01 Oct 2017 05:38:58
Just a quick idea for a thread - what 1 (and I do mean one! ) thing did you take away from the Saturday games related to Chelsea? I mean the other matches not the Chelsea one, as you already discuss what the Chelsea game means.

From what I saw of the others, it might be time to tweak the system and formation as so many teams are now copying the Conte way and it will get more and more difficult to beat them. However, having used the system for a long time, he should know ways to expose its weaknesses.

1.) 01 Oct 2017
01 Oct 2017 08:25:41
Fair point and I agree to a certain extent. But if we went to say 4-3-3 it would mean certain players would not have the same impact. For instance Alonso as a regular left back and Hazard further wide on the left would restrict their game whereas Hazard now gets more freedom. Luiz being put back into a back four would also not convince me. I just think we need better players for the system and more rotation. Why move Azpi to wing back just to accommodate Cahill because he's captain you play you're players in their best positions. Conte has no confidence in Michy so it's a waste of time keeping him. Cesc is way too slow nowadays and he needs to be improved upon so do Willian and Pedro. Hazard and Morata are vital for us now but we need one more world class player to take the burden off them two and to complete the trio. Sanchez, Dybala or Griezmann should be pursued in the summer. We have a lot of players that could be improved upon and we could still sell them and get good fees. Cahill, Alonso, Fabregas, Willian and Batshuayi should be sold. Conte has over achieved so much with this squad so the board should now back him because managers like Antonio don't come around very often.

2.) 01 Oct 2017
01 Oct 2017 10:42:40
For me, the only positive from yesterdays game was Christensen.
I am always positive about the team and In particular Conte but the majority of the team played poorly and Willian in particular was truly awful.
Also, I think Conte picked the wrong shape and therefore the wrong players!
Conte also for me made two mistakes during the game. The first was replacing Morata with Willian and not Bats but even more surprising was seeing Delph moving into midfield from left back therefore giving City a back three, we at NO stage took advantage of the vacated space.
Every team that we play now let's Cahil have the ball and then press and to be honest Rudi didn't look comfortable on the ball either.
City are a good side that we made look better. Onwards and Upwards my mighty BLUES.

3.) 01 Oct 2017
01 Oct 2017 14:02:16
Willian is a midfielder by vocation the same as Hazard. Playing with secondary strikers was wrong. Conte knows why he did what he did (maybe Batshuayi is not fit to play more than 30 minutes) . There are things that only coaches and medical stuff know.

4.) 01 Oct 2017
01 Oct 2017 17:10:36
Our squad depth isn’t comparable, without morata we looked without a plan, they were without aguero and didn’t even make a difference, we bought on willian and they bought on bernado Silva, I mean one is a footballer and other isn’t. says it all,