CHOULO19

He's been excellent for Germany, but surely anyone watching this tournament will say that Max Arnold has been the stand-out player. Just controlling everything for Germany and excelling both offensively and defensively. What a prospect!

Problem with loans is that the clubs we loan to have little interest in giving the players a chance and helping them integrate. Usually, unless they hit the ground running they are removed from the manager's plans.

Knowing Diego he'd probably try to elbow and stamp on the U7s....

I think a move to Torino would be ideal for him. It could be good for us as well if we manage to insert a buy-back clause.

The formation clearly did not suite him but he was massively disappointing. Even in instances when individual talent was required he did not get it right which is surprising given the season he's had at Vitesse. I think he needs a step up from the Dutch League, maybe a PL load, to prove that he can perform at a higher level. He can't have a career from just being great at set-pieces. He needs to show more.

To be fair he was isolated for the majority of the match as England were out-played and had to put 10 behind the ball for most of the match. But I do agree that he's a limited player out of no fault of his own. I hope he proves me wrong but he seems like a decent mid/lower table striker who just doesn't have that extra bit of quality to play at the highest level.

2-2 now. Proper semi final this! Beautifully set up for a late winner. Hopefully Tammy or Lewis get it.

Nonsense! According this forum the best LB in the world is Filipe Luis! Speaking of, can we please not go down that rabbit hole again and start making similar claims about Sandro? He's clearly a very good player who's** evolved well and has had an excellent season with Juve, but he's still got a lot to prove before he seriously starts to be mentioned in the same breathe as Marcello and Alaba. EDIT: **Who's as in "he has"! The internet has destroyed my knowledge of grammar...

We get 40m to weaken a direct rival? Sign me up!

Who has hurt you?

Maybe it's wishful thinking, but I want to believe that this is an indicator that Christensen is set to be given a proper chance here next season.

I see where you are coming from mate. I don't think anyone outside of Chelsea fans actually thinks Costa is 'world class'....whatever that means! But regarding prices, the market is almost completely random, especially with new TV and sponsorship deals almost every year. We could 100% get 50m for Costa if say a club like PSG wanted him. I mean we almost got - what was it? 60m? 70m?- for him in Jan from China. I think the days were 'market value' and selling prices of players were an indication of anything are probably behind us.

I guess, theoretically, we can keep him and he would have to perform his best especially with it being a WC year. But I just don't think Conte is the type of manager who would include him in his plans after all he's said. And, in practice, I have a feeling that keeping him would not end well. He's a player who's level is reliant on his mood and keeping here unhappy probably won't help anyone and would only lower his value further.

For some reason I remembered when it was said that Ozil was too ugly for Real Madrid!

Possible, but I think it would be a weird choice for him ahead of us because he will most likely get more playing time at a position he likes more and play a bigger role in the team here than at City. I think it's more likely that we were just never seriously interested in him. Which is a shame considering how well he's played this season.

Problem is, we're not in a position to dictate negotiations, are we? His wages can only be paid either by a top team or China/US, he doesn't seem to want to go to China, there aren't any other top team who seem to want him (at least not yet) and we clearly don't want to keep a player who has made it obvious that he isn't happy and doesn't want to stay. Unless we can get another team interested, we just don't have any leverage in this.

I don't really follow transfers closely, but can someone please explain to me why we are letting Alves go to City even though we desperately need wing backs and the role here would suite him better than that at City?

It could be that Conte actually texted it him that or it could be that he made it up because he wants to make sure that he leaves because either way he just demolished any chance of him staying here; which, if you've been looking closely, he's been trying to do for more than a year now. Diego is a good player who's played a major role in helping us win two PL titles. But he's not irreplaceable and the fact that he's not being linked to any of the top teams in Europe is evidence, I think, that he is overrated by us and the English media. I've never been a fan of his attitude neither on nor off the pitch, but I genuinely wish him all the best of luck and thank him for what he's helped the club achieve in his time here.

Didn't know where to post this, but anyway:

Almost never bodes well, especially against a top team.

I'm upset about the (first half) performance but can't be upset about the result. Arsenal deserve to win and, more than anything, we deserved to lose. And Moses deserves to be sold for that dive and overall performance...

Don't care one bit about the horrendous call in the goal. We're bloody lucky to be just 1-0 down in the opening half an hour!

Don't care how or by how many. JUT WIN!

I don't like going into cup finals as favorites...

The best response to the nonsense in the media about his send off: