The Skipper

Spot on. Thank you. I was skeptical about the signing but he's proven that he'll be a valuable asset to the squad. But that does not mean we should rest on our laurels.

He's had like 5 MOTMs in the last 7. Can't say he isn't POTY. I actually think he can make this level of performance more like the norm, because his defensive contribution is a lot more minimal than what Jose had him doing. Can't believe Jose was trying to turn this attacking demon into a LWB. Atrocious.

To add to this, here are Spurs next 7: Bournemouth (H) Palace (A) Leicester (A) Arsenal (H) WHU (A) United (H) Hull (A) I've highlighted places where I think they'll struggle/lose points. I predict they'll get about 5 or 6/9 in those games, so that's potentially 3 or 4 points they lose on us. Which would mean that we only truly need to win 4 of our last 7 to win the title.

Can't wait for an Eden masterclass vs. Mr. Youth Killer. Hazard to put the final nail in Mourinho's coffer would be wonderful. I think we'll beat them, they're atrocious at home. I would be disappointed if we didn't - in fact, I'm more worried about Everton away than United away. But yeah, either way, we must win either of those. Southampton is a must win too. I think the boys will manage - well Eden will manage - to pull us through. We're playing with 10 men at the moment with the way Costa is performing.

Well well well. We did it. Still 7 points clear, with 7 games to go. Win 5 and we win the title. Let's take a quick look on who we've got left... Man Utd (A) Soton (H) Everton (A) Boro (H) West Brom (A) Sunderland (H) -- Watford (H) - date still tbc. Our next three games are crucial. We get good results there (lets say 7/9 points) and I think the title will definitely be secured. The rest of the games are more than manageable.

It's why I potentially want him to go out on loan but to a BPL team next season.

21 goals in the Championship this season... Impressive.

If he was signed here he'd have to play the Pedro role. You limit him way too much in a two man CM - he's almost like a second striker really for Spurs atm.

Spurs won their game convincingly. Let's see whether the guys will respond in the same fashion or go into hiding...

This guy is incredible. Lampard reincarnated.

Would be a stupendous signing. Probably won't happen though.

It's why I put a ? on Zouma. He could go out on loan. We'd still have Marcos possibly covering at CB if we needed to. Not a big loss tbh. You're right though - those 8 HG players must stay. I hope the club has been building it up to this.

I was just plugging gaps tbh. Can be anyone.

Needed. Not only because he's our best RWB by a distance, but also because it massively frees up Pedro to be more of a threat in the final third.

Posted this in the AC thread, thought it'd be relevant here too though... We'd be absolutely stupid not to give Andreas big game time next season, or even for the rest of his career to be honest. He quantifies as Home Grown right? Also quantifies as Academy Trained, if I'm not incorrect? If so, Andreas is gearing to be our first true academy talent since JT to come through and start regularly. And it's great timing too, seeing as JT is on his last legs. Same with Nathan Ake actually. He must be kept. I hope the club realises this. Right now as HG players, we have (those who are also 'academy trained' are in bold & italics): Fabregas Begovic (who's probably leaving) Ake RLC Moses Cahill Chalobah Solanke Terry (probably retiring) Aina Total of 10 HG players, with 6 'academy trained' players. Out of the above, we have JT and Begovic who will most likely leave, Aina will probably go out on loan too. That leaves us with 6 HG players and 3 academy trained. We need 4 in the UCL. I doubt we're going to be keeping ALL of Ake, RLC and Chalobah either. I'd like it if we ended up with something like this for the foreseeable future though (I've made some deductions on the players I don't think will stay): Fabregas Christensen Ake RLC Chalobah Baker Moses Cahill This gives us 8 HG players PLUS 5 academy trained talents, which means we'd meet our 'English' quota for the CL and the FA quite nicely. I hope the club have something like this in the plans. Baker is good enough to be a squad player here IMO. We have to keep hold of our decent talents at least for the CL quota. With that, our squad next season will hopefully look something like this: Courtois, x, x Azpi, Luiz, Christensen, Ake, Cahill, Zouma? Moses, Alonso, x, x Fabregas, Kante, Chalobah, Baker, x Hazard, Pedro, Willian, RLC, x x, x ('x' marks where we'll probably see new players next season) So, with that being said, it looks like we need to bring in some goalkeepers (or keep Bego and/or Eduardo), some wing backs, a top CM, a top wide forward and two strikers (I don't think Batshuayi will stay). Here's what the 25 man squad could potentially look like: Courtois, Butland?, Eduardo Azpi, Luiz, Christensen, Ake, Cahill, Zouma? Moses, Alonso, Mendy, Oxlade-Chamberlain?/Semedo? Fabregas, Kante, Chalobah, Baker, Fabinho? Hazard, Sanchez?, Pedro, Willian, RLC Belotti?, Batshuayi? That is a very nicely balanced squad imo, and covers all bases very well. Also absolutely no problems with the HG/academy trained quota. This could field an XI & bench of: Courtois Christensen Luiz Azpi Semedo Kante Fabinho Mendy Sanchez Belotti Hazard Butland, Cahill, Moses, Alonso, Fabregas, Pedro, Batshuayi Whilst still having the likes of Willian, RLC, Chalobah, Baker, Ake, Zouma in the squad to rotate.

