King Kante

Apprantly, we have another £5m due from Real from them reaching the CL final. Talk about the gift that keeps on giving.

Personally, I would rather a GK than a LB as Cucu has been decent enough this season - for me it is better to try and get a another decent season out of him then we may be able to claw some money back. As for CB, I am going to stick my neck out and say I want Silva. I know he is still super young, but there is something about him - although I do worry a little about him aerially in the PL. As for CF, I am not sure who is out there. VO seems like a receipe for disaster and that Sporting kid needs to show a lot more than one season, imo, to start being valued at £100m. My ideal CF to buy would be Alverez from City but that is never happening. If we try and stay in the league and go budget, my choice would be Callum Wilson, but I am not massive fan of his - I just think he would be the best bang for buck.

Trevs been our best CB this season, so selling him is madness. As for Conor, I really don't see how giving him a new contract is going to be so bad, as there will always be a buyer for him and he is one a only a few players we've got that have proven they can stay fit.

Poch must be breathing a sigh of relief today. If that Villa game last night ended 3-1 we would've only been six points off 4th if we had seen out the Burnley and Sheffield games, with only a 4 goal differential. Personally, I see Villa losing to Palace and Spurs not beating City. If that had happened it would've raised quite a few questions imo if we now beat Brighton and Bournemouth.

I think of all the players, Broja is the one with most upside if we keep and he has a decent season on loan. As you say, currently he is £10m-£15m, however if he has one decent season where he knocks in a few he adds £15-£35m to his price owing to him being a CF and on fairly cheap wages. In my opinion he should be either sent to Germany - where they play wide open football - of Soton if they come back up. Another option in the PL may be Ipswich as he is probably still better than Moore. However, the would require us to do something like sell Hutchinson to Ipswich for say £20m with a £25m buyback/first refusal - which actually probably makes more FFP sense than loaning again.

Kepa doesn't have weak wrists but mechanically he has a big weakness which is his habit of swinging his hands behind his back before attempting saves - particularly those low down to a corner. That is the reason why he sometimes allows balls to go past his hand after he has got it there. There was a deep dive on this - I think in The Athletic - but it may have been somewhere else. Either way, I also like Jackson and have supported him against his critics. However, Kepa is a poor example to make your point with. Ramires, Drogba and Lampard would've been better examples of players who were largely written off by our fan base, only to turn them around.

Anything other than a Newcastle win but it requires us to win out.

It isn't just the defense, CM is still not offering enough protection - although that has improved with Conor and Cucu recently moving into the pivot.

I cannot see it. £100m minimum and we keep signing 12 year old Brazilians who play in AM for tens of millions. He will likely go to a City, Bayern, Arsenal (if they have another solid year) I.e. a stable team ready to compete straight away next year.

But who. I know Hermoso is on a free but I haven't seen him for a while and not sure from what I recollect if he would fit into the side....

That's called Mount money.

The problem with the evidence of him displaying his great passing is that this is still outweighed across the season with where is passing directly led to giving a goal away. Additionally, even yesterday he was directly responsible for turn overs when pressed on the ball/had some loose passing. Therefore, it is not so much I am not seeing his good passing - as I have even provided an example that people supporting him haven't made much reference to - it is more that I am not still not seeing the type of overall passing game over 90 mins that I expect from a midfielder in a team with aspirations for kicking on to try and win the league and competing in the CL in the short to medium term. This isn't to say he hasn't had a good pass here and there, it is more of an all round game thing and how I don't see a Caicedo type player in any of the elite sides in Europe. To be honest, I think (me participating in) the Caicedo debate is now better off as one for next season when - hopefully - we have all our options fit in midfield. It could well be I have got things wrong and he develops quickly or I have been downplaying/not seeing things in his game. However, I am not going to be swayed by odd passes/sliced together highlights, in five-six games in the tail end of the season.

What was the reason for him dropping both Trev and Silva from the starting line-up against Le Arsé? Who knows, he'll probably say the team isn't mature enough to play two games a week of something.

