OneMoSalah

People were wanting Zouma back after his season at Everton and also wanting Tomori as part of this using youth carry on. Defensively Kurt, (although he can still improve a lot), Andreas and Rudiger are better than David Luiz. That is a fact. Its probably been hard for Christensen and Zouma to have looked solid as a duo when they have played the equivalent of maybe 4 games together. Then as well in most of our pre season games we have been all over the place defensively as a unit. Whole back 4. Luiz arguably been the worst out of all the senior CBs weve used in pre season too. Yes Arsenal are crying out for a CB but we arent selling them Nesta or Maldini are we. There getting an error prone David Luiz, aged 32, on high wages. No sense? What sense is there in keeping someone who isnt regarded as a key player here or who doesnt want to be here without even taking into consideration his football ability. Taking his ability as a defender into consideration, it heavily favours selling in my eyes. Yes he can pass well but what goods that when the other teams strikers are running off him or hes all over the place or hes caught out of position... these arent new things either, these are things we have been saying since he arrived in 2011. Yes Tomori maybe needs to grow yet but being 4th choice and mainly playing cup games, hardly as if we are making him the cornerstone of our defense. Defensive frailties are already on show. Like I said Luiz was all over the place in pre season most matches and our back 4 as a unit was out of sync. The whole back 4 needs to improve yeah but dumping Luiz and building round another 2 younger CBs is an ideal way to move forward. Exactly.

Are people really outraged about selling a 32 year old who obviously isnt first choice for 8m? He is on over £100,000 a week and has a 2 year deal. Do the maths, 8m transfer fee plus not having to pay a minimum 5m salary for another 2 years. Sure we could have maybe gotten 10m or 12m or 15m but he doesnt want to be here, isnt the managers first choice, theres 4 other CBs at the club and really other than his passing he isnt quite good enough.

Sell him. Hes a fanny at the best of times. Rudiger, Chrisensen, Zouma and Tomori will do nicely. Hes only gotten worse in the last 2 seasons. Experienced or not. Also for all the games Tomori or Luiz if he stays now this season based off the talk not being guaranteed to start, I would rather he got that game time than Luiz.

Weird to me its taken all this time to get him sold. These youngish guys can still do a lot in their careers so being part of the loan army here for the likes of him, Piazon and Palasic etc is pointless. 5m for him is hardly a fee would of been haggling over either. Good luck to the guy, maybe not a CL level player but hes been a regular for Nigeria since he was 18 so he needs to keep playing, playing in La Liga isnt bad move either.

Shown little so far true, although surely they must realise the talent he has and I thought Juve would of rather seen him grow there considering as well the fact they usually try sign the best young Italians from other clubs as well as promoting from their own academy but the ultimate thing for me is, why the hell is Sarri keeping Higuain ahead of him after last seasons below average spell here? Where as Kean, 19 years old, scored 7 goals for Juve in 17 games last season. 2 goals for Italy in 3 matches too. I didnt realise they had first refusal but thats still a silly move from them. Along with swapping Cancelo for Danilo, selling Dybala and wanting Lukaku, been a ridiculous window for them all fairness. Still got de Ligt, Ramsey, Rabiot and Demiral in tbf but getting Lukaku, selling Dybala and selling Cancelo whos a vastly superior player to Danilo to someone who will compete against Juve in the CL? Its weird.

Yeah. Firstly selling Kean, then Danilo replacing Cancelo and now this. Absolutely baffling. Sarri must have something stronger in those cigarettes.

I will be when he resigns... 🤣

True but again firstly the reason was Sarri why he wouldnt look to sign, weve changed manager, he has raved about him in the press and realistically its still not further on than what it was 3 months ago. If it was any other player, it would be a bigger issue. Yes theres been talks but until hes pictured signing that contract its not done. Which is why many folk here are anxious, maybe he just fancies leaving?

Sure lets play against a team with plenty of energy and mobility in the middle of the park and pace without him. If hes even 75% fit he should start.

