Joker10

A lot of people here said the same thing about the Sturridge deal lol. Liverpool got a bargain now. Can't judge the player on current state, time will tell who got ripped off. His value is going to rise tremendously in the upcoming years, he is a class player he is going to show that to a club and in the World cup. Even for 25m i would keep him, with Mata most likely gone, surely he would see more playing time. I don't see any limitation with De Bruyne under Mou like i do with Mata, there is hope he can change it around and i believe he can.

Mou wants his attacking players be decisive and play with speed when on the ball and on the counter. Juan just not a good fit to how Mou wants to play even de bruyne is a much more natural fit to play under Mou.

I would like him a lot more if he didn't attempt so many long range shots, really ridicules the amounts of attempt he takes. But he is definitely an upgrade to what we have. A Ramires and Guarin partnership is something i am looking forward too.

If Alonso comes in he would pair up with Ramires, his athleticism is a good fit to make up for Alonso somewhat mobility issue. Ideally i would rather have us sign Moutinho. I have been a fan of him for so long, since his early days at Sporting Lisbon, he has it all for me; creative, great passer, good work rate, and very good defensively. He is like a mini version of Schweini. I wouldn't complain if we sign Alonso, but wouldn't be ideal. Did you just call Khedira technically gifted? Bayern and Dortmund won almost every 1 on 1 duals they were superior all over the pitch, the midfield was just one of them. Those technically gifted midfield have steamrolled lots and lots of physical superior midfields btw. Anyway who do you suggest we sign for our pivot?

Its kinda interesting and we might not never know how interested were we in Guardiola. The media was obviously convinced and ran with such sensational story "Roman wants Chelsea to play like Barcelona." Guardiola said on multiple occasions that he would not negotiate with any club with a manager in place, he felt it would be unfair to those managers. Rafa has indicated on multiple occasions that he knows Pep personally and indicate they are friends. So this lead me to beleive that either Roman and the board made a grave mistake hiring Rafa or they were never as interested in Pep as the media speculated. If what Pep said is true i don't think he would negotiate with Chelsea and betray his friend in interviewing for the job. Remember Rafa hiring was not until the end of the season, he was fully expecting to get the job if he meet the board expectation. I think it is safe to say he is nowhere meeting their expectation and expect him to leave on mutual agreement at the end of the season. If the board for example hired Steve Holland as an interim manager i think they would have better stand a chance in landing Pep since Holland can not be considered a long term manager at Chelsea. Because of no prior leading first team management experience. Jupp told Bayern he would retire at the end of the season at the time, so naturally they approached Guardiola and he was comfortable negotiating with them.

For those of you who don't watch enough Bundesliga games, the two legs basically summons up Lewandowski quite nicely. In the first leg he was quite amazing, although i could make a case Pepe had a lot to do with Lewa great performance but i wont go there. Second leg showed why many people who follow him on a regular basis are not that convinced, he bottled so many chances and could've ended Madrid hopes much earlier.

No.....and different players. Hands down i would rather have Fernandinho in my team. Paulinho is in the Ramires and Khedira mould. Fernandinho is more in the Schewni, Gündoğan, Moutinho mould. Very good signing by City Fernandinho is going to be immense in the PL. The EPL is quite poor in quality when it comes to CM and far behind many top leagues. He wont have trouble bossing the midfield on a regular basis.

Just going to copy and paste on what i wrote on the Modric forum concerning Flopdric an Khedira. Who seems to be almost everyone favorite choices. First of all Khedira is not DM, that is like calling Ramires a DM. He is ok defensively but not going to rank anywhere near the best. Imo Khedira is undoubtedly Real Madrid weakest link and most Real supporters who watch him regularly don't think he is good enough for them and i certainly don't think he is good enough for us either. I don't think Mourinho will bring any player from Real Madrid. He didn't bring any of his Chelsea player to Inter, didn't bring any of his Inter player to Madrid either. Yeah he did bring a few Porto players to Chelsea, but i don't expect this happen again just from experience. When we hired Ancelotti we were linked with a bunch Milan players, how many arrived? none. Then again when we hired AVB we were linked with almost every Porto player and again we didn't purchase any of them. Scolari brought Deco and Bosingwa who he worked with in the Portugal NT. But lets remember their were stories of Chelsea players unhappy how Scolari was playing favorite with some players. For that reason most managers avoid bringing former players because they don't want to give the impression that they are playing favorites instead of playing players based on merits. So i am personally not expecting any Real Madrid players here next season. Marcelo, Varane, Benzema, and Ronaldo would be my choices. But none of them is realistic though.

Who are you referring to Song or Moutinho?

Gut feeling is that if Carlo leaves PSG, Mou will replace him at PSG. According to LeParisien PSG will target Mourinho, Arsene Wenger, and Jupp Heynkes. No mention of Pellegrini.

Another argument for Pelle and for me the most important one, is playing style and the quality of the pitch. I have watched Pelle’s team for almost a decade now, his teams are ferocious and they play a proactive style like a big club. They force their style on the other team with their pressing, up tempo, and retention of the ball. Lets also consider Malaga, were very unlucky to lose to the same Klopp juggernaut team that wiped Madrid off the pitch a few nights ago. I would be very happy with Pelle at the club next season. But make no doubt it will take some time for him to implement his style just like if Klopp took the job. Because both managers preach unity in attack and defense which is very hard to implement in a short amount of time. How long it takes will be determined by the intelligence of the squad, and how quickly they can apply it on the pitch.

