King Kante

CHO at £180k looks good value when compared to a reported £150k a week for RLC and £190k for Kepa. However, I agree with you. £400k a week sets a very dangerous precedent. Personally, if I were convinced Alaba could play CB in the PL it may have been worth it as at 29 a CB probably still has about 4 good years left in them especially one has fit as Alaba. I am working to the basis that this would be a around £75m for a four year contract, which is a bit like £25m fee plus £240k a week. Further, he can double up as LB2 so everyone could get their wish in not seeing Emerson and Alonso again and we could go with: LB1: Chilwell, LB2: Alaba/Dave. However, as I said, I suspect he is not suited to play CB in the PL.

Is anyone up to date on what is happening with Alaba? Is he going to end up on a free this coming Summer?

Tbf, a number of places in the press said this in the last window along with Kante and Inter didn't sign any of them.

Where are we getting another player of his quality from? Further, which player of that level is going to choose to come here if we have Ziyech, Pulisic and to a lesser extent Werner and CHO in the squad when there are other top teams that they would walk into the first XI? For me, if/when we get another AM it will be a squad level player who knows they're going to be rotated if Ziyech and Pulisic aren't fit. Further, if we want to have a balanced XI we need to prioritise DM, CB and possibly CF before we start thinking about back up players. At the moment, we have the following in the untouchables category: Mendy, James, Silva, Chilwell, Harvetz, Mount, Ziyech, Werner, Puli (when fit). Arguments can be had for Zouma if Silva is playing. However, the fact of the matter is that Silva is 36 years old and could drop his levels with one moderate injury or too much football. Kante is also a possible untouchable but there are still questions about how effective he is in a No.4 role. At CF there are questions about Werner as a No.9 in a 433, however I am personally ok with him playing out left in a 433 if Puli isn't fit. Forr me another CB is priority No.1 then a DM to get a little more balance in midfield. After that, a CF will be required if Werner doesn't work in a 433 and/or Tammy does not continue to improve.

At LB we have Alonso and Emerson, who are fine as a back up option this year with the size of our squad and all the players we need to shift. Maatsen is also a young boy with a lot of potential so we should see how he develops this year. Dave can cover LB as well and with James' current progress we should be looking to find him minutes as Dave as a squad option gives us excellent depth. I see him transitioning to a Milner type role which is very handy. GK, I cannot see any movement until Summer. Kepa needs to either be shifted or taken out the back and shot, Willy is still knocking about and Cech is now an option. Does this need work in the Summer? For sure, in Jan? Not really. Also, GK2 is normally a easy position to fill as you just need to find a good GK that is hitting 35+ and out of contract/last year and give them a decent wage. I agree with AM, which is why I was happy to keep Willian (although I only wanted him for another year.) However, we currently have Puli, Werner, CHO and Ziyech to fill those roles. After that Harvetz and Mount can moonlight in them if required. For me, we need to give this season to the first four before thinking about changes, especially as this will probably mean CHO gets culled as I still have hope for him.

The other problem with selling Willian was that we knew Hazard was going and needed some stability in the playing squad owing to all the managerial changes. Personally, I think that is what kept him here. As to Willian now, it is funny to see Le Arse fans now recognising how unproductive he is. Penny starting to drop on their forums 😂

Once we get Rice I think that is Camavinga off the table. At that point we would have something like 12 midfielders: Kante, Mount, Rice, Kovacic, Jorgi, Gilmour, Barkley, RLC, Drinky, Amapdu, Gallagher, Harvetz. That would mean we need to shift 5-6 players as it is, no way do we add another. At CB, it is difficult. Upamecano was looking promising but is currently looking a disaster. Gimenez is too injury prone to want to build your defence around him and then players such as Varane are also dipping. Ramos is someone I would consider but again he is only going to be a one/two year solution. Ginter for me is probably most likely. Personally, I think only DM and CM will see any movement in the next 12 months. There could possibly be a new AM but I think that is unlikely until there is a cull at CM as I suspect Mount and Harvetz will be played there if we get desperate.

Haaland could become better than Mbappe. His scoring record is insane. As for his contract his buy out kicks in during Summer 2022. €65m. I have been thinking to myself for a while, if we can bed in all the new signings and have Mount and James become legitimate first XI players (and possibly Gilmour) by 2022, we should be a very attractive option for him. I mean, our first XI squad in at the start of 2022/23 could include: James (22), Chilwell (25), Harvetz (23), Mount (23), Rice (24) (I think he comes next Summee) and Puli (23). At that point Haaland would still only be 22 that could be a serious squad for a decade. That is also before we get to CHO (22), Gilmour (21) and Ampadu (23) who should all be knocking around the swuad or in the first XI depending on progress. Only real concern will be CB as Silva will be 38 by then, and whilst Zouma is playing well at the moment, we need to see if he has actually improved/improving or if it is because he is having his hand held by Silva. If we can sort a real long term CB1 then we should be laughing.

Harvetz will do that when playing as the No.8 in a 433.

Will Silva play in this one?

