OneMoSalah

Think he is a better all round player in comparison to Lucas Moura for sure (also he’s probably better than Willian). He has decent end product, more consistency than Lucas, maybe not as pacey as the Brazilian but I think his close control is better, plus he’s a year younger with a lot higher potential imo (already a superior player to Lucas Moura already). Only problem for me would be if he could play more on the right as he is generally more often used as a left winger/10. Think he’s played as an advanced CM for Paris too recently not sure. I know our formation isn’t as flexible as Paris’ either but in a 343 he could operate in one of those positions of the front for sure. Think the general view with Draxler as a whole has been a lack of goals for a player of his quality. Everybody knows he has the talent, he’s shown that in the Bundesliga and for Germany in spurts since coming onto the scene, maybe at Wolfsburg it hadn’t shown through as much and at Paris he’s maybe struggled for regular minutes in a better suited role due to Neymars arrival but think he has the skill set and quality to be a good player in the PL. Talk of Liverpool wanting him on loan, I don’t know if that would be best move for him because of their forward options already unless he plays in midfield role as opposed to the wing. Also Bayern reportedly looking at him. Think we should really consider a move for him in Jan, don’t think he would be unattainable.

This has been an issue with the PL for years, same with the winter break/winter schedule and it doesn’t look anymore likely that they will address it unfortunately which is a shame as it severely weakens the PL come the latter stages of CL/EL and also the National teams come summer tournaments. A lot of people maybe won’t think it affects a lot or whatever but they get 30 days off in Germany, 24 days in France, 18 days in Spain, 16 days in Italy and however long wherever else, it would help PL sides a lot. It’s being used as a trial as such up in th Scottish Premier Division this year. Liverpool have had an extra day to rest in comparison to us unfortunately but I don’t think it’s a huge concern because every set of CL/Europa fixtures there is always a team that complains, unfortunately the Prem (specifically in at Christmas due to so many games in short space of time) makes a lot of money through television rights and at this rate it won’t slow down, hopefully it can be looked at more and sorted in the future. I think we’ll still manage to turn up and give a good performance at Anfield, its not like Liverpool have had a full week to prepare, they play energy sapping football which they press a lot cover a lot of ground more than the average team, so perhaps along with their tendencies to drop off in second halfs and latter stages of the season, it won’t be as much of a booster as many think.

Get Draxler instead.

Apparently him/his agent and the club have put contract talks on hold to towards the end of the season. Or that’s what the rumors are. I don’t see any issue, his deal expires in 2019, why is everybody so concerned the club should be looking to achieve as much as they can this season then deal with the contracts. There’s talk of Madrid and Tibo but there’s been talk of Madrid before he even made his first competitive game for Chelsea. It’s nothing new. Come the latter stages of the season I reckon 3 or 4 players will be close to sealing new deals. Strengthening in January has got to be top priority at CF and LWB. I think the clubs also probably concerned about possibly having to find another manager at the end of the season, personally don’t think Conte will go but if the January transfer window doesn’t show some sort of push towards who Conte wants as opposed to the club then that along with rumors of Italy, Milan, PSG, whoever else wanting him, Carlo’s availability and apparent willingness “to work at Chelsea” again who knows?

Lining up with 352 is a must. Gives us the chance to match Liverpool up in MF and still carry a threat with Cesc, Eden and Morata all playing while retaining a good platform with both Baka and Kante in MF. Morata will need to hold the ball up well like he did against United to bring others into play as we are to going to have to go long at times to beat their press. I am a bit concerned about Salah up against Cahill/Rudiger, more than Mane up against Azpi or Firmino against Andreas/Luiz because Liverpool will undoubtably push their attackers right up against our back 3 and I think Salah right now is playing fantastic, he will be a huge threat in 1v1s, as will Mane, Firmino and Coutinho as they all have their own qualities, particularly Firmino who knits everything together up front with his clever movement and link up play. I think 343 is a good option to swap to if the games goalless come 70/75 minutes because their full backs are weak defensively and they are usually quite high, there’s a real weakness for us to look to exploit there. Also at set plays we have to try capitalise on them at all costs, Sevilla are by no means a big team but they gave Liverpool headaches from set plays in the game the other night.

