3 hours ago, mwblue10 said:

FFS sounds like he’s going to Arsenal

Good - that's another £70M Arsenal won't have to spend on defenders ?

2 hours ago, Argo said:

If he had to go to an English club that isn't us Arsenal is probably the best option.

Adding another layer of gold and ignoring the engine.

 

57 minutes ago, Sexyfootball said:

Good - that's another £70M Arsenal won't have to spend on defenders ?

I guess my thing is, I just didn’t want him in the PL if it wasn’t with us.  But yes, a shaky defense for Arsenal seems to be everlasting, though they did just sign the kid from ASSE and loaned him back.

You have to question his ambition if he goes to Arsenal 

10 hours ago, rtwelch said:

You have to question his ambition if he goes to Arsenal 

He can be one of the many players who go there as a stop gap before his dream move to Stamford Bridge. 

One must question the mental health of any player willing to go to Arsenal at this point.

This guy looks to have too much quality to be a flop/mediocre like Gervinho, unfortunately.

They could put Lionel Messi in that squad they still wouldn´t be able to finish in the top 4. Their problems run much deeper than a quick fix that will score goals.

This summer is turning into a bit of a sh*t one for us. We can't sign anybody and there's rumours flying about of Bruno Fernandes going to Utd, Dybala-Lukaku swap deal, Pepe to Arsenal, and Ndombele to Spurs. Everybody else will be so much stronger than us. It's depressing af. 

21 minutes ago, enigma said:

This summer is turning into a bit of a sh*t one for us. We can't sign anybody and there's rumours flying about of Bruno Fernandes going to Utd, Dybala-Lukaku swap deal, Pepe to Arsenal, and Ndombele to Spurs. Everybody else will be so much stronger than us. It's depressing af. 

Come on, man up! This too will pass. Let's focus on our own team, and look forward to our own academy products getting a chance to develop. 

27 minutes ago, enigma said:

This summer is turning into a bit of a sh*t one for us. We can't sign anybody and there's rumours flying about of Bruno Fernandes going to Utd, Dybala-Lukaku swap deal, Pepe to Arsenal, and Ndombele to Spurs. Everybody else will be so much stronger than us. It's depressing af. 

The only thing depressing is the tone of your posts this summer.  We've got a young, exciting squad, and there will always be more players to buy in the coming years!  2-3 years ago, nobody knew who Pepe/Jovic/Felix/de Ligt/etc were.  There's guys right now that nobody knows about, who will be world beaters, and we will sign them.

22 minutes ago, mwblue10 said:

The only thing depressing is the tone of your posts this summer.  We've got a young, exciting squad, and there will always be more players to buy in the coming years!  2-3 years ago, nobody knew who Pepe/Jovic/Felix/de Ligt/etc were.  There's guys right now that nobody knows about, who will be world beaters, and we will sign them.

? well I do like the fact we aren't relying solely on one player as we were with Hazard. At least now we can focus on every player in the team contributing more, which is how it should be. The teams who do well are the ones working as a team. Sarri said our players worked as individuals, so if Lampard can prevent this and improve them as a collective, I have hope. Just annoys me that we are in the CL again finally, but we then immediately receive a transfer ban which limits the team from progressing how they could have. Whether the ban will end up a hinderance, only time will tell. 

Edited July 30, 20196 yr by enigma

8 hours ago, enigma said:

This summer is turning into a bit of a sh*t one for us. We can't sign anybody and there's rumours flying about of Bruno Fernandes going to Utd, Dybala-Lukaku swap deal, Pepe to Arsenal, and Ndombele to Spurs. Everybody else will be so much stronger than us. It's depressing af. 

I agree mate, as exciting as it is to get frank in and see these youngsters get a chance, i dont think you can get away from the fact we are significantly weaker without hazard, and the 3 teams that finished below us, are significantly stronger. 

I'm anticipating a really tough season, and just hoping that this ban, doesnt set us back too far behind our rivals. We have missed out on some fantastic players this summer, but who knows what the next year holds. Things can move very quickly in football. 

8 hours ago, big blue said:

, and the 3 teams that finished below us, are significantly stronger. 

 

How so?

5 hours ago, dkw said:

How so?

Ndombele makes spurs stronger. One the most sought after midfielders in europe, i think he will be massive for them.

