Jon Stakes

Hmmm... Starting to enjoy himself at Ajax... On the bright side he'll probably returned with enhanced value.

City and Arsenal are the only guarantees. Also Liverpool look to me to be stronger than United or Tottenham. I would say City, Arsenal and Pool with just one slot for the rest.

I think we can all agree that that was always a terrible idea.

Interesting. So basically you confirm Mikel was not responsible for last seasons poor outing.

It may be a question of difference in leagues, but Baba Rahman started off a bit uncertain, but quickly found his form for Schalke. Maybe, just maybe, al Baba Rahman needed was a bit of trust from his coaches, a run of games and an adjustment period so he can catch up tactically. He's young, so he will make mistakes. Defensively I think Chelsea looked no worse with Azpi on the right, Baba on the left than the Ivanovic + Azpi combo. Baba was no worse than Ivanovic in defence, but he offered width and more attacking options.

Nothing but pure class of a goal today. Makes it looks easy. Finding his feet at Ajax? The composure reminds me of Thierry Henry. Nonchalant, but deadly. Lets see if he can keep this up. His second MOTM for Ajax. Really hope someone makes a Traore vs Zwolle video, because his dribbling was superb. Nothing flashy, but he made it look just so simple, a turn here, a nudge there. Just so confident. Other player to watch was Ziyech. He could be a handy option for an Oscar replacement. BTW Was moved to right wing at Ajax.

No, Mikel is not responsible for that. Mikel practically only played the second half of the season and Chelsea was actually 5th in the second half, if I'm not mistaken. But obviously Kante is irreplaceable. If Mikel needs to sub anyone its either Matic or Fabregas on an off-day.

What about Ake?

Mourinho, Hiddink and now Conte can't seem to bench them or Matic. Its like they hold some dark secret on Abrahomovic that makes them untouchable.

Mourinho, Hiddink and now Conte can't seem to bench them or Matic. Its like they hold some dark secret on Abrahomovic that makes them untouchable.

Losing Cahill, Ivanovic and Courtois is no issue. Meanwhile what should be done is to the take the best of the loanees and incorporate them: Andreas Christensen Nathan Ake Tammy Abraham Kenneth Omeruo Baba Rahman Charly Musonda Mario Pasalic Bertrand Traore Not all will make the cut, but some of the players obviously won't do wore than what we have.

Why the hell did Chelsea buy Marcos Alonso? Ivanovic is still playing week in, week out. If Chelsea wants to play him than at least play him in central defence.

Chelsea is not winning a CL slot with Cahill, Ivanovic and Matic. All three need to be benched until further notice. Willian also should not be an automatic starter. The less said about buying back Luiz to Chelsea, the better.

I would say this much: Regardless of Mikel not fulfilling his promise he should be commended for being dedicated and in general has done nothing over the years to deserve anything other than a nice send off.

But Matic is still poor and nowhere near as good as 2 seasons ago.

BTW Any idea where Mikel is? Not even been on the bench once.

Honestly missed the moment Kenedy was loaned out to Watford. Was surprised to see him on the Watford bench today.

Seriously? Pedro? Overrated Barcelona has-been. I would prefer Kenedy over him. A shame he wasn't sold.

Hope it's not Ivanovic. He will get his bottom smacked by Mane and co.

Like I mentioned he also had a great game vs Go Ahead Eagles. Has been dissapointing apart from that.

Don't be ridiculous. It wasn't his man in that play. Lukaku was on the right side, Djilobodji is a left sided CB. The man who lost him was Lamine Kone. That said Lukaku did get the better of Djilobodji on 3-4 other occasions and was entirely at fault on the last goal. Still given the onslaught Sunderland underwent from Everton Djiobodji saved Sunderland on several other occasions. You guys wanted me to stop writing about Djilobodji, so I did. So I kept silent after a MOTM performance vs Southampton... I can write about him, but make up your minds.

But Gueye does Kante's job... and initiates attacks. He does all that Kante can and more (last season Gueye's stats were almost identical to Kante's, but he played at Aston Villa). Early in the season but: Gueye: 90,9% pass success rate, 1 assist, 6 key passes, 6 dribbles, 22 tackles, 6 interceptions, 6 headers won, 4 fouls, 7,76 Whoscored rating Kante: 94,5% pass success rate, 0 assists, 2 key passes, 3 dribbles, 13 tackles, 7 interceptions, 1 header won, 8 fouls, 6,94 Whoscored rating So basically Kante passes a bit better, but Gueye passes forward more, while Kante just recycles possession. Over and out.

Honestly not having the best start of the season for Ajax though... Has not replaced Milik. Hopefully he just needed to hit his stride. The game vs Go Ahead Eagles was arguably his best, won a penalty, had a few great shots from outside the box, had a great little dribble from midfield in the second half and won MOTM: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=49Rup8R8RSI

So far this season he is better. Not only is he a phenom defensively, but also contributes attackingwise. Chelsea would have been better with Gueye. There is a reason he was higher rated than Kante in France and Kante was actually Leicester second choice after missing out on Gueye (fact). Both players BTW were Steve Walsh signings. Walsh wanted Gueye, but settled for Kante.

a) It wasn't on the weekend. It was on Monday. b) The Papy thread is closed, so where? c) Not to blame for the first goal (Lukaku was being marked by Kone), but did not have his best day. Pretty much manhandled by Lukaku. Overall still mostly had a good season with Sunderland. Overall Sunderland fans are happy. d) Gueye is easily better than Kante. At least this season. Everton will be a threat for a CL slot.