Not going very well at the moment, Man City just have that touch of class that we lack at the moment.

De Bruyne has improved massively since he was with us, hes a fantastic footballer now, one we shouldn't have sold. Hazard in comparison really has been shocking recently.

Surely Conte will insist that emanlo goes.?

If Abramovich likes him then he will be staying and Conte will have to accept the owners wishes.

Im more interested in the personnel changes Conte will make. Hazard likely to leave?

Apart from he wanted to leave and he was not good enough at the time for us to do anything about it

Rumour is Conte wants his own man to be brought in.

Whoever made the decision to sign Baba needs to go! The lad is embarrassingly out of his depth.
Mikel is just shockingly bad and moves like an oil tanker. For gods sake, get rid of this useless lump once and for all!
Paying a high line with no pace in midfield or defence was suicidal tactics.

Hopefully, this defeat will be a blessing in disguise and be a real wake up call about how much hard work and how many changes need to be made.

True! but he had very little playing time to prove himself, while the utterly hopeless Baba has had plenty of time and Mikel goes on and on being totally useless.

Absolutely ridiculous to compare KDB and Baba but never surprised.
I do agree though that Baba is poor and surely it's the decision to sell Bertrand that should be questioned.

But your view on Mikel is clouded by your likes and dislikes.

What has Baba got to do with anything? Was he there at the same time? Shall we bring up some random names?

The amount of time he had is not really relevant. While it was clear he was a talented player he was not good enough at the time to be demanding more playing time and nowhere near good enough to turn down the amount of money offered.

He became this good by playing week in week so since he was not going to get that at Chelsea at the time (and I really cannot see an argument why he should have) then he was never going to become the player he has become

Lets compare some more random ex Chelsea players

Why are we not playing Bamford? Robert Fleck played for Chelsea loads of times

How has Remy ever managed to get a game? He's not exactly Jimmy Greaves, is he?

I wanna know how Baba has managed to get into the team the same number of times in a season then the great Winston Bogarde did in 4 years?

I have no problem with the sale of KDB, he didn't show enough to be a regular starter at the time. I completely agree about Bertrand though, even back then I thought we should have kept him especially considering Cole was nearing the end of his time with us.

Didn't bother watching the game earlier, so I can't comment on Baba's latest performance, but from everything I have seen previously he looks like a player that would struggle in Newcastle's team, nevermind being anywhere near good enough for a team with our aspirations.

I don't think he is what he need at the moment, He would be fine when we are flying in the league and playing a team that is going to trouble us attack wise. He just not good enough to be in a defence playing as bad as we are. He would be a very useful player to have had last season but now? Just too much of a risk

Just watched the highlights, looked like an absolute shocker of a performance. Probably just as well really that the results are completely meaningless now.

I think we have to give Baba Rahman more time. Last season in the Bundesliga he made more tackles than any other player, with an 83% success rate. But he's still only 21 years old and playing in a completely different league.
I agree, he wasn't the player we needed last summer. Replacing Filipe Luis with an inexperienced youngster didn't make much sense. But if we give Baba some time, we might be pleasantly surprised.

I think if we're going to keep him then he needs some time out on loan to develop as a player. I wouldn't be happy to see him lining up in our team for the start of next season, anyway.

I could understand why Chelsea sold Kevin De Bruyne as he was not gettng into the first team, but to see him now becoming a World class player must make you think that Chelsea could have kept him as he had the potential to be a great player for the future

Nope because to do that he needed game time and he was not going to get that at Chelsea.

It did not happened over night by magic. It happened due to him playing week in week out

No, I don't think Rahman should be our first choice LB. But I'd be happy enough with him staying with the squad and getting some decent game time. This season we left ourselves ridiculously short in the full back positions, and with Ivanovic losing form Baba was thrown in at the deep end.

I don't know why people still can't quite grasp this.

He wasn't good enough to start for us at the time.
He wasn't prepared to hang around at the club and fight for a place in the team.
He wasn't prepared to go out on loan again.

There was no choice but to sell.

Because its a easy way of "having a pop" if you like.

I sometimes think people do think these players who was let go by clubs and turn out to be top class players turn into one by magic overnight.

If he stayed at Chelsea (like other players of his like) he would not have been the player he is today.

I could understand it at the time. I remember watching KDB a couple of times and he was nothing like the player you see today. On top of that, for a young player he didn't appear very willing to put the work in...lose the ball, and it was somebody else's job to get it back.
We have gone on to regret losing him of course, but that happens in football.

The problem is will he get enough game time against meaningful opposition if he's not our first choice LB? To me he seems like the kind of player that needs to go somewhere and play regularly, as he has a lot to learn about how to defend.

The question is who do we bring in to be our first choice LB? Anyone have any thoughts?

Ricardo Rodriguez from Wolfsburg would be a great signing, but we're not likely to get him. It's rumoured Guardiola wants him at Man City next season. I don't know why, Kolarov and Clichy look quality choices to me. Perhaps we could go for whoever Pep decides to let go ? They are both 30 years old though, but it would give Baba a chance to learn and get some games.

How could anyone judge whether de Bruyne was good enough by playing him in just three league games? It was another case of Chelsea not trusting a young player enough and having zero patience. He wanted to leaves because he warmth being treated very well.