Have had the opportunity to watch a bunch of downloaded Real Madrid games lately, and I have tried to observe two so called Chelsea targets: Khedira and Modric. Neither imo would be a good addition to the squad. First off Khedira creates the same problem as Ramires for us. I hardily see the advantage of bringing Khedira, because Ramires brings the same quality and imo he is better. Both players they are limited technically and cannot do much with the ball passing wise. For example one of the biggest reason Madrid struggles with their pivot is when teams mark Xabi Alonso, their attack becomes static and they don’t have to worry about Khedira because he cannot hurt them. On Wednesday it was the same strategy that allowed Dortmund to play Madrid off the park. Mourinho say saw this coming, because they have played numerous other times. That is why he played Modric in the number 10 role so he can drop deep and counter Dortmund strategy but the man was absolutely ineffective, and Ozil was deployed on the left instead of the middle. Modric has proven numerous times that he is not good enough defensively to play in the pivot, especially with Alonso in the pivot against top European midfields. Back to Khedira for now, him and Ramires both are B2B so they well leave you exposed defensively. So they are not excellent defensively or attacking wise. End of the day they unfortunately are average for top teams and will struggle against top midfields. But I remain to rate Ramires higher, because he is more dynamic and will cause more disruption against other teams. Now more on Modric, I have never rated him as highly as others on this forum and believer years from now more will realize that we truly dodged a bullet by not signing him. I have not seen one quality performance by him in Madrid that justifies 40m or whatever. His best moment in Blanco shirt was his strike against United 10 men. But I also realize in a two man midfield and pivot he is simply not good enough defensively against top competition. Schweinsteiger, Alonso, gundogan, etc are not only great playmakers but they are also very good defensively. Gundogan not only bossed the midfield with his passing, but was absolutely superb defensively. Modric playmaking is not the level of those players either, he has extraordinary technique and passing but he simply doesn’t have the brain of those players to dictate a midfield. His passing doesn’t have the same purpose as those guys. So for me I would be quite unhappy to see either player in a Chelsea shirt. Thankfully I don’t see either of them being here.

I wish Mata and Hazard could defend like Gotze and Reus. I don't think our team can ever evolve until those put in a defensive shift like those two, or like Robben, Muller, Ribery. Unbelievable performance by Dortmund, just a complete dominance. I sincerely hope they win it all. Goetze and maybe even Lewa might leave in the end of the season, but Dortmund will continue to be a force as long as they keep their star Klopp.

agreed, i am done with this forum. I have asked Steve+Jim to delete my account.

The quote is illustrating what one of the greatest minds thought of those who constantly complain and criticize. It is easy to complain and moan, anyone can do that but understanding their decision and act is much tougher to do. Mikel had off night, lots of players have had similar lackluster performance and effort that includes our best players such as Mata and Hazard. We advanced to the semi final, move on.

"Any fool can criticize, condemn and complain - and most fools do." -Benjamin Franklin

We already have a player like him in Ramires.

You believe Mourinho will play possession football? there is no evidence to suggest that. btw why is everyone judging Falcao only based on his play for Alti and think he can only play on the counter. He did play for AVB's Porto which were a dominant side in possession. For some reason people seem to ignore that when evaluating him. Just for the record i am not particularly a fan of poachers, and prefer my strikers to be very well rounded but there is no reason for so many to underrate Falcao.

Surely if the rumors of Mourinho coming back is true, then it would suit Falcao style, no?

What style are we trying to implement?

The discussion is KDB(loan)+20m for Schurrle, since that is the rumor that will entice Leverkusen to make a deal. That is why i look at it as a tradeoff. If i had to pick who i want here next season between the two it would be KDB. Completely different players? not imo, sure style wise they are different players. If i had to compare Schurrle to a player most here would be familiar with, that player would be former Chelsea Sturridge. But Sturridge is more natural at St while Schurrle more suited out wide but their style is extremely similar when Sturridge played out wide. KDB is an attacking midfielder similar to our attacking trio at the club. Sure style wise they are different, but their role is essentially the same. Since either player would most likely be playing at LAM,CAM,or RAM in our current formation. Why not both? Sure the more the merrier. I tend to think Schurrle is good fit in the EPL and good fit to the squad.

Save the club 20m and just bring back Kevin De Bruyne, he is the better player between the two.

You think City will go for Mourinho with former Barcas Begiristain and Soriano in charge?

What is wrong with emulating Barcelona? They are the most successful club atm and the standard of club football. Attempting to emulate a club does not mean sacrificing your own identify and culture. That is like saying Barcelona is a copycat version of Ajax, because when Cruyff arrived at Barcelona he had the idea of emulating Ajax and their academy. Decades later no one is saying Barca is a knock off version of Ajax. Even attempting to emulate a club will definitely create a different outcome, because there is too many variables and almost impossible to replicate that situation. It is a good thing to take the positives and goods of successful clubs. Go beyond football, history has many examples.

Let me tell you something you might or might not know. Life is a marathon not a race, it also applies to footballers. It doesn't matter who was better at the age 18,19, or 20 because every single players progresses differently. So based on your logic it should have been slam dunk that Marin would be the better player between him and Ozil. Everyone was talking about Marin years back, while Ozil was rotting at Schalke bench. How about we also look at Quaresma and Ronaldo, who was generating the entire buzz at Sporting Lisbon academy? Certainly it was Quaresma. The point is i have seen enough of football to know that players just progress differently, i could have named many more examples. Here is another thing to note when comparing McEachran and Chalobah, one athletically is on a different level. It is quite usual and quite often players who are athletic freaks like Chalobah tend to shine very bright, while Mceachran type players tend to do much better at later stage of their career. The English game is much more friendlier to Chalobah type players anyway. McEachran needs to work on his stamina and develop his body. But for me Mcechran scores very high on two criteria that weigh heavily for me when rating a young player; intelligence and technique. Kevin De Bruyne and Mceahcran players different position they have nothing to do with each other btw.