The Skipper

The way Fabregas has already transformed the team... It's incredible. Crazy how some were so opposed to this signing, we really needed a top player of with his footballing profile to truly complete the side. Starting to look fairly similar to the effect Bergkamp had on Arsenal when he joined them.

Surely we can get a better brand.

And if he doesn't it does get interesting...

Doesn't he have a year left on his contract next year?

I think I'm available for Man City.

If it came down to keeping Willian or buying Reus, I'd definitely do the latter. Reus is the ideal attacking Mourinho player IMO. He's just made to play under him, sort of how Costa is as well.

Still, doesn't prove he's athletic as Yaya Toure or Vidal to me. I've watched Rakitic for a long time. He never has been and never will be. He's best at CAM where he just concentrates on creating IMO.

Obvious answer to this question but Mexico or USA? And why?

Rakitic doesn't have the athleticism of let's say a Matic, Yaya or Vidal. Technically he's complete but physically the others are far ahead, hence why I don't think you can even call him a complete midfielder. Good player though.

I love Matic but offensively, Vidal and Toure are on another level.

Mr. Iseah... Welcome to the hotseat. Are you actually from Chicago or do you just have like a naturally affinity for the place?

Again from '4 months' to nothing serious...

The fitness saga, the fact that he doesn't know who Tony Adams is, the fact he thought Victor Moses was his toughest opponent... Sure, guy can definitely play but Southampton did extremely well to flog Shaw for £30m. Seems like a Luiz esque deal now

Whilst that is true, Tony Adams is an iconic defender, the fact that he's an English defender as well makes it truly baffling. As Nish said above, it isn't even about age, that's just pure ignorance.

I know, but to say Italy was the best league during that time is untrue. La Liga and PL had overtaken them by then already IMO.

How old is Luke? How can he not know about Tony Adams....

Ah that won't be necessary but will do pal. You will be missed, as I said before, an excellent member and one of the best ones on the forum. I might drop you an email (lovely email btw haha) to let you know the next time I'm at SB so we can possibly grab a few beers or something.

I would say Ibra if he played in a more competent league.

I don't think him going has anything to do with him providing different views at all... It's more to do with the fact that he's been goading members up personally and his passive aggressiveness, whatever he said to some people over PM and stuff. It's a shame because he really was an excellent member of the forum but obviously there's only so much leniency staff can give. And contrary to your belief. The pub isn't anywhere near as active as it used to be before. The 'girls in CFC shirts' thread isn't really popular and nor is 'Alex owes us a dance'. There is still plenty of political debate going on - check the politics thread, it's been very active over the last few weeks. There's also an 'Independent Scotland' thread that's been very active recently. The forum still has plenty of football debate going on, there was recently a massive debate on whether we need English talent in our team, a massive debate on Oscar's role in the team, Ramires' usefulness etc... I would say that the long debates are definitely still there. If you don't believe that then you haven't really been reading IMO.

The fact that his name is Gohan makes this even better.

Haha no chance, Serie A hasn't been anywhere near the best league in the world for over a decade now.

Around £90k according to the DM.

Interesting post, but completely disagree with anyone who calls Ballack, a complete midfielder, limited. What exactly was he limited in?

Believe it or not, Lallana is actually 26. Older than Costa .