Superblue

Andy Van Der Meyde?! Somebody who couldn't make the grade at Everton and pissed up a promising football career against the wall with drink and drugs. Sounds more like a controversial statement in a desperate attempt to stay relevant to me.

I must admit the more I think about this signing, read reports and opinions, watch clips, etc, the more excited I am of his arrival. I know that we brought Fabregas to play a deeper role, but we never really replaced Mata with a creative presence higher up the pitch. Obviously Hazard was creative but it was in a different way most of the time with his ability to beat players and explosiveness. However we already saw on a number of occasions how lost we looked in previous seasons when Hazard wasn't playing or marked out of the game. I think this season we create plenty of chances but I think Lampard can see sometimes the quality of those chances could be improved. I like what I read about Ziyech not being afraid of the hard pass or giving the ball away in the final third when trying to create. At times it will be frustrating but we have too many players when games are hard that play far too safe, especially at home. I can understand some of the younger players at times playing this way when the momentum is against us, but it's disappointing some of the more experienced players in the squad seem to do this too. I'd have no problem 2 or 3 things don't come off for Ziyech if the third or fourth one presents a great chance that other players would be either unwilling or unable to try to create. Having someone with the personality and belief to create chances is exactly what we need in some of these tight games against deep defences. From what I have seen of him, if you give him any space around the box he'll shoot (given Lampard made a career out of not being afraid to shoot on sight, we don't have enough players in the squad prepared to "have a go") and if you attempt to close him down and offer space in behind he'll try to find a runner. It adds a completely different profile of player into our squad that we're currently lacking.

I'd love us to buy Sancho because the potential looks there for him to become an absolute world beater and he's already putting up very strong numbers in one of the top leagues. However blowing the bulk of our budget is hugely risky because a big chunk of the deal is based on potential. Much the same way as PSG brought Mbappe, we're betting on Sancho to continue getting better and that isn't a given. We already have Pulisic and CHO who are similar style wide players, similar age and huge potential upside. I think the Ziyech signing, if he can replicate his Ajax form over here, is intelligent because he's a different type of player and adds more options and variety moving forward. I'm starting to think that rather than trying to find a replacement for Hazard (i.e. a world class attacking creative player), I think we'd be better served using a bigger portion of our budget on another striker to compete with Tammy. There isn't a glut of top drawer strikers out there and so we could well be in the same boat as Sancho, in looking at a younger one who could develop into a world class striker but they could cost quite a bit of money. The whole thing purely depends on what our budget is? If it's say £200m plus anything we raise through sales then splashing £100m+ on Sancho could well be 'doable' alongside strengthening some key areas. However if we're looking at £150-200m in total for this summer than buying Sancho and Ziyech doesn't make sense as it will leave us very little leftover for other areas of the squad, especially left back, another striker and potentially goal keeper.

Just a bit worried if he'll need a period of adaptation which at the age he's at he can't really be afforded because the physicality of the Premier League will probably come as a culture shock. Having said that from what I've seen of him, and also what I've heard about him, he's a hard worker too and prepared to press and run, not just pleasant on the eye. A left footed attacker is also a big plus, allowing for more variation and options for Lampard moving forward. I think whichever way you look at this though, a player who has torn up his league the last couple of seasons and played very well in Europe too, to be able to pick up for not much over £30m represents excellent value for business. It also emphasises the transfer signings we've made since the summer of 2018, that we are focusing on players who will suit a more expansive, attacking mentality to the one previously used by the club.

I would assume this deal is pretty far down the line of completion. The reports in Holland are all apparently very reliable and now British media seem to be reporting it as close too. Matt Law also mentioned a few days ago that we tried to buy him in January, so he appears to be a main target. With regards to the position, I'm not sure and I guess depends on what Lampard has planned. He can play centrally, however his regular position for Ajax has been wide right.

I'd be surprised when we have Mount, RLC and Barkley in that position. Lampard particularly likes the first two. He's played predominantly RW for Ajax so I would assume that is where he is being brought for us.

I think the left footed thing could be a big thing. I can't think of many other options which would be better and just as attainable who play wide right with their left foot. Lampard has spoken a few times about wanting more players in and around the box and I think the end game for him when he has the right players will be to have two strong attacking full backs and two inverted wingers to cut inside. It gives us far more of a dual threat on either side. I would love us to buy Sancho but if this is an 'instead of' then there are far worse players we could be buying, and it'll be interesting to see who else we make moves for in the summer. To be honest £38m in the current climate seems very good and astute business.

Not quite sure what to make of Ziyech if that is who we move for to be honest. He's obviously a very talented player, just not sure if his style will suit the more frenetic pace of the Premier League. I'm sure the addition of Ziyech would improve us as a squad, my worry is that Sancho looks to have the potential to be a real world beater and I'd hate to see him somewhere else in the Premier League being a great player. The one thing I would note on this is he's a different profile of player to Sancho who is in a similar mould to CHO and Pulisic. Ziyech is more of a wide creative midfielder rather than a winger and Lampard may be looking at a different profile of player for those positions to give him more options.

Saw earlier an article that Charlie Nicholas did and whilst I'm not really a fan of him on Soccer Saturday (his embarrassing Arsenal bias probably doesn't help that opinion of him!), it was interesting that he highly rates Edouard at Celtic and thinks he could be a real good striker in the Premier League. He name dropped Chelsea and United as teams he could potentially see him moving too and being a great signing because we were both linked with Dembele (who of course was at Celtic too before Lyon) and Nicholas thinks Edouard is the better player, at least based on time at Celtic and has the higher ceiling. Would likely be half the price too. I don't know if anyone has any thoughts on this who watch Scottish football more often?

No doubt. As me and the wife always say, "little shits, but they're our little shits!"