We'd be absolutely stupid not to give Andreas big game time next season, or even for the rest of his career to be honest. He quantifies as Home Grown right? Also quantifies as Academy Trained, if I'm not incorrect? If so, Andreas is gearing to be our first true academy talent since JT to come through and start regularly. And it's great timing too, seeing as JT is on his last legs. Same with Nathan Ake actually. He must be kept. I hope the club realises this. Right now as HG players, we have (those who are also 'academy trained' are in bold): Fabregas Begovic (who's probably leaving) Ake RLC Moses Cahill Chalobah Solanke Terry (probably retiring) Aina Total of 10 HG players, with 6 'academy trained' players. Out of the above, we have JT and Begovic who will most likely leave, Aina will probably go out on loan too. That leaves us with 6 HG players and 3 academy trained. We need 4 in the UCL. I doubt we're going to be keeping ALL of Ake, RLC and Chalobah either. I'd like it if we ended up with something like this for the foreseeable future though (I've made some deductions on the players I don't think will stay): Fabregas Christensen Ake RLC Chalobah Baker Moses Cahill I've underlined those that are on loan that I think should be included into the squad when back. This gives us 8 HG players PLUS 5 academy trained talents, which means we'd meet our 'English' quota for the CL and the FA quite nicely. I hope the club have something like this in the plans. Baker is good enough to be a squad player here IMO. We have to keep hold of our decent talents at least for the CL quota. With that, our squad next season will hopefully look something like this: Courtois, x, x Azpi, Luiz, Christensen, Ake, Cahill, Zouma? Moses, Alonso, x, x Fabregas, Kante, Chalobah, Baker, x Hazard, Pedro, Willian, RLC, x x, x ('x' marks where we'll probably see new players next season). So, with that being said, it looks like we need to bring in some goalkeepers (or keep Bego and/or Eduardo), some wing backs, a top CM, a top wide forward and two strikers (I don't think Batshuayi will stay). Here's what the 25 man squad could potentially look like: Courtois, Butland?, Eduardo Azpi, Luiz, Christensen, Ake, Cahill, Zouma? Moses, Alonso, Mendy, Oxlade-Chamberlain?/Semedo? Fabregas, Kante, Chalobah, Baker, Fabinho? Hazard, Sanchez?, Pedro, Willian, RLC Belotti?, Batshuayi? That is a very nicely balanced squad imo, and covers all bases very well.

Hazard Belotti Sanchez Mendy Bakayoko Kante Oxlade Azpi Luiz Christensen Courtois So many option this summer, honestly.

Of course. But to me it's clear he has lost that focus he had earlier. His head is not here, to me it's clear he doesn't want to be here. There have been rumours of him going back to Atletico every season now, and then a soon as China starts knocking he wants out again? We can't move forward with a Costa like this.

Question - do you think Costa wants to be at CFC? That's literally the main reason people want him out.

Between Lukaku, Morata and Belotti, I think Belotti is my number 1 option tbh. Complete striker. Imagine a Diego Costa with way more finesse. That's Belotti.

I think Benzema at his best is better than Diego at his best tbh. But that's subjective. The main difference is that when Benzema is off form he still contributes hugely to the team.

He's a good player. Hasn't settled in yet imo. I think he'll have a good season next year, and show everyone what he's really about. He's a very rare player, proper regista. In the right system he would thrive.

How high are you?

If Real got a new striker and Benzema was on the market, I'd 100% want CFC to go after him. Eden having someone like that to play up front with would be devastating, instead he's stuck with this turd that doesn't want to be here. Imagine we got in Sanchez as well? Hazard - Benzema - Sanchez forward line is insane.

Someone else who's got beautiful traptechniek is Xhaka at Arsenal.