lionsden

Then they are not very smart. You could get a technically gifted, set piece expert for less than that who would offer far more value for money in that regard Considering his awful conversion ratio and the sheer amount of free kick he attempts, my guess would be quite a lot. A broken clock is accurate twice a day and if you throw enough shit at the wall, one is bound to stick.

Absolutely spot on here. But some people will have us believe he's not limited and make all manner of excuses in a bid to explain/justify his mediocre offensive output.

Yes me too. He's a free agent isn't he. Personally I would rather give that spot to Van Ginkel who has faded into the background in peoples mind. But if he comes in and has an eto'o like impact then no one would complain.

Peter Bosz reaction to the news

Despite the Fabregas signing we still need a proper regista and none of the names on the list fits the bill. Some may say Kroos is one but he's always been an all round CM/AM to me. unfortunately the quality DLP's around are either unavailable or too old. Modric would be Ideal but unrealistic. Can't complain if we sign any of Kroos,Vidal or Pogba though, the rest aren't my cup of tea.

I hope not. not needed at all.

Is there a logical explanation for the huge gap between youth transitioning into the first team at the club in the 50's 60's, 70's,80's and today. The question has to be raised. did we produce more first team talent back then because the quality were superior, talent and attitude wise or because the transition was much more smoother and easier thanks to a different culture and mentality? Ray wilkins would probably be on his 8th loan spell to Vitesse and overshadowed by an expensive but not necessarily better player/talent today. The bottomline is we are not doing enough to produce first team players from the academy. over-loaning (if such a word exists) is not the solution.

He was average again last night imo though noticeably better than the Russian game. Mirallas outperformed him big time when he came on and mertens was also better in the 1st half.

why is he still in the transfer talk section?

What is your Best moment overall? Winning the UCL obviously Best Game you've been to? Barca 4-2 at the bridge Fav goal- A tie between Poyet vs Sunderland and Gudjohnson vs leeds and your worst moment ? It's a tie between Moscow heartache and Iniesta equalizer at the bridge. Moscow probably edges it.

Except it's been proven in football generally that if a manager likes you, your starting position will never be under threat regardless of form. we see it all the time in football. case in point last season with Ramires whenever fit and available for selection always played despite being consistently awful for large portion of the season. Players getting bench for bad form only applies to those that aren't seen as untouchable by the manager

He won't though. You can't be benching a player with "huge potential and future world class player". He will likely be pampered and made excuses for yet again. my bet will be on Mourinho's tracksuit distracting him from the touchline since they are close to running out of footballing related excuses.

I never see you on Mikel's thread defending the Nigerian old fart. oh wait that's because you are usually busy doing the bashing yourself. how do you spell self righteous hypocrite

Well I do

Difference is Muller's contribution is easily quantifiable both statistically and visually and he's comfortably one of the most productive and consistent players in Europe and a notorious big game player too. But I agree with you that they are similar in terms of style of play and not having any outstanding attribute although you could argue that Muller is an excellent finisher. It's fair to say Oscar is a poor man's muller and that's always been my stance actually.

Oscar gets more positive attention because he's overrated and he's seen as "a key player" "Brazil's no 10" " one of the original 3 amigos" "Chelsea's future alongside Hazard, willian and Matic" etc. It's only natural to scrutinise a starting 11 player in oscar (even though he doesn't deserve that status) more than a mere squad player in Schurrle (no disrespect to the German)

So in your non biased opinion do you think he has sufficiently passed the test at club level and is a couple of good games in UCL/top level a better criteria to use than lets say consistency and technical ability. For me the latter is a better measure, especially for offensive players. you should be able to say player A has everything from a technical standpoint (passing, close control, dribbling, vision etc depending on their skillset which usually defines a players position on the pitch) and just needs to work on his tactical game and gain more maturity rather than player B has done well in a couple of games at the high level but very limited technically and woefully inconsistent. I feel player A has the better scope to develop into a "future world class" player than player B as tactical game is much easier to develop than technical game. i.e A kovacic for e.g is more likely to develop into a world class player than a Welbeck, who mind you, just like Oscar as done well in some games at the top level and more proven than the mateo. instrumental against Real madrid both home and away in the UCL for e.g, just my 2 cents.

Serious discussion. I'm curious to know what people and some pundits base their assertion that Oscar has the potential to be one of the best attacking midfielders and how can potential be measured, are there a set of criterias to measuring such things or is it purely subjective and just based on experience and the number of appearance a young player has under his belt at club and NT level. What makes Oscar have more potential than let's say a Coutinho or a Memphis Depay (just using them as random examples).

He's not a slouch, that's for sure. He can play football very well too. http://www.goal.com/en-india/news/3753/germany/2013/07/13/4114185/aubameyang-quicker-than-usain-bolt

So no counter argument then as expected. If Oscar wasn't so technically limited and overrated I bet you would have something to concrete to say other than the go to argument "He has mythical huge potential and he's only 22.

Does he play at a proficiently high level in any of those positions though. technically any player can be versatile as long as their performance level isn't the criteria used to judge their versatility.

We were also extremely lucky last season i.e games against westbrom (H), Villa (H), Liverpool (H) (Eto'o should have seen red) and numerous games where we played very poorly and just about manage to win or draw. That 82 pts flattered us big time. Aguero was/is City's best striker and his absence to injury coincided with their barren spell in terms of goals. also Toure,Fernandinho their two best MF were also injured. The impact of those 3 players would be noticeable in any team and while there are no guarantees, it doesn't hurt to make logical deductions.

I ask again what talent? Your definition of talent must be different from mine. I suppose talent has levels as some will argue anyone that makes it as a professional footballer is talented. even Heskey is talented based on that criteria. My own definition however is having high aptitude or skill that is above average ability (average in this case refers to the average footballer) and be able to do those things at a proficient level be it passing, shooting,control,set pieces,heading,vision,dribbling etc. I can't apologise for having high standard

What talent?

I disagree Toure is the best CM in the league, Silva is far and away the best playmaker in the league, Aguero is alongside Suarez the best striker in the league and Kompany (excluding last season) was the best defender in the league and Fernandinho is an absolute beast who has hit the ground running, at worse on par with Matic and a case could be made for Zabaletta being the best right back in the league. The quality in the starting 11 is ridiculous. They strengthen their defence and play anything close to their maximum potential and they would walk the league.