The Conte Era - Chelsea 17/18

Yea but that's nothing new. There've been suggestions since pretty much his arrival that he wasn't totally happy in England and would be looking to leave after not too long. I've personally never seen him as a Drogba-esque player who was gonna be with us into his mid-thirties.

I know, but I don't want him to leave at all.

I also don't see who we'd replace him with.

Matt Law wrote yesterday that Conte's ideal replacement is Morota.

I agree with she's, who would we look to as a replacement though?

He's called Morata not Morota you nunk

A typo in a post made at 5:36am. To the gallows I go!

Fitty's typo referring to me as 'she's' is ban-worthy however imo

Shed wrote:A typo in a post made at 5:36am. To the gallows I go!

Fitty's typo referring to me as 'she's' is ban-worthy however imo

Find a really high ledge and step off it

I didn't expect Costa to have a Drogba-esque career with us, become a club legend, spend 9 years here either, but leaving this summer? I can't comprehend it.

I expected him to spend a good chunk of his footballing prime with us. Why didn't he leave last summer? We were shit, he wasn't performing well, fans had a lukewarm perception of him, there were very good offers for him. Now that we're doing so well, now that him and the fans found love again, now that he found a coach that, yes, isn't subdued by his childish and unprofessional behaviour and doesn't tolerate any bullshit, but has allowed him to play the best football of his career, now that the future at the club and his own future is looking bright. Now he wants to leave?

I still think there's a good chance he's being manipulated by Jorge Mendes to get a very large pay rise and at the same time is testing the waters with how much Chinese teams offer in case of a transfer a few years from now though.
Either way, Jorge Mendes, Mino Raiola, and all the other peopleaof this kind are pure footballing cancer. They're ebola. Greedy parasites that have so much influence to shape the future of clubs according to their likings. Hideous.

If this goes through, while I do rate Morata think he's a is a fine player, I'd much rather go with guys that are keeping up with how Costa is doing in the PL and have a somewhat similar playstyle to him, aka Lukaku and Kane.
They are both extremely expensive, but the supposed fee of Costa's sale is around 90-100M and that should be enough to get either.

Next season Kane/Lukaku with Costa's money, Alexis with Oscar's money. I would approve that.

Shed wrote:Matt Law wrote yesterday that Conte's ideal replacement is Morota.

It's between Morata or Lukaku, imo. We won't get/be interested in anyone else.

fatman123 wrote:I agree with she's, who would we look to as a replacement though?

Best.typo.EVER.

Katy Perry wrote:I didn't expect Costa to have a Drogba-esque career with us, become a club legend, spend 9 years here either, but leaving this summer? I can't comprehend it.

I expected him to spend a good chunk of his footballing prime with us. Why didn't he leave last summer? We were shit, he wasn't performing well, fans had a lukewarm perception of him, there were very good offers for him. Now that we're doing so well, now that him and the fans found love again, now that he found a coach that, yes, isn't subdued by his childish and unprofessional behaviour and doesn't tolerate any bullshit, but has allowed him to play the best football of his career, now that the future at the club and his own future is looking bright. Now he wants to leave?

I still think there's a good chance he's being manipulated by Jorge Mendes to get a very large pay rise and at the same time is testing the waters with how much Chinese teams offer in case of a transfer a few years from now though.
Either way, Jorge Mendes, Mino Raiola, and all the other peopleaof this kind are pure footballing cancer. They're ebola. Greedy parasites that have so much influence to shape the future of clubs according to their likings. Hideous.

If this goes through, while I do rate Morata think he's a is a fine player, I'd much rather go with guys that are keeping up with how Costa is doing in the PL and have a somewhat similar playstyle to him, aka Lukaku and Kane.
They are both extremely expensive, but the supposed fee of Costa's sale is around 90-100M and that should be enough to get either.

Next season Kane/Lukaku with Costa's money, Alexis with Oscar's money. I would approve that.

Perhaps I overrate how much players love our club, or maybe I was being optimistic, but I thought he'd stay for a long time.

If we signed Sanchez along with Morata (although that'd be very expensive!) I think Hazard and Sanchez could make up for Morata's lack of goals.

Kick wrote:If we signed Sanchez along with Morata (although that'd be very expensive!) I think Hazard and Sanchez could make up for Morata's lack of goals.

