OhForAGreavsie

Released by Arsenal today. If we can get him on a realistic salary, one that reflects his history as well as the fact that insuring him will cost an absolute fortune, would anyone be interested? I certainly love this bloke's talent and I know we were interested before he joined Arsenal. If we get him I'll be happy, if we actually get some minutes out of him, I'll be delighted. On the other side of the coin, Arsenal would obviously have thought about a pay-per-game deal and since they haven't gone for it, that has to be a big, big warning sign. (As if any team considering buying this lad needs any more warnings!)

I too think Max is right. Of course we need strengthening and of course Jose knows it, regardless of what he feels constrained to say for public consumption. In fact I read his comments as a virtual admission that we need a raft of new recruits. Remember that in every transfer window we have been through with Jose in charge, every single one, we have signed more players than he originally said we would. This time he has spoken of us needing up to three signings and that's more than he's ever predicted before. Usually he says one, maybe two.

You seem like you're looking forward to it. Is that how you intend it to seem?

I've seen both of those and better, I saw the games. I don't need to see them again. What I saw led me to form a very negative opinion about Fernando Torres. This isn't hindsight talking, I was saying Torres is an extremely ordinary player while he was scoring those goals at Liverpool. I'm unsurprised about the emerging evidence that people in the game, like his Liverpool teammates, recognised the truth about Fernando's failings. I accept that your opinion differs, and of course you are right to challenge any point of view that you disagree with but I really think those Liverpool numbers were a blip, a blip which misled our club into making a disastrous commitment to Torres. Stats count, of course they do, but none of us believe that they tell the whole story. The rest of Nando's tale was accurately understood by Casillas, by Danny Murphy, and by the unnamed Liverpool players whose negative opinion of Torres Murphy has since told us about. I have no doubt that many others who have not yet chosen to make their opinion public understood it; I only wish that Carlo had too.

Harsh to label a man a rat for speaking the truth.

Andreas has played more than 12 minutes at first team level but this remains a valid point. Obviously if Andreas were able to claim, and hold, a place in the Gladbach side, it would be great but it's a bit unrealistic to expect him to. Too unrealistic I imagine to risk a loan there.

Alli is probably going to spend next season with Spurs isn't he?

Delighted about this. Delighted that he's leaving City and delighted too that he's not going to Arsenal. I'm a big fan of Milner's but I don't believe he'll do too much damage at Liverpool.

I was sure I remembered Ruben's contract being reportedly worth £1.7m over three years, i.e. £566,667 per year. This article from March 2013 reports it that way.

I thought it was worth £1.7m over three years. Either way it's a lot. I do actually think he has improved but the tendency to inactivity is still with him and unless he and his coaches remedy that he has, as I said in that post two years ago, virtually no chance here.

This is a fair point.

And about time too. I said two years ago that a kick up the backside is what Ruben needed and that if he didn't respond to it he would struggle to make a career even at League One level. I am however only giving Ruben some of the blame for the fact that things have not improved enough. What have his coaches been doing? I love the lad's talent so this hasn't been a great day.

Same, work to do.

And in Munich too.

I like Gaitan, I like his high level technical skills. In my opinion we don't have enough of that in the squad. I agree with those who think he can contribute in any of the roles across the three and do so well enough to play a big part for us . I hope this deal happens but I also agree with what's being said about the need for us to limit our expectations if he joins. Players who can be outstanding at the elite level will be spotted by the big teams before they are 27. All of the wealthier clubs will have been running the rule over Gaitan ever since he joined Benfica; the fact that they have all passed up to now must say something. For that reason I was surprised when Wenger signed Arshavin and Cazorla as 27 year-olds. I do think though that Gaitan's technical skills will allow him to perform more like the Spaniard than the Russian. Maybe a Santi Cazorla type impact will do us very nicely.

