No idea why you'd be worried after the footballing clinic toy put on in the cup final

*you

Bailey is a left winger.

Lots of people clambering to support Conte in the press etc - but whereas last year he was joyfully pragmatic, this year, he's just set the team up to counter-attack. A team with Fabregas, Willian, Hazard etc should be dominating most premier league matches, not counter attacking. I hope Chelsea go for a coach who will change their style, who will have time to bring through some of the many youth prospects you have and make a star, and who will also get the backing he needs. You desperately need a top centre back to play next to Rudiger (who I think is underrated), a top midfielder to guide Loftus Cheek and a really top quality striker.

Fabregas is done, he is a passenger in ant top PL team. Over a full 90 mins he does not have the pace to join attacks nor track back to help defence.

And yes I am worried. This is the weakest Chelsea team under Roman and there is no squad depth.

It’s a feckin shambles.

I think we should bring in Jardim, for the reasons you stated.

If that happens then Hazard can be convinced to stay, especially as I'm not convinced that Real will be banging the door down for him anyway this summer. Courtois not that bothered.

Next year we need a really top class striker brought in with Morata moved on. Even just just bringing back Bats would be a massive step up from Morata.

Keep the likes of David Luiz, bring back RLC and promote the likes of Hudson-Odoi into the first team squad.

If we're clever we don't even need to go on a massive spending spree. Just use the many underused assets that we already have at the club.

Totally agree Superb, If we are smart we dont really need to spend big. Maybe a strike and a right winger.

Icardi and Bailey would be my choices, Promote Hudson-Odoi and bring back Loftus-Cheek and Mason Mount.

Not worried at all. We are Chelsea. what will be will be as it always is.
we played fantastic football before roman but won sweet FA. we played defensive in 2012 and won the champions league. you can have an unbeaten season and finish with 38 points and get relegated, you can win every other game 7-0 and lose the rest finish with a record 121 goals and be about 8th in the league. Balance is the answer Liverpool score shed loads until they meet a team that can defend then they are pretty much nullified, i am certain city wont have a season like this again, as many teams had lost before kicking a ball against them but it just requires a bad game at the start of the season ala Burnley suddenly every team thinks they can beat you.

as for purchases id like to sell Morata to juve and use that money to either purchase Cavani (Crespo type) as hes a scary mo´fo to play against. or Lewendowski as hes a very effective striker not a stand out footballer but does exactly what it says on the label. as for wingers id say go for Zaha doesnt score many but creates a lot of chances, wont be extortionate in price

I agree with Chinese Barcelona fan.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cTwZZz0HV8I

comment by The Chavy One (U12176)
posted 1 hour, 2 minutes ago
Totally agree Superb, If we are smart we dont really need to spend big. Maybe a strike and a right winger.

Icardi and Bailey would be my choices, Promote Hudson-Odoi and bring back Loftus-Cheek and Mason Mount.
----------------------------------------------------------------------

Bailey is a left winger.

Willian is a disrespectful khunt

Courtois
Azpi Luiz Christensen Sandro
RM Kante Bakayoko/RLC Hazard
Morata CF

Rudiger^ should start actually

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Manager : Assuming Allegri & Sarri are off the table for arguments sake, Jardim would be my choice (pretty much for the reasons you said).

Signings : Tough question because it largely depends on who the manager is.

If it's Sarri first and foremost we need to completely scrap the midfield, only Kante is good enough to survive his style. We'd need a solid holding DM whose comfortable on the ball (Jorginho would be ideal), and a CM who excels at arriving late in the box (e.g. Savic) to jump straight into the starting line up + another CM with composure and the ability to spot those vertical passes which make 'Sarriball' what it is. The FB's should be OK if he modifies Alonso to be an inverted LB, but we ideally need another quick CB partner alongside Christensen to deal with the issues his high line will cause in the PL (Zouma could probably do it, maybe). The flanks are set, in Hazard we have the false 9 option if he choose to utilize it, but we'd need a more clinical finisher than Morata for variety (e.g. could be Bats, but the gameplan would need tweaking).

So potentially just five high profile signings straight away just to get his style functioning competently

Jardim won't need as much backing, but a few would need to go. To my knowledge he's never utilized three at the back and likes his FB's to be old school, so right away Alonso & Moses become surplus and Emerson will need competition. The midfield looks OK, Kante is his Fabinho, Fabregas is his Moutinho, he's familiar with Bakayoko, could do with an advanced playmaker option as he does like 4-2-3-1 but that could be Barkley. Up top we look alright as well, he likes the IF/WG combination (that's Hazard & Willian), he likes quick strikers that breaking the lines (Morata & Bats) and Giroud is his hold up option in one striker systems.

Yeah definitely get Jardim the more I think about it

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Agreed, but three at the back is a difficult system to master and very easy to counter if deployed poorly.

Would be easier if we just cut players like Alonso & Moses loose if we employ a manager unfamiliar with it.

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Cahill has already began to be fazed out and contracts up next year. Will likely see little game time next season regardless.

Luiz is a versatile player. Liability at CB yes but played their his entire career + can be used in midfield.

Moses would have to go. Zappacosta could play it as a very attacking alternative (which contrasts well with Azpl as first choice), and Alonso could work as an inverted LB under the right manager.

I agree we are set as a three at the back team atm, one of the biggest losses if we drop it is losing Azpl as a CB, but I'd fear for a manager unfamiliar with it feeling a need to use it particularly in the PL. If it's executed badly all you need to do is stretch it and everyone's isolated.

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I wouldn't. Moses' success as a WB is more a testament to Azpl than him, I wouldn't trust him with the responsibility of holding that right flank defensively without that shield. Same goes for Zappa but he at least has value going forward so would be a better backup option to have.

It's not a major restructuring. The only position that would require investment is LB, and to be brutally honest even if we stuck to a back 3 the first areas we should be looking to improve are the WB's anyway. Wouldn't affect our capacity to improve other areas of the pitch at all.

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If we continue with three at the back we couldn't afford too. A manager can shift things around in midfield (as Conte has done this season), but the WB's are static in terms of team shape. They have to be able to attack and defend playing any variation of three at the back and we have first choices who are only capable of one aspect of the role - Alonso can attack/can't defend, Moses can defend/can't attack.

If we feel we can't sufficiently improve that area of the pitch, whether through lack of targets or a need to show ambition to keep star players, it's actually an argument in favor of switching to a back 4