22 minutes ago, Sconnie Blue said:

I think if he flops, or any attacker that comes in for that matter, fingers need to be pointing at Tuchel and the coaching staff. 

Graveyard for attackers. 

I agree that in our current setup it's tough for attackers. It's weird though because at Dortmund Aubameyang, Mkhitaryan and of course Dembele flourished under Tuchel. They played their best seasons under him. Reus, Kagwa etc didn't have any problems either. And at PSG he obviously had elite players, but Neymar, Mbappe and di Maria also performed well under TT...

Edited June 10, 20224 yr by True Blue23

39 minutes ago, ducavis said:

You are forgetting he & his agent is pocketing around £35m. 

Fingers crossed he does well but not a fan of the deal at all. Seems very lazy (the deal) and lumps the club with another high earner we can’t shift if he flops. Personally would have added a bit to the money he is pocketing & get Raphinha on a 1/3 of his wages, or taken a long term view like Klopp & bought the talented Olise who I reckon in 2-3yrs will be incredible & on low wages also. Let’s be honest we aren’t winning the league in the next couple of seasons, so a measured approach with a long term outlook. Liverpool & City are starting a rebuild because their teams have peaked already, but seems Tuchel wants a player who is ready.

Hmm maybe it does indeed need scrutinizing a bit more then as i didn't see that!

 

4 hours ago, ducavis said:

Hold on.. what is the definition of “very good”? He had 6 league goals & 12 assists. To put that into context Sancho had 12 league goals and 14 assists at the same age for Dortmund.

Aren't you the same guy that defends Pulisic and says he deserves another year when he was putting up 2 goal 2 assist seasons at Dortmund and has never had 18 g/a in a league season?

Asking for a friend.

Dembele doesn't have the most impressive stats in the world but stats aren't everything, if they were Lukaku and Bruno would be world class players and both have never had the talent to play at the top level.

Dembele is ridiculously creative by every metric and creativity us something sorely lacking.  If we miss out on Dembele and have to watch another season of us passing it aimlessly from side to side because no one can beat a man, dribble at all or play in between defenders I don't know what I'll do.

12 hours ago, True Blue23 said:

I agree that in our current setup it's tough for attackers. It's weird though because at Dortmund Aubameyang, Mkhitaryan and of course Dembele flourished under Tuchel. They played their best seasons under him. Reus, Kagwa etc didn't have any problems either. And at PSG he obviously had elite players, but Neymar, Mbappe and di Maria also performed well under TT...

It's not Tuchel it's our lack of world class players in midfield and defence.

We don't have an elite enough central defender pairing and a Veratti in midfield so everyone has to sacrifice to make the whole unit more sound.

A veratti + a van dijk would allow us to play completely differently.

23 hours ago, HazardousChoice said:

If we miss out on Dembele

Then Gnarby.

On 10/06/2022 at 21:10, Whiskyjack said:

It's not Tuchel it's our lack of world class players in midfield and defence.

We don't have an elite enough central defender pairing and a Veratti in midfield so everyone has to sacrifice to make the whole unit more sound.

A veratti + a van dijk would allow us to play completely differently.

There's definitely some truth to that.  It's the reason why we play 3 in the back in my opinion.  I'm sure he saw loads of film of the Chelsea teams under Lampard and realized he needed to plug some holes in the back.  Now Chilly and Reece have been revelations at wing back but think of how more creative and potent our team would be if we had our top 4 or our top 6 (depending on formation) creating instead of 2 of our back 5 (Reece and Chilly).  

On 11/06/2022 at 02:10, Whiskyjack said:

It's not Tuchel it's our lack of world class players in midfield and defence.

We don't have an elite enough central defender pairing and a Veratti in midfield so everyone has to sacrifice to make the whole unit more sound.

A veratti + a van dijk would allow us to play completely differently.

I said a few weeks back that Real Madrid's midfield was a massive eye opener for me, it was everything I wish our midfield was today. Real Madrid's midfield is pretty much perfect, ours just looks disjointed.