Arsenal with pepe is a quality signing who a lot of Chelsea fans wanted here. They've lost Ramsey but gained Ceballos who was outstanding for spain in the summer. Still question marks over their defence, although they are heavily linked with Tierney. Overall though, better than last season. 

United, wan bissaka is a good signing, which improves them. They are also heavily linked with Maguire, Dybala, and Fernandes. As things stand they are better than last year, if they secure those 3, then they have had an outstanding summer. 

We have got some fresh faces into the team, but with the exception of pulisic, none are proven at premier league level. Every signing is obvioulsy a gamble, who knows, maybe we wont feel the loss of hazard at all, but imo, on paper at least, we are significantly weaker, and those teams will be significantly stronger, thats also without taking into account, we are the only one with a new manager. There wasnt much between us all last season, i expect it to be a difficult task for frank to get us higher than 6th. 

 

14 hours ago, big blue said:

I agree mate, as exciting as it is to get frank in and see these youngsters get a chance, i dont think you can get away from the fact we are significantly weaker without hazard, and the 3 teams that finished below us, are significantly stronger. 

I'm anticipating a really tough season, and just hoping that this ban, doesnt set us back too far behind our rivals. We have missed out on some fantastic players this summer, but who knows what the next year holds. Things can move very quickly in football. 

Probably the biggest factor in all of that (concern) is the lack of goals in the side without Hazard, either from up front or midfield. 

If there had been a quality striker in the side, it would have been s massive help. 

Also one of the main reasons I don't really want to see Jorginho, Kovacic feature too often... A midfield with Kante + two of Loftus Cheek, Mount and Barkley is the best bet to score goals, alongside Hudson-odoi and Pedro on the Wings. Problem is Pedro is inconsistent and not great overall, which leaves Pulisic who's young and untested in the Prem.

With a striker like Abraham, you need a lot of crosses are low/high into the area for him to score. Very, very one-dimensional in his scoring from what I've seen over the past two seasons. 

But with Alonso, Azp,i Emerson (not as bad), the worry if there probably won't be much of the service he needs. 

James looks like he has a good cross on him and Hudson Odoi, Willian occasionally puts in s decent ball bit mostly not. 

Hudson Odoi

James

Emerson?

Willian?

Baba?

 

Probably the best crossers on the books at the club, currently, but how many of these guys will play regularly for Abraham to get some quality supply.

2 hours ago, big blue said:

Ndombele makes spurs stronger. One the most sought after midfielders in europe, i think he will be massive for them.

Arsenal with pepe is a quality signing who a lot of Chelsea fans wanted here. They've lost Ramsey but gained Ceballos who was outstanding for spain in the summer. Still question marks over their defence, although they are heavily linked with Tierney. Overall though, better than last season. 

United, wan bissaka is a good signing, which improves them. They are also heavily linked with Maguire, Dybala, and Fernandes. As things stand they are better than last year, if they secure those 3, then they have had an outstanding summer. 

We have got some fresh faces into the team, but with the exception of pulisic, none are proven at premier league level. Every signing is obvioulsy a gamble, who knows, maybe we wont feel the loss of hazard at all, but imo, on paper at least, we are significantly weaker, and those teams will be significantly stronger, thats also without taking into account, we are the only one with a new manager. There wasnt much between us all last season, i expect it to be a difficult task for frank to get us higher than 6th. 

 

A lot of ifs and buts in there, currently Utd are no better off at all, other than one signing that may turn out to be good or not. Arsenal still haven't addressed their problem areas and are weaker than last season as it stands. Spuds have made what looks to be a very good signing, but if they lose Eriksson then they are no better off either.

I dont think anyone can claim any of the teams below us have strengthened significantly.

1 hour ago, dkw said:

A lot of ifs and buts in there, currently Utd are no better off at all, other than one signing that may turn out to be good or not. Arsenal still haven't addressed their problem areas and are weaker than last season as it stands. Spuds have made what looks to be a very good signing, but if they lose Eriksson then they are no better off either.

I dont think anyone can claim any of the teams below us have strengthened significantly.

Fair enough, we will see how things look when the window shuts, i think its very likely united will get a couple more players. Arsenal may still neglect their weaknesses, as thats what they do best.

I noticed you threw an 'if' in there, to back your opinion up abput spurs though! 

