Chelsea 2017/18 thread - FA Cup Champs, League chumps

We had Chalobah, RLC, Mario Pasalic, Ake, van Ginkel, etc that we sold or loaned out this summer

Probably should have kept one of them

I read somehwhere Oscar wants to return to Europe. I wouldn’t mind him back as a loanee, he could be a decent backup.
 
antihenry said:
To be fair, if it wasn't for Drinkwater getting injured right after his transfer, we'd probably have been OK.

But yes, the board fecked up by not signing more players. We need another LB, another striker and probably one more CM.
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We would have 4 CMs for 3 positions (while playing 3-5-2) or 3 B2B CMs for 2 positions (while playing 3-4-3). In what world is that okay?
 
I think a key problem is the squad seems to have been pruned in order to keep along the lines of a 3-4-3 formation where there are essentially 5 defenders. It is no surprise we are losing the midfield game, especially when the 2 'true' central midfielders are Cesc and Bakayoko - Cesc doesn't really have a great engine nowadays, though he really tries; Bakayoko is just not good enough (from what I've seen) when in possession.
 
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Bakayoko looks a clumsy player. At fault for Watford's goal. Someone here likened him to Vieira, but he looks very limited on the ball.
 
amolbhatia50k said:
Bakayoko looks a clumsy player. At fault for Watford's goal. Someone here likened him to Vieira, but he looks very limited on the ball.
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Vieira comparison was comical. Before he signed for Chelsea few said he looks like French Fellaini and that looks apt comparison.
 
Shows how important Kante is to Chelsea. If they get good results while he's out, they will be in a good position
 
amolbhatia50k said:
Bakayoko looks a clumsy player. At fault for Watford's goal. Someone here likened him to Vieira, but he looks very limited on the ball.
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Hm, since the start of the season I was actually surprised how versatile he is on the ball for a player of his build. Is this an impression over several games or mainly based on yesterday's second half? Seems to be the case for at least some posters.
 
Synco said:
Hm, since the start of the season I was actually surprised how versatile he is on the ball for a player of his build. Is this an impression over several games or mainly based on yesterday's second half? Seems to be the case for at least some posters.
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I've seen a fair few games of his/Chelsea's this season. Mind you I missed the Atletico one. He looks good on the ball for a tank of a man. But for a central midfielder and relative to the comparison I read, he looks limited to me. Even Kante looks better on the ball.
 
amolbhatia50k said:
I've seen a fair few games of his/Chelsea's this season. Mind you I missed the Atletico one. He looks good on the ball for a tank of a man. But for a central midfielder and relative to the comparison I read, he looks limited to me. Even Kante looks better on the ball.
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Wouldn't subscribe to the last sentence, but I see what you mean with the bold part. Claims like 'He's the new Vieira' (whoever has said that) are not to be taken seriously anyway. Clumsy/limited is still way too harsh for me, he has fairly good control, can dribble and pass. Perhaps it's more about consistency on a high level and minimising mistakes. (Also wouldn't discard what @Pete Dahh Sneak has written on the last page, but that was just the last game.)
 
Theafonis said:
We had Chalobah, RLC, Mario Pasalic, Ake, van Ginkel, etc that we sold or loaned out this summer

Probably should have kept one of them

I read somehwhere Oscar wants to return to Europe. I wouldn’t mind him back as a loanee, he could be a decent backup.
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Can we bring Van Ginkel back in Jan? I like VG, think he's a quality little player, would definitely be useful to have in the squad. I would rather him over spending £20-30 million on Ross Barkley.
 
Bakayoko has huge potential, but he's young and still learning. He makes some dumb mistakes but also does some hugely impressive things. I'm hopeful for him.
 
Sunspear17 said:
Can we bring Van Ginkel back in Jan? I like VG, think he's a quality little player, would definitely be useful to have in the squad. I would rather him over spending £20-30 million on Ross Barkley.
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Would love to see that happen. I don't think Drinkwater is much better than Van Ginkel, would have been great if he was retained this summer instead of the marathon effort to buy Drinkwater this summer.

