1 hour ago, mojo said:

what's with the haircut?

He's got to get rid of that f**king stupid scouser hair cut.....other than that he sounds positive; unless he begins to pull up trees he's going to find it hard to get a start, especially this season....may have to be a bit player and get used to sitting on the bench...watch and learn kid, see how a 'massive' club as you put it, is full of world class players (well nearly), how they work hard and have the desire to win, not swim around mid-table like your last outfit.

(Hmmm...No need for that^ imho. )

Not every signing is a big name, hands up how many thought Lamps was a good signing at the time. He's ours at a price we can't really get bitten on, he ticks the home grown box and he has shown glimpses of being quite good. Can we shine up the unpolished diamond?

42 minutes ago, CFCCAN said:

He's got to get rid of that f**king stupid scouser hair cut.....other than that he sounds positive; unless he begins to pull up trees he's going to find it hard to get a start, especially this season....may have to be a bit player and get used to sitting on the bench...watch and learn kid, see how a 'massive' club as you put it, is full of world class players (well nearly), how they work hard and have the desire to win, not swim around mid-table like your last outfit.

Bakayoko starts and he's utter gash. Wouldn't be hard to displace him.....

Oh and his haircut is also worse than Barkleys 

Edited January 6, 20188 yr by Chelsbear

Bakayoko has not had a good start admittedly but he seems to have won over Conte; with Barkley not being a Conte signing I'm sure it won't be easy to displace Baka despite how poorly he plays.

Not a bad signing. I would've preferred another striker, so hopefully more players to come. In todays market this is a steal for a player that's still young and could develop into a great player now that he has better players around him.

I think we're signing him for his nationality more than anything else, I would be surprised if he plays a lot of games.

Not big on this signing but I hope he does prove me wrong. 

Not my preferred signing, but Alonso wasn't either, so let's hope this turns out right. it's beat doing nothing of course, at least another option for Conte to work with.

So what happens to RLC? That's my main concern in all of this.

Pretty underwhelming signing imo. But if he can pop up with the occasional vital goal/assist/performance like Alonso then I'll be fine with it.

Not even sure what to expect of him or why we even signed him. Not sure what to expect from our transfers anymore these days tbh.

I have my reservations, but hard to be too upset when you buy this low. 

54 minutes ago, Barrettinator said:

So what happens to RLC? That's my main concern in all of this.

Pretty underwhelming signing imo. But if he can pop up with the occasional vital goal/assist/performance like Alonso then I'll be fine with it.

Not even sure what to expect of him or why we even signed him. Not sure what to expect from our transfers anymore these days tbh.

Hopefully it means we get rid of willian or Pedro, or both. 

Look in a 3-4-3 system we had hazard, Pedro and willian only for 2 positions. On the 3-5-2 we had hazard to play off morata because Pedro and willian are useless as number 10s. 

Eden, Ross, Ruben and mahrez. That would be nice. Heck if you play Kante you could play all 4 of them behind a striker against most sides and win.

After this, i really don't see a place for Loftus-Cheek now. I don't see where he fits, i also think Drinkwater is already going to find it tough getting games, especially with Bakayoko being favoured over him.

Going forward it's either

Courtois

Azpi Christensen Rudi

Moses                          Alonso

Kante

Baka / Drink       Barkley / Fab

Hazard

Morata

Or it will be

Courtois

Azpi Christensen Rudi

Moses                          Alonso

Kante Baka / Bark

Mahrez ( i wish )                     Hazard

Morata

It's even possible that Conte will surprise us and go back to 4-5-1, we actually have the players for it now.

Courtois

Azpi    Christensen     Rudiger  Alonso

Kante

Baka / Drink Fab / Bark

Mahrez ( again, i hope )               Hazard

Morata   

 

Welcome to the home of champions. In Conte we trust, he´ll make him better and the price is a bargain.

All Everton goals... He's actually scored a lot of good ones.

 

Why are some on here wanting us to offload Pedro, Willian etc. We need to keep them so we have competition within the squad. Look at City, they have good squad depth and that's what we are looking to do. I just hope we can look to bring in another striker as well.

As for Barkley, I've always liked him as a player and I'm very happy we've finally got him. We needed a player like him to play just ahead of the midfield, to be comfortable with the ball and have an eye for goal. Playing with our players will allow him to express himself far more than he could at Everton, and it gives us an extra dimension going forward.

Edited January 6, 20188 yr by Malcolm9

Welcome Ross. Happy to have him onboard, although a slight reservation linked to intelligence. Rumour has it he is daft as a brush...

Conte doesn't seem to take too kindly to such (Costa, bats, luiz?)...although perhaps the gripe with Costa and luiz is there behaviour and personality rather than their intelligence?

Give it your best Ross and we will be happy....good luck!

 

3 hours ago, Sun zhi said:

All Everton goals... He's actually scored a lot of good ones.

 

I like that he’ll take shots from outside the box. I can’t stand when we constantly pass around the 18 and end up not even getting a shot. Can’t win the lottery unless you buy a ticket! 

What gets me is we have bought a number of players recently that have had injuries just before we signed them; Barkley, Drinkwater, Bakayoko. 

For me that is concerning regarding our track record of other players that had injuries notably Torres.

3 hours ago, Malcolm9 said:

Why are some on here wanting us to offload Pedro, Willian etc. We need to keep them so we have competition within the squad. Look at City, they have good squad depth and that's what we are looking to do. I just hope we can look to bring in another striker as well.

As for Barkley, I've always liked him as a player and I'm very happy we've finally got him. We needed a player like him to play just ahead of the midfield, to be comfortable with the ball and have an eye for goal. Playing with our players will allow him to express himself far more than he could at Everton, and it gives us an extra dimension going forward.

People want to offload either Pedro or Willian because they want the team to improve, Barkley adds numbers but does he really improve on the quality? Someone like Mahrez improves on the players already at the club, adds something different and i would certainly like to offload Willian and put the money towards Mahrez, Willian has had his time at Chelsea now.

Here's hoping that Conte can turn him into another Vidal.

Interesting to see what role he can perform at Chelsea.

IMO he lacks the defensive prowess to play in a 3-4-3 formation. 

He dribbles well enough to unsettle defences but Willian is even better at that when he actually gets going (increasingly rare) and Pedro IMO is no worse. 

His passing/movement is good but not outstanding. 

I would suggest that he's an option as two behind Morata, in a false nine or with Cesc/Kante/Drinkwater in a 3-5-2.

When do you guys expect his first game to be? Not today obviously. Maybe in 2 weeks time vs arsenal away (league cup). He needs to familiarise himself with Conte's tactics.  

Edited January 6, 20188 yr by zes

I think Ross will surprise a few people.

The question is can he put in the work needed to turn him into a top player - the potential is certainly there. 

I'm happy with this signing for 15 million, by today's standard it almost a win win situation as he's already worth more than we bought him for.

Plus, we are crying out for a midfielder who can shoot from outside the penalty area - Morata can get any rebounds.

If we can possibly add Mahrez as well that would be a productive transfer window as far as attackers goes IMO.

 

 

1 hour ago, Ernie_blue said:

People want to offload either Pedro or Willian because they want the team to improve, Barkley adds numbers but does he really improve on the quality? Someone like Mahrez improves on the players already at the club, adds something different and i would certainly like to offload Willian and put the money towards Mahrez, Willian has had his time at Chelsea now.

That's fine if we bring in better replacements ie Mahrez, but there is no need to just get rid of them. We need a strong squad with quality all over.