They wouldnt pay it which is now why there looking for loans. If Ake did end up going for 75m then modern football would have gone to fuck. Well it sort of already has.

Spurs agreed 70m euros fee according to Sky Italy. So take with pinch of salt but impressive signing if it happens. Really rate Dybala.

Every team that actively has 8 players in the opposition half will be suspect defensively. Not just Peps teams. Sarri had same issue here. Wenger had it at Arsenal... his way of football is still the most effective way in terms of preserving energy in the modern day. You run less keeping the ball, only really exerting a lot of energy recovering the ball. Other teams tire quicker because their exerting more physical effort chasing. Its not the only way to play football but in terms of how effective his way is, just look at his career and all the trophies hes won and all the players who want to work with him or clubs who would approach him in a heartbeat. CL is harder than domestic leagues, PL teams get fucked by the FA in comparison to other European teams who rearrange fixtures regularly but thats their choice and the FA are too busy taking television money to give a fuck about rescheduling. Fair enough Peps had issues at Barca, Bayern and City with the CL but hes also won 2 and did it in 3 years and made countless semi finals, for instance it took Mourinho 5 or 6 seasons to win 2 CLs and Sir Alex Ferguson 8 or 9 seasons to win 2 CLs. The team that beat Peps sides normally go to the final or win the CL too (Inter in 2009-10 - won it, us in 2012 - won it, Bayern in 2012-13 - won it, Real Madrid in 2013-14 - won it, Barcelona in 2014-15 - won it, Atletico in 2015-16 - finalists, 2016-17 and 2017-18 didnt get as far last 16 I think and then City lost to Spurs who made final last season), so his record is hardly anywhere near as bad for instance as Antonio Conte's or even Joses in recent times in the CL. Getting beat by the team who go on to win the CL is hardly the worst team to crash out to either. Think Peps career speaks for itself, hes not just am innovator as he has spent bucket loads of money at Barca, Bayern and City but his lack of European success after Barca isnt down to just him.

Yes but weve been hearing for weeks ever since Frank came in the door he would resign. I dont think anybodies panciking, I think its more just annoying now. If he wants to stay (which I would imagine je would considering FLs comments and the 180k a week) surely there should be an urgency to get it done quickly? Just strikes me as odd. Particularly after FLs comments and the whole wanting players who feel the club comments.

Zouma. Definitely agree on that. Luiz is probably gonna be an undoubted started too....

Yes true but you need more than that. Which is why I still have doubts regarding Kurt, he was good when he broke in with Jose here but he did always rely on pace to bail him out. Positionally he improved at Stoke and Everton a bit but playing CB for them and for Chelsea is a different thing altogether. Dont think pre season has gave anybody a huge chunk of confidence either, the whole back 4 in general. Would of took 40m off Everton for him in a heartbeat and rathered Tomori who looks more comfortable positionally.

Perhaps but theres been talk of him renewing since Lamps came in and it hasnt happened. We are about to kick off our season this upcoming weekend so if has no interest in renewing just sell him, take the cash, transfer ban or not better than losing him on a free. Your either here or your not, that has been the message Frank has been saying he wants players "who feel the club". The club has managed to get Ruben and Mason signed up as well since Frank came in as well as talk of getting Reece James and Trevor Chalobah being offered deals to renew so I would imagine an offer is on the table for Callum as well. Somethings making it complicated or it would be done by now. He knows he has the power with the club in a delicate position regarding transfers but cmon, the window shuts Thursday if he hasnt penned by then, who says he will? Hes in a strong position, contract running down, clubs after him....

Perhaps but Zouma is hardly better on the ball and he played every week at Everton. The guys a French international and he looks below bang average on the ball.

