Barrettinator

I'm certainly not panicking and I agree with this. There's a certain integrity to it that we've maintained although it's a whole different ball game when it's your best player (Liverpool-Coutinho, Arsenal-Sanchez). Not sure we'd be as willing to "make the player happy" if this was Hazard someone came for.

I hope Conte sticks Cahill on the bench for the rest of the season. Rudiger deserves his spot. Couldn't care less that he's the captain. We lost that match because of his stupidity. At least we'll have 3 matches without him.

Funny seeing people raving about Matic on Twitter and how we made a mistake letting him go. As I said to a lot of people when the sale happened, Matic will have a very good first 2-3 months at United and all this talk will keep coming. Until December/January rolls around and his performances start to tail off. By March he'll be putting in some absolute sh*t performances but his 9/10 performances from earlier in the season will blind opinion and people won't be ready to admit he's been sh*t. Happened in 14/15, happened in 16/17. It's also by no means a foregone conclusion that anyone is winning the title after matchday 1. We all saw how City turned out last season after winning their first 10 in convincing fashion. It's a long season. If we can remain 2nd-4th by the time Hazard returns, I reckon we'll have as good a shout as anyone.

So he should be available for our 3rd match.

I think during preseason he was just behind in fitness (still is compared to most of the squad) and getting used to our system. He pointed out recently that Conte asks of him the opposite of what every other coach he has played for has asked. That's going to take a while to get used to I think. Luckily, his scoring hasn't taken a while to come around.

Luiz went to sleep for both of Voke's goals if I'm not mistaken. Good goal and good run for the goal but he could and should have done better with his defending. Rudiger did look great though.

Absolute class performance. Difference between him and Batshuayi was night and day. I'm actually really excited to see him play more. Honestly don't want to see Bats anywhere near that starting lineup unless it's a cup game or Morata is injured. His hold up play is still beyond piss poor, surprisingly. I think pretty much 80% of passes made to him were lost to Burnley. Rather play Boga/Musonda beside Morata if Pedro's still out injured.

Matic gives everything for the club? Did you miss the entire 15/16 season? Also, did you watch the FA Cup final? That was his form for 65-70% of last season. Yes, donkey. I've had it with Matic. Always playing like he couldn't be arsed. We can use Baker for squad depth. Bakayoko-Kante-Cesc-Chalobah-Baker is enough depth imo.

We definitely should. Sell him and give Baker his spot. Knowing Chelsea though, we'll probably keep playing the donkey.

Ah yes, I was reading it wrongly. You're right.

Fair enough. You can't have it all haha. You still have Dybala, Mandzukic, Higuain and Schick and if you add Costa and Bernadeschi to that, you don't need Balde.

Incredible this Wonder if City will overtake us by the end of the summer. United look like they're going to spend a billion euros before winning the league again.

Should add "German Steel" to the thread name. How's that for corny?

Amazing that we were linked with him June 30th after previously being linked with Manolas and by July 9th, we wrapped it up. If only the Bakayoko deal could move that fast...

It's the new rave. Accept it. Some of them are actually quite well done though.

Chelsea Football Club is delighted to announce we have today completed the signing of Antonio Rudiger from Roma. The 24-year-old has signed a five-year contract and will wear the No.2 shirt. The defender said: ‘It’s a great feeling because not every player has the opportunity to join a huge club like this. 'I am looking forward to meeting up with my new team-mates and I’m very proud to officially become a Chelsea player.’ Technical Director Michael Emenalo added: ‘We are pleased to be able to bring in a player of proven quality who adds to our defensive options. 'Antonio is still young but is experienced at club and international level and possesses all the requisite attributes to thrive in the Premier League. We have been aware of him for some time and we are confident he will fit in well with the squad.’ A tough tackler, Rudiger is quick on his feet and a commanding presence in the air. Having spent most of his career playing in central defence, he is equally comfortable at full-back. Born in Berlin, Rudiger spent time in the youth set-up at Borussia Dortmund before moving to Stuttgart. He made his Stuttgart debut in a 2012 game against Borussia Monchengladbach at the age of 18, and firmly established himself as a first-team regular during the 2013/14 campaign. In 2015 he moved to Roma, initially on loan, and after a successful maiden season in Serie A the deal was made permanent. Rudiger arrives at Stamford Bridge having acquired European experience in both the Champions League and Europa League. He featured frequently for Germany at youth level and made his debut for the senior side in a friendly against Poland in May 2014. Having been called up to the reigning world champions’ Euro 2016 squad, Rudiger subsequently missed the tournament through injury but he was a key performer in Germany's Confederations Cup victory in Russia earlier this month. He was part of the defence which kept a clean sheet in the 1-0 win over Chile in last Sunday's final. We look forward to him joining up with his new team-mates ahead of the 2017/18 campaign.

Chelsea Football Club is delighted to announce we have today completed the signing of Antonio Rudiger from Roma. The 24-year-old has signed a five-year contract and will wear the No.2 shirt. The defender said: ‘It’s a great feeling because not every player has the opportunity to join a huge club like this. 'I am looking forward to meeting up with my new team-mates and I’m very proud to officially become a Chelsea player.’ Technical Director Michael Emenalo added: ‘We are pleased to be able to bring in a player of proven quality who adds to our defensive options. 'Antonio is still young but is experienced at club and international level and possesses all the requisite attributes to thrive in the Premier League. We have been aware of him for some time and we are confident he will fit in well with the squad.’ A tough tackler, Rudiger is quick on his feet and a commanding presence in the air. Having spent most of his career playing in central defence, he is equally comfortable at full-back. Born in Berlin, Rudiger spent time in the youth set-up at Borussia Dortmund before moving to Stuttgart. He made his Stuttgart debut in a 2012 game against Borussia Monchengladbach at the age of 18, and firmly established himself as a first-team regular during the 2013/14 campaign. In 2015 he moved to Roma, initially on loan, and after a successful maiden season in Serie A the deal was made permanent. Rudiger arrives at Stamford Bridge having acquired European experience in both the Champions League and Europa League. He featured frequently for Germany at youth level and made his debut for the senior side in a friendly against Poland in May 2014. Having been called up to the reigning world champions’ Euro 2016 squad, Rudiger subsequently missed the tournament through injury but he was a key performer in Germany's Confederations Cup victory in Russia earlier this month. He was part of the defence which kept a clean sheet in the 1-0 win over Chile in last Sunday's final. We look forward to him joining up with his new team-mates ahead of the 2017/18 campaign.

With his vast experience, he may be able to pull off Sandro for a bargain at £45m though.

He's not the finished product. Has flaws in his game. He also does have huge potential to be a beast though so there's that. He's not a clear and instant upgrade to our defense, which Van Dijk would have been. But I'd be uncomfortable with spending 70 odd million for Van Dijk and then going ahead to spend something close for Sandro as well so hopefully this turns out to be shrewd business. Especially as Conte apparently wanted him last summer.

I fully expect he's working on the Sandro deal.

Got a feeling we're going to have a lot of fans complain a lot about Rudiger this season. Good to have a signing other than a backup goalkeeper but he's doesn't exactly inspire a mountain hill of confidence. Hopefully I'm proven wrong though, since he definitely has the qualities to become top class. Let's see what Conte can do with him.

Hahahaha!