6 minutes ago, mojo said:

meanwhile fatf**k has been forced on a diet. why did we allow it in the 1st place? Thomas & co should be more strict

 

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/football/article-11038941/Romelu-Lukaku-returned-Inter-Milan-OVERWEIGHT-previously-best-shape-life.html

 

Agree with this to a point, but is it too much to ask to expect a top flight supposedly world class striker to keep himself fit and in shape?

56 minutes ago, weetee said:

getting a nice attacking striker / RW

I’m sure Raheem is exactly what you’re after

8 minutes ago, drjonesy1994 said:

Agree with this to a point, but is it too much to ask to expect a top flight supposedly world class striker to keep himself fit and in shape?

of course it’s HIS ‘job’ but that just tells you he’s not and will never a world class athlete, he’s a f**kin bum. and we should have cut he’s wages for every kg he has put on.

36 minutes ago, weetee said:

But we don't know if that third one could be one of Ampadu / Colwill I think. I don't want to get carried away with Koundé for the time being but I'd think he's the back-up for James as well - would make sense imho. So I agree that we need at least one more top level CB that can deliver immediately. If one of the two mentioned can do that I have no clue. Now with five subs + a wc coming up mid season I can easily see all of them getting a good chunk of minutes anyway. 

What I mostly meant is that imho we would have solved the basic shape of our defense and could shift our focus a little bit more forward. The Raphinha interest made a lot of sense so the question is whether there are alternatives or not. 

A 3rd new CB signing relegates Silva to the bench (which I don’t have a problem with at 38), but most importantly worsens Chalobah’s situation compared to last season (effectively 5th choice). As for playing backup to James, I would think it would be the other way round with James filling as RCB. That would tie in with trying to sign Raphinha as cover at WB. 
As for the 5 subs rule, CB is probably the last place a coach will look to make subs unless your CB is having a bad game, or you have a healthy lead with few mins to go. In that respect, Tuchel is very pragmatic. IMO he needs to be forward thinking and smart; 2 new CBs with Silva as 1st choice, Chalobah 4th choice, or he could find himself needing 2 CBs next summer again; a replacement for Silva, & Chalobah demanding a move because of a lack of game time.

15 minutes ago, mojo said:

of course it’s HIS ‘job’ but that just tells you he’s not and will never a world class athlete, he’s a f**kin bum. and we should have cut he’s wages for every kg he has put on.

Not sure this is entirely his fault though. Everyone knows he has a problem with the English diet, when you sanction a £92m signing the onus is on you to ensure he has all the tools he needs to succeed. Sure you can argue he gets paid a lot to hire a dietician, but who is to say he didn’t. 
Some managers pay attention to this small detail, & other choose to ignore it. You could tell he had put on a few pounds towards the middle of the season, and I can remember Costa, Hazard, & Fabregas sporting a belly before it went belly up for Jose also.
Inter know that small detail has a direct impact on his performances. 

Anybody else getting really fed up with this fella, Sevilla and fu**ing Barcelona ?

It appears a near certainty that he is holding out, in the vain hope that Barcelona may find another £55m down the back of a sofa, and that he clearly would rather join them. I honestly don't know too much about him, and the fact the Club has gone back to him after being strung along last year, means that we must like him or that TT has recommended him, but I am sick to death of Chelsea getting used as "a back stop" - fall back position, by both Sevilla and Kounde,  if the Godforsaken Barcelona don't come in for him. I wasn't that keen on Nathan Ake, but I would honestly take him over a bloke, where Chelsea was NEVER his first choice.

2 minutes ago, ducavis said:

Not sure this is entirely his fault though. Everyone knows he has a problem with the English diet, when you sanction a £92m signing the onus is on you to ensure he has all the tools he needs to succeed. Sure you can argue he gets paid a lot to hire a dietician, but who is to say he didn’t. 
Some managers pay attention to this small detail, & other choose to ignore it. You could tell he had put on a few pounds towards the middle of the season, and I can remember Costa, Hazard, & Fabregas sporting a belly before it went belly up for Jose also.
Inter know that small detail has a direct impact on his performances. 

talking about lukaku in the kounde thread shows where its at, but conte kept him on a diet. conte has his faults but he is kind of the new mourinho in terms of results

15 minutes ago, ducavis said:

A 3rd new CB signing relegates Silva to the bench (which I don’t have a problem with at 38), but most importantly worsens Chalobah’s situation compared to last season (effectively 5th choice). As for playing backup to James, I would think it would be the other way round with James filling as RCB. That would tie in with trying to sign Raphinha as cover at WB. 
As for the 5 subs rule, CB is probably the last place a coach will look to make subs unless your CB is having a bad game, or you have a healthy lead with few mins to go. In that respect, Tuchel is very pragmatic. IMO he needs to be forward thinking and smart; 2 new CBs with Silva as 1st choice, Chalobah 4th choice, or he could find himself needing 2 CBs next summer again; a replacement for Silva, & Chalobah demanding a move because of a lack of game time.

we would only have Silva, Koulibaly, Koundé & Chalobah as established first team CB's. If we play with 3 CB's it would be a bit thin to only have 4 options. Or we could use James as RCB, and add Ampadu or Colwill? 

