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I like Trev but he needs to take the next step this season as well which isn't a matter of course. And I wouldn't like to see James play a back-up RCB as well because imho it should be about managing his minutes and not burn him out while managing other players minutes on the RCB position. It's a WC coming up mid season and he will need as many rests as possible to maintain his high power play. Although Tuchel often says it's a possibility I don't see a back 4 that likely anytime soon. Could be wrong of course. Because our current formation not only protects our midfield, which is lacking in the DM position, but it also protects our keeper - Mendy - who would be much more involved in build up phases than in a back 5 formation. And I for one have - unfortunately but what can you do? - zero trust in his passing game. And with his age he won't get much better at it as well.

Lots of assumptions. Fact is: when Tuchel came in under Abramovich there was no indication that Roman would be interested in a slowly but steadily rebuild. His whole time at Chelsea speaks against this notion and splashing that kind of money on Lukaku also points into the other direction. As TT said at that time: this is a club where you need to win/win/win and quite frankly, when I follow this forum it‘s also what the vast majority of fans expects.

Well, it's not as if there are lots of alternatives for #9s available. And if they asked him wether he wants Lukaku or ... (no idea actually who that could have been, Haaland wasn't viable, nobody knew about Darwin back then and Schick for example I doubt people would have been raving about if we'd signed him) it would have been odd to say no. And Tuchel just joined the Premier League - so all the personal stuff about Lukaku should have been a red flag for the higher ups way earlier as they should know about him much much better - as he's been a Chelsea player before. Although I do agree of course that he quite likely also misjudged heavily. He did deal with a lot of narcistic or very difficult player personalities before and mostly had a good relationship with them and got them on "his" side so probably thought he could also handle Lukaku.

Or we stay classy and let him leave for a very reasonable fee if that‘s his wish. Not his fault at all.

Not sure that‘s a thing to mock them for. It‘s a pity they „had“ to do it but at least they tried to hold off as long as possible while all the other top teams sold their chest for top bidders long before.

But we don't know if that third one could be one of Ampadu / Colwill I think. I don't want to get carried away with Koundé for the time being but I'd think he's the back-up for James as well - would make sense imho. So I agree that we need at least one more top level CB that can deliver immediately. If one of the two mentioned can do that I have no clue. Now with five subs + a wc coming up mid season I can easily see all of them getting a good chunk of minutes anyway. What I mostly meant is that imho we would have solved the basic shape of our defense and could shift our focus a little bit more forward. The Raphinha interest made a lot of sense so the question is whether there are alternatives or not.

Depending on the Ampadu/Colwill development I'd say our backline would be basically set up then - and likely much improved on last years. Maybe a good back-up for LWB would be nice but as a LWB I could see Emerson getting the odd game but without Alonso it's kinda delicate. Now selling Ziyech to Milan and Timo to Dortmund and getting a nice attacking striker / RW in would be ace. Or Rice..😇

Mount delivered though - not only with tons of scorers but being quite often challenging for MOTM even against the very best opposition. He's also extremely reliable and can help the team even if he's not in his best form (like at start of last season).

You don't play those games to win but to test stuff e.g. test players in specific situations and instructions (hence playing them out of position at times). Nobody cares if we lose against some random team in pre season if that helps us to increase the overall level. We could eventually "steamroll" those teams if we want to but if that setup wouldn't really work against the average PL team then what does it help us?

This should have been the last post till this drama is solved.

Their actually not that bad an example imho - Rashford and Greenwood looked the real deal say 2 years ago. Rashford was run into the ground and while Greenwood obviously has other severe problems I think both didn't benefit to become the ManUtd posterboys at such a young age. At some point those youngster should be held back (=be protected) for their own good although the fans run riots to see their academy prospects on the pitch.

Me too. But that would mean 2/5 certain starters are out - wouldn't have been much better last season in that case as well. And who knows what still happens with Azpi likely leaving and Alonso eventually too.

With a proven pro like Sterling I'm much more relaxed to keep CHO. Sterling - Havertz - Mount is a good front three. Callum could be a good back-up here and Pulisic as well. Werner is a player that if we keep his morale intact can be vey helpful over a season imho. Very hard-working reliable guy. The fact that his misses (and partly plain bad luck) became a meme shows that he creates dangerous situations quite often so it's more about him getting at least 15% more clinical to be almost a certain starter. Last years experiment with Lukaku f***ed him up too so that was a waste not totally down on him.

Koulibaly can play on both sides RCB and LCB so in case Koundé plays for James and Silva gets rested I guess we'd see: Koulibaly - Trev - Colwill (Mr. X) Koundé Chilwell

so Gol15 jinxed it or what?

Let's say the oldies trained much better and with much more intensity than those that weren't featured: would you give those youngster a pass and let them play regardless? Do you think Tuchel isn't aware of how players perform during training to get an idea of their potential and needs a match against Club América to understand that? Not sure mate, seems far fetched. And should Tuchel come out in a presser and outright tell the public: "Vale wasn't really focussed during our training sessions so I decided to keep him out."

