OneMoSalah

Suppose comparing the signing of a striker, who was very very good for us yes to not signing a winger/10, who would of done excellently here (don't think that is in doubt) is a reasonable thing to waste time writing an article on now a days. Don't think signing a number 10/wide player would of meant we wouldn't have signed a striker. Or do people believe Roman who has spent fuck know how much money would of said no to Drogba if did get Ronaldinho? Fuck sake. When will the signing Zhirkov instead of Ribery article be released.

At the same time, someone who is almost 28 is in their prime years and should realistically be at their best level to 30 or 31 before declining. I'm not Zaha's biggest fan, although he wouldn't be the worst move but still think his game lacks end product and even from playing in pretty much a free role at times with Palace he hasn't really put up stats that make me go wow. 10 goals and 5 PL assists for Palace in 34 games maybe seems decent but still, I would be a bit concerned with spending 60-80m on him although that is just the way the market is these days I suppose. With Pedro and Willian ageing though, maybe having someone who is in their prime years and probably able to replicate their outputs isn't the worst idea without realistically getting in Pulisic and Callums long term development either.

Hope that article is a piss take and that the guy who wrote it isn't actually a real journalist. Holy fuck. Embarrassing. Also Frank has said he hasn't been offered it officially but has stated a few interesting numbers are available this season, or were, 4 (although I think the chances are Christensens taken it after wearing it in preseason), 9 (although think Tammy is taking it) and 10 (would rather see it go to Ruben, Callum or Pulisic tbf).

Why didnt we just sell him, its clear he has no future here. Absolutely none at all. Its not even like he cost 20m so its hardly as if taking a loss of 3.5m or whatever he cost is a issue.

Maybe nobody wants to buy him considering we paid 24m for him or whatever. I'd imagine we will want at least 15-20m for him. His contract expires in 2 seasons yet. I dont think we will take a huge loss for him.

Still regardless, there were individuals who were continuously coming for him for no other reason at times, which when your evaluating a player or criticising a player for nothing to do with his on the field performances, is really pathetic. Even when he wasn't performing good because he was Sarri's "favourite" or someone who people would see as the main figure head of that Sarri ball etc he was being criticised when there were players who played a lot worse or turned it on and off when they wanted. I am sure the fans boo'd him at a few of the games too. In my eyes, nobody else was held to the same sort of circumstances or standards last season, which if your going to judge 1 player that way, you'd may as well judge them all that way or not at all. I think everyone seen towards the end of the season that there is definitely a player there and I must admit I am excited to see how he does under Lampard.

Wouldnt renew and had 1 year left on his contract. Also had an agreement in place with president to be allowed to leave. Still surprised Napoli didnt go for him they were heavily linked but theres talk of them getting James so maybe Carlo would take a punt on him as hes worked with him, which makes sense. Dont think he is damaged goods as such, hes maybe had a few injuries but he is brilliant on his day and is a real coup for Betis.

We had 9 last season before January. Suppose with the u21s we will manage anyway thought it had to be 8 registered and then the u21s were just there and counted as squad members without being registered. Then Cesc, Lucas and Moses left I suppose and there spaces were never actually filled in the squad so thats probably how that worked. Rob Green, Gary Cahill, Andreas Christensen, Danny Drinkwater, Cesc Fabregas, Ruben Loftus-Cheek, Ross Barkley, Victor Moses and Lucas Piazon. Still think it will keep Drinkwater around this season. https://www.premierleague.com/news/844127

I thought the rule was you needed 8 HG players to balance out the 17 non HG. Either HG as in English/Welsh or oversea players who have spent 3 years at English/Welsh academies prior to turning 21.

Yeah it will be curious where he will play. I can see MF more than CB. Paul Mitchell obviously picked him out, head of recruitment there. I think he can excel in MF there. Hes very sharp into the challenge and isn't afraid to get on the ball. Wales have used him in MF too.

So if this is true, I assume Drinkwater stays to make up part of the 8 HG slots needed then. Barkley, Drinkwater, Ruben, CHO, Andreas, Mount, James and Tammy? Don't think I've missed anyone thats in the current squad just now that is realistically going to be there.