I can understand why TT would want another CB

1 in 1 out

Azpi, Rüdiger and Christensen go out so logically we would need 3 replacements

 

Edited July 22, 20223 yr by azpi28

2 minutes ago, azpi28 said:

we would only have Silva, Koulibaly, Koundé & Chalobah as established first team CB's. If we play with 3 CB's it would be a bit thin to only have 4 options. Or we could use James as RCB, and add Ampadu or Colwill? 

I can understand why TT would want another CB

1 in 1 out

Azpi, Rüdiger and Christensen go out so logically we would need 3 replacements

 

Anyone from the academy could replace the absolutely dreadful version of Azpi we saw last season.

If we sign Kounde I'd rather we focused on a new winger as the next priority as Sterling is the only winger at the club who can dribble at pace.

1 minute ago, HazardousChoice said:

Anyone from the academy could replace the absolutely dreadful version of Azpi we saw last season.

If we sign Kounde I'd rather we focused on a new winger as the next priority as Sterling is the only winger at the club who can dribble at pace.

i don't think he was that dreadful, he had some good games and some where you could tell he is getting older. I wouldn't be upset if we do not buy another CB

new winger might still join if we sell a Ziyech for example 

Pavard would do well at the sweeper role IMO. 

Kounde Pavard Koulibaly

Chalobah Silva Colwill

3 minutes ago, Sconnie Blue said:

Pavard would do well at the sweeper role IMO. 

Kounde Pavard Koulibaly

Chalobah Silva Colwill

i prefer Fofana although he will probably cost a lot of money

1 hour ago, drjonesy1994 said:

Agree with this to a point, but is it too much to ask to expect a top flight supposedly world class striker to keep himself fit and in shape?

Because that is his resting weight. He only got into shape before because of Conte. Conte made our players the fittest around and he is in the process of doing the same to spurs now. Lukaku will end up following Conte because it will be the only place he can get a game because Conte will get him fit.

When Mourinho goes to PSG after Galtier and Conte blows up at Spurs (inevitably) Conte will take on the Roma job and Lukaku will become toast of Italy again.

17 minutes ago, Sconnie Blue said:

Pavard would do well at the sweeper role IMO. 

Kounde Pavard Koulibaly

Chalobah Silva Colwill

Pavard like Kimpembe is crap. Just bring back Guehi.

2 minutes ago, ducavis said:

Pavard like Kimpembe is crap. Just bring back Guehi.

We still could in 2023 to replace Silva. 

29 minutes ago, Sconnie Blue said:

Pavard would do well at the sweeper role IMO. 

Kounde Pavard Koulibaly

Chalobah Silva Colwill

So you think we get Kounde now? So it’s not over, he’s not going to Barcelona? What are the chances.

3 minutes ago, ducavis said:

Pavard like Kimpembe is crap. Just bring back Guehi.

I actually think that Tomori is the one that has matured and progressed the most, tbh. I never did get the speed with which his fortunes changed here and he was ultimately transferred. As a youngster he had some errors in him, what youngster doesn't, but these were about decision making not technical ability. Decision making has clearly improved in Italy and how much would he grow alongside Silva for a season. Out of that group that came through its Tomori that i think we may have missed a trick with.

4 minutes ago, mwblue10 said:

So you think we get Kounde now? So it’s not over, he’s not going to Barcelona? What are the chances.

Let's wait and see. 

I for one don't buy the whole "Joining the first team because he doesn't want to train alone" narrative. Reports Kounde and his agent were waiting out until Barcelona approached Sevilla, but reports in Spain are now saying Laporta is focusing on registering the millions of new signings they brought in instead of signing anyone else. 

 

If Kounde really wanted to join us this would of been done already. Koulibaly literally took a matter of hours. 

 

1 hour ago, Ballack & Blu said:

I’m sure Raheem is exactly what you’re after

Ok, then we need a good striker/LW.

5 minutes ago, Sconnie Blue said:

Let's wait and see. 

I for one don't buy the whole "Joining the first team because he doesn't want to train alone" narrative. Reports Kounde and his agent were waiting out until Barcelona approached Sevilla, but reports in Spain are now saying Laporta is focusing on registering the millions of new signings they brought in instead of signing anyone else. 

 

If Kounde really wanted to join us this would of been done already. Koulibaly literally took a matter of hours. 

 

Dude, who hurt you in a previous life? You are the most negative person I've ever come across!

Jules Kounde to #Chelsea is 'moving in the right direction'. Hope the saga may be coming towards an end

[via @Matt_Law_DT]
 

Just tweeted. 

7 minutes ago, Michael said:

Dude, who hurt you in a previous life? You are the most negative person I've ever come across!

You should get out more. 

Barcelona and Iñigo Martínez have reached an agreement on personal terms over a four-year contract.

(Source: @Sport)
 

Hopefully this is good news. £60m they’ve spent. 

Confidence growing that Kounde will join Chelsea at long last. Word from Spain is that Barcelona are close to giving up as they don’t have the funds to meet Sevilla’s asking price #cfc
 

35mins ago

26 minutes ago, WhiteWall said:

I never did get the speed with which his fortunes changed here and he was ultimately transferred. 

I'm pretty sure reading back at the time he kept breaching club Covid protocols at the time, and that is one of the reasons he fell out of favour. Shame as I really liked him and thought he had the potential to mature into a quality centre back.

If we still had him now there's no chance we'd be spending close to £100m on two centre backs this window.