Ever thought about that they actually want to leave hence aren't keen of being involved in friendlies (it's only been one so far, right? And y'all get your panties twisted already) getting injured for example? You realize that next to no other top club gets 2-3 academy players into their squad each season, even ONE is a big task. So what happens is that the academy players get sold - or loaned depending on the contract. Easy as that. PSG does it, Bayern does it, Barca does it, Real does it (not sure which was their latest academy product), City does it, United tries to bring em in but that's a dangerous road if you have to be on point to even make the CL. Young players see the likes of Bellingham, Sancho, Tchouameni, Dembele, Haaland et al. rocking it at tier two clubs as regulars and receiving ridiculous deals in the process. If TT develops two academy players like Trev and Gallagher (maybe Colwill too) + making Mount and James even better and eventually (big task) show CHO a way to become a regular starter within two years being manager here that'd be quite an achievement, especially considering the circumstances.

Indeed. Although he quickly realized how he sold himself out for a quick trick and humble as he is could only think: "Shame on me."

Amazing trick shot! He's not even looking whether it goes in or not because he just knows. Kinda like Steph Curry does at time.

What exactly does it tell us? That those older players are on absurd wages for what they offer on the pitch hence create next to no interest of other clubs and are likely to stay in our squad for the time being?

I'd say yes. Still was dysfunctional, and TT was a lame duck half a season in and fired at the end while he still got them silverware - thx to Dembele - which they hadn't won for a rather long time before as well.

Not sure what to say, we don't disagree here but as I said, City have a real DM - in fact the best in the world - even with like to like back-ups while we have none. The are also incredibly secure with the ball up front: Foden, Silva (the other Silva while he was still playing there), Mahrez, Jesus, Sterling, Gündogan, KdB (who's their most risky player) while also being able to play extremely precise. Of course you can play more risky if that's balanced by the pure talent and potential of your attacking players. Pulisic, Werner (lol) Lukaku, are not really that comfortable with the ball or plainly lose it too easily. I would have to see what CHO offers with little space (which you would automaticly have in City's system) to assess him but I dout he's anywhere near the level every single City attacker is on. So you can't talk about sheer numbers without looking how that is counterbalanced by having top CBs (there is no 37 Thiago playing in such a system), a wc #6 and comfortably the best attacking players on tight spaces. edit: luckily Pep decided to play without a real DM in the CL final because that was a deal-breaker and they could shove players into the box as they liked: we were still far more threatening and in control of the game.

We usually overload the box with James and Chilly - and that worked pretty well hence why I think we should be on the lookout for at least one sub that could play LWB/RWB to compensate at least if one of them can't play. Pulisic, CHO, Sarr all didn't work out - heck with Alonso out Emerson may be the best bet and that tells a lot. Not sure we should try to emulate City as we won't have their overall elite attacking power - the raw personell makes a huge difference. And they also have Rodri which is imho the best #6 on the planet with Fernandinho / now Phillips as very good subs for that on top.

Kova as a #6? Haven't seen much of Gallagher defensively, he's 1,82m tall so not as short as Mount or Kova (or Kanté) but I doubt you'll win many headers there. And one lost header + a speedy attacker against Thiago within a high line and we have a 1on1 against Mendy instantly. And that's exactly how a lot of mid-low level teams will play against us: sit very deep, force us to play a high line and overrun us. Also you need to factor in that James would have to play much more defensively / conservative. Will CHO compensate for our scorer that we will miss out due James not being in the box half as much? Doubt it. I'm not saying that I don't want a more fluid system but I don't see it as long as Thiago plays an integral part (likely only this season) or we don't have somebody (elite) like Rice who can occasionally drop deep to form a back 3/5 or stay put as a #6. In case we sign Koundé or Kimpembe I can see it against certain teams with Thiago on the bench.

Come on, Dembele looked an elite talent at Rennes already, of course he did because that's the reason he could pick and choose the club he would join for a total fee of 30m back then. As you said he's been an instant success at Dortmund, who cares about who he competet against? He was keeping that dysfunctional team afloat on his own (+Auba) and then had a multitude of problems at Barca. First he'd suffer from playing alongside Messi who still ran the show but within a totally unbalanced Barca side that was elite only by names on paper, not on the pitch and with managers that weren't really that good to begin with and were mostly happy that they somehow made it there. Multiple injuries and most certainly a certain lack of the right attitude (which I wouldn't read too much into since it must have been also quite frustrating there because: see reasons above). Not sure ybout you guys but in case Barca also buys Koundé which I guess is still more likely than us they have a phenomenal squad. Last half season where he stayed fit he was again very good and consistently their most threatening player on the pitch so not sure about the need to downplay his talent. Only reason we didn't splash much more cash on him to convince him is most probably his injury record, not the talent.