He doesn't even have 50 appearances and tbf, his most impressive performances have been in the Europa League. Fair enough the markets fucked but again what if he has 2 good seasons and wants a new contract, where do we go then? 200K? 300K? 350K? 100k is maybe not as bad as say 180K but leaves us in a weak position if he goes and has a few good seasons and we want him to renew. He can basically just go well I'm on 100k or 180k, I've had a few good seasons, I want double.... I'm not going to agree with the comments about him being a mercenary which is ludicrous and laughable but with modern day football, it does help players secure bigger contracts but still think he has a lot to show now to justify getting that sort of money. I made a joke about United paying Rashford 250K or whatever with his new deal despite having not really kicked on as much as he should have but the chances are in 2 seasons down the line if the club or Callum wants to renew , we will be in exactly the same position. Especially if its 180K a week. Regardless of if hes kicked on or not. There is no doubt regarding his talent, it was clear to see when Conte played him against Bournemouth and Newcastle, he had something about him but again, hes excelled in the Europa League and looked middle of the road in the PL. I'd like to have seen him do a bit more in the PL before he got injured to warrant the club giving him a huge financial contract like that but the way the market is and also the fact as previously alluded he did have a bit of leverage as we have a transfer ban and 3 wingers etc, has helped him. Lets just hope he kicks on because there have been kids who have penned huge deals and just coasted from there onward, although I don't think he will coast it and he will continue to develop here.

100k or 180k a week for someone whos not played 50 pro games for me is a disgrace. At those figures he has to deliver something this season. Rumours he wants to discuss his shirt number before signing new deal too. What has football come to.

If we could register players Id like to see us take a punt on Dalbert in a player swap. Think hes got potential to get better.

Exactly. Personally after seeing Edersons first season at City surprised Benfica didnt want 50 or 60m. Generally think for a Pep team with his distribution on top of being a very good GK, 35m is an absolute steal. Especially when you look at Pickford costing the same and being nowhere near as good. Still think ter Stegen for 15m or whatever and Oblak for 16m is two of the best value for money deals in the last 10 years.

Also if Kepa is here for the 7 seasons or whatever he signed for, hardly a bad long term investment. 71.5m for 7 season works out reasonable. Although we paid straight up but still looking at it like that generally dont see what the hassle is.

Do you honestly think Bulka was ever gonna be good enough to play ahead of Kepa at any moment in time last season? Lets be honest, if he was we wouldnt have kept Caballero about as a back up or signed Rob Green as a third choice. Or spent 71m on Kepa if he was ready to play. Kepa is much much better there is not even a realistic debate to be had, if you watched us last season, which I am sure you did, you would of seen Kepa was pretty good for his first season. Argubaly a lot better and consistent than David De Gea fared overall in his first season too (although he was perhaps not as physically filled out, although Kepa can still improve that). Not saying he will reach that level but he will be a very very good Gk undoubtedly and 71m over say what he penned a 7 year contract, if he sees it out, hardly that bad is it? Do you think the club would of spent 71m on a 24 year old GK if there was a kid in the academy at the same or similar level? I mean I know our record with youth is bad with the outfield players but it would of made absolutely no sense at all to sell Courtois and sign Kepa if Bulka was remotely anywhere near good enough. Outfield players I think its different because predominantly young goalkeepers if they are good enough, it is much much more clear to see than with outfield players. For example, Courtois at Genk, De Gea at Atletico and Oblak at Olimpija Ljubljana and Benfica. Sure there are the late bloomers too, which if anyrhing Marcin could have more a chance of being than establishing himself at his current younger age but still I mean I would be very shocked if Bulka makes the grade at PSG ahead of Areola or Kevin Trapp if he doesnt leave (who arent better than Kepa either). The fact we didnt try and push further contract talks with Marcin after November also makes me think the club do not expect him to go on and make us regret letting him leave. Yes he was decent last pre season and also did well in a few years at the academy but I didnt see anything from him that made me think wow he will be a first team player here. On to the game. Mount, Pulisic and Tammy all looked good for me. Lots of work still to do but it was encouraging to see some good intensity and pressing from the younger guys, if the whole team buys into it better than we did with Sarri at times last year (was one of our biggest problems out of possession) then it could be very good for us. Think now a days, with everyone trying to play and build from the back, that having an effective high press is an absolute must. Sure it can be bypassed by a long ball or passing through it but if we can perfect it with players like Willian, Pulisic, Mount, Ruben etc we can profit I feel. I think we have more chance of creating chances from counter attacking/transitioning from winning the ball high up than from playing through teams at the minute.

