Kojo

Dortmund won't sell him for any less than 35 million.

What do you mean ?

But with all the same meaning, we both didn't mean that.

You did that to me earlier with Spurs, so I did it back. #controversial Kojo

So because of that free kick we should sign him?, believe me when Tiote left Newcastle were bullied on midfield, no way would we of walked over them like we did and neither would City.

Now you're just being stupid. You know i never meant that, Newcastle got where they are because they had really good players. Cabaye-Tiote was better than Man Uniteds midfield and most certainly better than ours.

Mikel wont be either, Mikel is a garbage player, i laugh when people think he will be the future Maka. Mikel doesn't have it in him, he can only pass a ball, and his overrated CL performance against Barcelona doesn't warrant anything. I remember that game he was losing the ball constantly, the only thing he was good at was his position for once. Bayern Munich he was good however, and i'm glad he done it in the big game, but lets be honest, who had a bad game that match?. Besides that he's been garbage. Tiote will be a bigger name especially if he goes to a bigger club. Because Tiote gets stuck in, Tiote runs midfields, he wins the ball back for his team. Mikel stands there doing fuck all.

Most stupid post you have ever made, and you will regret saying that, trust me. And Newcastle wern't in the Champions League. But they where a much better team than us last season, because of the great players they had.

Tell me who finished above us last season?, Demba Ba was one of the best strikers in the premiership first half of last season, Cisse came in and he couldn't play with him as Cisse was the main striker. 7 million for Ba is a bargain, he has a dodgy knee but I'm sure he will be fine. And Tiote best DM in the league, he is a must for me.

You're always going to have defensive problems, and i don't expect us to dominate in attack, and you can't do it unless you have possession and win the ball back. Mikel will get overrun in midfield and we've seen it happen time and time again. Lampard is too attacking oriented, he did it for 4 months last season, but he can't do it for the rest of his career, reason being he's an attacking player, he will always be looking to get up the pitch. Don't know how you can even say that, there's much bigger problems than our pivot?, our pivot will be the death of us if we don't get new players and I'm deadly serious about that.

Out Essien Mikel Keep in the experience of Benayoun, Malouda and Ferriera, and we still have the likes of JT and Lampard here for experience. In Tiote azpilicueta Demba Ba Winger Demba Ba might surprise you, but i don't want to go out and spend 35 million on Cavani or Lewandowski. Demba Ba for 7 million, is a good price, Demba Ba upfront by himself will score goals, he just will. Because we have Torres, let him be the main forward and see what happens, and we have Danny, i want to give Danny a chance too. So instead of paying a shit load for a striker, get someone like Ba, who is a class forward and can get us goals but wont necessarily take over and be a huge price. However we must act fast because his clause runs out soon i think, not too sure when.

Did you read what i said?, i said this thread isn't any anger aimed towards any previous pre season matches. This is about the double pivot for me, we don't have the players to fit in it, it's not about the attackers, we have great attackers.

Anyone here think, Sturridge can take over if Torres does shit?, i have some faith in Sturridge.

his link up play and movement has really surprised me, look at 5:09 that's a great example for it. If he does this with the likes of Oscar and Mata they will play him in. It's the Barca type of play, very clever and defenders just cannot handle it by any means.

You summed it up perfectly when you said Mikel isn't aggressive enough, it is crucial to sign a new DM who has good work rate indeed, i don't rate Scott Parker that much anymore i think he's gone down hill, but he's still all over the place. Our best bet would be Tiote, also a very clever player. That's the only way we could even possible compete with Cities midfield, if we signed a player like him. I think Ramires can play in double pivot, but not as our DM. Mikel i think we just need to let go if i'm perfectly honest. So we can switch between our new DM hopefully Tiote and Romeu, because Romeu is a great player. He was brilliant last season then something went wrong in the background (no one knows what happened but we know for definite something happened as he didn't play for ages). I think it's a good rotation option, and considering Romeu's age he can start a lot of games in the league this season so i think it's a very good choice. Rather than a liability like Mikel. The only worry about this Tiote-Ramires is you cannot expect passing to come from here, but with a great attacking front three, and Oscar dropping deep sometimes, i think it would be perfectly fine if I'm honest.

The defensive midfield position is what we need to sort out mostly, Mikel lacks the aggressiveness as dee25 pointed out earlier in the thread. You wont see Mikel sprinting back or slide tackling or bullying midfielders, only with his strength he can shield them off the ball and make a good pass. For me it's not good enough, Mikel must break up play, and Lampard is an attacking player like it or not, he can do the business but not for the rest of his career, he's always going to look to go forward. Modric would be perfect but i cannot see it, he looks Madrid bound now too. I am confident Ramires could be the engine, but he must stay back a lot more if he's playing the double pivot. But getting a new DM is a must, the perfect DM we could get is Tiote, some people should watch him they would be very impressed, and with Mike Ashley owner i think anyone could get him.

I don't believe you.

No creativity?, he has creativity just not as much as he should have. With the hype he has you would expect him to be better all round, rather than just someone who can dribble. Ronaldo isn't the best when it comes to creativity but he is really good at most other things. Hazard seems to be only special at one thing.

Obviously you don't know what creativity means, it could be used as another word for vision, to pick out that pass or cross. He made a very good pass to Marin and that's what i like to see but in terms of creativity that's nothing great, and it happened once. Chris Brunt once made a great through ball to Shane Long, one of the best I've ever seen, does that make him Modric?. You're an idiotic poster, ignorant also, claiming i hate Hazard when I've never said that, one of the few I'd love to smack.

Ignorant poster as always, since when did i say i hate Hazard?. Stupid accusation, but nothing surprises me. I said that he lacks in creativity, because i think he does. He is a good player and i said that, but I'm still worried he might never be worth the price tag. And he doesn't deserve any of the hype he has been getting that's for sure.

I don't understand?.

Ivanovic has been the most dissapointing player of the pre season definitely. Hope this doesn't effect him in the premier league.

It isn't, no more stupid posts like this please. There's a difference. Mata and Oscar play deeper, and we rotate with the two midfielders who go forward, Ramires is good at going forward so let him have a go. It's a big difference, an extra attacker or an extra midfielder?, i would choose the 2nd option. Mata can convert to a midfielder, he wont be so much on free roam but he can do it with work rate. Look at David Silva, he even covers Yaya Toure and plays DM. Mata can do it too, just let him go at it.

It looks better because of the attack options we have definitley. But the double pivot looks a huge weakness it really does. And Cahill is still a new player, yes he has had a great 6 months and won two big trophies but he's still a new player and needs to get fully used to the whole team on a consistent basis. I think it would be wise to get a DM, i think Ramires can play it however, he's also a very good alternate midfielder in the 4-3-3 (one of the best may i add).

It isn't. I discussed this in my new season thread, Mata can adapt into midfield ,more work rate more deeper. Obviously he's a free roam player but he can do it. Oscar even better for it in my opinion. Where as 4-2-3-1 is 3 attackers, 3 midfielders would be much more suitable, because getting dominated in midfield is what could be our true weakness by buying all these attackers.