Strike

Sweet stuff. (but de Rossi? seriously?)

price-wise he is only a mil expensive than Debuchy. maybe he will need more wages but you have to look at the bigger picture here. debuchy maybe better but i think the board is lookin at maicon as a stop-gap (like belletti) to brood Billy Clifford or Todd Kane. but if he is lookin for a 4-year contract, GTFO

yep. 4 years for him is mental. would look at - Debuchy - seems to have fee agreed with Newcastle (7mil) - Azpilicueta - Pisczcek that's pretty much it, really in terms of right backs. if we dont get any of them, then stick to Fereira and Todd Kane

we are gettin oscar for 25. fuck yeah

Lampard, Sturridge, Hazard, Luiz Sturridge was a good PK taker at City. Good-ish atleast. Lampard is the first choice for a reason. He is the most experienced and has a sound penalty technique i.e he comes in straight to kick the ball. not at an angle like Olic or Cole.And I would take Power over placement anyday simply because placement alone may not be enough for a penalty to get through but Power alone- as we saw Lampard's pen in the CL Final - maybe enough. Neuer knew where Lampard was gonna put it and yet he couldn't stop it. Lampard's penalty misses over the years have come when he hasn't gone for power - Portsmouth 10', Newcastle 11', Fulham 11'.

i see you haven't lost your touch. really good read

not necessarily given how deep we were playing last season. it's time we took the midfield forward. United's DM Carrick joins the attack at times, Arsenal's Song usually picks out the final ball, no reason why we shouldn't move the midfield to a bit more advanced proper Midfield position instead of CDM

@SeB The thing is when we are trying to break down QPR, Norwich etc, Mikel is not of much use as Ramires or a deep lying playmaker can offer more going forward. Mikel just propels possession, he doesn't chip the final ball through like Song does or go forward to attack as much as Carrick does. We need to play dynamic mids when we face weaker opposition to free up space for our creative mids to prosper - Oscar(?), Mata. I agree with your assessment of Mikel though. He has developed into a proper cultured midfielder and I would want him to be in the team when we face vibrant counter attacking teams

common sense and a sense of realism dictates we have hit a snag with the 3rd party regulations

Very Optimistic imo. We had confirmed bids for Moses and Andre Schurrle last week which shows that the board are getting back up plans ready. I don't think the Hulk deal is done yet. Maybe the third party regulations are hindering the deal

Disagree. While I agree with your analysis that we need a power player in the middle, i think shelling out 20million for Fellaini is a waste - maybe if we sell Essien and Meireles, it makes sense but as of now it is illogical to sign Fellaini. Firstly, we are trying to make us a better attacking unit and secondly Fellaini racks up a huge foul count. Last season we were the worst team in terms of discipline and adding Fellaini is ill advised. Also, we have Ramires who I feel can be our new Essien/Yaya Toure in the middle as a Box to Box. The real problem lies in the fact that Lampard will be picked regardless of what fans think and that is one midfield position locked. With Oscar/New Creative Mid , Mikel, Ramires, KDB, Romeu, Essien, Meireles to chose from for the other CM position, Creative Mid is a MUST and when we sign the Creative mid, Fellaini will only be a luxury

Probably. but i don't think di matteo will have the courage to play Lampard and Oscar in a Big game.. also, Hulk deal looks like its being complicated by thirdparty crap? maybe another modric

Really don't think we need Oscar unless the board is getting him in as a CM. that would make a lot of sense because he is quick and creative - something like Mesut Ozil. Not really sure how the midfield will line up if Oscar is signed. Whom will di Matteo drop? My bet is on Mikel being dropped in favour of Oscar to presser smaller teams. Also, if we sign Oscar, do we sign Hulk as well? He adds a certain directness to our attacks and like BlueLyon mentioned, his power and strength will be useful to bully teams. But if i don't think the board will go on to sign both Hulk and Oscar.

the problem of stretching the game wide is that we will have very few options in the middle. torres will be marked while Mata will hardly challenge in the air. so the winger's options reduce. in other teams there are midfielders driving into the box to support the attackers. if we are to adapt a winger's tactic then we can't do it with a deep double pivot.

Not gonna happen mate. Not gonna happen

Or Ballotelli

Ah. good idea Hutcho i am hoping that the Oscar deal doesn't Happen. I want Chelsea to sign a winger who can stretch play wide not play through the middle. We have got Mata and KDB at the CAM position with Lampard and Benayoun as backups if needed. Benayoun is still a good player. he was our best player last pre-season and it was a shock to see him go on loan to arsenal and do a good job for them. hopefully we'll have him back because he is a very good link-up player. With the CAM position locked up, i think Oscar would be nothing more than a luxury Personally, I want us to play a 4-3-3 or the existing 4-2-3-1 with the double pivot and the wingers positioned higher up. Torres Hazard Mata Hulk/Marin Ramires Lampard Ramires should be tried out in the CM role if we do buy a winger in the window. He has all the attributes needed to be a Yaya Toure and gives us that added dynamism in attack that we lacked last season. Also, i feel Lampard will be picked consistently whether we like it or not

Last week - Victor Moses, yesterday - Andre Schurrle, today Oscar. I think the board is looking at other alternatives. As you said, the problem with Oscar is that we will have no real width to stretch opponents wide. Ramires is hardly an out and out winger while Malouda doesn't have the pace to cut it in the wings anymore. Not really sure we need Oscar when we have got Mata and KDB for the CAM role with both Lampard and Benayoun able to give backup

still better than 21st of May. We lost the Champions League final on that day!

SeB! Now that i have your attention, it doesn't necessarily mean that we have to divide roles between conserved passers and ambitious passers. we have to be dynamic in our approach - eg - Alex Song for Arsenal consistently pops up with a delicate chipped ball to van Persie even though they do have Arteta and co. Song is purely defense minded but he doesn't restrict his passing. Maybe it is the manager's orders to Mikel to control his passing but I don't think that's the case. Mikel has to look at all the options, not just backwards and sideways

time to take this conversation away from the Hulk thread. watch out for my reply in the pre-season thread since i cant find an appropriate thread for this

there is a fine line between pessimistic and realistic. i am not yet convinced that we are brilliant now that we have hazard. we need 2-3 more players

yes. agreed. i merely said he is no "Pirlo" to expose the opposition defence. he is rather a middle man to dig us out of trouble. my only criticism of mikel is that he should propel the attack forward more. he seems to take the safer option more than the other midfielders. lampard and mata are quite ambitious with their passing,

yeah. don't see mikel givin us that box to box option. maybe ramires alongside lampard where ramires becomes a "yaya toure" would give us dynamism in midfield. a bit more going forward and another player for mata to pick out