39 minutes ago, Bob stark said:

Attacker

Palmer, Rogers, Jp, neto, estevao, Emegha, Gittens, Quenda, Welbeck

I assume no Jackson, no Delap, no new kid from leverkusen, no satpaev.

Without europe, I have no idea how to distribute the min.

Assume no Neto. He has saleable value.

Then rather than lumping them into one big bucket to strengthen your point you have

Right - Palmer, Estevao

Left - Rogers, Gittens

Right or Left - Quenda

Forwards - JP, Emegha, Welbeck

i expect us to challenge in both cups as we have strength in depth and can play first team squad players, and with inevitable injuries, international call ups etc, this seems fine to me.

THis isn't the issue, its the loan policy of players that we want in this restrictive environments when they can't sell the dross. That's going to be the issue, keeping the developing players happy

Edited July 29Jul 29 by WhiteWall

32 minutes ago, dermott said:

Strong Cup teams.

Even that is usually not enough. I assume neto, Jp, Roger, Palmer play 2500 min (can be higher without europe) next season and Alonso play with 4 attackers all the time. There are 3500 min left for 5 players

50 minutes ago, Bob stark said:

Attacker

Palmer, Rogers, Jp, neto, estevao, Emegha, Gittens, Quenda, Welbeck

I assume no Jackson, no Delap, no new kid from leverkusen, no satpaev.

Without europe, I have no idea how to distribute the min.

We can play 442/352 variants with Welbeck too in certain games

4 minutes ago, Deino said:

We can play 442/352 variants with Welbeck too in certain games

I already assume Alonso play 4 attacker all the time for 38 games.

2 minutes ago, Bob stark said:

I already assume Alonso play 4 attacker all the time for 38 games.

Depending on the need to go ultra offensive Alonso could go as far as 5-7 of them

Did someone post a video yesterday of Alonso spraying balls around the training pitch? even more optomistic now about this appointment, regardless of success or failure, I still hate the owners.

1 hour ago, Bob stark said:

Even that is usually not enough. I assume neto, Jp, Roger, Palmer play 2500 min (can be higher without europe) next season and Alonso play with 4 attackers all the time. There are 3500 min left for 5 players

Neto hopefully gets sold and Palmer can have his minutes managed . Even if they did play 2500 mins each, that leaves 8000 minutes for others assuming we have good cup runs.

38 PL games = 3,420 mins (minimum)

6 Carabao cup games = 540 mins (minimum)

6 FA cup games = 540 mins (minimum)

Total mins available = 4,500 x 4 positions = 18,000 mins

I don't see an issue, especially with Estevao, Gittens and Quenda's age/injury history.

I constantly hear that players need a rest and play too much football especially in a WC year so maybe it will be nice to manage some minutes.

With 5 subs it would be nice to have games won and rest key players (within the game not before)because although we have a big squad I still don’t think there is great quality throughout.

We had a load of centre half’s last season but we’re screwed when Levi got injured, a load of wingers but we’re screwed without CP and we all know we’re screwed without MC in midfield and would probably put JP in that bracket now upfront.

Keeping squad players happy with minutes is far less important to me than managing minutes of key players.

Hopefully this summers additions will help.

I wonder what our former Captain, Leader, Legend thinks about us bringing in a former Liverpool captain to provide some " leadership" at Chelsea?

7 minutes ago, The Rising Sun said:

I wonder what our former Captain, Leader, Legend thinks about us bringing in a former Liverpool captain to provide some " leadership" at Chelsea?

Well hes said for ages we're lacking leadership in the squad, so hes probably quite happy.

8 minutes ago, dkw said:

Well hes said for ages we're lacking leadership in the squad, so hes probably quite happy.

I think he was probably hoping for a real ex Chelsea leader rather than a hateful ex Liverpool " leader" ! Mind you, JT played in a team with more than 1 leader!

Edited July 29Jul 29 by The Rising Sun
Info

2 minutes ago, The Rising Sun said:

I think he was probably hoping for a real ex Chelsea leader rather than a hateful ex Liverpool " leader" ! Mind you, JT played in a team with more than 1 leader!

