lionsden

We should create a policy that prohibits the purchase of players who are "too injury prone" "showing signs of decline" and "lack excellent/great technical ability"

I look forward to the day Roman and Gourlay would leave all transfer matters and decisions to the manager. . . no forward thinking manager with an ounce of common sense would have even thought about purchasing an injury prone player that's showing signs of decline. meanwhile where will the goals come from next season. . .we can't continue to rely on Lampard anymore as he's gradually fading

sarcasm at its very best

Seriously what happened to him. I have never seen a more outrageous decline of talent since Ronaldinho and kaka. . . Torres of 5 years ago made defenders shit their pants. . now he looks totally clueless, sluggish and a shadow of his old self. I'm trying really hard to have faith in him but he's making it very difficult indeed for me.

even against poor/ 3rd tier oppositions. . .that's the bit that scares me the most

Ivanovic a defender did what Torres (a striker) couldn't do and that's to make a run into the box and convert his chances confidently. Besides Iva wouldn't have offensive freedom against a top team anyway and isn't likely to find himself in that position plus there's nothing to suggest Torres would have converted the chance. . . he's being that abysmal

Unless we are not talking about the same player who was arguably the best epl player in the first half of last season.

But we need a xavi/pirlo type of player more than another goal scoring midfielder

Anyoneelse thinks nasri>pastore

After all is said and done, Pastore is still grossly overrated. for that price tag, you would expect a player that dominates games. so far I'm yet to see any wow factor about him. from a critical point of view- Is he even technically superior to our own josh and Kakuta, what qualities does he have that our duo youngsters lack?

I agree. . .he won't play any pre-season games due to international assignment. On a sidenote I'm becoming increasingly worried over Torres sluggishness and lack of confidence . .it's been 3 games now and still no marked improvement.

Pastore for £30m. . .has zaprianni finally come back to his senses what happened to the £50m valuation

My sentiment exactly. . .Gianfranco's selection looks very unbalanced, playing with no natural DM would leave us vulnerable at the bac. Could Romeu be good enough to challenge Mikel for the no1 spot in DM. . only time will tell

I still believe kakuta is more than capable of being our main winger next season even though he operates better as an AMF

As things stand, who would be your preferred midfield trio next season (that's assuming we don't make any MF purchase this transfer window)

At this point in time, Van Anholt seem to be AVB's preferred LB back up choice. . . .Kalas and Chalobah are equally fantastic and if their development goes according to plan, they could save us a lot of CB investment cash in the future.

I'm impressed with the way Thai all stars have approached the game. . . good performance by both sides

Malouda !!!!

I get the feeling AVB prefers Van Anholt to Betrand.

Hilario>Cech haha. . .where are his critics now?

Even Ivanovic gets on the score sheet,. Fantastic link up play with Josh.

Bosingwa !!!!!

To be fair bosingwa actually played well defensively but I agree with your stance on Anelka, he should do the honorable thing and leave Chelsea before the start of next season.

Well based on his 1st half performance. Who do you think should start ahead of him next season?

I never thought I had say this but we have shown massive improvement from the last two games. . .our midfield is more forward thinking and creative, Sturridge link up play has been superb as well but as already stated, Anelka was our weakest link in the 1st half, destroying every potential goal scoring opportunity. I have a feeling this first half team selection will more or less be our starting 11 next season with the exception of Anelka, Ivanovic and maybe Josh