Is it really an issue? 😂 I know your just pointing it out but Regardless though he was solid again tonight after coming on. Although don’t like seeing Azpi at LWB, RCB role is his best position.

Would have rested Azpi and Alonso tbf, they’ve played a lot of minutes, big match coming up vs Liverpool although this lot are no pushover.

Should wait and see how he gets on next season if he stays at Watford, if he can a similar effect next year consider him yes but I have my doubts. To be honest I can’t see a Man United or Man City signing him for obvious reasons or even Arsenal due to the fact they have Iwobi, Walcott, Sanchez (maybe not for long) also Ozil (maybe not for long) and Welbeck as well who play wider areas. Spurs maybe but honestly think he’d be a shoe in for Everton in all fairness, they lack a player who offers directness and real pace. He’ll be about that level when he hits his peak I reckon. Genuinely dont think he’ll ever be a top 4 player, not sure he’s better than David Neres who plays for Ajax or Andreas Pereira, United player on loan at Valencia, two other talented Brazilian attacking players at a similar age. I genuinely believe Pereira would be getting regular PL minutes if he wasn’t playing for Jose Mourinho at Man United. Neres still a lot to prove but a guy with a huge ceiling imo, Ajax right club for him just now but will move eventually. Richarlisons rolling about and diving has to stop though. Pathetic.

I’d agree but 343 is always very useful and a good alternative to have. Musonda not a reliable option yet for me, not enough experience at the highest level so if we were to lose Willian and have to resort to 343 if Eden picked up an injury for instance we’d be pretty paper thin in attack. Although we already are. Need a striker and winger in January or the summer.

Whole defence and team looks a lot more settled with Andreas in it. Luiz had the same effect a lot last year though but I do believe the system helps him more than Andreas. He was the last line of defence usually, if Cahill or Azpi struggled or were beaten he was there sweeping up, generally suits Luiz more than what it did seeing him play in a back 4 I feel. Right now I’d keep Andreas in the team, in fact I’d keep same back 3 at present.

Selling him for right price is a good move only if his replacement is a better player. Lucas Moura is not a better player, worse, just younger, has arguably the same defects Willian does: poor decision making at times, lacks consistent end product, doesn’t score enough goals. Has to be an improvement. I’m glad the club have decided Pedro is the better player to keep out of the two or so I’d say, think some people don’t realise he has got a bit more guile and more end product than Willian although they can both be equally frustrating.

I thought the logic was you praise players when they perform and criticise them when they don’t? If it matters what team they play against then we’d be may as well judging players based on 10 PL games a season, home and away performances vs City, United, Arsenal, Spurs, Liverpool... games where we normally sit compact and based on how people on here react to that and the performances nobody would rate anybody. I’ll admit if we had the chance to keep Matic and not sign Baka I’d have taken it because Matic is tried and tested, a better player offers more at present etc etc but in an ideal world we’d still have lots of players. I think it’s incredibly stupid to write off a 23 or 24 year old player in his first season at the club. In a new system. He was pretty good against Man United and if RLC flopped against Germany this conversation wouldn’t be happening. Just typical the media stirring the pot as usual. Baka has more PL goals and assists than RLC. Not seen that in any papers

Going by your logic I’m assuming you didn’t make much of Cesc, Eden or Morata’s performances either? Seeing as it was only the mighty West Brom. You can only beat what’s infront of you. Like Beigl mentioned above Baka was even better vs Man United than yesterday. He hasn’t been great in some matches but he was certainly good in the last 2 games. Again people comparing him to RLC, it’s totally pointless because they aren’t exactly the same position, even then talking about his position hes playing in a wider position for Palace than he has for Chelsea or England. I think people are getting carried away over his performances in the friendly vs Germany. It was impressive but it was also a dead rubber match. I think he looked decent for Palace against Everton at times yesterday too but playing out wide.

