The Conte Era - Chelsea 17/18

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

I've only seen him a couple of times, but off today's performance, I can see why we're after him.

He reminds me of RLC a bit, too. Great technique, great strength, great tackling ability, yet he seems a tad lazy when not in possession. Perhaps Conte is hoping he can coach some desire into him, then he'd be a great partner for Kante. For Jjuve's first goal, he was just casually jogging behind Higiuan, if it was Kante, he'd have intercepted Alves's backheel.

100% agree. Thought tonight was one of the worst games I've seen him play tbh.

Blue Barrett wrote:100% agree. Thought tonight was one of the worst games I've seen him play tbh.

I think, second goal aside, he was one of Monaco's better players, I'd say only Glik, Mmbop and Dirar were better than him. Lamar was trash and Falcao, Fabinho, and Sidibe were all invisible.

3 more points! As long as we don't lose any of our last three games, we win the title!

Cesc reminding us of our plans on Friday night:

Get in lads!!!!! What a win!!!

Champions once again!

LADDSSSSSS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

THIS IS MY 2ND FAVORITE TITLE WIN! WHAT A DAY!!!!

GET IN!!!!!

Genuinely hope this is the start of a legit era under Conte!

Now to sit back and watch JT get a run in in the last two games and Ake and Chalobah as well as Willian, Aina, RLC and Michy (OHHH MICHYYYY!!!!! YOU BEAUTY!!!!)

What a great season, I saw almost every match and really liked that we played with wing backs- Moses and Alonso were so effective. Pedro was another player that really surprised me this season, he was really fun to watch. Also, I liked Fabregas's role this season, and he really came through clutch and I hope he stays. Apzi was amazing, I love david luiz <3, and cahill came thru. And Willian was great, love that he is a free kick specialist. This was hazards best season with us, Costa is beast, and god damn Kante and Matic. And almost forgot to mention Michy- I had a feeling he'd score! I hope Begovic stays, and really liked Ake in that game he started. What else... hope to see Kennedy soon- i really like that guy!

Never thought I'd say this but I like Conte more than Mou.

What a guy and what a season.

PS *bleep* GIL.

I have updated the thread title, so we will continue to use this as the game related thread for the upcoming season.

Chelsea have 25 players on a plane to China for our pre-season, with Rudiger joining when we go to Singapore. Notable absentees are Bakayoko, Hazard (both injury), Matic and Costa (to be sold).

The list is:
Tomas Kalas
Eduardo
Jake Clarke-Salter
Michy Batshuayi
N’Golo Kante
Wilfredo Caballero
David Luiz
Marcin Bulka
Kyle Scott
Thibaut Courtois
Kenedy
Pedro
Cesc Fabregas
Willian
Loic Remy
Marcos Alonso
Andreas Christensen
Victor Moses
Lewis Baker
Charly Musonda Jr
Mario Pasalic
Fikayo Tomori
Jeremie Boga
Cesar Azpilicueta
Gary Cahill

I assume we're going to continue with a 3-4-3, so our options for each position are:

GKs:
Eduardo, Wilfredo Caballero, Thibaut Courtois, Marcin Bulka

CBs:
Tomas Kalas, Jake Clarke-Salter, David Luiz, Cesar Azpilicueta, Gary Cahill, Fikayo Tomori, Andreas Christensen, + Rudiger

RWBs:
Victor Moses, (+Cesar Azpilicueta, Tomas Kalas, Fikayo Tomori)

LWBs:
Marcos Alonso, Kenedy (+Cesar Azpilicueta)

CMs:
Mario Pasalic, Lewis Baker, Cesc Fabregas, N’Golo Kante, Kyle Scott

RF/LFs:
Charly Musonda Jr, Jeremie Boga, Pedro, Willian

CFs:
Loic Remy, Michy Batshuayi

I am curious to see how Musonda, Pasalic, Baker, JCS, Tomori, Christensen and Kalas go. Some of them will be fighting for a first team spot.

Chelsea have confirmed my previous post, now.

http://www.chelseafc.com/news/latest-news/2017/07/asia-here-we-come.html?extcmp=SOCIA_FB_ENG_ARTICLES

First up Arsenal, here is the highlight of the game and some individual comps.

I've merged the pre-season thread here, seeing as the other thread will not get too many posts.

Thanks for posting the highlights. I'll have to give them a watch!

Good idea.

Tomori looked good btw, i thought him and Boga were the best of the youth players.

Boga has good talent, but you can see a lack of confidence and nervousness at times.

Boga looked decent at best, nothing special but not out of his depth either.

Tomori will just be another Aina if he stays, he won't get enough game time.

Boga could potentially steal Musonda's spot as 4th choice winger, but I think both are penciled in for a loan.

Good to see Christensen start, but everyone expected him to be a world beater, which he is not.

Give him time and he will be, for now. He is a decent squad option.

It's rare for a CB to be a world beater at 21/22. Bonucci was talented but quite raw at 23 until he worked with Conte at Juve. Give it time.

Exactly.

From what I saw, he had a decent game, and we can't expect more than that, especially when the WB's were letting the defence down.

Alonso in particular was appalling. Always more concerned with attacking (which he's not even that good at) than defending (which he knows he's bang average at. Gpt caught without our back 5 defensive shape several times because Alonso had camped in Bayern's half and couldn't be bothered to even bust his gut to try to get back. Same thing on both Muller goals (plus Cahill's trademark backing off nonsense on the third). You can see why Conte really wants Sandro. It's puzzling to see that some fans think we're trying to waste money on Sandro because "Alonso's top class".

Also, Fabregas gets exposed a lot against top midfields or just midfields that are ball dominant. Kante's not a DM. Can't do the work of 2 people every time. Love Kante's interceptions and runs but he's no Makelele as far as doing the work of more than one person. This is why Conte went out for Bakayoko too.

Add both of those and Christensen was just exposed time after time. For a young CB, that's a lot to deal with. Still preseason though.

Bakayoko cannot return soon enough. Particularly for the big games.

So preseason is over, and we look very thin and shaky, not good.

Conte fixed our issues after a poor start last season, but we cannot rely on that again. Signings and improvement needed, quickly.

Kick wrote:So preseason is over, and we look very thin and shaky, not good.

Conte fixed our issues after a poor start last season, but we cannot rely on that again. Signings and improvement needed, quickly.

Really??? Which areas? I thought you have most balanced squad.

iftikhar wrote:

Kick wrote:So preseason is over, and we look very thin and shaky, not good.

Conte fixed our issues after a poor start last season, but we cannot rely on that again. Signings and improvement needed, quickly.

Really??? Which areas? I thought you have most balanced squad.

We only have Alonso for LWB, Moses and maybe Azpi for RWB. We currently only have Kante, Fabregas and Bakayoko (injured) for CM. And Morata and Batshuayi is a massive downgrade on Costa.

Hazard is also injured, which further weakens our squad.

LWB, RWB, CM, and possibly an attack is needed at the minimum.

Matt Law has reiterated that we will sign 3 more players before the end of the window.

First game of the season on Sat. Moses is suspended but Pedro should be cleared to play.

XI:


Morata and Batshuayi are 50/50 to start. We should get a win here regardless but reinforcements are needed.