Promised a thread on Rogers some time ago, but didnt deliver it. What better time to do it than now tho, after he signed for our beautiful club. Lets get into it. Morgan Rogers has flaws in his game. He definitely isnt a finished product yet. But what makes him special is the fact that in things he is good at, he is amazing at them. In addition to that, his surroundings made his flaws visible even more, and it was very easy to see why, especially if u watched full 90's of Aston Villa last few seasons. In that Aston Villa team, he was practically the only real ball carrier. And players around him werent optimal to get the best out of him, not even close to optimal. Emery likes intensity, team showing character, and having leaders on the pitch at all times. He likes it to a fault, because he would fit players in positions that arent ideal for them to have the best players on the pitch at all times. When you have Mcginn/Buendia/Sancho as your wingers, its not easy to be a creator from midfield areas. These arent your "attack the space" wingers, but more the ones who move inside and occupy advanced midfield areas, while Digne/Maatsen/Cash overlap a lot. So thats the first thing that made Rogers life a bit more difficult than it shouldve been. But it doesnt stop there. Guy in front of him was Watkins. Aldo Watkins is a great runner into space, he is also an enourmous BCM magnet. I cant count how many times have i seen Rogers putting a chance on a plate for him, just for Watkins to miss it like its nothing. Watkins also isnt great at dropping deep and linking up play, cos he is more of a poacher than a creator like Kane or JP ( now his new teammate ). One more thing that didnt help him whatsoever was protection behind him. Emery had Tielemans playing almost every single game. Tielemans is great passer and has a top football IQ as a player, but what he is not, he isnt great transition defender. So, to maximise Rogers, Onana should be playing almost every game. He didnt ofcourse, because he is injury prone ( currently injured again ), so in comes Kamara. Kamara for me is one of the most underrated players in that Villa team. He is one of the cogs that got them that UCL position, and one of the key players in them winning European competition. But that balance in double pivot was far away from being perfect, especially when you expect your No.10 to do so many risky things when carrying the ball and dragging players with him, creating openings for other teammates around him. He didnt have creators around him, or the ball carriers to help him get more isolations. This is why Aston Villa massively overperformed their xG, 2 seasons in a row aswell. At one point in the season, their xG was same as Wolverhampton's, and they were in relegation zone at that time. Doing all that carrying of a team who doesnt create enought is a big task for any player out there, so people have to be a bit more objective on impact Rogers had compared to what could've been if he had right profiles around him. On that note, in comes Chelsea. At Chelsea, Rogers wont be the only ball carrier, and he definitely wont be the only creator. He will have people creating for him, and thats when his xG overperforming will come in handy, given he is a huge threat any time he finds himself around the box. This is exactly what Chelsea was missing. We had Enzo as box crasher, and aldo he isnt as physical, Enzo was really good at it because of his elite level football IQ and reading the space in advance. Not many players have mental capacity to always stay concentrated and make a perfectly timed runs. Thats why it worked. But outside of that game reading, Enzo isnt a guy that will receive the ball, drive past 2-3 players with quick feet and then fire a bolt in opposite corner. That's Roger's bread & butter.

Any1 watching this game and not aknowledging the fact Josh Acheompong is by far the best possession style defender we have in this team, has to check his eyes. He is literally the unicorn profile, as good as you get. Long stride, calm on the ball, insane when inverting, by far

Jealous of whoever gets this boy. Being this versatile at his age and stepping up wherever team needs him the most is sign of great maturity and fooball IQ. Manzambi is gettin his move this summer, no way he stays at Freiburg after these performances he been showing some time now. Absolutely elite potential. 🔜

One of the most underrated summer deals by far. 22 million euros for Chema Andres is just insane piece of business club can do. Cant believe Stuttgart ( and Real Madrid ) thought this is a good deal for them. Absolute bargain 🤯

It seems it might be Lamine Camara in the end, and i am really happy about it. Pure fact we practically wanted Alex Scott the most, it makes all the sense we went for Camara as next best thing, and we can get him for decent price given the market for midfielders is fully broken at the moment. Reason why i like Camara is the fact he is all around action packed midfielder, one that excels in most things, with less weaknesses to his game than some players out there who have obvious red flags to them from get go. He is not your usual DLP profile, but he is absolutely very underrated on the ball. Has eye for the pass, unleashes passes very quickly because he is really good at scanning his surroundings before he even gets the ball ( higher football IQ ). Has top first touch, which makes him really good fit for any team that likes to play in more dynamic fashion. That first touch and quick thinking is what makes him perfect for tiki-taka type of football. He is very brave on the ball, and is more than comfortable to carry the ball and use his balance in small spaces when he needs to. What stands out most about him is his OOP work. With ball, he is pretty press proven, but without the ball, he is absolute animal. Having him covering so much ground will not only allow Caicedo & defenders behind him to have more support, but will also help immensely in terms of counterpress. He is so smart & agile, can read space well, and closes down opposition on a high level. What stands out aswell is how unpredictable he is at times. I've seen him drop 4+ players in a row, send a perfect 30+m trivela pass, and it looks so easy when he does it. He glides at times, and has a high level of concentration to him. He drops 7/10 even on his worse days, but when he is on his good days, he is absolutely special. What i love also is how physical he is. He isnt tall, and aerial duels aint his strongest point, but he has high work rate, and isnt afraid to dive into tackles and sacrifice himself for his teammates, which is exactly why he is so beloved by everyone at Monaco. His new manager ( Filipe Luis, well known figure to us Chelsea fans ) had glowing review about Lamine just few days ago, and this was just a part of it: “There is one player who catches my eye: LAMINE CAMARA. In 20 years of my career, I have never seen anything like this.” When former player with such an amazing career behind him says this about you ( and he played with some absolute superstars back then ), it aint something to take lightly whatsoever. Is Lamine as creative as Enzo? No he isnt. Is he better without the ball? He absolutely is. There is nuance to football, and in so many situations, you have to sacrifice something to get something else. What Lamine would bring us is balance. He can play both in double pivot, or be the cover for Moi when he gets the rest. And we definitely need that at the moment. Will follow this deal closely, and if they really want generalist in our midfield ( other targets are similar profiles like Scott ), Lamine Camara is exactly that. Last few days will be interesting, cant wait to see how we end this transfer window. My personal guess would be Gittens loan ( possibly ), Camara + atleast 1 more versatile attacker who can play both wide and inside as Rogers cover, and we are ready to go. Damn good summer 🤯

Palmer, Estevao, JP, Maza, Quenda in advanced zones. Death for any low block opposition puts on the pitch on the day. This boy is special