King Kante

Agree. Before that they also brought Overmars and Petit for a large chunk and both flopped.

Things have to be broken down into categories for things like this. For me, there are; expected to be first team players, most disappointing, actual worst footballing ability, worst squad member that actually got enough minutes to be remembered, mercenary, biggest waste of money. Here is my list; Mercenary - Winston B. Most disappointing - Sheva (£30m in 2006 was like £95m today.) Worst squad player that got minutes: The Joka Expected to be a first team player: Bakayoko Actual worst ability: Papy D. Biggest waste of money; Kepa (being brave here but I see zero qualities that are going to save him, in time I fully expect him to be seen as the time we decided to make a Karius quality GK the world's most expensive GK.) People can say Torres and Sheva all they want but at least they had shown actual talent to be considered top rank players.

This is exactly the type of game we have messed up in this season. Really need the win, can see Brighton getting a draw with Utd somehow.

Well it depends on what SFL does. Utd this season have pretty much beaten us for two reason; 1) Having our CM wide open so they can stroll straight through us with no pressure, 2) Luck. The 4-0 game was harsh, the EFL Cup game was 50/50 which they edged with a worldie FK, 3) The Walking Forehead somehow didn't get a red card for kicking Batsh*t in his Niagara's.

I think Barkley's future depends on what SFL does with Mount and RLC. In my opinion, all three is too many. Tbh, I rate Mount quite highly, so I think Barkley's future will depend on what happen's with RLC or maybe even if we buy Harvetz (which I think is unlikely.)

There are a couple of things here. 1) I do not think Real pay £190m for Hazard in 2018. Further even if they do, you have to weigh this up against risking CL qualification/A Ropey League win. For me, selling when we did and for the amount we got was the right call. 2) I cannot believe you thought Baka was a good player. I wasn't on here at the time but on another forum I was going ape sh*t when we brought him. Honestly, anyone that watched him for more than 45 mins knew he owed his career to Fabinho. 3) Cannot say Morata was really that bad as we got most of our money back on him. Sure he had the mentality of a 11 year old but when you buy someone for £58m and then get £50m back even when they flop means you have done ok and it should be a lesson learned and not something to beat yourself up about. 4) Drinkwater I think wasn't a good idea but I also think the bloke is either a alcoholic or has mental health issues (possibly both.) For me, he was signed as an expensive CM4 who would help with the HG quota. Obviously he has been a disaster but I think this is due to his problems that they club would probably be unaware of. Without them I think we would've got most of our money (say £20/25m) back for him via a sale if he hadn't gone crazy. 5) Tbf with Alonso, when he got renewed he was playing in the 343 system and he was one of our best players by then for about 18 months. His stats going forward were impressive. Not sure in the context of when he actually signed the extension it was as crazy as it seems now. As for the bid from Real, again it was rumours from 2nd rate itk's. I would say for certain it was true (no need to post any links I have seen them already.) 6) With Willian, even if we did get the £65m bid, we still would've needed him to agree. From everything I have seen from him, he strikes me as someone that will not want to leave England. I think he is too settled. I agree with most of the rest, however I am still hopeful we can squeeze decent money out of Emerson and Zouma so they will be a seen more as squad players that were here for a while that we didn't really lose much by having.

Personally I hope he continues playing and doing ok, as that way we may be able to con someone into buying him. Joking aside, Barkley for me is a ok squad player but he shouldn't really be a starter for us.

Jorgi is a strange one. Not sure what is going on with him exactly. It may just be he is not match fit. Let's see what happens with him against West Ham and Watford before drawing any conclusions.

Tbf, Barca have never really been that great at transfers. The hit gold with a academy group and also got a few transfers right as well. However, there is a reason why pre-Messi they had only won one CL.

I agree, he is frustrating as hell. However, he is also doing more of what SFL is asking for. In my opinion, he will be sold this Summer (as I reckon we probably can get a Newcastle/West Ham/Palace) to pay £30m+ for him. However, with the way some of the other CM's are playing, I see him getting a lot of minutes in the next few weeks.

Yeah, just saw your post. Hopefully it is nothing!

Not yet but I am worried. To me it looked like he was complaining about his groin. I did my adductor a few years ago and it seriously took me about 12 months to get over it as I would take a break for about 2 months play again only for it to go again 2-3 games in. Hopefully, he doesn't have something similar.

I said at the start of the season on another Chelsea forum that James looks like a DM moonlighting as a RB. The more I see of him, the more I feel he is going to end up being moved there at some point.

Do not get me wrong, Barkley only has his physical traits to rely on, as we can all hear the gears in his head turning (loudly) whenever he has got to do anything other than run and shoot. However, he is also doing what SFL is asking i.e. play with some urgency and get into the box. So, whilst I still want him sold, he also doing what he is told more so than some of the other CM's. For me, I would not be surprised to see - Kante, Barkley, Kova - as our midfield three against Wet Spam.