I don't get posts like these either. Has he improved, sure but I equally don't think his passing was that great either yesterday. People in the last two games have been using his through ball to Jackson and his ball to James as examples of him doing 'baller' things. However, the assit in the WH game was aided by their CB's being around 20m apart, and the Forest one was due to the FB being out of position which allowed him a massive space to knock it into. I would actually say his seeing the pass and hitting first time where the actual better qualities. Additionally, his arched pass to Palmer (who should've done much better) was also his best pass of the day imo. However, yesterday against Forest in the middle of the match there were times he gave the ball away easily under pressure. Those are really the moments I worry about him as these types of give aways are the ones that cause the games to get stretched/go 'back-to-front' too much. There have been major examples of him doing this this throughout the season such as the Utd game at home, City at home and Forest at home, Arsenal away etc. Now, I appreciate he is a young player and needs time to improve, which is fair enough - and a reason I have said I will give him next season to prove me wrong. However, I personally need to see him playing so well when we aren’t in the tail end of the season where the intensity always starts to drop off.

What we do, do and what we should do are two different things. Wouldn't surprise me at all if Poch lines the team up with Badi and Disaster as the two CB's and rests Trev and Silva.

Damn, I forgot Ukraine qualified. I was still thinking they got eliminated in the play-offs. As for Enzo, I did say it was likely he goes, just that he shouldn't. Disaster I cannot see going, as France aren't carrying many injuries. As for the English players, I cannot see Southgate taking them. Firstly, he doesn't seem to rate Chilwell much, which was a reason he didn't go to the WC. As for James and Colwill can he really take them after so long out? Maybe Colwill but England have enough at RB to not need to take a semi-fit James. Cucu, you're right. He probably goes with Spain.

Looking at the squad and I am hoping most of our players get a summer off this year. Looking at the squad, I see the following: Petrovic - Goes to Euros Sanchez - Summer off Colwill - Surely summer off Trev - Summer off unless Southgate gets desperate with injuries. Badi - Summer off Disaster - Summer off. Fofana - Summer off. Alfie - Summer off James - Surely Summer off Chilwell - Surely Summer off Gusto - Outside chance of going with France, but most likely Summer off. Cucu - Summer off. Lavia - Summer off Enzo - Probably will go to the Copa but really should have the Summer off. Caicedo - Goes to Copa Gallagher - Goes to Euros Lesley - Summer off Carney - Summer off Nkunku - Surely summer off but may go. Sterling - Summer off Palmer - Goes to Euros MM - Summer off Noni - Summer off Jackson - Summer off. Hopefully this happens so we get a full pre-season with most of our players.

Completely agree. He and Palmer are the only players we have that have shown genuine world class play for a period of time. For sure, some of the other players we have have shown flashes, but that is all. James is rightly the Chelsea captain and hopefully will be able to keep himself fit - or at least fitter - moving forward.

We do need more control in the CM, if we just go out and attack we will end up in basketball matches every game, which would be fun but it means that a lot of games will be lost or drawn because of it. No success team in the PL has not had control in CM. Best example of a team with no real control in CM but outrageous attack was Newcastle circa 1995-97.

Lukaku will move to Saudi in the Summer. He only has two years left on his contract. If he goes this year he'll still get a decent long one as he is still only 31 and has a bit of a say. He leaves it another year he runs the risk of not getting anything near.

Agreed, apart from us winning out. I still do not have enough faith in the team to pull that off but I hope I am wrong. As you, I really want the Ropey League place as I actually quite like the competition and believe it to one a great extra CL qualifying option.

Spuds are gone, they would need to lose to City and Sheffield and for us to win the rest of our games. For sure, City beat them but I can equally see us dropping points - particularly against Brighton. For me 6th is us v Newcastle. I reckon they will pip us on GD as I reckon we both draw our next game and win our last games of the season.

That's me. He had a good game, the pass was good as well, although it wasn't anything on Palmer's or James's - although to be fair it didn't have to be as he had quite a big space to hit. I still maintain that he hasn't got enough skill on the ball, and there were a couple of times today he gave it away due to this, but if you think he does and that proves it fair enough. As I said to, @MoroccanBluelet's see what next season brings. My feeling is that he gets dislodged and gets rotated in and out of the side depending on whether we need a ball winner or more of a passer/runner from DM/CM. A lot will also depend on what happens with Gallagher as he is the only other one that can intercept to such a high level as well.

Good win, but the lack of control in that game is a large reason why I am not confident about taking Poch into next season. May be harsh, but we were tepid until he got Sterling and James on.

6th place is Conference League if Utd win the FA Cup.