Barkley is a different (but also worse) player than both of them. Much rather see Baker given a chance who is similar to Barkley and a couple of years younger if that sort of player is needed.
 
AshfordLad said:
Would love to see that happen. I don't think Drinkwater is much better than Van Ginkel, would have been great if he was retained this summer instead of the marathon effort to buy Drinkwater this summer.

Barkley is a different (but also worse) player than both of them. Much rather see Baker given a chance who is similar to Barkley and a couple of years younger if that sort of player is needed.
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I don’t see how Barkey is any better than RLC, the guy has looked decent on a Palace side devoid of any hope or attacking play. He atleast deserves a chance on the team.

Mario Pasalic also had a decent loan spell in Milan last season, it made no sense to send him out to Eastern Europe on another loan. I thought he would get minutes considering how highly rated he is and our lack of midfielders. But he gets match time and is a regular in the team including Champions League fixtures, he looked great against Liverpool a few weeks ago in a 1-1 draw. He was also involved in A few days ago, Spartak beat Sevilla 5-1.

Van Ginkel is a weird one. He was highly rated at one point and even Mourinho started him in the CL over Lampard and De Bruyne, now he’s just bouncing on loan from club to club. I don’t think the club’s plans to give him a chance nor is he in Conte’s plans — I don’t think he played in any pre season matches. But he’s doing well at PSV and they consider him a key player

http://www.talkchelsea.net/loan-wat...e-van-ginkel-scores-brace-in-3-0-win-for-psv/

I would love to see any of these players back at the club.
 
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Theafonis said:
I don’t see how Barkey is any better than RLC, the guy has looked decent on a Palace side devoid of any hope or attacking play. He atleast deserves a chance on the team.

Mario Pasalic also had a decent loan spell in Milan last season, it made no sense to send him out to Eastern Europe on another loan. I thought he would get minutes considering how highly rated he is and our lack of midfielders. But he gets match time and is a regular in the team including Champions League fixtures, he looked great against Liverpool a few weeks ago in a 1-1 draw. He was also involved in A few days ago, Spartak beat Sevilla 5-1.

Van Ginkel is a weird one. He was highly rated at one point and even Mourinho started him in the CL over Lampard and De Bruyne, now he’s just bouncing on loan from club to club. I don’t think the club’s plans to give him a chance nor is he in Conte’s plans — I don’t think he played in any pre season matches. But he’s doing well at PSV and they consider him a key player

http://www.talkchelsea.net/loan-wat...e-van-ginkel-scores-brace-in-3-0-win-for-psv/

I would love to see any of these players back at the club.
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Disagree on the Spartak loan. I think a loan to top Russian sides is not a bad option at all. He is getting some CL minutes (will likely have a run out in EL in new year) plus there is tough competition in the league. Its better than being 5th choice CM at Chelsea for sure. Also, his loan spels at Elche, and Monaco could be seen as successes as well since he was still a teenager back then. I have high hopes for him to either make the first team or make a huge profit if sold.

Van Ginkel is not bouncing around. He had a good couple of season now. His stoke spell was a weird on due to Injury issues but he has been great in 2017. Again a player who is getting regular European game time.
 
VanGaalEra said:
I’m expecting Jose to employ the same tactics he did in the cup at the Bridge last season and at Old Trafford. He’ll press your back 3.
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He 'pressed' us for about ten minutes (in the Cup game), then quickly reverted to men behind the ball. He surprised us at OT fair enough.
 
@AshfordLad as you pushed Lindelof > Rudiger so heavily and belittled us who thought otherwise, what are your thoughts on there current seasons?
 
Dancfc said:
He 'pressed' us for about ten minutes (in the Cup game), then quickly reverted to men behind the ball. He surprised us at OT fair enough.
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Yeah, it's not like we had 10 men or anything.

Don _ Conte said:
@AshfordLad as you pushed Lindelof > Rudiger so heavily and belittled us who thought otherwise, what are your thoughts on there current seasons?
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I don't think Rudiger is all that special, but he has been better than Lindelof obviously.
 
haram said:
Yeah, it's not like we had 10 men or anything.