On 30/07/2019 at 15:26, enigma said:

This summer is turning into a bit of a sh*t one for us. We can't sign anybody and there's rumours flying about of Bruno Fernandes going to Utd, Dybala-Lukaku swap deal, Pepe to Arsenal, and Ndombele to Spurs. Everybody else will be so much stronger than us. It's depressing af. 

Dybala literally crying online that he doesnt want to go Utd tbf ?

Also, am I the only one who's not as worried as the majority? I think the transfer ban was somewhat of a blessing in disguise. Its made us take a step back and really look at the way we do transfers and how we integrate youth. The FA making the new rules about the loans were also fantastic if you ask me. 

We have made 30m+ just from selling bitpart loan players that were never going to play for us anyway. Given the Hazard money we got, and the Morata money we are getting next summer, not to mention we still have some pricey players that are yet to be sold (Bakayoko, Drinkwater and potentially Zouma/Bats as well perhaps?) we're gonna be rolling with money next summer, and I feel we are going to go in big and replace the likes of Willian/Pedro and have a defensive overhaul. Bring in a striker too even.

Also, the fact we are actually loaning out potential players that could be playing for us soon (okay, maybe not ALL of them) like Ampadu, Clarke-Salter, Musonda, Sterling, which is definitely FAR better than how we used to deal with loaned players before and the caliber of the loan players. 

Really think this season is the beginning of a big change in how we deal with things in the future. This season may not be the prettiest, but I have a strong feeling we will get through it pretty well, and go in big the following season!

Edited August 2, 20196 yr by ENygma

I'm sure Pepe is a very good player, but I'm sure we will find equivalent or better option in 12 months time with that kind of money. Of course other clubs will spend big, we'd have done the same, but it's not like they are all spending 300M on an overhaul like Madrid, and even Madrid has no guarantee it will succeed with that in the next 12 months. I honestly believe we will do ok with Lampard in charge, we will probably have a slow start, but confident we will turn it around around November.  I'm sure we will hear people crying the season is over if we happen to lose to United next weekend, that's just how some modern fans are.

If he was a Chelsea fan, then he wouldn't have joined Arsenal. If I was in his position, I would rather spend another season at Lille than sign for Arsenal. I'm sure Arsenal weren't the only ones interested in him.

He's just desperate for a big money move seeing as he's 24 this year and this is probably the first big move of his career. I understand the reasoning behind it. Hope he gets benched by Aubameyang and Lacazette the rest of the season.

5 minutes ago, Scott Harris said:

If he was a Chelsea fan, then he wouldn't have joined Arsenal. If I was in his position, I would rather spend another season at Lille than sign for Arsenal. I'm sure Arsenal weren't the only ones interested in him.

Huh, what? If a major club entice him with a fat contract, he signs, being a supporter of a direct opponent or not. It's a job for them, not much room for  sentiment. You never know what happens in a career, a chance like that may not come along again for whatever reason.

18 minutes ago, Valerie said:

Huh, what? If a major club entice him with a fat contract, he signs, being a supporter of a direct opponent or not. It's a job for them, not much room for  sentiment. You never know what happens in a career, a chance like that may not come along again for whatever reason.

It's still Arsenal though, I don't think I could get in the mood to play football if I was playing for them. I wouldn't feel anything playing and winning games with Arsenal, and that is because I'm a Chelsea fan. I would rather just stay at Lille, at least I could still enjoy football and earn more in a week than most people earn in a year. 

14 hours ago, Scott Harris said:

It's still Arsenal though, I don't think I could get in the mood to play football if I was playing for them. I wouldn't feel anything playing and winning games with Arsenal, and that is because I'm a Chelsea fan. I would rather just stay at Lille, at least I could still enjoy football and earn more in a week than most people earn in a year. 

You think about this as a fan, not as the employee a footballer really is. Footballers don't view their jobs any differently than we do. If someone offers me a big payrise to work for a company that seems well organised and has consistent results, I'd take it, even when a different company seems more attractive (but may never make me an offer). I have only a limited number of years in my career to make a good bundle of money, and an offer like I had may never come along again.

Edited August 4, 20196 yr by Valerie

Crying shame we couldn’t get this guy. Could have been a fantastic replacement for Eden. 

Think he takes arsenal’s attack up a few levels.