I hope Kyle Scott makes it, if he can improve, we might have our own Veratti in a few years

I'm glad we had a match before we left, was thinking 4 games including chty sh were not enough games. I hope we have another behind closed doors friendly between the tour and Wembley.

Tomori and Clarke-Salter have been added to the squad. 

https://www.instagram.com/p/BWs8u8xlaMy/

Chelsea’s 25-man traveling squad for Tour of Asia
https://weaintgotnohistory.sbnation.com/2017/7/19/15994252/chelsea-25-man-traveling-squad-for-tour-of-asia

 

That squad is decent but only 1 striker? 

I see why Jose doesn't like this crop of youngsters. No way they fit Jose's "you must be this tall to play for me" mentality

4 hours ago, Deino said:

That squad is decent but only 1 striker? 

I see why Jose doesn't like this crop of youngsters. No way they fit Jose's "you must be this tall to play for me" mentality

Surely Remy still counts as half a striker

Don't be so harsh on Remy he's still a decent striker. Definitely good enough for a back up, his only trouble is injuries.

Great to see so many young players in the squad. Hopefully a lot of them will impress and show they can play a few games next season.

48 minutes ago, PedroMendez said:

Surely Remy still counts as half a striker

Well he's half a player for sure...

15 minutes ago, dansubrosa said:

Don't be so harsh on Remy he's still a decent striker. Definitely good enough for a back up, his only trouble is injuries.

Great to see so many young players in the squad. Hopefully a lot of them will impress and show they can play a few games next season.

Yeah, I reckon he could do a decent job. In the League One.

That squad that's travelled for the tour really hits home how lacking in depth we are right now. 

Looking at the squad that's travelled I'm not overly optimistic about our chances on tour. Hopefully our opponents will have a few youth/reserve players on show as well to balance things out a bit. I fear we could be on the wrong end of a pasting, but on the plus side if we're going to compete on all fronts this season it may hit home that we need to bring a few more players in.

21 outfield players and 8 or 9 of those are likely to go out on loan. So by the time the season starts we will have around 13 outfield players with a proper pre-season behind them.

So what the f*ck are we doing?

13 minutes ago, the special one said:

Looking at the squad that's travelled I'm not overly optimistic about our chances on tour. Hopefully our opponents will have a few youth/reserve players on show as well to balance things out a bit. I fear we could be on the wrong end of a pasting, but on the plus side if we're going to compete on all fronts this season it may hit home that we need to bring a few more players in.

i don't particularly care about results on tour, the team will be swapped at half time (most likely) anyway. it's just getting fitness levels up. the fact we are facing 3 top teams rather than going to a country and playing their local teams who are almost cannon fodder is a great thing. the players, especially the younger ones, will gain great experience playing against the likes of bayern and inter, even arsenal to some extent lol. 

11 minutes ago, Sindre said:

21 outfield players and 8 or 9 of those are likely to go out on loan. So by the time the season starts we will have around 13 outfield players with a proper pre-season behind them.

So what the f*ck are we doing?

nobody knows that for sure. 

20 minutes ago, enigma said:

nobody knows that for sure. 

Well they're good enough to play in the first team to if they stay or they go it's still not looking too comfortable right now. 

We've been very quick to let a lot of quality and experience leave or be moved away from the team but with just two outfield signings made (neither of which are ready to link up with the squad yet) with a little over 2 weeks to go until the Community Shield match we're starting to look likely to head into the new season with an under strength squad. 

It's a worrying trend in recent summers how late we're leaving it to conclude our transfer dealings. Two years ago it really come back to haunt us and I would have liked to have thought we had learned from that mistake.. Apparently not. 

Absolute minimum right now we look like we need a striker to replace Costa, a central midfielder to replace Matic/Chalobah (unless Baker is going to stick around and Cesc given significantly more playing time) and a wing-back to provide cover for Moses.

Even then, I look at the squad right now and I cannot see where we have actually strengthened the team on last season. Is Rudiger better than Ivanovic, Terry and Ake? Is Bakayoko an improvement on Matic? If we sign a striker, will they be able to match Costa's goal scoring record? 

Throw on top that we go into the new season with Hazard injured and the possibility that Bakayoko isn't match fit. 

It's another summer where I am starting to wonder what exactly our strategy is? 

45 minutes ago, ForeverCarefree said:

Well they're good enough to play in the first team to if they stay or they go it's still not looking too comfortable right now. 

We've been very quick to let a lot of quality and experience leave or be moved away from the team but with just two outfield signings made (neither of which are ready to link up with the squad yet) with a little over 2 weeks to go until the Community Shield match we're starting to look likely to head into the new season with an under strength squad. 

It's a worrying trend in recent summers how late we're leaving it to conclude our transfer dealings. Two years ago it really come back to haunt us and I would have liked to have thought we had learned from that mistake.. Apparently not. 

