Official Chelsea FC Thread

[HIF]

Thoughts on Lukaku's possible return to Chelsea? I think it's just Sky hyping it up. I think if he can put it together he can be a world class striker, he looked unmotivated at times for Everton, which is to be expected at a sub-midtable team.

I like Lukaku. I don't believe any of the media stories though as 95% at least are just rumours and copies of rumours. He should go somewhere else. I'd swap Vardy for him

[treiz]

Thoughts on Lukaku's possible return to Chelsea? I think it's just Sky hyping it up. I think if he can put it together he can be a world class striker, he looked unmotivated at times for Everton, which is to be expected at a sub-midtable team.

I really don't want it to happen, he's still the immature me type striker he's always been since he moved to us the first time. I just don't think Conte will have any of his antics, despite the obvious talent. Think one headache in Costa is enough.

I'd try and make a bid for somebody like Milik (who's had a good tournament) to back up Costa. I think at this stage he's likely to stay, I can't imagine another team wanting his baggage.

[Baphomet]

I suppose there's less pressure to succeed at teams like WBA and Everton and he can play his game more freely (no disrespect to the toffees, but they have been awful last two seasons). I mean, Conte managed the likes of Vidal and Pogba who can be pretty headstrong in their own right. I believe it's about the environment, when Lukaku was at Chelsea you had the dressing room chaos under AVB.

I can see a foreign team giving Costa a shot. I don't think another English club would be interested in taking him off your hands.

But you never know, you might get the 2014-15 Costa again under the new coach.

[fatlever]

pretty annoyed that Ake and Baker are heading back on loan again.

[jirrit]

Mitchy coming over? Love him, sad to see him go to Chelsea but you gonna be very happy with him. Much more to do with him than with Lukaku, very complete IMO. In a few years that is.

[treiz]

pretty annoyed that Ake and Baker are heading back on loan again.

Especially considering our problem at LB this seems mental.

I also think that this is a clear sign that Baker doesn't have a future here, his performances last season should've at least warranted a preseason with the team to see if he can stick. But let's hope he picks up where he left off last year and sell him for some decent money.

Seems like Michy is on his way here though for an absurd amount of money.

[fatlever]

Conte + Kante makes me pretty damn excited.

Seems like the Kante deal is basically done, or at least close enough that I feel I can finally talk about it w/out jinxing the deal and watching it fall apart at the last second. Of all the semi-realistic targets for Chelsea this summer Kante was #1 on my list of players I wanted. We don't have anyone on the roster like Kante so I feel his impact will be felt immediately. He'll be the closest thing we've had to Makelele since he left.

Next up on the summer shopping list, first team centerback. Terry is old, Zouma is hurt for half the year and Christensen is still a year away from joining. We need a centerback, like yesterday. I'd rather not have to rely on Cahill and Ivanovic this year.

We're 3/4s of the way to the return of a solid spine - Costa, Kante, ?, Courtois. Koulibaly would fit perfectly for alliteration purposes. Hopefully we can get that deal done, but his price just seems to keep going up and up.

With Kante arriving, what should we do with Matic? I kinda hope he sticks around to see of Conte can get him back to his form from 2 years ago, but it might be tough with Juve and Man U sniffing around and the possibility that he's, once again, not first team. We certainly need depth in the midfield, especially of the defensive and physical variety.

[HIF]

Don't really understand why Kanté has chosen Chelsea. Not in the CL, not in Europe, unlikely to win the PL. I guess it's for the money. I read today he's being offered £150K a week. I think he's a great signing for Chelsea, just think he'd have fit in ideally at Juventus - he would have thrived there.

[Riko]

Chelsea will win the PL next year. When they improve their fullback I will bet on them.

[BlueLion]

I saw a few rumors that we are preparing or we made a bid for Mahrez. And that we are looking Mustafi. It's gonna be interesting season.

[El Turco]

yeah chelsea has to be the favorite to win epl right now

[HIF]

I saw a few rumors that we are preparing or we made a bid for Mahrez. And that we are looking Mustafi. It's gonna be interesting season.

