Thor

Nah, we don't need a midfielder...

Nitpicking to be honest. Everton fans said the same. He doesn't do much off the ball, and he doesn't work enough to get involved... At the end of the day, he finds himself in great positions, and puts it away. He wins games. Whether he makes it look pretty is a whole different topic, but his style is clearly effective. United looked better than they have in a long time. Still don't think they are a better side than us, but they are definitely top 4 this year.

I'm finding it a bit bizarre myself. We seem to deal with a wide variety of clubs, and then when it comes to going the other way, it just doesn't happen. Then another club will come along later with a similar, or even smaller bid, and somehow that gets accepted? Either what is being reported isn't true, and we aren't actually making these bids, or there is some insane order in place where not many teams like selling to us... for whatever reason, despite us being able to deal with other teams.

He looked quicker than ever. Very promising. I was always a fan. And like someone said, he did look a bit like Pogba out there...

Get him in now and ready for the Spuds game. He'll get to play his favourite position until Baka comes back.

After 6 games last season, we had 10 points... I think we can better that, and we have a far harder schedule this time around. Our backline is fine in my opinion. We are better with Christensen than Cahill. What is the deal with Moses? Will he be available? Wings are fine. Hopefully Pedro is back. If not, Willian and Musonda are good enough. They're pacy, and against the Spurs given our lack of depth, hitting them on the counter will be what we try and do. The only question is who will play in the middle of the park? I didn't like Azpi at RWB, so if Moses is available, play him there, and maybe Azpi steps into that middle role? Or Luiz, since he is better on the ball and a far better passer. Think we would be pretty solid defensively that way. Everyone needs to calm down with the panic. One game didn't go our way. We started horribly last season, and by all statistics, we had one of the most dominant title runs ever. Things don't look good at the moment with depth, but lets hope the board get cracking on that end and assess things in 5 game patches, not game by game, or minute by minute as some did in the game thread talking about how our season was over after the first half.

He was terrible yesterday, but it wasn't close to a representation as to who he is as a player. He is far better than that. He generally is quite competent with his first touch and his link up play is of a high standard. I think nerves got the better of him, and that is what it can be put down to. Saying that, Morata's skillset would be better suited to this team judging off what we've seen. Even in the preseason, his hold up and build up play made us look good. Bats is just lacking that little bit extra in his game at this point. Has all the physical tools to succeed though.

Christensen is a monster. So similar to Luiz, yet he might have an even better eye in terms of the short pass. Cahill should never start again. Rudiger impressed me in the second half. Doesn't look great carrying the ball, but his passing... pinpoint. Can't fault it.

Hope the ref losses his job and has to live on the streets. Dead set. That was close to as bad as Barca in the champions league.

If this was a United game, there would be 13 minutes of extra time. These wankers have held the ball up like their life depended on it with a man extra.

Wow... How is that not worse than Cahill's? Makes contact with the STUDS at knee level..

Scissor tackle from behind? Yellow? Ok.

First game of the season. Some of you need to calm down though. lol...

Few observations... Rudiger is pretty bad. Christensen is better than Rudiger and Cahill. So much more competent with the ball at his feet, and one of the only players that was actually in the right place each time the ball was coming in. Azpi should never play RWB. He is a better CB. We should be starting with Azpi, Luiz and Christensen. Alonso is our weakest link, by far. He should be a squad rotation player. This is not overreaction, but something that a lot of the board was saying even when we were winning. Moses is a better player too. Michy is more than likely nervous, because his first touch and hold up has never been this bad. Morata would be useful at half time. Willian and Luiz have been decent for me.

Time to call up a few of the under 16's with how thin our squad is.

That is a penalty. Since when are you allowed to extend the arm from the body and push a player?

So is this ref gonna call anything on them for laying on the ball continually? It is illegal.

Absolutely. He also seems to prefer his eggs sunny side up instead of boiled. Just another baseless piece of information I got from that snippet like yourself.

Agreed. I think we are good for wingers and attacking options. A central midfielder and a wingback option, preferably for the left side would be enough I think. Azpi can cover the middle and the right side, and Rose and Alonso are good for the left.

Would people rather Barkley over Drinkwater? I feel as if he is really young and can still be turned into a good player. He has some great attributes already, and simply needs a world class manager and organisation to get the best out of him. Better to get a young home grown talent rather than a stop gap, right?

What is it that people are hoping for prior to the start of the season? I honestly think picking up Drinkwater and Ox would be enough in my opinion. I feel as if the middle is where we are a little lacking in depth at the moment, but a core of Kante, Baka, Cesc and Drinkwater to rotate is good enough IMO. Drinkwater isn't some slouch like people make him out to be. Add in the Ox as well given how versatile he is. I think it also takes care of the wingback deal going on. We'd have Azpi, Moses, Alonso, Ox and Kennedy if need be to run the wingback roles. Getting Baba back wouldn't be a bad idea. Some of you are unrealistic in regards to wanting world beaters at every position. There is more competition these days. More clubs with backing behind them. It just isn't going to happen unless we go all out for 10 years, build a winning culture, while playing dominating football. Not exactly easy to do. Barca was blessed with a great youth academy at the right time, and everything came together. They suddenly became looked at in the same vein as Real and Man United. I believe we were close to breaking into that, but had to many in between years after Jose left the first time.

He looks to be a great talent. I think we're good for wingers. So glad to see him getting some time on the pitch, as well as Boga to a lesser degree. He brings directness to our game, which I liked as soon as he got on the pitch. Maybe not the best time to actually show his stuff seeing as the field got smaller with Arsenal being able to crowd our players with a man less, but you can see the talent. I realise he is a winger, but I thought he did quite well when he came into the middle of the pitch as well. Give him a go. He is exceptionally skilled, an athlete and a youngster ready to make the next step. He has all the tools to be a top player.

I like the different dynamic they both bring. I don't know if I mentioned it in my previous post, but Morata has looked a bit slower than usual. Might just be the preseason and all, but usually, from the highlights and few games I've seen of him, he is a bit of a speedster. Once his fitness is there again, I'm looking forward to see what he can do. Like I said, wasn't too thrilled with the signing, but after watching him, I've become a fan. Weird, seeing as how most have been disappointed with him.

I was one of few against the signing on the board, and thought we should have gone for Lukaku, but after watching him play last night, I thought he did really well. I commented on the missed penalty just as some perspective based on how some on this board will bash one player for a certain thing, but another will get a pass. At the end of the day, should hit that nearly every time, but it happens. I won't blame him for the missed penalty. Everyone misses. Aside from his very first touch in the game where he bobbled it and lost it in the middle of the park, he was very impressive with his hold up and distribution off some difficult balls. Courtois was lobbing them to him and nearly every time he was around the ball, he controlled it or headed it to one of our men. Obviously when we're playing our best side, that will come extremely handy. Something we didn't get much of with Costa in the line up.

No one will bring up the Morata miss due to him being new. But we didn't hear the end of it when Lukaku missed his first.