Sideshow Luiz

I can see recycled headlines: "Costa should not have been on the pitch......" Print it all year long as far as I care. 3 points. Let's go.

It's funny to see where everyone's streams are at. That was a spoiler alert situation for me, but there seem to be quite a few who are even later than I am.

Can't be worse than Matic fumbling with the ball.

Fabregas for Matic, please.

I'd still love to have him here. Conte's Juve midfield was pretty solid. Pirlo with 2 of Vidal/Marchisio/Pogba. Pirlo pulling the strings from deep. If we had Nainggolan we could do that with Cesc Nainggolan and Kante. Need another CB as it would mean 3 ATB. Christensen coming back next year though...

90M for Pogba doesn't sound so crazy anymore.

Yeah, he was the most advanced, but played deeper in general that we're used to seeing him. At least it seemed that way to me. I don't remember the Willian/Oscar debate. But, I'd agree with you. Willian isn't all that in the final 3rd. Oscar gets a lot of stick here. And I don't love him either. He has his moments, just never 3 in a row. But, if he was our #1 issue, we'd be real title contenders. Need half a back line first. I guess I stick up for him a lot because I see a lot of "pay team X to take him" and stuff of that nature. It's something I don't really like in football. Everyone wants the really good players to be loyal, but if they "aren't good enough", it's get rid of him, he's useless, etc. etc. If Madrid came for Hazard next summer and he said he wanted to go, everyone would be calling him Judas and that he's a mercenary. Then turn around and tell someone else to do one because they aren't good enough. Just don't like it.

I thought Oscar played well tonight. He wasn't amazing or a match winner, but he was Solid, I thought. A couple of cheeky passes, a couple that didn't come of either. But, I like his deeper role.

I'm okay with Cesc. http://www.express.co.uk/sport/football/666766/Cesc-Fabregas-Accused-Sparking-Chelsea-Tottenham-Brawl-Guus-Hiddink-Premier-League-News As far as ability goes, I think he could be Pirlo-like if we surround him with 2 beasts live Juve did.

This seems like a measured, reasonable analysis. Where am I?

I don't think this is going to happen anymore. This season is going to be painful at the back again. But, when Christensen comes back next season, we'll have him and Zouma. That's the hope we'll have to live with if this doesn't happen.

I'd be keen on this move. Striker prices are getting ridiculous. Football inflation is going through the roof.

I don't think it's FFP. I think we stopped spending in order to fund the stadium re-development. We're doing an Arsenal ATM.

Sub the sub in a glorified friendly. Not great, but the history between the two makes it bad. I loved Mata when he was here and I still have a soft spot for him even though he was only with us for 2 seasons. Genuinely seems like a nice guy. Hope he goes back to Spain to a club where he can be happy and play his technical football without everyone complaining about what he doesn't do. Maybe a return to Valencia or something.

If we spend 50, should we just go for Stones? We get a HG player as well then, plus Stones is 3 years younger. I don't know Koulibaly well enough to know if he's better than Stones. I've seen him play a few times, but I'm by no means an expert on him.

Possibly. Is your point that people who think Mustafi is average should stop watching football? Because they don't understand that calling Mustafi average is like saying Messi is average? Personally, I think one of these players is much further from average than the other. So far in fact, that I would say it's not comparable anymore. I can understand how one is more easily mistaken for average than the other. That's my point.

Really? I thought RC was taller than that. Thanks.

I like Marquinhos, and I think he could be a good value transfer. The only thing that concerns me is his height. I'm not sure he's big enough for the Prem.

Okay. It's not even close to saying that Messi is average, because Mustafi is not as good as Messi. That's crazy. Not comparable situations at all. He's good, IMO. But, he's not going to be on the shortlist for the Ballon D'Or either.

We turned a profit on him? I always knew it was a shrewd signing. Great buy.

4-1-4-1 is surely going to be a 4-3-3 as well, if that's what they are going to do. I believe this is what most people wanted to see last season too.

I don't think this is going to happen. There's a Brazilian defender at PSG who's quite good on the ball, but his positioning is a bit suspect at times.

Don't forget about Morata who we were interested in earlier. Morata, Tevez, Lukaku One of these is least like the others,

Get them both = move to a back 3?

I think that Fabregas needs 2 other midfielders with him. At Juve, Pirlo sat deep, but had 2 of Marchisio, Vidal, and Pogba around him to win the ball.