I would seriously go for the Kante-Drinkwater midfield.

I just can't see the 3 man midfield serving us any purpose, pointless changing philosophy. 

On 10/26/2017 at 02:56, RIP Mourinho said:

So much wrong with this. 

 

In 03/04 we spent £150.72m (according to https://www.transfermarkt.co.uk/fc-chelsea/alletransfers/verein/631) with sales of just £855k. A net spend of £149.87m, without even taking into account inflation this is mental. This is probably like spending £300m-£400m in today's market and selling no one. 

 

This summer we may have spent £179.91m but after the sale of Costa we have sold £176.94m. A net spend of £2.97m is impressive and i can't argue that the signings aren't an upgrade but we have done very little to improve squad depth and it isn't anywhere near the support in 03/04. 

 

Sure we can argue that the team didn't need such a major upgrade to the starting 11 as it did back in '03 but we sure as hell should have done more to strengthen the overall squad over summer. 

thanks for this post, as it says what I was trying to say earlier.  Albeit, mine was far more flippant in its manner.  Ok, so maybe we spent money wise, more or the same this past season as we did back in 03-04.  However, we certainly didn't add to the squad like we did back then.  Maybe the term I should have used was "overhaul" or "bolster" the squad like he did back in day.

Sadly, I think those days are behind us, as is evident in the policy we've had of late where we seem to sell in order to buy.  Which I think is a policy that will leave us somewhat lacking in squad depth, or constantly trying to find the Alonso's, Zappacosta's, etc of the world

6 hours ago, Slojo said:

I would seriously go for the Kante-Drinkwater midfield.

I just can't see the 3 man midfield serving us any purpose, pointless changing philosophy. 

I think Conte's preferred formation is 3-5-2...so we would need 3 central midfielders.  It is what he played often with Juventus and italy as well.  If drinkwater can spray passes around, we have the bulk from kante and Bakayoko to cover. Cahill will get the nod, but ideally I'd like to see this:

                                Tibo

                     Dave    Luiz     Rudiger

Zappa   Bakayoko      Drinky     Kante     Alonso

                            Hazard

                                   Morata

Drinkwater has some flexibility in his role to carry forward or ping passes from deeper.  Hazard gets to free roam and Morata will need to be stout up top.  I truly think this is where Conte sees us going now that our CMs are getting healthy.  And our bench would look halfway decent: Pedro, Willian, Batshuayi, Moses, Christensen, Caballero, Fabregas

 

That's a strong team with plenty of options off the bench to change formation if need be back to 3-4-3.  Doesn't even take into account that I thought Ampadu was decent (but surely not ready) and Musonda isn't on the bench either.  Without injuries, we've got a good squad that can really compete...

 

12 minutes ago, TheChelsRVA said:

I think Conte's preferred formation is 3-5-2...so we would need 3 central midfielders.  It is what he played often with Juventus and italy as well.  If drinkwater can spray passes around, we have the bulk from kante and Bakayoko to cover. Cahill will get the nod, but ideally I'd like to see this:

                                Tibo

                     Dave    Luiz     Rudiger

Zappa   Bakayoko      Drinky     Kante     Alonso

                            Hazard

                                   Morata

Drinkwater has some flexibility in his role to carry forward or ping passes from deeper.  Hazard gets to free roam and Morata will need to be stout up top.  I truly think this is where Conte sees us going now that our CMs are getting healthy.  And our bench would look halfway decent: Pedro, Willian, Batshuayi, Moses, Christensen, Caballero, Fabregas

 

That's a strong team with plenty of options off the bench to change formation if need be back to 3-4-3.  Doesn't even take into account that I thought Ampadu was decent (but surely not ready) and Musonda isn't on the bench either.  Without injuries, we've got a good squad that can really compete...

 

Drinkwater is a good centre mid, and very underrated but he's not exactly Pirlo sadly, I doubt he'll offer that creativity in the middle. So a 3 man midfield would just be stagnating our performance, in my opinion, it's best to rely on our 3 attack force like we did last season, let Pedro & Hazard work their magic. 

We don't have a proper second striker, Bats may become that player yet not yet.

The problem with playing either Hazard, Pedro or Willian as a second striker is they get outnumbered and pushed off the ball. For it to work you need midfielders being alert and ready to spring forward to give them an outlet. To date we have not managed that successfully. I only think the three in midfield on rare occasions when we are up against a very strong midfield.

36 minutes ago, Slojo said:

Drinkwater is a good centre mid, and very underrated but he's not exactly Pirlo sadly, I doubt he'll offer that creativity in the middle. So a 3 man midfield would just be stagnating our performance, in my opinion, it's best to rely on our 3 attack force like we did last season, let Pedro & Hazard work their magic. 

The current problem with 343 is that we are getting overrun against the best teams.

I'd love to see the Kante-Drink or Kante-Baka working out but atm, 2 in the middle (albeit with Cesc) doesn't seem to work against the best teams who have power, pace and technique in the middle of the park that likes to dominate possession because our WBs can't provide width being pinned at the back by good wingers. 

Being overrun = more long balls which 1 mistake automatically means we're on the back foot again.

But I get what you're saying though, don't get me wrong but our midfield needs to be stabilized first imo to be able to play out from the back. 

