OneMoSalah

Especially hoping he can make that left side of our MF 3 his own. As much as I think Barkley has got fitter than hes ever been (so he says) and deserves a chance there is no comparison when you talk about genuine ability, its like chalk and cheese, honestly haven't been as excited about a player since the likes of Mata and Hazard.

It means one thing though, hes getting chances which after the countless Torres comparisons on the last 10 or 20 pages, is ironic because Torres didn't get chances. He'll get a few chances today I think, I've actually got a bet on him to score so lets see how that pans out haha.

Wait and see Napoli finish 4th or 5th under Carlo haha he'll be begging for him to come back. I think hes a good coach but again, like when he replaced Pep at Bayern, not the correct sort of replacement in my eyes. Not as intense too much of a ok go do what you want guy, where as Sarri is a really intense coach.

Daily Star... jesus christ... stopped reading after "That’s according to football club ownership expert James Montague." I'm sorry who? Does he work at Chelsea? Does he work for Abramovich? Who the fuck is he. Also "All they want to do is offload the club as quickly as possible and make their money back. They don’t actually think about the quality or the motivations of the people buying it.” what a load of shite, I bet Roman has had offers before, fuck off you dickhead. IF and big if, worse came to worse and he had to sell, yeah fair enough he'd make a profit on it I'm sure just because of how he has changed the club but he wouldn't sell us and not care as the guys making out. what a fucking tube.

Lets be honest. Mentality wise the guy never had it. There is a reason he went from the next big thing/next player to break through here at a top PL club, to a newly promoted PL club, to 3 championship clubs, Vitesse, and then back to another championship club in the space of 5 or 6 years. He never had the mentality for the big time. Look at other young players who have gone out on loan and come back or have been loaned out then sold, we've regretted some, guys like Matic, De Bruyne, Salah, even Chalobah who was 100 times the guy he was in terms of mentality and a much more rounded players. The fact hes saying shit like this, despite the fact hes playing at Brentford, says it all. Its not as if hes punching above his weight and outplaying the league, the guy is so average its unbelievable. He's 25 and his career has mounted to a pile of averageness but he wants to talk about regretting not going to Real Madrid lol, they probably have a worse record with youth than we do and you look at the young guys they discarded over the years. He never fit in at Swansea for whatever reason, fair enough but look at all his other loan spells he only really played at Vitesse and Middlesbrough and he went on loan 5 times.

Makes me wonder see if City signed Jorginho for Pep, would they say hes world class.... probably..

ESPN have some of the stupidest analysts/pundits I've ever seen on TV/social media. Honestly, "8th or 9th player I'd take out there team" the guy clearly has no understanding of football, he builds the play, dictates the tempo, hes like Busquets or Xavi at Barcelona in terms of their importance to the team. Footballers like these are so vital to modern day football.

Have to agree with the whole thing around the event and the talk of sulking etc but declining 60-70M from Barcelona doesn't really give us a leg to stand on. You don't turn that sort of money down because you believe hes important and then not look to bump up his terms to keep him do you?

I agree but don't think there's no hope for Morata, wouldn't say they are completely opposites. Lacazette is a great player though and everyone just thinks all he can do is score goals too, he always seems to know where to move, how to create space for himself, when to drop off and when to go in behind defences. Pity we never looked at him prior to moving to Arsenal he could have been a great alternative.

Brilliant performance against Real, cant remember the last time somebody has actually bullied Ramos and Varane in the manner he did (Messi has destroyed them time and time again but with finesse as opposed to what Costa did last night). Absolutely top drawer. Like previously mentioned above, Atletico have got a superb squad despite it being small and if everyone can remain fit they have every chance of winning something major this year. Everyone will say Griezmann is the main man for Atletico but I generally think that if Costa can play like that every week particularly in the bigger matches, it will undoubtedly be him who is the go to guy. Griezmann had an average world cup and although last night was one game looked pretty average if you ask me, although he is a superb player and its only one game in but I think Costa is more likely Atletico's go to man because he just embodies everything they are. I think Thomas Lemar will turn out to be an excellent signing for them, he reminds me of Malouda so much, takes the ball out wide, centrally, always willing to go beyond players and quite frankly he mucked in and did his fair share in terms of winning the ball back too which was quite surprising. Gelson Martins as well when he gets going will scare the hell out of players with his pace. Think Simeone will coach the two of them into really really efficient players more than anything else. Lemar especially needs it after his below par season last year in comparison to when Monaco won the league the season before that.

