Duppy Conqueror

yeah,i keep on thinking he`s 29 now (that he joined Arsenal at 18 instead of 16)...yeah that`s what i think..what i meant was signing someone like him will be better than signing someone like Pogba where those youngsters would see their longterm path blocked. with the right addition and development of our young studs..this window should be the last time we make any major addition for our midfield for a very long time. with the Luiz sale and tv money..Roman doesn`t need to spend any of his "own" money this year..we kicking FFP`s butt..

If we sign him hope he doesn't turn into another Petit.e.g.great at Arsenal,surplus to requirement with Barcelona..does nothing of note with us. I don't like the guy but i work my arse off to be able to follow Chelsea everywhere so as always i'll give him as much support as anyone else unless he proves unworthy. We won't have his best years if we sign him but if he can have the same impact as Ballack had with us,that would be huge. I would prefer us to sign someone like him who is experienced,has a few years left in the tank but wouldn't block the growth of the great potential we have in youngsters like Loftus-Cheek Baker,Swift and Chalobah etc..

He looked calm and composed on loan..maybe JT has helped him but the improvement hasn't appeared as big as Zouma would have to make.Zouma at this stage has shown he has talent but he reminds me of Sakho at Liverpool at the moment.all a striker has to do is get a touch on the ball a split second before him and it's a penalty. We can keep 2 youngsters at the back to play CB and some at RB if needed but i'd rather Omeruo to go with Kalas..Zouma should go on loan to a club in England,let him get used to the slightly faster pace of english football and let another team deal with the bumps of losing penalties and going down to 10 men until he matures as a defender. I don't want us to sign Benatia or any other CB this year,we can agree on that.

With Zouma i think he needs some growing as i've seen alot of reckless challenges from him...he slides in way too often in the penalty box instead of getting the right angle on the attacker and staying on his feet to shadow block and out muscle him cleanly. He's been described as the new John Terry but from what i've seen of him he's the new Mickey Droy/Doug Rougvie. He could grow into a great but despite him having great physical size,he needs to grow in technique. Kalas on the other hand plays like a true veteran,very polished defender..at the start of the season when Jose may want to give World cup players some light work i'd be calm about having him play instead of Cahill. Omeruo i see as being groomed as a RB/CB..somebody to play the Ivanovic role in our squad. something Kalas can also do. Between them to they are fine for the 4th and 5th spot at CB on our depth chart. I expect both to be in our 1st team squad this year. I expect Omeruo to have a good World cup and impress Jose.

Frank has been going downhill for the last 2 or 3 years now..if he didn't mean so much to the fans and the club he would have been moved on earlier than this. He'll be 36 next month..i think he should retire at the end of the World cup and go into coaching..would love to have him on our coaching staff.but he appears not mentally ready to hang up his boots.

I count Branislav as a veteran leader too..plus lets not forget players even just in their mid 20's have had a lot of experience..it's not like they are 8 year olds freshly joining a club for the first time.they should not need guidance other than from Jose with tactics from the practice field,in locker and sidelines and JT on the pitch..they should not need motivation or have it explained to them what it takes to play for a big club. if they are signings they have usually played for big clubs before. I love Frank as much as anyone..i have as far as i recall seen every goal he's scored for us in the flesh..many a happy journey home from a game all over europe and england have been because in part that he has scored a winner or played a crucial part in us getting a good result.but it's really time for us to swallow the bitter pill of sentiment and move on to a bright future. It's better for us to have a youngster fighting to play the odd game for us and learning from the experience than to have a past his best,icon thinking he isn't having enough games. Frank won't be going elsewhere for money like some have stated..he'll be going because he still thinks he should be starting.

Scotland are usually pretty good at youth level..mostly schoolboy level then they piss their careers up the wall as they get older..They haven't had a good squad of Pro's since the 70's and 80's ..

Frank and Ernie (Wise) never shared a locker room,Frank made his debut a couple of months after Wise left..JT used to clean his boots as a youth player and shared the locker room as a team mate for 3 years. We still got JT..and others can step up..there's enough veterans in our team.

Frank as a coaching assistant.cool. As a squad member..it's the right time to move on.we can't be held back by sentiment. His good games are too few now and our midfield gets run over too often with him in it.

He turned 33 a few weeks ago btw..not much difference between the stated 34 but when you looking for a player to come in just for a year or two it is. It's premature to be looking at what we go into next season with tho..there's 3 months until the window that hasn't even opened yet closes.

With Frank seemingly on the way out he'll be a good player to help ease the young midfielders into the line up.e.g Van Ginkel,Chalobah etc....would be a good signing to help our youth,whilst still giving us better than what Frank can do now for the next year or two.

