brownindian

Chelsea doesnt want their stadium attendees to drink too much. They care about you - hence the higher prices :P

Long game prediction: sh*ttier players are going to get pricier. I get what u are saying and am half in your court. The only thing we need to do in all honesty is to find our bargain values and give them a chance. Azpilicuetta, Anelka, Branislav - what makes all these players better than what they already are is the cost. They are super value for money and we need more of those signings.

Seeing as how we seem to be OK with buying injured players so far (Barkley, Drinkwater), My assumption is that the board really trusts our medical staff a lot. Maybe they thought Andy Caroll if physically fit will be an improvement over Llorente who Conte wanted. Both are big physical hold up players- only Caroll is obtainable, younger and also within budget. Caroll has the potential to be a decent signing if he can stay fit and if all we are looking for is a striker who is capable of holding up the ball front. When i look at the transfer prices for players and the fact that we are building a new stadium - i dont blame the board that much for penny pinching. My problem is them spending average money on players who are only a shade or two better than our own youth players.

Much better performance today - but you can clearly see Conte's trouble with playing him. He is just too inconsistent - The ball control and the passes seem to go from really good to downright sloppy in a moment of seconds. He needs to play consistently. For his sake i hope the loan move to Seville works out.

Was waiting for someone to correct him but sky being sky just ignored it Maybe Sky being Sky didnt know the difference either :P

Nervy display - he has his good and bad - hopefully it was just nerves.

i hope this display translates to more appearance, I think he can be a great substitute for Willian who is slowly getting better.

Mourinho will then apply for Barcas manager post :D

This is a huge problem for us and something for which neither the board nor the manager currently has any solution. We are one Hazard injury away from falling out of the top 4.

And I dont know why we cant play Batshuayi as often as Willian - sure Bats has a lot of flaws - but Willian is Willian and has been a bang average player for the past 2 years.

I do hope the board goes and gets itself a striker and loans or sells him.

The only positive with buying ZappaCosta for me is that I have learnt to appreciate Victor Moses a lot more.... LOL !! But you are right - I would much rather have OlaAina and the ZappaCosta money that this Zlatan-imposter !!

Glad to observe i am not the only one who is worried about our lack of height. I don't see the point of long balls when we know our trio are not physically capable of getting these balls. And for people saying Willian is taller, he is still not getting the ball, so what is the point ?

BEGIN RANT / WOW is all i got to say. I have no reaction to what i just saw. I am not sure what pisses me off - one thing- It is not Everton's stubborn defense. I know we had a mid week game but boy did our midfield seem a step behind, too many misplaced passes, too much lazing around, even the subs Fabergas and Zappacosta were srolling and misplacing passes. There is no excuse to that and there shouldnt be. Moses for Zappacosta substitution completely neutered our attack on the right. Batshuayi contributed nothing. If not for Eden Hazard I dont think we would be having half our chances. I think for this year he is MR Chelsea(atleast if u look at our offense). I am glad this year is a washout in a few ways - with the way City is running away with the league we need to spend on A grade players - the likes of Zappacosta wont do squat! And if that is going to be our range - buying the Zappacostas of the world, then we are better off giving our youth a chance cos they seem to perform just as subpar as these players. On one end we see Arsenal and Liverpool find ways to score and only lose cos of their sh*tty defense - Our offense beyond Hazard and Moratta (even he is not consistent) is just bang average. / END RANT

In order for him to play like today he needs to play with 2 defensive minded midfielders so that he is not charged with being responsible for defensive shielding but rather someone who chooses to defend. Also, this allows him time on the ball to make clinical passes. The only downside is that this kind of formation requires both Kante and Bakayoko/Drinkwater to play and i dont think we have cover for this place with midweek games as well.

It is still my personal opinion that if Conte and Costa had made up, our forward line up with Morata/Costa/Hazard will be so Fing lethal that we can make City sh*t in their pants.

Musings about the game: + Great win! Much needed for the team and the mood. Keep this up and we will finish top 2. + Special shout out to Mourinho for actually playing a positive game and not parking the bus. I was expecting an ugly boring affair. This was 2 teams going for each others juggular. + Welcome sight to see Kante back in our starting 11. I think this is our strongest lineup. + Our 3 man midfield of Kante, Baka and Cesc is what we need to play. Kante being the sheild with Baka being the box to box midfielder and Cesc having a reduced defensive role is the best midfield line up we have. - Alonso. He needs a backup. He was not playing his A game but i cant really blame him considering how many minutes he is playing nor can i blame Conte as we dont have a reliable rotation (Kennedy is a ?) - Finishing. Did anyone else go on an expletive laden tirade everytime our players got clear cut chances and did not 1. Shoot towards goal 2. Dilly on the ball too long and lose possession ? This should not happen to a team of our stature. We could have killed this game 4 - 0 but the fact that it ended 1 - 0 is a testament to our weak finishing. - Willian. We have seen our players have good games and bad games. Willian has been consistent however, Consistently bad. How he starts over other options I know not. I would much rather have Batshuayi play in that position and see if he can impact that game. - Composure towards the end. I dont know if this is on the players or on Contes substitution and the tactics but the final few minutes was scary. After leading Utd by a slender margin of 1 goal, the final few minutes we were letting them have too many gos at us instead of controlling possession and waste time. A more clinical team would have finished us.

I enjoyed that too until i see the score line and see Tottenham winning. Where is a draw when u need one ?

Right now absolutely true but Once we get our injured players back and do some Jan buys i think we can challenge. Also my opinion differs from yours- Champions League is a crazy crap-shoot and harder to win. If we struggle against Crystal Palace and Watford, what hope do we of fighting against the giants of the other league ? Our best bet is the top 4 as we are already there and try to win the PL or stay in top 4 and strengthen again.

And dont forget the endless media coverage about how evil Chelsea are ....

Haha - fair enough, we shall agree to disagree and leave it at that.

Looks like Slaven Billic might get the axe. CRAP !! I wish Chelsea played them before he got the axe.

He needs to complete his loan spell (put some muscles and do another loan spell) and we should be good. I feel like he has a higher ceiling than Solanke.

Red Star Belgrade ? How good is he ?

Absolutely. One thing about this game is that Watford as great as they are this season do not have the personals to punish us (missed sitters) or hold on to possession and waste time. Better teams do - and they can absolutely punish us. I really wish we get Kante and Drink water back. I would love to see Kante + Drinkwater and Bakayoko a bit forward. That is a very solid and physical midfield and Bakayokos instinct of running forward will be better suited to that setting.