OhForAGreavsie

I didn't mean to imply that you were wrong about the others. Quite the opposite. I'm still struggling to come up with the other two names though.

I think you're right about Hoddle. Played EPL for us but not for Spurs.

Hazard (Pre EPL) Dury (Pre EPL) Cundy (maybe pre-EPL) Cudicini

And this was pre-Bosman so if your club said you couldn't go, you couldn't go. End of story. They owned your contract until they agreed to release you. Even if you retired then came back you could not play for anyone else until a deal was done with your original club. The miracle is that this medieval system lasted as long as it did. There were also other factors keeping him in Brazil though.

This is definitely legal. This bit would definitely be very hard to get passed by FFP accountants.

Reaching two consecutive World Cup finals is not luck. I did not say that Argentina's world cup squad was bad in 1986. I said that it was not as good as their squad in 1978. Which it was not. I said that the 1990 squad was not good. Which it was not. England did score against Argentina. They also very nearly equalised and definitely should have done. You mentioned misapprehensions not facts. That's not a problem however, we all misremember things. My assertion is that Argentina's world cup winning squad of 1986 was good, but not great, and that the one which played West Germany in the final four years later was not even good. The quality of England is not relevant to that assertion. I am either right, or I am wrong. (I am not wrong. ) No, I said I'm measuring this comparison on their achievements. We all judge players on what we see but a debate based on you saying you prefer a while I prefer b is not going anywhere. If there is to be a discussion then an attempt has to be made to introduce something objective. Brazilian Ronaldo would not make my all time top six strikers. For example, I place him a long way below Pele but I couldn't justify that opinion based on a comparison of the Brazil squads the two played in. That's because the three squads with which Pele won the World Cup were far superior to the ones in which Ronaldo played. All three of Pele's groups would very likely have been world champions even without him so, in themselves, their victories tell us little about Pele. If I were searching for an objective argument with which to justify my opinion that Pele was the superior player I'd need something else. That's not the situation with my Maradona vs Messi comparison. Where as those achievements tend to support my opinion that Michael was a good, not a great player. Any attempt at objective comparison has to be valid if it is to be meaningful. Sean Dyche never wins anything but measuring him on that basis would be meaningless. Arguing that he consistently outperforms his resources however probably tells you more about his quality as a manager. You need to choose a valid yardstick. I argue that the one I chose for Maradona vs Messi is valid. Well you and I agree about Pogba. When there was a fever here for bringing him to the club I repeatedly posted that I did not rate him and that I did not want him at any price, never mind £100m + I'm sorry to say it but, in saying it, I ask you to believe that I am not one who looks for arguments or to be disrespectful to other TC members; this particular comment of yours is made in extreme ignorance.

To be fair during his per-match conference yesterday Jose pointedly rejected the premise of a question which was asked purely to set him up to complain. He just said that the schedule is just the way it is and you have to get on with it.

For many years consensus opinion held that either Maradona or Pele was the best footballer of all time. These days of course most fans give that honour to Messi but I'm still a holdout for Maradona being better than his fellow Argentine. I measure that on achievements. The Argentina squad of 1986 was not a patch on their 1978 World Cup winning counterparts and the 1990 crew was nearer to being a bad side than it was to being a great one. Much nearer. Even so Maradona led the '86 group to world cup triumph then dragged the 1990 collection back to the final. This was possibly the greatest achievement of Maradona's career. Argentina 1990 really were not good. Messi has had a much better supporting cast during his international career than Maradona enjoyed but he's achieved nothing. Then there's Napoli. During their long history Naples has won just two Serie A titles. Both came when the side was led by Diego Maradona. Take Messi out of the great Barcelona, replace him with Maradona, and they still win everything in sight. Reverse the process and swap Maradona out for Messi in those Napoli and Argentina teams of the 80s/90s and what would you get? We'll never know but I do know what I think.

Those crowds remind me of when we were linked with Macherano and I used to watch Argentinian football. Enjoyable days. Number ten was practically an own goal by the keeper who absolutely set himself up for the little dink and more or less forced Scocca to do what he did. The top five on the other hand are pure football porn. If you don't love those goals, you don't love football. Number three is my favourite. I'm wagering that Kai will score a similar goal before the season is over. Any takers?

