Superblue

I don't understand why anybody has not brought Alex Telles if his release clause is that. I haven't seen much of him but from what I understand he is very highly rated. Is somebody like Chilwell worth more than double him? The Portuguese league may not be the greatest of benchmarks but in today's market, his release clause seems a risk worth taking.

We did buy Kante the year we weren't in Europe from at the time a Champions League team, and I'm sure other teams would have been in for him. I think we are at a stage now where there is a pretty reasonable amount of 'pulling power' whether we have the incentive of European football or not. Not the level of pull United might have, but I think targets could still be enticed if they were already interested in a move. The other thing depending on the profile of player we are after is we should be quite an attractive proposition now for younger players who will look at the group we have and the chances they are being afforded. Although saying that, it's a couple of players in their prime mid 20's we could probably do with buying!

One thought that did enter my mind was whether we brought him back in January with the intention of playing centre back long term but for the rest of this season he operated at left back but like you I don't know how comfortable he is playing there. It's not much of an issue for most players to 'fill in' for a game or two in a different position when needed but playing there regularly, would he be any better than what we already have? He's an interesting option (at centre back). I personally like him and I do think he has the attributes to make the step up but until you take that punt on some players you don't know. There's a lot of question marks too about bringing somebody in from abroad, especially in January and expecting them to adapt to the league immediately so that brings absolutely no guarantee either.

Rudiger played on the left of a three man defence for a period. In a back four he's played right side all of last season so it still remains to be seen if he can operate on the left side in that formation. And even then, he's our best defender. Surely we play him in his strongest position and everyone else around him.

Neither of those would pay big money for him though and would Azpi want to take a 'step down' to play there? I don't see the need this summer, we have far more important and pressing needs and our budget needs to be spent wisely. It's easy to say lets sell player's A & B and buy player C with the funds but it's too simplistic. Barely any clubs pay a transfer fee up front, most are staggered over 3 - 5 years for smaller clubs but some of the larger clubs such as ours will be negotiated down to pay more up front, it's just the reality of the situation. And then you have so many extras on both sides of buying and selling - agent's fees, player's signing bonuses, possible wages supplements, sell-on clauses and fees, development club payments, etc. Clubs will very, very rarely oversee a transfer window with ridiculous player turnover, even more rare from a top club. Those on the fringes at the moment will likely go because Lampard doesn't want them clearly (Alonso, Pedro, Giroud) but we're not going to get rid of masses of players in my opinion. It will be 4 or 5 in and 4 or 5 out across January and the summer max I feel.

How much would either of these two go for if we went in for them? Bearing in mind we had to spend in excess of £20m to buy somebody like Zappacosta. I find it pointless to buy squad players for millions and eat into our transfer budget. As an example, just say we have £100m as a budget would you rather for example buy someone like Sancho and keep Azpi backup or would you rather spread those funds over Zaha and one of the above. It's the problem we've had in recent years dealing with people like Conte and Mourinho who are never pleased and just want more and more players in their squads. It's meant our budgets have been spread thinly and we've ended up buying lower quality. The young players coming through are a godsend and in James, Tomori, Mount, CHO and Tammy we have 5 young players who will make up part of our squad for years to come and has essentially saved us a couple of hundred million in new signings. We have a great opportunity to be clinical and bring in 3 or 4 top drawer players to the group and improve us dramatically. Unless Lampard see's an alternative position for Reece James in the future, I just don't see the point in spending in this position. Let Reece develop with Azpi as his backup. He won't be wanted by the very top clubs and everything below the top bracket in Spain have little money and Italian clubs always want a loan deal with option to buy. The only one possibly willing to pay some money would be Bilbao as he's Basque qualified, but I cannot see him commanding much as a transfer fee.

Most would agree that none of which are first team quality either.

Really depends on the price, anything near what they've wanted in the past I don't think is worth it. Realistically it would need to be January or never because he'll be 29 in the summer and would be a risk if it took him time to adapt to the league. I don't really watch much Italian football, but from what I've seen he doesn't look the player he was 2-3 years ago which would worry me a little.

