Bir_CFC

No way we sell him lol. He's just getting started here.

Matic, Cesc with Mikel and Ramires as backups. You'd think one more is also needed at a minimum for rotation and if we need to play 4-3-3. Doesn't make sense to loan him out.

The best aspect of that performance was just how fluid and high tempo the passing moves were. One touch, two touch, give and gos, nice movement and good chemistry. Actually looked like a team and a group of players who know each other. The only one that seemed off was Luis today, however he did put in some niiice crosses. Also Ake looks great, made huge strides this preseason. Everyone worried about Luis replacement in 3-4 years may not have to worry anymore. He's been great with the ball, great tackles, winning headers and knows when to overlap. He's been the biggest surprise of the pre-season for me. Didn't expect him to be this good at LB.

What a beast! Just be consistent my man, and you have the potential to shine the brightest. When he's on form, hard to find a better teammate on the pitch, he can do it all.

He's been a surprise for me. He's played as a CB and DM with the youth and reserves and he looked good but I never felt he would make it here as a CB or a DM. However, he's looked pretty good at LB and it's not as significant of a position as CB or DM hence a good position to learn to try and break into the first team.

I don't care anymore if Lukaku leaves. But if he is leaving then we must buy a good second choice striker. Drogba and Torres cannot be considered good enough backups. Should have bought Mandzukic. Who else is possible?

The two 45mins are at the same ground I think. So really its 2 games at 2 grounds.

welcome!

lol calm down, saying you're over someone could also imply you've managed to erase/replace them from your memory which is what i think he inferred and hence said that we shouldn't forget mata's 2.5 years, we should get over him leaving, but not over him as a player who contributed to this club just a simple misunderstanding, nothing to get so defensive about

Think it's for the number of games he'll miss through injury. We ripped em off.

I think it's pretty obvious our strategy is mainly to aid player development/exposure through loans and sell them for a profit while hoping one or two may break through at Chelsea, instead of trying to promote youth first and then sell the ones not good enough. From a purely business perspective, I don't mind this strategy at all. Just got to curb the emotional attachment to younger players that are out on loan or in the reserves because then you'll continue to be disappointed.

Shouldn't really be playing unless it's an absolute emergency here. However, if he's here to coach then I don't see the problem at all.

How is Athletico going to pay his wages? Will Torres take a huge payout? Especially when he knows how strong a team we've built now which could win the PL and get very far in the CL.

Who do we get as our second striker if he does in fact leave? Mandzukic would have been great but he's gone. Who else is there?

Wages is an expense. We reduced our expenses. That is not the same as profit. The profit is in fact 750k. But the lower wage bill makes a huge difference and has the same impact as profit in FFP terms because we can spend only as much as we make. So instead of being only able to spend 750k we can spend 750k + his salary which will still have a net impact of 0 in FFP terms.

https://vine.co/v/MxjVbqze1AB

Which match are you talking about? Semi or the playoff? He was definitely pretty good in the playoff match, easily the best Brazil player. Not a world class performance but def a good performance.

We have to sign another striker if he's leaving. Get Bentekkers!

Kurt is like the Lukaku of centre-backs. The potential is ridiculously high but not sure if he's ready to step in right now. I would have preferred to keep Omeruo because he's a little further ahead in his development and has more experience. I'll be happy to be proven wrong though, let's wait and see. We have to keep at least one of them though.

Not sure why people are putting players that aren't even Chelsea players into their starting XI. I can understand, Luis, Costa, Tiago because they seem like done deals but Pogba? Khedira? What's the point of that? Anyways, Jose loves the 4-2-3-1 but with Cesc not sure how we can play that 4-2-3-1. He can play deeper in the midfield but surely the pivot would be too deep? I'm not yet convinced he'll be effective in the double pivot. I'm going for a 4-3-3. Courtois Azpi - Cahill - Terry - Luis Matic Oscar/Ramires - Cesc Willian - Costa - Hazard

Arsenal have been making some dangerous buys lately. Ozil and now Sanchez, world class players in their positions.

Any reason as to why you think he'll be a disappointment?

I'm sorry I completely lost interest in my team. How's SuperVillains doing without a manager? Got deleted or did someone take over?

Will this be on TV? Can't wait.

The latest quotes are pretty much him asking out. There is no way he'll be first choice with Costa here and he doesn't want to go on loan so leaving permanently is the only option left. Unless he's willing to listen but it seems like his mind is made up. Not sure how much we can possibly get for him. Who would really pay 25-30M for him?