A run to the quarter-finals, with a draw at Sevilla and win against Krasnodar, would be worth €78.6m with more to come from our share of the market pool. That's a lot of money for sure and with so much matchday income lost, and more still to be lost, it would be a real shot in the arm for CFC finances. That's before we even consider the boost such a CL season would give to our ability to attract players in the 2021 summer transfer market.

Fully agree.

Just came to post the same thing but he is now on as a sub.

Arteta must have made a very strong case to the club to get them to offer a three year deal to a 32 year old. Wonder how much good will he may already have lost in the board room as a result?

First of all SFL is right. The chance Timo missed yesterday was not as easy as it looked. For me the hits and misses of Timo's game add up to a big net positive. I contrast that with Sam Kerr who joined CFCW with the reputation as the best goal scorer in the women's game and, like Timo, has missed good chances. The contrast is that other than that she has not yet shown herself to be a difference maker whereas Timo has.

1. Jimmy Greaves 2. Gerd Muller 3. Open for discussion.

Agreed the decision has to be up to him and if he wants to play international football then that's his choice. It's just galling that he has to miss matches for us. There should be a happier marriage between club and international football. The key to that would be an ending of Blatter's international breaks allowing the club season to be uninterrupted and therefore to be completed at least seven or eight weeks more quickly than is the case now. That would leave room for an international 'season'. A season which would be more engaging and more enjoyable than what we have now. The fact that club seasons around the world do not run on the same timetable would be a difficulty but if there is a will there can be a way.

Thanks for the info. The retirement certainly shouldn't be a deal breaker for us but would have been nice if doable.

The detail will depend on how much he wants to stay but, if his desire to continue here is strong, let's hope we can get him to agree to retire from international football as a condition of getting a new contract.

Good work Mason and Callum. 1-0.

I'm glad that those weaker parts of Timo's game exist because they caused other clubs to hesitate while we made our move. If they didn't exist he might be in Munich, Madrid, Barcelona or maybe even Liverpool. In any case, as you say, the overall package he brings to the team is nevertheless very, very good. Good enough to make Timo an automatic starter for our club and good enough to allow him to be a big, big contributor too. I'm super happy that Timo is a Blue and I'm relieved that the club signed him despite the concerns of some of us, including me.

I'm not a believer so at the moment I wouldn't mind if we missed out on this lad. He does not look 'tight' to me. The ball sometimes seems to be bobbling around a bit when he's carrying it with him desperately trying to look like he meant whatever just happened. Also, he has developed the habit of going to ground when he's carried the ball into trouble, or it has bobbled there. Refs will learn. In addition, his tackling style looks like an injury waiting to happen. As I say, I'm not sold.

I agree that the smokescreen idea is a possibility. As for Ethan. it seems he has been doing well in Sheffield. As you may have seen previously though, I don't believe he has quite enough to be a Chelsea player in either position.

There were stories that we did want Bellingham in the summer but that he believed that BVB was his best option. Reading between the lines, I'd say that we probably weren't even his second choice. Certainly United pulled out all of the stops, including a tour of the facilities guided by Alex Ferguson himself. I'm not aware that our interest got even as far as the lad visiting Cobham though I don't know that for sure of course.

That's an easy answer for me because Bellingham is a player I love. Waiting for something that might never happen does not sound like a great plan however. We can hope we'll get him but we can't plan on it. Unless Frank knows that our chances of getting Bellingham are good, we should take a different course.

Here's a passage from a post I made, elsewhere, in May 2013... ...There is however one young man who, based on what I've seen this season, needs a swift kick up the backside if he is to have any hope of fulfilling the promise he, and the club, clearly think he has. During the two cup runs, this player has shown me absolutely nothing that even justifies his selection, never mind the huge contract he has reportedly been awarded. One of the oldest adages in the game is the observation that good players always seem to have time but there are some players who take their time because they think it makes them look good. In my opinion, Ruben Loftus-Cheek is falling into that way of thinking. Ruben, get open, demand the ball, if possible decide what you're going to do with it before it arrives, get it under, quickly execute the decision you've made, get open again. You need more energy, more zip and better choices in your game or you'll be plying your trade in League One, if you're lucky. Edited May 14, 2013