mclovin83

I could have sworn hr played on the right. I may have made that up.

Zaha plays on the right, so it wouldn't really effect CHO.

I like him. Always have. He's had a faultless attitude whilst being at the club, despite two of this three years here being "crisis seasons". He had a very respectable season in our title winning season under Conte, weighing in with his share of goals. I think he is a useful player to have, and suits Sarri's style of play.

I really hope you are right. I don't really disagree with anything you are saying specifically, I guess it just comes down to whether we can actually see Morata leading the line successfully for us. I do struggle with that. Trying to play your main striker into form is a delicate & potentially painstaking process, and we have all seen it before...... how long do you give him, how many games/points do you allow to slip through your fingers before you consider plan b (presumably Michy). And then if you do drop him (as we had to last season), it only further knocks the confidence. I agree though, had he converted the penalty, we would be talking about him having a decent pre-season on the back of a respectable performance against Inter. It's fine margins, but crucial margins never the less. I really hope he gets a goal soon and it kick starts his season. He needs it soon though.

I wish I shared your optimism. He looks a busted flush to me though, and as we saw with Torres, you can change the Manager to whoever you want but when they've lost it, they've lost it. I really hope I am wrong.

I believe this is now the single biggest problem we have heading into the new season. And it is a massive problem. I don't want to stick the boot in on the back of a few pre-season friendlies, but this has been going on since the turn of the year. It'snot just pre-season. Unfortunately, last night just refreshed our memories. We should have been at least 3 up by half time and out of site, had it not been for Moarat's finishing. We ended up losing (sort of, but you get the point). We will lose games, and a lot of points if we go into the season with a striker who can't take chances (even when they are put on a plate for him, time and time again). I was unsure of whether I wanted Higuain or not. I knew it was bad in a financial sense, but might have got us out of jail for the season at least. The more I see of Morata in front of goal, the more I wish we had got Higuain to be honest.

It's not looking good is it. Should have had a hatrick in the first half. Fluffed his lines every time. We go again...

Best player on the pitch tonight. Ripped Bellerin to shreds...

So basically, we can win this and the Charity Shield before the Premiership season even kicks off. I believe that is what is known as the double lads.

Find it hard to believe in this day & age, a passport issue would be preventing him from returning to the UK. What would the issue be exactly? Looks increasingly like he is going to stay, but I think it would be madness to pass up the chance of getting a massive transfer fee for him.

Fully agree; the whole thing stinks to high heaven. Money talks though, and I am sure that there are people who have become very rich off the back of it.

Oh grow up. The man is entitled to a few weeks holiday with his family.

Whatever happens with Willian, I really hope we don't sell him to United now. Mourinho looks a broken man at United at the moment, and in major need of a lifeline. Let's not give him that lifeline eh...

1. City 2. Liverpool 3. Spurs 4. Chelsea 5. Arsenal 6. United United being 6th relies on Mourinho getting sacked by Christmas, which would appear to be what he is hoping for based on his recent behavior. I would be happy with 4th for this season. I think people suggesting we can push City this season need to curb their expectations slightly. There is a massive amount of ground to make up, and we will be doing it whilst trying to entirely change our style of football, having barely had a pre-season.

Just realised this isn't on Chelsea TV. Great. Looks like I am about to sign up for one month of Premier Sports. What the hell is Premier Sports anyway?!

I think appointing an attack minded Manager with a clear & defined approach to the way they play the game, will go along way in encouraging Eden to stay. That seems to be something he has always wanted. Granted, if we are not winning trophies and/or challenging for the title, then that alone might not be enough. I just really hope he is willing to give it at least one more year and see how it goes from there. Even if we kept him for just one more season and then sold him, aged 28, for something in the region of £150M+ then I would think we have done pretty bloody well out of it overall.

I can confirm the away kit i so good it has earned the right to be the first ever kit purchased for my daughter (first birthday). I am expecting big things from this kit now.

I think you know by clicking on the CFC account page. It would then say who follows them that you follow. So if you follow Courtois, it would list his name. In truth though, I don't know if this is happened- it was just being 'reported' by less than reliable sources. Basically, I may owe Courtois an apology...

Good assessment and I agree with the majority. I still can't quite settle with our striker situation though. I think we need to bring someone in who Sarri has full confidence in. Higauin makes no sense from a financial point of view, granted, but I just feel it will give the team a new point of attack, one which Sarri knows well and has confidence in. I think it needs mixing up. We were like a pitbull with no teeth for the majority of last season and that was down to having a striker who couldn't take his chances. Morata just doesn't look like he suits the style Sarri is going to push, and I think if we could recover the majority of the fee we paid and and roll the dice it would be worth the gamble. Michy and Giroud to stay and good options.

Courtois has apparently just unfollowed Chelsea's official Instagram account. I mean, it's not like I care, but that's the sort of dick-head behavior that we just don't need. I can imagine him acting like a complete man child for the next 12 months if we keep him and I just don't think it's worth the aggro.

Thing is, unless Courtois signs a new deal, we can't win in this scenario. It's just a case of limiting how much we lose.

I'm sort of with you on that, but I just really don't like the idea of having a fly in the ointment who may well choose to run his mouth off to all and sundry for another 12 months unsettling the camp in the process. I'm leaning towards just getting the deed done and any fee we can get from it is better than getting sod all next summer.

That's basically free in todays market though isn't it..

Yeah. It would be a bit of a flying visit but who knows...