Absolute minimum right now we look like we need a striker to replace Costa, a central midfielder to replace Matic/Chalobah (unless Baker is going to stick around and Cesc given significantly more playing time) and a wing-back to provide cover for Moses.

Even then, I look at the squad right now and I cannot see where we have actually strengthened the team on last season. Is Rudiger better than Ivanovic, Terry and Ake? Is Bakayoko an improvement on Matic? If we sign a striker, will they be able to match Costa's goal scoring record? 

Throw on top that we go into the new season with Hazard injured and the possibility that Bakayoko isn't match fit. 

It's another summer where I am starting to wonder what exactly our strategy is? 

I agree with this. I'm not panicking about the squad, but i am pretty worried right now.

The rest of the Premier League has a squad ready to go, they may want to bring more players in, but they still have a squad big enough right now, we don't in my opinion. Yes, we may bring in a few more before the season begins, but they will now miss out on the chance to get used to Conte's tactics, the formation and their new teammates. When we signed Costa and Fabregas, they got a full pre-season with the team and it worked wonders. We started the season on fire with those two being two of our key players.

We shouldn't have left Costa and Matic out of Pre Season in my opinion. We may well be planning on selling them, but the fact is we haven't got enough players in to replace them yet so them being sold shouldn't even be on the cards right now.

If i'm being honest, i think we are playing a stupidly risky strategy right now and i'm not sure it will pay off. I have never seen anything like this, i have never seen a top team become so dangerously thin during pre season with only weeks to go until the season starts.

I keep bringing it up, but it's important to look at how many players have gone since January and how many have been bought in.

Ivanovic, gone and still not replaced.

Oscar, gone and still not replaced

Mikel, gone and still not replaced

Begovic, gone, replaced with Caballero, is he better than Begovic though ? i'm not 100% sure to be honest. He will be back up though so hopefully it's not a serious issue.

Terry, gone, replaced with Rudiger. I like Rudiger personally and think it won't be long until he becomes a regular starter.

Ake, gone, Christensen comes back on loan as his replacement.

Zouma, gone. No replacement likely to be bought in, which is fine as long as we add more players in other positions.

Chalobah, gone, replaced with Bakayoko. I am still unsure on him especially with the issues with his knee.

Aina, gone, as it stands, his position will be replaced by another youngster unless we bring Danilo or somebody else in.

Loftus-Cheek, gone, likely to be replaced by another academy player.

Matic, although not actually sold, him being left out of the pre season tour shows that we don't plan on including him next season. No replacement seems to be on the cards right now.

Costa, same as Matic. The only difference is that we know we are looking for a striker but if things go wrong, we have Remy as backup, which, let's face it, would be a disaster. I like Remy, but he completely failed out on loan last season and we shouldn't be in the position where he could be our number 2 striker next season.

As it stands, our squad is a lot weaker than last season, which get's even worse when our star player is looking likely to be out until late September / early October. If Willian or Pedro pick up an injury now then we really are in the sh*t. Also, are these academy players coming in better or as good as Chalobah, Aina, Ake and Loftus-Cheek ? I'm not sure they are to be honest.

Whatever our strategy is, it's not looking like a very good one right now. As of now, i think it has a good chance of ending in disaster.

Edited July 19, 20178 yr by Scott Harris

Let's not declare disaster until the transfer window is finished. We could be announcing 5 players next week for all we know.

7 minutes ago, dansubrosa said:

Let's not declare disaster until the transfer window is finished. We could be announcing 5 players next week for all we know.

I'm not, i'm saying it has a high chance of ending in disaster. We may well bring in 5 players in the next week, but none of them will have any pre-season with the squad, none of them will be ready to start for us. This would be fine if we had a big enough squad right now, but because we have sold or loaned out so many players since January, we no longer have that.

I know, it's not great. I guess the very best we can hope for is from now to on the signings we make will be decent squad players who won't be in the starting 11.

Unless we sign a star striker then the best we can hope for is he slots in quickly and starts well with luck.

I'm kind of hoping Bats turns out to be the striker we all had hoped to sign, because I think Llorente would make a really unique option to have. Great in the air, great at finishing, great at ball control. Clearly not as good as the likes of Morata but he'd make a good second striker.

1 minute ago, dansubrosa said:

I'm kind of hoping Bats turns out to be the striker we all had hoped to sign, because I think Llorente would make a really unique option to have. Great in the air, great at finishing, great at ball control. Clearly not as good as the likes of Morata but he'd make a good second striker.

This is one position i am not as worried about as others are. I would rather we focused on LB, RB, CM and maybe another winger rather than bring in a striker that will cost us £60-£80m. I actually rate Batshuayi quite highly and i think he will turn out to be a really good striker if given the chance. Getting his back up is something i would prefer to see. The big money signings should be going on other positions in my opinion.

