The Skipper

I doubt Fletcher would cost £10m+. He had a good season last year but because Wolves are relegated they aren't in a bargaining position IMO.

I agree. Anything over £20m and it'd be money wasted IMO. Could've used it to sign a player who will have more impact on the team. I'd rather us sign a £30m Hulk than sign a £20m Lewandowski as I believe Hulk would have far more impact on the team.

Thing is, we won't be relying on Ramires and Mikel to start the attacks that often. Like I said, as Oscar likes to drop in deep a lot anyway, we'd still have someone to link up play. I believe Mata has the capability to do the same thing. I know it sacrifices their play in the final third but it gives them the opportunity to seek out Ramires, Hazard, one of Oscar or Mata and whoever's upfront alongside with Mikel, who has the capabilities to link up play as well in my opinion. What I want is for Mikel to step up and improve his link play in order to compensate for Ramires' inability to link play effectively. I believe he has it in his locker. What has to be remembered is that we're not going to strictly stick to one playing style next season. There has to be variety in our game. We can't always play a possession based game and then miss out on a counter attacking opportunity or a long ball opportunity. Many are under rating Ramires' passing play. Although it isn't as reassuring as others it's still adequate enough to allow him to do a decent job. Ramires will bring energy, pace and heart to the midfield, he wouldn't necessarily be a DM in the pivot, as I've explained before your pivot doesn't have to consist of two DM's all the time. He'd be a B2B midfielder, where he's at his best - joining in at attack, and helping defensively. Bayern Munich have someone similar as Ramires in Luiz Gustavo. He wins the ball back for them, lays it off to Schweinsteiger, Kroos, Ribery or Robben. Ramires could do the same job for us as he is pretty accomplished defensively. It'd be hard to implement but I believe that if RDM can pull it off we'd have a really dangerous team on all fronts. If he manages to marry a front six of Torres, Mata, Hazard, Oscar, Mikel and Ramires then he'd have done a superb job. Of course during games where possession is more essential and is less dispensable, perhaps then Lampard could come in and provide the team a little bit of an edge in that aspect. It's a conundrum but it is just my opinion that we need to find a way of playing our best players, and Ramires is certainly one of them.

Lewandowski will cost around £30m though if I'm not incorrect. Don't see the point in the signing. For that amount we should be signing players who can make a huge difference, which I don't think Robert will.

Before we judge Mikel, or any other player in that respect, let's wait till the season starts officially. I feel many people are letting pre-season taint their view on a lot of players. Mikel was one of the best players towards the end of the season, so many have forgotten already.

Mata - Hazard - Oscar Mikel - Ramires Would work IMO, simply due to the fact that Oscar likes to drop in deep. This frees up Ramires a lot more. You don't have to play 2 DM's in the pivot necessarily. That would be counter productive, and it's why Ramires and Mikel can work - Mikel sits back, Ramires joins up the attack, Ramires sits back, Mikel goes forward to provide an outlet for the attack. That's what a pivot is. Ramires is a B2B midfielder at his finest, and a B2B midfielder joined up with a technically decent DM (Mikel) could work well. Ramires is the energy in midfield whilst Mikel is the outlet, with Oscar dropping deep from the right (which will allow Ramires to surge up on the right and go on one of his trademark off the ball runs with his pace) whilst Hazard provides the penetration alongside Ramires, which can then free up Mata in a free roaming role to organise attacks. If RDM finds a way to marry the six of Torres, Mata, Hazard, Oscar, Mikel and Ramires our team could potentially be unplayable.

Fletcher's good. Really underrated, would be a decent buy actually. Going into the season with Torres, Sturridge and Fletcher seems quite strong. Doubt he'd come here to sit on the bench though, he'd be better off at another club.