An Everton CB? Yerry Mina has been disaster for them and Michael Keane is bang average. Zouma was probably their best CB last year. They are lacking CBs so loaning one to sign one wont happen on their part I would think. For all the minutes Tomori will play, as I would imagine Andreas will be used in place of Rudi with him out, it makes no sense to retain both him and Zouma. If we desperately need to we can use Azpi at CB and go to the u23s to give us depth. If we want to give Zouma/Tomori and Andreas a chance to get regular minutes we need to go into the season with 4 CBs. For me, Rudi, Andreas, Luiz and Tomori is more than enough. Or if we loan Tomori, retain Zouma. 5 CBs is a bit excessive I think. Plus if we are really screwed use Aspi there as previously mentioned and go to u23s to make up numbers for the bench if it comes to it. Squads bit bloated this year, in defence and in midfield. We need to get rid of a few players: Keepers is fine. -At RB either loan Reece James so he can play and retain Zappa/sell Zappa and retain Reece James. -CB, as mentioned, maybe see either Tomori loaned or Zouma sold. Last year we had Rudi, Luiz, Cahill (basically frozen out), Christensen and Ampadu (who rarely played there as it was). 5 would be 1 too much, especially in an area of the pitch where you want settled partnerships. Having 5 and chopping and changing is a bad idea. All good teams are built on a solid foundation so I would like to think this is the first thing Frank will try and do is establish his first choice CB pairing and defence. Then give the other 2 guys a chance to show their worth in cup games and try work their way in. Plus not even mentioned the likes of Clarke-Salter, Trevor Chalobah etc who could be considered for that area of the pitch although not sure theyre at the level for thay yet. -LB with Alonso and Emerson, we arent gonna see any changes there. Kenedy isnt a LB and I would hope he is moved on. -Midfield is a bit heavy. Kante, Kova, Jorginho, Ruben, Ross and Mason are probably safe and wont be going anywhere. One of Bakayoko or Drinkwater has to go for definite, if not both. Still worried about how Frank intends on using Ross, Ruben and Mason because they all play the same position basically as the most advanced midfielder. -Wings are fine because we know who will be there and who wont be, or wont be when those who need to be moved on, are moved on. Willian, Pedro, CHO and Pulisic will be the 4 in the squad. -Strikers, not amazing pick but Giroud, Batshuayi and Tammy, look like the 3 we will be using.

Sell him. 2-5m euros or whatever. No point keeping.

If Zappacosta doesnt go we should try facilitate a loan deal there for him. If Zappa goes he must stay, simple as that.

Still think their biggest loss is Ander Herrera. Brought energy and discipline to their MF. No coincidence that when he didnt play they struggled. If Pogba can get some consistency and they find a suitable replacement for Herrera I think they could surprise a lot of people. If Lukaku stays there too they will have their 20 goals uptop.

Nervous... or shite. He really looks illsuited in our team. That game vs United where he and Morata played well is a long long long time ago.

FL going to use mix of youth and experience. Squad of 25 players, at least 15 of them will be heavily experienced in football so yes point out the obvious. But still, in my eyes, very premature to write something like "to use perfect mix of youth and experience" because weve only played 2 pre season games in which I doubt he knows his best team and we will shift players still. I mean 3 academy players made over 60 games between them last season and you could argue that any of those 3 and 8, 9 or 10 other more experienced guys was the perfect mix at times if the result or performances went well. But hey. Theres no formula or equation to ensure a team has the correct number of young guys and more experienced. It will be what it will be, be it maybe 2 or 3 academy guys in the first 11 or 8 of them. People reading far too much into all this youth stuff, this isnt the same circumstances as Derby and I think when the transfer ban is gone people will soon realise that maybe this is the biggest reason why we will be using more youth in the 25 man squad as opposed to feeling they are all ready. Its a double ended sword. For instance, do you think if we could of bought a CF this summer say Tammy Abraham would be sticking around? Or if Ruben wasnt injured, Mason wouldnt be being looked at as a potential loanee (although hes caught the eye so far indeed and thats what pre season is for)? Fair enough before the season ended, probably well before May, Reece James had a very strong case for being included as he was arguably Wigans best player week in week out at 18 or 19 years old and Zappacosta was being linked away and didnt get a January move. But before the ban was confirmed how many thought Tammy, Mason, Tomori would be first team players this season? Probably not a lot. And if FL goes for the more tried and tested experienced heads the first few weeks of the season for the likes of United and the Super Cup games, will there be uproar? Or is it just sensible management? Suppose we will find out.

Brendan Rodgers has spent 30m on Ayoze Perez and will now spend 45m on Lewis Dunk. Jesus christ.

Honestly would rather see Christensen given more game time and Tomori being used in cup games if it means we can get 30 or 40m for him. Good defender but struggles on the ball for me still.