I do not think that CHO is a lost cause but the boy does need to step up his performances. At no point has he really had a game in the past 18 months where anyone has said, 'wow, he has to play next week'. Only one that may have fallen into that category is the Dippers away last season. For me, he needs to be become more aggressive and direct when attacking the box/opposition defenders as he too often gets to the final third and then lays it off or gets dispossessed easily. He is only 20, so he will need to step things up soon as wingers probably have the shortest career. Further, my concern is that he may have a similar trajectory to RLC, i.e. lot of potential as a kid, then hype keeps him in the squad for another 10 years.

Tomori has two issues which I think is why he doesn't play. 1) Short and not good in the air, unlike Silva who is short but good in the air. 2) Overplays in dangerous positions. He is probably better on the ball than both AC and Zouma but he over complicates things at times.

I am not disgareeing, my points are that: A) RLC is almost impossible to shift owing to his wages and the rumour that he is a home boy/gets home sickness if he is away from his family for too long. B ) My proposal is essentially sell Gallagher with a fixed buy back. Essentially it is a glorified loan. The only thing it does is that it provides us with more cash than a straight loan. I am quite hopeful for Gallagher but due to the sheer number of CM's on the books, I am unsure when he will get a chance to come into the squad in a meaningful way.

I think we can split these players up into groups. 1) Not good enough - Rudi. He has also been pretty hardcore with other players as well. AC is now completely MIA atm as well. Kepa's has not only replaced by a new No.1 but also the technical director. 3rd choice at best. 2) People that question him - Luiz. Called him Frank instead of Gaffer and that was it. To be honest, I get the feeling Frank didn't really fancy him and was looking for an excuse. Didn't agree with this one as Luiz was key to playing 352 properly which was probably the best suited formation for last years squad. 3) Trainers. Get the impression anyone that doesn't graft in training will be in trouble. CHO and Kova do not strike me as great trainers.

Thing is, I reckon there is still more to come. Not the finished article yet and still getting used to the club/league.

Boom. Another clean sheet. Still trying to figure out what his exact level is but for those of you that used to defend Kepa. This what a GK at PL level is meant to do/look like.

Well that must've been a pretty quick change as we went to 4231 by the 10th minute. To be honest, I wasn't sure of the set up in the first few minutes but it was 4231 for most of the half. I put it down to all the chopping and changing and it took them a few minutes to settle.

Well it kind of got broken up by Kante, which meant Mount got shift out to the wing a lot. One thing is for certain, Mount is twice the player in a No.6/No.8 position.

It was because we played 4231 again. Honestly, we need to stop playing it as our passing in midfield goes to pot when we do. Today was great in that we won, but when it was 11 v 11 and then again from the 50th minute we were not transitioning the ball through midfield properly.

FFS what is it with this 4231 bollox.

I agree. Another factor is 1st in the group, looking at the CL this year, finishing 1st would be a real boon as the quality between 1st teams and 2nd teams is vast. For me, SFL will go with a strong line-up: Mendy Dave AC/Rudi Zouma Chilwell Kante Mount Kova (think Kai is injured, if not he starts) Ziyech Werner CHO Subs to get on: Giroud, Jorgi/Kova, James and Emerson.

Just reading through the pages and it is funny. 10 months ago we all thought that the squad would need a massive overhaul and it would require us to be canny and bide our time for 2-3 years. Now the majority think it is a case of a DM plus a CB and we are set for years.

I think with Gallagher it is more a case of players ahead of him and the complicated nature of shifting high earners. For me, he isn't getting ahead of Mount and then he has to compete with: Gilmour, RLC and Kova for a place in the squad. Gilmour looks like he has a higher ceiling so he is ahead and then you have Kova and RLC who are on massive wages andnin Kova's case, came in on a highish fee. Not sure either of those two can be shifted whilst they aren't unusable. For that reason, I can see him being sold for say £15-£20m with a £25-£30m buyback option so once we have cleared some of the backlog he can always be brought back easily.

Well I think his insane contract keeps him here. Another factor is that I have been told by someone that knows of him that he is a bit of a homeboy/Mummas boy. That is why he never went on loan until he was 21 and when he has gone he has had to stay in South/West London. Further, if we do switch to 433 with Mount and Kai as our starters (which is the formation and selections that make most sense) we need a back up No.8. That means Barkley or RLC. If you've seen my posts on RLC you'll see I have been calling him out for a long time but I think he is almost impossible to shift in the medium term. My CM squad would look like: No.4 - Rice, Amapdu, Gilmour No.6 Mount, Kante/Kova, Gilmour No.8 - Kai, RLC

Those numbers are insane. I would say if Rice is signed it will be curtains for: Barkley, Jorgi, Kova/Kante and Gallagher (who I could see being sold with a buy back.) That would give: Kante/Kova, Rice, Ampadu, Kai, Mount, RLC and Gilmour, which is still 7 players for essentially 3 roles. Although as Rice and Amapdu can moonlight in CB it would maybe not be too bad. The problem however, like Summer, would be finding buyers. Gallagher in this situation would probably not be too much of an issue as in my above suggestion he would essentially be a glorified loan. Barkley would probably be easy to shift due to his passport and okish form for Villa (although I wouldn't expect top dollar.) Kante/Kova and Jorgi would be issues due to their style or play, wages and fees.