Did not watch it , thankfully no injuries

Not a bad game. Arsenal probably just edged it. We huffed and puffed a bit and lacked a bit of sharpness. Some of Cesc's dead balls were shocking and Remy was perma offside.

Yep I think Arsenal looked a bit sharper on the day, probably not that surprising as they've had a bit more of a pre-season than us. One more warm-up game to go before the season kicks off, hopefully we'll see a few of the younger players get a run out against Fiorentina.

Glad to see Mourinho complain that our squad is the same as last years. Was genuinely starting to worry that he thought we were sorted for the season ahead.....

Agreed on that one. Mikel at fault for a pre season goal, Ramires not looking the player he was, JT question mark? Falcao, another Sheva? Remy not looking world class, and Costa - doubts that he can consistently operate as a lone striker in the PL.

There was a comment on here a while back that Liverpool won't be contending this year. With Benteke, Firmino, Sturridge when he's fit and Coutinho, they're looking stronger than Chelsea in some areas.

Worrying early signs..

Worrying early signs? Talk about a knee jerk reaction. This game was a friendly, after a tough trip half way around the world!

We have the same team that won the cup and league last year, with the addition of falcao (who may or may not regain form).

Remy is not world class, but last year he came on for us and did a great job - there were posters here really hoping that we kept hold of him - and we have.

Liverpool have spent a fortune (again) and will find that a team on paper doesnt make a good team on the field. With so many changes they will take months to get.

Also of note, that our high spending rivals like City, United and LFC NONE of them have strengthened where it really matters - at the back.

United may even lose their keeper without a replacement too.

We have the most consistent team by far, and with a league under their belt and a little wiser there is no reason why they cannot win it again.

With no out and out superstar available, why spent a hundred million on players that will not make the team better?

Liverpool won't be anywhere near the title until they get a half decent manager. You could give Rogers some of the best players around and he would still fail. Yes they have some decent players but it's a waste of time having them if the manager is not good enough

All I keep seeing is lists of our players who are not good enough or who should be shipped out but none of how we get rid of them and who we replace them with or how we do it

It's easy to talk about our problems but solutions to those problems at the moment are near enough impossible to solve at the moment.

I have yet to see any thing that comes to close to a good transfer from any top club at the moment. Good players signed maybe but no good transfers even from Utd who I expected to doing some top deals (although what they have done should give them a decent shot) and I don't see any in the horizon during this window, In our we might need to wait for the next window for something to present it self or maybe after the season has ended. Not ideal I admit but we can only work with the market as it is. It's the only thing that is really out of our control.

At the end of last season, Mourinho stated he wanted some fresh blood in the squad to give our XI some competition; mainly a striker (done), defender and midfielder. I never bought the idea that Mou was happy with this squad - especially with all that talk about the players and himself having to improve themselves. What more can we improve? Last season we won the PL and League cup - Mou has done the absolute maximum he can with our current squad.

Rivals lack strength at the back, agree on that one, but scoring goals is vital, and Liverpool showed a couple of seasons ago how important that is, and nearly won the title.

Imo, up front is looking a problem, and I'm sticking to my guns on that one. Remy? Let's not forget that when he was really needed last season as a main striker and not just coming on to score a good goal or two (which he did well), he wasn't there, he was injured - at the most crucial time of the season. We had to rely on an ageing Drogba who delivered (just about) yet again.

I'll say what I said earlier last month, there's a good chance that Costa, Remy and Falcao will all get injured at the same time given their history with injuries, and then what does the manager do? Play a very inexperienced but promising Solanke?

The key word is "nearly" won the title. I have nearly done many things. The number of goals they scored "nearly" won the title but if they stopped worrying about how many goals they scored and spent a tenth of the time thinking about how to defend at a semi decent level they would have won the title. Not winning the title was completely unacceptable in their position (no matter how much people say they "over-achieved") and again if they spent any time last season on their defence instead of trying to recreate something they could never have recreated they could have finished top 4 but made the same mistakes again (but did not have players to wallpaper over the cracks like they did the season before well maybe not players but player)

Imo, the squad needs strengthening fast! otherwise, we won't be winning the PL this year, or if we do, it will be by a very small margin, and JM does not like scenarios when the outcome is not under the club's control.

John Stones, long term replacement for JT. £29 million + add ons?

Baba Rahman, a deal is almost done, and a left back is needed

A world class striker. Remy and Falcao might be decent coming off the bench, but starting games and playing as the target man? No.

Easier said than done. Jackson Martinez would have been a good signing but he's moved to Atletico now. Which player did you have in mind that you realistically think we could persuade their club to sell?

Lacazette or Pedro are the mould, although it might be too late there as well. Benzema is another one, although he's staying at Real. Thoughts anyone? You never know, JM might be perusing these comments later for ideas..

The problem buying a "world class" striker is that if all fit then either they or Costa will be on the bench.
Costa is going to be first choice so Falcao & Remy will mix and match. It worked ok last season.
United and City seem to be going that way with Rooney & Aguero as their main men.

