1 hour 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 can't argue with that to be fair. We seem to be making a lot of profit from sales, but not much outlay at the moment in regards to player acquisition.

I am assuming that musonda will be hazards replacement early in season, and as for central midfield I would think/hope baker will be staying.

I don't mind us keeping youth, but I don't feel comfortable with 2/3 of the squad being youth players. The board has been left in a compromising position with the conte/costa situation and is set to lose our no.1 striker from previous seasons and make financial a loss on him too most likely. 

The problem is we're going after signings whose clubs either reluctant to sell or there's ridiculous price tag put on them. You would think the money wouldn't be much of an issue considering how much we've made from sales, but no idea what's going on there with our finances. 

If we make 2/3 top signings in next week or two, then great, but hearing so many unreliable links to certain players I don't know any more. Was or wasn't lukaku a target? Was he always going to utd? We will never know. 

I do think we'll keep a few youth players in the team going into next season, but who they will be is anyone's guess. 

Edited July 19, 20178 yr by enigma

1 hour ago, Scott Harris said:

Whatever our strategy is, it's not looking like a very good one right now. 

At the minute it's just a fire sale stripping the squad of any sort of depth. 

Mikel, Oscar, Ake, Terry, Chalobah, Ivanovic all sold or released with no direct replacements.

RLC, Abraham and looking like Zouma sent on loan too with no obvious direct replacements either. 

Reminding me of when Ancelotti won the double and then we stripped the squad of Bellotti, Deco, Ballack and bought in Ramires. 

Given we've released so many players the decision to exile Matic and Costa from the first team is truly bizarre to me because before long any selling clubs will start to drive a hard bargain because we'll be desperate for reinforcements. So then what happens? John Stones style sagas all over again where we know the price but refuse to pay and end up buying Papy style inferior alternatives? Scary prospect. 

I don't know about our rivals depth, but is it that much better than ours in all honesty? City probably, but what about utd, spurs, arsenal? Spurs haven't signed anybody of note, utd only signed lukaku and lindelof, and arsenal lacazette. Their squads, barring first teams, look nothing special imo. I could be wrong, so somebody could enlighten me on that. 

Edited July 19, 20178 yr by enigma

46 minutes ago, Ernie_blue said:

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

Yes, if we can get the other positions sorted as well that is. Even with a proven goalscorer like Costa and Batshuayi as back up i don't think we could compete well in both competitions with the squad we currently have. It's the rest of the squad i'm more concerned about. I just think it needs filling out a bit more.

1 hour ago, Ernie_blue said:

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.

It is a knee-jerk reaction when just two weeks into a two month transfer window people are running round like chicken little wailing and a-moaning about the sky falling in, oh woe, oh woe, oh woe, it's July and we haven't signed loads of the most expensive players on the planet, what are we going to do, might as well just accept relegation now and go an sit in a dark room, hugging ourselves.  FFS, the window is open for another 6 weeks.  sh*t, the Tories can f**k up a whole country and their own majority in 6 weeks!  People need to get a grip.  By all means have a reasonable concern, but not some of the doom and disaster stuff posts that we are getting all through the forum.

We are CHAMPIONS.  We beat the league last year, and we will beat them again this year.  Remember, you saw it here first!   If we got no Costa, then we will get in or promote someone.  They are worried about us, we don't need to worry about any of them.

16 minutes ago, enigma said:

I don't know about our rivals depth, but is it that much better than ours in all honesty? City probably, but what about utd, spurs, arsenal? Spurs haven't signed anybody of note, utd only signed lukaku and lindelof, and arsenal lacazette. Their squads, barring first teams, look nothing special imo. I could be wrong, so somebody could enlighten me on that. 

United's squad.

GK's - De Gea, Romero

Defenders - Lindelof, Bailly, Smalling, Jones, Rojo, Shaw, Darmian, Valencia, Fosu-Mensah.

Midfielders / Wingers - Carrick, Fellaini, Herrera, Pogba, Mata, Young, Martial, Lingard, Blind, Mkhitaryan.

Strikers - Lukaku, Rashford.

 

Tottenham's Squad.