Im not sure I can wrap my head around this. Reporting Conte is getting replaced AND reporting he's furious that there are reports of him being replaced.... right next to one another 

Edited October 27, 20178 yr by TheChelseaBlues

gwan antonio, tell em! lol

 

You wouldn't wanna piss him off, you end up 'sleepin wid da feeeshes'

I think it's time the for the managers in this league to come to an agreement not to do these sh*tty pre match press conferences. Every week it's just the same boring stirring from the media. Surely the managers don't enjoy it and would rather do something else with their time anyway.

Football journos are toxic and a disgrace to football atm

Nowadays I don't even bother watching these "pundits" before and after the game. 

Sooner or later im going to stop watching pressers as well.

Conte's right. Why are some newspapers dragging Steve Holland into this? The man (Steve) hadn't done anything warranting the spotlight on him

The rags are pure scum every week it's a new manager they go after. Get a few wins in a row and it's onto the next one who's under a bit of pressure.

1 hour ago, Deino said:

Conte's right. Why are some newspapers dragging Steve Holland into this? The man (Steve) hadn't done anything warranting the spotlight on him

Introducing new narratives for clicks and retweets, it’s bullsh*t !

Genuinely embarrassed at the state of journalism in this country

 

10 minutes ago, Barrettinator said:

Genuinely embarrassed at the state of journalism in this country

It's comical at this point, especially considering that type of journalism is what he's calling bullsh*t in the first place

Edited October 28, 20178 yr by lukecfc

21 hours ago, TheChelsRVA said:

I think Conte's preferred formation is 3-5-2...so we would need 3 central midfielders.  It is what he played often with Juventus and italy as well.  If drinkwater can spray passes around, we have the bulk from kante and Bakayoko to cover. Cahill will get the nod, but ideally I'd like to see this:

                                Tibo

                     Dave    Luiz     Rudiger

Zappa   Bakayoko      Drinky     Kante     Alonso

                            Hazard

                                   Morata

Drinkwater has some flexibility in his role to carry forward or ping passes from deeper.  Hazard gets to free roam and Morata will need to be stout up top.  I truly think this is where Conte sees us going now that our CMs are getting healthy.  And our bench would look halfway decent: Pedro, Willian, Batshuayi, Moses, Christensen, Caballero, Fabregas

 

That's a strong team with plenty of options off the bench to change formation if need be back to 3-4-3.  Doesn't even take into account that I thought Ampadu was decent (but surely not ready) and Musonda isn't on the bench either.  Without injuries, we've got a good squad that can really compete...

 

That team would lack goals imo. None of the midfield 3 have ever scored more than 3 goals in a top flight season. It would be decent away from home against a big side, but it is far to defensive and reactive to play week in week out. 

You can't compare kante, drinkwater, and bakayoko, to pirlo, Vidal, marchisio. 

That juve midfield had a bit of everything, strength, stamina, tactical, creativity, playmakers, goals. 

Fabregas is going through a bad patch, but if we are to play a 3 in midfield, he has to play, as he is the centre midfielder that can be a threat, whether that's scoring goals or creating them.

Drinkwater has seemed to improve astronomically since we signed him. A lot of people on here were underwhelmed by his signing, and when he was unfavourable compared to matic, the defensive argument, was that he was only bought as a 4th choice midfielder replacing chalobah, and bakayoko was Matic's replacement. 

An okay 60 mins against a poor everton side, and there is now claims be starting every game for us. I've seen Mikel have better games, against better opposition, and be absolutely slated on here in the past. 

Anyway rant over, I di think drinkwater is a decent player, I just find it bizarre how quickly the mood can change towards a 28 year old player that no one would've hankered for at the end of last season.  

23 minutes ago, Barrettinator said:

Genuinely embarrassed at the state of journalism in this country

Me too. The puns used to at least rhyme, let only make sense. Only one word to describe this one; bullsh*t!

I would hate to see Antonio go.  I really want a stable 5 years with one manager.  In this climate that seems impossible but one can hope.  

Im not sure I can wrap my head around this. Reporting Conte is getting replaced AND reporting he's furious that there are reports of him being replaced.... right next to one another 

To be fair, the 'Rumour Mill' is usually a fairly tongue in check round up of the bollocks being reported in the tabloids. Today's subheading is "today's fluff is crying like a fire in the sun".

Rather than getting all outraged over the state of tabloid journalism, it would be far better if people just stopped paying them attention.

Just let the 13 game winning streak start already

11 hours ago, JT_<3 said:

Just let the 13 game winning streak start already

It’ll be 14 games this year, 15 the next etc. 

On 10/27/2017 at 18:50, enigma said:

gwan antonio, tell em! lol

 

I love this man. We could go on to lose all of our remaining games this season and I'd still love him, what a great guy.

We lie fourth, we're in the quarters of the LC, and we're top of a very difficult CL group.

 

I think Conte's doing extremely well, given the tricky circumstances this season, and given the strengthening of our rivals.

 

If we had got him a LWB and a back-up striker he wanted he'd be doing even better in my book, but I'm very impressed with the way he's negotiating this supposed crisis.

Under Conte I think we've made superb signings. Especially wingbacks, if you take a look at City for instance, they can't sign a wingback without massively overpaying for one. 

Who really thought Alonso would be that good? Or Zappacosta? Especially the new Victor Moses we've seen starting from last season. I think the first two are looking to be bargains, full of skill, good at beating the first man, good delivery, good movement.