Styles

Summed it up perfectly. Justifying mediocre signings who will cost the best part of 20m because we need an extra body is laughable. Who cares if Paulinho is in his prime if his prime is nothing to write home about? He literally brings nothing new to the table. And you're having a laugh if you think Levy will undervalue Paulinho and sell him to Chelsea, of all teams, at a loss.

But what kind of midfielder? What you're essentially saying is that buying a stop-gap who doesn't impove us makes perfectly good sense.

Hands up, everybody here, who has watched Chelsea this season and thought to themselves 'you know what? We could really do with a Paulinho'. Anybody? No one? HELLOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO? Paulinho ffs. I'm convinced some people could talk themselves into backing an Andy Carroll transfer if he was linked to the club.

Very solid first season. He works incredibly hard and doesn’t lose the ball cheaply like every other attacker in the team not named Hazard. He needs to take more initiative next season because he has the talent to do more. Pleased for him that he made the squad for the World Cup.

I think that's a very fair summary. It's clear that our style will not radically improve through coaching (Mourinho gave up trying all together); it's only going to come about by having better players. That's why Mourinho has to make the right signings this summer. We can't go into next season with the same deficiencies.

Even more surprising is that because playing off the ball and counter-attacking is the preferred method we really should be better at winning the ball back and intercepting.

If we are to improve the problem areas we won't get much change from 100m. Possible transfers could be a LB, at least 2 CMs and maybe even 2 CFs. 100m is more or less the amount that's been spent per season for the last 3-4 years. I'll accept the pessimistic tag; it's a fair summation of my feelings right now to be fair. The transition hasn't been much of a transition if we're honest; no young players integrated and Jose gave up on the supposedly new attacking style 2-3 months into the season which he has admitted himself.

It's been a good season if you're looking purely at the results and compared to the car crash that was the 12-13 season. In terms of an actual transition there hasn't been much improvement at all. We're in the same position we have been for many years i.e. needing to spend another 100m+ to improve the way we play and our chances of winning silverware.

I would sell only because it means we'll never have to see him in midfield again. Anything that means the midfield will be improved is a plus for me at this point. It's a shame Mourinho completely went back on his word and played him in midfield after saying he wouldn't and making fun of Benitez for doing so.

Will do

To be fair he was doing the work of two men. Lampard was beyond anonymous.

The Mourinho fundamentalist on here are an amazing species. I backed the manager just a few days ago after he rightly criticised Hazard in the press. I call our football shit after a goalless draw at home to Norwich. I call it how I see it and will continue to do that.

He's an American poster which explains that. Zelalem is probably being built up as the next Freddy Adu out there

Well said.

Wow. That's tantamount to 'we couldn't counter-attack at home against Norwich'.

We missed Ramires' stability today.

It'd only be the best of a truly bad bunch. Hate the way we play so much.

Has Lampard acually done anything today? Can't believe he's going to get another year with Ramires an untouchable.

True but at the same time he's lost some of his sharpness with age. As for going forward he's looked lively today.

If Azpi was playing that cross never happens. That's why Ashley hasn't played much. He's very easy to play against and has been for 2-3 years.

Only watched the second half but thought the same too. His poor technique is just so off-putting.

Or rather athleticism over technique. And it's not as if the two qualities are mutually exclusive ffs. If we don't address the technique issue in the team then we're going to keep playing reactive, dour football. A midfielder that can't pass is the antithesis of stability.

It's absurd that Ramires is anything close to untouchable status. A midfielder that can't pass apparently providing stability; how is that even possible? Get it together ffs, Jose

25m doesn't even cover two seasons worth of Rooney's wages. They owe him 78m over the next 5 years. He has already slowed down considerably at 28, imagine what he's going to be like in 2 years time let alone at 32/33?