Having a director of football is a double ended sword. Plenty pros but also plenty cons. Ultimately I think if you have a good manager you should give him the power to sign players. If you have a manager with a good reputation or has a clear philosophy, good players will want to play for them anyway. Fair enough you see guys like Mochi who has done an amazing job with Sevilla firstly and also doing well at Roma and the guy who I believe was at Monaco? Lucas Campos? But again, known this clubs behaviour and patterns regarding managers, signings and all the other stuff, do these guys get final say over a manager in regards to a player? If things go wrong do they get more control in football related things than a manager? Or for example, what about Avram Grant for instance when he was here before he became manager, there was serious talk that his position as DOF undermined Mourinho's as manager and that among other things ultimately led to his dismissal and Grant being put in place as the manager. If a DOF appointment is made it has to be right guy and they have to be kept in check to do certain things. The thing is as well its not exactly a well refined position as every club that has one, their DOF do different jobs entirely than some of the other ones. It is very much a delicate decision to find the right one.

City will be fine. De Bruyne is a brilliant player but Bernardo Silva has shown he is more than capable of playing in that role and excelling. If the community shield and also the game against Arsenal is anything to go by Silva's performances probably would have kept him in the team anyway. Scary how they can just lose somebody like De Bruyne to injury and pop somebody in as good as him or even play Gundogan in that position. Crazy squad depth.

Going to Schalke would be literally be an amazing move for him, I still have my doubts about what he can contribute here but if he could get in the team there? Would be a great experience. German football is probably one of the most outstanding leagues for young attack minded players to develop in and Schalke were no mugs last season. Seriously think that him staying here and rejected this move will come back and bite him on the arse big style especially when Cesc and Kovacic are fit and back in the squad. Kovacic coming in on loan to sit on the bench is not happening. Someone said on other page learning from Sarri is better than playing 90 mins every week, I 100% disagree, hes a young guy, 22 years old, he needs to be playing.

Exactly and hes been the best striker we've had here in years. Just shows how easily fans turn on a player for next to fuck all.

Problematic? Like Kovacic who went on strike and didn't want to train at Real because he didn't want to be there unless he was guaranteed regular minutes? Before asking to train alone as he didn't want to be there? Unfortunately that is what footballers do these days. Its perhaps unfair to point it out on Kovacic but again it could be the same with Rabiot. Doesn't necessarily mean people are problematic if they don't want to extend contracts at their clubs or that, there is always other implications or reasons as opposed to automatically dubbing somebody "problematic". Yes there are rumours of an ego problem and yes he didn't want to be on the reserve list for France but I honestly don't think they will care seeing as they won the World Cup, if anything it was his loss. Anyway, Rabiot is a good footballer in my eyes, solid defensively, good technique, quite strong on the ball and wherever he goes if he doesn't remain at PSG beyond next season he'll be good. A lot of talk of Barcelona wanting him but now they have Vidal perhaps they've shelved that idea. I think as well PSG would be stupid to lose him because he came through their academy and despite all the money they have he is quite well suited to their midfield after maybe initially not being as regular as he would have wanted when they started signing big players. Only 23 years old, played over 150 games for PSG, plenty of room to improve and a lot of big teams will be after him.

Will still be Cahill when he plays 100%. Would be a daft move to strip a captain of it a year after giving him it on a proper basis and plus I think it would upset a few in the locker room perhaps to see that done. He won't play every week so it will be up to the likes of Azpi, Hazard, Luiz to take on the mantle. I think it will be Azpi.

Again don't see why anybody writes about this guy now. He left, we replaced him, why he left or whatever doesn't put me up or down. Nobody here should feel the need to have to cling onto articles about Thibaut Courtois considering he plays for Real Madrid.

