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Premier League 2016-17

jikastew said:
Chelsea signs Alonso. Great get for the Blues. Big, somewhat fast left footed, left back. Best they could get.......at this point, probably. Didn't overpay. Nice.

Check 1 of 2 off the list.

Now let's go get a serviceable CB. And I can't believe Side-Show Bob may be in the discussion. I never thought I'd be happy to see him back in London, but if he's available for under 40M and everyone else with a pulse costs 55-60M, then.....................SIGN ME UP for another 3 years of the one and only David Luiz.

Chelsea has one more year of treading Cahill/Terry water until they can bank on Zouma and Christensen to core their back line. Honestly, I could see a little Luiz back there as well.
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Side Show Bob it is! Unbelievable how that came together. Will be interesting what they do with Alonso... can play LB, but also known to play higher up in a midfield role with a nose for helping in attack. If he goes to LB, I'm assuming Azpi goes over to his natural RB and Ivanovic rides some pine...

I'm really surprised that more players weren't moved along... Cuadrado was guaranteed to go back, but now they seem to have a ridiculous amount of players in the MF - Pedro, Matic, Cesc, Mikel, Moses, and Oscar to go with the normal starters in Kante, Hazard and Willian and youngster RLC. Honestly kind of a weird collection of players.
 

I know that it's only temporary, but Chelsea is top of the table. Conte may have walked into a squad that is ready and willing to dance the 3-4-3. Oscar and Fabs are 100% on notice, by the way. That beautiful 3-4-3 requires speed at every position and gives us the excuses needed to drop weight in midfield as noted above and along the backline. I'm looking at you Cahill and Ivanovich. With Zouma about ready to play, all the sudden, Chelsea has some room to play during the winter transfer window.
 
Swansea with a huge win over Crystal Palace today 5-4. Four points in the last two games and are off bottom of the table and now just two points from being out of the Relegation Zone.

Even better the local press is behind Bradley. His first EPL win. :)
 
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Swansea got blasted last week, but their 5-4 "comeback" after blowing the lead was fantastic.

Anyhoo, let's get back to Chelsea!

It was fun to go read the initial posts in this thread and realize how much has changed. For all the talk about James and RM, they never play him and yet his agent still thinks it's the place for him. I don't get it. Side-show Bob has been nothing short of a star. Kante is the best defensive mid in the league. Alonso is a regular starter and can actually play. Costa has been tamed (partially). Hazard decided the London girls like him alot more when he's scoring goals. The 3-4-3 is now the flavor of the month worldwide, but dipshit managers who don't have the personnel to run it, seemingly take a shot at it anyway. The old is now new again. Except for Ivanovich, who is still old.

Oscar and Fabs aren't only on notice, I'm pretty sure they are actively being shopped anywhere and everywhere. Fabs got to play last week. And apart from one brilliant pass to Costa, was a complete non-factor. No, it was worse, he was a complete detriment in midfield.

What does the 3-4-3 mean to Chelsea's future? With Zouma and Christensen in the fold next year, it means they have no work that needs done here in the off-season along the back line. It means after off-loading Oscar and Fabs, and getting RLC the hell away from the first team on loan somewhere (anywhere), we'll have the funds to consider a full-out press on Griezmann. And if that happens, you have:

Wait for it......................

Hazard - Costa - Griezmann
Moses - Kante - Matic - Alonso
Christensen - Sideshow Bob - Zouma

Holy S--t. AND, you have Cahill, Willian, Pedro, Chub, The Batman, etc on the bench.


It's amazing how one formation change and 2 instant impact transfers can instantly improve the future of a club. And I haven't even talked about Moses yet. Nor three loanees who are KILLING it for real clubs this year.

It's a great day to be BLUE.
 
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"Batshuayi and Kante. It appears, through the opening 2 games, these signings were amazing for Chelsea. Time will tell. Both have been simply fantastic thus far. And when facing defeat with 15 minutes to go......in comes Fabregas and completely turns the game around. Essentially 2 assists for the win, Alex. If he didn't make a case for replacing Matic/Oscar today, I'm not sure what will. It's nice to have options. And with rumors of James swirling around.....Fabs made his case for staying put with a exclamation point.