Well we seriously disagree about that then. After watching him in Germany I posted the opinion, elsewhere, that he was no longer as good as his reputation and that he couldn't help us. One responder told me that I didn't know what I was talking about and offered a load of Sheva's career stats to support his case. I told him that I preferred the evidence of my own eyes to which he replied with more stats. I guess you are saying it was mere coincidence that the conclusion I came to, based on my assessment of Sheva at that tournament, turned out to be correct. Perhaps, perhaps not. I use italics for emphasis in the hope they add to the clarity of what I'm trying to say. Clarity and persuasiveness are not the same thing.

Jed is always injured. If he has an injury free season it will be the first of his Chelsea career. In fact if he suffers just one or two injury absences that would still be the smallest number he has suffered in a Chelsea season.

Works perfectly well. Perhaps better even.

Thoughtful and independent post. Thank you. When asked to compare the chances of Jed & RLC two years ago, I replied that Boga was 50-50 but that Ruben had virtually no chance and that unless he bucked up his ideas he'd be lucky to build a career at League One level. To be fair that judgement wasn't based on any thoughts about his lack of talent but rather on my assessment of what he does with it. My main charge was that he spent most of his time drifting around the pitch doing nothing in particular and indeed too much time literally walking. Even when he did something good he seemed often to stand around waiting for the game to drift back his way. Two years later I'm more sold than ever on Ruben's talent but the old question marks about the way he impacts matches remain. He is always a star name at development level but he is almost never a star player. Ruben has a Mikel like ability to retain possession under pressure but coupled with the skill to manipulate the ball with deft touches and power past opponents to take them out of the game. He needs to be more active, to be involved in the ordinary passage of play without hurting the team but then use what he has to damage opponents when the opportunity presents itself. If Ruben learns to do that we have a player, if not, it'll be a big, big shame. BTW, my 50-50 assessment of Jed is looking a bit optimistic at the moment. I've seen no development in his game over the last two years and that is not just disappointing, it's worrying.

I couldn't hear it. Was on the other side of the bus so could see him clearly with the mic but couldn't distinguish a single word.

The cases are different. Cuadrado may very well have been a Jose signing but, although you are reluctant to accept it, the evidence does admit the interpretation I've put on it. Consider not just what Jose has said about why he wanted Matic, Cesc & Costa but consider also how and when he said it. If there is any equivalent interview about Cuadrado I'm not aware of it. I say again, I do not believe that Cuadrado was bought on Jose's recommendation and that opinion has nothing to do with whether the player is or isn't a good signing.

You can hardly be surprised to read that I agree, no one is perfect. My feeling on the Cuadrado transfer is not based on the opinion that the Columbian is lacking quality but, rather, it is based on the view that he is not a Jose type player, as well as on the way Jose speaks about the player. We might get confirmation of the truth at some point, or we might not. Until then speculation is legitimate.

I completely agree with this. We undermined Jose first time around by filling his squad with substandard players and then demanded that he produce successful, stylish football. It was frankly immature leadership by the club but I hope we've grown up a bit since then. (In that regard Cuadrado worries me. I do not believe he was Jose's signing as he has the hallmark of the kind of player we burdened JM with before. Let's hope that those of us who have this feeling are wrong and that Juan finds a way to contribute in future.) Having a great manager improves a side's prospects no end but, in the end, to sustain great success requires players who are up to the task.

I agree and you are right to talk about trust. It's the key word here. I was very disappointed that Jed didn't get minutes yesterday. The choreographed substitution of the Drog made no sense to me since it used up a slot which could only make it harder to get Jeremie into the game. That is the thing about trust however, it's easy to say you trust someone when you agree with what they're doing but that's not really trust is it? That's just saying that you think they are right. Trust is about backing someone's judgement when you don't agree with, or don't understand, the decisions being made. I definitely don't agree with the side Jose picked yesterday or with the way he handled the substutions but he has earned my trust so I can let it go.

Sheva really was not an outstanding player at the time of his purchase by Chelsea. Anyone who watched him at the world cup of 2006, during which he was frankly useless, would have seen that he was finished. This just reinforces your point that we did not build on success back then. We had the biggest budget in world football but made appallingly bad use of it. We must do better this time and with a, relatively, smaller budget too.