OneMoSalah

Sterling. PL proven, stepped up after Suarez left and improved, was their most influential player despite having off the field issues. I think hes a better player and is a better investment than De Bruyne tbf. Sterlings always improved, I think if De Bruyne does another year and gets similar performances and stats then he should move but fuck knows. I personally see him going to City and not replicating that sort of year and then it makes people question him and his price. Fair enough he'd be a City player.. I generally don't see why we are so worried about him to be fair. Arjen Robben is the only player we should be gutted that we let leave because he is a genuine world class wide player who would walk into any side. I've seen the Sturridge thread have similar sort of posts to what has been put in here after he went to Liverpool and was banging them in with Suarez but still not fussed we let him go.

Please Juventus, anything over 17M and I'm sure we'd accept that.

Everton will regret not selling him for 20M never mind 34M. His price will never be higher I bet. Everton can say all they want but they've always been a selling club and always will.

If we are basing it on where he has family, his brother plays for Partick Thistle so I'm assuming he will be living in Scotland already/ or very soon, so should we also make Partick Thistle a potential destination?

Have to be honest, for over £45M, City can have him. A vastly inflated price and overrated player, especially after seeing some of the posts in this thread, a very good player yes, had a great season last year yes and he has rebuilt his career after a difficult 6 months at Chelsea yes but cmon he is hardly world class like you'd believe reading some posts. I avoid this thread sometimes, its like a wankfest because he had a good season after he left here, in a team where he is obviously the best player. Its almost like half the forum is more content in bashing Jose for selling him, when it was obvious he wasn't cut out to play here at the time. Is that Jose's fault? He wasn't demoted to the U21s for no reason, he was shite against a Championship/League 1 team, he refused to follow tactical orders or whatever.. make whatever excuses up about his time here you want, it doesn't change the fact we won the title without him last year and did alright after he was sold too. Nobody was really bothered then but after one good season in a team (which is a pretty good team but not at the same level as ours), where he is the best player, everyone comes out and says oh we made a mistake. If Oscar plays as well as he did in pre-season and has a consistent year, I don't think people will really care about him. Even if Willian adds more goals and more assists to go on top of his general all round play he will be forgotten. I'm glad he's found his feet and found a higher level than what he had here but don't think we should regret selling him, I think going from Chelsea to Wolfsburg, it's easier to succeed, less pressure and not as much of a demand to win than going from Werder to Chelsea, coming from finishing mid table, comfortable where they are to a club where it is win win win or come under scrutiny. Not trying to undermine what he's done, like I've said he's done very well, was very much the driving force for Wolfsburg but as good as he and they were, I think the Bundesliga was refreshing but also disappointing at the same time because Dortmund and Schalke were quite shite and finished lower than they normally do so other teams had the chance to take their places. I think if he goes to City he could have the same as what he had here, I think the best thing for him is another year to improve and replicate that stats there, one season wonders have happened before. He wasn't even the best player Mourinho sold since coming back, Mata clearly was but do people regret it as much now? Not really. For me the same applies with Kev sadly. I think if our own number 10 (Oscar) was consistent and played to his potential and actually played at the same level as he did for a period of time last year before playing terribly then we wouldn't really care.

Goalkeepers have off days. That near post goal is a shocker to give away to be honest but like the guy above me said, he's let a few in that near post where he really should save them. Courtois would never have been beaten to the ball for the first West Ham goal, he might not have even come for it to be honest but no doubt Big Pete is a top class player and above all is a top class guy.

Just waiting for him to have an absolute stormer of a game against City against Sterling, particularly just for this thread, to see all the comments about how good he played lol. Like him or not he is vital to the team really, he was given a torrid time yesterday but these things sometimes happen no matter who it is. He is obviously quite limited but in games where we are gonna play compact and rely on set plays and goal kicks to get high up the park he is needed considering we don't have a Drogba or a Ballack in the team anymore who were very very strong in the air and got knock ons to get further up and be direct. I would like to see Azpi in the team on the right and us sign a top LB (or we could have kept Luis who is a top LB) but again sometimes these things don't happen for some reason.

Embarrassingly bad defense, incompetent manager... sounds similar to City. City can have all the attacking riches in the world but again they have an incompetent manager (in my eyes, Pellegrini is like Rodgers and Wenger, believes you should only be able to play one way and should always try to play this tippy tappy football) and lack balance in midfield and have 2 major holes in their defense (partner for Kompany and Clichy). Signing Sterling and trying to get De Bruyne just papers over the cracks, they've lost 2 strikers, signed an average midfielder to boost their HG quota, still need a partner for Kompany and have a really noticeable weakness in Clichy at LB. They didn't win the league because they didn't score enough goals last year, they lost the league because they kept conceding goals and kept playing this same way despite it not working. On paper it looks good for City with Aguero, Silva, De Bruyne, Sterling and Toure.. but a clever man once said in an interview.. I still have us as favorites. De Bruyne will cost them a bomb as well, which FFP surely has to do something with it considering they just paid 49M for Sterling.

