lionsden

Wayne Bridge's ex has put on a lot of weight

Out of all the managers we have had in the Roman era, Carlo is the only one to have shown anything resembling commitment to the transition of youth into the first team. His sacking set us back a few years in that regard.

The problem with constant loans and using the development argument as justification is that, by the time they have completed the most crucial stage of their development out on loan (around the age of 23/24) a couple of things usually happens that ensures they never break into the first team. The player either loses motivation or becomes frustrated and pushes for a permanent move elsewhere We end up buying the the next hotshot, more established, more expensive, more glamorous, flavor of the month/year (insert your adjective here) player that plays in the same position which makes the loaned players become excess to requirement. Managerial instability, the new manager has his own ideas and transfer targets and once you aren't already a prominent member of the first team, the chances are the loaned players wouldn't be in the new manager's plans going forward. Another issue is the uncanny tendency to stockpile talent which makes the newer and more expensive talent more desirable. all of these factors renders constant loaning out of a player counter productive. There's also a problem of bad loans where the players are ostracized leading to stagnation or regression in development see Wallace,Josh,Moses et al as the club they are loaned to have absolutely no incentive or legal obligation to play them. I'm not against the loan system, what I'm against is the constant loans and stockpiling of talent. There's such a thing as overdoing it and becoming too cautious can actually be more damaging than beneficial. just my 2 cents.

Spot on. I was begining to think i was the only one that sees this glaring weakness in his game

Not in the past 2 seasons. cech's prime is better than anything De gea has ever shown however. The fact that you rate De gea's tenure in England as a flop or not up to his Atleti's standard tells me that you still hold the reputation the British media created in his first few months in England and don't actually follow him at all. He's statistically and visually (for those that actually watch him regularly) one of the best shot stoppers in Europe and he consistently makes ridiculous saves and has been a match winner for Man utd countless times.

who's better than him then?

He has been every bit as good if not more at Manchester. after his first few months in England where he made a few mistakes and the whole country blew it out of proportion, he's come in leaps and bounds and is without a doubt the best goalkeeper in England. Everytime I see false or mythical statements, I always feel oblige to respond even if it means defending players or club that aren't my cup of tea.

And we have gone over the main reason for his clean sheet record plenty of times already. Atletico madrid have the best defensive structure in the world and statistically do not give away many chances to the opposition as their defence is literally unbreakable. most of Courtois's saves are routine saves that decent goalkeepers at the top level make week in week out. I can only think of very very few saves that I thought to my self "wow, he has no right saving that" since he joined AM. Mignolet is Belgian too and I have seen him make some outright ridiculous saves plenty of times this season. I give props where and when it's due.

Is this suppose to be impressive? Most of his saves are long range shots that any keeper at the top level should be making and it's baffling that he still hasn't learned how to parry or punch shots out of danger zone/area which was his major weakness from his Genk days. I still maintain that he's vastly overrated just like Oscar. Cech's performance in our 2012 champions league alone is far better than the youtube compilation of his saves this season and youtube compilations are suppose to make a player look great. Then again I have been spoilt with some fantastic goalkeeping performances this season from the likes of De gea,Marshall,Lloris,Mignolet,Szczesny and Cech that most of Courtoius saves looks extremely underwhelming to me in the many games I have seen of him at AM.

But some are more professional and loyal than others

Let's buy another centre back to join the growing list of CB already on the clubs books like JT,Cahill,Luiz(if he stays),Ivanovic,Zouma,Kalas,Christensen,Omeruo. heck even Chalobah and Ake can play that position. It's absolutely baffling how some people are in favor of this rumor and I don't give a shit if he's homegrown and promising.

Ashley is a club and football legend but let's not act like he hasn't been a shadow of his former self and (to put it midly) mediocre and extremely inconsistent defensively and offensively in particular for the last 3 seasons. We need to move on and it's not as though his departure will leave a huge void like some are trying to portray. we have one of the best left backs around in Azpi moving forward. Objectively he hasn't earned a new contract and the calls to keep him is largely based on sentimental reasons rather than footballing reasons. We are a football club and not a charity organization. It's the right time to say goodbye. I thank him for his remarkable services over the years and wish him good luck in his future endeavours. The same goes for Lampard as well btw.

Why do people feel the need to post transfer rumor by lol worthy and unreliable sources like caughtoffside,tribalfootball et al and worst of all without any quote to give the rumor any credibility. there actually use to be a time when the posting of rumors from these sources were prohibited on this forum.

@TalkOfTheShed · 5h @YahooSports Jose, how long before we see some of the successful youth team break their way into the first team? #AskJose Hi @TalkOfTheShed I want it in the right time. i dont want them to come and not to succeed #AskJose #Special1s. JM.

I'm I the only one that actually rate his technical ability above Costa's? His link up play and ability on the ball is superior imo. But ofcourse Costa has better hold up play and finishing.

He's as much a DLP as Bastian and Gundogan. If he isn't a DLP then neither are those 2 players. There's no rule that states a DLP cannot share some characteristics of DM's and B2B midfielder's.

No way. He's a DLP. He reminds me of a gritty,tenacious and more defensive version of Sneijder in his prime. He's more in the mould of a Bastian or Gundogan more than anything. either way we can't go wrong as they are both quality players.

Radja nainggolan is superior to Rakitic imo and he had be a better value for money. I'm surprised how little recognition he recieves. He's been one of the best midfielders in Europe this season and a great shame he was left out of the belgium world cup squad for scrubs like Felliani and Chadli

Technically Luiz cost the club £46m. The £24m we paid Benfica plus the £22m, the player that was involved in the exchange (Matic), cost to reacquire. The only way his actual value would have appreciated was if he was valued at/ or sold for £46m plus. This is a reasonable and honest reply tbf. can't disagree with that.

That's one way of measuring it another way will be to evaluate performance and value of a player to the team. A successful transfer is one that proves to be good/great value for money. You see that's another problem right there. strong finish to the season clearly indicates irregularities and inconsistency (which is a major flaw of his) otherwise the statement would be "strong/great season" period. it shows he wasn't consistent through out the season and unfortunately for us he plays in a position where mistakes and inconsistencies can be very costly and are usually punished. we need a consistent and reliable performer. No we are assessing his CB performance since he joined and the conclusion is that he's unreliable and inconsistent.

The only problem with your post is that it's based on the notion that Luiz is reliable at CB and plays like an experienced defender when the opposite is the case. bar a few good run of forms, he's thus far proven to be unreliable and very inexperienced bothering on amateurish level at times. experience is meaningless if it's not reflected in ones game. Even if it' true that we need more experience in defence, Luiz isn't a good example to use to present the case. Also the experience factor is not significant enough to justify rejecting £30m plus offer for a back up defender.

Not to be pedantic he was bought in 2011 which makes it even worse.

It's completely irrational and mind boggling how Torres can still have bootlickers and stans in 2014. He does have a flock of dedicated and loyal sheep fans that's for sure.