We definitely need a couple of additions, but I would keep Azpi and not try to sell him. He wouldn't command a sizeable transfer fee anymore and his versatility is great to have because it stops us needing to buy squad players. It's easy to forget after yesterday's game that he kept Sterling largely anonymous a couple of weeks ago and then switched sides effortlessly in game and kept a rampaging Mahrez at bay so there are still circumstances where having a more defensive minded full back can come in handy. In a time when we are seemingly getting younger too and likely a couple more of the experienced players like Alonso, Pedro and Giroud are being shown the door, it's important to still have some of these players at the club, even if they might not be playing every week. Think Terry in Conte's first season and Cahill last year. It's not just on the pitch but you need a calm experienced head at times in the dressing room, and someone who very likely would help set the tone in training of working hard. He's also one of the few last links we have of those with experience winning the big trophies and "getting over the line". You don't want to completely lose that before we can get back challenging again because it's difficult and can take years to get back - just ask United, Arsenal, etc.

And evidently Christensen either can't or won't play on the left either. Even if Rudiger was fit he has historically played for us as the right sided defender too. So this leaves Tomori as our only left sided centre back, and we can't expect him to play every single game because no one else is capable of playing there. Tomori hasn't been in the greatest form himself either in recent games and none of us are privy to training, etc. Has he dropped off now he's been a regular in the team and Lampard has needed to do this to give him a wake up call? It's also not just as simple as buying a new centre back, we need another left sided one to replace either Zouma or Christensen (I personally would replace Christensen) to keep the balance of the squad right. In hindsight perhaps Azpi wasn't the best choice at left back but I think Lampard expected Everton to come out guns blazing today and felt he was the better, more experienced and more solid option there. Defensively he was pretty good on both sides against Man City. I think it was probably a mistake for Lampard not to bring him off today but then he had alternative plans anyway by changing to a back three with two up front to chase the game. What the last couple of weeks has shown is he doesn't trust either Emerson or Alonso. Alonso has been completed dropped from the squad since his Ajax debacle and the City game really showed Emerson up too. Neither offer enough going forward either to justify being poor defensively. One thing interesting that West Ham and Everton have both hinted at is that their game plan consisted of closing up the middle and forcing us out wide. This will start becoming something common to contend with if we continue struggling against this tactic. Jose will already be eyeing up how to nullify us. Again though this highlights the left back issue because with two full backs capable of delivering out wide, teams can't afford to give them space because they'll be punished eventually. At the moment we have no wide threat on that left hand side.

Half the problem is we as fans have become use to the hire and fire, short term mentality that the club has portrayed in the Roman era. Was it worth it? Hell yeah, look at all the trophies we've won and this ruthless nature got us to the top table of European football. But now seeing a team like Liverpool looking utterly dominant by recruiting wisely, spending money but in a correct manner and giving time and patience to build a team, I don't think this way works anymore. Sure it might help us get top 4 or win a cup but we need to look longer term at building something and right now our academy is the strength we have over others because if we get that right then we can go about buying a smaller number of players for the squad, and theoretically better players. I still think Lampard is the right person for that and what he's doing is building a base for the long term of the club not just short term results. I dread to think what we would be like if Sarri stayed or we brought in another short term appointment who had no interest in blooding these young players because some of the older players like Pedro, Giroud, Luiz (if he stayed) are on a steep decline.

For everybody moaning about Lampard, it should also be noted that City without Laporte are barely any better than us defensively without Rudiger. Guardiola doesn't trust them to the point he is playing a midfielder at centre back and is regularly chopping and changing his back four. This despite the millions he's spent, four years at the club and a number of years experience at the top level prior to the City job. Lampard isn't blameless but at the moment he has no choice but to make do with the defenders he has because we haven't been able to strengthen. With Rudiger out, three players who were out on loan last season would probably make our strongest XI, 2 of which were playing in the Championship last season. These players need to develop and it's difficult at present because they're playing with other defenders either not good enough or who's influence is in decline. We'd get away with it like City do if we were more clinical because it's not from a lack of chances being created but with four of our main attacking players the age of 21 or under, that will hopefully come in time from then. For now though it's not helping us, because defensively we're pretty rubbish. Even today when we didn't play great, we could easily have scored 3 or 4 from the chances being created. The only game I can think of this season when that hasn't stood up is the West Ham game which was woeful all over.

Are you saying Luiz doesn't have poor positioning?

