Tbf he had his back 3 plus buffon from juventus, with the national team, so it would make sense to build around that.

I wasn't keen on him coming at first mainly because I'm wary of 352, however having read various reports, I think he is much more likely to play 433 with us.

I think he will concentrate on that centre midfield area over the summer, and it will probably be fabregas plus 2 new signings.

Exciting times.

 

Said it in another thread and I absolutely agree with you on whom he'll build around. Fabregas for me is the sun and we build around him, even ahead of Hazard. Now that might be in the 352 like he did with Pirlo or it may be like you said, in a 433. That means two dynamic midfielders who do a lot of the dirty work but can also get goals and make passes. Again, ideally you'd have Vidal and Pogba.

Said it in another thread and I absolutely agree with you on whom he'll build around. Fabregas for me is the sun and we build around him, even ahead of Hazard. Now that might be in the 352 like he did with Pirlo or it may be like you said, in a 433. That means two dynamic midfielders who do a lot of the dirty work but can also get goals and make passes. Again, ideally you'd have Vidal and Pogba.

 

Get your tin hat on and prepare for the pro-RLC onslaught. 

Get your tin hat on and prepare for the pro-RLC onslaught. 

 

I love Ruben and I love the idea of Ruben coming through, but we need quality there now so I'd go for two new midfielders and offload two (Mikel and sadly Matic). Ruben as fourth choice in a three-man midfield is fine and is similar to Rabiot at PSG and what Marchisio was under Conte at Juve. Everyone's happy, right?

Said it in another thread and I absolutely agree with you on whom he'll build around. Fabregas for me is the sun and we build around him, even ahead of Hazard. Now that might be in the 352 like he did with Pirlo or it may be like you said, in a 433. That means two dynamic midfielders who do a lot of the dirty work but can also get goals and make passes. Again, ideally you'd have Vidal and Pogba.

I think Pogba is out of the question.  More than likely we could pony up the money for Nainggolan who would be a nice start.  From there I'm not sure what direction we would go.  Vidal is in his first year at Bayern so I have a hard time seeing him leave, although he would be so ideal.  Fab Naingg and Vidal would be beastly.  

A recent upload on the official Bundesliga YouTube channel:

 

Think he needs to come into the back 3 next season.

Luiz at the centre, and then Dave, Cahill and Christensen rotating for the other 2 positions. Zouma should go out on loan.

I hope we don't sign that 50M defender from Napoli, we have got a guy who has proved himself in the German league and CL. It's pretty simple, he will be next in line to top 1 of the 3 CD spots.

Azpi, Christensen and Luiz in the back 3. 
Cahill and Ake rotating. 
Zouma on loan to a top club for a year. 

 

What is this loan Zouma talk? He should be playing ahead of both Ake and Cahill next season IMO. He may be a tick slower than he was a year ago but he's still our best option to handle bigger and or faster forwards.

No reason not to have all 6 around anyway with versitility Dave and Ake have. We'll be playing more matches next season as well

Give Zouma a pre-season and let Conte be the judge.

2 hours ago, TheChelseaBlues said:

What is this loan Zouma talk? He should be playing ahead of both Ake and Cahill next season IMO. He may be a tick slower than he was a year ago but he's still our best option to handle bigger and or faster forwards.

No reason not to have all 6 around anyway with versitility Dave and Ake have. We'll be playing more matches next season as well

i think Azpi and Luiz handle the forwards fine, plus with the philosophy we are trying to create Zouma is behind the current 3 and will be Andreas aswell.

Also even with Europe 6 into 3 doesn't go, we saw that with the Attacking midfield situation in 2013. 

Injuries happen, I'm not counting on all 6 staying fit the entire season. If we carry 5 and 1 goes down suddenly we have 4 and the matches still pile up. Dave and Ake can also cover at WB and I find it hard to imagine we'll have 4 true WBs in the squad come next season. I get Conte doesn't look like he rotates much but we had a short EFL cup run and no CL matches this season. When you play two, sometimes 3 matches a week there needs to be options for rotation. 

 

Ultimately Conte will make the right choice.

22 minutes ago, TheChelseaBlues said:

Injuries happen, I'm not counting on all 6 staying fit the entire season. If we carry 5 and 1 goes down suddenly we have 4 and the matches still pile up. Dave and Ake can also cover at WB and I find it hard to imagine we'll have 4 true WBs in the squad come next season. I get Conte doesn't look like he rotates much but we had a short EFL cup run and no CL matches this season. When you play two, sometimes 3 matches a week there needs to be options for rotation. 

 

Ultimately Conte will make the right choice.

Given how good our medical department are I think we can take our chances, id be amazed if we don't sign a wing back in the summer which will mean Ake could be 5th choice CB and 4th choice wingback.

If Zouma is still here come August 31st ID be amazed.

