CurlyHairLikeLuiz

if he was £30m I'd take him in a heartbeat. But he's not, and £50m is too much for a "maybe" player.

II honestly don't see why Valdes doesn't become their new No 1. Which is how it will go imo. You got banned from Goonerland? :D congrats

CS: Win on penalties and then have arsenal fans tell us all season how we didn't deserve it (and that's the way we like it!) PL: Winners, but I expect the margins to be a lot finer this season. MU 2nd (if they sign Ramos) Arse 3rd, and City 4th. COC: We retain it, fairly easily. UCL: I think we will reach the semis or the final, depending on when we draw Barca. After that, it's down to luck. FA Cup: We knock out Arsenal but we don't win it. Treble. Diego GB, Eden POTY, RLC YPOTY (thanks to a little English advantage), and Courtois golden glove. Biggest surprise: Crystal Palace next season, it looks like they just beat Tottenham to Cabaye. They've got a great little squad going there, I reckon they're destined for an EL spot.

I don't mind selling as long as we have somebody better lined up to replace him. See: Reus, Vidal, Pogba, Koke etc etc.

MvG is a b2b though, isn't he? Actually maybe keep Mikel for one more season. See how Pasalic gets on at Monaco in his DM role (unless they find space for him to play b2b) and look again next summer.

OR REUS

...but he's fine to close a game down. And Zouma will improve if he plays there more. I'd like Schweinsteiger so he can play alongside Matic and Cesc can go up or rotate with him - I'm sorry but the fact that Mikel is being linked to Al Ain explains his quality, or lack thereof. Even young Zouma can pass sideways and sit in front of his CBs. If we wanted a proper back up to Matic then I'd be thinking about somebody like Song.

why can't we just use Zouma to do that?

Both Coles, GNev was still going strong and Beckham was still in the RM team in 2006. Lamps was in his prime. Ferdinand too. Terry was in the team. Carrick was too - my mistake, I should have posted him instead of Scholes. Owen was in his prime at that year's WC. 10 of that 11 (Hart being a big exception) could or did play together at Japan 06.

The only team that could have matched that on paper was Spain's 2008-2012 nearly all Barcelona team. Because it gelled. To be fair, Carrick should have played instead of or behind Gerrard and/or Lampard. We would have ended up coming a lot further in major tounaments, our all action midfield (as Real Madrid discovered when Modric was injured last season) destroyed us. A balanced midfield would have been Carrick (holding) Lamps (b2b) and Gerrard (10).

Even if you swap him out for Carrick it's still a pretty mighty team.

Different. City's squad is incredibly old, they should have had the foresight to replace it adequately. Had their squad kept the same firepower they had last season (they missed Yaya a lot when he was out) they would have challenged. Schweinsteiger might be available, who would be a fantastic rotation player for Fabregas. Ramos is too, but we're not looking for CBs. Er.......... We could get Robben back? The best thing about Reus is that he could come into our CL squad if he came in January. If he get demoralised that could be a crucial variable. It's optimistic but you just have to be. The only other thing we could do is put in a monster bid for Neymar and hope Barca take the cash because they want Pogba.

Not necessarily. It takes more than individuals to make a team. See: The England team of circa 2004-12 Which had a squad available at various times: Hart G. Neville Ferdinand Terry A. Cole Lamps Scholes Stevie G Beckham J. Cole Owen How we never won anything will never be explained. One problem was Lamps and Gerrard not being able to play together in midfield, but the managers never had the foresight to drop one of them. Also, quite simply, the squad just would not gel, for whatever reason. IMO, PRT will not work either. It will mirror the situation of England in the 2000s - too much attack, too little hold.

It can only be us or Madrid then.

Reus. It's so unbelievably unlikely but the dream is so seductive... Hazard-Gotze-Reus would be the most exciting young midfield in Europe. I would have thought that Gotze especially is on the market. One more bad season at Dortmund and I think Reus' loyalty will snap. Oscar & Willian become very worthy backups. Ramires, Cuadrado sold. He'll buy one big player this summer, but I doubt it'll be Reus because he loves Dortmund and it won't be Gotze because I don't think Mou goes for a player of his profile.

There's another 2 months of the transfer window. If you all think that Mou's targets don't pop up in that time then you're having a brainfart.

It's nothing to do with us, it's Salah who does not want to go back. They're taking legal action against him, not the club.

To be fair Austin and Vardy are better (pure) strikers than Rooney for me, I'd rather see him in defensive midfield while Carrick is out.

Geezer

Tied with Zola. For me anyway. The club should be looking to bring him back as a coach. Him working with Hazard, Oscar, Cesc excites me.

It was more wishful thinking for Reus than anything else. I recognise Turan's quality, don't worry about that.

http://www.chelseafc.com/news/latest-news/2015/07/selfless-defiance.html A nice little article on JT.

I did reply but it appears my message was deleted.

The supporters club I go with to get tickets (eastern blues) have not been told, I think. The Swansea game does not look like it will be loyalty pointed, though - although maybe it's different rules when buying via a SC.

I thought it hit a snag? Great news then!