lionsden

In that scenario you introduce attacking players in search of goals and strikers are susally the most logical choice in such situation. we have 3 of them in Costa, Remy and Drogba. Remy can play as a left or right winger. He's very versatile. Even if we have to play Cech in the double pivot and Shwarzer upfront. . . .just get Reus here Roman.

In that case we use Mikel and Matic in midfield (it's a big game and we would likely go ultra defensive/park the bus anyway) which gives us the option of deploying Ramires on the wing. So you have Oscar, Ramires and Salah as RW options.

Potential controversial opinion alert. Hasselbaink was a more clinical finisher than Drogba and more technical too.

So far the possible risk of having to field a weaker team that consist of Salah instead of Scurrle in the champions league (as if the German has been in scintillating form this season) is your only argument against seizing a golden opportunity at sigining a world class player to improve the team. You are thinking the worst case scenario here that Willian,oscar and Ramires gets injured at the same time as that's the only way salah gets to start "against bayern and Madrid" in the UCL. Now since we are using worst case scenarios, what also stops Schurrle from missing the tie in the latter stages to injury/suspension as well? We should sign Reus now as to ensure we don't rely on Schurrle and salah in the UCL against the big boys next season amongst other reasons. Think medium (the league and other cup comp minus UCL this season) to longterm (next season and beyond) as we did with Matic.

Man utd in April of 2012 were 8 whoppping points clear of man city in the league with just 7 or 8 games to go and still lost the title. Liverpool Last season and Newcastle in 95 are another example of the danger of complacency and thinking you have the league wrapped up (even though we are only in November). I also saw Bayer leverkusen lose the Bundesliga title in 2002 despite being 5 points clear with just 3 games to go. Signing Reus improves our chances of winning the league. Some utd fans said the same thing in 2012 that sining a midfielder in Jan can wait until the summer as the title was theirs so did Liverpool fans who got carried away with their attacking talents and incredible run of form last season that they failed to improve their defence by signing a quality defender before their game against us which signalled the begining of their title collapse although Brendan's naivety didn't help. Think we are running away with the league and have no need to improve where we can at your peril.

Reus is vastly superior to Oscar and Willian and at worst on par with Hazard (He's better imo). So what's wrong with improving the squad and signing a £60m player for just £19m. isn't the whole point of a competitive and ambitious team like ours to keep improving and gain competitive egde which Reus will give us?. As for the pre agreement comment. Reus is a man in demand by all the other top clubs in the world, you can't be fooling around in such situation, when you have the chance to sign in, you make him put that pen to paper.

When has that ever stopped them?

That worked out well for us long term with the matic deal. Being cup tied is the lamest excuse to back out of a deal to sign one of the worlds finest footballers for pittance.

Quality thread Southampton - schneiderlin, A terrific cover for fabregas or matic Man City- David Silva, he will take our team to the next level with his ability to control games and create something out of nothing. Aguero was overlooked because he's too injury prone and we already have a great goal scorer in Costa. Westham: Sakho wouldn't be a bad backup choice to Costa Swansea: This one is a no brainer, Bony as backup to Costa Arsenal: Sanchez is another no brainer, he will complement our attacking midfield so well on the right. Utd: It's dificult to look past Di maria here Newcastle: Sissoko is a great engine and a great cover for our midfield Stoke: Begovic is their best player but not needed at all so will have to settle for Diouf Everton: It's a tough choice between barkely, Coleman and Stokes but I went with the latter in the end due to the more crucial,future need of the team. A perfect JT replacement. Liverpool: Sterling as Sturridge is too injury prone. Spurs; Eriksen, arguably the only player that turned out as decent success amongst their post bale shopping spree. Westbrom: Beharino is a no brainer. Sunderland: really struggling here, this is the time i wished there was an option for no one. at a push probably Adam Johnson Hull: it's a toss up between Diame and huddleston (very underrated player) but went with the former in the end as he suits our system better Villa: Went with Weimann in the end but Okore would have been my choice if he wasn't so unlucky with injuries (one of the best young defenders I have seen) Palace: Toss up between Bolassie and gale. leaning more towards the latter. he will be a decent back up in attack leicester: cambiasso, a top veteran with proven class QPR: Charlie Austin, he's roven the ability to transfer his championship exploit to the EPL Burnley: Danny Ings This has made me realise just how truly awful both Sunderland and Burnley squads are.

