OneMoSalah

I hope we look at alternative options over Rice, there are surely more technically proficient and progressive midfielders of a similar type. I mean if it comes to it and Rice does come in fair enough but I cant help but feel anything over 50M will be far too much.

The adding the right players or quality instead of quantity is promising to see. Too many people getting really panicky because we havent signed Haaland/Lukaku, Locatelli/Rice or whoever yet but these things don’t always happen overnight. Even more so with the Euros still on going, its more difficult to so deals as nobody wants to discuss anything to they are done as some of these guys are still involved and for clubs if players impress at the Euros, their value goes up. Even the talk of Adama Traore as a squad/impact player, I don’t mind it, imagine bringing him on for 20-25 minutes in a game when people are tired to stretch a game? His end product has improved although still isn’t amazing but how many times does he get doubled up on or sometimes tripled up on? Think of the space he could create for others. How many fouls does he win also? I get it, Hakimi would of been better but at the same time Traore certainly isnt the worst player out there. RWBs a difficult role to find specialists who play there in and you’d probably have to say Traore is probably now in that mould.

Spell at Milan was tough but he was 18 or 19 and moved too soon. Did well at Porto, badly at Milan but they were a mess at the time and he went out on loan after his first season. Scored 10 goals for Seville which isn’t the worst return all things considering but he’s eclipsed his goal return every season since then. Looks on a good trajectory coming into his prime years where as Jovic was basically a one and a half season wonder and even then has only got double figures once in his career. Haller was unlucky that things didnt work at West Ham tbf because he has scored regularly everywhere he’s been. Ajax included now.

Isak is going to be a very good player undoubtedly but what gets me is that he is playing for his country on one of the biggest stages and every game, his finishing has been very bad. I know his goal return has been good in Spain and in Sweden when he broke onto the scene but what I have seen this tournament, its looked like he does the hard part then fucks the easier bit.

I think it depends more on Giroud. If he goes to Milan, then maybe Armando stays and is in the squad. He will get pre season by looks of it to show what he can do but still think he will get loaned either way. I mean Gilmour’s going on loan to play every week to aid his development so you’d think of we can find a similar club/deal for Broja, then the club will do the same. More so considering this talk of Haaland or wanting a striker, I dont think Tammy’s exactly a guaranteed sale yet due to his price tag either so Tuchel may have to find a way to incorporate him more if he cannot get another CF in/cannot get rid of him/Giroud leaves.

Would take him as a back up/someone to compete with Kante. More so than Rice. Much better use of the ball as well as the combative side but can he kick on another level?

If he plays every week at Norwich and it works out, fair play. Still skeptical though, don’t think he isnt able to contribute here but it would depend on whether he gets the minutes or not. Farke has a good reputation developing youngsters, Max Aarons, Ben Godfrey, Todd Cantwell, Emiliano Buendia, Jamal Lewis, James Maddison have all played under him and done well so that obviously ties in as well as his relationship with Tuchel and his philosophy. Agree with Tomo though, if Norwich start poorly and end up appointing a Sam Allardyce or Tony Pulis or someone of that ilk, a recall clause will be handy.

What a great move. €23m is a steal if he does anything near to what he did last season. Honestly someone bigger would of gambled for that price (had Atletico Madrid or Dortmund written all over it I felt) and may turn out smart business for Leipzig if he has another good season that builds on his last 2/3 years in Germany and Spain, then they’ll undoubtedly make profit on resale.

Managing his game time? Cmon man. He only started 10 or 11 games the whole season. If starting 10 or 11 games all season means you need your minutes managed (which btw he came on at HT in that friendly?) maybe theres more questionable things than why did Sarri feel the need to play him. Good job he doesn’t play in the championship also because the Saturday/Sunday then playing again Tuesday/Wednesday would kill him….. The injuries he had were back related and he does his ACL. Its just bad luck, look at how he did it, he basically took a ball down under pressure, bumped into someone and stumbled over, overextending as he fell so regardless of pitch, how many minutes he played likelihood is it would of happened regardless in same scenario. The friendly itself, whilst for a good cause, was a very stupid idea but Sarri playing the guys who played was hardly an issue as we had 17 days between that and the EL final IIRC so they all had to get some sort of match minutes in and a game is 100% more competitive and intense than training sessions.

Hes decent but hardly outstanding. Too streaky a player and have real doubts he will play at a higher level than Everton or as a back up CF for England. He only scored 5 PL goals in the second half of the season for Everton despite playing virtually every week. Got 11 league goals in the first half of the season but 6 of them came in that purple patch in the first 4 PL games, 1 v Tottenham, 3 v WBA, 1 v Palace, 1 v Brighton, where he was scoring with everything he touched.

