1 hour ago, Frawdulant said:

                       Courtois

      Dave.           Luiz.            Rudiger

Moses.     Bakayoko.      Kante.      Alonso

               Willian.         Hazard

                         Morata

 

Looks pretty solid to me with the exception of Moses. In a perfect world I'd like to see him replaced with Danilo (looking less likely) or Aurier.

To really take it too the next level I'd replace Alonso and Willian as well but I have an attachment to them so maybe a slight bias there. In a perfect world I'd replace them with Sandro or R. Rodriguez and Sanchez.

That's pretty solid, but we also have a sneaky 4-2-4 to throw in when needed. Which is also why we're probably going to sign another striker, but we'll see.

 

Courtois

Azpilicueta - Luiz - Cahill - Alonso

Bakayoko - Kante

Willian ------------------------------ Hazard

Batshuayi - Morata

 

As you say, Danilo and Sandro would be the icing on the cake to add depth and quality to our wing back position. We're also quite likely to throw in a 3-5-2 such as the below:

 

Courtois

Azpilicueta - Luiz - Rudiger

Moses ---------------------------- Alonso

Bakayoko - Kante

Fabregas

---------------Hazard

Morata

2 hours ago, Geert The Flyer said:

You can't drop Cahill, so it would be Dave or Rudiger. Keep in mind Andreas probably will join the first team.

Cahill'll be the first to be dropped.

So no one here has any problem with playing without an English player ? I mean for Pete sake, we are an English team, in the British Premier League.  

Edited July 20, 20178 yr by Geert The Flyer

31 minutes ago, Geert The Flyer said:

So no one here has any problem with playing without an English player ? I mean for Pete sake, we are an English team, in the British Premier League.  

I think I will survive. It won't be the first time we field a team without Brits.

Edited July 20, 20178 yr by Valerie

54 minutes ago, Geert The Flyer said:

So no one here has any problem with playing without an English player ? I mean for Pete sake, we are an English team, in the British Premier League.  

We were the first club to do this in '97 or something around there, weren't we? Hardly a break from tradition.

Also, Cahill doesn't exactly suit a 5 man defence. He doesn't have the pace to deal with a winger on his own and he doesn't have the passing range to play in the centre and step into midfield. If and when we switch to a 4-2-4 or any other 4 at the back formation during the season, that's when he'll be ideal. That doesn't look like how we're going to start the season, though. So he's not right for it. There's no point putting a square peg in a round hole just so we can say that we have someone English in the side. What would you rather say at the season? At least we had an Englishman playing in our first choice side or at least we won the league? 

1 hour ago, Geert The Flyer said:

So no one here has any problem with playing without an English player ? I mean for Pete sake, we are an English team, in the British Premier League.  

Yep because us English have got this football lark sussed. 

Sod your Spanish, Germans, Brazilians...English is best. 

1 hour ago, Geert The Flyer said:

So no one here has any problem with playing without an English player ? I mean for Pete sake, we are an English team, in the British Premier League.  

Name me a world class English player we could possibly have in our starting 11? Why settle for a weaker player just because of their nationality. If we still had prime Terry, Lamps, A. Cole, J.Cole etc. i would agree with you, but Cahill is the first to be replaced in our current formation.

1 hour ago, Geert The Flyer said:

So no one here has any problem with playing without an English player ? I mean for Pete sake, we are an English team, in the British Premier League.  

It's the English Premier League. 

Couldn't care less how many English players we have in the team. I want us to be the best in Europe and as it stands, England don't have many good players. 

Thanks to our academy though, that should hopefully change in the future!

24 minutes ago, Battlewhisk said:

We were the first club to do this in '97 or something around there, weren't we? Hardly a break from tradition? 

I think we weren't the first ever but the first to do it in the league.

1 hour ago, Geert The Flyer said:

So no one here has any problem with playing without an English player ? I mean for Pete sake, we are an English team, in the British Premier League.  

Couldn't care less about 'English' football since the way the FA handled JT.

I'd rather have us develop some decent young Belgians. Everyone loves Belgium.

Couldn't care less about 'English' football since the way the FA handled JT.
I'd rather have us develop some decent young Belgians. Everyone loves Belgium.

Go to the Congo and ask them if they love the Belgians lol

4 hours ago, Geert The Flyer said:

So no one here has any problem with playing without an English player ? I mean for Pete sake, we are an English team, in the British Premier League.  

Like others have said, i'm not that fussed. I would rather players got in on merit than because of nationality.

Ideally we still need to add 2 wingbacks, a striker and a midfielder. 

Best case scenario: A.Sandro/Mendy for LWB, Danilo(?) for RWB, Llorente/Benteke to add some depth upfront.

