I don't know how it can be disputed otherwise and worse be compared to 2015 which is ridiculous.

Yes there were some not so great points so ill start there. The Sandro saga was frustrating, starting the season with such a thin squad was not nice but with the deadline day arrival's plus Eden and Baka coming into the fold we are much stronger there, not making a real push for Llorente i didn't like as i don't rate Bats (i can't consider missing out on Lukaku as a bad point as i don't think he suited us atall) and i think we should have kept Traore but much more positive than negative.

But more good than bad has happened, we have made 3 major signing's that will maybe form part of our spine for year's, a backup keeper with vast quality and experience, brung a highly talented academy player into the fold and made two solid signing's on deadline day who will at worst provide quality depth. Won't pretend i know anything about Zappa before Thursday but from what i have read he is likely to climb above Moses sooner or later, which in turn will make Victor a good squad player for WB. Drinkwater's signing makes us 10x stronger im CM than last season, Baka is an upgrade to Matic in this system and Drinkwater is a huge upgrade on Chalobah (what do people see in that guy that i don't?). Would it have been good to have got our business done earlier? Ofcourse, but this isn't fifa career mode and put it this way there's a reason 90% of clubs are active on that famous day, negotiation's are a very complicated procedure, i have on and off helped run my local club in recent year's and believe me, even 4 figure transfer deals are a pain in the arse to negotiate. Also we appear to have given our biggest prospect Tammy a loan which he is excelling at and fits in well, Swansea fans are heavily impressed and Zouma and Ruben have got great loans and are getting games, massive win in that regard. 

As starting with Glenn said the other day, it's a fantastic achievement by the club that we balance the books while winning trophies, especially up against the spending in Manchester. Do i think we have no flaws? No, but the way some people bang on you'd think we had The Venky's incharge. I certainly prefer our way than City's way. Put it this way, if we had Stones, Otamendi and Mangala for a combined £110m while City had Azpi, Luiz and Christensen for a combined £40m you telling me you'd be happy?

We had a "good window", 2 hours after the window actually closed.

After we failed to get:

LWB - Sandro, Mendy

RWB: Walker, Danilo, Ox, Candreva?

CM: Barkley (seriously?), Tolisso, Marchisio?

ST: Llorente, Lukaku.

We knew that the additions that we needed were RWB, LWB, CM. And we could get 2 of those 3 (not the 1st, 2nd or 3rd choices too), after the window actually closed.

Players like Morata, Baka, Rudi were just replacements for outgoing players like (Costa, Matic, JT), and the bare minimum that would be expected off the club if they seriously want to fight for the title.

 

It wasn't terrible, but I'd struggle to call it good though.

If we can muddle through with what we've got and avoid injuries - Get Eden back playing ASAP too - until January and make another couple of signings then, we'll be able to say it's been a good year then.

42 minutes ago, didierforever said:

We had a "good window", 2 hours after the window actually closed.

After we failed to get:

LWB - Sandro,

RWB: Walker, Danilo, Ox,

CM: Barkley (seriously?), Tolisso

ST: Lukaku.

We knew that the additions that we needed were RWB, LWB, CM. And we could get 2 of those 3 (not the 1st, 2nd or 3rd choices too), after the window actually closed.

Players like Morata, Baka, Rudi were just replacements for outgoing players like (Costa, Matic, JT), and the bare minimum that would be expected off the club if they seriously want to fight for the title.

 

We didn't actually go for a few of the names on your list. And I'm pretty sure we were only after Tolisso in case Bakayoko fell through. 

Also Costa hasn't left yet and JT was clearly struggling to still play at this level.

We picked up our first choice CM in Bakayoko and by the sounds of fit we picked up our 1st choice rotation option in Drinkwater, not our 4th choices as you are making out. We also picked up either our 1st or 2nd choice striking option in Morata and have 3 striking options far superior to Llorente. Rudiger was also a player Conte wanted as first choice last season so could easily be argued as such this season although I imagine if Bonnuci would have moved to England he would have been ahead.

Zappacosta also seems a decent signing although he does seem like 4th/5th choice.

Im not as disheartened like a lot of others seem to be, the ones we didn't get I'm not bothered at all. this sums it up for me perfectly. well written piece.

https://www.thesun.co.uk/sport/4381688/dont-be-fooled-by-chelseas-shambolic-deadline-day-antonio-contes-side-are-stronger-than-last-season/

 

1 hour ago, didierforever said:

We had a "good window", 2 hours after the window actually closed.