I think we've been incredibly lucky with injuries so far this season, not only with the defenders. Having one match a week helps. I agree Ake will play a bench role but I think we disagree on how often our 2nd string of defenders will play. I'd be amazed if the same 5 play three matches in a row once CL starts up. 

1 hour ago, TheChelseaBlues said:

I think we've been incredibly lucky with injuries so far this season, not only with the defenders. Having one match a week helps. I agree Ake will play a bench role but I think we disagree on how often our 2nd string of defenders will play. I'd be amazed if the same 5 play three matches in a row once CL starts up. 

We have been "lucky" with injuries since 11/12, we haven't had a serious crisis since the Ferreira-Ivanovic CB partnership farce vs Sunderland in 2010. Its not a coincidence that it never happens to us but repeatedly happens to Arsenal and United especially, our medical department are outstanding.

There will be a lot more rotation next season especially at wing back, but our core players (Courtois, Azpi, Luiz, Kante and Eden) will be playing every CL, PL (and FA Cup vs PL opposition) game unless they are injured or suspended. Which means if we start the season with 6 CB's we will have four players fighting for one position which just isn't feesiable. I could be wrong but if I had to guess now I would say Cahill and Andreas will be fighting it out for the third CB spot with Ake as 5th choice due to his versatility, a more exotic O Shea if you like.

Edited March 25, 20179 yr by Argo

Happy 21st birthday to Andreas Christensen!

 

 

With any luck, we'll give him a chance instead of shelling big money for a Van Dijk. Clearly one of the most talented young CBs in Europe (dare I say number 1?) and deserves his big chance at Chelsea or we risk foolishly losing him. Loads of potential and we have him for free! Hopefully Conte does the needful.

Love the idea of Christensen being part of the squad next season and Conte trying to integrate him into the team. But I do have my doubts. A lot will depend on whether Conte is looking for another JT type which Christensen clearly isn't or a defender with a bit more finesse and ability to bring the ball out from the back - like Ferdinand / Stones (but liable to the odd ricket). 

 

See Christensen on a weekly basis in the Bundesliga and he reminds me very much at young JT. Needs a bit more muscles, but is an authority on the pitch, fast, intelligent playing, tactically brilliant and can read the game - all that with just 21.

I love see him back next season.

25 minutes ago, nominator said:

See Christensen on a weekly basis in the Bundesliga and he reminds me very much at young JT. Needs a bit more muscles, but is an authority on the pitch, fast, intelligent playing, tactically brilliant and can read the game - all that with just 21.

I love see him back next season.

If Barcelona can start a player like Umtiti in defense at 22, we have absolutely no reason not to play Christensen. I mean, Zouma was starting games for us at 19/20. I've seen the lad play a few times this season and as you said, he reminds me of a young JT as well, if you add pace to JT's game. Can read the game very well and still had a lot of room to grow. Bonucci was 23 when Conte took over at Juventus and he took him from a good young CB into arguably the best CB in the world (similar to how he's turned Luiz into a tank in defense these days). I'm very sure he can do the same with Christensen.

Azpi-Luiz-Christensen?

Christensen is a flexible player - he can play almost everywhere in the defence and even in midfield he could perform quite well.

See him as a backup to Luiz - 9 years younger, willingly to learn from him so he should be our future man in the center.

On 3/25/2017 at 15:21, Argo said:

We have been "lucky" with injuries since 11/12, we haven't had a serious crisis since the Ferreira-Ivanovic CB partnership farce vs Sunderland in 2010. Its not a coincidence that it never happens to us but repeatedly happens to Arsenal and United especially, our medical department are outstanding.

There will be a lot more rotation next season especially at wing back, but our core players (Courtois, Azpi, Luiz, Kante and Eden) will be playing every CL, PL (and FA Cup vs PL opposition) game unless they are injured or suspended. Which means if we start the season with 6 CB's we will have four players fighting for one position which just isn't feesiable. I could be wrong but if I had to guess now I would say Cahill and Andreas will be fighting it out for the third CB spot with Ake as 5th choice due to his versatility, a more exotic O Shea if you like.

completely agree in regards to the injury part.

 

its no coincidence that you rarely see chelsea with a huge list of injuries, we can name the amount of 'crisis' we've had in the last 10 years in one hand.

 

we clearly have the best medical team in the league, maybe even in the world. really bothers me when fans of other clubs claim their form or lack of success is down to injuries and that clubs like chelsea are only lucky.

Too early to ask but, I take it that now that we have Ake, Christensen, Zouma and Aina as well available in next years squad (Theoretically), Are we set defensively or do we feel we may still need to buy some defensive players ? 

On 3/21/2017 at 17:07, Maksimov said:

A recent upload on the official Bundesliga YouTube channel:

 

People look at this lad and STILL want to waste 50 odd million on buying a new CB? It just seems to me like a lot of Chelsea fans are getting too used to shiny new toys. Christensen is READY!

On CFC's mobile site he's now listed in the first-team squad, number 27. Looks like he'll be with us for the season then. 

Get some minutes Andreas!