Tomo

He actually name checked Mount as one of the players he wished he worked with. At the start of Lampard's reign we were actually playing great at times sensational football even though the results weren't always great, I tried to convince myself it was signs he was a great coach and once he got better players he'd thrive but in hindsight it appeared to be a perfect overlap of Sarri's tactics and Lampard's more express yourself ball, there's no other way to explain going from out possesioning a Pep Guardiola side to what we saw last winter (with better players in the latter time). So with that in mind I think Sarri would have done better than assumed even without Hazard.

Apparently GK3 is going to be Wayne Hennesy, GK2 obviously depends on Kepa finishing a new home.

Speaking of which, imagine if we signed a past his best Rooney in 2013 therefore blocking the route to sign Costa a year after?

Pfizer, felt a bit strange in the 15 minute waiting area but beyond that it felt like I didn't have it. Was quite good timing actually as I've gone to work in Scotland for a few weeks and cases are going through the roof here.

Is he actually a much better player or is this another "Regullion and Telles are better than Chilwell" type thing? Fyi I don't want Rice here but all these Tom, Dick and Harry's that are supposedly better than him screams a more going for the exotic name thing. Rice okay but are the links to Rom really all that strong? Certainly not compared to when Conte was here anyway. Furthermore you never know which player's going under the radar now will be a player to have a major breakthrough season who would be a perfect fit for us next year, case in point Diego Costa went from a nobody in 2013 to the answer to all our prayers 12 months later, Alison went from a backup keeper to the most in demand keeper in the world in a year (not that we need a new number one keeper anytime soon).

Imagine if we "went for it" in January 2020 and loaded our squad with Gedson, Bergwijn, Ighalo, Pablo Mari and Cedric.

I didn't even get that. Although from what I'm hearing i won't be as lucky next time round.

If Barcelona are as fucked as @King Kanteis suggesting I wouldnt be against testing the waters for De Jong.

Conte's record in Europe counts against him. The fact Lampard has got through the group stage as many times as him is damming. If he can fix that then he's certainly in the conversation with the top tier (of recent times).

Tactically I would say only Mou and maybe Hiddink (both first time) are ahead of him.

Would be different situations. Gilmour has all the potential in the world while Gallagher's probably a versatile squad player level, makes sense to loan the former out while using the latter as squad filler, even more so given he's also capable of filling in higher up, especially when Mount needs a rest.

If the title was won in the market we would have pissed the league last year. Yes there are some examples of a team having the best window going on to win the league largely because of that (us in 14, both times under Mou, City in 17) but there's also examples of it not working out the way it should (us last year, 2012 and 06, United 01, Arsenal 13, City 15 and 16 to name a few) and teams winning the league after underwhelming windows (United 06 and 10, Chelsea 09 and 16, Arsenal 03, Liverpool 19). Also what striker is there that's a safe bet? We of all fans should know that that doesn't exist, infact if Havertz or Werner were still in Germany they'd probably be the two first two rolled of the tongue. What if we get one in, overhaul our entire style for him because he "guarantees goals" and he still struggles to score them, then what? What if our new expensive striker struggles to score and Havertz and Werner suddenly can't stop? We'd have an expensive weight around our neck atleast temporarily and won't be able to drop him even if that's what is best for on form Timo and Kai. If, buts and maybe's can work in both directions and it's hard to fully tell what's the right solution here but I'm struggling with the narrative/assumption that not a single one of our players will further improve next season (I mean if nothing else have we learned nothing from Rudiger and Christensen's resurgences? I remember saying last winter that the latter should get a chance to play with Mendy behind him and was laughed out of the room). If we were playing dogshit most weeks but getting by because we had someone like Aubameyang that will finish any half chance to get us undeserved points this place would be littered with posts (largely from many refusing to open their mind of the possibility of our current players improving) about how are luck is going to run out soon and we will start getting the bad results our performances deserve, so why can't that logic work in reverse?

