OneMoSalah

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.

Still did Morata berate his team mates on said drought? Lukaku was isolated against us sure but he chose to join a Jose Mourinho team, should he have expected anything else in big games? To struggle at times? To be isolated against 3 CBs? For him to sit there and disrespectfully question his team mates, who have done and won a lot more than him in football over a question of “service” when he was virtually anonymous bar a 20 yard shot, which considering most of his goals come from the 18 yard box, is ridiculous and arrogant. I think his decision to join Man United was a good move for him (turned out to be very good for us as for me he’s an inferior all round player to Morata, perhaps more clinical than AM) as he can be a flat track bully vs smaller teams and get 15+ goals yes but against the big teams, not a chance he will be such as prolific a player.

Apparently berated his team mates in dressing room about a lack of service after we beat United. He was shite for them and I don’t know if he realises that strikers sometimes have to create their own chances. United aren’t Everton or West Brom. Think his goal drought is like 7 games now, hopefully will continue, can’t believe we were willing to pay 75m for somebody who can’t control a football.

Honestly I don’t think Ozil is the right player for us. He has all the talent in the world but honestly in the last 2 years he’s looked distinctly average most of the time and everybody already complains about Cesc’s off the ball work so imagine the upset there would be with Ozil. I’d rather Cesc than Ozil in the team because he is still able to dictate games in MF. It’s gotten so bad with Ozil that even Arsenal fans aren’t worried of he goes.

Good player. Not surprised he got a big move after his performances for Sassoulo, who punched big time about their weight under the now current Roma manager. Berardi another good player who is still at Sassoulo.

Still think he’ll go on loan again next year. If he continues playing at Palace and developes then again next year at some other club it would be a good move, he’s better playing every week than being an impact sub and playing cup games here because he’s not starting a game ahead of Cesc, Kanté or Bakayoko when they are even playing to 70% of their abilities. As of talk of Arturo Vidal, not a chance in hell thats happening, 50m for a 30+ y/o? Not a chance.

Honestly after watching him against City and even against other teams this season we’d be better to avoid him. There was a huge spell at starting of season he was on the bench. Players like him aren’t good for squad harmony, guys with similar attitudes who sit waving their hands about like panseys, berating their team mates and not looking interested because they’ve spat the dummy out, keep them away from here. Even Bayern Munich have said they aren’t interested in him anymore they know he’s already chose his next destination (where many reckon his wages will be extraordinary, apparently asking for similar/more than what Ozil wants). He may have won a lot at Barca but after watching his shit show at City game for Arsenal, not looking interested at all, waving his hands about like a tube, meh... guys like him should be trying to put themselves in the shop window not acting like a spoilt prick. Fortunately for us, there are always going to be right wingers about, it would be nice if we went after somebody younger like Malcom or Pulisic. Although I still think we’ll throw our hat in for Sanchez.

Barkley and Benteke? Benteke maybe a good option but will cost 30m+ easy and isn’t fit or hasn’t been great for Palace either. For me, Barkley even on a free is not worth taking. Sure he’s English but he’s played as a 10, 8 and even RW at Everton last few seasons and has never looked settled or particularly good at anything. He’s got a big frame but his decision making is truely awful, dribbles when he should pass, passes when he should dribble, let Spurs have him, he won’t start ahead of anything they’ve got either. Even if his decision making was better he’s still a poor quality of player.

Don’t see the huge rush regarding the new contract because I’m almost certain he signed a 5 and a half year deal back in February 2015? I think he’ll get one closer to the end of the season anyway same with Courtois and anybody else but honestly those guys in the last 18 months of their contracts should take first priority.

Fernandinho is not average. He is a top player. Suits City down to the ground and has done for years, playing as a 6 as opposed to a box to box midfield player like under Pellegrini but he has everything to his game: athleticism, technical ability, can create/score goals, defends well, reads game. I’d take him here in a heartbeat, think his price tag and age when he signed for City coming from Shakhtar was a risk at first but everybody seen how good he was instantly.

Emenalo leaving for me is a move in the right direction. We can always remember the players he’s signed who were successes, high profit sales, trophies weve won while he’s been in that role etc etc. Some things seem quite impressive in retrospect but let’s be honest, the way we went about in the transfer market after winning the CL and at the start of Jose’s second season back in charge was how we should of approached every summer, we wanted somebody and we got them signed very quickly or if somebody wasn’t attainable we got somebody else of similar quality. We had two huge summers after wining the league a few seasons back and last season, to cement ourselves again as the top team in the league, knowing everybody in top 4 or Top 6 would strengthen, his performance along with Marina in both of those summers was extremely questionable and poor in both summers. Various pundits and other managers had said that both those Chelsea teams could be a dominant force for years if I remember correctly. We were favourites to retain the title both seasons after romping to the league eventually but again the buck falls with Emenalo and Marina for the shocking recruitment and strategy in those windows. I mean even the guys we signed this summer, how long did it take to actually complete the deal for Bakayoko? For Morata? To make bids for Alex Sandro? I think MG has to go end of the season. New blood is needed, I don’t think somebody necessarily needs to be a technical director and not somebody like Frank who has 0 experience in a coaching or technical director role unfortunately, unless he works with somebody more experienced for a while to get to grips with it. It’s a pity, I think somebody like Steve Clarke or Gianfranco Zola would be a good choice for such a role, both have managerial experience and have worked with technical directors at clubs in the past. Don’t think it would happen but would be popular I’m sure.