They play better with 2 up top and pressing. Ship Pedro anywhere. He's been done for over a season now. Kante is simply amazing. All over the place. Just a wall in defensive mid. Matic is the weak link unless Pedro is playing. Even Vic Moses makes Pedro look pedestrian. I wouldn't have any problem letting Matic go, either. He offers nothing going forward and is hit-and-miss defensively. I'm fairly certain, if they can pull James for anything under 70M, then Pedro, Matic or Fabs will be sacrificed. Hell, at this point, Pedro may be sold for 5M. If they ditch Matic and Pedro (makes most sense) then they may hold on to Cuadrado."



So.................I wrote that back in August. If this year isn't the best example of getting your players in a position to succeed, then I don't know what is. And it makes it that much more likely that what we are seeing at ManU in terms of underperforming, will not be a blip on the radar.
 
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Swansea with a big 3-0 win over Sunderland are now out of the relation zone for the first time since mid-October. When Bradly took over they were on 5 points and now with 2 wins and a draw are on 12 points. Tip of the hat to Bob Bradley who is getting the job done.
 
Arsenal quietly putting together a much more consistent campaign that they are typically used to.

In my opinion, the biggest difference is the center of the pitch. Mustafi has been fantastic next to Koscielny. Arsenal has been thin at center back for years. Per Mertesacker was strong aerially and had loads of experience, but that served largely to cover up the fact that he was slow in his prime and he's past his prime. Gabriel has been way to error prone although he is likely going to be forced into action at center back with Mustafi tweaking a hammy against Stoke.

One notable name missing from the Arsenal midfield is Aaron Ramsey. He has played sparingly. I like Aaron Ramsey, but he was often sloppy on the ball and too quick to bomb forward in search of goals leaving space in the midfield. The pairing of Granit Xhaka and Francis Coquelin has stiffened up the spine of Arsenal's midfield. Xhaka has a penchant for stupid bookings, but his ability to not only disrupt opposing counters but also distribute with creativity and precision has been a big part of Arsenal's success.

The decision to play Sanchez at the number 9 has worked well. His pace and finishing give a presence that Giroud just doesn't have. Different style. Oxlade-Chamberlain seems to be finally reaching his potential on the left wing and Theo Walcott has been much better playing at a more comfortable right wing as opposed to the number 9.

I think Arsenal can hang. They haven't had long periods of sloppy play like in years past. They looked good in the Champions league. Their spine has stiffened. I think they will be in the Premier League championship discussion all season.
 

Chi-Town Cube said:
Arsenal quietly putting together a much more consistent campaign that they are typically used to.

In my opinion, the biggest difference is the center of the pitch. Mustafi has been fantastic next to Koscielny. Arsenal has been thin at center back for years. Per Mertesacker was strong aerially and had loads of experience, but that served largely to cover up the fact that he was slow in his prime and he's past his prime. Gabriel has been way to error prone although he is likely going to be forced into action at center back with Mustafi tweaking a hammy against Stoke.

One notable name missing from the Arsenal midfield is Aaron Ramsey. He has played sparingly. I like Aaron Ramsey, but he was often sloppy on the ball and too quick to bomb forward in search of goals leaving space in the midfield. The pairing of Granit Xhaka and Francis Coquelin has stiffened up the spine of Arsenal's midfield. Xhaka has a penchant for stupid bookings, but his ability to not only disrupt opposing counters but also distribute with creativity and precision has been a big part of Arsenal's success.

The decision to play Sanchez at the number 9 has worked well. His pace and finishing give a presence that Giroud just doesn't have. Different style. Oxlade-Chamberlain seems to be finally reaching his potential on the left wing and Theo Walcott has been much better playing at a more comfortable right wing as opposed to the number 9.

I think Arsenal can hang. They haven't had long periods of sloppy play like in years past. They looked good in the Champions league. Their spine has stiffened. I think they will be in the Premier League championship discussion all season.
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Isn't Alexis going to Chelsea next summer?
 
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