Basically.....                 

 

                 Courtois

 

Aina     Cahill        Terry         Azpi

           

           Kante          Chalobah

                     Cesc

 

Cuadrado                  Hazard

                    Costa

 

Thoughts?      

I like this, or my formation above  . I would replace Costa with Batshuayi at the moment though. Costa just doesn't look like a threat right now, Batshuayi look's in better condition. I also think we need a new CB.

just no more flat 4-2-4 again please antonio, it just doesn't work, that first half was dire

we definitely looked better while playing 433

Chalobah Cesc and Kante in a three man midfield is mouthwatering

Basically.....                 

 

                 Courtois

 

Aina     Cahill        Terry         Azpi

           

           Kante          Chalobah

                     Cesc

 

Cuadrado                  Hazard

                    Costa

 

Thoughts?     

Bayshuayi deserves to start but other than that, it looks really good. 4-4-2 is garbage.

Batshuayi look's fitter than Costa

 

TBF didn't DC just return from injury? I will agree w/ you though, Batman should start over DC, but then you will have DC sulking in the locker room - Conte will be forced to make a decision on DC - I blame freakin AM for tapping him up

Not a fan of the 442, we looked lots better with the extra man in midfield. I don't think we could accommodate 3 expensive strikers plus Traore in the team, if Lukaku comes, Costa will go.

2nd half I Haven't seen us play with such domination, drive, relentlessness, and precision for a long time, if ever... Weak opposition last 30 but to see us play like that for once was jaw dropping, given the dross we've seen for the past year or so. Never seen a team pressed so hard... 

 

Batshuayi, Kante, Hazard, Chalobah, Juan, Oscar - wow. 

 

One question remains - wtf were Milan doing trying to play the ball from the back all game? Absolute fools. It was a comedy show at times.

One question remains - wtf were Milan doing trying to play the ball from the back all game? Absolute fools. It was a comedy show at times.

 

Yeah it looked like amateur hour in the Milan backfield, trying to work the ball from the back - I was hoping DC would pick the GK's pocket & score a goal

Edited August 4, 20169 yr by robdog

Better final thirty when we changed shape. 4/4/2 might be the managers vision, we at present don't have the personnel to achieve this. Far too much space between defence midfield and attack in the first half. The introduction of Kante and Hazard improved us immeasurably, the former will be a tremendous acquisition. Still very much a work in progress, the transfer market will determine were we finish.

Chalobah looked good. He has actually looked good and played well at every oppurtunity.

 

Matic had been dreadful but i saw him running more, making more tackles and interceptions with Kante on the pitch for the short time they were together.

I think Kante will just be the player to get the best out of Matic.

 

One thing is for sure - we cant play 4-4-2. Lets end this experimentation right now, rather than during the christmas break. 4-2-1-3/4-3-3 seems the best suited for this group of players. Specially for Cesc and Hazard who are our best players.

 

Hazard-Batshuayi-Willian

-----------cesc----------

-----matic----kante----

azpi-JT-zouma-Aina

----------Tibo---------

 

Moses-Traore-Cuadrado

Chalobah-mikel-RLC

Kenedy-Tomori-Cahill-Ivanovic

----------Begovic---------

 

Sell: Oscar, Pedro, Costa.

Buy: A striker.

 

I think we are done buying defenders. Hopefully Conte shows some trust in Aina and keeps playing him rather than playing Ivanovic who was again poor in his stint. I think with Aina, Ake, Zouma, Christensen we have some gems currently on the roster/loan. Maybe Conte wants time to assess the situation. With these 4, along with Azpi, and a couple of good signings, we can have a very good defence next season. 

 

Absolutely Hated costa's attitude today. Looks dis-interested. Consistently Moaning. Sell him. Oscar's meaningless 2 goals hopefully dont buy him time. Moreover, I would rather look at his RM performance than his Milan performance.

Edited August 4, 20169 yr by didierforever

good to have a win under our belt to build some confidence for the west ham game. Even though pre-season is about match fitness and assesing tactics and players. Still think we need a CB and a Full back.

 

If we don't by anything by the first game agaisnt west ham i would like us to line up as follows

 

 

Courtois

 

Aina Cahill Terry Azibi

 

Chalobah Kante

Fabregas

 

Cudrado Costa Hazard

 

Subs; begovic, matic, ivanovic, oscar, bathsuyi, william, pedro 

After pre-season I can't see Pedro ahead of Curadrado or Moses. Looks like the first out the door, Pedro has looked bad when played and so far Conte prefers the Nigerian and the Colombian to him.

 

Not sure why we are holding on to Matic. Or Ivanovic.

 

First team on form after pre-season seems to be:

 

 

Courtois, Aina, Terry, ?, Azpi, Fabregas / Chalobah, Kante, Cuadrado / Moses, Batshuayi, Willian, Hazard 

 

The second centerback is the obvious problem area. Terry and Cahill are snails, you can't have both on field at once.

Edited August 4, 20169 yr by Jon Stakes

Is Hazard having a jimmy riddle?

Conte is not playing his starting 11, just putting a few guys through their paces. We do need a defender. Although just maybe Ivan could replace terry.

Read all the posts on this thread and had no idea what the result was. No positives after a solid 3-1 win? Just watched highlights and it seemed we had much of the chances as well...

Conte is not playing his starting 11, just putting a few guys through their paces. We do need a defender. Although just maybe Ivan could replace terry.

 

Of course, but if Pedro or Kenedy hardly get a sniff in 4-5 friendlies, then it can't be good for them,

Conte said the team is going back to London and have a meeting about how the pre-season went and they go through all the 30 players to see who fits and who doesn't. So I suspect in a week the team takes it shape for the season.

At least we will see who is out.

People seem to read too much into preseason games year after year after year. Certain players, formations and tactics have been judged excellent and others useless. Every time, some of these 'excellent' performers are sent out on loan, or sold. This preseason has been enough to change everyone's opinion about Cuadrado in no time. With several such contractions to our assessments every year, why do we still believe that a preseason game gives us enough evidence to rate a player, or tactic, or formation?

From the Milan game, I will say that 433 seemed to work but maybe 442 or 424 will work with more practice and training. Only Conte now knows. Maybe 352? It was good to watch Kante and Aina play.

This is all about the team and the manager getting an opportunity to understand each other and discussed tactics. I admire the fact that the Milan GK continued to try suicidal moves at the back even when they were trailing. What do they have to lose? Should they be so narrow sighted that they go for the win and prevent conceding goals when longer term issues regarding their style of play can be improved upon?

All teams in these tournaments are going to look disjointed, especially those with new personnel. This doesn't mean that the teams are or aren't doomed but just that we will have to wait and see what happens.

If Chalobah goes out on loan and Matic stays i think i might actually cry.

http://acmilan.theoffside.com/2016/8/4/12373078/milan-tore-apart-by-world-class-chelsea

Milan perspective

Going to sound nitpicky but Courtois should have been way closer to that freekick. Not necessarily saying he has to save it, but he was miles away and didn't even take a step or two to his right before diving which could have made all the difference. Anyone that's been watching preseason got any comments on how he's performed?

No minutes for RLC last night? 

 

Should we be reading anything into that? 

Havent watched the game.

 

Sounds like we dominated last half an hour but up until then it was poor.

 

Only 40% of the ball again first half. I really hope thats not a sign of things to come us defending in a low block game after game.

For all we know he could have wanted that to happen to observe who works the most for him etc.

Not worth worrying about at this stage.

I'll worry when a Tony Pulis team holds the ball for longer.