21 y/o Uruguayan central midfield player at Sampdoria. Not sure there was a thread for him. Watched the Sampdoria-Juventus game today and thought he was outstanding. Really does everything, good with the ball, wins it back, covers a lot of ground, retains ball well under opposition pressure.. he really looks like a complete MF player. One to keep an eye on come the summer, think he will not be short of suitors. Maybe striking a deal for him and loaning him back to Sampdoria for another season would be more like sense unless he was to get regular game time here but he is a real talent. Somebody will snap him up in the next summer for sure if they don’t in January. I think he’d be a good alternative to Fabregas, much more mobile, maybe not got as good a passing range but he would be a good option to look at.

No. He was terrible that season in contrast to every other year he’d been here, there is no unfair stigma or whatever based on that season, it’s genuine that he was incredibly poor and it got so bad that even Guus didn’t play him from the start ahead of Pedro or Willian. It can happen but there should be no excuses for a player of his ability to ever perform that poorly, especially a few months after a season where he had just won player of the year and been crucial to our title win. His performances this season are good, he should be looking to perform at such a level every match, the whole best player in the world accolade I think that’s beyond him but he can be the best player in the PL without a doubt by a country mile. Unfortunately goals and assists do matter so hopefully he can get more and more. Him and Morata are a joy to watch at times.

Think Milan will want to keep him at all costs in all fairness. He’s come a long way from making his debut a few seasons ago, good talent, maybe bit under the radar and although they have Conti I think he will stay and eventually become first choice if he isn’t already, last time I seen Conti was injured and Abate is definitely 30+. Who knows I’m the future possibly, I’m sure Conte is more than aware of him but he needs a lot more room to grow and he will get that at Milan more than here.

Never like having to go up against West Brom, even when they are in poor form they are organised to a certain extent. Will be tough. 343 probably better suited to 352 but we will see come the match. Pedro-Morata-Hazard front three.

Please no. Avoid him. At all costs.

Looked good for Germany in Confed Cup or whatever it was (ok was their B team effectively but still) and capable of playing deeper or higher up. Think injuries are a bit of a theme for him but still he’s bound to be a better player than Danny Drinkwater. Much more growth as well. Or alternatively I’d like to see us consider keeping MvG in the summer, he has scored a crazy amount of goals for PSV as a CM since going there, he’s a very rounded player.

But he can also be quite thuggish and reckless. Has a good skill set but seems to be fading a bit at PSG. I really like Rabiot actually think he’s a very good player.

I don’t have a problem with your opinion Leif or that you want to share your opinion because what use is a forum if people can’t have different points of view but my issue was with Ian Wright’s comment, who I think if he had watched Bakayoko more would maybe notice the difference in profiles. Or even if it wasn’t two Chelsea players who knows. Really think he can be a bit of depth when talking about football on ITV or MOTD other than the forward related stuff, maybe a bit of a silly opinion but it’s what I think lol. I think in Britain (I’m Scottish so have seen pundits being OTT with some players in past, particularly Celtic players) we tend to overrate youngsters but that’s because we, British football, hold ourselves against the highest standards, guys like RLC, Tammy Abraham, Joe Gomez, Phil Foden, Jordan Pickford etc. I believe they’ll go and do good things at club and international level. The same with Scottish players like Andy Robertson (now at Liverpool), Ryan Gauld (maybe not worked out for him yet), Kieran Tierney, Oliver Burke and even for Wales the kid Woodburn, looks an absolute gem as well as our own youngster Ethan Ampadu. It’s just people tend to get carried away, in the past we’ve seen it with Wilshere, poor guy had immense talent and after a few exceptional matches he was dubbed better than player X or player Y Arsenal signed based on that, who were totally different players. It’s a common thing at club level, people forget Bakayoko is a young man still, so is Ruben but out of the two one is miles ahead in development. Also the whole thing with Ian Wright was comparing an 8 to a 10 (or so I’d say), I was extremely encouraged by what I seen from Ruben along with his minutes at Palace, I hope to see more vs Brazil because I was really skeptical about how good he was a few seasons ago when he was dubbed as ready and whatever. I think Mourinho didn’t help him much, which his dad apparently said in an interview recently but I don’t think getting overly excited and trying to compare him or say he’s better than a fully established Ligue 1 title winner who was a vital part of an extremely functional and exciting team who beat some of Europe’s biggest clubs last season is exactly fair either. Like I said in my previous post in reply to you I think if he comes back hes more chance being played in the front 3 and will have Willian, Pedro, Hazard, Musonda as competition. Not Bakayoko. Just like for England he will be competing with Lallana, Alli, Barkley etc. who may all be different profiles of players but they are all looking for that same attacking midfield/furthest forward midfielder birth. Maybe you disagree with all of that or bits of it fair enough. Think I m just enjoying posting a bit more often, some of it could be shite but fuck it 😂

