8 hours ago, Ernie_blue said:

 

Very good post but then you cant say a single bad word about Chelsea fc without the lynch mob being after you 

Truest thing ever said on this forum. 

33 minutes ago, RIP Mourinho said:

Truest thing ever said on this forum. 

I thought that was that our away kit should be yellow?

Best options for LWB are R. Sessegnon and Philipp Max. Both are amazing in attack and Philipp is amazing at tackles, 85% success this season so far.

Conte seemed to suggest in his presser that he has given the board an opinion of who he wants.  I think we will get someone, just who? Hunch says Ross Barkley
 

Definitely It's Vidal

31 minutes ago, Valerie said:

I thought that was that our away kit should be yellow?

  

Realistically the Players who will leave potentially are Bats (Sell/Loan), Luiz (Sell), Kenedy (Loan), Musonda (Loan)

if we have to sign and replace before we sell I reckon that we won't see Luiz leave until the Summer. There aren't too many Centre Backs of his (potential) talent floating around and if so they will cost a fortune. The only ones I can think of would be Benatia (Juventus) or maybe Manolas (Roma) ? . Also must remember Zouma has to come back and assume he will play some role next season. Clarke Salter and Ampadu aren't at the standard yet to cover the loss of Luiz anyway (not sure whats happening with Clarke -Salter to be honest).

Bats will go on loan I would assume but every chance he might be sold... Everton could use a striker and have enjoyed our Belgian players before? In terms of replacement ? maybe someone Conte has used before? Immobile is having a good season at Lazio and Conte like the Boakye character. Id love Mandzukic as another option but unlikely to happen even if behind Dybala and Higuaín. 

Kenedy and Musonda may just be loaned out for experience but would surprise me if Kenedy was sold as no long term deal signed like Musonda and doesn't really seem to have a position.. unless Conte fancies him for a left sided Moses. 

Sandro would be the obvious choice at LWB and seems to be more readily available than before but Gaya, Sessegnon, Telles, Jonas Hector & Philipp Max all seem strong candidates.

I could also see a slightly wacky move for a midfielder... maybe on loan to cover CM/DM as may be slightly light here ... especially someone who isn't Champions League registered. This will be crucial in who we sign if we plan to go further too. 

16 hours ago, Sun zhi said:

I know some don't mind seeing it, but for me the team looks a lot better with a proper striker on. 

And you are correct, but the false 9 only gets played when a proper striker isn't available, either through injury or suspension.  if Morata is available, he plays.  Last season, when Costa wasn't sulking, he played.  Batshuayi is yet to convince either the manager or a lot of fans that he is "a proper striker" capable of leading the line from the start.

 

Yorkley Blue has said 5 games, I don't know about the 5th.

I'd forgotten about Quarabag, so it's actually 6, won 5 and drew 1

The 4 that come to mind are: 

Everton (A) 0-0

Scoreline speaks for itself, imo

Scoreline speaks only for Big Sam's 6 across the back with 4 immediately in front of that, and total lack of any attacking intent. We could have played with 8 strikers and never got near scoring then.  Was nothing to do with our line-up

 

Southampton (H) 1-0

Alonso freekick rescued the team. Aside from that they were doing poorly in creating clear chances against a poor Southampton team at home.

You must have watched a different match to me.  All I saw was mostly a dominant performance that we won comfortably, and were unlucky not to score more.

 

Huddersfield (A) 3-1

It looks like a good display from the scoreline, Huddersfield were awful and shot themselves in the foot three times, with a keeper mistake, an individual error from a defender and some more terrible defending from a cross that allowed Willian of all people to score a header.

Taking away those moments the team looked poor in terms of making chances even against a poorly performing lower level team.

This is clutching at straws now.  A comprehensive win were we could have scored many many more, but all you can see is that Huddersfield gave us the game.  It's sad, really, that you can't just be happy with a dominant win and have to make odd excuses for why we won.

As soon as a striker came on nearer the end, the team looked more dangerous, something even match commentator mentioned (whoever he was), but it was easy to notice.

And what was the score when that striker came on?

 

Qarabag (A) 4-0

Qarabag.

With 10 men from 19 minutes because they could not cope with a mobile, fast front three and the only way to stop the opening goal was by a foul in the box.  Again, a sad viewpoint from a Chelsea fan, "we only won because they had a man sent off - not fair!"