Cant wrap players in cotton wool forever though. Or turn around and say why did the manager not rest him/play him because of the pitch. Players are gonna have to play on shit/artificial pitches at some point. You go and play a League 1 team at their ground in the FA cup you can bet the pitch isn’t going to be amazing or good at all. Or you play certain teams away in Europe again they may have these artificial pitches. It was the clubs idea to go and play a stupid exhibition game albeit for a good cause, when the season wasn’t finished. I mean why did we do that? Has he really? And even if so, not as if Barkleys a shining example either of a good player to compare him against considering he’s probably been in the paper for being pished more than people praising his performances since coming to the club. The reality is RLC had a spell of games where he was better in the Europa League than the PL games more often than not, got some goals true enough and looked promising but I don’t think hes shown anything in the past 2 seasons that makes anyone think we need to have this guy in the squad. What does he bring? Why should he be given a chance? Because he’s bigger physically? He doesn’t score or assist goals or even create chances enough to influence a game. Even then, he still rarely plays over 75 minutes in a game most weeks. He played 1974 mins across 33 games this season in the PL, Carabao Cup and FA cup. On average thats under 60 mins per game he’s completing. He played over 75 minutes in half of his games this season. If we want to strengthen the team/squad, he shouldn’t be in it. Neither should Barkley. They may get a chance buts its a waste of time. Sell both. Or will we just give everyone who’s done well in a Chelsea shirt for like 10 games a second chance?

Sure and next we can try Ross Barkley to see if he will come to the fore and be a good player for more than 4 games a season. Its not worth the risk.

Waste of time. Not going to improve this squad or starting 11. Unless TT does some sort of miracle coaching l

Away and stop talking nonsense 😂 Cesc was pivotal for us in the Mourinho and Conte title wins. He had like what over 30 assists in both of those seasons combined?

Was that when they sacked Jose? Or beforehand? Could have maybe seen the links after his time at Leipzig but even then Poch was there wasn’t he? I think he was actually/maybe linked here when FL was sacked but if the links were true, would definitely be more because he had worked with Werner as opposed to anything else I reckon. And well probably because he couldn’t have done a worse job either but who knows.

That is true but again, I think the players he’s brought in, they are maybe more for the long term as opposed to trying to instantly improve their side. They received crazy money for van Dijk but had almost squandered the same amount in the summer looking at some of Pellegrino’s summer buys. Horrendous. But would say that Hasenhuttl still hasn’t brought them on much much further which is maybe why top clubs don’t get linked with him. They are quite bold playing the way they do 442, high line, counter pressing but getting pumped 9-0 in 2 games in 2 seasons cannot help either when top clubs look at managers.

He’s nothing special, maybe he will get there but him and Nuno are mediocre. Hasn’t really achieved anything of note with Southampton in 2 full seasons after keeping them up when he came where as at least Nuno has constantly had Wolves punching above their weight, in European competition, another 7th place finish etc to maybe push his case a bit. Few things with Hassenhuttl though, like has he actually signed a good player yet for Southampton bar Danny Ings permanently (who was actually signed by Mark Hufhes originally on loan) and maybe Che Adams (even then hardly done anything for Southampton)? I really don’t think his transfers have worked well for Southampton because every season they don’t look like they improve and either way they end up around 14/15/16th in the table after battling relegation for 80% of the season although they did get 11th the season beforehand so maybe unfair. And then the who has he really improved aspect to the point they should definitely be playing at a higher level? Hojbjerg, Ings, JWP? Not exactly inspiring is it?

I know but whilst a lot of them things are now seen as wrong (and in most cases wrong at the time also), at the time they probably weren’t seen as badly as they were because there isn’t this ‘cancelled/cancelling culture’ as you may call it. I mean the folk who dig these things up on folk. Why now? Why not 10-15 years ago when they originally tweeted/posted it or did the thing or whatever? If they were on the go then and didn’t do anything about it/weren’t offended by it, its even more moronic that they dig these things up. Their part of the problem as opposed to the solution. Also its an alien concept for some people that people change in 10-15 years. This is why I have severe worries about Millennials as we are probably the first group who have got really really involved with this ‘cancelled culture’ bullshit and it is/will continue to get even worse 🤣 I get theres wrong and there’s wrong (no relation to what Terrys done more just a generalisation of stuff now a days) but there is the tongue in cheek stuff that may occur (for instance certain comedians toeing the line) but so many people are so offended. And they are intentionally offended because they can be offended as opposed to being actually offended. Its almost fashionable to be a fud these days and get offended at next to nothing.

