OhForAGreavsie

DL is ridiculously overrated as a midfielder.

Either that or they've seen Rodriguez play.

That would've been nice. It would have required three bags of popcorn and Arsenal fan TV. :-) Of course I doubt very much that Wenger would have allowed. Even if he would have, Wiltshire has always claimed to be a massive gooner so there's a fair chance he would have turned the move down.

How on Earth are any of us going to know? For what it's worth, I'd go with the Fiorentina sporting director. How about you?

Exactly the kind of player clubs want to sell to the Premier League. Clubs across the continent, particularly in the stronger leagues, see the financial strength of our league as a major problem. They are quite right to. Our league already has the popularity. If it were also to acquire the best players, it would be game over From the self-interest point of view, it makes perfect sense for European clubs to develop strategies for dealing with the Premier League's financial muscle. Judging by the prices Chelsea and other clubs are reportedly being quoted, the plan seems to be that one superior player, or two average ones, will cost a Premier League club its entire annual TV revenues (net). Given that the selling clubs can't expect the gravy train to go on forever, their back up plan anticipates desperate Premier League clubs spending tens of millions of pounds on the only players they can afford under this pricing regime, the ordinary ones. This then becomes a win-win for the sellers; they help themselves to Premier League money anyway and use it to pay their star players wages which come closer to those available in the Premier League. From our point of view this all feels very frustrating but in truth it's a great policy. The bigger clubs around the continent don't exist to feed our clubs need for player talent. They exist to follow their own ambitions and the way they're playing our clubs in the transfer market is high quality. I'm certain this situation must get discussed in the high circles of the Premier League. Hopefully our clubs will develop a strategy of their own, will realise they can't win the battle with the weapon of transfer fees. I hope that instead they will compete more heavily than ever on wages. Apart from the megaclubs our teams have more money than anybody. Let's throw it directly at the players rather than at the players' clubs. This won't mean we will attract all of the top players, there are plenty of reasons to play for some of the super teams around Europe, but at least if we pitch our tent in the money arena that's a place where we can win. Let's aim for a situation where more players than ever will refuse to renew contracts and will hold out for lucrative moves to the Premier League.

Good judges I'd say.

Only Antonio's opinion counts on this one. All the other Serie A watchers have to take a back seat. The one thing we know for sure is that the idea of signing Maksimovic would have occurred to Antonio, and everyone else in the squad building team come to that. If we are not pursuing him then there is a reason for it. Possibly we are not interested, perhaps we've reached an agreement to leave the coast clear for Napoli, maybe the player does not want to come here, or it could be some other reason all together.

How bad do you have to be, to be only a back up to Oscar? There are certain categories of player just not worth going to the market for. A backup for a player who is already not good enough to be a starter is surely among those.

If the part about his being a solid defender is true then I'm happy with this deal because the rest of his attributes look fine to me. The biggest negative I can see is his apparent one footedness. In an ideal world he'd have the confidence to use his right foot just enough to open up more passing angles when he is in possession. That failing, if it is a failing, is not terminal however. His ability on the ball can help him open up angles to play good passes with his left foot and in any case, no one is more one footed than Ashley Cole and he did okay.

I agree, it's an interesting question. It could be, as you speculate, that Italy is where the best available talent is. It might also be that agents of Italian based players are taking the opportunity to push/link their clients with Chelsea. If, however, it is simply that Antonio wants to target players with whom he is already familiar then I hope this will change soon. It's a statement of the obvious that the wider you spread your net, the better chance you have of making a good catch. It is also true though that clubs from other European leagues might be willing to sell their players at prices which represent better value; clubs which don't have the financial strength to drive as hard a bargain as those from Serie A. It is for example quite usual for Italian coaches to be very well informed about players from the former Yugoslav countries. There is often some outstanding talent to be found there. I hope that between now and January, Antonio will have time to get his head up and do some scouting.

I've never played FM myself. Is the 2012 version considered the classic?

Remember I was responding to the claim that Jose simply picked his favourites, and the implication that he made that decision on an irrational basis. My response just points out that where ever other managers have had the same options available to them, they have made the same choice Jose did. It's not possible therefore to support the favouritism claim. As to rotation, every manager in the world knows the pros and cons. They weigh those and make their choice. Whatever choices they make, they all have their reasons for it. We have heard fans complain about a lack of rotation, and we have heard other fans complain about too much rotation. It seems that, as with so much else in football, it just depends on whether you win or not. Well, Jose did win. He not only won the league with a squad which was at least as weak as the current one, he came damn close to winning it the year before with a squad that was even weaker than that one.

That therefore is not evidence which can be used on either side of the argument. You may believe that other managers, If choosing from the same squad, would have preferred Luis but you can't know it. All of the actual evidence, even the Mikel/Matic situation, points the same way on this one.

Reposted below to include quoted comment.

Stop with this crap. Jose played the players he felt were the best. He won the league. After he lost the players, and lost his job, Guus made the same choices The Special One had done. So far Antonio has also made those same choices. How many clues do you need? You go right on living in your fantasy world, believing that you know better than these three great managers, and I will go on recognising crap when I read it.

I hope this isn't true. The fella looks so completely ordinary.

Hello Skip, Hope you are well. A piece of homework for you please if you don't mind. Before the season began I offered the opinion that, given a fair chance, Michy would make himself the first choice striker. That idea didn't get a lot of support so, okay, let's say Diego starts up top. I would still want to see Michy playing because I think he is simply too good to waste on the bench. If James signs, how can I get to see Diego, Michy, James and Eden in the same starting lineup? Is there a shape that can make that work? Is there even a shape that could make it work with the other three if Michy is benched, given that 4231 is not among Antonio's favoured options?

Ah. Missed that. ?

Surely it would be Juve wouldn't it?

It seems to me that all of your posts drip with selfishness, I want, I want. All you seem to care about is your own gratification, Where is there a hint, any kind of hint, of love for the club? We all support the club in our own way but yours seems very strange to me. As for the part of your post which I have quoted, we are in full agreement there.?

Which one? ?

Me, Droy in disguise? Read my opinions about Mikel. ? Having said that, assuming no further squad changes by the time the window closes, I expect Mikael will work his way back into the lineup. Matic is a problem. A problem made larger by the apparent promises Antonio has made to him. Still promises, or no promises Mikel will see game time. There is no doubt we need to upgrade our defenders but if it is a choice between new defenders and new CMs, I go for new CMs. Better central midfielders will improve our team and our defence. Better defenders will still find themselves exposed and coming under constant pressure because of our front six.of course improving both is the best answer along with new AM thrown in there as well.

Only reason for buying this kid would be if he looked significantly better than the youngsters of similar age we already have at Cobham. To me at least he does not look as if he offers a great deal more than many of them. I have no problem with buying players, no problem with buying young players but they need to offer us a quality that we don't already have. We don't need to buy decent or goodish. We can grow that down in Surrey.

No but I do read it although in fact I haven't done for a while. As you rightly guessed it is DWMH that I was referring to. Is it my imagination or do I also recognise your name from that forum?

This, I'm sad to say, is the truth.