After we failed to get:

LWB - Sandro, Mendy

RWB: Walker, Danilo, Ox, Candreva?

CM: Barkley (seriously?), Tolisso, Marchisio?

ST: Llorente, Lukaku.

We knew that the additions that we needed were RWB, LWB, CM. And we could get 2 of those 3 (not the 1st, 2nd or 3rd choices too), after the window actually closed.

Players like Morata, Baka, Rudi were just replacements for outgoing players like (Costa, Matic, JT), and the bare minimum that would be expected off the club if they seriously want to fight for the title.

 

Have you seen Candreva lately? sh*t player. 

1 hour ago, PedroMendez said:

We didn't actually go for a few of the names on your list. And I'm pretty sure we were only after Tolisso in case Bakayoko fell through. 

Also Costa hasn't left yet and JT was clearly struggling to still play at this level.

We picked up our first choice CM in Bakayoko and by the sounds of fit we picked up our 1st choice rotation option in Drinkwater, not our 4th choices as you are making out. We also picked up either our 1st or 2nd choice striking option in Morata and have 3 striking options far superior to Llorente. Rudiger was also a player Conte wanted as first choice last season so could easily be argued as such this season although I imagine if Bonnuci would have moved to England he would have been ahead.

Zappacosta also seems a decent signing although he does seem like 4th/5th choice.

You think we would have gone for barkley AND drinkwater? I dont think so. I think we did try for Marchisio/barkley before him. 

Want to have a bet about how much time Costa plays this season for us? We have now 2 strikers, costa been included changes nothing. 

JT/IVA/Mikel/Oscar might all might have been at best squad players when they left, but they were still players who could do a job. Something we needed to fill in.

I am happy with the players we have got. But... I would have been happier if we had done our obvious business (RWB/LWB/CM backup) earlier and given those new signing time to adapt to the conte system and better injury coverage than we have had since the begining of the season.

 

7 minutes ago, didierforever said:

You think we would have gone for barkley AND drinkwater? I dont think so. I think we did try for Marchisio/barkley before him. 

Want to have a bet about how much time Costa plays this season for us? We have now 2 strikers, costa been included changes nothing. 

JT/IVA/Mikel/Oscar might all might have been at best squad players when they left, but they were still players who could do a job. Something we needed to fill in.

I am happy with the players we have got. But... I would have been happier if we had done our obvious business (RWB/LWB/CM backup) earlier and given those new signing time to adapt to the conte system and better injury coverage than we have had since the begining of the season.

 

Barkley is injured until December so given that and the fact that we already had 2 vids rejected gor drinkwater and were waiting for Leicester to find a replacement, yes I do think Drinkwater was ahead of Barkley.

With Costa it depends If he can swallow his pride, I don't think he will, but if he does as he will need some match fitness then he could be used as 3rd even end choice by Conte.

Either way Llorente is not better than what we have and there is a reason we didn't bid for him.

We replaced outgoing players but have done nothing to strengthen the squads depth. Even last season our squad depth was questioned, this year even more so with European competition.

What are you talking about?
We signed Sandro....right?
Right?
RIGHT?

6 hours ago, didierforever said:

We had a "good window", 2 hours after the window actually closed.

After we failed to get:

LWB - Sandro, Mendy

RWB: Walker, Danilo, Ox, Candreva?

CM: Barkley (seriously?), Tolisso, Marchisio?

ST: Llorente, Lukaku.

We knew that the additions that we needed were RWB, LWB, CM. And we could get 2 of those 3 (not the 1st, 2nd or 3rd choices too), after the window actually closed.

Players like Morata, Baka, Rudi were just replacements for outgoing players like (Costa, Matic, JT), and the bare minimum that would be expected off the club if they seriously want to fight for the title.

 

Meh, deadline day, July 1st either or, we got most of what we needed in the end. 

The only time there's an urgent need to get business done before the start of the season is if you are in European qualifyers or what you currently have aren't good enough to deal with the early league fixtures, neither of which applied to us. 

3 hours ago, RIP Mourinho said:

We replaced outgoing players but have done nothing to strengthen the squads depth. Even last season our squad depth was questioned, this year even more so with European competition.

We have replaced two defenders who have no place in this system with two who fit it perfectly. We have replaced Matic and Chalobah with Baka and Drinky which are upgrades, we now have wingback cover and in my opinion we upgraded in goal aswell. 

