Strike

i don't think Napoli will charge £48mil for Cavani, which is roughly Falcao's rumoured price. they are not in the best of financial shape and will cash in on Cavani just like last season when they cashed in on Lavezzi. we should be able to get him for a not-so-hefty price

Ba=StopGap at best. fully expect us to sign another forward in the summer. While everyone's having a wankfest over Falcao, i think Cavani is the better option. He's much cheaper and his centre-forward play, as we all know after last season, is going to be a gigantic improvement from you-know-who. if we can snag him for about 25-30mil Strikers:Cavani ---Ba---Lukaku. now that's a good strike force

but if he does come here, don't you think his first priority will be to sign better players in certain positions? say CDM and ST. use of our academy will be limited then. that is my only reservation with Jose. Varane is an isolated example at Madrid. more like the exception to the rule than the rule itself. we will rebuild with him but at the cost of the current youngsters and we have a good batch of them coming through - Kalas , PvA, Romeu, Chalobah, Piazon, de bruyne, lukaku. don't think Mourinho will utilise them w/o signing big players first

Double Post.

------Cech Azpi Cahill JT Cole ---Mikel Lamps Oscar Mata Hazard -----Demba Ba Bench:Trollbull, Ivanovic, Bertrand, Marin, Ramires, Moses, Fernando Mikel >Ramires atm. while JOM hasn't been great, Ramires needs to sit one out after his shocker last week.

fair enoughwe tend to underutilise our youngsters. if aforementioned players had been nurtured and given the chance, then maybe they'd have turned out good but given the climate of the club its understandable why they're not given a chance. hopefully the next manager will edit- you seem awfully confident that Luke Shaw will turn out to be a great talent. that maybe so but if we do sign Shaw i believe we'll loan him back to Saints to develop. he needs regular gametime at the too level. something neither bertrand nor pva get.that'd be good deal imo as opposed to sign him and breed him straight away

well, atleast i brought up evidence to back my opinion. well if that's your criteria. you should be pleased with yourself.

no offense mate, but seriously we could have just avoided derailing the thread if we had just left it with agree to disagree. btw, yaya toure ran 11.5 km/90 mins in CL last season - behind only Raul Meireles, Juan Mata and Michael Carrick in the PL. this year, his distance covered stats read 10.875km/game. Only few midfielders like Claudio Marchisio, Siem de Jong have better distance to game ratio than him. evidence of his work ethic right there. source: uefa.com

Is Azpilicueta back for this game?

mate, look through the posts. you've basically made 1 point - he is lazy and used Ajax, Barca etc examples to show it. you've acknowledged that he's a good footballer but you've failed to state why you think that he's not good for the pivot. i am just voicing my opinion - even about rafa. it is my opinion that we fans shouldn't boo Rafa nor insult him until he leaves the club and let him do his job. What do you mean by 'Peace clearly shown/proven you?' - what are you on about? i will defend my opinion regardless of what Peace or anyone thinks. it's not right to boo the manager even if it is Rafa Benitez. It is affecting the player's performance on the pitch. there is no right answer. if there was a right answer - what is the point of discussion boards? we are all voicing opinions here. Now, if you have anything to add about Yaya Toure, please do.

would like to see us come out of our shell and play in this game. failed to do that against city, relying on long-balls.

stay on the Yaya Toure topic if you can. what point , other than lazy and arrogant, have you made? or are trying to make?

he's not playing DM at City now. he's playing in the 'Nasri' position like Fellaini now. rodwell/Garcia/Barry/milner Are covering the pivot. leg work criticism is unfair imo given that he was in top 3-4 in covering distances (CL) back in 09. anyway lets just agree to disagree

i disagree. at ManCity they are stocked up on CDM's - Javi Garcia, Jack Rodwell, Barry etc, so he ventures forward a lot more than a regular CDM he matches Essien physically and I think he would have thrived here at CDM here. Also, like Essien, he's a big-game player. scored against Arsenal, Spurs, Chelsea, United, Real Madrid this season. mostly with runs from deep. also, remember his tussle with Drogba in the 09 UCL Semi? Matched Drogba to strength

Yaya Toure. perfect Essien replacement

@Peace., @, and the others picking Shaw over Bertrand/PvA why not wait to see if Bertrand or PvA develop? PvA has been the best LB in the Eredivisie this season and with good reason. he favours attacking as well (see his goal vs Ajax - classic LB overlap goal) Regarding Bertrand, I remember last year when everyone was going on about Bertrand after his performances at The Emirates. he didn't turn into a bad player overnight. he has played an awful lot of games at Left Mid this season and a decent run at Left-Back could see him return to the form he was in last season. Luke Shaw is an excellent LB, i agree but as he said, he would prefer to continue development at Southampton - signed a 5 year (?) contract last month. i believe we should assess our internal options first before jumping onto Luke Shaw. maybe in a few years, this deal makes a lot of sense

yes. but that doesn't mean he isn't trying to do his job. he is looking to get us into top 4 and we, as fans should not come in the way of that. edit; - my sympathy for him ends with that btw. i hate his guts as well but that doesn't mean i approve the booing/insults or the di matteo chants. chelsea fans should get over it

I feel for Benitez. he has come in here and stayed professional at the face of incessant booing, insulting chants etc. he has simply focussed on his job and got on with it. we have to get over Di matteo's dismissal and Rafa's appointment as hard as it is. Champions League is a MUST to improve. we drop out of CL and our rebuilding will just get that much harder

its like a bad marriage but you hold on to it because you don't want to divorce Again.

isn't it well into the morning in Australia?

I'd like a to see a team built here. AVB tried to implement a highline but with defenders like Terry, Ivanovic, Alex and a raw Luiz, it was never going to work.AVB was a dead man walking for 8 months Di matteo implemented the opposite - sit deep and counter. but then again, no real understanding between the players and a lack of cohesive defending this season led to his sacking Rafa well, he's been clueless all along i want the new manager to build a team. a team with understanding between players. Moyes, Klopp, pellegrini or whoever it is will walk into a collection of good players. i hope they can get it working soon because we are running out of quality managers

that's sadly true. last year's squad even with Bosingwa, Kalou, Malouda fought better in the big games

he was good going forward. its like someone said - Brilliant against Messi (and Bale and Ribery) but hopeless against Downing

We don't HAVE to beat United. a Draw is enough

GK cech D Azpi Cahill Terry Cole CM Mikel Ramires AM Moses Oscar Hazard ST Torres