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It’s a bit grim isn’t it?

Its a relative game. Have we improved? Koulibaly is about the same as rudigier maybe even a bit better but older so I'd score that as a minor upgrade. Sterling is better than any of our other attackers so that is a plus. On the other hand guys like alonso and azpilcueta are older and declining so that's a downgrade. The midfield is about the same. Maybe Loftus Cheek will be more consistent. Maybe Gallagher will grow into the team, that looks less likely than before preseason started. Seems nervous to me.

The trouble is that Spurs and Arsenal will almost certainly be better this season.

That's the way it looks to me right now. Last season I thought we could challenge for the title. This season I'm feeling that top 4 would be an achievement and that aint good enough.

 
HazardousChoice said:
Maybe people will stop talking about Loftus Cheek like he's some talented young player and not 5 months away from turning 27.
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i don't care if he is 19, 27 or 31 the point is he was dominant in his position in the Udinese game. if he could play wing back and leave James as the right side defender I dunno probably it wouldn't work.

 
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ozboy said:
i don't care if he is 19, 27 or 31 the point is he was dominant in his position in the Udinese game. if he could play wing back and leave James as the right side defender I dunno probably it wouldn't work.
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What’s RLC’s sample size at RWB? 
 

 
ozboy said:
i don't care if he is 19, 27 or 31 the point is he was dominant in his position in the Udinese game.
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Worth bearing in mind that the game was against Udinese's reserves ... Udinese who finished 12th in Serie A.

Akin to getting excited by a strong performance against Crystal Palace reserves ... in a friendly ... 

 
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ozboy said:
Its a relative game. Have we improved? Koulibaly is about the same as rudigier maybe even a bit better but older so I'd score that as a minor upgrade. Sterling is better than any of our other attackers so that is a plus. On the other hand guys like alonso and azpilcueta are older and declining so that's a downgrade. The midfield is about the same. Maybe Loftus Cheek will be more consistent. Maybe Gallagher will grow into the team, that looks less likely than before preseason started. Seems nervous to me.

The trouble is that Spurs and Arsenal will almost certainly be better this season.

That's the way it looks to me right now. Last season I thought we could challenge for the title. This season I'm feeling that top 4 would be an achievement and that aint good enough.
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Its not always linear. For example, United on paper were surely going to improve signing Ronaldo, Varane and Sancho yet look.

And if it is, then surely same applies to us (surely) not having such injury and ownership crisis' this year?

 
ozboy said:
Its a relative game. Have we improved? Koulibaly is about the same as rudigier maybe even a bit better but older so I'd score that as a minor upgrade. Sterling is better than any of our other attackers so that is a plus. On the other hand guys like alonso and azpilcueta are older and declining so that's a downgrade. The midfield is about the same. Maybe Loftus Cheek will be more consistent. Maybe Gallagher will grow into the team, that looks less likely than before preseason started. Seems nervous to me.

The trouble is that Spurs and Arsenal will almost certainly be better this season.

That's the way it looks to me right now. Last season I thought we could challenge for the title. This season I'm feeling that top 4 would be an achievement and that aint good enough.
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Losing Christensen seems to be going under the radar too. As long as he was motivated he was absolutely brilliant for us under Tuchel and so far we haven't replaced him at all. And don't say Chalobah because while he's an academy lad and we wish him all the best he's nowhere near Christensens level.

The way it stands right now we will have to be extremely lucky to escape a crisis with our defence. First of all we'd need Silva and Koulibaly to be fit for the entire season and secondly we are going to need that Chalobah/Colwill/Sarr steps up massively and saves the day. Both those scenarios are unlikely to happen in my opinion.

 
ozboy said:
i don't care if he is 19, 27 or 31 the point is he was dominant in his position in the Udinese game. if he could play wing back and leave James as the right side defender I dunno probably it wouldn't work.
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Udinese reserves who were absolutely awful and dominated themselves. That Udinese team wouldn't stay up in the championship.

RLC crumbles under any kind of pressure and is a liability whenever the opposition attack.

He's not good enough and he's not going to improve now.

The only reason he's even at the club is because we can't find anyone to take him on loan with his wages but he's not a serious option for us even as a squad player imo.

 
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Sterling is an upgrade on Lukaku, and Koulibaly should be a capable replacement for Rüdiger, so it's weird that the OP would say we haven't added any "quality" to the squad. There's also a good chance of another signing or two before the window closes. These things always take time to sort out and can drag on as players and their agents try to shake down prospective clubs for every penny possible, you'd think people would have realised that by now. And then there were the pesky sanctions and change of club ownership. Chilwell's return from long-term injury should be a major boost, and I'm excited to see what Gallagher can do in midfield. All things considered, we're not doing too badly.