GK's - Lloris, Vorm

Defenders - Rose, Alderweireld, Vertonghen, Trippier, Davies, Dier, Wimmer

Midfielders / Wingers - Wanyama, Eriksen, Sissoko, Lamela, Alli, Son, Dembele, Winks, N'Koudou

Striker - Kane, Janssen

 

Arsenal's Squad.

GK's - Cech, Ospina

Defenders - Gibbs, Mertesacker, Gabriel, Koscielny, Holding, Monreal, Mustafi, Bellerin.

Midfielders / Wingers - Ramsey, Ozil, Oxlade-Chamberlain, Cazorla, Xhaka, Coquelin, Elneny, Walcott, Sanchez

Strikers - Lacazette, Giroud, Welbeck, Iwobi.

 

Tottenham probably need to add a few, but United and Arsenal's squad look's healthy. They may not have the same quality in their first 11 as us, but their squads are a decent size. They also have been buying before selling, something we are not doing. We are also the team making the biggest changes to the squad, should we be doing this after we just won the league ? surely we should be the team that needs to make the least changes.

41 minutes ago, Scott Harris said:

United's squad.

GK's - De Gea, Romero

Defenders - Lindelof, Bailly, Smalling, Jones, Rojo, Shaw, Darmian, Valencia, Fosu-Mensah.

Midfielders / Wingers - Carrick, Fellaini, Herrera, Pogba, Mata, Young, Martial, Lingard, Blind, Mkhitaryan.

Strikers - Lukaku, Rashford.

 

Tottenham's Squad.

GK's - Lloris, Vorm

Defenders - Rose, Alderweireld, Vertonghen, Trippier, Davies, Dier, Wimmer

Midfielders / Wingers - Wanyama, Eriksen, Sissoko, Lamela, Alli, Son, Dembele, Winks, N'Koudou

Striker - Kane, Janssen

 

Arsenal's Squad.

GK's - Cech, Ospina

Defenders - Gibbs, Mertesacker, Gabriel, Koscielny, Holding, Monreal, Mustafi, Bellerin.

Midfielders / Wingers - Ramsey, Ozil, Oxlade-Chamberlain, Cazorla, Xhaka, Coquelin, Elneny, Walcott, Sanchez

Strikers - Lacazette, Giroud, Welbeck, Iwobi.

 

Tottenham probably need to add a few, but United and Arsenal's squad look's healthy. They may not have the same quality in their first 11 as us, but their squads are a decent size. They also have been buying before selling, something we are not doing. We are also the team making the biggest changes to the squad, should we be doing this after we just won the league ? surely we should be the team that needs to make the least changes.

Regarding the last point Chelsea was only playing for the league title and no European football so the squad depth wasn't really an issue. Plus Chelsea didn't really get any injuries. Like you say Chelsea let a few players go without really replacing them last season like Oscar, Ivan and Mikel. Matic and Costa also need to be replaced.

Chelsea's first team is up there with the rest of them but squad wise I can see every other team has more depth. That's not being negative.

 

52 minutes ago, yorkleyblue said:

It is a knee-jerk reaction when just two weeks into a two month transfer window people are running round like chicken little wailing and a-moaning about the sky falling in, oh woe, oh woe, oh woe, it's July and we haven't signed loads of the most expensive players on the planet, what are we going to do, might as well just accept relegation now and go an sit in a dark room, hugging ourselves.  FFS, the window is open for another 6 weeks.  sh*t, the Tories can f**k up a whole country and their own majority in 6 weeks!  People need to get a grip.  By all means have a reasonable concern, but not some of the doom and disaster stuff posts that we are getting all through the forum.

We are CHAMPIONS.  We beat the league last year, and we will beat them again this year.  Remember, you saw it here first!   If we got no Costa, then we will get in or promote someone.  They are worried about us, we don't need to worry about any of them.

I think some people are making the point that the season starts in 3 and half weeks and with the squad travelling to China and pre season can be an important part for new players to integrate. It's a fair point.

IMO Chelsea have upgraded the weakest player in the first team and should get decent money for Matic when he leaves. 

I'm not worried but more discussing the current squad. I would be really worried if Chelsea end up with Batman and a backup forward for the season though.

