Viper22

For me, i'd play: -----------------Cech----------------- -Azpi--Cahill--Christensen--Ake- ----------Mikel---Ramires---------- -Salah-------Oscar------Schurrle- ----------------Drogba--------------- Subs: Blackman, Luis, Zouma, RLC, Willian, Remy, Solanke. First team experience through the middle (Cech, Cahill, Oscar, Drogba) with all of the squad players getting a game. EDIT: Removed Baker and Swift after being reminded that they're on loan duty. Thanks to OhForAGreavsie for bringing this to my attention.

Away from home maybe. But we'll be at the Bridge. And we're unbeatable at the Bridge.

Cup ties are different from league games. Performance is irrelevant, only the result matters. And today we got a draw at Anfield, which means that unless they beat us at the Bridge (extremely unlikely) we're almost definitely going to Wembley. COYB!!!

That De Bruyne kid looks good, even more so with those stats. We should sign him.

Would be a quality addition although I think a new RW and probably another CB should be higher on our priority list. Great player now and has potential to be one of the best in the world but I wouldn't want us paying more than £50M for him.

I know being a top player is no guarantee of being a top manager, but I really do have a gut feeling that one day JT will be our manager, even if it's as a caretaker or something.

Its not confirmed yet people, don't get angry or disillusioned just yet ;P. I still have faith that he'll be ours =).

http://www.espnfc.com/story/2246544/marco-reus-has-not-agreed-to-join-real-madrid-from-borussia-dortmund-agent-says "Spanish online outlet El Confidencial had reported that Madrid had agreed terms with the player's representatives shortly before the New Year and Reus was set to sign a five-year contract, with an annual salary of seven million euros. However, Borussia Dortmund CEO Hans-Joachim Watzke told Bild: "There is nothing to it." Dirk Hebel, the player's agent, added that the report was "blatant nonsense.""

That's never stopped them before.... However I do think that he won't sign for them...

Can't see anything about that on either site, direct links please.

Would love to see him called back and made part of the squad for next season. We currently don't have a replacement for the Oscar/Fabregas CM and AM playmakers and he's more than good enough to be here as a backup AM/LW for us next season (especially if we offload Schurrle and sign a proper RW). We could then play an AM 3 of -Eden--Oscar--New RW- with the benched 3 being -Willian--Thorgan--Salah/Boga-. Would be a quality, with the possibility of 2 (!) youth products in the squad.

Simeone should have won manager of the year hands down and the FIFA World XI should have looked like this IMO: ----------------Neuer----------------- -Lahm---Godin----Ramos---Luis- -----Modric---Schweinsteiger----- -Bale-------Ronaldo-------Hazard- -----------------Messi----------------- With the reserve XI being something along the lines of: ----------------Courtois------------------- -Juanfran---Silva---Hummels---Alba- ------------------Matic--------------------- ----------Toure------------Gabi---------- -Muller----------Gotze--------Neymar- -------------------Costa-------------------

2 options: either lies or (more likely) agent and signing on fees are included.

Hard situation here... Want Petr to get the record for clean sheets but too much rotation and we could risk either disrupting the defence or annoying Tibo (doubt it tbh, but still a possibility). Even if Tibo's thumb is fine now i'd play Petr again for the next 2 weeks in the league and play Tibo in the COC semis against Liverpool in midweek, then do the same when the CL comes round (Petr in the league, Tibo in the cup). Then we can see where we go from there.

If Sanchez became available he'd be as good (dare I say maybe even better) a signing than Reus. Only stumbling block would be the price tag that Arsenal would inevitably slap him with, and the fact that Arsenal will not sell to us in January when they're desperate to qualify for the CL. So when you include price and when we could get them, Reus becomes the preferred signing, but only just. I'd be ecstatic if we got either tbh.

There is always room for improvement. The minute a club thinks it is complete and thinks that it no longer needs to improve is the minute it falls from its pedestal. Pride comes before a fall and all that. And anyway, there are obvious ways we could improve: world class RW that can score goals (Reus ) and quite possibly a world class CB. The striker situation is fine for now but the Drog needs to be replaced at the end of the season, we need to find adequate replacements for Fabregas and Matic respectively for when they're injured/rested and a 2nd choice GK needs to be signed when Cech leaves. Then Ivan/JT/Cahill/Luis are all getting on and might need to be replaced before long, it's an endless cycle, and I love it .

Unobtrusive, 1 line of text, white with no colour, no country name and a company with no controversy. And the main key ---> MORE MONEY!! All in all, very happy about this . Much love for WHS.

That is so damning I almost feel sorry for him...