Can’t see it happening. 1) He’s 30 years old. Do you think the club will spend 25m on a 30 year old who would be 31 before start of next season? 2) He is playing best football of his career as a striker. No way he’d start as a striker here ahead of Morata, not certain he’d be great outwide although he’s played there for Belgium but not to same standard or effect as he does for Napoli centrally. 3) More than likely would want to sign on a long contract and big wages, once he’s 33 or 34 he’d more than likely be sold on, could be hard to offload. 4) Even if signed and promised to play striker role would be off the bench. Can’t be any worse than Michy but again can’t see a 30 y/o in best form of his life coming here to be second choice CF.

Don’t think him being loaned out was a matter of if he could defend or not, it was more a matter of if he could get used to playing in a back 3 on a regular basis and learn the positioning and learning what to do with the ball. Hopefully he continues to feature for Stoke, he’s done right enough, I don’t think he has any problems physically as we all know but just technically and positionally. He could be back in the squad next year yes but would he feature regularly though?

Looked a lot better in a 3. Suits him more. Obviously the question is then do we continue with a back 3, 3 in CMF and Hazard off Morata or back to 343?

Fair play to Conte because Christensen came in today (after an up and down last few matches himself) and looked better than Luiz has in the last 3 or 4 games for me. Luiz has his pros and cons like anybody else but he’s been clumsy in the last few matches he’s played at center back.

Could of had a hattrick today. Just crucial moments his control let him down like when he feinted past Smalling and chose to do so again and also at the end. Class performance though.

To be honest he suit’s Liverpool a lot more than he would suit us. If I could have any player from Liverpool’s forward line it would be Mane. Think he’d be the perfect right sided player for us.

I don’t think so. Cahill isn’t even a marketable player either as opposed to an Eden or a Morata or whoever who maybe make the club money from sponsorships or image rights although that sort of things don’t happen too often in the Prem I believe. It’s mind blowing yes but I honestly think when Conte made Cahill vice captain or whatever in the absence of JT last year it showed he trusted him very much and he’s gone and made him captain so he is obviously a player he likes and wants in the team. Otherwise he wouldn’t have done that.

The benefit of a team willing to follow their manager, invest without hesitation and compete with teams to sign the best players.***** Napoli are an amazing team, play with such style and press high and City bar a wobble at first comfortably beat them once they got properly going. City this summer went for fullbacks and a GK that suited, as they desperately needed them, got them and already had the main bulk of their MF and FW line. They were good last season at points but two new full backs of high quality (never thought I’d say that about Kyle Walker) and a very good, assured, commanding GK and they are a different team. Like we could of been with Alex Sandro, Oxlade Chamberlain and Marco Verratti... well I’d imagine we wouldn’t get him but hey no harm trying 😂 To give Spurs credit they done excellently tonight too. The differences between ourselves, City and Spurs in the upstairs of the club so to speak is all different but they are showing that it can be done a different way as we’ve done in the past. There is no one way to run a club but these guys are reaping the rewards of different approaches.

Yeah valid points but again realistically selling Costa and Matic, two players who were extremely valuable to our squad in the two title wins in the past few years was never going to end well considering both are top 5 in the PL for their respected positions. Realistically (Or unrealistically) I think we should of maybe looked at offloading Cesc or benching him at the least and pursued a Veratti or Jorginho like player (although I’d imagine Cesc would be excellent in a 3 with Matic and Kante. Wishful thinking but think Cesc was more a problem than Matic when we didn’t have the ball as opposed to Matic when we have the ball. Ultimately the board fucked us there I feel. Costa may have downed tools so to speak since January but he was still key in some matches, still took chances, he had a similar situation under Jose in the second half of his first season. I just think for such a great manager like Conte to alienate somebody without properly securing a more than suitable, better or like for like replacement is idiotic, Costa said he would have stayed and came back to get himself into contention. I think even to January it would have been better to have him that not. To go into a unrelated point I think if Conte doesn’t get a good set of results in November he could be facing the sack. Honestly we’ve sacked managers for less.

To be fair this last couple of games he’s been poor but the common thing with him is he usually gets himself one or two big chances where as Batshuayi plays bad and doesn’t. Once he gets a goal or two again he will be fine. He’s hardly Torres

He’s looked better for us in a MF 3 (Spurs and Atletico) than a MF 2. It’s clear he’s not a holding midfielder but a box to box midfielder. Like at Monaco he had Fabinho holding next to him. Kante is not a holding midfielder either but he is much more comfortable doing that than Bakayoko and Cesc well, he isn’t a holding midfielder either. Matic is more suited to a holding midfielder role, I think Matic and Bakayoko would of been a much better pairing tonight than Cesc and Bakayoko. Although Baka has a lot to show, he’s struggled a lot. He will come good at somepoint, he has potential but unfortunately he won’t surpass the standards of Matic who was key last season and throughout his time here.