I don't think Rudiger is all that special, but he has been better than Lindelof obviously.
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I don't think he's "special" either tbh but he is extremely fast and strong, even if he can be a bit rash at times. He's also one of our strongest players in the air and has a good level of passing about him. My point was more about how Religion and Ashford Lad were both pushing the narrative that Lindelof is easy the better player and that Rudiger was shite.
 
Don _ Conte said:
I don't think he's "special" either tbh but he is extremely fast and strong, even if he can be a bit rash at times. He's also one of our strongest players in the air and has a good level of passing about him. My point was more about how Religion and Ashford Lad were both pushing the narrative that Lindelof is easy the better player and that Rudiger was shite.
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You're such a cry baby :lol:

It's painful to watch!
 
duffer said:
I've not really seen anything of Lindelof but I'm not at all convinced by Rudiger in all honesty.
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Really? He’s stoll young and will grow as a player, feel like he needs to bulk up a bit

Clowns on here were comparing him to Mangala, :lol:
 
Theafonis said:
You’ve been left with egg on your face.

Lindelof and Herrera have been comically bad :nono:
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I still remember that time when on caf Hererra was better than Kante for a couple of weeks.

Theafonis said:
Really? He’s stoll young and will grow as a player, feel like he needs to bulk up a bit

Clowns on here were comparing him to Mangala, :lol:
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No he shouldn't bulk up, that will reduce his mobility. I find him very similar to David Luiz. Good long pass, quickish but poor reading of the game causing him to make mistakes.

Also, he is nearly 25 so the chances of him improving are not that great.
 
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VanGaalEra said:
Until Herrera got sent off you mean.
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Before Herrera got sent off we had 2/3rd's of the ball, forced De Gea into two world class saves and Smalling made a fantastic last ditch interception that prevented Luiz having a tap in. The best you mustered up in that period was Miki's speculative effort. We were cutting you open i wouldn't say at will but with relitive regularity.Conte set out the team to do a lot of 1 touch play and quick transaction's in United's half (if you play slow vs a Jose defense you will never score) and it was working well. Infact i would say the red card threw us off our stride if anything as we started getting a bit more complacent after that and weren't as quick in our forward play.

At Old Trafford you did us fair enough, but that cup game we had total control over, even more so than the league game at SW6.

AshfordLad said:
I still remember that time when on caf Hererra was better than Kante for a couple of weeks.


No he shouldn't bulk up, that will reduce his mobility. I find him very similar to David Luiz. Good long pass, quickish but poor reading of the game causing him to make mistakes.

Also, he is nearly 25 so the chances of him improving are not that great.
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I find it quite bizarre that Jose wanted shot of Luiz so badly at Chelsea yet was so desperate to sign Stones and signed Lindelof, basically watered down version's of David.
 
When is Kante back?

A few of my Chelsea friends are of the opinion that he will be back in time for our game with them next weekend, apparently the commentators said he was back in training.
 
Dembeza said:
When is Kante back?

A few of my Chelsea friends are of the opinion that he will be back in time for our game with them next weekend, apparently the commentators said he was back in training.
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Conte was of the opinion that he would be available for the game in Rome
 
Been very impressed with Rudiger so far, wasn't massively keen on him but she's quickly changing my opinion on him.

I feel Cahill gets a lot of unfair stick but he really has no right to be starting ahead of Rudiger IMO
 
CechMate1 said:
Been very impressed with Rudiger so far, wasn't massively keen on him but she's quickly changing my opinion on him.

I feel Cahill gets a lot of unfair stick but he really has no right to be starting ahead of Rudiger IMO
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For me with Cahill its not even the defending aspect that annoys me as much, even though he is still the dodgiest out of our defenders. Its the ability on the ball which is so inferior to all our other defenders.
 
Don _ Conte said:
For me with Cahill its not even the defending aspect that annoys me as much, even though he is still the dodgiest out of our defenders. Its the ability on the ball which is so inferior to all our other defenders.
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Agreed. We seem intent to play it out from the back more this season and Cahill is extremely average with the ball at his feet. Like I said, I feel Cahill gets a lot of unfair criticism at times but he really has no right to be starting ahead of the likes of Rudiger IMO
 
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