OneMoSalah

Naaaaaaaaw, two years in a row somebody beats me to nominating themselves for everything, christ all fucking mighty maybe next year.

The fact about their ages doesn't matter. These guys are big game players... How many times has Bale altered a big game in Real's favor other than the that Copa Del Rey final? Please don't say the CL because Ramos was the guy who scored that vital goal that tipped the scale. Hes not a big game player. Or a big game for Spurs other than Arsenal and Man United? The Inter game is hardly altering it in their favor they were 4-0 down.... If people think hes a big game player that shows up when he needs to then I don't agree.

All aged but all proven winners with that mentality? Bale's won 4 trophies after going 7 years without winning one. Drogba 17 trophies in his career, Lamps 13, JT 16, Cech 15, Ivanovic 10.. talk about age all you want but they were and still are big game players. Bale? Wouldn't agree that hes as hugely influential as made out or a winner.

Drogba inspired us to win a CL, when I see Bale make that sort of same level contribution to any side (he scored 2 cup final goals but he was hardly the star player in both finals or dragged them there like other players who you consider as winners have done) then I'll change my mind but hes not a winner or somebody who can lead or influences others around him. I'm not saying he isn't a good player, just somebody called him a 'winner' where I disagree. Sure but he scored like 18 goals in the CL that season, his goals got them there. He is a winner. A team of scrubs? Look at our CL winning season. Kalou, Malouda, Lampard, Bosingwa, Torres... all played in the CL final, we got battered for most of the game but after our goal it was clear to see which way it would go, ever after Drogba gave the penalty away. Big games, big goals, huge winner. Cech, Lampard, Terry, Ivanovic as well... all winners.

A winner? He won no trophies at Tottenham. Fair enough he won the CL, Fifa Club World Cup, Super Cup and Copa Del Rey at Real Madrid in 2 seasons but a 25 year old who has won 4 trophies in 9 years, two which are pretty meaningless and are really just exhibition trophies, hardly say hes a really winner (although he did score two goals in those two cup finals), he couldn't inspire a team to win a trophy by himself, inspire others around him in the dressing room to win, I mean he couldn't even get Spurs back in the CL? Winner? Not really in my eyes. People who are winners, are people like Jose, like Drogba, like Messi, like Ronaldo.

They are too big a club to do that. Too proud as well imagine their people telling Diego Simeone they are going to be a little bitch to a club like us, taking all our young promising players on loan haha. Courtois was different, they wanted to sign him from Genk originally.

Smart move. Sign a young player for a nominal fee, loan him out to Vitesse or Porto for a year or two, if he ever becomes good enough use him and if not sell him for a profit. Just need to get rid of the likes of Moses, Marin etc, players who are over 24 and have no chance here. That's why we are always doing well under FFP regulations.

John Stones isn't going to play for Chelsea because he will never be good enough.

10M and Salah.

Cmon one game and hes already should be ahead of Mikel and Ramires who have maybe 600 career games between them? I think hes a good young player but one game... too early to say he should be ahead of any of those boys. Nobody mentioned his positioning at times yet though? Only thing I feel that he wasn't great in, a few times out of position but that's a thing that should improve because Jose being Jose will tell him but other than that hes tidy on the ball and made a good couple of tackles. But its true, we get a wee bitty excited about young players too soon. Remember Josh McEachran, 'the English Xavi' or so you'd think reading half of this forum after a game against MSK Zilina and then another one against Marseille, few years later hes playing for Vitesse's reserves more than their first team. Gael Kakuta? Paddy van Aanholt? Jefferey Bruma? All thought to be parts of this clubs future at the time, built up based on u21s football and the odd first team game then nothing. These guys don't necessarily need the pressure of being hyped up as the next big thing to come out of our academy since JT. Not Ruben, not Boga, not Brown, not Colkett, not Christensen.. no point building a high expectation for them yet.

He doesn't need to be rushed. Fuck the golden boot and all that. Would be nice to see Solanke start up top if the possibility arises. Golden boot means nothing anyway. He is the best striker in the league because of everything he brings to the team. Sure Aguero could be better in tight spaces but what else does he really excel at that Costa doesn't? Also was great to see him sitting with the fans again.

Let City sign him if thats what they are offering. Giving Juventus Toure and fuck loads of money? Juventus are getting the better deal really, a MF 3 of Fernandinho, Pogba and Fernando if another manager comes in.... really average, two box to box players (one who is a bit older and a young guy whos dominated in Italy but never played in England bar 5 or 6 shitty cup games) and a DM who has hardly looked special for City yet where as Juventus will still have Pirlo, Marchisio, Vidal and also Toure who is still a class player in my eyes but has struggled to dominate games for City this year (mainly due to the fact City are usually outnumbered in MF with their stupid four four two formation). If Pellegrini stays and sticks with 4-4-2... Pogba-Fernando.... really going to be comical..

Well I can't see us wanting to pay Juve the 70M or whatever and then whatever wages he wants. Barca can't sign him yet either so.... PSG and City aren't even some of the biggest teams on the planet either.

