OneMoSalah

He is ahead of both in terms of ability though. Last season he struggled for fitness and has had wee niggles here and there this season but he still has 8 goals in 15 games so far for a poor Juventus side. For a free, if he’s fit and firing, he will get between 10-15 goals minimum over the course of a season. He’s proven this every year at Juventus barring last season. It hasn’t helped his development as a player that he was also seen as the main man in that side prior to Ronaldo’s arrival and then shunted in and around to try accommodate Ronaldo, who they built around. Obviously he isn’t Ronaldo but the Juventus team prior to Ronaldo’s arrival was much better and he was a huge part of it. Although right now I think we could take next to anyone and they’d be more consistent than Werner and Ziyech. Again, different situation completely, would you not think? Wijnaldum’s proven himself as a very good MF player in one of the best PL sides in the last 10 years, where as Saul has clearly not acclimatised to the PL and struggled to show anything of what he has shown for Atletico in the past (unfortunately). Would go as far as saying Wijnaldum for 6 months would be a great January signing, never mind mentioning the fact its a loan signing and these sort of loans are also difficult to find.

Yeah he’s a good player; great physical qualities as well as having good technical ability too. Is he? Well that’s disappointing as I think he would be a huge potential improvement on Ziyech and Werner in those attacking positions. Although I am a bit skeptical of if he could play in the PL though as well as he does in Italy but think his profile is the sort that could function well in our system. As well as perhaps being someone who could play in a front 2 off Lukaku as an actual second striker similarly to how Martinez did at Inter although I think that would split a lot of opinions. Sule not renewing at Bayern seems odd but if we can get him on a free for next summer we should take it and run. He has been brilliant under Nagelsmann.

Aye his levels of performance and consistency are dropping unfortunately but I reckon as a squad player and being the club captain he may still have a part to play in some capacity. Particularly in and around the dressing room and on the training ground, setting an example for some of the younger/newer players. Maybe similarly to Terry under Antonio Conte although I think Azpi has definitely got more high level football left in him than Terry did at that point.

Some of these frees are interesting. Dybala and Sule would be worth a punt, they’d actually be two very shrewd moves. Kessie and Brozovic are interesting players too but I think we wouldn’t be overly interested in either of them due to Connor’s development, unless we actually sold both Ross and Ruben, but again don’t see it happening.

Good news if true. Hopefully word on Azpi next. Rudiger resigning would be a bonus but looks hugely unlikely.

I think your overlooking the point of the comparison and purely focusing on stats. I’d agree with @DDA, he is maybe more offensive minded than Hargreaves but he has similar sort of traits. He’s got that same energy, drive, thrust in terms of being able to just open up and get away from people as well as the ability he had to get around the park and get the ball back be it pressing high or in deeper positions. He’s very rounded. So was Hargreaves.

People will specifically focus on Alonso and the penalty he conceded but again, after 15 minutes, we as a team stopped playing bar the last few minutes. And Thank fuck for that. Mason.

For a squad option aye he’d be good but I dont think hes really kicked on at Everton bar his first 2 seasons really. Would he be cheap?

If Werner, Havertz and Mount cannot produce in games like today as well as the boys who can come off the bench for us, then I would be worried. Leeds are a rival but their not a big team as such, these are the sort of teams we should be able to roll over. Their back 4 is makeshift and you’d hope that the boys identify that and play off of that. Luckily, I think they can all contribute one way or another today and we will get the points.

That Leeds backline is there for the taking. Ayling at CB, Shackleton at RB and Junior Firpo at LB has also been a shambles for them.

Surely something you can only enter by winning club footballs most elite trophy is something worth winning though? Same with Super Cup. Plus as something we’ve never won, again even more incentive. Don't see why people look down on these two trophies, not as if its the community shield or something dead rubber like that.

Yep, suppose the only thing is there is a shortage of top quality left footed CBs around. Or that are available anyway. Im pretty confident saying I think Tuchel and the back 3 are here to remain for the remainder of this season and next so if we can get a top level left footed CB that would be great.

I think De Ligt would be the best choice but would also be the most unrealistic and difficult to get unless Juve goes to shit with these allegations against them but thats all very much up in the air. Kounde is probably most likely but I have to admit, still unconvinced by him, more so this season than last but did think he was a bit overrated.