The weak squad last season was due to no one outside the first 13 being trusted to play a key role or suiting Contes system. Most of those players have gone and been replaced by players that will. So in quality we are vastly better. Do we have a strong enough dead to fight for the two big ones side by side? I have my doubts but we are stronger without a doubt. 

Juventus are not some little European club you can just raid for their players. If we want to sign Sandro and they don't want to sell, there's nothing we can do about it. As for all the other names mentioned, how do we even know Chelsea we're in for them? 

The media might act like they have a clue which players Chelsea want but they don't. 

1 hour ago, Argo said:

We have replaced two defenders who have no place in this system with two who fit it perfectly. We have replaced Matic and Chalobah with Baka and Drinky which are upgrades, we now have wingback cover and in my opinion we upgraded in goal aswell. 

The weak squad last season was due to no one outside the first 13 being trusted to play a key role or suiting Contes system. Most of those players have gone and been replaced by players that will. So in quality we are vastly better. Do we have a strong enough dead to fight for the two big ones side by side? I have my doubts but we are stronger without a doubt. 

We have 7 in and 9 out (if you include Oscar and Mikel that we never replaced). Although i agree we have players that suit the system better, we still have a very thin squad for all the competitions we have. The fact we will be expecting Marcos Alonso to play 50+ games this year and pray he doesn't get an injury shows that. 

Not sure how anyone can say we "missed out" on Lukaku. Morata was clearly Contes number one choice and according to Lukaku we never showed much interest or even placed a bid for him. 

3 hours ago, Argo said:

Meh, deadline day, July 1st either or, we got most of what we needed in the end. 

The only time there's an urgent need to get business done before the start of the season is if you are in European qualifyers or what you currently have aren't good enough to deal with the early league fixtures, neither of which applied to us. 

Really? And what if your new signing is injured (Baka), your best player is injured  (Hazard), his replacement is injured/suspended (Pedro), your new striker signing looks a shade off pace and his replacement simply is not upto the mark. Sorry, but considering how thin our squad was, we needed those players at the start of the season or atleast should not have sold the most capable youth who could have provided cover before getting the replacements.

After deadline day, Im actually reasonably please with how our transfers went.. .We got rid of a lot of dead wood. Drinkwater is an upgrade on Chalobah and is a great backup for Baka and Kante. Sure letting Matic go wasn't ideal, but apart from the fact he went to a rival, it was a good deal.

Zappacosta gives us RWB cover, or if he's good enough can be a starter. Alonso still doesn't have cover, but we can easily sort that out by bringing Rahman in from loan. CB's we are sorted, AM's we're also sorted with hazard, Pedro, Willian with having Musonda as a backup. Striking options may seem a bit then, but Morata and Bats definitely are enough. And in an emergency case, we still have Costa (we do right?) 

31 minutes ago, didierforever said:

Really? And what if your new signing is injured (Baka), your best player is injured  (Hazard), his replacement is injured/suspended (Pedro), your new striker signing looks a shade off pace and his replacement simply is not upto the mark. Sorry, but considering how thin our squad was, we needed those players at the start of the season or atleast should not have sold the most capable youth who could have provided cover before getting the replacements.

You have a point with the last part, but the team that played vs Burnley should have been enough and we had a strong team out vs Everton, and and won. 

Also something we need to consider that goes under the radar, any crisis or screw up we do have we seem to recover well from, something which can't be understated. We recovered from the AVB disaster to win the CL, and sign Hazard then go back to challenging for the title after a period of transition In 12/13. We recovered from tenth to win the title. 

When you see Arsenal fans complain about the same sh*t for a decade or the endless spin of mediocrity the England national team are in certainly puts it into good perspective. 

It will take us a number of years to rebuild us into Champions League contenders. But I think that is normal. For example, in my view the best team we have ever fielded is the one that played the final in Moscow. Bar right back we had top 5 in the world players in every position. But it took 4 summers to build.

From a base of Lampard and Terry we added:

2003-04: Cole and Makelele

2004-05: Carvalho, Drogba, Cech

2005-06: Essien

2006-07: Cole, Ballack, Malouda

Now yes we were contenders before then and some good players (Robben, Duff, Eidur, Gallas, Tiago) came and went but it took four seasons to get that squad.

Where we are now I think we have a very solid base in Morata, Kante, Hazard and Courtois who are or will be world class in their position (and still have 3 years left with us). We can certainly build on that and put ourselves back to the top of the mountain but it will take time. 

