Tomo

A top left back, winger, striker along with the natural evolvement of the academy boys should see us in position to properly challenge the year after next.

A lot can change in a few years but I'll be very surprised if we're not the next team not named City or Liverpool to win the league.

Can't see it happening right now Barkley proved vs Burnley he can still be a useful tactical option in certain situations. I think he will remain a squad player until the time comes to bring Gallagher in, which point he will be about 27 and at the age where he should be looking for a club he'd be a regular starter at, maybe back at Everton.

Even if we forget his youth for a second, you would have thought the Jorginho and Kova backtracking would have taught some valuable lessons.

Tbh it works both ways really, Charlton would have had no qualms benching him or sending him back if they thought he wasn't good enough, we had to look after the best interests of Conor and our club first and foremost. As Chelsea youth pointed out, I think Conor needs/deserves better than fighting relegation with virtually a young team that's inferior to the development sides he's been playing in. It's truly getting bizzare now, even when he's the second best player in a win at Spurs he's still getting slaughtered on the match thread.

Maybe he's had his head turned by the interest from Swansea and would prefer fighting for promotion over fighting to avoid the drop.

If there's enough to slate her for in the first place then it's even more bizzare that he's gone down the route of blaming her for something not in her job description. May aswell pin the Kennedy assassination on her aswell.

So to clarify, you think she actually scouts and identifys signings herself?

That was the one out of the December defeats that was inexcusable. West Ham (London Derby), Everton (pumped up under Ferguson) and Southampton (bang in form) can happen at the best of times let alone to a young team and manager but losing to that stagnant Bournemouth side was mind-blowing.

It's catch 22 with Kante. We will really miss him in big games but against the bottom 12 we don't miss him these days, like atall.

Outside of The Bridge (which will always be my default numero uno) the Olympic Stadium that Hertha play their games in is probably my favrouite stadium I've visited (just beats Sporting). It combines historic elements with the required modern touches to almost perfection.

I haven't seen any of him so can't make a solid enough judgement but if Gosens is as good as the stats are suggesting he's definitely worth a look. Reason why my preference is Grimaldo (all be it with a steep price tag) is he's quite tenacious (which often counters a lack of physical/height edge) and defends quite well while offering good stats going the other way. If we get Chilwell I'll get behind him and hope I'm wrong, but apart from a few games in or around the 9-0 I've never looked at him and felt our wide play would go up a level (and even Marcos has the odd few games a season where you think "if we saw that every week").... I'm hoping the club/Frank/scouts have a left field option in their sights if the out there names above are unattainable, I hate to keep using Klopp as an example (it's just quite apt as if we want to start winning titles again we have to build in a similar way as we don't have the blank cheque the elite clubs and City do) but no top LBs were available in 2017 for him so he thought outside the box and sought after Robertson, if our scouts search hard and wide enough they'll surely/hopefully be a rough diamond of similar mould lurking somewhere.

I think the common theme is Christensen and Zouma are a disaster together but both work well with Fik or Rudi.

His performance yesterday didn't really surprise me, he's been a lot sharper since Arsenal and even a few games before that there were positive signs he was really starting to retain sharpness again. It was quite fitting this was the fixture he fully exploded back to life given it was this same one that crippled him last year. The most exciting thing yesterday for me was his chemistry with James, the more academy prospects get in and mature we will see relationships like that form all over the pitch.

Yesterday after Azpi put in a weak cross with his left foot I turned around to the guy next to me and said that was a scoring chance with a dynamic left back. I just don't think Chilwell offers enough going forward and if he's (by the sounds of what the LCFC fans are saying) poor defensively aswell we're basically looking at an Alonso with pace at best and an expensive Emerson at worst. I am a bit wary of Telles because usually there's a reason if a player is still yet to properly hit a major league at 27 but with his alleged low release clause (meaning we can recoup if it all goes wrong) and the numbers he has produced going forward I wouldn't be against taking a punt, low risk high reward.

I'm not sure what's happened to his creative side, although I don't think it's declined as much as made out as he still has reasonably healthy numbers with key passes. While I accept the difference in level, when he was with the youth team and Vittese he was creating at will. Maybe working with Lampard has changed him a bit and he wants to focus more on scoring himself. That plus the intense workrate Frank demands may have stifled his creative side a bit.

I don't want to kneejerk on one game (well two as he played the position against Brighton home aswell) but could his best position actually be in one of those deeper lying midfield positions? He had two clear shooting opportunities at the edge of the box yesterday that he wasted by dithering on the ball which was a clear reminder as to why he became so frustrating and fell behind Ruben then Mount in the advanced midfield role, however in a deeper role he kept things ticking over quite nicely and made some pretty good cross field passes to James. Dare I say, against the Burnley's of this world, he's may be a better option than Kante in that position.

Leicester fans on Foxes talk regarding Chillwell. Either they make our fanbase look like the epitome of patience, or he just isn't that good.

Those three don't work together as a trio. Furthermore Mount is a tempo setter, it was no coincidence we dropped off Vs Brighton after he was replaced.

Burnley being a tough game is a massive myth, their record against the big six is abysmal.

In fairness this midfield worked pretty well the last time it was tried here (against Brighton). Guess Kante is injured?

What I want Kepa James Rudiger Tomori Azpi (can't stomach any more Emerson) Jorginho Kova Mount Odoi Willian Tammy What I'm expecting Kepa Azpi Rudiger Zouma Emerson Jorginho Kovacic Kante Mount Willian Tammy

Yes it looks like him (in my opinion) haha.

Turns out our captain is a Benfica ultra in his spare time!