I know but again Alonso isn't necessarily a bad player, hes been pretty solid and done well offensively since coming here, its just the lack of pace in a flat back 4 I think if he goes up or gets targeted by a Salah/Sterling/Sanchez or somebody who has genuine raw pace he will be found out a bit. He adds height, good option offensively and defensively from set plays, his attacking play is actually decent and hes obviously cool and collected on the ball so he fits the bill of what Sarri wants in a left back. I think Emerson is a good player too but maybe a bit more rough around the edges, maybe not, that couple of yards of pace he has on Alonso gives him a case but I am under the impression that hes not as defensively sound as Alonso. I'd like to see him be tried more this season than under Conte and even Zappacosta has looked a different man under Sarri in pre-season (which I suppose its only pre season but still) so I think our full back options (Azpi first choice at RB obviously) are more than decent enough just a few slight concerns regarding that. I am genuinely more concerned about Luiz than Alonso in terms of defending. No definitely 100% I think the pace is really his only weakness. Hes hardly slow as fuck but if he was a yard or two quicker I'd be a bit more confident in him defensively (hes more than solid enough but that bit of pace would be helpful against the guys I'd named up there, who are 100mph breakneck speed), maybe its an unfair criticism maybe not. Luiz's passing is a plus but I think its slightly overrated too, I think you look at Rudiger and Christensen, these guys are more than confident enough with the ball, they aren't going to panic and just punt it but there's been plenty of times over Luiz's career where hes willing to go for the spectacular pass too often, trying to force things and it doesn't come off and again it will happen probably, not always the worst thing but I am much more concerned about him defending at times because he can be extremely reckless or just doze off and he gets away with it sometimes and I feel that with this new way of playing, adapting to it for a while he might just get that complacency creeping in like last season before he got dropped/injured (the year after he had an outstanding season and was probably one of the best CBs in Europe I might add) and it could cost us. Hopefully not but I've never been 100% convinced about Luiz defensively.

Lets just hope we got 10 penalties then Jorginho can get double figures. I think Morata can get double figures (wait for the reaction haha), as well as Hazard, Willian and maybe Pedro (maybe because I think he just looks at home when hes in around the box, always did at Barca too)? I think goals in big games will be a problem for us maybe, I expect us to be much better against the smaller teams who play in a low block because the style we will play, we will always have the better quality, more options, always have some movement that will open up chances eventually but being clinical in big games has been an issue for us for a while. I think Hazard as much as I love the guy, some games last season, the bigger ones he tended to struggle to impose himself a bit but then some of the other ones he played much better. I know last season that period where he didn't play well was a blip but again the bigger matches some of the others players like Willian (those Barca games he was pretty good I felt though), Pedro, Cesc.. all struggled. So I hope that changes. If Valencia play 442 and Michy can establish himself then fair enough but I think still from what I seen, Marcelino likes his team to work hard as a unit, Michy has so much to improve off the ball and even in terms of holding it up and combining with others (that one goal v Brighton will not convince me that his link up play is good enough, that whole first season under Conte the closer to the goal away frm the build up, the better) so lets hope it comes good for him.

Yes, Torres in his first few PL years was probably world class but he had more physical problems than mental, started picking up injuries and then rushed to get that op to make the world cup in 2010 and many believe that ultimately fucked him. If he didn't lose that bit of pace he'd still of been at least a bit more useful but that physical change affected him so badly, every time he ran he looked as if he was treading water. Falcao is a huge mystery, the guy was unbelievable, such a scary player, one chance one goal, that good. Big injuries and shit loans didn't help. Anyway talking about 20+ goals a season in the PL, Drogba only ever managed that once in his career if I remember correctly, year he scored 29 goals think it was 09-10. It means nothing. Realistically I'd say 15 goals a season in the PL is a good return for a striker, basically 1 in every 2 games, don't think its not achievable for any of our strikers in all fairness (unless Morata goes and does it). I'm not 100% sure but Costa didn't even score more than 20 in the league in a season (dont think he was far off the first year and the last year he was here but don't think it was ever 20 or over).