 

5 minutes ago, Ernie_blue said:

I think some people are making the point that the season starts in 3 and half weeks and with the squad travelling to China and pre season can be an important part for new players to integrate. It's a fair point.

IMO Chelsea have upgraded the weakest player in the first team and should get decent money for Matic when he leaves. 

I'm not worried but more discussing the current squad. I would be really worried if Chelsea end up with Batman and a backup forward for the season though.

 

Fair enough from you, though the window is open for 6 weeks or so yet.  My main point was the extreme doom and gloom from some posters, who I expect are the worst of the match-day thread moaners as well.  I'm quite happy to wait until September before I start abusing the club, the board, the manager, Emenalo and Kenyon.

7 minutes ago, yorkleyblue said:

Fair enough from you, though the window is open for 6 weeks or so yet.  My main point was the extreme doom and gloom from some posters, who I expect are the worst of the match-day thread moaners as well.  I'm quite happy to wait until September before I start abusing the club, the board, the manager, Emenalo and Kenyon.

I don't mind admitting I'm one of the worst match day moaners  

The Champions League doesn't start till September so I expect Chelsea to not make many changes to the starting 11 till the games are coming thick and fast. Maybe Conte is wanting the opportunity to look at the youngsters in China before committing to transfers, I don't know much about Musonda but hopefully he impresses.

2 hours ago, yorkleyblue said:

It is a knee-jerk reaction when just two weeks into a two month transfer window people are running round like chicken little wailing and a-moaning about the sky falling in, oh woe, oh woe, oh woe, it's July and we haven't signed loads of the most expensive players on the planet, what are we going to do, might as well just accept relegation now and go an sit in a dark room, hugging ourselves.  FFS, the window is open for another 6 weeks.  sh*t, the Tories can f**k up a whole country and their own majority in 6 weeks!  People need to get a grip.  By all means have a reasonable concern, but not some of the doom and disaster stuff posts that we are getting all through the forum.

We are CHAMPIONS.  We beat the league last year, and we will beat them again this year.  Remember, you saw it here first!   If we got no Costa, then we will get in or promote someone.  They are worried about us, we don't need to worry about any of them.

Or perhaps we could close the forum down for a close season. Football was so much more fun when the first we knew of any kind of a transfer was via the BBC, it took a backseat and May to Aug was a real closed season and by the time the pre season friendlies arrived, held in sensible places, you were gagging for a match. 

News from Beijing

2 hours ago, robdog said:

News from Beijing

Movie of this summer 

3 hours ago, robdog said:

News from Beijing

Love Carlo great man

Remember Carlo being in goal when I went. One day the papers said he had been at the Club 5 years and was eligible to play for England.

The Lower North started chanting "Carlo for England", he turned smiled and pointed a finger waving it from side to side.

Edited July 21, 20178 yr by Strider6003

On 7/20/2017 at 11:58, Valerie said:

Movie of this summer 

if you liked that movie, check this one out 

 

So how come bayern play ac milan, but we play inter milan? Bayern will be a better test for us, but would have been good to have played ac milan to see how good we/they are. 

Surely Remy still counts as half a striker

I will take him over Lorente as our third choice striker

 

 

And with that our pre-season is over. Including the Fulham match, 4 matches played, 2 wins, 2 defeats, 14 scored, 7 conceded. Regarding the Bayern and Inter matches, while the results weren't what we wanted, they're in the past now, and we'll have long forgotten about them come next Sunday when we lift the Community Shield

Like i said in the match thread, i'm not a fan of short pre season's. There just isn't enough time to assess the squad and tinker with it. 6 games should be the minimum in my opinion. It's not often you see short pre season's work out well.

Still got the Community Shield, which is a friendly.

1 hour ago, Zeta said:

Still got the Community Shield, which is a friendly.

Its not if you win it, only if you lose.

19 minutes ago, jack_super_class said:

Its not if you win it, only if you lose.

Not really. It's literally a friendly. It's a one-off match with a meaningless trophy, like all these other pre-season tournaments and trophies. Jose might claim it to be a real trophy, but it's not.