What make me a little nervous is that we seem to be resigned to playing a false-nine without any option for a 'plan B'. Looking at the transfer gossip columns lately, we're being linked with defenders and midfielders but no centre forwards, which indicates we're satisfied to enter the season without a traditional CF. I can only assume the scouting team and Tuchel have looked around at which CFs might realistically be signable in this window and decided that none of them are quite right for us, which would be a preferable approach to throwing a f**kload of cash at another Lukaku.

 
timetowaste said:
- Koulibaly is in the top 5 best CBs in the world

- Sterling is in the top 10 best wingers in the world 

- We've been taken over by a new group of owners that have shown they're willing to pump hundreds of millions into the club

Yes we've been a bit unlucky in the transfer window but the future of Chelsea is bright, stop acting so spoilt.
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And that poor luck has had quite a bit to do with Barca mortgaging it's future by selling future income in order to try to keep up the appearance of a ultra successful club.

Barca can't keep this up forever.  

 
WhiteWall said:
But they weren't part of spuds summer transfer dealing, which I think is what the original comparison was about
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No I know I was just musing, bout they look half decent, I’ll be happy if we get a striker

 
Update: Feeling a little less grim now the prospect of Cucerella and Fofana have been thrown on us.

We still need a solid creative attacker or a proper false 9 kind onion bagger; no f**king chance we get anywhere going in to the season with the German Peter Crouch as our frontman.

May as well start calling Havertz ‘The Lion’, not because he’s a fierce warrior either… Because all he does is stroll around with his head held high f**king yawning. Would fit right in after a hard day sat on your arse in the Savanna.

 
thebluekid said:
Update: Feeling a little less grim now the prospect of Cucerella and Fofana have been thrown on us.

We still need a solid creative attacker or a proper false 9 kind onion bagger; no f**king chance we get anywhere going in to the season with the German Peter Crouch as our frontman.

May as well start calling Havertz ‘The Lion’, not because he’s a fierce warrior either… Because all he does is stroll around with his head held high f**king yawning. Would fit right in after a hard day sat on your arse in the Savanna.
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Mean no disrespect to Crouchy either, I’d be having him over The Lion any day of the week

 
Sindre said:
The way it stands right now we will have to be extremely lucky to escape a crisis with our defence. First of all we'd need Silva and Koulibaly to be fit for the entire season and secondly we are going to need that Chalobah/Colwill/Sarr steps up massively and saves the day. Both those scenarios are unlikely to happen in my opinion.
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Even in our celebrated season of conceding only 15 PL goals in Jose's first year with us, we had a far from settled defence. JT started 36 games, and the next highest was Paolo Ferreira with 29 starts, 22 at right back and 7 at left back. Then it was Gallas with 28 starts, 12 at centre back and 16 at left back, and then Ricardo Carvalho with 22 starts at centre back. Glen Johnson made 13 starts at right back, Wayne Bridge 12 starts at left back, Robert Huth 6 at centre back, and Geremi 3 (at right back) and Babayaro 3 (at left back). 

Hence why Tuchel wants more defensive signings - we'll definitely need more cover for a long season. Colwill seems not be rated, reading between the lines, possibly Ampadu as well. I think we still need a centre back, a right back and a left back, all of whom need to provide proper competition for starting places, and not just be squad fillers.

I imagine we are still working like mad on : 

IN

Centre back, right back, left back

OUT

Azpilicueta, Alonso, Emerson, Ampadu, Sarr, and sadly probably also Colwill.

 
Sexyfootball said:
Even in our celebrated season of conceding only 15 PL goals in Jose's first year with us, we had a far from settled defence. JT started 36 games, and the next highest was Paolo Ferreira with 29 starts, 22 at right back and 7 at left back. Then it was Gallas with 28 starts, 12 at centre back and 16 at left back, and then Ricardo Carvalho with 22 starts at centre back. Glen Johnson made 13 starts at right back, Wayne Bridge 12 starts at left back, Robert Huth 6 at centre back, and Geremi 3 (at right back) and Babayaro 3 (at left back). 

Hence why Tuchel wants more defensive signings - we'll definitely need more cover for a long season. Colwill seems not be rated, reading between the lines, possibly Ampadu as well. I think we still need a centre back, a right back and a left back, all of whom need to provide proper competition for starting places, and not just be squad fillers.

I imagine we are still working like mad on : 

IN

Centre back, right back, left back

OUT

Azpilicueta, Alonso, Emerson, Ampadu, Sarr, and sadly probably also Colwill.
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Ironically that defense would have made a dream back 3 formation too. Carvalho, JT and Gallas back 3 while Geremi was born to be a wingback.

 
Sexyfootball said:
OUT

Azpilicueta, Alonso, Emerson, Ampadu, Sarr, and sadly probably also Colwill.
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I don’t think I trust TTs ability to judge potential give a dodgy PSG record.. plus we seem to be happy selling Tomori and guehi. If we move on Colwill might as well shut the academy

 
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