If someone said in February we'll win the UCL going toe to toe with our opponents without relying on any real luck along away they'd have been laughed at, this a very very talented squad that was made to look poor by Frank's meltdown/unableness to fit the star signings into a system. If we had a team of players with no (or a long distant) proven goal record I would agree (ie when Costa left and we only had Hazard) but we have a lot of scorers in our side who for many mitigating reason's all had poor season's at the same time. And the thing is, we don't even need one to improve by 20, we need all to improve by 5 on average which is very much doable. The reality is we invested hundreds of millions into top class players who are a lot better then they looked/were made to look for most of last season and we've brought in one of the world's best coaches to find a way to get the best out of them, which I'm confident he will. If we're just going to keep throwing shit at the wall whenever signings don't hit the ground running we may aswell just get ourselves a man manager type manager. Yes they "could" all carry on struggling but they on the flip side also "could" all have a Drogba esque 2nd/3rd season improvement now they're more settled into the country and are riding the UCL (and possibly for some the Euro's) wave.

We finished 4th because we had two months worth of relegation form when Lampard lost the plot. Since Tuchel has came in we're 2nd on the form table, won a UCL without breaking sweat (very few win this thing without getting some rub of the green in a crucial moment, even the greatest ever were a better first touch from Bendtner away from going out) and won almost every big game alongside that. If a genuine upgrade to what we've got (and also fits the system Tuchel is trying to implement) becomes available then by all means go for it, but signing for signings sake is what put us on the road of 4 years in a top four battle in the first place. Remember in January 2020 people here were in meltdowns because our rivals signed the likes of Bergwijn, Igahlo, Gedson and Pablo Mari? Imagine what a mess our squad would look like right now with those four in it.

Because last summer's window means we have a good enough team and most importantly coach to wait to the right signing. We're a lot better than the league position suggests as we showed by winning the UCL barely breaking sweat. United despite finishing above us need a lot more work, especially with Ole at the wheel, to even muster up anything resembling a challenge. With their coaching handicap they need world class DM, CB, RB, ST and GK.

Always amazes me that people think Marina picks targets herself. May aswell claim Kepa is the leader of the UN!

Yep I remember there was a lot of whining in January 2020 because our rivals were "getting business done" (that business being the likes of Bergwijn, Minamimo, Ighalo, Cedric and Pablo Mari) but instead of going there we waited and were rewarded. Even with the first season settling in period of all our signings they have all done more than any of them. Bruno is the one from that window that did work well but put it this way, I'll be amazed if we currently had big ears in the cabinet if we had him in our side over Havertz, the guy chokes against big sides every single time.

But the problem with that is, we committed big sums last summer to attacking talent, (probably) part of the reason Lampard was sacked is because he didn't know what to do with them. Getting a new forward player in a year after committing big money in that area less than a year ago is bordering fantasy football stuff..

Agreed. I said for months if Norwich or Southampton will take him fine but many managers should be blacklisted when it comes to loaning players of Gilmour's specific skillset as they wouldn't know what to do with him. I really hope we have a recall clause just incase Norwich have a rough start and panic appoint one of the recycled old school managers, could you even imagine if he all of a sudden has to play half a season under Tony Pulis?

Put it this way, if he had no connection with us and we were linked to signing him after his last season at Fulham would you be keen? The problem with your pre season idea is there's other players that have simply done more to earn that spot (and more crucially suit Tuchel's system better), Gallagher for instance.

I think the point he was trying to make is both when at their best are very good, but it happens so infrequently its absoultely pointless trying to make any sort of plan that involves them in a big way. Ruben had a run of form under Sarri after nearly the whole season being dragged to the touchline at any and every break in play to be given tactical instructions, he's a very talented guy but simply lacks the nous to make it at this level, when you see Mason Mount or even Conor Gallagher as a comparison the difference in their tactical games are astronomical. It's the sake argument with Barkley really. If he played like he did vs the two Scouse teams before lockdown he'd be one of our star players, but he doesn't.

Pretty much every great attacking full/wing back start as a winger. That said i think Callum is a lot better further forward than given credit for but there's simply too many players infront of him at the minute especially if we sign a striker.

I won't lie and say it isn't gutting to lose out on Hakimi, people saying a wingback isn't a priority are lying to themselves, James and Chilwell won't cut it in a 38 game season in those areas, the former is more suited to RCB and the latter is still very raw in his attacking play despite decent numbers, although it does work in big games we need a lot more against bus parkers. Realistically speaking there's two ways we can respond to this. 1. Revert back to 4atb. 2. Go all in on training CHO in that position and promote Livramento as the back up.

Is this the Sancho signing that should have been done last summer?