I think thats a bit OTT the Ronaldonho comparison maybe but regardless, lets be clear, this “free pass” won’t happen at City. Not a chance in hell. Thats a guarantee. And why would he at a team who keep so many clean sheets by being so good off the ball? The way football is now, with every coach obsessed with pressing to the intensity of teams like Liverpool, City, RB Leipzig, Bayern etc you cannot afford to give 1 player a free pass. Except maybe Messi and Ronaldo. I mean even Pep got rid of Ronaldinho and Deco in his first season at Barca…. two players who weren’t notoriously known for working hard off the ball.

Aye, regardless of if it was one, two, seventy one or however many saying it, does it have a source? Or is it just being spouted off the basis of an assumption? It may make sense (which again it doesn’t really) but that doesn’t mean its right 😂 I mean I have no doubt Ziyech is perhaps not so keen on staying as he was in and out with Tuchel last season but I have doubts he would be telling anyone not to sign for a club hes still contracted to regardless of if he wants to stay or go. And I don’t think thats something a club wouldn’t be able to find out/hear of either if it were happening from a player on their books in particular.

Your the second person I have seen making this comment, does this have a source or is it just absolute nonsense 🤣

Maybe but if they are going to go for young players and build their team up, its going to take them a while to even compete for top 4 properly I think. Maybe 2 seasons. They do need a couple of top players who are say 24-27 and can make an instant impact, particularly at CB and another one in midfield as Partey was in and out. I think maybe its more the shock their signing a 50m CB when they need so many player 😂 Is he worth 50m? Not right now, maybe never but hes English plays every week for a team who finished 16th although they’d only conceded 46 goals surprisingly. I think most teams fans would be annoyed at spending 50m on him.

Wouldn’t be too worried about Arsenal just yet. I mean their midfield alone if they sell Guendouezi, Xhaka, Torreira like being reported, it is going to be Partey, Elneny, possibly Lokonga and maybe Joe Willock (however that goes as Newcastle want to keep him). Partey is the only top player in that position. Not challenging top of the table with that as their options. Same for even if they sign Ben White, their options are Kieran Tierney, Gabriel, Rob Holding, Kolasinac, Cedric, Pablo Mari, Bellerin…. How many of them would actually good enough for a club like Arsenal? KT and Gabriel probably the only 2 and maybe Bellerin at a push. And is Ben White really that good like he’s going to go in and do what Dias, Laporte or van Dijk have done for City and Liverpool in recent seasons? Thats what they need. In attack their alright as they have some good players but you need more than an attack to compete. They are probably still another 2 good transfer windows off being really competitive again because that backline and midfield, the quality and depth isn’t there bar 3/4 players. And they wont be spending 200m+ this summer either.

What is Spur’s insistence on developing young players re a manager just now? I mean their academy theres a handful of guys who are decent probably but you need to have a good environment and good senior/more experienced players around them which arguably bar Son, Kane, Alderwereild, Lloris maybe they don’t have. I mean if Daniel Levy is expecting Spurs to be going places, developing guys like Joe Rodon, Oliver Skipp, Japhet Tanganga, Ryan Sessegnon, Jack Clarke etc, they will undoubtedly also have to get rid of some of the shite/average/questionable more senior players like Dele Alli, Erik Lamela, Eric Dier, Harry Winks, Matt Doherty, Ben Davies, Davinson Sanchez. Or they wont get anywhere. Nuno’s record with developing players is also questionable. I mean does he really develop all these players so much or are they not just good players that they buy through the link to Jorge Mendes? For example Ruben Neves, Diogo Jota, Pedro Neto, Rui Patricio, Joao Moutinho… they were all definitely good/decent players. Morgan Gibbs-White was a big thing from their academy, played a lot first season in the PL then rarely featured after. Maybe he can be credited with Jota, Pedro Neto and Traore’s improvements more but he’s bought well more than anything (if he buys the players that is).

£100m is a bit much for me but thats the market. Obviously he’s English so thats adds 30m on top of what he would usually cost probably. Very good player for Villa, improved his goals and assists this season but still only got 6 league goals & 10 league assists. Main problem he will have is will he be good at City where they have 65% of the ball and have to break teams down who double up on their wide players every game? A lot of the plaudits he gets for Villa is that he is able to get them up the pitch, very good on transitions on top of providing a moment of magic at times. City don’t play like that though, on transitions, so it’ll be different for him plus you have to buy into the Pep way of getting the ball back and workout hard without it, Grealish is given a license to roam for Villa. Obviously he is great at taking the ball and beating players but the point that Graeme Souness mentioned last season re him taking too many touches/not releasing the ball, I suppose we will finally see if he goes there because they play lots of 1 and 2 touch combinations in and around the box. I really think Sancho would be a better fit for them and Grealish would be a much better fit at United tbf. Suppose depending on Ziyech we might be interested in one of those two yet as well.