MrExcalibur100

All the really talented prospects are gotten when they're young.

Chelsea please get involved

Goretzka, another central midfielder we should be looking at this summer. Only 22 but already a complete player. Physical, strong, good at shielding the ball, tall/good at aerial duels, great passer, excellent technique and can score goals. Bayern (who just signed Tolisso) and Arsenal are after him. We need all the depth and quality in our squad to retain our title and challenge in the Champions League. Not sure why we are not involved?

Dani Ceballos is a player we should try to sign. He has arguably been the star player in the Euro Under 21's and he's attracting interest from clubs like Barcelona and Madrid which says something about his quality. Central midfielder.

I hope we can surprise people, that there is a small flame flickering that can grow into a blazing inferno - Antonio Conte Still my favourite quote in football last season.

I'm still yet to see how Bakayoko is going to be a good partner with Kante. The creative limitations we encountered from the Matic/Kante duo last season in several games will still be an issue. We'll still be getting dominated in midfield by our title rivals. I'm seeing Tolisso is now on his way to I just can't comprehend the way our board thinks sometimes. I know they've scouted Bakayoko several times and know more about him than anyone of us combined but I've also watched him play many times and I don't see how he's anything more than an enforcer.

How many "proven world class" players are WE likely to sign this summer. Answer - Zero. So I don't get your point. We should be more proactive than we are currently, instead we're getting flimsy enquires and our most concrete link is to the wrong type of player.

Meanwhile, we still have our dick in our hands.

He's an outrageously gifted player but I'm not convinced he can cope in a 2 man midfield. He's also a bit rawer than you'll expect from a 23 year old. He's not really yet been able to channel his gifts.

yep

There's also these two lads we should be looking at:

This is who we needed to sign. I'm telling you this kid is going to become one of the best midfielders in the world in the not to distant future.

Personally will have Bakayoko + Fabinho together over Bakayoko + Kante any day. I just see the latter being totally dominated by any top team's midfield, just as Kante and Matic have been in many of the games vs the top sides. It's becoming clearer that Kante needs a specific type of midfield partner next to him when we face better teams for us not to suffer. Bakayoko will be an improvement on Matic but we're still going to experience the same problems we did this season. We will see very little of the ball, play on counters and feed on scraps vs good opposition. We'll also have severe problems building up play from the back.

Has nothing to do with that, you're making ridiculous generalizations. He's one of the most intelligent CM's playing for a top European side. His role in a two man midfield for that Monaco side is ridiculously understated. Not that I want us to sign him because I don't but that's for other reasons not "IQ" (which is again is stupid if not flat out sterotypical).

Pedro hasn't done anything not to start or be benched by a kid like Martial who has had an underwhelming season. I don't doubt Martial's quality and potential, but Pedro is currently a better player. I'm not convinced Martial can play the right side. He's only ever really thrived as a striker or on the left. I think right now, the right wing/inside right position is extremely strong with Willian and Pedro. It will take a world class player who primarily plays that position to displace them and there isn't any world class player in that position now (Robben old, Bale crippled), let alone available. Also, I prefer Hazard - Martial - Pedro to your suggestion but then again, there are safer and better options to replace Costa.

If he started the line up he did minus John Terry, I'm confident we will have won the game. The team was handicapped from the start. We aren't Madrid or Bayern with interchangeable players were you can afford to make 4 or 5 changes to the line-up or make errors with team selection and not pay for it. Conte made a mistake. Time to move on.

Okay so you're just trolling now and I don't see the reason to carry on with discussing Chelsea with you. You apparently live in an alternate universe. Chao

How the fuck are people still debating if starting Cesc would have been worse or better than starting Matic. This is not even up for debate. Did Matic provide any protection for our centre-backs, no. Did he stop any Arsenal player from playing, no. Did he do anything useful with the ball, no. Did he help with our ball circulation, find the free-man quickly with diagonal passes, make any incisive pass or one-touch/quick decisions with his passing, no. At least we know if Fabregas offers nothing defensively, he can hurt teams with his passing. Also, he opens up spaces for Hazard and Pedro. Quit being contrarion for the sake of being that @Jason, it's just silly. Conte knew he made a big mistake and cost us the 1st half and the momentum of the game. That's why the fraud Matic, at the time predictably the worst midfielder on the pitch, was the first one subbed after 60 mins (which is early for Conte). Conte basically admitted after the game that our start cost us the game

This player that you apparently don't know has dominated against Barcelona before, Iniesta after the game couldn't help but praise. This is a level your boy could only ever dream of reaching with his clumsy touch, mediocre awareness, onefootedness and slowness of thought. You're the only one of the forum who I know of that still rates him which speaks for itself.

He said he wants to leave Lyon and Juventus are apparently unwilling to pay the fee the Lyon president wants. Since we missed out on Dahoud to Dortmund, surely this is the sort of player we need in midfield after another performance like today against decent opposition? Please Roman, do something about this.

This is what a real midfielder should look like. Would have completely transformed the way we played and made us a better. Instead we have this fucking giraffe fraud. Enjoy a masterclass in midfield generalship.

What's more disturbing is it wasn't even the slightest bit surprising, at least to me.

In my opinion, we were not going to win that game after the way it went in the 1st half. It was United away/ Tottenham away again; a meek surrender that has come to sort of typify us in the big games. Truth is we've been poor in majority of the games vs the other top 5 this season even though results have been decent.

Matic more woeful than Fabregas defensively at this point and offers none of Cesc's attributes in attack. Cesc is also playing a hundred times better. Disgusting decision to bench Fabregas. Honestly feel gutted for him. What ever happened to meritocracy and all that.

He should have started Cesc over Matic and possibly Pedro over Willian. Like seriously, these are obvious things for several reasons. Love him but he deserves the criticism today.