Edited September 5, 20178 yr by Spiller86

We've won 2 titles in 3 yrs and I can say if it wasn't for Mourinho's breakdown it'd have been 3 in 3. Apart from United I can't see any team good enough to mount a consistent challenge to us.

Anyway, I'm just glad football is coming back so we can go back to talking about it instead of transfers.

Caballero I don't really rate. City got rid of him and kept Bravo. Utd have Argentina's #1 goalie in reserve, with nearly 100 caps. Willy has never won a single cap. Compared to our rivals I think we're weaker than most in terms of our reserve keeper, which shouldn't really matter unless Tbo is out for some time, in which case I think it could cost us.

 

Defence we're undoubtedly stronger than last term. Out go Ake, Terry and Zouma, and in come Rudiger and Christensen, both of whom can push for a first-team place. Rudiger will fight Cahill for his place. Azpi and Luiz are undroppable. The interesting one is Christensen. If he doesn't get sufficient game-time we will lose him and he looks an outstanding prospect. Some defenders have the ability to express themselves and he looks one of them, so his best position would be in the centre, but he's relying on an injury to Luiz. He may not get sufficient minutes this season to satisfy him. Watch this space.

 

Midfield we are definitely stronger. Out go Matic and Chalobah and in come Drinkwater, Bakayoko and Zappacosta. Bakayoko is more suited than Matic in terms of what Conte wants from his central midfielders and it looks like he was our first choice. Drinkwater is a good signing and I'm pleased we've got him. We couldn't really have asked for a better back-up. He's at his peak, he's a grafter, he can do a bit of everything and he's proven. I'm very happy and I think the manager will be too. I think it's also important that he's English, seeing as there's only one other Englishman in the squad. 

 

Zappacosta is clearly known to the manager, has his best years ahead of him and knows the system. He provides depth in the WB positions which was lacking before. He can cover for Alonso and he can give Moses a fight for his place. Was he our first choice? No, clearly not. We tried to sign Ox, who would have given us cover in a number of positions including AM, which would have allowed Musonda to go out on loan. We also tried to sign Danilo and Walker. At best, this guy was our fourth choice but never mind, at the very least he makes the squad stronger though maybe not as strong as Conte would have hoped. If things had gone differently we'd be lining up with Sandro and Danilo on the flanks but it wasn't to be. WB is a key position in a Conte system, so maybe the manager will be disappointed we didn't get our targets. Either way, I've no doubt he'll improve Zappacosta considerably, just as he's done with our other WBs.

 

Attacking midfield? I'm slightly disappointed. I was very excited at the prospect of Mahrez though it was very unlikely given he doesn't have the workrate of Pedro or Willian. He is however a player of exceptional talent, a game-breaker, though whether he can ever replicate the consistency of the year before last remains a doubt. He is a genuine danger man so once again we're left with only Hazard to fulfil that role for us. Yes Pedro and Willian are good players, very good players, but they don't have that magic ingredient the top players have, and without Hazard we lack a little bit of spark in my opinion. Musonda won't get many games and a loan would have suited him more but our failure to buy ensured he would stay for this season. I'm excited to see him when he gets his chance however though I can't see him starting ahead of our three established AMs.

 

Up front we seemed to have signed a good'un in Morata but the failure to buy Llorente was criminal and I doubt very much Conte's happy with it, seeing as he clearly doesn't trust Batshuayi, and rightly so in my opinion. Batshuayi just doesn't have the game to play up front on his own, not in a league as demanding as the Prem. With Llorente our squad would look a whole lot stronger. I rate Llorente and think he's going to be a good signing for Spurs. I'd be very surprised if Conte wasn't interested. I suspect it was the board who were more reluctant, given their policy with over-30s.

 

Just quickly on the subject of Costa, he's never going to play for us again, forget about it. He scored 20 goals for us in 2 of his 3 league campaigns but that's a record Morata can break. It's good but it's not great. 30 goals is great, or pushing 30. Costa never came close to that. Costa also went large spells in poor form, in each of his 3 seasons. In fact in the latter halves of both our title-winning campaigns his goals dried up dramatically. It's worth remembering the player who drove us over the line in both those campaigns was Hazard whereas Costa largely disappeared. Yes he's a top player when he's on his game but I think there's a bit of revisionism going on where he's concerned. I remember many a big game where he didn't show.

