terryble things

Danny Drinkwater

Christensen and Luiz were shaky as hell first half, but both looked excellent in the second half. Great show of resilience from young Andreas. Bakayoko kept going for 90 minutes and looks a good all-round player. Kante & Alonso, superb throughout. KTBFFH

Start with Christensen in the middle, he looked decent on the ball against Burnley. Then at half-time, hoping we'll have kept it to a draw, we then bring on Baka. I'm expecting one of Musonda/Boga to start too, Michy will be on the bench. If Conte's going all for the draw we could see tomori at RWB and Moses further up the wing. Will be fascinating

My bet is the Ox or someone like him (who can cover both on the right and in the middle, so Sergi Roberto) And a new LWB (probably as back-up to Alonso at this point) That'll give us 15 odd players who we'd be comfortable starting in big games plus enough for the likes of Musonda / Tomori to get valuable game time. No disaster.

And Bego and Ake... that's almost a full team there... I daresay they'd give us a run for our money if we played them this week

Are there any other CMs at the club other than Scott?

Other having to draft Christensen into midfield, (I wouldn't have two relatively 'new' players in the backline, so Luiz should stay back) this is our strongest Hazard-free side. Hardly a disaster.

Brown, RLC, Zouma, Palmer, Chalobah, Ake, and Abraham all made premier league starts! Our talent pipeline is looking good! HA!

Luiz has lost his bottle. He has no composure when the going gets tough, I'd sub him off even if he is the only experienced cb out there. Morata and Musona ASAP.

Tibo?

Courtois, Caballero, Rudiger, Alonso, Fabregas, Kante, Moses, Willian, Batshuayi, Cahill, Azpilicueta, Luiz, Eduardo, Christiansen, Tomori, Musonda, Boga, Remy, Baker, Morata. provisional squad courtesy of the Evening Standard.

Good shout, if he matches his potential we'll do well, if not as a fan he'd rather be a deputy here than up in manc. Should have involved him in the Matic deal somehow, now they'll probably just quote 40m for him.

Sad how the injuries got to him, he should have been able to give us a decade of top football, he was only fit for what, 3 seasons total?

Hopefully the match fitness of our first eleven is spot on, otherwise it's been a weird tour. What is the point of making 5 88 minute substitutions? Have we learned anything about how the likes of Pasalic, Scott, Baker, Clarke-Salter might work in our team? All four of them could end up being in our squad (if we don't sign an imminent Matic-replacement) and will be woefully short of game time and understanding with their team-mates. Conte keeps moaning about only having 14-15 players in his squad but that's cos he doesn't play anyone else!

Can see him easily taking up a place in the squad. He'd be 6th choice CB and back-up on the Right. He'd basically take both Aina and Ake's places in the squad.

On CFC's mobile site he's now listed in the first-team squad, number 27. Looks like he'll be with us for the season then. Get some minutes Andreas!

Also for anyone wonderingm Cuevas must have the rare ability to not make a single appearance not only for Chelsea but also for.... Vitesse. We sent him on loan there for a season and they sent him back in February before dropping a division in Holland to get game time... promising!

It's more I think Conte has to try someone other than Alonso in that LWB role, or we're genuinely starting the season with just one player in our most physically demanding role. Though Cuevas could offer something.... new? He's been on our books forever.

I think we will have to experiment a little more, would be good to see the 3-5-2, when else would we? I can see something like this Courtois Christensen Luiz Rudiger Azpi Kante Pasalic Moses Fabregas Batshuayi Morata (At half-time, Tomori for Azpi, Baker for Fabregas, Caballero for Courtois)

Good luck to him, suggests Tomori will stay with us, what with the one-interprem-loan / team. That means we've got 4 serious English prospects playing in the PL for next season. Palmer at Huddersfield Abraham at Swansea RLC at Palace and Brown in Brighton.

Solid 12 a side team there

Christensen: Our whole defence looked dodgy without Luiz, Cahill was there for the usual blocks but Christensen didn't do too much right or wrong. Boga: Same as against arsenal, nice touches very direct but little impact where it matters. Morata: Very lively, strong, quick, super promising. Tomori again came on at wing-back and looked decent. Baker had a few nice touches near the end...

Young polish keeper

I think the assumption is that Izzy Brown will be going out on loan soon and I guess Conte genuinely doesn't think the others are ready. A shame seeing our lack of depth.

We have as many goalies on the bench as midfielders!