Watched parts of it whilst trying to get the kids off to bed. Thoroughly dominant. Looks like there's some real talent in the next crop of youngsters.

We signed him on a 7 year deal at around £70m so his amortisation cost to us just purely on his transfer fee is £10m per season or at the end of this season around £50m left to amortise. Seeing the way we have operated in recent years, I don't see us taking any less than £40-45m for him so most, if not all, the amortisation is covered. Or we look at an option to loan him out if we could get a fee of somewhere between £5 - 10m to offset his amortisation plus the loan club covering the majority if not all his wages. We have a couple of options, but either way it's going to be hard to get value for him currently and his wages will make things difficult to loan him out. In an ideal world he takes his dropping in the last game on the chin and shows Lampard what he's all about and kicks on the remainder of the season.

No idea then!

Is it that a deal has been agreed but he won't officially move until a later window when he's older?

Perhaps but I think defensively we've improved as the season has gone on. By all means it's still not at a level it probably should be, but we are much less exposed as we were earlier in the season and in a lot of games we allow very few chances for the opposition. As the season has wore on though in contrast to this, Kepa's form and mistakes have been further exposed. I think one of the biggest problems with him maybe concentration levels. Some of the top keepers at the top clubs don't need ridiculous stats for saves, etc they need to be fully concentrated and prepared in games where they are likely to be called upon no more than half a dozen times, mostly simple routine saves and sometimes pulling the odd wonder save out of the bag. Cech and Courtois had this mentality. We concede quite a lot of late goals in tight games and I just wonder if it's Kepa's mentality, rather than his ability, which is questioning whether he can be a keeper at a top club long term. To be honest you could possibly argue the same about De Gea. He looked a world beater for a few seasons at United, but they got battered game after game and he was regularly busy. The last couple of seasons as they've become a more solid defensive unit and he's not being called into making world class saves all the time he's been making far more mistakes.

It does say a lot about the FA Cup when a stage as late in the competition as this doesn't even have it's own weekend in the football calendar.

I think we'll see at most 4 new players in the summer, unless there are some surprise outgoings which will need proper replacements such as Kepa or Kante. I just don't see a situation where we'll be offloading 8 - 10 players and bringing in 6 - 8 signings in one window. I think with the situation of selling Hazard last summer and no signings in the last 18 months by the time we reach the summer, the transfer budget won't be as strict perhaps as what it usually may be and the money will be available to make plays on the players that we specifically want (which is why we didn't make moves in January) but I think the focus will be to get 3 or 4 players that are expected to come in and add hugely to the squad than trying to make moves for squad signings too unless they can be done for really good prices (i.e. bosman deals, Boga on a buy back, etc). So for example I see in the summer the focus to be on offloading one of our left backs and bringing in a high quality first choice, than to offload both and try to buy two new left backs. I think if we and the board are all being realistic it will take more than this summer's window to get up to where Liverpool are currently, and City are likely to make moves in the summer to push on again too. That's why I don't think things will be forced, and the club will view getting the right 3 or 4 players this summer and 3 or 4 again the following summer to be a better option than try to reshape the whole squad in one window. The next couple of years the club must ensure the right players are being recruited and our crop of young players are developing well because like everything in sport, this Liverpool and City cycle won't last forever and we need to ensure we're in the best position possible to take over the mantle from them at the earliest possible opportunity.

I personally think Lampard has a bit of a ruthless edge about him and will start the cull this summer.

I think it's just far more unusual for a first choice keeper to be dropped for a big game. Probably being blown out of proportion at present, but if Lampard continues to prefer Caballero or Kepa gets back in and keeps playing poorly then there's a very real chance we look at an alternative in the summer.

Reports in France today linking us with the Lille keeper Maignan as a replacement for Kepa.

Conte's problem was the inability to compromise with the board. I know our board aren't the easiest to deal with at times and from the face of things at least look to ensure that managers at the club don't gain too much power and control. However Conte should have been prepared to use a couple of the younger players to fill squad needs and therefore giving more funds to spend to go for higher quality talents. The biggest question mark was that he had a 21 year old RLC around the squad in his first season, I still cannot fathom why he wasn't willing to integrate him in and not buy Drinkwater. I hope that Lampard is willing to compromise with the board because if he isn't it is only going to go in one direction whether we want it to or not. He has done the hardest part in integrating young players on mass this season. How these players develop over the next couple of years will be interesting and exciting to watch but at the very least all of them are capable of being squad players at worse for the club and it should have opened the doors for more academy starlets to follow suit. This eliminates the need for quantity and the board and manager together have to ensure it's all about quality being brought in this summer.

He brought Morata when he was originally at Juventus so was obviously a player he liked. Rudiger and Zappacosta both came from Italy so I'm sure Conte was happy to sign off on the deals (the Zappacosta one came out of the blue late in the window and was almost certainly a Conte recommendation). And not sure whether Bakayoko was his choice or not, but he certainly played him more than enough to suggest that he liked him despite consistently abysmal performances. Maybe some of these weren't his first choice players but sometimes that's not possible. The fact is that he made references that summer to the squad being too small to play in Europe and the squad was bulked up. We went quantity over quality and it pushed us back a couple of years to the point where besides Rudiger, we're trying to offload the rest of them. It still doesn't justify (1) how he dealt with Diego Costa, and (2) how he sulked his way through the second half of the season. He was practically begging to be sacked for the pay off. Loved his first season, but his second season definitely soured what I think of him.

Fair enough. I saw the goal on the BBC website and there looked nothing wrong with the situation involving the cross and goal to the naked eye, so assume it was before this. Knowing Liverpool, probably 10 passages of play before.

At what stage of play was this, the ball out wide before it was played into the box? Because that looked well onside at the time.

I'm still trying to work out where Shrewsbury's 'goal' was offside?