King Kante

If it is me, my changes would be Tomori for Jorgi and Giroud for Harvetz. Kepa James Tomori Zouma Alonso Mount Kante Kova Werner Giroud. Essentially hit the long ball to Giroud and try to get flick ons on Werner. Giroud needed for set pieces. Jorgi is not a good idea in this situation as he does not have the legs to get through the yards.

It was a red card but and AC has probably made the wrong move as going a goal down is probably preferable to going down to 10 men with a whole half to play. However, the midfield should never be giving Henderson all that time and Kepa should be off his line a lot quicker as he can see the whole play.

I do not want to see Bale under Jose in a Euro Championship year in which Wales have qualified.

What happened? He has always been like this as I and a few others have pointed out. Off the ball he is really poor, on the ball he isn't quite as good as everyone makes out. Only people that do not see it are those still riding the hype train. Yeah, Giroud or CHO for RLC is the answer atm. However, it is worrying how they are making Mount, Kante and Jorgi run around in circles. This is why I kind of see he logic in a DM/Rice being targeted. Agreed.

Villa have had a £16m offer for Martinez accepted. Wouldn't he be a safer option than Mendy?

Yes.

For me, the way I see the No.4 position is as follows: Kante: Very important player if fit, not really his ideal position but can still offer a lot. Will be a big player for another 2-4 seasons depending on fitness. However, we have to face that he may be broken slightly with his injuries and question how he is compromised in the position. For me, it is the case of sell if we get an offer if £70m+ (cash), keep if not. Jorgi: Very good player in the right league or system but that is not really here. Sell for £35m+. However, does not have much of a market. Billy: Very promising. Is kind of an ideal 2nd No.4 who we could blood at a low cost. Problem is the number of players in his position/potentially being brought (Rice). For me, loan if you do not sell both Jorgi and Kante so he gets the minutes. Rice: Interesting option for us as he players DMF but he could potentially play CB also which is still an issue. Problems are that he is expensive, hard to extract from Wet Spam and questions over his actual ability level. For me, he should only be brought if one of Jorgi or Kante are sold (or even both.)

True. However, Essien hurt a lot more from a personal point of view. That boy should've been a top player for us until 2016-2017 but got cut down in the late 00's/early 10's. Just imagine how much better we would've been with a full beast mode Essien running around in CM between 2010-2017. He should've been one of the key players to bridge us from the Roman Mk1 side to the Roman Mk2 side along with JT.

That is bad news. Doing both his ACL's is essentially what did for Essien.

He is the smallest CB and weakest in the air. I think there is nothing more to it than that. Further, because he went missing I think people are forgetting that his form dropped quite badly around Nov time. On a number of occasions he overplayed in very dangerous positions and SFL was clearly agitated by it. Jurgen 'we're anything but arrogant' Kloop. I wouldn't take him too seriously.

I said a top player for a rival club. Further, my post wasn't a prediction it is rather the story the club/press could be telling themselves/want to peddle.

I cannot say who is better as I have not seen Zakaria. I will take your word he is better. However, the problem in this situation is the 'romance' of signing Rice. Chelsea youth product who is a true fan gets cast aside by the club at 14 which breaks his heart. He goes away and becomes a top player for a close rival by the age of 19. Club of his dreams admit there mistake and 'bring him home' at 21 to inherit the Chelsea leader status that has been vacant since Mr. Chelsea, John Terry, left.

Of course, not a disaster, just want to ensure Billy gets some significant game time.

Be interesting to see what happens to Billy Goat next season. If Jorgi and Kante both stay, would it be wise to loan him?

Problem is tactically AC is by far the best player. His positional work and reading of the game is pretty good. His problem is the confidence/physical side of the game. I find it really strange how he hasn't been put on a training regime because if he bulked up, I think his confidence would also improve.

I really do not get why you are so down on Amapdu. Everytime he actually plays he is decent. Injuries have been his real problem. There are questions over whether he can play CB with his height but I think he is good enough with the ball to play DMF. At the worst, he will be a usable squad player when he gets to his peak or a top player for a mid-ranking PL club. If we pull off Rice as well as a GK (who is good) then it will seriously be time to unzip. Onana is like a teflon GK, the ball doesn't stick with him. Sure, he makes saves but a lot of them end up going back into a dangerous area. Those hands make the ball look like one of those little balls you buy u8's to play with.

Is he suggesting Sancho there? No chance.

I have a feeling in my waters that the GK signing will be someone out of left field. I have no evidence for this, I just do not think it will be someone that we necessarily expect.

I would class it more as we have finally got our SFL replacement. Fully expect Kai to play in the midfield three or in the No.10 role in a 4231. Puli was the Hazard replacement. New GK Dave. Silva. Rice. Chilwell Kante Harvetz. Mount Ziyech. Werner. Pulisic.

We need to start liquidating the dregs asap.

Indeed. The problem however, is that owing to us blowing so much money on him, I doubt the club want to swallow such a big loss. In my opinion, Kepa will get another year and we will only get a GK2 type in in order to try and get him playing anlittle better.

I was half expecting to see 'Drink Budweiser' at the end of that.

If we get Rice also, I can see at least two leaving or hardly being seen all season. Our CB's for next year, if Rice was brought could be something like: Silva, Rice, 1 x Rudi/Zouma/AC, Amapdu/Tomori.

Yeah, but don't Roma have financial troubles as a lot of their income is derived from matchdays and their owner is also looking to sell? For me, their selling is to plug some financial holes, not to go out and buy a £40m+ CM on £110k a week.

Who is Jorgi's buyer?