Bridge Soldier

It's from Sport.es. It's rubbish.

Mendy was fantastic. Not much else to say. We are brilliant defensively but need to do more going forward. I think we all know that. Oh well, they had to beat us at some point. Tight at the top of the league now with United losing.

Lots of bits in this Simon Johnson article that will no doubt be discussed to death: https://theathletic.com/2764275/2021/08/12/the-push-for-haaland-the-inter-u-turn-the-negotiations-how-chelsea-brought-romelu-lukaku-back-to-Stamford-bridge/ Lukaku supposedly told Inzaghi that the club should accept a bid for him for their own financial good last week Tuchel doesn't regard Lukaku as a second choice, he sees this as a great backing from the club. Lukaku was made aware how much Tuchel likes and admires him and he hopes to strike a bond similar to Conte

I sat in the new "West View" area in West Upper. Rather nice space in the concourse and plenty of seating. A bit like a giant spoons. We had a chicken burger and chips which was genuinely really good and a posh sausage roll. Probably justified the price hike. The 360 bars made for easier access. Lots of big screens everywhere. When seated, there were also three extra screens in view and another smaller screen up high which was better quality but slightly delayed. Could see rails throughout the MH and Shed.

Comparing Grealish, a player known for creating chances with Lukaku, a goalscorer, is odd. Grealish's goalscoring record might not be that good but his stats for creating goalscoring opportunities (at Aston Villa) certainly are. He's an excellent player. The fee is so high because Villa don't want to sell and the owners don't need the money. They've supposedly offered him 250k pw and he still wants to go to City.

Seems fairly obvious to me that if Chelsea are going all out for Lukaku it means that they consider Haaland to be an impossible signing this summer and an unlikely one next summer. I have some reservations about Lukaku at that price (who wouldn't given our record with strikers?) but I do think he's probably the best option out there (of which there are very few right now) and if we get 5 good goalscoring seasons out of him and win silverware in the process it'll be worthwhile. Having watched us last season, everything points to him scoring a bucketload in this team.

City, Atletico and Barcelona all out.

What a moment! The cheers as it was announced. We did it!

Haven't arrived yet. There was a "Let's stop the bus" chant about 5 minutes ago. Which really wouldn't be a good look.

Apparently this is a photo of the actual kit... Even worse!

I don't want to change him and I don't think the club (necessarily - it's possible) will. But Kepa is surely not sticking around and Caballero is almost 40 and likely to retire. So I'd still fully expect us to sign a goalkeeper.

Bloody hell. I forgot about this. What a horrible thought that is!

I'd say a goalkeeper, centre back and striker are all pretty much givens in the summer. Then you can possibly add one CM or a back up full back depending on who stays/goes. All the talk seems to be that we'll continue to spend. But I can't see us landing Haaland given his options.

Surely almost every PL club's current squad is the most expensively assembled in the club's history - or close to it. Strange attempt at a point anyway, given how we looked under Lampard and Sarri. Our improvement under Tuchel is impressive by any measure.