40 minutes ago, Scott Harris said:

I agree with this. I'm not panicking about the squad, but i am pretty worried right now.

The rest of the Premier League has a squad ready to go, they may want to bring more players in, but they still have a squad big enough right now, we don't in my opinion. Yes, we may bring in a few more before the season begins, but they will now miss out on the chance to get used to Conte's tactics, the formation and their new teammates. When we signed Costa and Fabregas, they got a full pre-season with the team and it worked wonders. We started the season on fire with those two being two of our key players.

We shouldn't have left Costa and Matic out of Pre Season in my opinion. We may well be planning on selling them, but the fact is we haven't got enough players in to replace them yet so them being sold shouldn't even be on the cards right now.

If i'm being honest, i think we are playing a stupidly risky strategy right now and i'm not sure it will pay off. I have never seen anything like this personally, i have never seen a top team become so dangerously thin during pre season with only weeks to go until the season starts.

I keep bringing it up, but it's important to look at how many players have gone since January and how many have been bought in.

Ivanovic, gone and still not replaced.

Oscar, gone and still not replaced

Mikel, gone and still not replaced

Begovic, gone, replaced with Caballero, is he better than Begovic though ? i'm not 100% sure to be honest. He will be back up though so hopefully it's not a serious issue.

Terry, gone, replaced with Rudiger. I like Rudiger personally and think it won't be long until he becomes a regular starter.

Ake, gone, Christensen comes back on loan as his replacement.

Zouma, gone. No replacement likely to be bought in, which is fine as long as we add more players in other positions.

Chalobah, gone, replaced with Bakayoko. I am still unsure on him especially with the issues with his knee.

Aina, gone, as it stands, his position will be replaced by another youngster unless we bring Danilo or somebody else in.

Loftus-Cheek, gone, likely to be replaced by another academy player.

Matic, although not actually sold, him being left out of the pre season tour shows that we don't plan on including him next season. No replacement seems to be on the cards right now.

Costa, same as Matic. The only difference is that we know we are looking for a striker but if things go wrong, we have Remy as backup, which, let's face it, would be a disaster. I like Remy, but he completely failed out on loan last season and we shouldn't be in the position where he could be our number 2 striker next season.

As it stands, our squad is a lot weaker than last season, which get's even worse when our star player is looking likely to be out until late September / early October. If Willian or Pedro pick up an injury now then we really are in the sh*t. Also, are these academy players coming in better or as good as Chalobah, Aina, Ake and Loftus-Cheek ? I'm not sure they are to be honest.

Whatever our strategy is, it's not looking like a very good one right now. As of now, i think it has a good chance of ending in a disaster.

I liked this Scott, not necessarily because of your conclusion, but because it is one of the better comments on the current situation that I have seen in this generally knee-jerk and downbeat thread.  Take a bow, son

Just now, yorkleyblue said:

I liked this Scott, not necessarily because of your conclusion, but because it is one of the better comments on the current situation that I have seen in this generally knee-jerk and downbeat thread.  Take a bow, son

Thank you good sir, hopefully the concerns i have turn out to be complete bollocks 

The squad lacking depth isn't really a knee jerk reaction but a fact. The defence is the best in the league and the depth for the back 3 spots is something teams like Arsenal, Liverpool and City would love. I think Alonso is more than good enough to keep his spot and either Baba or Kennedy could be a good back up.

I still think Chelsea need another 4 players.

My heart would love for us to go with Batman as our central striker but my head says we need a top class striker, we certainly need a striker anyway, I would love to see Batman do well, Aubameyang not gonna happen now it would appear, Aguero will never happen as no top team in the prem will sell to us, Morata looks like all speculation and Lewandowski will not be allowed to leave. This leaves us with very little option, maybe someone like Benteke would provide good competition for batshuayi whereby they can both battle it out for the place up front with healthy competition rather than having a striker that will keep Batshuayi on the bench due to the name. 

I am so unsure as to what to make of Bakayoko, I have not seen enough of him but I feel that we will only realise the importance of Matic when he goes, he covers a lot more ground than it looks like. I liked the look of Rudiger in the Confed cup and am hopeful he will give us real pace at the back. 

I would be most worried about United this season, Jose's second season and his own team starting to take shape. 

41 minutes ago, Scott Harris said:

This is one position i am not as worried about as others are. I would rather we focused on LB, RB, CM and maybe another winger rather than bring in a striker that will cost us £60-£80m. I actually rate Batshuayi quite highly and i think he will turn out to be a really good striker if given the chance. Getting his back up is something i would prefer to see. The big money signings should be going on other positions in my opinion.

Do you believe Batman and a backup striker would be good enough to compete for the PL and Champions league?