Of course every big team in the world is going to be after a 22 year old who is dominating the Italian league for the best team by a mile despite having Max Allegri who is renowned as a pretty average manager.... really I think the only real teams interested are Real (who aren't they interested in? Zidane seems to be talking about every fucking player that moves), PSG (lack of French players) and City (see him as a Toure replacement). 75M on Pogba or 75M on 3 players with FFP so vital these days?

Did you learn anything watching the Galacticos the first time and then more recently? You don't need to sign every world class player or what people think to be world class players to be a top team. Sorry but its opinions like this that make me tear my hair out. Real Madrid signed Zidane, Figo, Ronaldo, Beckham, even Michael Owen. After 2003 they didn't win any trophies for 3 years, never advanced past the round of 16 in the CL except for once between 2005-2010... because their team was heavily unbalanced and full of star names who had to play even though they already had top players in certain positions. Same again, Kaka, Benzema, Ronaldo, Alonso, Bale, Illarramendi, James, Isco... list goes on and on. We don't need to sign Pogba, to force him into a championship winning team, where the midfield is fine in my eyes except for a back up to Matic. We need to get another RW and get Cuadrado out I feel and also another CF to replace Didier as third choice as well as a 10 to replace Oscar as I feel he will go too. I don't see how Pogba's that great, he plays in the most dominant team in Italy, where hes probably along with Tevez and Pirlo the best player in that squad. already have elite players in our squad in Courtois, John Terry, Hazard, Fabregas, Costa, Cech.... no point in signing players for the sake of it. If he was a RW or a 10 yes sure he'd be a good idea then but hes not. I'm against Pogba's signing for such a fee mentioned because 1) he is very much a player who is for youtube videos, skills and flicks, 1 in 10 long range goals. 2) he would cost 75M, we could get 3 top players for that or just more. 3) we don't play 4-3-3 very often so unless we sold Oscar and used Cesc as a 10 he'd be a pointless buy. 4) his defensive contribution is never brought up, he plays in a team with Pirlo, Vidal, Marchisio, who when I've seen them play do more of the dirty work. If we are so desperate on signing a box to box player, I'd take Vidal who is a better player than Pogba.

If anyone thinks signing Pogba and playing 4-3-3 with Cesc and Matic is a good idea it isn't. Pogba's defensive contribution is shocking and he tends to go missing. People complain at Fabregas not doing enough defensively and going missing, which he really doesn't but yeah, imagine people complaining about both, especially after spending 75M to get one of the most overrated footballers in the world right now. Buying from Italy is dodgy, never mind buying from Italy for a world record fee for a 22 year old who has never really shown anything great in the CL against bigger teams. If he plays v Madrid, which hopefully he will, I think people will see hes not a player worth a record fee.

To be fair for Nigeria he plays as an 8. He was sort of like that against Palace too, he linked with Drogba a few times like in that video of him against Spain, looking to play a one two and get higher up, got a shot off. I think in previous years, hes played as the 6, to good effect but Matic and Ramires were both on at the time (I think) when he came on so he had a bit more freedom to play slightly higher and be a bit more free as he knew there was cover.

Very good player, plays both flanks, technically very good and knows where the goal is (basically a goal every 3 games at Barca). Incredibly hard worker too, if hes available I think we'd be daft not to consider him. Hes won the lot in Spain and in Europe as well as the Euros and World Cup on the international stage. Only 27 years old too.

I'd of had Ballack in there ahead of Essien tbh despite Essien being an absolute monster of a footballer in his best years. Ballacks ability to play several roles was key when we lost players, especially when he adapted his game to suit other players (Lampard in particular) and his leadership skills were always there to see from day one. Still gutted we let him go that early tbf. He still had another year or two in him I felt. Ray Wilkins is quite daft though. Willian? Really? Cmon man.

Can we put out our B team and park the bus again? Will be very funny to beat them like that again.

Courtois Ivanovic Cahill Terry Luis Fabregas Matic Messi Willian Hazard Costa fuck it why not if people think we are going to get Begovic, Clyne, Sterling, Lacazette, Varane, Reus and Bale I'll have Messi in my team.

If you read what I've posted in the Oscar thread you'll know exactly what I feel about Oscar's contribution.

Really I think the game against Burnley he was one of the key culprits in how we dropped 2 points. We played with the ball a lot on the right side but between him and Ivanovic, created very little. Ivanovic is a full back though so hes not as much to blame as his first role is to defend but still Cuadrado didn't create anything worthy of note still was very disappointing that day. First half v Everton was his best game for us but still pretty poor.

Tim Sherwood really has surprised me with Villa... Benteke looking very good. Jack Grealish a half decent player in the making too, simple and effective. Roberto Martinez a shambles, spends 30M on Lukaku, Everton sitting maybe 10th or something, any other club he'd probably get sacked.

Ribery is still a class player. Hes had injury problems this year, in fact Bayern have really struggled with injuries a lot recently as well as at the middle of the season with Lahm, Thiago, Badstuber, Robben in particular. I don't think Ribery will be sold, hes far too valuable a player to sell even at 30 or 31 years old. I think honestly if Kevin sticks with Wolfsburg and can have another highly productive season then he should go. His return to Chelsea was probably too soon like I said in the post above and imagine he does that again at another huge club?