EskWeston

I just don't see an issue here.... We have a large squad of top quality players, quite a few of those players are near or over 30. Carlo and more importantly Bruno Demechelis have a tried and tested way of keeping players in tip top condition, to do this from time to time players will need to be rested and other players given playing time. I think the way Carlo has switched the squad and the formations has been perfect, complete dominance in all 3 games so far and 9 points. Ancelotti is not rotating players for the sake or rotation, there is a method to it and it is one that could well win us the title..

It sounds absolute madness, can't believe we arrange friendlies with teams like this, people need to do their homework beforehand i think. We could have suffered some serious injuries because of this, especially the 2 footed knee high challenge on Ben Gordon. Not the first time something like this has happened, i remeber a couple of years back a friendly against a chinese olympics team decended into chaos and brawling, they then went on to do the same against QPR..... Seriously, a bit more thought needs to go into these friendlies

Yup, back to training this week. Hope to see him back in action soon, i very much want to see Joe played at the tip of the diamond....

The new batch are on the Gettyimages website.... Interestingly Sam Hutchinson is included in them..

That will come, Mancienne, Sinclair, Stoch and Di Santo obviously the closest as they have already been given their chances and it is reflected in their loans to the Premiership and to FC Twente.

That is 13 young players now out on loan!!! - incredible. I am very glad that Cork has signed a new contract. And the fact this loan is only until January means the club are clearly considering him as cover during the ACN period. Would be excellant to see him given that oppertunity and grab it with both hands.

Depends where they would play him, we need playing in the midfield where he has developed into a classy player having previously played centre back or even right back. I wouldn't mind having him around our squad this season as cover especially during the ACN period, but the boy needs games like the rest of them. A premier league loan is perfect for him.

It is incredible for a midfielder to be so high on any clubs all time leading goal scorer list. Frank is indeed one of a kind.

Talk in all the other reports are saying that Hull and Portsmouth want to bring him in. The club will have to asses if he will infact get the games there, but a Premier League club would be fantastic for him. All the loans this season just go to show that really our academy IS producing some real talent. Aparently Sam Hutchinson could be off to West Brom for a loan as well...

Never going to happen in a million years....

Thats correct, he will not be eligable for either....

Fulham are a decent side now, but i am still confident of us going there and getting a good result. The players are working hard and playing well, and with the quality of players we have we can go there and do the biz.

Nature of football supporting i am afraid, it's either 1 extreme or the other. There is no inbetween.

Only time will tell. But one thing is for sure and that is the signs are encouraging. Ancelotti seems to be very clever tactically and is not afraid to change things if they need changing. I really hope we can start to build something special here now under Ancelotti.

It was never going to be worth while keeping Pizarro, it is best for him and for us that he has moved on. Fee is reportedly around £5m which for a free transfer is pretty good business i think.

Good performance from the lads, and also it is very good to see Carlo mixing it up a bit to try and get the best against different teams, shows that tactically Carlo is a very clever man which bodes well for us this season. Twice in 2 games we have been undone by deflections landing at the feet of an opposition player to poke home.... you just can't account for that sort of thing. Good to see Deco playing well and seemingly WANTING to play well also, Deco is the perfect type of player for the attacking midfield role so if we can keep him fit and on form then it is very good for us.

Chelsea..... At the end of the day does it matter? I am sure Arnesson scouted him and then discussions were held with Ancelotti and everyone agreed to sign him...

If he is a defensive midfielder then yes i agree. The difference with the defensive midfield position compared to others is that our regular player is also very young, and if we bring another defensive mid in from outside that is also young then it makes the chances of Cork comming through extremelty tough, although not impossible. Interestingly though Jack Cork has still not gone out on loan, and i am sure there are many clubs interested in his service. Still though it is still very good news that we have signed another youngster.

No clear indication where in the midfield we can expect to see Matic competing! Defensive would have seemed the obvious option for us to bring in seeing as Mikel and Essien dissapear in January. But also we could do with someone who can play the top of the diamond too..... One thing is for sure and that is it is always good for us to sign young players.

Van Aanholt needs to keep this level for the whole season, he is certainly doing very well indeed. If we can get him into a Premier League club next season that would be really quick progression for him. With Ryan Bertrand, Patrick Van Aanholt and Ben Gordon we are producing some very good left backs indeed.

It is a very big problem for us. But hopefully Carlo is going to bring some stability back to us and we can start looking at bringing these lads through. Carlo will get in depth detail on the players out on loan and will be including some more youngsters with first team training who he will get to know. Hopefully we can sort this situation out because we have a big group of talented players who should be at least being given the oppertunity to have a crack at the first team.

Very big relief, yes we had so many chances to score and we should have done a lot better goals-wise. I do feel though we really could do with a impact player, something that a lot of people have been saying for a few seasons now. We are like a bettering ram sometimes where we force our way into chances, where at times we could be more like a knife and cut our way through with some clever play. I said the same after the Community shield and i still feel the same... But we did well and again the spirit of the team is geat, you always fancy us to get the chances to score, but if we don't find the ways of breaking these teams down better we are going to end up drawing games like this through the season as well as winning them...

Slobodan Rajkovic is spending another season on loan as FC Twente. Use this thread to discuss this loan move and post any news on this loan...

Ancelotti confirmed he will back training next week, which good news.

I don't think the injury is as bad as it sounds. CTV was saying he may be a possible for tommorow but it is highly unlikely. I don't think it is a long lay off. Especially considering he has already been off for quite a while with the injury.