Then, as someone else pointed out, there was Bournemouth and Leicester last season, both good victories, against decent opposition who didn't have anyone sent off, weren't all filled up with flu and hadn't committed some crime or other against the gods of fate to make themselves totally out of luck.

6 matches, 14 goals scored, 1 conceded and you say it's garbage.  I'll take that garbage any day.

 

 

 

Everton away was everything to do with the lineup, opposition defending deep happens all the time. Same with Southampton, for teams who defend deep and in numbers you do need a striker.

Qarabag was the better team and should have been leading before the pen, red card changed the game at that point.

Huddersfield away was a good performance but a false 9 only works in certain scenarios, what happens if Morata got injured early in the season. I personally wouldn't trust the false 9 for a couple of months, that is the situation Chelsea would be in if they don't sign another forward.

21 hours ago, jack_super_class said:

But why? are results are pretty good when using it. They all seem to link up nicely together.

If Morata was out for a few months would you be happy with the false 9 playing every game in the Champions league and league?

8 minutes ago, Ernie_blue said:

If Morata was out for a few months would you be happy with the false 9 playing every game in the Champions league and league?

I think we would pick up more points with Hazard playing false nine, than we would with Batshuayi leading the line, obviously I still think we will struggle with morata out of the team for an extended period, because he is a top player.

I agree there are games when it will work better than others, but I don't think you can put the draw at everton down to the system, when pedro and Willian were so poor. 

4 minutes ago, big blue said:

I think we would pick up more points with Hazard playing false nine, than we would with Batshuayi leading the line, obviously I still think we will struggle with morata out of the team for an extended period, because he is a top player.

I agree there are games when it will work better than others, but I don't think you can put the draw at everton down to the system, when pedro and Willian were so poor. 

You are probably right about the Hazard and Batman comparisons but our opinions are probably different on why. A club like Chelsea need another striker the manager trusts, even clubs further down the league have more options.

Lets say the worse case scenario did happen and Morata was out for a couple of months, i don't think Chelsea would finish in the top 4. My opinion is Chelsea would really struggle playing the same front players 2 games a week and i honestly think Chelsea would struggle to score let alone get points against the top teams. Its a strange situation which the manager/board have let the club be in and Conte has known for 18 months he doesn't rate Batman.

Another part of the problem like you say is Willian and Pedro, if Morata was out for a long period it would require both to extend there form over a number of games which doesn't look hopeful.

55 minutes ago, Ernie_blue said:

 A club like Chelsea need another striker the manager trusts, even clubs further down the league have more options.

Lets say the worse case scenario did happen and Morata was out for a couple of months, i don't think Chelsea would finish in the top 4. My opinion is Chelsea would really struggle playing the same front players 2 games a week and i honestly think Chelsea would struggle to score let alone get points against the top teams. Its a strange situation which the manager/board have let the club be in and Conte has known for 18 months he doesn't rate Batman.

Another part of the problem like you say is Willian and Pedro, if Morata was out for a long period it would require both to extend there form over a number of games which doesn't look hopeful.

I agree this could become a real issue, of course other players might well step up and contribute more. We all saw how Willian in JM's last season played exceptionally when other players didn't seem so determined.

Edited January 3, 20188 yr by Strider6003

@yorkleyblue fair enough. You've made your points. My views are just the way I see it. 

@Ernie_blue you've made some good points, imo.

No point continuing this. False 9 not my cup of tea. I'll just leave it at that.

Edited January 3, 20188 yr by Sun zhi

7 minutes ago, Sun zhi said:

@yorkleyblue fair enough. You've made your points. My views are just the way I see it. 

@Ernie_blue you've made some good points, imo.

No point continuing this. False 9 not my cup of tea. I'll just leave it at that.

Sounds like a nice compromise!  Happy New Wossname.

4 hours ago, Ernie_blue said:

You are probably right about the Hazard and Batman comparisons but our opinions are probably different on why. A club like Chelsea need another striker the manager trusts, even clubs further down the league have more options.

Lets say the worse case scenario did happen and Morata was out for a couple of months, i don't think Chelsea would finish in the top 4. My opinion is Chelsea would really struggle playing the same front players 2 games a week and i honestly think Chelsea would struggle to score let alone get points against the top teams. Its a strange situation which the manager/board have let the club be in and Conte has known for 18 months he doesn't rate Batman.

Another part of the problem like you say is Willian and Pedro, if Morata was out for a long period it would require both to extend there form over a number of games which doesn't look hopeful.