My comment wasn't necessarily aimed at yours. I agree though that we could do with a specialist in the box. Sturridge and Torres aren't bad at poaching themselves but then again, it requires exquisite service into the final third. Gomez scores loads because he's always in the right place at the right time but he's also blessed with the fact that he has the likes of Ribery, Robben, Schweinsteiger and Kroos in his team who can all deliver that final pass. We're starting to get players who have the technique and consistency in finding their last man when they need to in Hazard and Oscar (plus Mata of course), but we'll see how their relationships develop over the course of the season. Rondon isn't the player we should go for as there are many better alternatives IMO.

I think it's alright to don the star in our CL games this season. Anything else is a bit sad yes.

Champions League final has been forgotten already I see.

What about all of his crosses last season? Ivanovic has decent delivery, no need to bash because he's had a below average pre season!

Which is exactly my point. With the side we're building, crossing will be less frequent, so the need for someone aerial automatically reduces. As Sturridge is pretty good with his feet as well, Sturridge is far more suitable IMO.

People need a scapegoat. Unfortunately that scapegoat is (was) Gourlay.

If he got a two weeks rest right now he wouldn't make the community shield, am I correct? He'd still need to train with the squad etc. so I wouldn't get my hopes up. At least he's back for the start of the season though.

I'll pass.

I don't want the thread to spiral into another one of those youth discussions but Lukaku's not a terrible footballer. I hate the scrutinising of our young players just because they haven't set the world alight in pre season. Many are still forgetting Lukaku is merely 19. If you really feel strongly about discussing Lukaku, please mention me in the Lukaku thread and we'll carry on the debate there. Fair enough if people are suggesting to bring in a 3rd choice striker if Lukaku is going out on loan, but people want us to sign Cavani or Falcao, which I think is unrealistic as we've still got Torres here. What I was laughing at is how your post depicted that we needed to get a new striker because Torres wasn't influential in the Milan game (which is understandable as it was his first game back) and because Sturridge didn't start for Team GB (even though he later came on and scored a classy goal). Rondon wouldn't come here as a 3rd choice striker (I feel Sturridge is better than him) so to me Lukaku's fine as third choice striker. 3 players for 1 position up front is fine. Ideally we'd bring in someone like Hulk who can then again offer more depth upfront but with the signing of Oscar it does reduce the need for Hulk slightly. He'd still be a good signing if we got him for ~£25m-£30m. People really don't realise that we've got a gem in Sturridge on our hands, so personally I'm not worried about what will happen if Torres doesn't perform as Sturridge is more than good enough to step in and start scoring. It's not a coincidence he out scored both Drogba and Torres from out wide last season, the boy can score. Just my opinion though. Hopefully Sturridge will break through this season and dispel the myth that we need for a new striker even more. We need to give him a new contract ASAP.

Aguero at City starts in the hole. He's not really known for setting up people is he? Nasri and Silva flank him but their positions aren't set in stone. We could potentially do the same with Mata - Hazard - Oscar. Positions aren't set in stone, ala totaal voetbal. City have shown it can work to a devistating effect at times e.g. their 6-1 win at Old Trafford. Hazard would essentially take up the Aguero role. It's possible.

Lukaku's good enough for a third choice striker I reckon, Rondon isn't going to come here to be a third choice striker. Lukaku is as physical as it gets. Sturridge is better IMO. Edit: He just scored a beauty for team GB.

Again I say, what does he offer that Sturridge doesn't?

Because Torres had 30 irrelevant minutes and because Sturridge didn't start one game? Hahaha.

Kojo, please tell me you do not rate Tiote higher than Mikel. Don't know what people see in Tiote, he's nothing special. Tons and tons of better player out there.

I nominate Manpe!

He moved to the number 10 position in the second half, where I felt he played better.

You conclude he has no confidence cos of 30 minutes of fitness game time? Haha.

Agreed with that, it's because the players we had last season weren't as good at keeping possession effectively. Many of those players are still playing right now, but just wait when Mata and Oscar come back, we'll be a lot more assured in possession and we'd create a lot more too.