Ryan Giggs used to have issues with his hamstrings,two decades before he retired.. knee injuries and heart problems are the only ones that really concern me.

well i wouldn`t want to win your butt so i`ll pass on that bet. but never said Lukaku should lead the strikers (presuming that means be first choice) but certainly at worst he`s good enough to be 3rd choice if not 2nd. and we have 3 Veteran CB`s ..Kalas showed me he was good enough to get a shot as the 4th. again i`ll say it..i`m not talking about these two being thrown in to be regular starters but to stay with us and worked into the starting lineup as and when Jose sees fit. in the case of Kalas..league cup,fa cup..against lower premiership teams. in Lukaku`s case more frequently,when others aren`t firing.. it`s football..not ice hockey,where kids could be physically destroyed..Kalas and Lukaku are certainly not lacking physically anyway.

sounds really harsh. really doubt Salah will have to face it tho..without knowing much about the Egyptian national side i presume he is their best player. i was in the Army in the 90`s but was fully my choice. i do think they should bring back national service in the u.k. but not just to enter the military,just make sure that everybody is doing something good for their country

surely the fact that he lives in England (or if he lived in any other country) takes him out of the Egyptian army`s reach. could understand it if he still played in Egypt but don`t see how he can be forced to leave England by the Egyptian army.

Kalas and Lukaku aren't unproven tho and we have 3 veteran CB's to go with Kalas. so at minimum there`s those 2 who should be in our 1st team squad..we`ll buy atleast 3 i think,but there`s still room as more than 4 from our 1st team squad last season will be gone in Luiz,Eto`o,Cole, hopefully Torres..plus more in Lampard among others who as much as i love him is winding down his career now and no longer good enough for a place in a trophy chasing squad like ours. teams including ourselves (among many others) only "park the bus" when we are mismatched in talent to engage in a shoot out..Jose does not strive to build a team who wants to park it but he`s aware like all great managers you have to play to your strengths. he does obviously understand you need a strong defense but don`t have to park the bus to get it.

exactly. the knock i think on Lukaku was his first touch but if BA has a good first touch you can be sure his second won`t be..and he`s the only one of the 3 i`d even consider bringing back next season. if it was thinking his confidence was shot after the bad penalty against Bayern then i`d say Torres confidence has been shot for the majority of the last 3 seasons. Lukaku has proven he belongs in the premiership twice,he`s going to the World cup..he simply must be back with us next year or sell him. we are gonna have bad games from youngsters but when our veterans are having bad game after bad game..i'd rather ride out the bumps with the youngsters..atleast they should grow from it. i'm not saying any of these youngsters should be thrown into a regular starting spot but over 60plus games that we play each season,there`s more for them to gain by playing sparingly and training with top class players and coaches than being loaned out to play and train with inferior coaches and players.

Kalas is good enough for our 1st team squad now. we need to give kids a chance when they show us enough,we can't keep sending them on loan after loan because all they are doing even if they succeed on loan is showing that they can fit into the team we loan them out to..and the more times we send them out to different clubs the more chance they end up at a team that doesn`t suit them.then the bad loan blows their confidence. at maximum i would loan a kid out twice.ideally just once and then decide what to do with them..we have a group of young defenders,especially at CB who could very well serve us for the next 10-13 years..let them be coached by our coaches and shaped into what we want from players. we need to give atleast one of those young defenders a place in our 1st team squad next year or the ones behind them are gonna likely wonder how they will ever get a chance and then end up wanting to leave. also as much as i love Chelsea..if i had a son talented enough to play for some youth team as things stand i would rather him go to a club that brings youngsters into their 1st team squad. we need to change that for future recruitment of youth players. in the past there`s been times when the youth team hasn`t had the kind of talent that would make it with us but we have plenty that could now.time to give them a chance. as much as Varane is clearly a talented defender,signing someone like him would be a bad move because we have 5 talented youngsters at CB and most if not all would then see no future for them at the club. i personally hope we just sign a LB if any defenders.

In 4 years on here i've never seen everyone agree on anything,so that would be a first..

With the way Simeone behaved at the end of the final..i wonder just what their version of Very Aggressive entails..

King Carlo.has 5 European cup winners medals now..as the class act he is.can't begrudge the great man all those medals.

The guy wears varnish on his toenails..nothing shocks me with him anymore

He'll have the world cup to snap him out of any depression. This cup final was huge for Athletico but for us it's what we aim for every year so he should get more bites of the cherry in the future.

Simeone was an headcase as a player..nothing changed there..

Paul Clement who was part of our first team coaching staff is Carlo's assistant there too. Two ex Spurs in the Real team tho,so even if i didn't dislike Real i would want Athletico to win..