I just hope they definitely go and we get no surprise disappointments. Once that’s done then I can rest easy.
I wonder if Postecoglou's going to use the international break to work on Dier? We can't get rid of him until January at the earliest and we'll be light at centre-half. I assume he won't be one of the preferred backups, but we need to consider him. Dier's unsuited to the way that we play now but we end up in a position where we have little choice. Davies, Phillips and maybe even Emerson at a push is not the greatest selection, is it? Paskotsi and Dorrington probably aren't ready and are definitely unproven. We need to have two centre-halves lined up for the opening day of the January window. Even if it's just a couple of loans to get us through to the summer, we can't risk not doing it.
Doubtful I’d say. Phillips made the bench over Dier on the weekend and I think fans would much rather see a youngster given chances than another game of watching Dier likely make a mistake.
Great to be (hopefully) seeing Sanchez and Ndombele going. Isn’t this why we needed a new defender in the summer? With Dier seemingly out of favour, that leaves us with a couple of youngsters. (Which I’m not against btw), but it’s a risk!
Yep, Ange publicly asked for one too in pre-season after we’d signed van de Ven. Specifically said he wanted another in. Need to hope Romero and van de Ven don’t get injuries but if they do, I think Phillips replaced Romero and Davies replaces van de Ven for the time being. You could argue it’s a bigger risk playing Dier - or Sanchez if the worst happens and he stays - anyway, they’re both so awful that I doubt there’s genuinely much difference between them and an untested youngster right now, the latter at least has significant scope for improvement.
Adarabioyo is the most obvious pick, although the fact he seemed completely disinterested in joining us in the summer might be reason for Ange to look elsewhere
We'll probably go back in for him, Chalobah and Kelly, as we're short with homegrown players. They've all got decent experience, despite still being fairly young, so I get it. Not the most inspiring of signings, but we're looking for backup with no European football. The club has put itself in a difficult position and I doubt the fans will be happy with the solution.
I'm a bit surprised at the decision to let Sanchez go at this stage. With Tanganga already gone and no further incomings possible, the reality is that for all his faults, he suits Ange's system far better than Dier or Davies. For the relative peanuts we're making from the sale, is it really worth the risk? We're in a tricky position now and will be come January too. Players will be reluctant to join knowing they won't be first choice in a season where we have the fewest total fixtures in over a decade. Chances to impress will be few and far between. Perhaps the best approach until we can offer European football and with it, more fixtures, is to go down the Ashley Phillips route and sign up and coming players who won't (unlike Tapsoba or Adarabioyo) expect to walk straight into the starting line-up.
The alternative is looking to next season and finding someone ambitious, but with patience. If we can get back into Europe, then we'll need more rotation and more depth. Selling that to someone in January and using the end of this season to settle in would be sensible.
January will depend on how ambitious the club wants to be, along with how well the team is performing. Chelsea this summer signed Palmer from Champions League City and Caicedo (and Sanchez) from Europa League Brighton despite having no European football of their own. We do not need to be scraping the barrel with guys like Tosin and Kelly just because we’re out of Europe. They’re ok (at best) players that can’t lay a glove on Romero or van de Ven. Realistically a club like us need three good CBs at the least. We signed Sanchez for £40m when we had Jan and Toby (and Dier), we should look at aiming for similar in the next window, just preferably with a better outcome of course, or at the least try and get in for a Kim Min-Jae before they move to Napoli type.
I agree with your general point, but Caicedo, Sanchez and Palmer can all expect to start. Palmer probably won't be first choice straight away, but he'll have a good chance to take it.
The new CB should arrive with that in mind though and we should be targeting a player who we feel can potentially do as such. We don’t want someone who we know is simply a bench warmer and/ or who’d accept as such. Tosin, Kelly and Chalobah all fit into at least one of those categories. None of them can lay a glove on Romero, as well as van de Ven based off early impressions.
Any manager/coach worthy of the name should be working hard with any current squad fringe players not on international duty
We have reportedly got £8m plus add ons for Sanchez despite him only having a year left on his contract. Implies we will have to spend £40m plus to get someone better on a five year deal.
The difference is that Chelsea will pay enough in wages to keep anyone even slightly tempted by the idea of owning four yachts instead of just three happy to sit on the bench most games. We can't afford to do that and tbh even if we could, I wouldn't want us to.
We can’t stockpile as much as Chelsea but we can certainly afford a few expensive squad options. We only have two senior credible CBs at the moment, bringing in a third shouldn’t be seen as a risk or something we can’t afford to do. This summer many of us said the club should’ve signed Tapsoba and van de Ven, whilst Tapsoba’s just signed a new deal with Leverkusen, it’s that sort of calibre CB we should be targeting in January, not cannon fodder like Tosin/ Kelly etc.