Yeah valid points, it’s a difficult role to fill to be honest but I’d like to see us go for a Chelsea man if possible. Suppose if we get Campos and can make a valid first team path for guys with potential fair enough good move but time will tell.

Only Ian Wright would compare an attacking midfielder to a more defensive minded box to box midfielder. What a crock of shit. It’s clear that Baka is a bit more balanced, where as Ruben is more offensive minded but Ian Wright being Ian Wright compares two totally different players or so I’d say. Honestly I think he’s similar to a Ross Barkley off all people, a lot of folk have said Dele Alli but I don’t see the comparison, Alli is more of a goal scorer than a creator, somebody like Thomas Muller, always finds space in and around the box, where as Ruben is not. If Ruben were to play instead of anybody in our 3 man MF it would be Cesc imo but I don’t think he is the right fit if we want a more controlling midfielder in there though. I think Ruben will play off the front in a 3 although he’ll need to improve his goals and assists output because that will be what he’d be judged on, not how many Cruyff turns, nutmegs or whatever he does in a game v Germany. He made a few good decisions in final third, didnt over complicate things, played a nice long pass for Vardy too, I don’t think Bakayoko has that in his game to be as decisive in the final third but again Baka is more balanced, better at winning the ball back with tackles and interceptions, can still go forward (they are both similar in transitions) but I don’t think he is as forward thinking as Ruben. More chance of Baka in a MF 2 than RLC for me.

To be honest, all this talk of Luis Campos and what he’s done for Monaco in a similar role is a good thing sure but let’s not forget the other variables, like Jardim playing these young guys every week for 2/3 seasons in a league renowned for bringing through youth players, do you think those guys would get the same development in the PL? Even then some of these talents/less known players like like Sibide and Bakayoko all had a good bit of first team experience at other clubs prior to moves to there. Sure Campos has a good eye for talent but guys like Mbappe, Fabinho, Martial, Mendy werent exactly unknowns were they? They had the right place to develop, I don’t think youth scouting is our issue or ever wikl be, as we’ve seen with the club identifying guys like Courtois, KdB, Christensen, Lukaku, Musonda etc. our path to get people into the first team is the issue. Also the problem we’ve had recently is recruiting high profile targets: John Stones, Alex Sandro, Chamberlain, Llorente, Barkley, Bonucci and whoever else over the last 3-4 years etc. I think the club has enough lure to a point, but imagine a Zola, a Drogba, a Lampard, a Di Matteo, somebody who’s been through it with Chelsea (experience working with a technical director would be useful) and can sell the club that little bit more because it’s their club so to speak. If we want to go the way of Monaco and build a young team with the potential to win the league 3/4 years down the like then yes sign him up and listen to him but the big man upstairs and senior players want to compete for titles.

I think if he plays every week here he will eventually. I don’t think on an international stage it’s particularly correct to pick guys who play every two or three weeks ahead of guys playing every week, trust me I’ve seen years of Scotland playing guys who hardly ever played because they we’re at bigger clubs, it’s nonsense and 9/10 doesn’t work because they lack the match rhythm of somebody playing every week. I’m sure when he was at Mochengladbach he was a regular for Denmark. It will come. He has huge potential, anybody would have to be a fool to say otherwise but I think he needs to play every week (can’t be far off it now) to become a mainstay in the NT.