Considering Spurs spending though, Ndombele and now Bruno Fernandes if it happens, with FFP I would imagine they will need to recuperate some money despite their CL final run and the new stadium. Plus Spurs model has always relied on making profit on younger, lesser known players after developing them even though they are still trying to remain competitive and with a new stadium etc they obvioualy want to change. Bale, Modric, Walker, Trippier, rumors of Rose and now Eriksen too going. Kane could be one who if the offers far too good they cant say no as well. Think Eriksen will still get 50 or 60m for them even with one year left considering hes one of the top players in that position and has constantly delivered, providing goals and assists from midfield. Keeping him another season and losing him for free would be the same as if we kept Hazard for another year and let him go to Real on a free. Different from a direct rival but the money they paid and where hes come to, he cost about 10m so they will make a huge profit.

Perhaps but its hard to judge, the football in 2004-05 was totally different. It was a lot more physical and less open than what it is now. Teams like Spain played passing football with 7 or 8 slighter technical players for years before they won anything and they had little success because bigger physical, tactical teams were more dominant. I dont think that either team be it our 04/05 team or Peps City would wipe the floor with each other. For worse or for better I think City are maybe only just at the level that Bayern are at with Pep and their European record is very similar to what Pep did at Bayern. Pep will never reach the heights like he did at Barca though, not many will ever do it.

Leicester reportedly looking to the loan market to replace Maguire. No definite links as of yet and maybe Tomori will have to work hard to get in the Leicester team but I think it would be a good fit, good mobility for a CB and also comfortable with the ball at his feet under a manager like Brendan (who maybe has tainted links with us due to how Charly Musonda was handled at Celtic)... if theyd be interested I think it would be an excellent move.

We will truely see if the good old he never played with players on his level excuse will make a difference this season at Real in bringing him on that extra bit. Edens not been good in pre season but again pre season is a fitness and team shape thing more than anything. Real will have a tough season regardless too. Too much players in attacking positions and poor balance. If they lose Casemiro to injury they are fucked as they dont have a back up and when Real won the CLs he was a very underrated part of their team, masked Kroos' lack of mobility and defensive output while keeping it simple and letting those 2 dictate the game. Not the most glamorous player but a good one and theyve no back up. Plus the whole Bale scenario is a negative cloud and doesnt help.

Good move for him. Surprised that Everton or even Wolves didnt take a look at him to be fair. Still think he can play above Palace and Burnley (another team who were credited with interest) level but he will play every week still.

Was reading the first few pages after we signed him and its funny so many people thought he was better than both Matic and Chalobah (although he waa brought in to replace Nate). He was a waste buy although there was soem games with Conte he looked alright (well a lot better than the disaster that was Bakayoko). Dont think he even amounted the same game time Chalobah did under Conte that previous season before we bought him either. For the sake of his career, which he still has plenty to offer at a bit of a lower level, he needs to leave. And another thing nobody has considered is Reece James surprisingly confident and natural performances in a MF role for Wigan as well which is another option for Frank in and around there as well as at RB if Zappacosta goes. I think if we played 433 and it was still Sarri, he would of really fancied him in that 3 man MF but also think Frank might see him as a very capable option in those 2 deeper positions. Drinkwater could maybe cover those roles as hes suited to a 2 man MF more too but I dont think his wages or what he offers on the pitch warrants him staying.

Honestly I dont think we should wait to that late because inevitably, wait and see a deal for him will collapse or something or a club will try and get him dirt cheap and it will be rejected. I get being short but again, if it comes to the end of the window and hes still here, like Bakayoko and maybe Kenedy, chances are it will be another guy we will have sitting about costing the club money when he clearly isnt in Franks plans, where as Reece James obviously is one player he sees as a part of his squad. I do hope we manage to bin at least 2 of Bakayoko, Kenedy and Zappcosta.

Still think we should get rid of a few to trim the fat. I think Franks probably gonna have his work cut out keeping everyone in certain positions happy, the likes of at CB and at the number 10 position particularly. Thats without even mentioning Kenedy, Drinkwater, Bakayoko, Tomori who may or may jot be in the finalcut for the squad.