Chelsea thread

Leggy mentioning Woolwich? Shock.

Not as if there's much going on over in the Newton Heath thread to be fair.

Really nice goal by Hazard this morning. Good to see him coming into form at the right time. Help solidify 9th. 

Chelsea sign 60 million pound a year shirt sponsorship deal with Nike

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/football/2016/05/17/chelsea-sign-60m-a-year-kit-sponsorship-deal-with-nike/

That's an awful lot of shirts to sell. There are not that many Chelsea fans in this world, especially if you take out all the new "life long since 2001" fans.

Chelsea and Man United are the only English clubs with any commercial value all the others are small fry. 

GLOBAL SHIRT SALES

Team Shirts sold 2015/16

FC Barcelona                 3,637,000

Bayern Munich               3,312,000

Chelsea                          3,102,000

Manchester United         2,977,000

Real Madrid                    2,866,000

PSG                                2,212,000

Arsenal                           2,055,000

Atletico Madrid                1,977,000

Juventus                         1,678,000

AC Milan                         1,287,000

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/football/article-3588871/Chelsea-beat-Manchester-United-Premier-League-shirt-sales.html

Well at least you won the shirt sales trophy this season.

The "commercial value" of a club is not based solely on shirt sales. 

WTF You?

I didn't see any Chelsea fans in this Thread

They all support Leicester now presumably.

http://www.thedailymash.co.uk/sport/sport-headline...

Mohamed Salah transfers to AS Roma. After having spent the 2015–16 season at Roma, Salah is transferred there. Salah's Chelsea stats: 2013–15: 19 appearances, 2 goals.

Baba Rahman loaned for the season to Schalke. Rahman made 23 appearances for Chelsea last season. I'm surprised by this one considering he's great for depth and better than Ivanovic in my opinion (who should be benched ahead of Rahman, and Azpilicueta moved to RB). It'll definitely be good for him though.

What a good win to start the season. Hazard looked good and Costa will have to be careful otherwise he will get a few cards. Still look little dodgy at set piece. That is a worry

Costa should have been sent off for the late blatant tackle on the goalkeeper and if gone, you might not have scored a winner. Very lucky with that.

Brilliant penalty from Hazard last week, and good to see Costa back scoring goals.

Bored of the media calling for a card on the "tackle" on Adrian, it was risky but he was going for the ball, and I'm glad to see the hunger for goals is there. That said, I think he would have been carded if he wasn't already on a yellow for dissent.

This highlights that we still need another striker for when he inevitably gets suspended. 

Think Kante was a great signing for us, and was interesting to see Matic up a bit further is a 4-1-4-1. 

Just need a striker and someone to fix up the backline, Terry is probably on his last season here, Cahill is good but has the odd blinder, Ivanovic was a serious concern for us last season and all three of these players are past their 30's.  Will be great when Zouma is fit. 

The most pleasing thing about the West Ham game was seeing Conte change the team formation and use the subs well to get the goal we needed.

We've been cemented to 4-2-3-1 for so long and it hasn't always saved us. 

It looked like he went from a 4-1-4-1 into a 4-2-4 with the wingers dropping back to make it a 4-4-2 once we were ahead.  Moses was great off the bench, buckets of energy and pace against a tired West Ham. 

It sucks that we won't be in Europe this season, but it will give Conte much more time to work with the team and get them playing well.

We're not going to win the thing, but it's going to be an exciting season.

That was a tackle that breaks ankles, and should have been a straight red. Hunger is one thing, recklessness is another.

But it's should be crucial that he was already on a yellow. The yellow card is a warning: if you fudge up once more you're out. So what's the point of yellow carding for dissent just to discount that card by not giving one out for a reckless, violent tackle? Referees need to have the balls to hand out cards when they need to be handed out. If Costa deservedly was second yellow carded for that classic Costa cody challenge, Chelsea probably wouldn't have been able to get a winner with 10 men.

Yep and that's the weirdest thing, I reckon Costa would have been given a straight red if he hadn't had the yellow for dissent.

We were really poor for large parts of last nights game. Looked like we did last year and were under the pump for large parts. We did show that we won't give up and a couple moments of brilliance got us through. That pass from fabregas was amazing

So true. It pisses me off.

We were lucky to be on the other side of it with Coquelin against Leicester.

Another sh*tty one that happens a lot is the inconsistency around the first yellow in the game, sometimes the first for each team. The ref will let like 3-4 yellow-worthy offences go, then give a yellow to someone undeserving, for a very minor offence. 

Yeah brilliant pass, wonder if that'll get him a starting spot in the Cup or against Burnley. 

Rumours that we're looking to sell him to Juve... wonder if there's any truth to that?

Looks like the increased fitness training that Conte has introduced is paying off, still plenty of steam late into the second half.

That defense of ours is going to scare the opposition this season....

Good to see Victor Moses on the scoresheet, and Hazard getting back to his best.

I like the fact we are playing with width this season, I admit I was dubious of Conte but after a handful of games those doubts have vanished!

Invite from LFC Wellington Supporters Club

Chelsea vs Liverpool FC

7am Kick off this Saturday

Come join us for breakfast at Four Kings Wellington 

Limited brekkie menu available and doors open at 6:45am

For those in Auckland, it'll be on the big screen at The Paddington in Parnell :)

Both LFC and CFC supporter groups will be there, good brekky and free parking

http://www.bbc.com/sport/football/37334869

Robbed is going a bit far, we had so many chances we didn't take.

Costa was brilliant, but still picking up yellows. Really could have done with another striker as backup for the inevitable.

Thought Oscar played really well.

Looking forward to Saturday mornings match, could make or break my week-end!!

No JT for the match.  Luiz in?

Conte confirms Luiz will play

http://www.espnfc.com/english-premier-league/story...

Luiz vs Firmino...interesting

Luiz - disaster positioning allows 'Pool to score but a thunderbolt free kick equalises :) in other words a typical Luiz outing!

I thought Luiz played alright, it looked like Azpilicueta moved in more central to leave 3 players unmarked.

Weird because he's ususally so reliable.

Have to feel for Cahill too, two in two weeks.

Backline loses all focus and direction without JT.

Zouma can't get fit quick enough

That's 3rd goal by Chelsea vs Leicester was lovely wasn't it?

Great internplay. 

Fabregas scoring one is  Headline news but two!! Go on, my son :) Feeling slightly happier for the Gooner match 

I hope Fabregas gets a start, he provides the creativity that the other players need.

As a 'Pool fan, a 1-1 draw would be perfect thanks. 

Oh FFS! Cahill you donkey :( but you were not alone it takes a team to work together from front to back.

As much as JT no longer has the pace he does have the organisational skill we are obviously lacking at the back!

Dammit, now I'm going to suffer at work on Monday

Cahill and Luiz, the worst Center Back pairing since ................Cahill & Luiz

Really looking forward to Terry and Zouma getting back to fitness, then Azpi and Alonso either side of them.