Sideshow Luiz

I must admit, I do not know anything about Sampaoli either. Then, I read these articles on his tactical preferences: https://footballmanageranalysis.wordpress.com/2014/03/12/a-tactical-analysis-of-jorge-sampaoli/ https://defendingwiththeball.wordpress.com/2014/06/15/chile-attack-attack-and-then-attack-some-more/ I'm intrigued, but I also really wanted Bielsa as an interim manager and Pochettino as the next full time. So I suppose it only makes sense that I'd be excited to see Sampaoli after leaning who he was. Of course, this now means that it won't happen and we'll get Rafa. Edit: I should note that I don't actually think we have the squad to implement the philosophy of any of those coaches. The back line is too slow. Terry was one of our best players last season, and possibly the best CB in the PL. But he really needs a team that defends deep to cover for his (lack of) pace. Sampaoli (from the brief amount that I've read) seems to want midfielders that go box to box, and we don't really have those (Vidal > Ramires). If he comes in, we'd be looking at a lot of new additions to the starting XI. I'm not against that, but it's a difficulty.

Gazumped by Liverpool. Dark days.

I'm not confident about this match, but you never know. I'm less confident that we'll try anything new. 433, please, the midfield is crying for it. Get Cesc further forward without being a pure 10. Get Oscar further back where he can have a little more space. I'm very confident that we'll trot out the same thing that's been broken all season long.

I think Pedro would do well here if we played him as a winger, instead of as a midfielder where we ask him to come deep. Our squad is dying for 433 IMO. Fabregas doesn't work as well as a DM or as a pure 10. I also think that Oscar would be better a little further back. Pedro and Hazard would also work better as winger/forwards, also IMO. Now, we're being linked with Lavezzi, I think he's pretty similar to Pedro in the winger vs. midfielder regard.

Jose would have said that he won't comment on the extra time and the offside because he doesn't want to be fined. For which he would receive a fine. I'm expecting Martinez to come out unscathed.

Fergie time. Offside goal in injury time +1. I feel a bit dirty, but I'll take it.

That was shambolic. Zouma loses his man so much. He needs to read the game better. Haven't seen a lot of improvement in that area.

I don't think we're paying his full wages. I think Man Utd. did last year, but I think that Monaco are covering a large %. Just looked it up, and he took a 50% pay cut to join. http://www.express.co.uk/sport/football/588785/Manchester-United-flop-Radamel-Falcao-wage-cut-secure-Chelsea-move Still overpaid.

The google translate version of that link is great: Now with duck in the sights, Chelsea is a true 'cemetery attackers'

Could be. But, if he's primarily an aux striker who can play out on the left, 433 would suit him better. Same with Pedro. Not so much LM like we use. I'd love for us to give 433 a shot, but...

We can hope. I'd love to see him at Chelsea.

There are a few places reporting that we are in the market for him, £40M. Can't see it happening. Probably trying to get a new contract from Madrid.

It also means that we could probably extract a higher fee.

I don't actually hate this move. Depending on the fee and the wages, of course. He's still only 26.

Real Madrid and Atletico Madrid banned from registering new players. http://www.vintages.com/vmail/pvw_en.shtml?utm_source=Jan14&utm_medium=Email&utm_campaign=PVWOffer I suppose they should have gotten that De Gea deal done last summer. This also affects Hazard's future if you believe all the rumours and we can forget about signing Griezmann as well since AM won't be able to replace him. Wonder what this does to Simeone's future as well. Will he be more inclined to leave?

FFS

OG has been amazing for us this season. Legend.

How is Yacob still on the pitch? Should have seen his second yellow in the first half.

I only know Gundogan through FIFA since I don't watch much Bundesliga (read: any). According to whoscored.com, he's the 17th highest rated player in the Bundesliga (7.38 rating) http://www.whoscored.com/Regions/81/Tournaments/3/Seasons/5870/Stages/12559/PlayerStatistics/Germany-Bundesliga-2015-2016 Pogba is the 5th highest in Serie A (7.49) http://www.whoscored.com/Regions/108/Tournaments/5/Seasons/5970/Stages/12770/PlayerStatistics/Italy-Serie-A-2015-2016 If you take note of such things. But, for comparison: Chelsea's best player according to whoscored is Willian with a 7.18 rating (just Premier League). Cesc Fabregas has a rating of 6.87

I like Reus too. I'd also like to see Yarmolenko if we sold Hazard. Should leave us with plenty of money left over for shoring up other positions if Hazard is actually sold. Would also be nice to have a left footed attacking player as well. The Sun's latest rumour is that Man Utd want to buy him for £65M. So ridiculous. 50 for Martial, but 65 for Hazard. GTFO. As for the Bale thing. I just don't like him. I don't know what it is. Maybe because he was at Tottenham, maybe because the British press love him a little too much. I don't know. I just don't like him and I don't like being linked with him. I don't think he's worth his price tag.

Yes, it's a bit worrying. After our inactive summer plus the disastrous season, you'd think that they would have had transfers lined up for the start of the window. That seems to be the mark of successful transfer window. Business done early.

Scolari featured him heavily as well. He was the key to the team at the beginning of the season when we were successful. Unfortunately, teams started marking him out of the match and Scolari had no plan B.

Was hoping this was going to work out, oh well. It was a low risk move. If he had performed, great. Didn't work out, no big loss to us.

I think he's gone in the summer. I'd love for him to stay, but we seem to be very conscious of net spend these days and if PSG and Madrid get in to a bidding war for him, I think we'll sell. I didn't want to lose Luiz or Mata either, but it was silly money. Having said that, I'd only be okay with it if the money was re-invested wisely.

Right, so it's the usual Daily Fail stuff. I did think the figure was ridiculous. I'd imagine that he'd go for more than 30-35. Martial went for 50 (there are 2 slam dunk add-ons that are 10M Euro each). I'd imagine that Lacazette would go for a similar amount.