 

So, defence and midfield stronger, attack about the same but disappointing we didn't strengthen. We failed to land many of our targets, such as Lukaku, Danilo, Ox, Barkley, Sandro, and possibly Van Dijk as well. I don't think we're going to miss too many of those targets that much. Sandro is the one the manager would probably pick, although there's no doubting Lukaku and Van Dijk are very good players as well. It could have been better but it's not bad, not as bad as many are making out. I think our first XI will be stronger thanks mainly to Bakayoko. I think our squad has more depth as there are more players Conte can count on. I don't have a problem with any of the departures though I wish Matic had gone elsewhere, rather than strengthening Utd. That's the one that sticks in the craw but there's a lot more pluses than negatives in my opinion. Did I want more at the start of the window? Yes, we all did. Did the manager? Of course he did. Have we done that badly? No we have not. People assuming it's going to be a straight fight between City and Utd are wrong, just like they were last term. They clearly have better squads. We have the better manager.

 

Lastly, on the manager, I think the most disappointing thing about this window is the irreparable damage it may have done to his relationship with the board. It looks like there was a lot of friction. It looks like we may not have backed him wholly with his targets and it looks like we may have gone after one or two he didn't really want. I mean, I can't imagine the manager really going after Barkley, after all, where the bloody hell would he play him? Then there was leaving everything to the last minute, and failing in the pursuit of one or two, it's hardly ideal preparation for Conte. Yes I know we got a few in early doors but there were so many departures it clearly wasn't enough to satisfy Conte. He may be demanding but he's a damn fine coach who exceeded all expectations last season and did so with a touch of class that won us many friends and you'd have thought the board would do a bit more to ensure the relationship would run smoothly but maybe that's just beyond the people that run our club. He didn't want Matic going to Utd. We didn't have to sell Matic to Utd, even if it made good business sense, even if we had signed an upgrade. Keep him happy, would be my advice. Hopefully we have a good season and the board redeem themselves next summer and everyone's happy and Conte signs an extension. I'm still hopeful that can happen. We may not have the team Conte wanted, we may not see the football he really wanted to play, but maybe that will come another day and in the meantime I still make us favourites for the title. We've got a good squad, we've got the best player and I fancy Conte a lot more than the other managers. I still don't think he gets the credit he deserves.

On 05/09/2017 at 09:40, Spiller86 said:

It will take us a number of years to rebuild us into Champions League contenders. But I think that is normal. For example, in my view the best team we have ever fielded is the one that played the final in Moscow. Bar right back we had top 5 in the world players in every position. But it took 4 summers to build.

From a base of Lampard and Terry we added:

2003-04: Cole and Makelele

2004-05: Carvalho, Drogba, Cech

2005-06: Essien

2006-07: Cole, Ballack, Malouda

Now yes we were contenders before then and some good players (Robben, Duff, Eidur, Gallas, Tiago) came and went but it took four seasons to get that squad.

Where we are now I think we have a very solid base in Morata, Kante, Hazard and Courtois who are or will be world class in their position (and still have 3 years left with us). We can certainly build on that and put ourselves back to the top of the mountain but it will take time. 

I agree that was our strongest 11. The 4 players you mentioned we can build off Courtois, Kante, Hazard, and Morata, 3 were here last season, and Morata for Costa is more like for like than anything. 

Like you said building a team a capable of winning the champions league takes time, but I dont think we made progress towards it this summer. 

There is potential there definately, but I would have liked to have seen a couple more ballack or cole type signings to really kick us on. 

The fact we struggled to attract that level of player is worrying, considering we were heading into the summer in a very strong position, both from a sporting aspect due to winning the league, and a financial aspect with extra sponsorship and prize money, and also a reduced wage bill, and money from player sales like oscar. 

So I can't really say it was a good window as I think we were in a position to take a leap forward, rather than a baby step. 

It hasn't been a disaster either, thanks to 2 deadline day deals, that have beefed up the squad, after some questionable player sales/loans, and a few high profile rejections. 

As long as Conte is in charge, and we have Hazard, I am pretty confident we can at least mount a decent challenge in the league, so I hoping for a decent season. 

On 05/09/2017 at 10:05, Drogbaholic said:

We've won 2 titles in 3 yrs and I can say if it wasn't for Mourinho's breakdown it'd have been 3 in 3. Apart from United I can't see any team good enough to mount a consistent challenge to us.

Anyway, I'm just glad football is coming back so we can go back to talking about it instead of transfers.

And I could say if it wasn't for Mourinho we wouldn't have won the first which was the catlyst for the rest but it's all still hyperbole.