MrExcalibur100

Brilliant signing! One of the best LB's in the world today. He's 28 and the price is a bit steep but he will give us 4-5 years of top level service and that's a long time in football plus we do need some experience as well. Now we have a properly balanced squad for the first time in a while with quality split evenly from keeper to defence / midfield and attack.

Yep. ARSEnal fans moaning about it on twitter. Those clowns are so super-sensitive over everything.

Marca are saying that Madrid have agreed terms with Arsenal already. We might as well pass on this one. Another defensive midfielder is not a priority and Khedira is not that good. Arsenal can have him.

Durham is a bellend. He's easily the worst "sportswriter" in England today. Everything he writes is meant to wind up the reader. One day he gives us passive praise, next he's slamming us.

van Aanholt is going apparently. I thought he'll be a back up for Luis but now we seem light there. He will be the only recognised LB in the squad.

You can't come to any logical conclusion based off one game. The way Atletico play means more turnovers for the striker. Besides, there were many games where Drogba consistently lost the ball, especially early in his career for us. Means absolutely nothing.

Matic will eat them all for breakfast.

You've been moaning about Costa everywhere on the previous thread. Time to give it a rest on this new one.

Because one is in the prime of his career while one just turned 21. And Ba is clearly not good enough.

If you think about it, even Costa is not 1st choice by default. He will obviously be our best striker but he has to prove it still.

That was one of his biggest problems at Barcelona. They were expecting him to be a ready-made replacement for Xavi but he never had that patience in possession so to speak as a Xavi had. He was always looking to get forward but looked awkward doing that as he lacked the dribbling ability and close control of an Iniesta so he couldn't fit into their slow possession game and as a result, he was shafted to play false 9 quite a lot. They also made a huge mistake of letting Thiago Alcantara go to Bayern, Xavi's true heir. I don't expect him to ever be a deep lying playmaker the same way I didn't expect Lampard to re-invent himself as one. Besides, it's harder to score goals and make assists if you're gong to be played as a deep lying playmaker, which is one of the main reasons I think we signed him.

This wasn't true of his time at Arsenal though and even the second part about being invinsible in big games was not true early on in his time at Barca. It's not a general character trait for him as it is for Ozil. Did he not dominate the midfield in the CL encounter with Man City?

Hence the Sociedad friendly being so close. It sucks for our match-going fans to go to Burnley on a Monday for the opener. But it's the sad reality. The broadcasters dictate everything.

It's an interesting suggestion. It will be similar in some sense to what Ancelotti did at Madrid last season with Di Maria and Isco when he played them as CM's to accommodate for his 4-3-3 set-up. Problem is I highly doubt Mourinho will play Oscar in this role. He is far more of a pragmatic coach and always likes to set-up his teams in a very regiment manner. It also limits Oscar's attacking game. He won't be able to play as he would in a "10" role as he'll be always worried to cover for Fabregas and vice-versa. I like it though, especially against the weaker, bus-parking gods of the Premier league. These two formations are very related though. What's the difference in a 4-3-3 with Fabregas playing that "Lampard role" and a 4-2-3-1 with Ramires and Matic in the pivot with Fabregas as the "10". Just a matter of slightly more/less defensive responsibility. So Dion's idea makes a lot of sense. Oscar and Fabregas can alternate as "10" in a 4-3-3.

And come season start, there will be complaints on here about Ramires' horrendous passing, indecision in the final third and poor ball playing skills. For me, he's a good squad player, nothing more. The Fabregas signing could mean one of two things. (1) Jose is looking to change the formation to a 4-3-3 with a midfield trio of Matic, Fabregas and Ramires. This means Oscar drops to the bench, which is not so unlikely, (when you consider his end of season form. Yes, Jose said he's his "10" but he also said David Luiz was his starting CB then he blundered against Cardiff and got dropped). Jose also won't play Oscar on the right wing. In this system, Matic plays a Makalele role only with more dynamism to his game and Ramires is the Essien type player, high energy guy, though an obvious downgrade. Fabregas is given license to roam forward, score goals and make assists like Lamps. (2) Jose is looking to keep the current 4-2-3-1 double pivot system with Fabregas next to Matic in the pivot and Oscar as the "10". This is the one most Chelsea fans want to see as it means Ramires is dropped and we can see Oscar, Hazard, Willian, Fabregas all on the pitch at once. I favoured this set up a couple of weeks ago, but the more I think about it, the more I doubt it. Fabregas hasn't played there since 2009. He never played there for Barca. His defensive stats are also not great for a player in that role. Most importantly, he will be wasted there as it's a deeper role and he can't effect the game as much with his final ball and amazing through passes (I saw on here he has the highest through pass ratio in Europe). His deep-lying playmaking skills are inferior to a Xavi or Gundogan. It's one of the reasons he didn't fit in at Barca. Instead, we put Oscar in the "10" role and he's really not a creative player. Plus Mourinho is a very pragmatic manager. I have some doubt Fabregas was bought to play in the pivot. In the second case, signing Pogba makes perfect sense as you play him next to Matic and play Fabregas as a "10". That's certainly stronger than any combination we have right now.

If they do sign Vidal and a CB like Hummels, then I can't see any sizable difference in quality between us and them. That's why we have to stay active and hungry in the market. Courtois, Costa, Fabregas and Luis is amazing business. Every single one of them are world class. But all this talk of Torres staying, Drogba coming back, Lukaku likely to be sold, Ba going on loan (really?) is not ideal. We still need a competent alternative to Costa and perhaps one more luxury signing like a Pogba or Di Maria for all our weaknesses to be covered on all bases. Still 7 weeks to deal. I hope we don't fuck up from hence forth.

Oscar : Short freekicks. Showed last season he had begun to get a hang of them. I like his technique. Fabregas : Corners and set pieces. He used to take nice ones at Arsenal. Can get that bend on it and rarely under-hits/over-hits them. Eden : Penalties. He doesn't miss.

So Coman goes to Juventus. Not surprising as he's seen what Conte did with Paul Pogba. We could have a similar situation on our hands. Kid is a beast.

Thank goodness it's only the Daily Fail reporting it. We must be crazy if we think a 36 year old Drogba, Torres (who is one of the worst strikers in the league) and new to the league Diego Costa are going to rival Man City's fire power of Aguero, Dzeko, Negredo and Jovetic. Vast difference in quality and the problems of last season remain. If we're serious about winning the league or champions league, the least we can do is do everything possible to keep Lukaku or sign a suitable quality striker to challenge Costa's place in the team.

http://www.marca.com/2014/07/13/futbol/equipos/real_madrid/1405238891.html Madrid are seriously preparing an absurd fee for James Rodriguez and they are going to sell Di Maria to PSG. Good news as it means we won't have to worry about them coming in for Hazard in a very long time, not that I'm bothered by that as other are.

Yeah, I noticed that. I was surprised when I saw it. Maybe a different playing philosophy from Barca's will improve that. Who knows.

Just domestic league only.