Dimitri Payet was outstanding for Marseille last year, so I was excited to see him in the PL, pity he's 28 and not younger but was quite impressed with him against Arsenal.

Yes but did they win the league? Or any trophies? No and they didn't because they eventually came up against teams (ourselves and Palace) who knew they were good offensively but lacked balance and picked them off. City won't win the league unless they strengthen in the middle of the park at least and possibly another center back.

I remember the days when he was the best DM in Europe according to some of yous.... and now he's not apparently. Fickle. Hes a top player but he was never the best DM in Europe and he's been quite shite the last while. Needs to up it, gets dragged out of position too easily, he is vital to Cahill and JT more than anything.

Yeah its a pity because he is a typical Mourinho defender. Tall, strong, fast, aggressive and rounded player. Has a mean free kick on him too and is very good going forward.

Wouldn't say they need attacking players though like you highlighted, they are doing what we did when we kept buying attacking players: Mata, Marin, De Bruyne, Oscar, Schurrle, Willian in so many windows when we really lacked a top midfielder to solidify the team. They still lack a another center back and another central midfielder. They can score as many goals as they want but they will concede especially when you consider Sterling and Silva will definitely play and they are very lazy off the ball. Toure is clearly one of those guys who can make the difference but doesn't always do the work he should. Even then they have Nasri as well who has never been the sort of guy to do that either. In contrast, Barcelona have some front three but they are so good and balanced in midfield and defence too. Rakitic-Busquets-Iniesta very solid and dependable midfield in front of a back four that has improved after a few dismal campaigns where they looked weak. Football is about balance as much as anything these days. If you can't defend your going to concede silly goals and lose points. City are like Arsenal in the way they will play this one style stubbornly because they believe it's the right way but you can't play like that 38 games a season, they don't have the right balance in their team in my opinion so I think we are still favorites because we can play like we did in the second half of the season last year and grind games out.

Knee jerk signings? Sorry but Koke is near enough on the verge of developing into a world class player in my eyes. I couldn't give a shit if it blocks Pasalic and MvG's path into the team because quite frankly you don't turn down the chance to sign such a good player for two guys (although MvG should be in the 25 man squad ahead of RLC in my eyes) who perhaps aren't first team ready... although Marco could be a squad player. We need more than a left back, Koke would be able to play as a CM in a 4-3-3 or on the right wing in a 4-2-3-1. Would prefer Pedro for the right wing but Koke is also very good and is a very rounded player who can easily replicate his Atletico form there.

Apparently he is on a £18,000 a week contract.... what the fuck. Also Josh McEachran was earning £38,000 a week contract according to a Neil Ashton article I found on twitter on my phone earlier. Maybe the reason none of these guys break through our academy is we give them too much too soon?

What sort of advice is that, you trying to make the guy look like a dick? Or one of those nonces on made in chelsea? More like it..... fortunately I've never lived in Glasgow and hopefully never will, where this is apparently a regular occurrence by the cunts who dont do anything, fucking tramps. Vodka vodka vodka vodka vodka vodka. If you don't want to remember anything anyway. Beer is decent to start but fuck drinking that for a whole night. Would also say sambuca, can't beat shots of that but wouldn't go excessively crazy way them either as well as jager bombs haha.

Left winger... we don't need a left winger....

We dont want him to go out on loan. So probably play for the u21s... seeing as Brown is off to Vitesse.

30M for a guy who firstly is a top player, scores and makes goals, beats men and can play a variety of positions.... go for it we need another top player for a wide position to use Willian as a 10 imo.

S H I T E 27M plus loaning Salah to Fiorentina, who outperformed him.... we got ripped off. People who said he would be better than Willian, where are yous now? Never mind him apparently having good end product like was argued, he can't even fucking dribble lmao.

Absolute fucking dross. We need another player to boost our starting 11 before the season starts. If we play like this in the league we will be absolute pish, so much predictability about our play. Fair to say someone like Matiudi or Herrera or some rounded player in that mold who has legs or Oscar or even Ramires being played in a 4-3-3 like under AVB. Fair to say Matic-Fabregas lacks speed and sometimes we lack 3rd man runs when we have the ball in wide areas and crossing positions. Or sign a top wide player and use Willian as a 10, its fair to say Cuadrado is the worst footballer we've bought since Torres. Even after half a season its fair to say that. Falcao also shite tonight.

Seen bits and bots, didn't look that exciting, decent going forward weak defensively. Precisely like Rose but Rose is slightly better in both aspects.

Well hes better than Baba but still pretty shite.

No its not. A trophy is a trophy. Pre-season games fine but Community Shield is one week before the PL season starts, boys should be up for it and try to win it for sure. Its not much but still nice wee boost going into the season, its only a shit trophy but okay its a trophy which is better than no trophies.

The point is not whether it should be a trophy or not. Since it is a trophy, we should take it serious and try winning it, the point is not whether it is a plate your allowed with extra substitutes. The same with the Club World Cup, the European Super Cup... doesn't matter if they are meaningful or not, they are trophies and trophies at the end of the day are there to be won so why shouldn't we?