Tomo

He was 24 and fell victim to the obsession with getting the best out off Nando. Im mainly referring to the academy lads who never got a minute in the first team.

Which just shows using single knock out cups to measure managers success is silly. Di Matteo has succeeded were Hiddink, Mou and Carlo all failed at Chelsea, yet i doubt even Robbie's biggest fan would put him on par with those 3. Moyes could have fluked it and found himself 1 behind Fergie with years ahead off him. And you say we gave up the league to focus on the CL, well so did Real this season. On another note, if Jose smashed the world record and lost the title to a squad that cost half that player alone he would get crucified regardless off what cups were won.

The thing is youth promotion works both ways, if we promote the wrong player we are ultimately wasting our's and their's time. Take the 2010 YC winning side for example, after that we were talking about our future side and most team's i saw had those lads as the spine with Conor Clifford as captain. From the top off my head Conor is in and out off Southend's side, Billy is in Holland after an epic fail off a loan at Yeovil, Tore is in Turkey, Mitrovic is in serie B, Sala i think is the same, Kane is on Blackburn's bench and Deen Conteh last time i checked was a free agent. Josh ofcourse is endlessly floating around in the Championship. Miroslav Stoch, who many had down as our next superstar winger, spent last season on loan at PAOK. If a youngster in our academy could come in right now and be as good as Eden Hazard (mentally aswell as technically) he would get played. If we were holding these guys back and cruelly not giving them chances, they would be at our European rivals right now making us look sill

We didn't win the CL under Carlo, he leaves and we win it the season after, so under your warped logic Di Matteo's the better manager.

The shit Salah is getting is utterly laughable and baseless, it seems some people just have there favourites and stubbornly stick to it, i wonder if these are the same people that kept hyping KDB as the second coming of christ. Another thing, Salah DID NOT replace Mata in any way apart from timing, Mata's role and importance to the team were replaced by Willian, who may not get the fancy stats (probably would as well if he got the type of free role Mata got under Benny mind) but is crucial to the balance and stability of this side. Regarding Luiz, my opinion off him as a player still stands, his mistakes are blown massively out off proportion and next to Thiago Silva in a system that suits him im certain we will see a different animal. Feels like yesterday i witnessed him produce imo the most complete game by a defender i have seen for Chelsea vs City under Carlo, thought he was going to turn into the best player in the clubs history after that game, i really did.

or they saw it as a massive victory in their bid to close the gap on Wigan in 2nd In all seriousness the start of that season i loved the fact that the likes off Henry, Defoe, Bent were all on form tearing team's apart yet when they played us they literally didn't get a sniff.

Statiscally the best side in English football history. http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn25617-best-ever-english-football-team-revealed-by-statistics.html?utm_source=NSNS&utm_medium=SOC&utm_campaign=facebookgoogletwitter&cmpid=SOC%7CNSNS%7C2012-GLOBAL-facebookgoogletwitter#.U35RHHJdXmR The first half off that season was ridiculous, won all bar 2 league games and went like 18 points clear or something, dropped off a bit in the 2nd but still walked the league, could have hit 100 points that season but guess were have to settle for being the best team in English football history

Because there's always someone that will bring the 'extreme Jose lovers' line into it, which is annoying, there's always been a core group on here that would back the manager regardless (i was one off them until i got egg on my face defending AVB) Carlo got backed no matter what by some people, yet there was never post's like the one i quoted back then. If Hiddink returned he would be backed just as much as Jose has been, if not more. I don't agree with everything he does, i was quite vocal around christmas off my disappointment that Kalas wasn't getting a shot during the period our defence were playing like Liverpool's back line, i just trust him to get it most off the time.

Yeah if i supported a foreign club i would want a core off players from that country.

Agreed, which is why i hope Shaw or Stones sign.

Im talking about if I was a fan off those clubs, i would still want a HG core like i do now.

Continual evolution is the key to a successful and stable football club. That's were we went wrong last time, we let our key players gradually get older with no plan on who we replace them with, the result? 4 years off transition that were only just about to get out off. My biggest example was 2008, we could have signed Modric for 16m, given him a couple off years to fully integrate into our team, then in 10/11 when Ballack left, Lamps slowed down and Essien returned a shadow off his old self, we have a brilliant 25 year old ready to be a key player for the next 7 years. Instead we signed a past his prime Deco who by that point was gone. Hopefully lessons were learned, Cech may not be technically 'in decline' yet but it's best to act in advance as opposed to when it's to late.

In every form of life a host country core is needed, regardless off whichever of the foreign lads count as HG, we need an English core off 6-8 players at the club atleast. Im not saying it because im English, if i was a Napoli fan id want an Italian core, if i was a Monaco fan id want a French core, if i was a Levski Sofia fan id want a Bulgarian core. We need some HG players, which is why i think we need to sign Luke Shaw or John Stones.

Some still can't make there mind up. When AVB was here half this forum were whinging about player power and how it would be great if we got a manager in who would stick on the hairdryer when needed, now we have that, all off a sudden it's disrespectful to the players. What do you want, a manager who just sits there while the lads bring hairdresser's and shotguns to training?

I know, idiots aren't they? I mean what type of morons trust a manager that's won 7 League titles, 2 Champions League's, numerous national cups in 4 different countries and to top it off gave the club they support the best period in their history. How naive off them.

It wouldn't surprise me if Costa Rica go through. Italy play all there games in Manaus, Uruguay aren't all that beyond Suarez and Cavani and England are England. Costa Rica have a higher chance of sneeking through than people think.

If were going to have an experienced 3rd choice striker ill rather have Eto'o's contract extended. Eto'o is fully acclimatised back into playing in a major league, Drogba would need even more time than Samuel needed. As a coach or ambassador, sign him up, as a player, that ship has sailed.

Just checked his La Liga record, 39 goals in 88 games, that's unbelievable considering he isn't close to being the main man. Im happy with our current AM's, but if Barca offer a swap or even cash plus Luiz (dont want him to go but is looking likely) then would it be to good to turn down.

Am i the only one who doesn't rate Baines? He's another full back hiding behind his attacking, infact from the Everton games i have seen last season i actually think Oviedo is better.

He would be unreal in a counter attacking system.

Both should have probably handled the situation a bit better.

I will always be grateful to Ba for saving the nation from a scouse summer of hell.

Who knows that Lukaku wouldn't have forced his way in? He got more minutes than Azpi in those first 4 games and he turned out to be one of the key players this season. The reality is, Mou didn't trust Ba, and quite evidently lost his patience with Torres by february, Romelu would have probably been sharing minutes with Eto'o for all off the 2nd half to the season. If he stayed and fought for his place, his superior quality over Ba and especially Nando would have shined through.

Under normal circumstances i would say no as we have enough young CB's already, but we desperately need a English core to the side with our legends getting on. If we get him i wouldn't be as gutted if Shaw goes United.

Im still recovering from the scars of Bosingwa, last thing i want is the LB version. Being a little suspect at defending is one thing, being a full blown liability is another. PVA would be ideal for a stubborn purist who thinks defending isn't a part of the game (cough*Rodgers*cough) but thankfully our manager ain't one of them.