Central midfield needs another player. Matic is leaving, Chalobah's gone and Baker is not ready . We're left with Kante, Cesc and Bakayoko. That's asking for trouble. 

Might be worth getting someone like Wilshere in...we may only get 15 games out of him but his experience and HG status will be worth it...

Seem to be forgetting he plays for Arsenal. There's no chance we can get him for a decent price.

They want £20m for a player with horrendous injuries and only 1 year left on his contract...£10m tops...

7 minutes ago, doctorblue said:

They want £20m for a player with horrendous injuries and only 1 year left on his contract...£10m tops...

It'll barely cover his annual hospital bill.

7 hours ago, Battlewhisk said:

That's pretty solid, but we also have a sneaky 4-2-4 to throw in when needed. Which is also why we're probably going to sign another striker, but we'll see.

 

Courtois

Azpilicueta - Luiz - Cahill - Alonso

Bakayoko - Kante

Willian ------------------------------ Hazard

Batshuayi - Morata

 

As you say, Danilo and Sandro would be the icing on the cake to add depth and quality to our wing back position. We're also quite likely to throw in a 3-5-2 such as the below:

 

Courtois

Azpilicueta - Luiz - Rudiger

Moses ---------------------------- Alonso

Bakayoko - Kante

Fabregas

---------------Hazard

Morata

that 3-5-2 is where I think we will be if we get to quarters or more in the Champions League, maybe with Azpi at RWB though for extra security versus the Neymars and Bales of this world. Hopefully Christensen would step up at that point or Cahill adds extra steel, him and Luiz have been through a lot let's not forget.

5 hours ago, RIP Mourinho said:

Name me a world class English player we could possibly have in our starting 11? Why settle for a weaker player just because of their nationality. If we still had prime Terry, Lamps, A. Cole, J.Cole etc. i would agree with you, but Cahill is the first to be replaced in our current formation.

I would take deli ali or Kane all day long mate.

2 minutes ago, BluesMadLad said:

I would take deli ali or Kane all day long mate.

And how the f**k could we possibly have those in our starting 11?

If we add Sandro and Danilo, which I doubt but I am hopeful of, you have to start looking at Garry and thinking does he belong anywhere near that starting 11? Other than loyalty and experience, putting aside emotional reasons, footballing wise...

12 hours ago, DonAntonio said:

If we add Sandro and Danilo, which I doubt but I am hopeful of, you have to start looking at Garry and thinking does he belong anywhere near that starting 11? Other than loyalty and experience, putting aside emotional reasons, footballing wise...

I think a lot of people including Conte are already looking at Gary and questioning whether he should be starting. 

25 minutes ago, DidierDidier said:

I think a lot of people including Conte are already looking at Gary and questioning whether he should be starting. 

Way too harsh on GC. After the arsenal loss, he was brilliant till the end and probably better than Luiz who on several occasions showed loss on concentrations (the united game and the FA cup final against arsenal).

Wont be surprised if GC leads us out of the tunnel for the majority of the games in the coming season.

Edited July 21, 20178 yr by didierforever

2 hours ago, DidierDidier said:

I think a lot of people including Conte are already looking at Gary and questioning whether he should be starting. 

I think we saw him in a back 4 unprotected and he was just not good enough, we have seen him under pressure and he can lose him composure and get dispossessed.

 He did well in the back 3 but I think having Dave beside him and luiz to sweep up behind him plus Kante in front of him left him with minimal exposure.

He is good at getting his body in the way, good at clearing, can deal with the ball in the air, very good eye for goal, decent at reading the game, but the rest of his game is below average.

 He is useless when faced up by a forward, useless when under pressure from a high press team, no pace and that leaves us vulnerable against high press teams or teams that can get between the lines.

 The game we beat city 1-3 the first half all you had to do was add the benny hill theme tune, all over the place.  

I think if Rudiger does well Cahill is the obvious one to make way and I think conte will have no sentiment, GC will have the kind of role JT had last year, a man more for the dressing room that for the pitch. 

2 hours ago, didierforever said:

Way too harsh on GC. After the arsenal loss, he was brilliant till the end and probably better than Luiz who on several occasions showed loss on concentrations (the united game and the FA cup final against arsenal).

Wont be surprised if GC leads us out of the tunnel for the majority of the games in the coming season.

David Luiz had his moments, but if you had to say which defender directly cost us the most points last season it was clearly Gary Cahill. I don't think it would be harsh on Gary Cahill to drop him considering the quality of potential replacements. Lots of people are saying Rudiger could come in for him, my opinion is Christensen should. 

Edited July 21, 20178 yr by DidierDidier