OhForAGreavsie

Come on Azul you know what's going on here as well as any of us. What else do we think a manager is going to say when his club is trying to maximise the transfer value of one of its players? What would shock us more, a manager telling this sort of fib, or one who was so foolish as to speak the truth in that situation?

And some transfer activity come summer.

My take on Jose's comment about Remy is that he's definitely out.

He was already beyond his shelf-life as a Chelsea player three years ago. The glory of Munich apart, Didier was generally very bad during 2011/12 and the club were, in my opinion, clearly right not to offer him an extension. If The Drog wants to play on next season it really will have to be elsewhere I feel.

I tell you what though. I was proud of the way The Bridge stayed with Torres, kept singing his name, making excuses for him and willing him on to succeed. I admit that by the end the well of patience had run dry and the frustrations were showing a little, but only a little. For 99% of the time he received great support, but we'll get no credit for it. Torres has spoken of his love for Liverpool fans, and I have no problem with that, perfectly fine that he should and I respect him for it. Contrast their behaviour with ours however. He gave them a great scoring record, for a while any way, and good times so of course they loved him. How would they have been if he had struggled in the way he did here? Where was that famous Anfield support when Leiva, Johnson, Baloteli, Mingolet, etc needed it? It's easy to support a man when he's doing well but we supported this man while he was being a useless, £100m flop. Oh, and when Nando returns he won't get dog's abuse either. I suppose this just proves that we're not a big club, like Liverpool.

When he was linked to us before joining Liverpool. Watched him for Atleti and Spain, felt he was extremely ordinary and said so. He received a lot of praise for his efforts at Euro 2006, a tournament in which I felt he was mostly poor. For a brief period at Liverpool, his numbers made my point of view look foolish but I maintained that if you actually watched Torres, instead of just counting his goals, the truth would be unavoidable.

Or to sit on the shoulders of Man City's U18 defenders on Monday.

Great news not least because they aren't likely to go all that way for one game. Maybe a game or two in Japan and China on the way back? Obviously whoever is paying the big fee to get Chelsea out there will want to see the stars but let's hope that Boga, Brown, Colkett, Loftus-Cheek, Musonda, Solanke and maybe even Da Silva get a seat on the plane too. Too good a chance to waste surely.

Before I answer I have to repeat the admission that my opinion is based on Youtube vids only. If therefore you, or anyone, wants to say that this opinion can't be valid, I couldn't really argue. Having admitted that however... No, I don't rate him. To me he looks decent but not special and special must be our benchmark for expensive transfer targets. Even if I'm wrong, and Icardi is better than I realise, I don't think we need his type anyway. Yes, I do want us to sign a striker but I'd like that player to be a contrast, and potential compliment, to Costa. Specifically I want us to bring in a striker with top level technical skills. That might be someone like Dybala but it does not seem to me to be Icardi.

Good.

I can't argue it since I've only watched Dybala in one full game (last night) and that's not enough for a truly valid opinion. Meanwhile, it's clear that Palermo are trying to massage the fee. That said, I am not a fan of Icardi (another youtube based opinion I'm afraid) and am in no hurry to see him here. He does not strike me as outstanding in any department and anyway, he looks too similar to Costa. I'd like us to add something different, not more of the same.

For what it's worth, and I can't complain if you say it isn't worth much, I watched youtube videos of Pastore when he was linked with us ahead of joining PSG. From those I formed the opinion that he was not worth signing and that he would not be a success in Paris. On the other hand, having watched Dybala's youtube clips, he looks better than Pastore in my opinion.

A sensible attitude by club and player I think.

The three strikers you've listed sound a better combination to me than any two of them plus Drogba. If Didier continues to play next season, I hope it's elsewhere.

Watched Dybala today. He set up both goals in a 2-1 win, hit the woodwork and was MoTM. I like this bloke and we need a player like him. If we land him I'll be pleased.

Speaking personally, I don't consider myself a super fan but I do care about the football that's played. I have two issues however: Although some will disagree, I am convinced that this squad is not good enough to win the league playing on the front foot. I've seen it happen time and time and time again that clubs arrive expecting a battering but become emboldened by the fact that our players keep passing to them. We survive this habit when our shape caters for it but we are horribly exposed when it does not. Our squad is better than it has been in the recent past but it is still not good enough. I am seldom frustrated by how we play but I often am by how poorly we play. @Blue Coloured Sky won't have it, but the the only difference between our league performances at Man City this season and last, is that in 2013/14 we played well there, while this term we did not. The shape of the side was exactly the same. Atletico are much admired, including by me. They don't play front foot, they play what Jose is now calling strategically but with the difference that their passing is more sound than ours. This allows them to move forward with greater purpose and effect and also allows them time to recover their shape before possession is lost. When Jose returned I felt we were 8 players short. We've made progress in that regard but there are still too many weak links. If we are still having to play like this three years from now, I will be as angry as some others are. For now however, I am calm and happy. Because we have Jose.

Unless Boro no longer want him, which is hard to believe given his selection record, why is the loan not extended to the end of the season including possible play-offs? Is it perhaps to do with additional fees Boro might be due to pay if he stays?

Revisionist and untrue, although fashionably revisionist I grant you. We were equally unloved in that period for the way we played as we are now. We were as frequently clunky then as we are now and, we are told, Jose was eventually sacked for it. I've read several times in the last 12 hours that, with this squad, we should be doing better but I simply do not agree. In terms of playing proactive football, both Arsenal and Manchester City have better squads than we do. Fortunately we have a manager who is prepared to cut his cloth and knows how to do it. As a result, few neutrals will now bet on either of those clubs catching us. We are not going to succeed consistently playing on the front foot when our squad is littered with players for whom basic continuity passing is a problem. It only takes one piece of miss-control, one wayward pass, one-second's worth of indecisiveness to turn potent, exciting football, into slow, ineffective aimlessness. We have some building blocks around which a squad can be assembled to provide the kind of football we all want but there is work to do before we get there. Meanwhile Stamford Bridge rocked yesterday watching its team trying to win the league. I loved it, all of us who were there loved it. Sorry about that.

A reasonable approach.

Not that it would have mattered if they were booked.

He was.

I'm one of Oscar's biggest critics but I made him MoTM today.

You know I couldn't wait to get back and log on to read the latest efforts from the whiners. Thank you for not letting me down. Every bit as enjoyable as the constant bleating on Arsenal Fan TV.

All I've seen of either player is Youtube videos so anyone who has watched full game coverage of these two, as you have, is fully entitled to tell me that I simply don't know what I'm talking but, based on those Youtube videos, Dybala interests me and Icardi does not. Jose likes to talk about having different solutions within the squad. My impression is that Icardi is similar to Costa whereas Dybala is very different, not least because he is more technically gifted than either Costa or Icardi. In that sense Dybala would offer Jose an alternative rather than more of the same. The Argentinian looks the more useful option for us so I'm not surprised to read reports that we've made a bid. On the other hand, I'd be surprised if we went for Icardi.

I'm seriously under qualified to comment having seen so little of this bloke but I do like what I have seen. In my opinion we urgently need a technically gifted striker because I believe that's something we miss badly. Jose likes to talk about a squad that offers different solutions; Dybala would certainly be different to anything we have now.