manpe

That midfield you named lacks offensive power and is solely focused on destroying, not creating. Mourinho would love it of course. Throw Fabregas or Pjanic next to Kante and Radja and we're golden. Matic and RLC would still get good minutes as direct backups. Regarding defence, it's clear that JT is not good enough anymore if we want to play a high(er) line, which we need to start doing eventually. Cahill and Ivanovic are not good enough full stop. One or two of them can stay as backups, but nothing more. Zouma needs a proper ball-playing partner, a Carvalho to his Terry if you will. If we fix our midfield and central defence, then we could even go another season with Ivanovic and Azpi as full-backs, but eventually we'd need to move away from such archaic pairing as well.

Kante yes, but I always thought we are linked with him because every top club is linked with Leicester's top players, especially us because of our situation. It's "easy rumours" for newspapers, very plausible, but not necessarily true or even realistic. Haven't heard of any alternatives to Kante or I simply can't remember. There is still plenty of time for things to change of course.

I really would like to see a City - Atletico final, with Atletico winning it. It would be awesome - the team I am cheering for wins it, the team I want to suffer loses after coming so close. Having an all-Spanish final would be too cliche. Bayern vs. Real wouldn't be bad either, but I don't like them. I'd much rather Atletico be in it, I like them and Simeone very much. However, I predict that the final will be between Atletico and Real. Am afraid City will implode like they always do, Atletico will (hopefully) hold their own in Munich.

Both would fit in the same line-up nicely. At the moment Nainggolan is closest to actually replacing Ramires, anybody remember him? We never replaced him, now we have. Matic's replacement, if any, is yet to arrive. Have we even been linked with a DM yet?

Sky and ESPN reporting, it's practically official now.

Diego? Really? He has been horseshit until Jose got sacked.

Yes, exactly. Doctors would need to wear company logos on their smocks as well and have product placements in O.R, with 15 minute commercial breaks during operations. As I said, something is fundamentally wrong when such are our priorities and when advertising industry is one of the most powerful in the world. Don't think anybody can argue with that, unless you profess that telly clowns and jocks deserve what they earn while people with practical input in making the world go round are just an afterthought. It isn't just limited to football, all entertainment industry is blown out of proportion. It is more of an economic-philosophical discussion and points can be made against capitalism, you can agree with the ways things are set up, it is your right, but me and Mata don't agree (even though he is inside the system reaping rewards). Money, to some extent, is also destroying football. Salary caps should be introduced.

You're right in terms of football making insane money and salaries being proportionate, but this is where something is fundamentally flawed in society. Entertainment industries are rewarded far too kindly, when in reality they bring nothing progressive to the world. Yes, entertainment is all good fun and necessary, but the gap between people doing real useful work for society and people who kick a ball about for our amusement is far too big. But this is how things work nowadays - the more appearances you make on telly in between commercials and the more people your status/brand attracts to watch those commercials, the more handsomely you are rewarded. Regular folk, who work their asses off and are having trouble making ends meet, are cast aside, because they don't generate any significant revenue to the fat cats, and are therefore insignificant. As I said, this system is fundamentally flawed like the world itself, but within the established multibillion entertainment and advertising industries the players' wages do make sense. We just have to accept that there is no justice, equality or reward based on merit. Television clowns are more important than, say, scientists, architects, engineers, doctors, teachers, soldiers, police officers, firefighters, regular do-gooders who make the world a better place day-by-day etc.

He is definitely one of many examples he could bring. Our own Josh McEachran is another, thought he was a made man too soon.

4? It would be close if you meant the premier league era (5 different champions), but past 5 decades? Check out the list yourself: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_English_football_champions

Manchester United midfielder Juan Mata: "I earn an obscene amount of money - footballers live in a bubble" Good man

Has a ceremony been announced yet?

You could very well be right, you probably are. I'm not even good on football manager, so I wouldn't trust myself either

Good call for young player of the year.

I like the idea of him playing the Pirlo role. He can definitely make plays and dictate tempo from deep, but as everybody else has already pointed out, we need certain type of players to accomodate him in that role. Radja and Vidal would be ideal with RLC being a direct backup. Damn, thinking about it... Courtois Azpi - Zouma - Manolas - X(Baba?) Cesc Vidal - Nainggolan Willian - Costa - Hazard Now that is what I call a team.

This is a non-competition this year. The answer is so obvious that I bet people know who I mean even when I don't mention his name. Hint: he has a mean 'fro. He will win too, no doubt about it. Fabregas? Up until January he was wank, like playing with 10 men and one of the main culprits why we were flirting with the relegation zone. Hell to the no. Azpilicueta is a good shout, but he's not been himself these past few months. He may get players' player of the year, but I wouldn't bet on it. Young player of the season? Lofty Cheeks or Traore, but probably Cheeky.

What does it have to do with JM?

Mikel and Ivanovic played in defence, they didn't block RLC's path. Baba started and played the whole game.

Is it just me or he looked in much better shape than he has all season?

How the mighty have fallen

What options does he realistically have though that fit his criteria? Every other league but England is pretty much monopolized and would bore him. A return to Italy? He has good relationship with Moratti, why not. It would be a challenge to compete with Juventus, Roma and Napoli and make Inter relevant again. Manchester United - In doubt, there are talks of LVG continuing until the end of his contract and in addition there have been reports that the higher ups aren't fans of Jose's methods. Moratti's sister seemingly already said he's going to United, maybe prematurely? Manchester City - Pep. Not happening. Real Madrid - No. Admitted Spain was boring and no way would they humiliate Zidane this way, he's been doing well. He wasn't happy or loved there, doubt he would want to return either way. Barcelona - Hell no. Both parties would need to swallow a lot of pride to work together, don't see it happening. Completely opposite footballing philosophies make it an unlikely pairing, Barca won't crap on Cruyff's legacy like that. Bayern - Already appointed a new manager. Not a competitive league. PSG - Possible, but Jose has criticized the league before. However, he might not have many options. Arsenal - Would require a shock Wenger exit in the summer. Possible, but not likely. If I was Arsenal, I would do it in a heartbeat though, Wenger is outdated. Inter - Mancini isn't doing a good job, so it is another possibility. Jose loves the club and holds them in high regard, return wouldn't be surprising. What else is there left? It seems that it's gonna be one of Man United, PSG or Inter. Anything else would be a surprise. No doubt United is his nr. 1 preference, he's probably waiting until he gets something concrete from them, then will look elsewhere.

Yeah, but strong signals coming out that red nose is not a fan of his.

Fab and Mikel are similar in terms of mobility, you simply cannot have two such players in the same line-up. You then add Oscar to the equasion, who is completely average, and it's a no-brainer why we suck ass so much in the middle of the park. Last season we had Matic to hold things together. We are severely lacking an Essien in there, this will definitely be fixed next season and I don't believe Mikel will play another full 90 for the club again.

On the other hand he will be given a blank cheque and could focus completely on the CL and make history by winning the thing with 3 teams. Must be tempting.

Isn't that what we want our goalkeeper to do? Not to be shy in his corner.