I just handed you the definition of the word 'prone'. Attach injury to that and it means someone that is liable to injuries. Getting injured numerous times doesn't mean you are liable to injuries. Being liable (or prone) to something means you are more likely to have it (in this case get injured) happen to you than someone who isn't. If someone gets injured in ways that they could do nothing about (see: Reus) then they are no more liable than anyone else. If Hazard/Ronaldo/Messi had been tackled as I showed you in that picture they would have been injured too. Well yes the moniker injury prone might be attached to a player but in this case it is wrongly attached. And from that link in his career so far he's only had 3 injuries that have lasted 2 weeks or more. And some of it is bullshit like "bruised ankle" and "influenza" which should hardly be worth noting.

Oxford dictionary definition of the word prone (http://www.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/english/prone): Prone (adjective): likely or liable to suffer from, do, or experience something. E.g. You can be prone to lung cancers if you smoke. You can be injured many times without being injury prone. You could have a concussion, a broken ankle from an awful challenge and pull a hamstring all in one season, but if it's the first time each of those injuries are happened your are not prone to injury, it just so happens that coincidentally you have had 3 injuries by chance all occur in a set, short period of time. It goes back to my analogy, let's say we played in the same football team and every time you tried to train I 2 footed tackled you in the shins. You would very often be injured but it wouldn't make you injury prone, it would just mean that I was a dick. Now you could correctly say he is injured often, that would be fine to say because recently he has been, but labelling someone like Reus as injury prone due to a few horror challenges (and so putting him in the same bracket with people like the walking injury Diaby) is just erroneous.

-----------Costa------------- ------------Benzema------------ ---------Lewandwoski-------- ------------Suarez------------- -------Falcao-----RVP------- Hazard----Oscar----Reus Ronaldo---Rodriguez---Bale Ribery----Gotze----Robben Iniesta----Messi----Neymar Rooney---Mata---Di Maria ----Matic-----Fabregas--- -----Modric----------Kroos----- ------Muller------Alonso------ -----Xavi-------Busquets----- ------------Carrick------------ If you look at those front 6's in terms of quality, balance (and potential to a small extent).... I think I agree you know. I'd say ours is best.

The red mist is descending.... How many times do people have to be told...: BEING HURT BY A HORROR TACKLE BETWEEN ANKLE AND SHIN DOES NOT MAKE YOU INJURY PRONE! Otherwise it's like me hitting you in the kneecaps with a sledgehammer repeatedly and declaring you injury prone because you can't run. Being injury prone means that you have constant recurring injuries that come from minor challenges (Jack Wilshere) or without any contact whatsoever (muscle strains/pulls etc). Maybe Chelsea fans have been spoiled by watching Hazard who gets nasty challenges every week and through some miracle (I really don't know how he does it) gets up and carries on but most players CANNOT shrug off challenges like this: Reus is a quality player, and should be our main target in January. We might well need a CB more but in the summer we have very little chance of getting Reus once his release clause of £25M becomes active because everyone and their dog with half a brain cell will trigger that release clause and then it's up to Reus to decide. Even though logic dictates that he should choose us, there's no guarantee that he will (Real and Bayern have a strong pull you know...) so it's best to try and get him now. Dortmund would much rather sell him to us than risk him going to Bayern and if we threw in Schurrle as a makeweight then even better as they have a ready made replacement without having to delve into the transfer market. And if they have any issues with wanting him for the rest of the season (for the CL maybe as Schurrle would be cup tied) then we could do a loan back clause for the rest of the season for each of Schurrle and Reus. On top of that we could give them Schurrle + like £15M and providing they value Schurrle over £10M (they should, he's worth more than that) then they're getting a better deal than in the summer anyway. So that's why Reus should be the no.1 target for us this window, because if we don't get him now then it's likely we'll never get him and we'll have to either stick with Willian or sign someone else (Cuadrado looking the best of a bunch that don't look that much better than Willian himself). Zouma/JT/Cahill/Ivan are 4 good enough CBs to last us through to the summer and we can solve that problem then.

Look at Excalibur's posts in the vs Newcastle thread...

Gomis is an absolute unit. Watched a lot of Lyon when him and Lopez were up top and he bullied teams into submission and loved the big games. Just a note of caution - just because Bony isn't there doesn't mean they're toothless. We're pretty fortunate Montero is out though, he's the best player (barring Bony). Should be a win, but not a simple one, we'll need JT and Zouma/Cahill to be on top form. Assuming Tibo is fit, i'd pick: --------------Courtois---------------- --Ivan----JT------Zouma----Azpi-- --------Matic------Fabregas-------- -Willian-------Oscar-------Hazard- ----------------Costa----------------- Subs: Cech, Luis, Cahill, Mikel, Ramires, Schurrle, Remy.

Come on Cho. Football agents would sell their own grandmother to the mincing factory for a few extra quid. They have no ethical code and no moral compass. I am hoping some NYCFC get together and sue Liepard/City/whoever for false advertising though.