I agree we need more options in attack, although I do think it we need quality attackers, more than a traditional striker. It would be beneficial to replace Batshuayi with a striker that conte trusts, but there aren't many options available. 

I think we would be better off bringing in another quality winger, or another false nine type striker, so if we don't have morata available, we have more options. 

20 hours ago, PedroMendez said:

Don't worry about LWB we have Baba coming back to fitness all our problems will be solved

If the choice is between a 50mil LWB and a 50mil ST, I would honestly take the striker.

Baba can deputize well enough for alonso, but given morata's finishing and batshuayi lack of all round play, a striker should be our top priority. 

If last night was the CL round of 16 vs barca where morata missed a sitter of a hattrick and we ended up getting ousted because of the odd goal, I would be livid.

Where we are going to find a proven 50M striker who's happy to be rotated? For me, the more realistic option is an inside forward like Mahraez, who will provide few goals and assists for others. The other issue is we don't have a system to accomodate 2 strikers, imagine if we still had Costa, would Conte partner him with Morata?

3 hours ago, icecoolguy22 said:

Where we are going to find a proven 50M striker who's happy to be rotated? For me, the more realistic option is an inside forward like Mahraez, who will provide few goals and assists for others. The other issue is we don't have a system to accomodate 2 strikers, imagine if we still had Costa, would Conte partner him with Morata?

Werner/Belotti. Both are very good strikers, young and would give morata some much needed competition/relief.

How many times this season have we played with a false 9/just played morata for the sake of it. We as a club play 50-60 games a season. More than enough play time for each to have. If we are going 3-5-2, morata has the experience of playing as a 2nd striker too (Juventus). 4 players for 2 positions (Morata, hazard, werner/belotti, pedro/willian/musonda) is a good (non OTT/galactico) situation to have. 

3 hours ago, icecoolguy22 said:

Where we are going to find a proven 50M striker who's happy to be rotated? For me, the more realistic option is an inside forward like Mahraez, who will provide few goals and assists for others. The other issue is we don't have a system to accomodate 2 strikers, imagine if we still had Costa, would Conte partner him with Morata?

If we still had Costa we wouldn't have bought Morata.  I do agree though, we are going to be hard pressed to find a quality striker who is willing to play back up.  Vardy at a pinch, but he's also 30 and I'd rather not spend that type of money on what is effectively back up.  As far as back up goes Batshuayi is perfect, but Conte simply doesn't trust him.  If we do go for a young striker we need to show more faith in him, otherwise it'll just end up like Batshuayi or Lukaku again.

Oh God no!!!!   Andy Carroll ...R we that desperate?

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/football/article-5236285/Chelsea-step-Evertons-Ross-Barkley.html

 

Edited January 4, 20188 yr by CFCCAN

9 minutes ago, CFCCAN said:

Oh God no!!!!   Andy Carroll ...R we that desperate?

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/football/article-5236285/Chelsea-step-Evertons-Ross-Barkley.html

 

Apparently so. It seems we're desperate since no great striker is available on the market this January. Or if there are ... Nobody seems bothered.

It's too early to judge at the moment. We will know what our real options are during the last few days before the January transfer window closes.

Edited January 4, 20188 yr by ChelseaFanBoy

maybe a swap loan deal for Bats...they wanted him initially didn't they?  We already have a bloke up front who can score with his head....just not his feet.

50 minutes ago, CFCCAN said:

maybe a swap loan deal for Bats...they wanted him initially didn't they?  We already have a bloke up front who can score with his head....just not his feet.

In addition to Batshuayi.

That would give him the option of playing two out and out  strikers up top possibly, if the situation demands, with one in reserve 

Why do i always get my hopes up at transfer windows, the board just always, ALWAYS feckin let us down, can you imagine eden in the boardroom” so if i sign a new contract will some world class players be coming in “
“Oh yes eden, barkley and andy carrol” beggars belief ffs

13 hours ago, didierforever said:

Werner/Belotti. Both are very good strikers, young and would give morata some much needed competition/relief.

How many times this season have we played with a false 9/just played morata for the sake of it. We as a club play 50-60 games a season. More than enough play time for each to have. If we are going 3-5-2, morata has the experience of playing as a 2nd striker too (Juventus). 4 players for 2 positions (Morata, hazard, werner/belotti, pedro/willian/musonda) is a good (non OTT/galactico) situation to have. 

Werner would be a good one.  How much do you reckon he would cost?