I dont think this kind of thing affects players anywhere near as much as it does fans.

I thought JT should have got the job instead of LR at the time and when Callum whatever his name is took over ahead of JT he must know he has no real place at the club other than a token role with the academy under this regime.

Such a shame.

33 minutes ago, dkw said:

I dont think this kind of thing affects players anywhere near as much as it does fans.

Yeah, I think you're right, and I've always wondered what form "leadership" takes in reality. When we had a team full of great players apparently they would have a go in private at players who were slacking etc .

Who knows? Perhaps it's just shouting your bo**ocks off in the changing room!? 😂

Just a mention. ..

England ( and other nations) have Nation's League qualifiers in September, October and November. First England game is against Spain.

As usual, the PL will be interrupted up to the end of November. ..

4 hours ago, bluelightening said:

Did someone post a video yesterday of Alonso spraying balls around the training pitch? even more optomistic now about this appointment, regardless of success or failure, I still hate the owners.

I saw a video of him doing just that a while ago. Dunno if it was with Us. hitting across the ball and sending it arrow like across the pitch. Very impressive.,

Early days, but I think we may have some idea of how Alonso will set us up based on the first preseason match. One bombing fullback, whereas the other tucks in with the CBs.

Sanchez

Lacroix Colwill Hato

Caicedo New CM

Palestra Palmer Rogers Gittens

Pedro

Sanchez

James Lacroix Colwill

Caicedo New CM

Estevao Palmer Rogers New LB

Pedro

Edited July 29Jul 29 by Sconnie Blue

1 hour ago, The Rising Sun said:

I saw a video of him doing just that a while ago. Dunno if it was with Us. hitting across the ball and sending it arrow like across the pitch. Very impressive.,

He was doing a few "no look" passes in training, whilst taking the pace off the ball effortlessly.😎

The difference with respecting someone telling you something like Alonso and not like LR is unfathomable.

It just changes everything…. It did me when I played and am sure it will with our squad.

Shut up LR you don’t know what you talking about 🙄 before every game. Even with EM, you could tell they were never sent out right… it was weird, no fire, hunger, energy. Like they didn t give a sh*t whatever the managers said.

4 hours ago, Sconnie Blue said:

Early days, but I think we may have some idea of how Alonso will set us up based on the first preseason match. One bombing fullback, whereas the other tucks in with the CBs.

Sanchez

Lacroix Colwill Hato

Caicedo New CM

Palestra Palmer Rogers Gittens

Pedro

Sanchez

James Lacroix Colwill

Caicedo New CM

Estevao Palmer Rogers New LB

Pedro

This seems very accurate. I would really like to think Palma and Rodgers gel straight away! 🤞

11 hours ago, The Rising Sun said:

I wonder what our former Captain, Leader, Legend thinks about us bringing in a former Liverpool captain to provide some " leadership" at Chelsea?

Makes me wonder 😂

At least Terry is supportive of Alonso based on his social media posts.

Edited July 30Jul 30 by Jezz

JT played against Alonso, he knows what he's made of.

3 hours ago, Scott said:

JT played against Alonso, he knows what he's made of.

I think my post back up there was about what JT ( captain, leader legend) thinks about us bringing in Henderson to provide "leadership"

I've got no problem with Alonso, I think it's a good appointment... until it all goes wrong!!

Edited July 30Jul 30 by The Rising Sun
Information

I would love it, love it! ( thank you Kevin) if Alonso got JT involved as an assistant of some sort.🙂

On 29/07/2026 at 13:15, The Rising Sun said:

I wonder what our former Captain, Leader, Legend thinks about us bringing in a former Liverpool captain to provide some " leadership" at Chelsea?

He'll probably have a quiet word behind the scenes, make sure the lads are careful to lock their valuables away at training sessions and matches.......

I don't think Terry has a problem with Alonso's football nouse though...........

Edited July 31Jul 31 by TheBeard