SydneyChelsea

On the back of this season, fully agree with this. He's been disappointing in the last two games, an important cog but not crucial to Bournemouth. Rogers, Rice, Anderson were clearly the best player in their team. He could have taken the game by the scruff of the neck against Newcastle, but really didn't. Wharton also hasn't had the greatest start to the season.

I partially agree, but I don't agree that possession = control. In fact, the ability to deliberately cede possession is what stopped Fulham and Brighton from being able to defend deep and counter-attack in their preferred style, and against many (if not most) of the teams in the league it will solve our problem against low block defences. We need to be able to do both, and at will. PSG really set the standard for this last season. In our game they absorbed our best 20-30 minutes and then absolutely flattened us but crucially, they didn't give up any big chances in that 20-30min period. Half-chances and possession yes, but that made the killer blows from Kvaratskhelia et al worse.

Alonso is too conservative with his subs. Estevao needs to be coming on at 60/65 mins for whichever of Palmer, Pedro or Rogers is not performing. Pedro let the other two down today. Anonymous performance.

It does relate to us unfortunately, in the sense that Clearlake's non-Chelsea investments follow the same business model. Clearlake isn't investing in big name companies, it is investing in those smaller brands and trying to flip them to other PE for a (relatively) quick buck. It's a house of cards because it's built on the fallacy of perpetual growth. Chelsea is a different investment, it is relatively safe and it is likely an asset they can borrow against to fund other operations.

If that's his thinking then he is wrong, we are conceding chances at the back post not the centre.

He lacks acceleration. It's a big reason why he struggles to beat defenders on the dribble. He is very quick when running on to balls or covering ground but he lacks the quickness and sharpness of top level attackers.

Martin Odegaard keeps winning games for this sorry incarnation of an Arsenal team, and yet people here are doubting whether we should trust in a player of Reece James' calibre post-injury.

Some quality doomsaying going on in this thread! The only disappointing thing other than the result was the fact we have put in better performances against weaker Arsenal teams. The game reminds me of Liverpool beating Arsenal early last season, Arsenal played well but were outdone by the then-Champions and everyone proclaimed Liverpool as the inevitable back-to-back winners. The referee luck will turn against Arsenal at some point, maybe not this season but eventually things will no longer go their way. I don't buy the "defensive" issues seeing as if that were actually true, then Arsenal would have scored 5 or 6. I think back to Sarri's 6-1 loss to Man City for an embarassing, statement loss. An extra midfielder wouldn't solve this issue, certainly not a playmaker like Lamine Camara. Or "better" defenders. A change of attitude and a desire to win needs to happen. The team let Arsenal get away with murder in the way they treated Morgan Rogers.

Alaba, Brozovic, Zinchenko, Renato Sanches in that order.

Reckon that bloke just ripped @dkw and me off Obligatory link to Paul Quinn, an actual expert. One way to interpret our transfer window "win" is that our £488m in sales is actually £488m in hopeful credit notes due from other equally-indebted clubs. It's gamblers borrowing from other gamblers.

FWIW the original article was made up by ESPN Brazil, which is as reliable as Nicolas Jackson 12 yards out from goal. They tacked on some speculation to a short interview and called it "news". For selfish reasons, I think he's in the perfect position. Like in 2005 where Mourinho could start Duff and Robben and bring on Joe Cole in the 60th minute, we lose no attacking momentum if one of Palmer/Rogers gets subbed off. Estevao can change a game off the bench. Sort that midfield situation solidly and we could even see Estevao starting at his favoured no. 10 role which actually allows Rogers and Palmer to take up their favoured inside right/left spots.

I think there's two seperate but worthwhile points you and @The Rising Sun are both making: Perhaps for the first time under BlueCo we have a positive value on our playing squad. Losses on the likes of Fofana, Gusto, Neto, Mudryk, Gittens and maybe Lavia are offset against likely gains on the value of Pedro, Palmer, probably even Rogers and Caicedo in this market. This is great news for Clearlake and their lenders, but not so relevant to the club. In an inflationary market we are unlikely to secure equivalent replacements for the same price and in a deflationary market we won't receive the expected sales. Asset value doesn't matter in football terms, spending does. We've spent an unimaginable amount of money with little to show for it. That's still a problem and while we are able to cover our mistakes due to favourable selling conditions, that isn't always going to last. We have to get much, much better at recruitment. There's some dangerous PR coming out of BlueCo suggesting that Winstanley should be praised for the window sales, and that it was the recruitment and the 'model' that guaranteed us the prices we received. That is foolish nonsense. The market was inflated by a number of macroeconomic conditions that are unlikely to be repeated and are certainly not sustainable. We will not be getting 50m for Garnacho or 65m for Jackson or 125m for Enzo Fernandez equivalents in future years. BlueCo need to have some humility and take an accurate perspective, and not squander a second-chance that we might never get again.

I think that's why he was (jokingly) called Messinho because his dribbling style is very similar to Messi. Not the fastest off the mark but his close control is so good he doesn't lose speed when on the dribble, meaning if/when you fall for his fake you are left in the dust. It's the kind of playstyle that IMO ages very well, not just Messi but it makes me think of Zola, Iniesta, Busquets who still gave people twisted blood into their 30s. Messi definitely developed an elite first-step speed later on, and still has it, hence why he was still able to sit Rice and Anderson on their arse in the WC semi-final at the age of 572. Definitely something for Estevao to keep working on. Also, the idea that "bulking up" makes you slower is just...wrong. I don't know how anyone who has lived through the era of Usain Bolt or Cristiano Ronaldo can still come to that conclusion.

I know he's been compared to Aguero but that clip against Middlesbrough reminds me so much of young Rooney or Tevez. The kind of forward you just deploy up front and they cover all three positions. Blows past defenders with either strength, speed or just streetwise skill. Equally likely to nutmeg you or chop you down. Will look 35 at age 24 and will be in their mid-50s at 30.

Neither of those players are likely to be more Premier League ready than Essugo may or may not be. Which actually makes it more surprising that BlueCo didn't try, in fairness. He had a single injury in his senior career at 20, how is that 'injury-prone'?