On 10/06/2022 at 17:17, HazardousChoice said:

Aren't you the same guy that defends Pulisic and says he deserves another year when he was putting up 2 goal 2 assist seasons at Dortmund and has never had 18 g/a in a league season?

Asking for a friend.

Dembele doesn't have the most impressive stats in the world but stats aren't everything, if they were Lukaku and Bruno would be world class players and both have never had the talent to play at the top level.

Dembele is ridiculously creative by every metric and creativity us something sorely lacking.  If we miss out on Dembele and have to

Quote

watch another season of us passing it aimlessly from side to side because no one can beat a man,

dribble at all or play in between defenders I don't know what I'll do.

The most important thing that needs addressing at Chelsea. Apart from getting rid of the c**t.

8 hours ago, Scott Harris said:

I said a few weeks back that Real Madrid's midfield was a massive eye opener for me, it was everything I wish our midfield was today. Real Madrid's midfield is pretty much perfect, ours just looks disjointed.

We need the next Luka Modric!

53 minutes ago, Whiskyjack said:

We need the next Luka Modric!

We could do with the current one as well.

This is 100% subjective, but based on his track record I am not confident he brings the right level of personality or fit to the club.  I'd prefer we looked elsewhere.

Continuing to wait for someone to meet his demands for signing on fee, agent fee and wages.

His agent continues to try and get Barca to up their offer.

21 minutes ago, axman2526 said:

Continuing to wait for someone to meet his demands for signing on fee, agent fee and wages.

His agent continues to try and get Barca to up their offer.

Like I have always insisted, avoid!! Olise, Richarlison, Raphinha are cheaper options and will run through the wall for the team.

He's coming no doubt, Tuchel wants him my only concern is if he stays fit. Mentally Tuchel will keep him in check, despite what some believe Neymar and Mbappe worked hard for Tuchel they respected him. If those two can behave under him just anyone can especially someone who sees you as their best/favourite coach.

My other slight concern is how TT uses him he may be in one of those front 3 positions in the current system but I'd rather see him as a wide forward in back 4. As good as a front 3 of Havertz, Mount and Dembele sounds I think in a back 4 being able to add another forward Werner, Pulisic, Ziyech, CHO or a new signing would be beneficial to our attack.

1 hour ago, LongtimerLurker said:

He's coming no doubt, Tuchel wants him my only concern is if he stays fit. Mentally Tuchel will keep him in check, despite what some believe Neymar and Mbappe worked hard for Tuchel they respected him. If those two can behave under him just anyone can especially someone who sees you as their best/favourite coach.

My other slight concern is how TT uses him he may be in one of those front 3 positions in the current system but I'd rather see him as a wide forward in back 4. As good as a front 3 of Havertz, Mount and Dembele sounds I think in a back 4 being able to add another forward Werner, Pulisic, Ziyech, CHO or a new signing would be beneficial to our attack.

Then what is taking so long? He's not on international duty so there is no excuse there. 

It honestly baffles me how incompetent we are in bringing players in, and it doesn't just go for this season. Liverpool and City tied down massive deals no problem but for us Sam and Frodo make it to Mordor and back before we buy a bloody Injury prone Dembele and Kounde. 

 

Edited June 14, 20224 yr by Sconnie Blue

On 13/06/2022 at 00:30, Scott Harris said:

I said a few weeks back that Real Madrid's midfield was a massive eye opener for me, it was everything I wish our midfield was today. Real Madrid's midfield is pretty much perfect, ours just looks disjointed.

Says it all that our best midfielder by a country mile last season was a bloke that Madrid were happy to let go ... 

On 12/06/2022 at 18:30, Scott Harris said:

I said a few weeks back that Real Madrid's midfield was a massive eye opener for me, it was everything I wish our midfield was today. Real Madrid's midfield is pretty much perfect, ours just looks disjointed.

And believe it or not there are some that aren't worried if we go into next season with the same midfield. 

4 hours ago, Sconnie Blue said:

Then what is taking so long? He's not on international duty so there is no excuse there. 

