manpe

Hazard is not a defender, "league's best player" doesn't mean anything here. I'm sure Messi is easily nutmegged too. If he was the league's best defender, then that would be worth mentioning.

I know, Matic has been important and if we still had Mikel starting for us we'd be drooling over Matic. My response was because it seemed to me like you were blaming Mikel for ending up 10th, when he rarely played in the worst half of our season, but instead featured prominently in our best period that saw us finish 10th. Wanted to address this underappreciation.

What would we do with Martial? Backup/competition to Costa? Yes. First choice striker? No, we can do better. His only other position, where he is considerably worse btw, is already occupied by Hazard. So I don't see a place for him unless he's ready to sit on the bench again and fight for the team when needed, not sulk like he's been doing at Utd.

You are absolutely right. There is no room for soft sentimentality like in the cases of Cech and Mata. Shit's getting serious and we need to be ruthless or risk getting left behind.

I am of the opinion that Mahrez could find that drive again he had in that title winning season with Conte and with our ambitions. Leicester as a whole was bad this season, we as the ones who suffered similar consequences after a title winning season should understand a bit that a failed season doesn't mean the player is bad. The negative momentum of the situtation just sucks everybody in and some kind of change is needed to rediscover your form, like our players have this season. Kante didn't stay, joined us instead and maintained his level or even upped i. I think had he stayed at Leicester he would have been sucked in too and we would be having question marks over him. What I'm trying to say is that I would take him for a reasonable price, so that risk-reward relation makes it feasible. Leicester also aren't in a position to play hardball, because he has expressed his wish to leave publicly and I believe handed in a transfer request. The trump ace is in the buyer's hands, and we even signed Kante for peanuts after a worldie season even though he didn't kick up any fuss. I believe we can get him for less than £30 mill, maybe even around £20 mill region.

Is that from some movie?

Do you think Pedro would accept being backup if that was the reason he left barcelona? Will Willian accept another season on the bench? If we sign somebody to their position then there is a chance both will leave, and we will need to sign and integrate at least two new players in addition to other more pressing issues. Sent from my Nexus 5X using Tapatalk

Are you seriously trying to pin the blame on Mikel for this? Don't you remember that until Matic was untouchable under Mourinho, we were 1 place above relegation zone. Hiddink came in, made Mikel regular and we climbed to 10th. We were all praising him for that decision at that time. Can't believe you are now blaming Mikel when in fact he came in to clean up the mess Matic left, the guy who for me was 2nd worst player after Ivanovic in that season.

I've heard the opposite. Fake news? Sent from my Nexus 5X using Tapatalk

Question to everybody: What do you think, do we need to buy any right-sided wide players if Pedro and Willian stay? Or do you think we still need to upgrade over them? I wouldn't be too disappointed if we don't upgrade that position, Pedro was a menace the whole season and Willian was a more than capable backup. The front three really isn't our issue, except if Costa stays he needs a backup even if Michy doesn't leave, but the starters can stay the same for me if there aren't any perfect options available (City snatched one away already). It is more important to improve what is behind them - CM (Matic), WB (Moses) and CB (Cahill). I also wouldn't mind Alonso staying a regular for one more season, but he needs competition so purchasing WBs for both sides is crucial imo.

Who has seen Pasalic, does he deserve to be part of our team next season instead of Baker?

So basically you have only shit options there? Are English people now regretting their decision to leave?

I'm inclined to agree with Leif here. How do you score so little as a striker in a league that fooled the world into thinking that Afonso Alves was world class?

1) Extract all civilians to a remote island temporarily. 2) Ask Trump's help to build a fantastic radiation absorbing wall around terrorist habitats. 3) Nuke em. 4) Profit.

No argument don't worry. I agree with the main point you were conveying, but we are talking about different things essentially. The main thing I disagree with you is the psychological side, the so-called business psychology is only a part of it, our rivals also have big financial motives so other important factors also come into play.

I agree, your worries are justified because recent champions tend to do badly in the following season(s). Like weren't last 5 or so champion managers sacked the following season? This is why it is imperative we don't think everything is rosey in our garden, we need to improve ourselves with hungry players.

Oh, you're welcome. Though I'm not entirely sure if you're being sarcastic or not, but nevertheless I don't mind discussing such topics because psychology interests me quite a bit and for me it's interesting to observe Conte's subtle psychological methods.

For what?

You use a lot of shoulds/woulds to paint an ideal picture that we as fans all expect. Yes what you say is true in theory, but it doesn't mean it was true on the day. Machines? Money can only motivate you so far. If only it worked like that, but they are not cyborgs and we see evidence of human psychological influences in top class football all the time. If not, then for example confidence would be a non-issue, yet it isn't. Goes out the window? You have a very skewed understanding of psychology if you think that money and training can turn people into mindless sacks of meat. It is no coincidence that top managers put a lot of emphasis on the psychological aspect of the game, our own Conte being a prime example. He was timid on the day like you mentioned, and that reflected in the team too. I stand by what I said - Arsenal wanted it more on the day, in fact I think they felt that they needed it, we merely wanted it.

Yes, you are talking idealistic talk that you imagine would happen in a perfect world. Of course they will say that they want the double, do you imagine somebody saying the opposite? No doubt the players and the club wanted it, but they didn't want it as much as Arsenal simple as that. It was the same to them as winning the league to us. You are not taking into account human psychology, which can drift very far from said words. Like last season everybody was saying that they are fighting for Jose, the club and other bullshit they learned from their PR lessons, but the reality was visibly different.

A popular ice cream shop was blown up by ISIS in Baghdad with 13 casualties after people were going to restaurants to eat after fasting. Those sick fucks are intentionally targeting children. http://www.express.co.uk/news/world/810819/ISIS-terror-attack-Baghdad-Iraq-ice-cream-shop-al-faqma-Ramadan-Islamic-State I say nuke em. Sent from my Nexus 5X using Tapatalk

I would contest that thought. Don't mix up our, fans, motivation with the players'. We had achieved our objective, which was to vindicate last season and to ultimately win the league as the season progressed. Super motivation and desire was on display almost every game. They didn't have enough push for the FA Cup because they had already done what they aimed to do, with the cup being only a bonus. Stress levels dropped, they didn't have enough pressure to get that extra that would make the difference. Arsenal, on the other, had a trainwreck of a season. Out of top 4 for the first time since who knows when, humiliated in CL, fans being unanimously vocal against the team and the club, Wenger in/out saga and so on. This was literally their last saving grace to show others that they aren't complete bottlers, their pride as professionals above all was at stake. And they played as such, against a team that didn't need this win.

"I am not Chelsea anymore"

DIEGOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOAAAAAAAAAAAL

Moses is a fucking idiot.