Chelsea Roster: What Needs To Change?

I've been thinking about this fanpost for awhile now and found some motivation after today's debacle vs. Arsenal. It's clear that AVB has the right idea with some wrong players, and I think it's important for us to keep in mind that he needs to make the team his own. With that in mind, how will he make the team his own? Well, thats what I'll hopefully project. At each position (just defense for now), I'll list what I think needs to be done and what I think will actually happen going foreword.

Let's start at goal keeper. This one's not too difficult to project personal wise. It appears all to obvious that Petr Cech will move on from Chelsea or retire and Thibaut Courtois will take over. The real unknown is what the timeline will look like. Will Cech keep going for five years or more? Or will Courtois (who I view as extremely talented) move past Cech in two years or maybe three? I think the ladder is more likely. Courtois will be pushing in two years after his loan spell at Athletico is done and will probably take over the starting role.

Now lets move across the backline starting at Left back. Ashley Cole has the starting role down with a iron grip, thats not going to change. Who's behind Cole is more interesting. Prospects Patrick Van Aanholt and Ryan Bertrand have been on the same progression course and look to be developing nicely. This means there should be NO NEW SIGNINGS. I emphasize that because we don't need Alvaro Pereira or any semi-enticing left back in the world. We have two homegrown fullbacks that both look to be good enough to assume the role when Cole inevitably starts slowing down. Will AVB feel the same way? I think so. Hopefully his summer swoon with Pereira is over and we can turn our attention away from foreign prospects and onto our prospects.

The center back position is a strange situation at best. Terry is starting to produce gaffes that we simply use to never see (I'm not talking about today, that was Malouda's fault). Ivanovic is ever sturdy but never quite fantastic. David Luiz is brilliant but needs a more secure player beside him when he plays. With Alex most likely departing the bridge soon this opens the not pressing but still present need to buy a centerback. Potential prospects include Diego Godin, Neven Subotic, and Cahill. I've never been impressed by Cahill and would go as far to say he's overrated. Subotic is quality but I can't see Dortmund willing to sell. That leaves Godin who we've been linked to before, I've seen him play while watching Athletico for Courtois. I'm impressed and think 14-16 mil. is probably a fair price for him. My gut feeling is that AVB will think the same way. He flirted with Scott Dann before the season starting and might just return to La Liga to plug the hole in the roster (just like he did with Juan Mata).

Now we wrap up with the right back position. Most of us on WAGNH agree that there needs to be fresh talent there most likely in the form of Samuel Inkoom. Bosingwa is very good attacker but lacks the defensive edge needed to hold the backline together. He's the clear weak link in the defense. Ivanovic is the same issue but switched, not great at attack but very solid in defense. Does AVB see the problem? Yes. Does he think it's as much as a problem as we do? No. I'm not sure if it's a Portuguese connection or not but AVB puts a lot of confidence in Bosingwa. So much confidence that I don't see a January move for Inkoom taking place. I hope I'm wrong because we do need fresh talent there, but I don't see him spending there at least until next summer (maybe not even then).

That's my outlook on the defense. I could make one for the midfield and attack too, tell me what you think in the comments.