Terrace Talk: Ditch bargain buys and start dreaming big again

The flimsy nature of our squad is beginning to make itself evident with a number of laboured performances.

There is no question that our first 11 are on the whole, an enviable group, with one exception — Moses, I’m looking at you — but as soon as Conte looks to the bench to shake things up a bit, there is no denying that his options are limited.

Willian, once an important member of the squad and quite often a game changer, has taken on the persona of a sulky teenager.

We can all understand that he is disappointed that he is not starting many games — but when you are competing with Eden Hazard, you are going to come second, almost always.

Apparently, he has not made a secret of the fact that he wants to leave. I would have been sad to see him go even up to last season, but now, his wonder goals are few and far between and as long as he does not go to

anyone in the Premier League, he can go with my blessing.

He has been a good servant but I think the money could be better utilised.

Also, as limited a player as Moses is, Zappacosta, although showing some very early promise, has not pushed on and looks nothing like a top three club player.

Not wanting to sound like a broken record but where we are most needy is in the striker department.

Batshuayi for whatever reason is just not doing it, not only is he not doing it, but is getting progressively worse, probably partly due to his lack of game time.

So self-perpetuating issue — the less he plays the worse he is when he does get some time.

It’s the one area we need to spend big and get a player that not only will score goals but will send a message out that we are still willing to compete for the best players at the highest level.

There have been too many ‘Asda egg’ purchases of late and it’s time we re-established ourselves at the top table — the more mediocre players we buy, the more difficult it will be to get that trophy signing when we want it.

I personally find it depressing that the only strikers we seem to be continually linked with are Benteke and Dembele — Crystal Palace and Celtic players respectively.

If that is the best that we can go for, then we need to lessen our expectations to going back to being a top six side rather than a top three stalwart — with the odd blip.

There is no doubt that some average players can benefit from playing in a talented squad and raise their game to not only hold their own but excel.

One such player is Marcos Alonso.

I bet not many Chelsea fans predicted that he would make the left wing-back position his in the long-term.

Nor that he would score so many goals or claim the free-kick specialist role.

He had weaknesses in his game when he joined us, one of them being defending — his strengths were coming forward but he has obviously worked on that aspect of his game and is now an essential member of the team.

He is not the only one who has elevated his game to make himself virtually undroppable — look at Azpilicueta.

Show me a player that has contributed so much to a team yet cost just £7m — he has to be one of the biggest bargains in Premier League history.

So although it is possible to buy Asda eggs and make a world class omelette, you need your other ingredients to be of a superior quality. Which is where your trophy signing comes in.

The quality signings are also required to keep the manager happy — but to be honest, that has never seemed to have been much of a priority at our club.

Should we see no decent players come in in January, I think we can assume that Conte has already booked his one-way flight back to Italy in May.

Any monies Roman has set aside will be awarded to the new incumbent whoever he may be, although I doubt he will have free reign.

That’s not the way it works in SW6 .

But I am getting ahead of myself — perhaps we’ll see Aguero, Belotti, Alves, Marcelo, and Sergio Ramos swing through those Stamford Bridge gates.

I can dream, can’t I?