lionsden

Hazard will have to be on top of his game because I'm struggling to see where the goals will come from

Our bench is not much better tbf

Would anyone take a draw right now?

That I agree with. He probably would have been 2nd on the pecking order ahead of Remy if he was still here.

Actually I feel more confident in our ability going forward with Luis playing left back, whether Jose will release the shackles remains to be seen

Does anyone think Torres or Bamford would have been a better option for this game than Drogba. should we have kept one of them as 3rd choice striker instead of bringing back DD?.

This is very difficult for most Ronaldo fans (and I don't mean that in a derogatory manner) to accept. Also doesn't the fact that despite Ronaldo being a vastly superior athlete to messi (unfair advantage as a result of winning the genetic lotto) is still overall an inferior player to messi over the course of their careers reflect favourably on Messi? The fact that Messi is able to achieve similar goals stats and vastly superior assist and chances created stats over the last 7 years despite the genetic disadvantage is quite impressive really and shows who has more talent. As for the last part, all great/good poachers do that so it's nothing unique or impressive. I can not agree with that. From a fundamental and team perspective it's wrong to take too many shots in the sense that it's a sign of selfishness (As a striker, Centre forward I know who I had rather play with between him and Messi) think of the moral on the team for a minute the fact that he takes many shots clearly indicates that he's passing less to his team mates and often making the wrong decisions. why should a striker or midfielder make lung bursting runs to the box when they know that 9x out of 10 they will never receive the ball as Ronaldo would take that shot even from ridiculous angles.It also rubs the team of a potential goal scoring opportunity when a simple square pass to a player in a better position to score would actually improve the teams chance of scoring than Ronaldo blasting it over the bar at stupid angles. Also you had expect better decision making from a player that's suppose to be "the best player in the world" and has spent many years in the top flight league. when a youngster has poor decision making, people say its a sign of immaturity and it will improve with time. what's Ronaldo's excuse? The most important reason however why the amount of shot he takes matters especially in relations to the messi comparison is "efficiency. It's all about efficiency. It's better to score one goal with 2 attempts than with 6 or 7 attempts.

It will be interesting to see who makes it here between him and Bamford. For my money Bamford is the better finisher while Solanke is the better all round player. We have another gem in Tammy Abraham having an astounding breakthrough season in the academy. It feels good to say the present and the future does look bright and not many teams can boast such a claim.

This is how I see it. In terms of finishing, they are about equal although Ronaldo takes more penalty and has alot more shots per game on average. In other areas however ( Antonio Valencia is stronger and more physical than messi, Chamakh is better than messi in the air) i.e things that actually matter like Vision, creativity, passing, overall technical ability,football IQ, messi is light years and I mean light years ahead of Ronaldo that it's not even close from a non biased neutral's perspective and that's why most pundits and fans all over the world consider Messi not just a better player but also one of the games all time great right up there with the pele, maradona, Di stefano et al.

People who understand that football is more than just goals already recognise Ronaldo's exceedingly average all round game and football IQ. I have always seen him as a pacy goal machine and nothing more people are too blinded by his goals (which are vitally important ofcourse) to see how poor he usually his in the build up play and decision making like shooting from ridiculous angle when a simple pass would suffice. His technical ability and qualities (Passing, Vision, close control and ability to play in tight spaces) are all very overrated too. that's a major reason I can never rate him amongst the very elite to ever play the game. The true football elites captured people's imagination and inspired their teams in more ways than just scoring goals. To me he's an elite forward/striker but not an elite footballer.

Courtois Ivanovic Varane Ramos Luis Matic Modric Hazard Fabregas Ronaldo Costa It's insane the amount of posters that left out Modric. I'm either missing something or he's just insanely underrated on this board. he's comfortably better than Kroos for starters.

The only player we should be signing from Cruzeiro is Everton Ribeiro. fantastic player.

These current crop is still better than what majority of countries in Int'l tournament can boast about. What they are still able to produce despite the huge loss of the golden generation is pretty impressive considering the foreign centric nature of the EPL.

And when is the underrating of English players going to stop. It goes both ways: the English media who routinely over hype their youngsters/players are just as guilty as fans who automatically label virtually every English talent as overrated (especially English players from clubs they are not affiliated to). The stereotypical view that English players are a bunch of highly mechanical brute force desperately lacking in technical ability is still stuck in people's mind to the point that they automatically (whether consciously or subconsciously) underrate English talent.

If he leaves so what. We are a big club with a reasonable pulling power and financial resources to attract big players. He's not irreplaceable by any means. although I would prefer he stays for the long haul.

Again another poor judgement on our management's part. Surely they should have done their research and recognize Koln only wants him as cover for their starting CB. Now he goes from Chelsea's bench onto Koln's. If you must send him on loan why not to a team darely in need of a CB?

Who is? Thiago is not English btw

I could see it working. Azpi has all the qualities of a CB bar aerial dominance which is understandable considering his height but then again Canavaro,Ayala,Puyol et al have shown that height shouldn't be a disadvantage.

Are we playing on mars?

It's not looking that deem with players like Shaw, Wilshere,Walcott (25), Sturridge, Stones, Chambers, Patrick Roberts, Baker, RLC et al. A nation can do a lot worse.

I still maintain that Omeruo and Kalas are better than Zouma and I have seen nothing to convince me otherwise.

So because some of the youth players haven't been good enough admittedly means our approach to youth development and handling is flawless and the right way to do things? Is your suggestion to continue with the strategy of loaning these players to death until they lose the motivation and fight left in them or end up on a really bad team on loan where they aren't getting eny game time at all which in effect stagnate their development. How about give them incentives, encouragement, a reason to keep fighting? When they see our woeful record with youth integration and how we never give the cream of the crop any decent opportunities (Ake,Christensen and Baker have barely had a kick this season, Kalas who was suppose to be outr 3rd or 4th choice CB has been farmed out on loan yet again after an impressive display against Liverpool) and then they themselves go on a very successful loan only to come back to square one and be shipped straight back on loan, why should they keep fighting what seems like a lost cause? . . . No matter how well I do on loan there's no way the manager will play me ahead of the senior players. While I agree with you that opportunities shouldn't be handed out cheaply and should be earned, I also think the reward hasn't been forthcoming to those that deserve (have deserved it) and you are underestimating the human element and psychological impact of the way we handle these youngsters. I refuse to believe we have not had atleast one youth player over the years that was as good (better than) the likes of Benayoun,Sidwell,Ben haim,Moses,Marin,Salah et al. Why buy a fringe player when you can promote internally and achieve similar if not better result for no additional cost?

What's the relationship between the 2? Rooney says hi. unless you want to tell me one of the best no 10's in Europe for the last 8 years has low football brain and we all know football IQ is prerequisite quality required to successfully play in that position. General IQ otherwise known as emotional intelligence is different from football intelligence imo. in football you are not solving complex problems and theories or inventing ground breaking ideas (Not as a player anyway) nor is being an expert in human psychology.

Great list and you are one of the very few people that seem to rate Romario as highly as I do. The most underrated player ever alongside Michel Platini who I personally rate above Zidane.

Except all of those players (bar walcott who although a late bloomer has matured and developed significantly better as a footballer) all have poor football brain and that's the one quality that distinguishes them from Sterling. Anyone that isn't biased can see that.