The team cannot rely on Costa being fit for the whole season. Imo, realistically he's going to be injured at least 25% of the time. Even if he is fit, teams have worked him out, and know how to block him and wind him up now. Against some teams, he should be rotated anyway imo, and brought off the bench now and then. Still a top world class player though, but not a Drogba who could be played every game when he was at his best.

I not sure a top player will move to Chelsea because you say Costa won't be fit for the entire season

Without wishing to sound like a broken record, we wouldn't be worrying about our lack of quality signings if Oscar and William were up to it!
As underlined by the media over the weekend, if Hazard doesn't spark then neither do Chelsea, because there is nothing else coming from midfield.

If we had two players in those pivitol positions doing what they're supposed to do, they would solve a myriad of problems!
We'd put far more games to bed by the hour mark. This would allow us to sub Hazard and even rest him for certain games.
With more games 'put to bed' we'd be able to give more valuble playing time to our young players.

As it stands, with Oscar and Willian, we are hoping to scrape by and hope the premiership remains at a below par standard.

And wtf is Ramires still doing in a starting 11
The guy should be playing for QPR by now!

Willian was our best outfield player on Sunday, and he was one of our better players throughout the latter part of last season. I agree, it would be great to see more goals from him, but I imagine Mourinho is satisfied with his contribution in all other areas.

It looks as if Pedro is going to United, he was one I thought we might sign. He would have provided cover on both left and right flanks, and he's got a decent goals/games ratio playing at the highest level. If the price quoted is right (£22m) it looks like a good deal for a 27 year old with his experience and pedigree.

It looks as if Costa's recurring hamstring injury has caught us by surprise, did our medical experts think that was all behind him ? We are now marginally worse off than last season up front. At least Costa hit the ground running last year, it looks as if it's going to a case of nursing him through right from the atart of this season.
The only plus point I can see is that Falcao does look better than a lot of people feared. At least he appears prepared to give it a go, and I was quite impressed with the bit of agression he showed against Arsenal ..we never saw much from Torres when he was struggling. But perhaps I'm clutching at straws there.

Anyone watching the Fiorentina game? Interesting line-up:

Begovic, Cuadrado, Zouma, Terry (c), Aina, Mikel, Loftus-Cheek, Traore, Oscar, Moses, Falcao

Well, it was more of the same from Falcao and Remy tonight. Both far too stagnant. Forget faffing around with Stones, another attacking signing is a must for this season.

Moses should start on Saturday. He's shown more than any of the other attacking players in pre-season, Hazard aside, and at least looks up for fighting for a place in the team. Cuadrado really is utter dross.

Couldn't see the point in playing Traore at left-back in the 1st half. Is Ake still at the club or have we loaned him out?

As mentioned by the commentator, Remy and especially Falcao are far too static and the team look as though they will struggle to score goals. Without a fully fit Costa, it's going to be a shaky season imo. Cash in on Remy, and bring another world class striker in.

Moses seemed to be on the floor half the time but was ok. Right about Cuadrado, he really is dross.
Lotus-Cheek looked ok but up front is a worry.
Thought Ake had gone somewhere ??

Moses needs to play sometimes, deployed on the right, where he can get inside and run at defences and cause a lot of problems. Two problems though:

1. JM might tell him to drop deep where he is not effective;

2. He might get some good crosses in, but Falcao and Remy and not quick or mobile enough to get on the end of them.

THE TEAM NEEDS ANOTHER WORLD CLASS QUICK, AGILE, STRONG STRIKER!

Stones? It's too good a long term investment to miss. Get him now.

Cuadrado? Send him to a tough boxing gym with Oscar, toughen them up, and bring them back slowly.

Difficult to find anything of value out of last night's game. First half was so disjointed, it was like a group of players who had never met each other before just flung together for a game.
Individually, Moses had another good game. I thought Aina Looked promising at RB and Begovic made some fine saves.
Why Traore was playing at LB remains a mystery, he did his best but was so clearly out of position it was a joke. RLC showed a couple of nice touches but he looks out of his depth at this level. He has to show more commitment, he allows the play to pass him by too often. His casual approach might have worked at youth level when he was bossing the game, but at a higher level it just looks lazy.
I really thought Cuadrado might actually show something against Fiorentina, his old club. No such luck, £ for £ he's fast beginning to look like one of our worst signings ever. Get rid..if we can find a buyer.

With a return to our regular team in the second half we did begin to look a lot better. Matic and Ramires (yes I know) did give us control in midfield. We did dominate the last 30 minutes and created a few chances, but without Costa we do look toothless up front.
I don't what the answer to that problem is, we've left it late to go into the market for a world class striker, and who's avaiable ? We may just have to hope that Costa can be carefully cosseted into completing enough games to keep us in the running.

Right at this moment I would snap your hand off for fourth place!
A paper thin squad short of real quality.

Thinking about our transfer policy, Jose needs to take blame overall!
Only 3 or 4 weeks ago he was saying we didn't need new players because the squad and team had no weaknesses For him to say that, he must have got carried away by us winning a very sub standard premiership.
This is his 3rd season and the only good signings he's made have been Matic and a worryingly injury prone Costa. The fact is, Jose has never been that good at actually building teams.