The Skipper

If we have a half decent Costa for the remainder of the season the title is wrapped up.

No I understand what you were trying to say, just really enjoying Cesc's performance today.

No way we would've been as dangerous in the final third without Cesc today. He's started most of our best moves.

Conte has realised we need to press higher, thank God.

Pundit on BeIN sport stream I'm watching just called Pedro and Willian world class smh. These guys are dinosaurs.

Didn't known he had that in his locker. He's always been a good dribbler but boy that was incredible. He's had a decent game so far.

I must be watching a different game. Don't think we've been that bad, Soton usually play this well in patches against almost everyone they play. They never sustain it though. Understand that they're a good team with a real good manager. They're not going to roll over for us. Fabregas has been outstanding btw.

Costa keeps breaking our moves down... but he isn't as useless as he has been today. 10.5 men today.

Fabregas is so good. Wow.

Cesc is a leader.

The only evidence I have really is the players' abilities. Ake suits the LCB spot excellently due to his profile as a player imo. Besides, I was mentioning it in regards to the squad we have right now. I don't expect Ake to be a starter next season either.

And the timing is right for Ake and Christensen. Let's put faith in them. My point with Celtic-VVD is that just two seasons ago he was playing his football in Scotland, now he's considered by many as a top CB. Ake and Christensen are ready to make that step up, especially the latter. I think it's unrealistic to expect a big money signing at CB unless we sell Christensen and/or Ake, which will be difficult because of HG rules. Physicality is overrated. It's important but people overstate it. If it was so important, Zouma would be a vital cog in the system.

I think he'd be a revelation there, quite easily. He has the potential to be a really superb player in our system at RWB, he'd be awesome. Doubt the club has that much imagination though.

That's only a 20 man squad, way too small if we're challenging on all fronts. I do like the make up though. Maybe give someone like Tammy Abraham a chance as back up striker might be in Toni's thinking. We still need 8 HG players, don't forget. In that squad we've just got Fabregas, Chalobah, Moses, Christensen, Cahill and Gordon - which leaves two spots open. Which means we have space for 2 academy products. I'd love to see Baker and Ake fill those two spots. Tammy doesn't have to register either as he's U21. A variation of your squad for me would be: Courtois, Gordon?, Eduardo Azpi, Christensen, Luiz, Cahill, Ake Semedo?, Moses, Mendy?, Alonso Kante, Fabregas, Fabinho?, Chalobah, Baker Hazard, Sanchez?, Pedro, Willian Lukaku?, Abraham

You guys are underestimating Big Sam. Guy loves beating the big teams. They'll give Spurs hell, I'm sure of it.

Christensen and Ake are essentially new signings. Lets put some faith in the youth that have proven themselves at relatively high levels. People moan about giving guys from our academy a chance, but when the opportunity arises we want to spend millions on a player who just 2 seasons ago was at Celtic.

Personally? I'd much rather see our funds distributed in other areas of the team. We need a new CM, new WBs and a new RF before even looking at CBs. Also, need a new CF most likely since Costa is probably off. We can't really afford VVD if we're going to spend big in these areas.

None of these guys were even at Ake's level, never mind Christensen. None of them even played regular PL/Bundesliga football like the other two. Andreas has even played in the CL. Can't compare. It's not the same - if these guys weren't at our club they'd definitely be looked at by other big clubs imo. Including us.

The Hazard/Kakuta comparison is off because these guys are a lot more proven than Gael. Someone like Christensen has a market value of at least £25m imo already.

Luiz and Ake were okay today with Kane, who's one of the most powerful strikers in the league?

No, not at all. It's healthy competition, not sure who I'd start to be honest. That backline is very nice though as they are all essentially ball playing CBs. I just stated it as an option.

You make a strong case to be fair. My main point was that I just want to see him dominate the CL like he does here in the PL/England, which we know he has the ability to. Your initial point doesn't dispute any of that, in fact, I must say I brought forward an argument that isn't too related to what you said. I was talking about his general performances on the biggest platform in club football - the CL. What ticked me off is that you essentially compared his influence to that of Didier. I disagree with him being the best in history with Didier though - first, we can't say that for sure to begin with as we haven't seen CFC for that long. Would love to know what some of the older members on here think about that. @OhForAGreavsie @Unionjack @Iggy Doonican @Duppy Conqueror? Also, I think Lampard and JT are ahead of him in that aspect, alongside Didier. They all won 10+ trophies here and were all a major part of those, performing in most big games/winning us those games. Hazard has only won 3 trophies here at CFC. It's incomparable because they've had many more bigger games to play in than Eden has.

6 of them were against were for Lille, the rest for CFC (30). He scored 2 goals vs. Maribor, 2 vs PSG, 1 vs. Schalke. Obviously, I take away nothing from his performance, but we're talking about something that's irrelevant to the game he's played just now. We're having a much broader discussion than that. I'm not using it as a stick to beat him with, your post just sounded like you put him level with Didier when it comes to big game performances, and I stated that his record in the CL isn't anywhere near as good as someone like Didier, or even Lamps. Several of our former players have been better than him in the CL. I'm using the CL as a barometer because it's the top competition in world football. The only amazing performances befitting of his talent that he's had in the CL are those games against PSG, and we know he's much better/consistent than that. I want him to prove it, because I know he has the ability. We've discussed this before, and I acknowledge that the situation here at CFC obviously hasn't been ideal - I'm sure if he was at Real for example, he would've had a lot more top performances in the CL. But that doesn't mean I can't say he must do better there. Like I said, he has next season to put this stuff to bed. It's one of the few things that stops people acknowledging what a great player he is.

Hazard has played in the CL 36 times and only has 5 goals. 3 of those goals are penalties. That's an embarrassing record.

We have Christensen who's about the same size as Luiz I think. He can fit in well. A backline of Ake, Luiz, Christensen isn't too bad at all.