Sideshow Luiz

No. Because that would mean Alonso is starting on the weekend. I hope it's Alonso starting and it's a back-ups squad.

Willian Giroud CHO Barkley Kova Ampadu Alonso AC Whoever Zapp Kepa Barkley and Alonso in so that RLC and Emerson can play on the weekend. Sub-off CHO at 60 so he can start Sunday as well.

I actually think it's more brave of him to stick with his philosophy. It's what got him here. He's worked his way up from the bottom to here. Abandoning his principles would show a lack of faith in himself. I think that's quite brave. Naive, stubborn and arrogant? Yes, yes, maybe. If players aren't doing what he wants them to do, then why believe that they are going to play in to his plan B? If you're going to go down, go down swinging. However, if he want to stick with his principles, then he has to drop the players that are continually "not playing his football". If his remit was to come in and impose his style of play, hopefully get top 4, but put his blueprint down and figure out who should stay and who should go, then he should already know who he doesn't want to go forward with, and it's next man up. If he wants more desire from his team, then give a chance to some hungry players that have been sitting on the bench all year. If some of these guys don't want to "play your football", then fuck 'em. Stick them on the bench or in the stands and let them leave to a club that lets them do what they want. I'm glad he didn't bring up the desire or mentality after that humiliation at City. He's already done that. It didn't work. His next step has to be dropping players who aren't doing what he wants. Now, if his remit was to come in and polish a turd in to a diamond as quickly as possible and get results at the same time. I'm afraid it's not working. Though, based on everyone else who's failed to do that, it seems like an impossible job. Conte squeezed the last bit of juice from this squad, IMO. It's a big summer coming up. We'll see what the club have as a plan, if they have one at all.

Bayern have been doing this, IMO. They buy a lot of young players and hope that some of them turn out. They've bought Sanches, Tolisso, then Goretzka in consecutive summers. They've got Gnabry, Coman, Davies, and tried for CHO. It's not a bad strategy, since you can still sell the players you don't want, but it's hardly a "we want to build around you" kind of a situation.

Well, it's not just the US sporting background. There are plenty of NBA, NFL, and MLB players that waste their gifts and/or don't have the right mentality. But, it seems that the top US footballers all generally work hard. Those guys were not always the most athletic players growing up. So, to compete they had to be more tenacious, IMO. I think that winning teams have to have a mix of youth and experience. There's a reason why serial winner like Jose (I know he's fallen from grace, but they guy wants and wins trophies) values experience. Someone in the dressing room needs to be a leader besides the coach. A 20 year old making 3 times as much as the coach might not always listen to him (this isn't all), but they'll listen to a JT, or Drogba, or Lamps. Leadership doesn't come across in the stats or the youtube highlight videos. But, in some ways, previous coaches have already identified it. Players who have been made captain of their team at club level, or international, even U-21. It's something that the New England Patriots have done and they are a dynasty (long one) in a league that's designed to not have dynasties. I've shared this with @Unionjack before. https://www.forbes.com/sites/davidching/2018/02/01/unheralded-factor-in-patriots-winning-culture-a-roster-loaded-with-college-captains/#67898ec224fc

Other reports say that he's already told them. Since this documentary was filmed 2 months ago, it would make sense that he has in fact already told the club as this falls in line with our absolute refusal to sell CHO this past window.

We can only hope that it means he's in line to play against Huddersfield as this is a pretty rotated side today.

Dortmund after Ziyech, apparently. https://www.francefootball.fr/news/Mercato-le-borussia-dortmund-pousse-pour-hakim-ziyech/983235 I think he's quality and the kind of attacking midfielder we would be looking for. But, if we're not buying a back up to Jorginho, there's no way we're bring in Ziyech with Ross, RLC and Kovacic here.

I'm a little on the opposite. I don't think he's that close anymore. Doesn't really bring out anything before it's all widely reported. Like, we kind of knew a few weeks ago when Parades and Barella went quiet that the club weren't desperate for a new midfielder.

I'm not convinced that Matt Law is as nailed on for Chelsea news as he has been in the past. He still has the "Chelsea ITK" label, but I'm not sure he's any better than Fifield. And, we won't even bring up Pedulla right now (though his time frames are always sketchy).

The answer has to be Tonali. He's not like any of the other young midfielders that we have so he won't be "blocking" them. He's a natural fit in Jorginho's position which we need a back up for. If Kovacic is going to back up Jorginho for the rest of the season, we'll need to find a long term solution in the summer after his loan deal is up anyway.

Any chance that he can be our back up to Kante? We don't really have a rotation option for him. I know this sounds like heresy given just how poor he was last season.

That's why we can't sell him before Hazard. If Hazard leaves and we tell CHO that the spot is his, he may well play ball. If Hazard leaves, that's CHO, Pulisic, Willian, and Pedro here. Big 6 months for the club ahead.

Hazard's gone the moment Real pick up the phone. The board need to have a replacement lined up for the inevitable instead of a last minute swoop for Zaha. I'm pretty sure he's gone too (90%). But we can't sell CHO before Real call.

When we bought Hazard, he was a promising young player with bags of potential. We were never able to buy players like he is now. If we sell him, I'd expect us to replace him with a promising player with bags of potential. Someone like a CHO. Not only do I think that we can't sell CHO until the summer, but we can't sell him until we know what is going to happen with Hazard.

Hope you do well, Morata. Scores some very nice goals, misses some very routine ones. All the tools needed, I hope Simeone instills a ruthless streak in him.

Football "journalism" has some odd wordings. How have we called Bayern's bluff? He's just not for sale right now, and definitely not 3 days before the window closes. Unless Bayern are suggesting that it's "take it or leave it, we won't be coming back" which hasn't really been suggested anywhere.

I like him, I think he's good. He's good enough to play all of the 3 midfield roles. But not excellent enough at any fo them to be the starter there, IMO. If the fee wasn't crazy, the wages weren't too bad, and if he was willing to accept a role in which he's the 2nd choice at a number of positions, then sure.

From what I saw, we tried them both today and Kova was better. Ampadu misplaced far too many passes and wasn't active enough getting in to space. I know he's young, but he doesn't look suited for the position. His best position in midfield, IMO, is the B2B role or a straight up defensive midfielder.

We need another midfielder. Kovacic was okay in Jorginho's position today (against Sheffield Wednesday), but we don't really have anyone to back up Jorginho, it was clear today. What happened to the Tonalli links? Those and the Suso links went super quiet.

I'm concerned about Rabiot's mum. I know all these family members are trying to do the best for their kids. But, it's so annoying listening to them talk through the media about what the club should do. Is Rabiot the AM we need? Or a rotation option like Kovacic who can kind of play everywhere?

In this type of match, I agree. It's Kovacic or RLC. RLC in a match like this. Kovacic in a match where we have to be a little more defensively sound.

Hazard - Higuain - Pedro RLC - Jorginho - Kante Emerson - Luiz - Rudiger - Azpi Kepa

Yeah, but we only actually have 3 of those players, 4 with Barkley. We can't say that CHO's HG status isn't worth anything if we pull off all of these other moves. Then, when it comes to getting these players we have to pay the English player tax. If we have to pay the HG tax, we have to sell with the HG tax too. Having too many HG players is fine. Not having enough puts us in a pickle. If he wants to go to Dortmund, and we can get Sancho, that's cool too (City have a first refusal clause though).

He's worth more than the cost of a replacement to us though. A replacement won't be HG. We haven't had a history of keeping player who wanted to leave, but 5 days before the window closes with 2 matches in between....this is a tough predicament. I still think we should say no, and sell him in the summer, it's too late for us to get someone else in.