave away a guy on the cusp of becoming an England international for £5m. I think the plan is for chalonah to be at watford for 2-3 years and come back. The move was very fast and very cheap. Only reason that makes sense is if there is a buyback clause and we want to stay in the players good graces.
Transfer window grade: B I give it a B because we got 2 great players/future building blocks in morata and Baka, the necessary squad depth additions in zappacosta and drinkwater and a player who already looks a lot better than I thought and might be considered a building block soon in rudiger. I love ake as a utility player but I don't think he ever starts here. Maybe as a LB in a 4 man but he's too small for a CB consistently. Hard to argue that rudiger over ake isn't an upgrade. The chalobah one is tough but a guy like drinkwater who has excelled next to our best midfielder is really not a bad option. He also played 10 champions league games last year. Deadline day headlines of us continually getting spurned don't play well but I think we dodged numerous bullets. The Fact that we tried so hard to sign Barkley makes me trust the board far less. Only Barkley himself saved us from that mess. Pocket the money and go after a superstar next year. My biggest concern is conte. He left his beloved juventus over transfer disagreement. Was drinkwater/zappacosta enough to make him happy? If he leaves, how much will the club have to spend to bring in players for a new managers philosophy? One thing is for sure though. We have a fantastic starting XI and a great manager. If he can rotate properly throughout the season we should be top 4 and be a very difficult team to play against.
Just saw that Luke Shaw's contract is up at the end of the season. I wonder if we will go after him on a free transfer. He grew up a Chelsea fan and most people think mourinho was the one who stopped us from competing with united for him. If we end up making a big investment in a CM or a RW/RF next summer it might make sense to get a LWB on free.
Really good little interview with morata. Translated from Spanish so the English itself is a little off at times but you can get the gist of it
My guess is they are including him so they can hit him with breach of contract when he doesn't show up.
Still missing another dynamic player to interact with Hazard, although if Musinda can become that player then we're good.
Disagree. Pedro is about as dynamic as they come, Morata seems to be good at finding space and if he works well with Hazard we will be sick.
Pedro looked lost under mourinho and hiddink. In conte's system he looked really good so I agree. Can we upgrade that position next summer? Yes but I am not worried about it currently. He hasn't been lights out so far but he is the focal point now. Pedro is perfect in a complimentary role. Was at Barca and is with us. We also might use more 3-5-1-1/3-5-2 now that we got a 4th cm (5 counting luiz' ability to play there) which would leave hazard and morata up front. Burnley was a bizarre game with an early red card, once in a lifetime goals and we were a thin squad riding suspensions and injuries. We rebounded and beat 2 of the top 7 without our best player, still thin and with 2 stud new signings not fully acclimated yet. I would say it's us vs united for the title but I won't count out city. Still not the depth I want (LWB scares me) but drinkwater and zappacosta got us to the bare minimum needed to weather 1-2 injuries and suspensions across the midfield/WB spots.
What could have been. Mbappe discusses his Chelsea trial a bit. Parterned him in attack with Tammy Abraham http://www.telegraph.co.uk/football/2017/09/06/kylian-mbappe-arsenal-wanted-wanted-go-home-psg/
So fucking excited to watch his movement with hazard. Those 2 are going to be so fucking good together
Man streaming has come a long way since pre-NBC. It has buffered a few times but I can deal with it for not spending $50.
Had to watch Tottenham Burnley on a stream for the first time in years and I had no issues either. So much better than firstrowsports or whatever that garbage was back in the day. Can't imagine the 50 being worth it with how solid the streams I've seen are.
Even more amazing morata missed that early header against Tottenham with how well he's showing in the air
Successfully brain washed my son into being a Chelsea fan. He's 3. Me: guess who plays tomorrow Lil Mo: Chelsea!?!? Me:
Pretty solid. ND is a beautiful fucking campus. Good start to my sports year. Let's hope everyone keeps it up
Absolutely need the 3 points but at home we should be fine. I might be slightly worried about the trip to Azerbaijan. I am excited for this game though. Looks like zappacosta will start and we will get at least a good sub appearance from musonda
Would be nice to get th kids some confidence in pouring a few in, then root for a draw. Btw, game appears to be on local fox Sports stations.
no, it's understandable. Sort of confusing to have UEFA do things one way and the rest of FIFA another