The Batshuayi signing was pushed through due to palace having a bid accepted first. West Ham bidded before that and I thought Spurs was interested. I know business was done early in that sense but maybe other clubs pushed it through quicker.

I wouldn't be surprised if the same happened with Kante as he was linked with nearly every club. Don't care anyway as he will be a great signing for many years. Unless he does a Matic :(

No we are not, last season was our lowest ebb defensively, Kante arrival and Conte's tactics instantly boost the defense without a new defender being signed.

We are at least just as bad defensively, but with fewer options right now...as conte said himself, with Aina injured, he has just four defenders to choose from for Burnley...

Under conte, we have kept just two clean sheets (including pre-season) in nine games and let in two against mighty Bristol rovers...not blaming him, he's clearly not been able to change it how he'd like at the back and is doing bloody well under the circumstances

Some people have missed the point...I'm a realist, I don't expect us to be buying Pogba for £89m...but I don't expect us to loan out squad players before we have brought people in either...at the moment our squad is weaker, not stronger.

We chase Koulibaly for months and then as we finally see the writing in the wall, start making desperate bids for romagnali? This is what we did this time last year when we moved for Marquinhos after Everton pulled the plug in stones...too little too late, clubs don't like to sell late when they have little time to buy replacements.

one of the main reasons we were so poor last season was a failure to properly strengthen the squad...we are in danger of making the same mistake twice...yes Kante and Batshuayi are good buys, but defensively we are poorer than at any point in the Abramovich era...

 

I agree and even before Roman arrived we had Desailly, JT and Gallas as well as having a proper left back like Le Saux.

I don't believe Chelsea are any better defensively., I don't have any confidence Chelsea will keep a clean sheet. Two out of 3 games at home. West Ham was awful and missed there main man and still scored. Rovers pen was like watching a Sunday league defence with how easy they got through.

I agree and even before Roman arrived we had Desailly, JT and Gallas as well as having a proper left back like Le Saux.

Babayaro as your reserve LB/LW and Ferrer was a very good right back. Could even throw in names like Huth and Melchiot.

I agree and even before Roman arrived we had Desailly, JT and Gallas as well as having a proper left back like Le Saux.

I agree...plus super dan petrescu!

The best signing right about now would be Athleti's technical director and head scouts. 

Conte said we only want to spend on the right players instead of panic buying because of the massive rise in fees this window.

We could end up with a load of Baba Rahman's in the squad, expensive and cannot be trusted, end up disgruntled and probably have to take a hit to get rid.

 

Anyway assuming we don't buy anyone we'll be going in with:
CB: Terry, Cahill, Miazga, Zouma (injured, no ETA)

FB: Azpi, Ivanovic, Aina (injured? probably short term)

 

Shockingly thin and we'll probably have to dip in to the youth team when needs be. We're probably going to do an Arsenal fight for 4th place while handicapped.

 

But who knows, maybe we'll sign someone, maybe we'll do a Leicester with no CL fixtures.

Threads like this are pathetic and embarrassing. 

The thing is, without the CL money, we don't really know how much $ we could spend. We got 2 good signings so far, still a few more days, to go, I'd reserve judgment until the end of the transfer window.

Threads like this are pathetic and embarrassing.

So I take it you're happy Conte has just four fit defenders to choose from right now after our worst season for 20 years?

Edited August 26, 20169 yr by The Brit

The thing is, without the CL money, we don't really know how much $ we could spend. We got 2 good signings so far, still a few more days, to go, I'd reserve judgment until the end of the transfer window.

New tv deal dwarfs cl money, albeit we suffer disadvantage of not being in Europe this year of course. Conte will have wanted signings to work with in pre-season as he got to do with Kante and Batshuayi...not play catch up...surprised how many of you seem to have forgotten that key to 2014-15 title win was deals were done early in the summer and Jose had plenty of time to get his team unit working together

I said in a match day thread the other day that if someone had told me 3 months ago that we would have sold defenders rather than bought any in, i would be worried......and i am worried. There is less than a week to go and not a single defender has been bought in, it's even more shocking that the club has let defenders go. Who in their right mind thinks it is a good idea to let defenders go when we aren't even guaranteed to bring anybody in to replace them ?

 

These days it is like we are trying to trim our squad as thin as possible. We are one injury away from our defence being an even bigger disaster than last season. I like our youngsters, but the only one who i think is good enough at the level we are aiming for is out on loan in Germany right now.

 

It's really poor and i can't imagine any manager being at all happy with this situation we are in.

 

People need to get their head out of the FIFA mentality, we can't just sign anyone, we are in a stupidly competive market.

 

Then this is where the scouting comes into play. I refuse to believe that in the whole world there is only 4 or 5 CB's that we have looked at that are good enough for us. We are supposed to be one of the top clubs in world football, we should be able to find these players.

