The Conte Era - Chelsea 17/18

When Willian isn't on the pitch, I agree.

I'd take that over Luiz's abominations anyday.

What an absolutely putrid performance. Probably the worst I've seen us play since José himself was manager. Each and every player put in as feckless, inept, hamhanded a performance as conceivably possible. I'm struggling to think of one, single instance where a single player did a single thing right from the first minute to the last. Not even bothered about the officiating decisions (and am not even convinced it was a definite handball anyway) as there was more than enough time to recover from it yet all we did was delve deeper into our unbelievable shittiness and even with 3 90-minute periods and 3 additional players on the pitch would still not have reached the stars and registered a shot on target.

9 fingers on the title and these bottlers look like they couldn't be arsed in the slightest. 10 point lead cut to 4 in the space of 2 weeks and looking very much in a tailspin while Spurs are flying high and licking their lips. Pathetic.

12 points lads!

It could be down to 9 if Palace beat Spurs tomorrow.

We should beat Watford, Boro and Sunderland at home, so beating Everton or WBA is vital.

So you win at last

Aside from Palace and United games, Chelsea have be winning most games

Kick wrote:Aside from Palace and United games, Chelsea have be winning most games

You will never be forgiven

That *bleep* Palace match tho, still mad about it

If we beat Palace, life would be much easier.

Oh well, gotta get 12 points now.

Kinda interesting to think about how you guys see this team evolving and personal changes you think Conte will make next season.

I figured most of you believe we will continue to play a 3 man CB.

Do you guys think Conte will upgrade from Cahill-Luiz-Azpi or will that stay consistent.

Moses and Alonso his preferred wingback?

Matic/Cesc and Kante in midfield, or will he attempt to get someone to do close to the job of Cesc and Matic?

upgrade over Pedro/Willian?


I think a few signings here and there this team could be elite. I hope we don't make the same mistake as 2 years ago after our PL title or the same as Carlo double. Lack of reinforcement and improvement played a significant role in our failure to defend the PL title.

I think our back 5 is fine.

Ake, Christensen and Zouma may be enough for CB options, but we need at least 1 Wing back option.

There is definitely a few options, ranging from available such as Aleix Vidal or Darmian, to possible like Sidibe, to unavailable like Walker or Sandro.

I think we need a CM and a CF. I'd also like Alexis Sanchez if he is available.

Good backup GK if Begovic leaves, although Eduardo is fine too.

Christensen will be integrated and i hope he gains Cahill's place over the season.

Back-up for Alonso and upgrade for Moses please.

CM, would love Saul, Matic/Fábregas rotation is fine but at least one more realiable player is necessary, maybe a chance for Van Ginkel who proved himself to be too good for Eredivisie?

Sanchez and a reliable striker if Costa stays. If he leaves, a top striker too.

In resume if no one important leaves: Christensen, LWB, RWB, CM, Sanchez and ST.

Getting depth is very important, due to europe and more games will be played. Also need to upgrade the starting lineup. I think the starting lineup are good or fine, but a few signing could take this group to CL favorite.

I would bet Hazard would want some assurance that we improve the squad, because i believe without it he would leave for Madrid. I think he knows it the next challenge for him is challenging in the CL.

I think we need one elite CB; we have 3 competent CB but none are elite.

WB- I think we need a really good WB offensively that will stretch and trouble opposing teams. Currently we have none, both Alonso and Moses are just okay.

CM- Matic strength is covering grounds and space this is why Conte likes him over Fab, while Cesc doesn't have the mobility that conte looks for. I really hope we can get a midfielder to add some creativity and mobility.

RW- Sanchez makes a lot of sense.

ST- I think Costa is gone, so Morata or Belotti would be fantastic additions.

If Begovic goes, we do need a replacement, Eduardo isn't good enough.

While I do think a defensive upgrade would be nice, who is realistically available?

In terms of a CM, I think Bakayoko is our main target, I can see us signing him over someone like Saul.

I also think Costa is going to leave, but who replaces him is up in the air, but Lukaku is most likely.

Sounds like Conte wants Bakayoko to be paired with Kante next season.