It honestly baffles me how incompetent we are in bringing players in, and it doesn't just go for this season. Liverpool and City tied down massive deals no problem but for us Sam and Frodo make it to Mordor and back before we buy a bloody Injury prone Dembele and Kounde. 

 

Lol...that just made my day.

 

I think the fact that we have Gallagher joining the first team makes the midfield the last of the positions we need to strengthen. At the moment we only have 2 proper CBs and a load of attackers who can’t shoot.

27 minutes ago, timetowaste said:

I think the fact that we have Gallagher joining the first team makes the midfield the last of the positions we need to strengthen. At the moment we only have 2 proper CBs and a load of attackers who can’t shoot.

I think our current midfield doesn't offer quite enough cover to the defence from a defensive viewpoint, nor does it provide sufficient forward momentum or quality, and speed of momentum, to help the forwards succeed. After replacing Rudiger I would definitely look at midfield next. Be interesting to see what happens with Gallagher, but for me he's not the complete answer to fixing the midfield.

32 minutes ago, timetowaste said:

I think the fact that we have Gallagher joining the first team makes the midfield the last of the positions we need to strengthen. 

Gallagher plays in a midfield three with Hughes and Kouynate sitting. This allows him to roam freely. He won't get that here as the two central midfielders in our system are asked to be disciplined in their positioning. Gilmour has a better shot fitting into our system than Gallagher. 

Midfield for me is the priority. There is an abundance of CBs we can realistically get, only a small selection (if any) of quality DMs we can get. 

58 minutes ago, Sexyfootball said:

Says it all that our best midfielder by a country mile last season was a bloke that Madrid were happy to let go ... 

Not saying our midfield is perfect but this is the same Madrid that was finished when we dominated them last year.  The same Madrid that only for the ridiculous form of Benzema and some divine written in the stars Chelsea 2012 destiny level sh!t rightfully should have gone out in the first knock out round vs PSG, the quarters vs us, and City in the semis.

If we get Real next season I’m confident we will beat them comfortably again.  Football is so reactionary Real aren’t the ones we need to worry about catching, City and  Liverpool are.

35 minutes ago, Sconnie Blue said:

Gallagher plays in a midfield three with Hughes and Kouynate sitting. This allows him to roam freely. He won't get that here as the two central midfielders in our system are asked to be disciplined in their positioning. Gilmour has a better shot fitting into our system than Gallagher. 

Midfield for me is the priority. There is an abundance of CBs we can realistically get, only a small selection (if any) of quality DMs we can get. 

I don't think Tuchel wants to lock himself into one formation. First game against Tottenham last season we were struggling at half time, then he switched it up and we dominated them in second half with 3 midfielders. Gallagher and two new CBs, that can handle to be in a 4 better then Christensen and Rudiger, allows Tuchel to use formations like 4-3-3 and 3-5-2 more often.

I agree on finding a proper DM to replace Jorginho though.

If we cannot sign a quality DM then play Chalobah there this season. He had done the job before in France and for Ipswich.

1 hour ago, Sconnie Blue said:

Gallagher plays in a midfield three with Hughes and Kouynate sitting. This allows him to roam freely. He won't get that here as the two central midfielders in our system are asked to be disciplined in their positioning. Gilmour has a better shot fitting into our system than Gallagher. 

Midfield for me is the priority. There is an abundance of CBs we can realistically get, only a small selection (if any) of quality DMs we can get. 

 

1 hour ago, Sexyfootball said:

I think our current midfield doesn't offer quite enough cover to the defence from a defensive viewpoint, nor does it provide sufficient forward momentum or quality, and speed of momentum, to help the forwards succeed. After replacing Rudiger I would definitely look at midfield next. Be interesting to see what happens with Gallagher, but for me he's not the complete answer to fixing the midfield.

 

I see Gallagher as someone who could take over from Kante’s position but with a better attacking presence. I’d ideally like to play with 3 in the middle anyway, having 2 CMs is ways going to leave us exposed. I still maintain that Gilmour isnt good enough to make it I just think he’s too small.