Why has this taken so long to create? There used to be a decent following of the club on this page. KTBFFH!!!! Where are you guys?

I'm the one who's been creating the Chelsea threads for decades minus that one year when some goob named Diego jumped in and stole my thunder.

But the past few years, it's mostly just been me in there talking to myself like Gollum, so I figured I'd hold off this time and see if someone else would jump in!

I'm in! Really bummed about the 2pm Monday start

Let's gooo!

I am also a fan of Enzo going to MC. Don't like that guy.

I don't love Enzo either, but he's an elite midfielder who should thrive under Xabi so losing him would definitely hurt the team this year. Kind of wild to start the season without Enzo or Caicedo in the starting 11.

I still think we need an upgrade at goalkeeper.

I've tried to defend Sanchez in that he's been pretty good at stopping the ball but wasn't good being as active as Maresca wanted him to be, but he's been downright bad tonight. The entire defense has been a disaster today so going to need to win 4-3 it feels like.

Palmer is playing lights out!

Ziggy Sobotka said:

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I am also a fan of Enzo going to MC. Don't like that guy.

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I don't either, but sure don't want to reward that snake Maresca. At this point it would leave a hole in the midfield that would be hard to fill and the Enzos would get their way while weakening our side, so no thanks.

Glad to get the win. but this team is going to be a wild ride without some defensive and goalkeeping help. Love that all three attackers scored and feel like we're going to have a bunch of high scoring matches this year.

It looked a little shaky, but they got it done.

Can't believe we got Forest to pay 45MM + 5MM in add-ons for Delap. Now get Jackson, Guiu, Mudryk out and we're running!

I guess I'm not the only one who thought we needed an upgrade in goal.

https://www.bbc.com/sport/football/articles/c1j4r033wxzo

4-3 after a 3-0 start isn't great, but we got the points. Good thing we have strong goal-scorers. I don't see many 1-0 wins in the near future.

FTAco07 said:

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I've tried to defend Sanchez in that he's been pretty good at stopping the ball but wasn't good being as active as Maresca wanted him to be, but he's been downright bad tonight. The entire defense has been a disaster today so going to need to win 4-3 it feels like.

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No more Sanchez - check
4-3 win - check

Really hope Caicedo is ok and can get back to form quickly. Going to be interesting to see if Enzo is on the squad or not next week.

Screw the match-day result, the biggest win is seeing this much activity on the thread!

Where the hell have all of you been the past 2-5 seasons?! I've been in here talking to myself like a lunatic!

If we can get the back half sorted we should be in the top 4 this season.

I've been watching you talk to yourself like a lunatic.

Will Enzo be on the squad come Wednesday? If not, who else will we add?

Yeah I starting watching the game and... "Wait, what is he doing in goal?" and quickly googled and found it was announced mere hours before game time.

His antics have been annoying in the past at times, but when he's hot he is a wall.

FTAco07 said:

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Will Enzo be on the squad come Wednesday? If not, who else will we add?

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I still think Enzo will be in the squad on Wednesday. And Kone.

125MM agreed to for Enzo. Only a few hours left to buy the replacement we desperately need with Caicedo being dinged

Wish granted with Camara coming from Monaco. Don't know much about him and probably a bit of an overpay but we need bodies and he has played quite a few games in League 1, Champions League, and World Cup.

Overall a hell of a transfer window for the Blues

Monaco reneged on the deal.

Not great for Chelsea but it sounds like Monaco is royally screwed. They needed money bad and botched both big fee transfers so they get no money and have two unhappy players. No European football is a huge blessing with a midfield this thin. Survive until January

I wouldn't be as bummed if we still had Santos, I don't know why we sold him to United this summer because I liked him and thought he'd be a good midfield option. Maybe he's not as much of a fit for Alonso, maybe they had a different kind of midfielder in mind. If Caicedo and Lavia can be healthy there's less concern but they needed another piece who can play real minutes. Perhaps they can put Barco out there more, but he's young. Young or not that's what I would do, they gotta expedite his development and that's only going to happen in EPL games. Since they don't have any extra games in their schedule this year they only need to worry about those for now and we'll see what happens in the next window. The good news is Chelsea is flush with cash with so many outgoing players this summer they can buy damn near anyone they want.

VAR was offline yesterday…

just watched the replay and very encouraged. The refs let Arsenal thug it up again, but we definitely had our chances. Also noticed on the two goals and an open Saka shot on goal that the common element was Fofana standing around looking clueless.