Daniel1980

The thing is, we don't really know what in the players' heads. They often say one thing and think and do completely another. Let's face it: it's not like Lukaku has never expressed his unwillingness to fight for his place before. He hinted and implied numerous times that he deserves better than to sit on the bench. So I don't believe that it's only down to the club whether he leaves or not. It's not that simple. It rarely is.

It's not always the club's decision. If he wants to leave, the board won't keep him against his will.

Ever since the rumours started, I've had misgivings about Didier's return. There are many rational, logical reasons why it's not a very good idea. But can't deny that having him back makes me feel a bit more certain about the next season. It's irrational as hell but true. Hope our players feel the same way.

I'm not at all sure Fabregas will play in the pivot. Can see us playing 4-3-3, 4-1-4-1 with Matic as the single pivot, or 4-2-3-1 with Cesc as #10. I'm very curious to see where Jose would use Cesc in the upcoming friendly. It should give us some clue. If Jose intends to use Fabregas-Matic pivot this season, it would make sense to try it in the pre-season match too. If he does, we'll see how well it works soon enough.

Hmm...Provided we're really keeping both goalkeepers, there aren't many players who can leave. Defenders aren't leaving, so that leaves only midfielders and forwards. Unless Torres is sold(which is hard to believe, considering his wages), it means the players who have to leave will be midfielders. Two of Mikel/Salah/Romeu/MVG will likely be sold or loaned out. Hope not MVG.

It will wear off eventually. Just like Cole's did. But it's too early to talk about it. He hasn't played even 1 game for us. Though I kind of want to see Fabregas with Chelsea's armband at Emirates. It'd be like sticking a knife in and then twisting it.

This. And confidence is one of the most important things for goalkeepers. IMO, they're more likely to make mistakes if they feel their position isn't secure.

not sure what's going on here, but seems to be settling in all right. Em, Torres...

In fact, Costa's success in many ways will depend on Cesc's(and vice versa). Costa is not a striker like Suarez or Zlatan who create a lot of chances themselves. Costa needs quality supply from midfield. I think Jose bought Cesc with Costa in mind. At least on paper they compliment each other perfectly. Killer balls+runs and clinical finishing(hopefully).

Actually, Torres's presence is good at this point and it will help the Spanish lads settle. Coming to a new team is always hard, not only in professional sense, and having a familiar friendly face helps a lot.

Tbh, don't think any player would like to be called Judas, no matter for which club. I'm sure Arsenal fans would greet him with something similar anyway when we go to Emirates.

Yeah? Sorry mate, your wording was confusing for my not-so-sober self. It's ass o'clock over here and I'm not exactly at my sharpest. I guess your "poor Cesc" part confused me. Pretty sure Fab would actually prefer that scenario. P. S. Commas are awesome. Less confusion for not-so-sober people, ya know. I only now realised that you meant "If Oscar starts poor, Cesc..." rather than "If Oscar starts, poor Cesc..." It makes more sense now.

I'm all for MVG getting a chance, but the chances of him starting in big games this season are pretty slim, unless we have many injuries. If MVG becomes a regular starter, Oscar's most likely going to the bench, with Cesc playing #10.

Was about to write the same thing.

While I do want to see the new lads play, we should keep our expectations low. Costa and Fabregas are nowhere fit enough or know the team well enough to play well just after one full day of training. I won't be surprised if they suck. I'll be more surprised if they don't suck, actually. lol but I can already hear the whining and moaning about how shit they are if Costa doesn't score or Fabregas misplaces a pass.

He's our #1 striker and he'll get service from the likes of Hazard and Fabregas. Anything less than 20 in the PL would be a disappointment, imo. I think he's quite capable of scoring that much.

They could have still asked him what position he prefers playing. Oh well. We'll find out soon enough.

I'm sure he knows where he's going to play. Jose obviously told him--he stressed how important his conversation with the coach was--and he seems pleased with what Jose told him. You don't sign a WC player without telling him where he's going to play.

Why couldn't they ask him about interesting things? Like, what position he's going to play.

That's what I hope to see a lot this season.

Competition "Who can outsmile the others." Torres is losing.

Pretty sure Messi doesn't have a twitter account.

This is just sad if he's the fourth most marketable player in the world.

At Arsenal he didn't really have a big dip in form in the 2nd half of the season--he just had a lot of injuries in the second half(not exactly surprising at Arsenal), but when he wasn't injured, he performed well enough. His second half of the season at Arsenal: 2007-2008 - 7 assists, 1 goal in January-April, and he didn't play in May at all (not sure why, probably injury) 2008-2009 - he was injured in January-April, but managed to get 5 assists and 2 goals in 7 games he played after his recovery. 2009-2010 - 6 goals and 3 assists in January-March. Then he got injured and missed the rest of the season. 2010-2011 - 5 assists in 11 matches. He missed a lot of games in the second half, didn't play in March and May at all because of injuries. Barcelona is another matter entirely. At least he stopped getting injured at Barcelona, proving how shit Arsenal's medical team is. Maybe they would have won something if their medical/physio staff was better. Maybe.

Yeah, Lukaku is also rated higher by non-Chelsea fans than by us. It's hard to tell if we're being overly critical or other fans are just poorly informed.