EFL Cup – Chelsea vs Bristol Rovers

First time we've featured in the second round of this competition in ages xD A nice, on-paper easy game (if such a thing even exists for us.....cough cough Bradford) that Conte will hopefully be viewing as a great venue to give a few of the lesser featured players so far in his short tenure an opportunity in; especially the likes of Loftus-Cheek, Aina and Batshuayi, who must be considered legitimate contenders for places in the team even aside from less challenging fixtures like this as AC continues to work out his best XI, system, tactics, etc.

I am hoping for this lineup:


Rest Terry or Ivanovic, depending on who is more tired.

Sub Remy for Costa, Loftus-Cheek for Chalobah and Pedro for Hazard.

We should win, and we shouldn't rotate too much as we don't really need to rest our entire first XI.

Not even sure we have the personnel to make wholesale changes. That bench on Saturday was just comical

You laugh at the bench, yet our subs won us the game

We really only need 18-20 quality players this season. The rest can be youth players.

Won this game, yes. And slightly fortunately at that. Try get-out-of-jail scenarios like that against the better sides, though, and I fear it won't end quite so favourably for us. Besides, the essence of what I was saying was about our lack of quality in depth. Alot of potential in many of them, yes - but 5 of our 7 subs had made a combined 41 career appearances for us ever as of kickoff Saturday. Says alot about the kinds of players we're being forced to name as back-ups.

Nah Batshuayi and Fabregas got this #Supersubs

I admire your blindness optimism

When we're heading into this season with the same defence we had in the last, hope is all I got left.

Kick wrote:When we're heading into this season with the same defence we had in the last, hope is all I got left.

Really says it all about this window

3 2 winners, Batman with 2 and Moses with the 3rd.

Aina started (his debut ) but got injured, RLC played as a SS and Pedro played and scrubbed it up.

We obviously need a defender and depending on how bad Aina's injury is, we may need two, ASAP.

Put effortlessly on the ropes by third-division Bristol Rovers at home, 4 fit defenders in the entire squad, and the exact same defence that shipped 53 on our way 10th place last season with a week to go in the transfer window. Because YOLO.

Apparently Aina's injury is only a dead leg.

I hope if we don't sign someone, he ousts Ivanovic soon, he apparently looked decent before the injury.

Highlights: