LDN Blue

Well it would be for next matchday, so West Ham isn't a bad opposition for him

Thing is, Ramires does have the basic attributes to play out wide. He's got the pace on most PL fullbacks and he's got the stamina to match it too. Unfortunately he suffers a sever lack of concentration when it comes to passing a football. For the life of me, I don't know how Mourinho hasn't made Ramires stay back in training to practice passing a ball

Yeah I was thinking that when I saw '16.' but I don't know. I mean he didn't do his chances any harm vs Barcelona in pre-season, so it depends on how much Mourinho's really relying on that.

Fuck sake Rooney, that's the last straw. Out the fantasy squad he goes, depending on how Benteke does tomorrow; it's either him or Gomis.

Would be nice to see him play as Hazard's understudy I guess, but let's be honest. He'll go on loan to somewhere and we'll never see him again lol.

Come on guys, he was never going to go and be an instant first choice at his first premier league club. He'll be blooded in, earn his stripes and prove himself.

Definitely, that's why I'm praying to whatever I can that Madrid don't sell him to Arsenal!

City I'll agree with now they've signed one, but United? Do they really have better CBs? Smalling has improved drastically but he needs a consistent partner with him, Jones is always sidelined and so his match fitness is never sharp. Rojo is having problems too, in fact Stones and Smalling could strike up a partnership which is just as effective as the potential of Zouma - Stones. Also, I disagree with the statement he's not a top player. Yeah he's not world-class yet, but he's most definitely a top player. When you talk about young, composed, ball playing centre backs right now in the league it would be indefensible not to include Stones in that crop. He's still young, but the composure he shows when he comes against top players is commendable. He's one of Everton's more consistent players, even last season when they had that dramatic dip.

Fantastic article, this is one of the best I've seen him write!

Hahaha, I wouldn't get too excited. He mentions him in the context of everyone, if we win then Ivanovic gets forgotten about by Mourinho

I guess in hindsight they've realised their mistakes. It is strange that it took them this poor start to the season to implement these transfers, it's not like Mourinho didn't make them aware of his targets. We can only rejoice at this point that they've owned up and rectified their mistakes, we can only also hope that this situation won't occur again. As people have mentioned, Mourinho looked a lot more positive in his PC. He's secured a left-back and an attacking player since we lost to City and it seems that before the end of the window we will land Stones. As people previously commented; Stones, Pedro and a CM would complete our dealings. Whether there's time and availability for a CM remains to be seen..

It's a shame we didn't go for Radja, honestly! Roma only acquired him properly this summer, he was on f*cking loan last season. Smh.

Hahaha from the first post of this thread I remember I based this on watching u21 match between United and Chelsea!! I stand by both of those claims, it's just as shame Morrison decided to be a roadman instead lol!

The worst thing is, we can fetch a very, very, good price for him. With that money we can reinvest and justify other signings.. I get the feeling this season is hit or miss for him, and he must know it himself. The regular substitutions he faced last season and not to mention that celebration vs Swansea, they paint the same picture.

But what do you base this one? If Oscar can't make much of presence in CAM then I don't see himself imposing himself a CM player either. He doesn't have a versatile passing range, nor his defensively astute. His off-the-ball movement makes me feel like he'd just be Fabregas mk II where fast pace matches will simply go over his head. But I'm curious why a lot of people think Oscar is more of a CM player.

Pass accuracy = <60%

I will be really annoyed if Pedro doesn't start, now that Oscar is confirmed to be missing the match. We can really send a big message versus West Brom by showcasing this evolution of the team, by starting both Pedro and Rahman. Though the latter in unlikely I see no reason why the former shouldn't play, considering he's match fit and he's already been playing well.

But compared to Fernandinho? Even at their peak, I'd certainly choose the former. That being said, I didn't see Fernando at Porto so perhaps I am missing the qualities he's not allowed to show due to Yaya's ill discipline.

I know it's not the way to think in relative terms, but does it honestly matter how much we're paying now? We're owned by a billionaire at the end of the day who's more than happy to pay the sums without asking for much in return. End of the day they're long-term investments and every club is guilty of paying over the odds for young players who are showing promise. Ashley Young, Luke Shaw, James Milner, Wayne Rooney.. These guys all went for big money (again, lets be relative here. Milner and Young went for their equivalent of £40m in their time) and they're proving worthwhile acquisitions. Young and Rooney are still at United as important figures, Shaw is finally coming good & Milner became very important to City. My point is, in about 5-6 years when he's put in solid performances no-one is going to care that we paid £40m.

Bahaha! I'll give it to Ramires though, when he scores they tend to be some pretty outrageous goals. Barcelona and Man City come to mind

True, but what I feel let's Pello down a lot is his rotation. For the life of me, I'll never understand why he plays that muppet Fernando lmao. But I also empathise with him, because the one titan that really is needed in that area of the pitch is Yaya and when Yaya isn't playing well it really has a cancerous effect on the team. He needs Yaya to really stick through a full season & then maybe City will reach the heights they should be reaching. This is not to say I want it to happen of course! Doesn't that basically mean City will take a step back in their development? They've finally started embracing the concept of width with Sterling and Navas, essentially with de Bruyne they're now losing a pure winger to accommodate him.

Jason, please I'm going to have nightmares. Me too mate. Pedro doesn't need any time to get match fit, he played just a few days go! We talk about Ramires' versatility, but Pedro is two-footed which not a lot of players are anymore. Meaning he can literally replace anyone across our attacking final third.. Bar Hazard I guess, but even he needs to start putting in the work.

This I definitely agree with, especially about the 'favourites'. But what I think irks most people on here I think is that, if those managers hadn't been fired then we'd have seen them breakthrough. But with Mourinho, even if he's here for as long as we say, there's still a lack of confidence in his ability to bring through young players. Ancelotti and Rafa (to a lesser extent), gave more exposure to these kids in their time than Mourinho has done in the same number of seasons. What's also more annoying is when he talks in so much depth about them, but when push comes to shove he's seldom giving them opportunities. Again I bring it back to last season in the dead rubber game when everyone was relying on Mou's promise to give Loftus-Cheek minutes. The media went crazy, some even did some in depth articles on RLC's rise(!). But what happens? 6-7 minutes. This season will be telling. Loftus-Cheek needs to be given some more meaningful minutes, not just 5 minutes from the final whistle to waste him.

Oh yeah, I forgot. He'll probably be in for RLC then. Either way, I just feel like Mou won't drop Ivanovic and he won't play Pedro from the beginning.. Praying I'm wrong!

Is it tragic that the line up I'm expecting is; Courtois Ivanovic - Cahill - Terry - Azpilicueta Matic - Fabregas Willian - Oscar - Hazard Costa Subs: Begovic, Zouma, Pedro, Remy, Cuadrado, Mikel, RLC (just for show)