9 points lads!

Three home games left, we win them all and we win the title!

Reckon Spurs are going to drop points at West Ham. West Ham are notorious for raising their game against Spurs and they hate each other a lot. I'd love to see Leicester drive the final nail in the coffin for Spurs via a Vardy winner/equalizer while the Chelsea players are having a watch party

Blue Barrett wrote:Reckon Spurs are going to drop points at West Ham. West Ham are notorious for raising their game against Spurs and they hate each other a lot. I'd love to see Leicester drive the final nail in the coffin for Spurs via a Vardy winner/equalizer while the Chelsea players are having a watch party

It would be poetic if that happened.

Doesn't matter though, we'll win our three remaining home games, so the title is done.

Kick wrote:Sounds like Conte wants Bakayoko to be paired with Kante next season.

better be a midfield of three because Kante and Bakayoko alone leaves a lot to be desired from passing, creativity, and control.

Bakayoko is a B2B similar to Matic, so why is playing Bakayoko - Kante any different to Matic - Kante?

Kick wrote:Bakayoko is a B2B similar to Matic, so why is playing Bakayoko - Kante any different to Matic - Kante?

Matic has better passing ability and touch, Bakayoko is an upgrade defensively , but downgrade offensively.

Imo we are already pretty defensive setup.

I'm pretty content with Fabregas being a super sub, so perhaps we could balance it out by bringing in a more creative RW?

Kick wrote:I'm pretty content with Fabregas being a super sub, so perhaps we could balance it out by bringing in a more creative RW?

Do you think 3-4-3 could be as effective next season as this season? I personally do not, i think teams have adjusted to us somewhat. We are conceding a lot more goals, and we are not as effective going forward and offensively.

We need to be more dimensional next season, if we want to repeat and compete in the CL. United and City will improve, and league will be more challenging.

I think this side has overachieved and took many times by surprise with the 3-4-3.

Kick wrote:I'm pretty content with Fabregas being a super sub, so perhaps we could balance it out by bringing in a more creative RW?

Sanchez is the player you're looking for.

Blue wrote:

Kick wrote:I'm pretty content with Fabregas being a super sub, so perhaps we could balance it out by bringing in a more creative RW?

Do you think 3-4-3 could be as effective next season as this season? I personally do not, i think teams have adjusted to us somewhat. We are conceding a lot more goals, and we are not as effective going forward and offensively.

We need to be more dimensional next season, if we want to repeat and compete in the CL. United and City will improve, and league will be more challenging.

I think this side has overachieved and took many times by surprise with the 3-4-3.

Conte didn't really use 3-4-3 that often until he tried it at Chelsea because it fit the players we had best.

His preferred formations are 3-5-2 and 4-2-4. He tried 4-2-4 early this season but the players we have were not good enough for it. And then he tried 4-2-3-1 because he thought that's what the players would respond best to as they had played that several times in the past. Then we got pummeled by Arsenal. And then he switched to 3-4-3 (at halftime against Arsenal btw, that's why they didn't score a goal in the 2nd half).

Next season, we're going to get new players in that'll allow us alternate between 3-4-3, 3-5-2 and 4-2-4 depending on the opposition. It'll make us less predictable too. Good strategy to have if you want to win a CL.

Bakayoko-Kante will be amazing. The lad is 22 and already better than Matic (although that's not saying much these days seeing how shit he has been defensively), with loads of room to improve further. Monaco are already lining up Tielemans as replacement.

Think we need to boot Matic and give Chalobah that mantle of 4th midfielder next season instead of relegating him to 5th. But I doubt Conte would let Matic leave, which I doubt is a good idea but aye I'm not the one getting paid millions to make tactical decisions so whatever the manager does, I have faith in him.

We'll need a better LWB too. Alonso won't cut it in the CL. He'll get steamrolled by pacy full backs. We should get Mendy from Monaco if we can. Just chuck 70m at them for Bakayoko and Mendy.

I think getting more than one player from Monaco will be very difficult. We'd be better off looking elsewhere for LWB.

Every time i have seen Bakayoko the less impressed i am.