Its an interesting move for him because Valencia have got some other strikers who done decent enough for them last season and now theyve just bought Kevin Gamerio too so I dont think hes going to be a automatic starter from the off. Lot of people saying hes our best striker or our most efficient but the guy when he had a chance to play here had never actually looked that convincing to give off the impression. Fair enough he didn't play every week but he got a run of games a while back and was awful. Half a season in Dortmund scoring against teams who were in the bottom half wont change that. One thing I think he has over Morata is that mentality where if he misses one it doesn't affect him but he has so much other things he needs to improve on. Still remember when we signed him, articles saying he played like Drogba and he even said he wanted to emulate his career etc, the guy was never ever ever going to be in the same ball park. Hope the move goes well for him but I generally think there will more chance of us bringing in another striker than him ever being our number 1. He just doesn't do enough for a system like Sarri's.

Hes been doing a lot of ball watching his entire Chelsea career. Its annoys fuck out me because that and recklessly trying to step out and fouling someone or taking himself out the game trying that happens almost every week. Conte and that back 3 helped him the first season he came back but old habits die hard, we seen last season where the same errors became more apparent. His quality on the ball was always going to buy him a life line under Sarri but still don't think it should make him a shoe in. Defenders should be able to defend to a degree first and foremost, Alonso as well, he can defend but lacks the pace to recover or get back in if hes been high up, which is a shame because it will hurt the team and if he was a wee bit quicker he'd be more than solid enough but even in some attacking situations you see his lack of pace can let us down. I have big doubts about Luiz and Alonso in a back 4 against a top team, can't wait to see it.

Torres would get praised if he could complete a 5 yard pass because he was that shite but for me Morata had a decent enough game, except for not scoring (if it happens for the rest of August then yeah I'd say we maybe have a problem) and its not the same context to say its a Torres situation that we are praising him for doing "nothing". If Morata had played shit but had scored it wouldn't be an issue because hes done what people expect him to do. Its a tough life for a striker in terms of being criticised (same with goalkeepers), play alright no goal = bad performance, score a goal but play bad = done the job. Fair enough 60m or whatever you want more, we all do, still wouldn't say he let anybody down yesterday or played so much worse than anybody else who had a bog standard game. Lets not kid on Torres got every excuse under the sun, from memory heres some of the classics: team plays defensive football, team doesn't create chances for him, system doesn't suit him... its not going to ever get that bad for any other player. Some of the shit people would say to defend him were quite embarrassing, the guy went through about 6 managers and not one of them could get him scoring regularly except Rafa Benitez, who generally decided to build the team around him and Mata more or less. I wouldnt say that was a mental problem, the way his career panned was more physical because he lost like 5 yards of pace in the space of 2 years. Morata on the other hand I think its just a mental problem, he gets over that he'll be fine.

Yes Kovacic isn't a huge goal scoring player but I wasn't just looking at goals and assists, Kovavic probably wont have much more than what RLC had but he was a second string player and sub at Real, where as RLC played every week as a winger in a team where he and Zaha when he returned were the key players realistically speaking. We all know Kovacic is a much better and much more developed player than RLC. He will offer much more to the team. Ruben was always going to struggle because as a player hes still got a lot to get. Kovacic isn't world class or isn't as good as some other top MF players in the PL but the one thing the guy has going for him is he is more than good enough to contribute straight away, hes always had the ability but never played regularly at Madrid, in my eyes he can make that jump and get much better because hes playing every week. He won't look out of place for us, Ruben would. Its a nice option maybe but for a 22 year old guy who needs to play its stupid to sit and play minutes only in the Europa League and cup games. If Fabregas and Kovacic weren't injured/not match fit Ruben wouldn't have been on the bench yesterdat.

Not sure. Maybe the loan market is still open not sure but it was odd. I think Kovacic will be given that freedom to get forward more, Kante can do it all anyway hes just that good that hes able to get back in and do what he has to do but Kovacic getting closer to the front 3 could be a big bonus, hes excellent technically, not the best goalscorer but I'm sure you know he can see a pass, can take the ball under pressure, can beat a man or two, he is quite a outstanding footballer who with a bit of consistency and continuity of playing every week can easily make the jump to the next level I feel. The likes of Hazard, Kovacic, Willian all combining with each other is going to be exciting for us this season.