But you need to improve your biggest weakness - CB - perhaps you want a Foxes reject there too.

[Baphomet]

I saw a few rumors that we are preparing or we made a bid for Mahrez. And that we are looking Mustafi. It's gonna be interesting season.

But you need to improve your biggest weakness - CB - perhaps you want a Foxes reject there too.

Return of the prodigal son Robert Huth

[fatlever]

I'm not seeing how Chelsea could, in any way, be considered the favorite to win the EPL next year. Conte and Kante will help, but Chelsea still has a lot of problems to overcome before they'll be back to playing league winning soccer again. Until Chelsea rebuilds the back line, they aren't winning anything. Even then, Hazard, Matic and Costa all need to regain top form (or in Matic's case, possibly be sold and replaced by someone who can preform at expected levels). If Hazard plays anything close to like he played last year, Chelsea has no chance. He's the only player on the squad who can really take on defenders and make something happen.

After the 2-0 loss yesterday, Conte talked about how he has to get Chelsea way from their old form/bad habits. You could see the natural instincts of Chelsea, currently, is to sit deep, play slow, give up possession. That will not be an easy habit to break.

Chelsea's goal next year should simply be finishing top 4, securing Champions League for 2017-18, so they can have a better chance of luring more world class players to the club to replace the old guard that needs to move on.

Speaking of yesterday, I was able to watch the game on a stream. It was rather awful, the game and stream. The first half midfield was absolutely pathetic - Mikel, Matic, and Loftus Cheek. That's not surprising considering Mikel should not be playing first team minutes for a top club, Matic is still probably woefully out of form and Loftus-Cheek is the most over-rated prospect in recent memory. The 2nd half midfield was much much better once Chalobah came on for Mikel and Oscar came on for Loftus-Cheek. And as we've all become too accustomed to, Ivanovic had a shockingly bad giveaway that directly lead to the 2nd goal. The best players yesterday were Moses and Chalobah. Aina also looked good, even playing on the left side.

If Terry, Cahill, Ivanovic, Mikel and an out of form Matic are being relied on for heavy minutes this season, Chelsea will suffer as a result. Maybe, its a tad unfair to put Terry in that list. If paired with some faster, better defenders, he can be the rock we are used to seeing.

And as of today, I am starting my Chalobah over Loftus-Cheek campaign.

[HIF]

Your consolation is that with Kanté it'll seem like you have 12 players on the pitch.

[El Turco]

I'm not seeing how Chelsea could, in any way, be considered the favorite to win the EPL next year. Conte and Kante will help, but Chelsea still has a lot of problems to overcome before they'll be back to playing league winning soccer again. Until Chelsea rebuilds the back line, they aren't winning anything. Even then, Hazard, Matic and Costa all need to regain top form (or in Matic's case, possibly be sold and replaced by someone who can preform at expected levels). If Hazard plays anything close to like he played last year, Chelsea has no chance. He's the only player on the squad who can really take on defenders and make something happen.

After the 2-0 loss yesterday, Conte talked about how he has to get Chelsea way from their old form/bad habits. You could see the natural instincts of Chelsea, currently, is to sit deep, play slow, give up possession. That will not be an easy habit to break.

Chelsea's goal next year should simply be finishing top 4, securing Champions League for 2017-18, so they can have a better chance of luring more world class players to the club to replace the old guard that needs to move on.

Speaking of yesterday, I was able to watch the game on a stream. It was rather awful, the game and stream. The first half midfield was absolutely pathetic - Mikel, Matic, and Loftus Cheek. That's not surprising considering Mikel should not be playing first team minutes for a top club, Matic is still probably woefully out of form and Loftus-Cheek is the most over-rated prospect in recent memory. The 2nd half midfield was much much better once Chalobah came on for Mikel and Oscar came on for Loftus-Cheek. And as we've all become too accustomed to, Ivanovic had a shockingly bad giveaway that directly lead to the 2nd goal. The best players yesterday were Moses and Chalobah. Aina also looked good, even playing on the left side.