Ok fair enough.

I agree that fans in general have the tendency to favour attackers over defenders however the reason why I don't think Neuer is better than Ronaldo (I can only speak for myself anyway) is because the Portuguese performs at a higher level and on a more consistent basis than the German. Now if the comparison was between Dino Zoff/Schmeicel/Khan/Buffoon (prime) and Ronaldo then it becomes far more interesting debate. As for what position is more important, that depends on the tactics and philosophy of the team. for an attacking and creative team, the best GK/defender is more beneficial see Arsenal while a team that's built on defence and struggles to create chances and break down opposition defence would benefit more from the best CF/attacker. With that said, I still firmly believe players from different positions can be compared with objective criteria : the level and consistency of their performances. It's not rocket science to deduce that Neuer performs at a higher level than Balotelli, is it? unless you want to make it more complicated than it actually is.

So how do we know that Ronaldo/Messi are the two best players in the world. What's the point of Ballon dor then since according to you there's no way of knowing messi is a better footballer than Kompany for example. You can compare players who play different positions imo, there's a thing called output and consistency factoring in talent level, consistency and reliability, impact etc i,.e is defender A better at defending than attacker B is at attacking?. if your answer is yes then defender A is the better player because he does his primary job better than the attacker in question is at attacking. For example, I doubt anyone with a fully functioning brain would disagree that Cech is a better player than Marko marin. why, because Cech is a proven world class GK while the German is just bang average and mediocre as an attacker.

Iniesta and Zidane weren't just performing in a couple of big games though, they were inspiring their teams to world cup trophy, champions league titles, league titles etc. until he's able to win us major trophies like Drogba, Lampard, JT and Cech did, then his lacklustre finishing will remain under the microscope. With massive talent and ambition comes greater responsibility. No one makes a big deal out of Salah or Victor Moses lack of end product (we show some frustration but that's about it) because not much is expected of them, Hazard on the otherhand is meant to be our best player and if our ambition is to compete for titles then he will receive harsher scrutiny.

No one is saying he has to score bucket loads of goals ala messi or CR just that for the amount of chances he gets (whether created by himself or others) he could be doing much better with his finishing. His finishing has been very poor this season. Don't you agree? If other elite wingers scuff or underhit their shots as often as hazard when through on goal, they too will get as much criticizing

Zidane and Iniesta scored and performed when it mattered, inspired their teams to major success and were far more creative than Hazard. Scholes on the otherhand was a goal scoring machine in his early united years (The lampard before Lampard) before reinventing himself as a DLP, same position Xavi and Pirlo play in, if you play deeper, your main responsibility isn't to score goals but to control the tempo, break up plays, act as the bridge between attack and defence and create from deep. hazard on the otherhand plays in an advance position thus making goal scoring one of his main primary duties. When Hazard starts scoring crucial goals and making huge impact in major competitions like the former 2 did, then he too might be forgiven for not recording Lampard like numbers as an attacking midfielder until then he will be judged on his goals and creativity.

Has anyone stopped to think that maybe, just maybe Azpi's best position is where he's currently playing? I never recalled him being this good when he was playing at RB. It happens quite often in football when managers make discoveries by chance/experiment/accident. Look at Di maria for e.g he had his best ever season playing as a central midfielder and there are many more examples throughout history. Instead of trying to destabilise what's working so perfectly at LB why nor just buy another RB to replace the weak link, Ivanovic?

He's too English. Not "continental" enough

I bet you didnt advocate selling oscar when he was absolutely shit for 8 months byt yeh 6 games is enough to judge a players long term future here. Smh.

only two things are constant in life, change and Torres being shit.

Yeah back in the 60's

I misunderstood you. my bad. Still there were plenty of posters on here that sided with Jose and lambasted KDB's "lack of workrate" and said he's had enough chances and failed to take them and that "he's not suited to the system". I won't name names, they know themselves.

He wouldn't play much at all that's for sure. He trusts Ake more than any other youngster on loan or in the reserves not named Zouma and yet he barely plays so . . . .

If given the choice between winning this game and avoiding relegation I have no doubt that Gerrard and majority of scousers would choose the former. They would want to avenge last season so badly since we ultimately cost them the title.

Nah you are wrong. Nothing in the world tops this

He's the reason I don't want us to buy a 3rd choice striker next summer