We are two games into the season with 6 points out of a possible 6 and with a decent goal difference. So all is well in the blue nation right? Wrong!!!
I know for certain that Antonio Conte knows all is not well and I just hope that our board listen to him and get him the reinforcements he needs because these first two games of the season has shown very clearly how unfinished a product our squad is for those who are actually paying attention and not caught up in emotional euphoria.
Let me be brutally honest. In my humble opinion unless our board get Conte three critical signings in the remaining 11 days of this window we can forget about any BPL title aspirations and even our prospects for a top 4 finish will be very dim. This is the realist in me talking much as I would like Chelsea to get back to the top of the mountain.
Why am I trying to a party pooper you say;
Here are the things I have learnt from our first two games and why I feel we absolutely need a minimum of three signings more before this window closes.
1. Striker; Conte every where he has coached has always preferred two striker formations but right now for two games he has started with only one and only when forced when chasing a game has he brought on the second with good results each time. Why doesn`t he start with two strikers you may ask? Limited resources both at striker and also because of our shaky defence makes it more risky to have a second striker start. Right now our team has only two strikers?lets be real Hazard is a lot of things but he is not a striker. RLC is not a striker either and sorry Loic Remy does not count. Honestly it is an indictment on our board that they have not sold this guy and have been wasting time on a quixotic pursuit of Lukaku ( which wont happen BTW) when we could have got a serviceable target man like Christian Benteke for under 30mill which Crystal Palace just secured. Rather than continuing to play the fool with this Lukaku nonsense what our board need to do is try and sign a target that is actually available and will offer us something different to our two strikers. Two options that come to mind immediately are Wilfed Bony at City who Pep clearly does not rate and is an excellent target man and one of the best aerial threat strikers in the BPL or Alexander Lacazette who is a poor mans cross between Luis Suarez and Pippo Inzaghi..a poacher with good ball to feet control. Why is our striker need urgent you ask ? Because despite Costa being the closest striker we have to world class he is a Jekyll and hyde character. He has played two games and already has two yellows. Had we been a little less lucky in both matches he could have been sent of. Lets be real, his luck will eventually run out. We will have several games this season when he wont be available either because of suspensions, his dodgy hamstrings or if/when he yearnings for Spain begin again. We would be foolish to pitch our club fortunes entirely on him. Bats is a new guy..it would be unfair to expect him to carry the striker load for the team on his own and yet when the inevitable mishaps with Costa come that is what we will face unless we get a decent third striker. For Conte to set us up formation wise the way he likes to set up his teams a third striker must be brought in.
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2. Center back. We have played two games against two sides who are not exactly typical top 6 BPL material and are yet to keep a clean sheet. That alone should ring the alarm bells. Conte knows that the JT and Cahill CB partnership is a disaster waiting to happen. I love both those guys and have the deepest respect for our captain who has done so much for the club but both those guys should be back ups at this stage of their careers not starters for Chelsea. We all hope that Zouma when he gets back will pick up from where he left of as one of our starter CBs but the board have known for at least two seasons now that we needed a high level CB ( some may argue two but I wont be greedy ..one good one would be great). It still baffles me how we sent out Nate Ake and Christensen on loan without having one quality CB signed. The fact that we also loaned out Miazga, and Hector and then sold papy is a huge indictment on how our board approached this mess last summer and yet here we are again about to seemingly repeat the whole debacle. A lot has been said and written about signing K2 from Napoli and again like the Lukaku pursuit this is sheer idiocy. Beyond the well established eccentricity of Aurelio De laurentis we showed a lack of seriousness in this pursuit when we were dragging our feet early in the window on this matter while juventus (who have less raw financial muscle than we do) moved decisively and payed top dollar ( some will say overpaid) to get Gonzalo Higuan from Napoli. Once that signing was done anyone with a clue as to how these things work would have realized that our chances of getting K2 for anything short of a stratospheric fee was sheer fantasy. At this late point in the season I will be shocked if Napoli sell K2 for any price. They have already sold their record scoring striker to big bad Juve..now you seriously think you will sell their prized central defender so late in the window as to be unable to get a half decent replacement? De laurentis is no novice..were he to sanction such a deal he would have a fan revolt and potential club implosion on his hands. In other words if our board has a clue they had best be actively looking elsewhere right now..and I just hope we don`t end up with another Hector/Miazga or Papy clone. This is what happens to clubs who drag their feet in the window and cant seem to grasp that we are in the midst of a sellers (not a buyers) market.
3. Fullback. Most keen observers of our play so far would agree that the only starting member of our 4 man back line that genders any confidence especially as regards pace and positional competence is Cesar. It is for this reason that Kante is so very important for us. Take him out of the squad and I hate to imagine how exposed our backline would be. I suspect this is also the reason Conte continues to start both matic and Kante with a sprinkling of Oscar rather than risking the presence of the Pirlo-esue Cesc Fabregas who is essentially our key for creativity to our front men. I understand Conte starting Ivanovic based on experience but any keen observer can see that despite JT and Cahills limitations their vulnerability is relatively speaking minor compared to the gaping chasm that is our right back flank with Ivanovic there. I will go so far to predict that if we don`t sign a full back before the transfer window closes, before December after several mishaps Conte will be forced to start Aina and allow him grow into the position rather than persist with Ivanovic. Again I respect what Iva has done for us in the past. His history for the club is etched in glory but we must be realists..he should at this stage be a back up not a starter for this side and he is only starting because Conte has no other great options. That we are in this mess after last season is again an indictment of our board and they had better fix it in the remaining few days of the transfer window. It wont be easy however because as has become typical of our board they have dragged this out to the end of the window. We may well end up with another Rahhman clone rather than a competent replacement ready to start immediately.
BTW to our board if they haven`t already figured this out, beggars cant be choosy. Having loaned out Ake who could have been a decent option to try for the left flank and so allow Cesar go back to his natural right wing, having sold Ryan Bertrand on the cheap some time back and let us not even mention the Felipe Luis debacle, i hope they realize that if we are to get a starter level replacement that Conte can trust to either our right or left flank back line they will not come cheap. We have to decide if we will finally do the smart thing and spend some money to get quality or repeat the Baba Rahman folly again.
So in summary I rejoice with other members of the blue nation as to where we find ourselves two games into the season. Honestly I place the greatest praise for this at the feet of Conte. I just hope the board are not fooled into complacency of thinking this side is ready for prime time, ready to compete for the BPL title and assured of a top 4 finish because to think that will be delusional. Conte has repeatedly and gently hinted about the need for more signings..for fresh blood. He will not create a rucus the way Jose used to but I do hope the board don`t take his gentlemanly approach to voicing his needs as a suggestion that his needs are any less acute. Our squad as presently constituted is very shallow in quality and depth at some critical places. What the board does or does not do in the next 11 days will have a huge bearing on how this season plays out for Chelsea FC. We should not be lulled into a false sense of security or safety. There is still quite a ways to go!!!
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