manpe

Helps him adapt and connect with teammates quicker.

Isco would be a welcome addition to our squad imo, an improvement on Barkley for sure. Brings winning experience that this team's lacking. Does he speak English?

Loved that Willian part

The first three have little to nothing to do with Marina, players and coaches bailed her out on those. We have been quite lucky and overachieving this past decade if I think about it, in quite a few seasons things could have gone very differently very easily, which would have dramatically impacted the club's finances and stature. But somehow the team always managed to stay afloat despite all the unfavourable circumstances we've faced, even now.. this has kept the club from becoming Arsenal. It's time for the board to step up and start doing favours back for the team.

What about Werner's situation? Sent from my Mi A1 using Tapatalk

Werner plays in Leipzig, what do you mean the RC is for them? Sent from my Mi A1 using Tapatalk

Hmm, isn't it so that if a club meets the release clause, that club can already negotiate a contract with the player? So in theory all interested clubs would only need to submit the exact fee in the clause, which then allows opening contract negotiations and then the player will ultimately decide who's offer to take. Why would anybody need to bid higher if the outcome is the same? Or does he mean that by the time he is on the move, his release clause will have risen?

No way in hell Marina pays that amount for fucking Zaha, she is notorious for penny pinching for far better players. Just not gonna happen. 40-45 mill is the highest I can see her go tbf and Palace will ultimately take that and run.

£80m? Big fat NO Enough of inflating the market of mediocre players with silly purchases like this. 20 mill player, add on the stupid prices tax and he's probably closer to between £30-40m.

Werner for me is the dream signing of next summer. Do I realistically believe it will happen? No, there will be too many more appealing buyers. The slim chance we do have of signing him would evaporate if we miss out on CL footie next season.

He has scored 3 goals this term in 1465 mins, that's 1 goal every 5.4 full games. Not good enough for a supposed striker option, even as a backup over Giroud or Michy would be going sideways (perhaps an upgrade on Giroud as he doesn't fit our style at all). I wouldn't consider him an automatic upgrade over Willian either, both lack in end product (something we REALLY don't need any more of), but Willian's overall play is better. If he does sign, the hope is that he will blow up in a new club and get a little push from Lampard to improve. But if the money involved is too high, then forget him and move on to other targets

It was his 2nd game after being out all season...

I don't know, to me it looks like Zouma has improved quite considerably at that throughout the season. At the beginning of the season he was clearly instructed to play it short and safe, but yesterday his long diagonals made me think it was Rüdiger giving them. Has also become more adventurous and confident with his passing... This version of Zouma is far from the worst on the ball I have seen (partly because I follow Estonian NT ) I incline to agree with Didierblue here, out of those three, purely from defensive standpoint, I would pick Zouma ahead of them. There is a reason why he's been constantly picked by Lampard and others rotated.

Try explaining their agents that there is a 50-50 chance their client will be mostly playing low profile games. However if we throw money at them, then sure. If we did get both though I'd be over the moon. I think our best bet is to keep Emerson as backup and competition to whoever new LB will be, he is good enough for that. Alonso is a goner though, thank fuck. Good to see Lamps isn't doing an Ivanovic with him.

How would that work out in terms of squad balance? Would either accept being a backup?

Let's go for Romagnoli then! How much do you think he would cost?

Does Ake ever play LB and/or DMF anymore? According to whoscored only 1 time at LB this season. Would he still efficiently fill a role of a swiss army knife in 3 positions, or is he a pure CB now? I like the idea of having him as a squad player for several positions, not a fan of the idea of having him as a starting CB. If we can sell Zouma and Christensen, I would like us to go for a strong starting quality CB. Tomori and Ake backing up, competing with and learning from Rüdiger and that new CB, I wouldn't mind that. Sell AC this January and bring in Ake. Sell Zouma in the summer and bring in a new CB that would elevate our level. @Vesper realistically who could that be in the summer? I know you have posted about them (I admit I often skip through your long posts) but having your take on my above proposal interests me no matter how long the post shall be.

Don't worry it's a repetitive cycle. Soon enough we'll get 2-3 good results and performances and they will change their minds, praises will be sung. Then we'll inevitably hit another slump and everybody is shit.. again. This is how it goes.

I see, but that Villa goal was only two games ago, should count for his current form. He is a threat albeit not a consistent one, he had a long dry spell.

100000% spot on

Still can't believe Sarri said that. One of the most humiliating things I've heard a manager say about his player.

I think he has lost belief in himself, he has stopped believing he is a top defender since that Barca game. Being dropped by Conte, humiliated by Sarri and having spells out injured probably destroyed his long-term confidence. It's a mental issue I believe because earlier he really was much better than now.

I think defenders for whom 3 CB formation suits better are defenders who are just not that good. It suits them better because they have more cover - Luiz, Alonso, Moses are good examples. It made them look world class, stick them in a 4 and they would crumble. Conte realized that early and it transformed us. It's the system's strength, a 4-man backline simply requires better individuals who can fend for themselves.

Haven't been reading this forum a lot for the past few days but my god the last pages of this thread make me want to cry. Just another example of prevalent hypocrisy on here. At first? Give him time, it's all part of learning curve, it's a painful but necessary process yada yada. Then we hit a slump, the same supporters? Lampard out, he's another AVB, he's out of his depth... Often times these same people will then bash others for fickleness. Can't wait to go on another winning run and watch them all change their minds... again. It's like people can't comprehend after years and years of watching teams go through highs and lows, that there aren't such things as perfect seasons for a team like ours.