I think depending on whether or not Lewandowski wants to stay at Bayern or not, he could end up there as an outside bet but would be unlikely as the rumours are Lewa is happy to renew now after the rumours he wanted to move/considered moving the other summer. If that changed, I think Bayern could pull a deal off though. They've given Kimmich and Goretzka huge wages for new contracts and offered Alaba huge wages as well as reportedly going to be on verge of giving Gnabry a big salary also to get him to renew. Would say Madrid probably be the most obvious one though if things remain as they likely will at Bayern. I get the feeling he’s not that worried about playing in the PL or if a club can give him 500k a week or whatever they think it’ll cost.

Think he could be a risk. At least the club are monitoring and waiting to see and not just spunking their load on him. I think to replace Rudiger we need to go for someone who’s maybe played a lot more games at the same sort of level although thats not necessarily easy to find.

This has to be the game where the rot stops. I know we are looking a bit light in MF but still think some will play through the pain barrier if needed. A clean sheet is also a must to get things back to normal.

https://www.skysports.com/football/news/11899/12491726/erling-haaland-mino-raiola-says-there-is-a-big-chance-striker-will-leave-borussia-dortmund-this-summer Haaland more than likely on move this summer, Raiola quoted mentioning Man City, Bayern, Barcelona and Real Madrid in that article. Someone gonna get an absolute steal for £64m. Particularly if they can get the wages into some sort of reasonable figure, which I’d imagine they will do because I reckon Haaland will want a certain move to a certain club meaning Raiola wont be able to try and out manoeuvre him/action him off. Martial also looking likely to leave Man United in January.

Whatever the thinking on Azpi if he starts or is a rotation/squad player, losing him, Rudiger and potentially Christensen without even mentioning the fact as well we don’t know what will happen to Thiago Silva as well in the summer would be as close to a disaster as there is. Azpi, Rudiger and Silva have huge masses of experience and are big characters in and around the place. You cannot simply buy to replace all of those guys at once, obviously they will be phased out individually and the coach would bleed/rotate the replacements in (possibly like Chalobah - but again if Kounde came in the chances are he’d have the same minutes Sarr has this season) but their experience and leadership is something that is difficult to replace. We have to be careful because its not as easy as just buying 2 or 3 CBs and it automatically clicking. Plus its going to be difficult to get 2 high quality level CBs in if we decide to keep using 3 at the back and clubs will know we will be desperate to get CBs in also if thats the case. Also I’d be curious to see what Tuchel would do if we lost those all in one go because we’ve seen events with him when his teams have sold/released key players/experienced players and it hasn’t gone down well. For example, Dembele, Gundogan and Hummels at Dortmund and Cavani and Thiago Silva at PSG. And he’s been pretty dependent on those guys too since coming in, playing them a lot.

Would say this is pretty much a huge huge huge overreaction, especially to say he’s fucked our CL up already when he’s only played one game this season in it. People seem to forget we lost to Juventus basically full strength which if we won we would of topped the group.

Club world cup? Surely win that. Seasons still only half way in, the current form likely wont be out current form in a few weeks and you’ll be back to waiting for shit to go wrong before piping up again.

Been waiting for this sort of performance for god knows how long. 2 goals and an assist. If he can do this/more consistently, he may have a long term future here. At present he still has a lot to show for me.

Surprise surprise results start going to shit and you start posting nonsense again. We have already won a trophy this season.

The talk of Xavi’s tiki taka revolution is really baffling. Football’s moved on since then. Even Pep’s developed and adapted his philosophy and made it more applicable to how modern day football is now. Its the same as Man United and the Man United DNA people go about 24/7 when discussing them.

Tuchel as Chelsea manager: 54 games, 33 wins, 13 draws, 8 losses. Di Matteo as Chelsea manager: 42 games, 24 wins, 9 wins, 9 losses. Either way what a very strange comparison to make after a run of bad results… very suspect

The interview itself your taking a bit out of context, he never actually said he wanted Drinkwater and Bakayoko specifically in the interview. Just that they came in and gave more options being able to play 343 and 352. I definitely think Drinkwater was like Barkley, someone who was more than likely signed by the club more than the manager. Bakayoko I am not so sure about as he burst onto the scene as part of that Monaco team and they were a team with many exciting talents. This is the transcript: “Compared to last season, we changed players. We bought two central midfielders, Bakayoko and Drinkwater. For the characteristics of our players, to play with three midfielders is a good option. For me to be able to alternate two different systems, 3-4-3 and 3-5-2, is great. "When we play against a big team, it's very important to have more solidity with the three midfielders and two strikers, and to give more freedom to Eden,' adds Conte. "And I am very happy because I have seen my players show great ability at adapting themselves, and changing to a system by finding new solutions and memorised play. It was great for me to understand that this other option was good, and also fantastic that my players can do it."