Sideshow Luiz

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.

Daily Mail is "reporting" that Lyon accepted a £22M bid from Newcastle, but the player turned down the move. http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/football/article-3387305/France-striker-Alexandre-Lacazette-snubs-Newcastle-Lyon-accept-22million-bid.html I highly doubt the validity of this since Martial went for twice the price (after add-ons) and we're talking 40-50 for Sterling, Stones, etc. Always hopeful though.

ESPN says it's done: http://www.espnfc.com/real-madrid/story/2779882/real-madrid-sack-rafa-benitez-reports Nothing from the BBC or Guardian though. At the moment, of course

Fair enough point.

Pick one? Matches others? I think you've lost me. I do think you're right, that is the current philosophy of the club, Real Madrid lite. Chop and change managers, buy players with no idea of how they fit in to a system, which doesn't matter anyway because the players last longer than the manager so if they fit for this one, they may or may not fit for the next.

I think that's the issue.

I agree with you that the board did FA in the summer when they actually needed to do quite a bit. We could all see how thin the squad was and how bad we were compared to Europe. I was actually okay with PSG knocking us out last year because I thought it would be a sign to the club that things weren't as rosy as the league table suggested. I think we will be in this state of chopping and changing managers and fitting square players in to round holes until we get some direction as a club, an identity. Then, managers are appointed, and players bought to fit the club's philosophy. Instead of asking a manager to come in a create an identity within a season or couple of years at most. This is also why I'm not that keen on Pep, sure he's good, c'mon, but I don't think he'll have the impact that everyone is expecting. I have to disagree with you about the Cech situation though. He's a legend of the club and I'm happy for him. He didn't want to up-root his family and the club showed some loyalty towards him. I'm on Roman's side on this one.

Thanks

What is his actual position? It can't be LB, so I'm assuming LW. FIFA 16 has him listed as a striker. Did he play as a striker in Brazil? If so, why was he not playing up front against Man Utd? I know he's young and unproven, but we had no strikers.

It seems that Mikel is on everyone's list of players that should be shipped out ASAP. I just can't agree with this. He doesn't play that much, he has a job to do and last year he did it well (shut up shop). He doesn't moan about his playing time or that he isn't used in certain ways. He's a great player to have in the squad and on the bench. He's been a very loyal player to the club, I don't see the point in shipping him out.

I'd love to see us go on a bit of a run. Europe is gone next season unless we win the FA Cup. I'm still hopeful of a top 10 finish. What I'd love, is a run of matches to build on for next season.

Spoke to my Utd friend who is going to this match (he's actually from Manchester). I told him that it was too bad the gates weren't time machines to take him back 8 years where it would be a good match. This year's fixture feels a bit sad.

I think he was really feeling that knock and may have been still injured.