I wouldn't want Morata to be our main man, that's my concern. I think he's sort of like similar to Michy, a striker who can only be of use if as a back-up or playing alongside a main striker. I would trade him for Michy but not for Diego. We need a catalyzer, a dominant, and a reliant goalscorer as our main striker IMO.
We already have 60M unutilized in our pockets and this hypotetical scenario we're talking about requires us to sell Diego for a very healthy fee, so I think we can afford to buy Sanchez and Kane/Lukaku, at least money-wise.

Have also seen Mauro Icardi suggested, his contract extension notwithstanding.

Shed wrote:Have also seen Mauro Icardi suggested, his contract extension notwithstanding.

I'd take Icardi over all other names mentioned here. However, he isn't a model professional so a future Icardi saga could happen all over again.

As fort Morata, I agree he is better as a second choice, Conte seems to really want him, for what ever reason, so maybe he has something planned.

And as I said, as long as we have goalscorers around him, the burden to score won't be on his shoulders.

Icardi is a really excellent striker yea, good suggestion. But I think Costa will stay for the forseable future. I've been reading that Jorge Mendes was talking with Tajiuan for Falcao and not Diego, and that the chinese government is already putting a brake on these investments.

Diego Costa, who was never going to play for Chelsea again, whose career at the club was over, who had fallen irrecoverably out with our manager, and who was on the brink of a massive-money move to China – circa 6 days ago – starts today against Hull. Another blinder by the press.

Super win, especially going into our pivotal next 2 games. Utterly dominant before the break, though with very little to show for it with our marked lack of precision in the final third, but a huge props to Costa for traveling all the way from China to score our opener and break that deadlock before the interval. Bit of a dreadful second half, but the second goal killed off any faint hope Hull had of nicking something. All in all a far from exhilarating affair but three points and extending our lead at the top is what matters (and is the best entertainment of all!) and we move onto our big clashes in the coming weeks.

Good win and good performance. We had a good possession and a fluid circulation of the ball, and we managed to withstand well the pressure whenever Hull had the upper hand and ended with the umpteenth cleansheet. Professional job for the lads.

I honestly really like the 3-5-1-1 formation we've seen some times when Cesc came for one of the two AMs and not the two CMs. He really shines in a midfield 3 where he has less tactical restrictions and can just assume a free role where he can just slide deeper to collect the ball and distribute it whenever we're in our half and make through passes when we're in the final third. I would like to see that from the start in games where we need more bulk from the midfield.

And Costa We can discuss about players who have similar goalscoring records to him, but he would be so hard to replace just because of how charismatic and intimidating for the opponents he is. He's way more for us than the 15 goals.

Don't know what to expect from the Liverpool and Arsenal games tbh. I'm usually optimistic but they gave us two resounding beatings the last time, and our strength with Conte hasn't been the direct clashes against top 6 opponents but the consistency against everyone else, which is ultimately what wins you the league. Would still be awesome to win against them. I expect a win vs Arsenal as we have a very encouraging record vs them at home, beating them even last season. Pool will be tough though.

Costa ffs

Even if he leaves in the summer, I can't help but love the guy, forever a warrior on the field.

Two more wins and we'll be 10+ clear of everyone aside from spurs

Also, how poor was Hull's marking of Cahill during his goal?

He wandered free for the whole free kick and causally scored at the back post. Schoolboy defending, there.

More to do with the fact that Gaz is a goalscoring machine, I'd like to think

Without Terry and Ivanovic, you think the main targets to mark at a defensive set piece would be Costa, Matic, Cahill and Luiz. Others like Willian, Kante, Azpilicueta, and Moses should be less prioritized. It seems Hull forgot that

Getting beat by Spurs was supposed to ruin our run - two weeks later our lead is even bigger at the top

@Kick it was similar to the goal we conceded at home vs Pool from a free kick. Neither man marking nor going after the ball to intercept it, just defenders being static and watching the ball.

It also needs to be mentioned that Cesc is a really good set piece taker. At least when it comes to a free kick that requires crossing the ball and not shooting it. He's at 31 PL assists since joining us and I'm sure at least 10 of those are from corners/free kicks.

Cesc and Willian are clearly our best set piece takers.

So Kenedy has to stay with us for the rest of the season.

Wolves away in the next round of the FA Cup.

A markedly more challenging fixture than our two previous draws.