If Terry, Cahill, Ivanovic, Mikel and an out of form Matic are being relied on for heavy minutes this season, Chelsea will suffer as a result. Maybe, its a tad unfair to put Terry in that list. If paired with some faster, better defenders, he can be the rock we are used to seeing.

And as of today, I am starting my Chalobah over Loftus-Cheek campaign.

lot of those players were considered world class just a year ago, conte could get em to play again. plus there isnt a dominant team in epl right now.

[treiz]

The goal this year should definitely be top 4, this is definitely a retool season in which Conte will experiment and get a feel for this squad and see what additions/subtractions are needed by either the winter or next year. He needs to see whether he can get those players like Matic/Hazard/Costa/Courtois, players who were instrumental when we won the title to play up to those standards again. Get rid of some of the bad habits that has plagued this team in recent years and build it in his image, make sure he has a team that represents his coaching.

I seem to be the only one who thinks Kante and Matic can work together. I like the possibility of them two driving from deep alternating with one another. As much as Kante seems to be compared to Makelele (and it's definitely a worthy comparison). Kante is also A LOT more productive with the ball than Makelele ever was, he can dribble the ball forward, and has a decent amount of range in his passing.

With Matic also being very technically gifted hopefully he can regain his form knowing that he's always got someone behind covering him.

I shall be joining you in that campaign fatlever, RLC IMO needs to be loaned out he actually needs to earn his minutes and I hope Conte doesn't take no **** from him like last year. At times it was baffling at how close he was to Costa that he was basically a striker.

[HIF]

You are going to love the times that Kanté gets the ball and just accelerates down the field. Just hope you have an attacker that is aware enough to get into space for his pass.

You are in for a treat.

[fatlever]

I seem to be the only one who thinks Kante and Matic can work together. I like the possibility of them two driving from deep alternating with one another. As much as Kante seems to be compared to Makelele (and it's definitely a worthy comparison). Kante is also A LOT more productive with the ball than Makelele ever was, he can dribble the ball forward, and has a decent amount of range in his passing.

With Matic also being very technically gifted hopefully he can regain his form knowing that he's always got someone behind covering him.

I shall be joining you in that campaign fatlever, RLC IMO needs to be loaned out he actually needs to earn his minutes and I hope Conte doesn't take no **** from him like last year. At times it was baffling at how close he was to Costa that he was basically a striker.

Speaking of Matic and Kante together in the midfield, it would make a lot of sense to play a 4-3-3 with a midfield trio of Kante - Matic and Cesc, then Hazard, Costa and William up front. But that formation pretty much goes against what many expect Conte to do, which is to play with two strikers. Kante as the dedicated defensive mid, Matic as the box-to-box and Cesc as the playmaker. Cesc could be free to just do his thing with Matic and Kante doing all the defensive work.

RLC needs to play real minutes to improve his stamina among other things. A loan to a team willing to give him big minutes would be ideal. What good is it to have him hang around for the odd cup game next year? He's nowhere near ready to contribute to the first team on a regular basis. Of all the promising young players we have, why is he the one who seems to have the golden path to staying with the first team without having to prove himself on loan?

Any chance Ivanovic loses his starting job this year? Any chance Aina sticks around with the first team?

[treiz]

Yup, seems like 4-3-3 or 4-2-3-1 would be the most ideal considering our players, even though it'll go against what Conte usually does unfortunately he just doesn't have the players to play 3 at the back.

I'd expect Matic and Kante to alternate roles since they're both capable of both, with Cesc being the main playmaker which is why I'm also thinking 4-2-3-1, but Cesc does seem to work better with the play in front of him.

I agree fully, I still feel like RLC needs to learn the small nuances like positional awareness and learn how to use his amazing physical abilities. As of right now I don't see him contributing any meaningful minutes so it'd be good to have him get those on loan.

I'm hoping so, since we're in a retool season I'd want to roll out with Azpi and Baba (should he stick) at LB and see where we can go with this going forward. Personally I wanted Ake but he just got loaned out again.