Skinnedy

My God, what have I done...

yup... and he cost 1.5M or something. I wasn't advocating for Pope, I just happened to be typing that message at the exact moment he was saving a penalty... which again, seemed ironic...

I was. Big mistake in him. He was MOTM yesterday though, and at the exact moment I was in this thread talking about keepers, he was saving a penalty... Thought it was a bit ironic...

No way. Courtois at 35M is the 3rd most expensive goalie of all time. Ederson is next. In today's money, Buffon is probably still the most expensive of all time, but that's Buffon. we'd be lucky to get 25M back for him. Meanwhile, Nick Pope is putting on a master class for Burnley. Kepa signed a 7 year contract on huge wages. Only way he leaves is if Chelsea eats a huge chunk of those wages and fee.

Swap Kepa for Luiz, and I feel the same on both of them. Luiz has his limits, but he was damned good in the air. Take both Courtois and Luiz out, and we're so vulnerable from outside in. I never feel like we're going to score from a corner or a cross. I fell like the opposition is going to score from EVERY corner and cross.

At least today was the exception for this season instead of the rule. That he is considered our #10 and a crucial player is indiciitive of our place in the table and our results. That's not Willian's fault. He is who he is...

Well, you know what I'll be wearing next game.

I'm going away kit as well

Yup. Unless we can get a fee for him, which I'm not counting on, Drinkwater trumps the rest because of the lack of production and sell on value. We got a full refund on Morata, and should come relatively close on Bakayoko. We would have been much better off letting Chalobah walk for free, rather than selling him and bringing in Drinkwater. It's not the players you lose that kill you. it's the players you bring in who can't play.

It was only West Ham at Home It was only Bournemouth at Home It was only Southampton at Home We could use some flat track bully about now. The kid had a good match. And he looked much quicker. Chelsea fans should be encouraged with what they saw yesterday.

90M doesn't get you what it used to, does it? There's so few WC CBs in the world, that I don't think Rudiger is a weak link in our back 4.

I'm with you. I didn't expect him to be even in full training until January. He's so much farther ahead now than what I was expecting...

At the moment... so would I, but it's close... which is pretty telling considering Rudiger is returning from a 6 month layoff and a pair of surgeries. I've been a big fan of Rudiger the last several years, in part because of his pace, hampered by injury, his toughness and mentality. He had a magic wand of a right foot on the long switch, which has not returned. But I do think a lot of people under appreciate how good he's been the last three seasons for us.

Who has a better CB in the Big 6 than a fit Rudiger? Manchester United? I'd take Rudiger over Maguire, at worst call it a push Arsenal - right... Manchester City - Laporte? Liverpool - Van Dyk Spurs - Alderweireld, Vertonghen are solid, but they can't keep a clean sheet for anything Is Rudiger World Class? No, but I'd say there's only one World Class CB in the Big 6 clubs right. Of course, they're miles ahead of everyone else and Van Dyk is a big reason why. So that goes to your point... my point is, that they're awfully damned hard to find out there...

Word is he tweaked a hamstring... no speculation one way or the other on the next match..