I personally think where Lampard has got it wrong is whilst Rudiger is out, he's kept Zouma as the mainstay. I would keep Tomori and see which of Zouma and Christensen partner him better. Tomori is the only one of the three who seems comfortable playing on the left hand side which I think in theory should improve their positioning when both centre backs are playing their preferred side. Even when Rudiger comes back, he has been used to playing right side too. We could really do with another centre back who's happy to play on the left hand side to replace Christensen. Out of curiosity, which side does Ake usually play? But to your point the changing isn't helping but I think Lampard is desperately trying to find the right balance and mixture. I think he's well aware of how bad this defence is and the one thing I would say which makes me more confident that he'll get it sorted over time is there does seem to be a ruthless nature about Lampard. He cut Luiz before the start of the season which is looking a great decision now seeing him at Arsenal and he's pretty much made his decision about Alonso too. I think if he's given the chance to bring a left back and centre back in either January or the summer we'll see it being much improved. We do seriously need to start considering if Kepa is the long term solution too.

Last season we were incredibly boring and cautious. We should look better defensively when we pass the ball around our defence for 75% of the game and have three deeper midfielders. Sarri was incredibly lucky that Hazard played the way he did last season, otherwise we would have been struggling to score in a lot of games. If Sarri had stayed this season without Rudiger, Kante, Hazard and Loftus Cheek for most of the season I dread to think how bad we would have been. He very likely could have been fielding a back 4 of Alonso, Luiz, Christensen and Azpi with a front three of Pedro, Willian and Giroud and the three in midfield not allowed any freedom to move outside the confines of the middle of the pitch. Don't get me wrong Lampard has made mistakes and he isn't blameless by any means but he has managed to sort a huge issue for us which was where are any goals going to come from without Hazard and Loftus Cheek. We've become far more expansive and it is having an impact on our defence but I struggle to see how we'd be any better this season if we played more conservatively trying to protect that defence (and still relying on them being good enough to contain teams) because we wouldn't be scoring anywhere near the amount of goals that we are in that manner.

It's hardly like we are blessed with a great crop of defensive options though. We are completely hamstrung with Rudiger out the whole season because he would be the defender that defence is built around. Tomori has been a bit ropey with his form recently. Personally I would persevere with him because I think he's better than Christensen and also he's comfortable playing on the left hand side but I can understand Lampard taking him out for recent games after the City match. And our two left back options are a joke. Alonso is barely an option and Emerson offers little and got completely annihilated against City the other week. Unless we start playing even more academy players or change formation to accommodate the defence, I struggle to see what else Lampard can do. That defence is patched up with poor squad buys and players that have regressed over the last couple of seasons. It would be even worse if Luiz had stated and we didn't have two promising academy players there who, quite frankly, need a bit more leadership to help guide them.

It's easy to point the blame at Lampard but these are literally schoolboy mistakes which shouldn't be happening at this level. And the alternatives are no better and have all made similar mistakes at stages this season. I've never been sold on Kepa, and the longer the season goes on he's becoming as important to replace as other areas of the defence. We've dominated much of this game but yet again we aren't ruthless enough and when this defence plays like this week in week out, we're at a huge disadvantage. The first goal was reasonable (although still avoidable) but the other two goals have been completely our own making. It's getting tiresome now seeing us repeatedly shooting ourselves in the foot but until we can actually get better players in, we have to keep going with what we've got and on the whole we're still doing very well this season all things considering.

That's a stunning strike. We're still in this game, Everton aren't very good. Let's see how they cope now.

That defending is pathetic

Everton are there for the taking.

Azpi is having a shocker at the moment.

Need to stay calm here. This group need to mature and not chase the game too quickly. Everton will struggle to keep these levels of pressing up.

Much less horrible idea than wasting money in January when potentially our prime targets aren't available so instead we're settling on second or third choice options.

I'm not entirely convinced by Zaha but if we were able to do a deal of somewhere between £25-30m and Bats for Zaha, I would be pretty damn pleased with that. Bats I don't think will ever reach a level that we need him to do, whereas at least with Zaha there is some untapped potential possibly there moving to a bigger club and playing alongside better players.

If that's true we have to push for this. 20m, as ridiculous as it sounds, is nothing in today's market, especially amongst Premier League clubs and it's well worth a punt. This kid could turn into one of the great strikers of his generation and with Tammy seeming to go from strength to strength, we would have two of the best young strikers in Europe leading our line.