 

Azpilicueta, Zouma, Ivanovic, these players were all relatively unheard of before we got them and they all turned out great, surely there are plenty more out there.

 

Threads like this are pathetic and embarrassing. 

 

How ? it's just someone voicing their concerns about the state of our defence. This is what forums are for.

Edited August 26, 20169 yr by Scott Harris

Threads like this are pathetic and embarrassing.

No, they aren't.

I definitely agree that we would be asking for trouble going into the season without reinforcing our defence before the window closes. However a lot could still happen before the window closes so I rest my final judgement until then.

In most cases I really didn't care that we let some of the defensive squad members leave as I haven't anything in preseason etc. to suggest they were good enough. The only exception I would say is Baba Rahman who showed some promise at times last season.

If it comes down to it and we can't get our main targets I would question the value of bringing on more Papy type signings. If any heads roll it should be over some of the dreadful signings over the last couple of years rather than a failure to sign an overpriced CB this summer.

With zouma hopefully not too far off a return I'd like to think the board are seriously pursuing a quality full back like Rodriguez who would improve the squad. Ivan is not a full back and should be a squad CB. That would give us 4 CB's once Zouma is fit. Additionally youth players like Clarke-Salter and Tomori will hopefully get a chance in the odd cup game and, if they impress, who knows.

Anyway lets see where we are at next week. Interesting days ahead and no doubt we will be linked to everybody.

Have to say we are in trouble. At this point our squad needs to be assembled. We are nowhere near.

The OP is spot on. Its 2 years in a row that we have failed to have an even average transfer window. 

Then this is where the scouting comes into play. I refuse to believe that in the whole world there is only 4 or 5 CB's that we have looked at that are good enough for us. We are supposed to be one of the top clubs in world football, we should be able to find these players.

Azpilicueta, Zouma, Ivanovic, these players were all relatively unheard of before we got them and they all turned out great, surely there are plenty more out there.

Lmao yeah I can picture this scenario, Chelsea signing an unknown defender just as the window is about to close. You guys wouldnt lose your minds at all. Problem with those three is that they were all either very raw or tool a long time to acclimate to the PL. We dont need a CB to sit and learn on the bench for a year, we need a starter now. Otherwise we might as well wait out for Christensen. But yeah, signing an unknown, not highly rated player is always a receipe for success. I dont know why more top clubs just do that, instead of spending a ton of money on workd class players

Where's Dixon,Nevin,Eddie Ned,spackman and jonny hollins when you need them? Now that was a successful summer transfer time back in 1983!!!! Back to today though, it is a worry and up to last summer I wouldn't be panicking, but let's have faith in club, I'm sure a full bk, centre bk and striker will be here this time next week.

Right now there's not likely to be a good resolution to our transfer window. Either we drop 50-60 mil on a player who was 6th or 7th choice, and therefore probably not good enough for us, or we go without. Not sure what the situation is with Kalas and Christensen but if we can bring either of those players back to the club that could help us. As for full-backs, it doesnt seem like we are even bidding for any which is strange.

Threads like this are pathetic and embarrassing.

Posts like this are pathetic and embarrassing.

Not sure what's going on with our recruitment this summer.

We quickly loaned out Baba and Papy was sold not long after, meanwhile Miazga is MIA. It seemed to suggest we were close to signing replacements... Why else would we so quickly release our defensive cover despite their lack of quality?

But here we are going into our third league game with the possibility of having no fit senior back up defenders on the bench.

How did this happen?

Why did this happen?

I'm really hoping we haven't left it too late or otherwise we could really struggle this year.

Right now there's not likely to be a good resolution to our transfer window. Either we drop 50-60 mil on a player who was 6th or 7th choice, and therefore probably not good enough for us, or we go without. Not sure what the situation is with Kalas and Christensen but if we can bring either of those players back to the club that could help us. As for full-backs, it doesnt seem like we are even bidding for any which is strange.

Kalas was super when we (& Demba Ba) saved football. Why was he not a regular afterwards? Maybe he is what we need.

We need to show patience and confidence in Conte and the board...Still plenty of time to get things done...But certainly if we fail to secure two defenders before the deadline closes then yes, it's time to directly question the board's performance in securing new players both in this window and the last...Conte coming late into post didn't help that's true but I'm sure like JM, Conte did his due diligence over the squad before he took on the job and gave the board his requirements..some of these weaknesses have already been addressed that's true...such as Kante and Bats etc. but in a modern communications world even though Conte was managing the Italian team in EC there must have been on-going dialogue between him and the board about securing their identified targets...and experience has shown that getting them in early and integrating them in pre-season training gets them up and running earlier in terms of systems and team-building...I'm for one trying to be calm and measured...ever hopeful that a suprise will be announced shortly...

Edited August 26, 20169 yr by doctorblue

So many miserable pricks on here.