Jase

THIS IS FUCKING EXCRUCIATING!

YES THEY ARE!

Can't watch this...

His problem seems to be more about attitude/mentality than anything else.

Attackers win games but defenders win leagues. Attackers are important but we should also know better than most that having a strong defenders can be extremely valuable to the team. So much of our success over the last 15 years or so have been underpinned by a strong defence. If the homework has been done properly and you believe the player will come good, then you pay big money for that player. The best players or potential to be among the best players will always cost a lot. Is that not what everyone said when we bought Havertz last summer for £70 million+ despite not being a finished article yet? City bought Ruben Dias for only a few million cheaper than Van Dijk - around £68 million or so - and he has become one of the best defenders in the league and has just won the FWA Player of the Year last week. He's also the first defender to win that award in more than 30 years. Why do people always talk as if they are the ones who have to spend the money and not the club? Whether West Ham will accept the deal or not is not the point. The point is, if we can use Abraham to lower the fee for a deal, then we should explore at the possibility of doing it.

This may work in the odd game or two but it's never going to work consistently successfully because at the end of the day, Pulisic and CHO aren't wingbacks. We would just be putting square pegs in round holes. Not even Guardiola has done something as crazy as that consistently and even if he did manage to make it work, the one big difference between City and us is that they are far more comfortable in possession than us. We may dominate games in terms of having more possession but we aren't that good in possession based football.

LOL If the FA or the Premier League are out to get us, they should just come out and say it! #CAMPAIGNAGAINSTCHELSEA

I saw his post-Madrid comments back then and thought they were over-dramatic. The funny thing then is after he said what he said, he went and put in a run of average games, where he had little to no impact whatsoever. Not sure Ziyech justifies a start in the CL final at this point. Mount will start. Werner likely too. It's between Havertz and Pulisic for the third spot.

Says who exactly? Why does position even matter? Would you have complained had we spent £75 million on Van Dijk - not a defensive midfielder but a defensive player nonetheless - a few years ago? I'd argue that we desperately also need a new defensive midfielder considering (a) Kante isn't getting any younger and is picking up injuries here and there and (b) no one else in the midfield area has any defensive bones in them. It says a lot that most of us, if not everyone, feels panicky whenever Kante isn't playing. I agree that spending 80-90 million, flat out cash, for Rice is OTT but if we can throw Abraham in and lower the fee to about 40-50 million, then I don't see what's bad about the deal at all. We instantly get a known/proven player in the league and let go an unwanted player without having to scramble around looking for takers elsewhere. That is why there are talks of throwing Abraham into the mix to lower the fee...

cc @Tomo https://www.standard.co.uk/sport/football/john-terry-Chelsea-fc-tottenham-job-b936648.html “My ambition is very, very clear,” he told the newspaper. “There’s an end goal for me and that’s managing Chelsea Football Club. My team will be winning — hopefully — very honest, very organised, very well drilled, very well prepared and with a back four. “I look at Lamps [Frank Lampard] and Stevie [Gerrard] and the success they’ve both had. Lamps in his first season at Chelsea, and what Stevie’s done up at Rangers is unbelievable. l probably wasn’t ready to go into coaching then. I am now. But I’m not just going to jump into anything. I’ve turned down two jobs since I’ve been here. “Decent-sized clubs. But it’s going to take something special for me to leave here. I’ve got one more year left at Villa. I’m in a privileged position because I’m in no rush. I want to be a No 1 but I’ll get there at some point.”

lol Tuchel... https://www.theguardian.com/football/2021/may/22/thomas-tuchel-ready-risk-key-players-maintain-chelseas-momentum The German also gave an interesting answer when asked if he remembered where he was when Chelsea last played in a Champions League final – their 2012 victory over Bayern Munich. “I think I was in Munich at home and watched it on TV,” he said. “Let’s say it was not absolutely well deserved. It felt more like a burglary.”

Bremen, Schalke and Hamburg all in the second division next season.

No one is saying Rice being PL proven will guarantee him to be a success but compare him with someone who is still untested in this league, there's more chance of Rice being a success. Neither pro or anti Tchouameni/Rice here but if spending extra 10-20 million guarantee us more of a sure thing, I'd rather choose the more expensive option. COVID-19 pandemic or not, what's 40-50 million these days? It's like the old big 30 million transfers before the market became as wild as it is today. If/when we sell the deadwoods, the money coming in can easily cover the 40-50 million or at least part of it. It's also funny you mentioned about spending smartly when last summer, we spent over 200 million on new players, including 70 million+ on Havertz, who has the potential but isn't world class right now and this summer, we're talking about potentially spending over 100 million on a new striker.

Let's not try to cover it up here. You have people calling Rice a clown, overrated, overpriced or whatever else. No one seems to be talking about his actual ability. And if we can use Abraham to lower the fee to about 40-50 million, then not sure why are we complaining. Someone like Tchouameni - who has supposedly been compared to Bakayoko! - may be cheaper but he's still untested in this league and no guarantee he'll be a success.

The difference between then and now is we could use Abraham to lower the price in a player + cash for player deal. West Ham also need a striker since Antonio is a tad injury prone. There's two advantages to this if we make it happen - (a) we let go of an unwanted player and (b) Rice already knows the league and has less question marks over him than Tchouameni (based on some responses here).

Is it just me or do some people's dislike of Rice here seems to be more about his nationality rather than his actual ability etc? Call me paranoid but I refuse to believe stories that say Tuchel wants Player A, B, C until we know for sure he's staying, *ahem* regardless of what happens in these last two games.

Totally forgot Scotland are in the same group with England and Croatia.

Can't remember if there were other clubs interested in him. We confirmed the signing in February last year, IIRC.

Serie A says "HELLO!".

Could have another potential opening at Wolves. Nuno is leaving after the final game this weekend.

Only problem is half of the squad is unsuited to playing the back 4.

Saw this bit in an article about United's transfer plans... https://theathletic.com/2601799/?source=twitteruk At the start of 2021, Erling Haaland was United’s principal target for the centre-forward role but as his agent, Mino Raiola, made his way around Europe it became clear the cost of any deal for the 20-year-old Borussia Dortmund striker would surpass all expectations. The prospective €150 million transfer price, plus agent fees and salary demands of £500,000 per week, which would break many clubs’ wage structures, certainly led United to re-evaluate. To that end, outgoing executive vice-chairman Ed Woodward recently informed manager Ole Gunnar Solskjaer that the cost of his Norwegian countryman would be too prohibitive and, by mutual decision to avoid any saga, the Haaland pursuit was put on hold. Multiple sources believe that Dortmund expect Haaland to stay for another season now Champions League qualification has been secured. Haaland’s €75 million (£64 million) release clause comes into effect in the summer of 2022. Manchester City were previously confident but there is a school of thought that Real Madrid stand out as the striker’s first-choice destination.

According to The Athletic, United are still after Sancho and are ahead of the queue. 70-80 million could be enough to get him this summer.

Think the main reason no one went for Ziyech is because he played in the Dutch Eredivisie. Players who come to the Premier League from that league do not have a great record in England. And the main reason why we were able to get Havertz unopposed was because the others couldn't afford him last summer, when the pandemic first hit clubs. We could afford him because of Roman and the unspent money from the summer before.

LOL It ain't happening with us.