Blue Armour

Don't know if there's truth in all these rumours but... In all honesty if Ashley Cole wants to leave we shouldn't force him to stay back. Naturally AVB will meet up with him (besides others) and find out wants on his mind before anything, and they'll work something out... On the plus side, we have to options remaining for LB in Patrick and Ryan..If used well they could become more than decent replacements for Cole... The only downside to letting Cole go would be that he's English. Also he's probably the best left back in the world. And he might become an addition for a top Spanish Club and ruin our case for another European Cup. Alright, I'll stop

I know you used the word 'despite' but really...those two phrases in your post just don't go together...

Don't forget Kenny D

I hope AVB can bring out the best in Gael Kakuta... I really had high hopes for him after 09-10 and the following Euro u-19 championship...but something seems wrong... If Gael can play to his best, it would help solve a lot of our problems....speed, creativity and wingplay....

Graeme Souness said he's not good enough...so out....

I never said he should be part of any starting line-up..he's not consistent enough for that..but as a squad player he usually does the job whenever the situation calls for it... Truth is, I don't think WE'll be holding onto him for long..... as we can never offer what he wants: a regular starting role...

Good point...in fact, Kalou's stats are superior to that of Theo Walcott who's a regular in the Arsenal line-up

Isn't 6 mill rather low by today's standards?

You could say quite a few of those goals came from really poor marking, but that was also the case for many of the early goals in Didier's career as well.... A really good player with lot of variety in his play, and quite good with both feet when it comes to shooting...Shame Carlo never gave him much of a role in Nov-Dec...would've reduced the pressure on the senior attackers to deliver, at a time when the mid field was poor....

If AVB is opting for a free flowing passing game, that he supposedly admires, then it won't really matter who is at front provided that someone can finish properly when given the chance. That being said, its always a good idea to have more than one type of striker for the premier league...we have already have 3 different strikers in Torres, Drogba and Anelka. If Falcao or any othe transfer target proves to better version of one of those three, then it could be a nice move, with that one player going the other way...

I think a lot of you are going to horribly wrong about which players are going to be useful and which ones are actually going to leave... AVB said he is only going to meet up with the current squad next month, and will be most likely assessing their motivation levels/commitment and judge their usefulness for next season over the course of the pre-season. I have no doubt he will shift out players if he feels they aren't useful...he did so at Porto with Raul Meireles and Bruno Alves ( Portuguese even)..but won't do so without much consideration..Unlike some of us fans he isn't biased for or against any player... I'm just saying....

Falcao can be a very useful signing if other strikers are leaving. With Torres' injury record its always good to have backup... In fact I don't see the need for more than two strikers leaving, as its always good to have more options than without. As for which players are going the other way, speculation might be pointless as anything could happen between now and end of August...It depends a lot on whether any club wants the player.... As for Falcao...is he more than an out and out CF? I mean can he occasionally switch to the wings and rotate positions with the front three...? For 4-3-3 I mean....

Lipton must've been hiding in the bin then to have seen that....

Thought he looked more like Ryan Stiles from "whose line is it...."

4-3-3 is still our most successful formation..That being said, we don't always have to rely upon one formation... and the game's different now..there's no such thing as a rigid formation in any of the good teams.... And is there any inkling of truth about us going to get Porto players? I don't think we're going to sign players from the new manager's former club just for the sake of it...with Mourinho it was different as we were still finishing a half built squad... And if its one thing we don't really need from Porto right now its another striker....

They only pretend to be....

And also the bad publicity he gathered because of the press conferences and other comments....

As long as Abramovich remains happy with him, I'll be happy

As for a revolution or not...The question is what kind of tactics he's going to employ... He says he's an admirer of Pep...so does that mean he's going to implement necessarily free flowing football? It may work fine in Porto or in Europe but the championship is a different matter Scolari tried doing something similar with us and failed...but then again he was an old grouse... As for a squad overhaul...don't see it happening really... 1 or 2 old players leaving and 2-3 new ones coming in....that's my guess... Then again as long as its a quality squad at the end of the day,it should suit AVB fine...

Off-topic: Exactly he's even said in interviews that he can perform better as a sub because opponents are usually worn out when he enters the pitch...He's also said he's no longer interested in travelling abroad to another club as those days are behind him....

There's still time for another Blue News announcement isn't there?

Hell Yeah!!!!

Moutinho would be a good choice...with our current strike force I doubt we can accomodate Falcao.... Anyways...this could just be media hogwash again, like how Pirlo and Gattuso were linked on Carlo's arrival

I just hope we aren't forced to come back to our senses and start cursing again....

He used to work for Mourinho at Chels...so he should be knowing the players quite well....