Oh yeah, if all we require from them is to run after a long ball, they are golden.

Not too sure how much that was to do with them and how much it was to do with Kova getting hold of the ball in the middle. For me, they were really poor in the first half - Rudi in particular pulling out one of his 'lose my man, even though he has done nothing other than run off me' specials on the set piece - then in the second they didn't have much to do as we stepped up the pitch. Maybe, I am being harsh but I actually thought they were poor overall.

Strange game. Leicester look in trouble in my book, they should have won that can 3-1 but somehow contrived to lose it 1-0. For me, Kova was MotM but I think it also proved that there are certain squad players that need to go as they are either poor of inconsistent.

Quick question. Does Rudi know how to defend a set piece at all? Seriously, everytime a ball goes into our box he either loses his man or is completely lost at sea or both. As for Zouma, his ability on the ball is shocking when under any sort of pressure whatsoever. We seriously need some new CB's. As for this match, I would take off Mount for Kova and switch Kante and VmBilly's positions. I would also get Pedro on for Willian as whilst Willian has been alright I want to see more off the ball runs to open up some space.

Dear God Please involve De Ligt in this deal if it is to happen. Many thanks KK

That is a strong Leicester line up. Make them favourites for today.

It may be that he isn't 100% fit. When he has played since the restart he hasn't seemed that sharp to me. Jorgi I am not that surprised about as I thought Gilmour would start. Real surprise to me is no RLC as I would've thought SFL would want to give him minutes and Willian starting again as I would've gone with Pedro.

Not too sure about some of those signings. Onana is a problem as he has to disappear once every two years for six weeks, which is a massive problem at GK. Rice is a project if we buy him and not someone that will come in and do an immediate job, which is kind of what we need in the CB role. As for Tagilifico there are serious questions about his physicality and athleticism and whether he would be able to handle the PL. In my book Telles is a much smarter buy and even though I am not a fan at all I may even say Chilwell is preferable as we cannot go through another cycle of 'buy a FB and see if they adapt'. If we are doing that just go with Alonso and Maatsen next year I really cannot be bothered with another weak arse FB like Zappa, Baba and Emerson who ends up sitting around.

I cannot take the shirt seriously with such a ugly, big arse number on the front. If they are planning on planting this is every shirt, it looks highly doubtful I'll be buying another shirt anytime soon. That said, my last was the 2015/16 home shirt so I am probably not exactly the target market.

I do not disagree with your arguement and I think a big thing that has been forgotten is that in a relatively short amount of time, the Dippers and to a lesser extent City (who were instead under performing) have come a long way. However, there are a few things they did that meant they improved rapidly: 1) They replaced the clowns that they had in goal. This I think is the single biggest issue facing us. The Dippers and City had Karius/Mignolet/Bravo/Hart (so Kepa sort of level GK's) in goal and replaced them with Ederson/Alisson. The difference has been like night and day. However, our problem is some bright spark thought he was worth £72m on £190k pw on 7 years. Not too sure how we can afford anything other than a Foster/Fabianski level GK. 2) Both got their CB1 position sorted. City tbf already had Kompany but then got Laporte who sorted their backline out and would've kept them closer to City if he didn't get injured, Dippers got VVD, which doesn't need explaining. We face a problem in that there is no obvious CB (who is buyable) out there. I mean even Romagnoli (who is possibly the highest ranked than could be available) isn't that strong or fast and could look a little lost in the PL. 3) They got there FB's positions sorted. Here our biggest problem is LB in that we need someone who can play LB in a 4. RB, also requires James to pull a TAA. For this we have to get things right and not dick about. Dave and Alonso are great in certain situations but against teams that we have 60% possession against we are still lacking. 4) Recruitment hit a period where a higher proportion of singings paid off over 3 summers and they filled the correct holes - Dippers: Salah, Alisson, VVD, Fabinho, Robinson, Ox. City: Ederson, Walker, Laporte, B.Silva, Sane, Zinchencko, Jesus, Gungdogan. For me, this will be hard for us to ascertain for another 18 months or so as we need to see how, Puli/Werner/Ziyech/Kova adapt/improve and how the young boys, particularly James/Mount/Tammy develop. Further, we have to hope that the potential other signings (LB/CB) are hits.

I really do not see why Sancho himself would move this Summer, from every angle he is better off staying at Dortmund, as staying at Dortmund gives him; 1) CL football 2) Assurances that he will be one of the first names on the team sheet 3) A £190k a week wage - due to his fee being £100m+ this year, I do not see him greatly increasing on that. 4) He waits another year, his fee goes down but his signing on fee/wage goes up significantly. 5) Dortmund have more chance of winning the Bundesliga than Utd (the only team I can see buying him this year) have of winning the PL. For me, moving this year is insanity on his part.