BlueLyon

The media still doesnt leave Conte at peace. Conte is lifetime juventino, why the fuck would he join inter??

You know nothing, Jon Snow.

This is the reason why there is less and less quality players around. Because half of the prospects end up being sold for ridiculous amounts that put too much pressure to these talents, while money becomes their priority. Some restore careers elswehere later, but most never reach the expectations that they might if they stayed in suitable clubs. I realy hope Mbappe stays in monaco for at least two years, ending up in premier league or real wont end up in anything good.

On paper any skilled player would look better next to Kante, but in the end it all comes down to how Conte wants his team to play. IMO for our style and PL, we need Bakayoko more. The football might be a bit "uglier" but more efficient Tolisso is brilliant talent, but for me he is not good enough defender and not consistent creator. He is somewhere between and it works in Lyon, but in any big team, he will only work in 3 man midfield next to a DM, playmaker and him as b2b. It would work well in juve along Khedira and Marchisio/Pjanic, but here, I dont see him being someone to dictate our attacks on regular basis, nor someone who can sit back and defend. He needs more freedom to get most of him and only three man mid allows that. In the end we dont know how either of these players would do here until they do, so to me as long we get a real quality midfielder, I will be happy whoever it is that Conte values enough to be our starting material.

Werent both called up for first time last week? Bakayoko only after Pogba was injured?

I dont see why people rate Ghoulam so much. Whenever I saw him, he was average with absolutely no real impact and poor defending.

I rather spend 50m on real quality player than 30 and need to change him every two years.

He may be narrow headed, but at least he speaks openly. Perhaps its stupid, but I prefer players to say whats realy true, instead of saying I will be here next year, no im not going, I love the club blah blah and they leave a month later. Maybe he will go, maybe not. The press loves all this so you can click and talk and talk, making a whole book, but the real source might be completely made up. One thing is sure. It will be damn hard to replace Costa when he is realy in form. Damn hard. Talking about Lukaku, Morata, Lacazette, Belotti,...no one is even half as good as Costa was this season (at least the first half). But I guess the neighbours grass is always greener. I sure hope Lukaku or whoever replaces Costa will be as good as you talk, or some of you will look like big ungrateful fools come next year.

Lol I have absolutely no idea why Mou insists on aging players. You have nearly complete team, you need that extra and you buy Zlatan. That would make sense. But you have an average team that needs to be build for next decade or 5 years at least. And he gets Zlatan for what? He wont be winning anything serious because half of team is average and he wont be grooming youth either. It shows how short term manager Mou is. With Zlatan, he might get someone to grind better results for a while. But in two seasons he will leave and United will need to start over. It reminds me on us sometimes. We played Iva because he was atm better than Aina, but no one considered we will have to replace Iva anyway at later stage. We just prolonged the whole process for average season because we didnt dare to play a kid who just might find his feet and become long term replacement.

Well there is only one Yaya only one Drogba etc...every player is different. But much like Yaya, Bakayoko is realy good dribbler and its very rare to have 1,88m player with such great ball control. I remember Yaya running through whole midfield and pop a torpedo on goal back in the day. Bakayoko is very similar, but he obviously doesnt have the shot. Both played in Monaco too, so there is a bit of similarity. Pogba (at least the one from Juve) is probably the very closest to what Yaya was. Great technique, great long shot, great passing and average tactical knowledge and defending. Of the available players, IMO Bakayoko is very similar too. There are so many differences between Baka and Yaya, but also so many similarities. Watching Monaco games on some shit streams, one could swear its Yaya playing there.

I realy dont know what to think about Romelu. At one hand he is brilliant striker if you look the stats. Then again, he misses some fire that makes good striker one of europes best. Realy if we get him I wouldnt be dissapointed, if we dont I wont be either considering whoever else we get does the job. Hmm so you dont particulary like Costa because 1.) his attitude and 2.) his ability on ball Yet you consider Lukaku greater than Morata? Only thing Lukaku has over Morata are goals. Which is one thing Costa is great at too. So, you prefer strikers that score goals or those that have better link up? Because in that case you should prefer Morata over Lukaku, but you dont. On side note, sure Lukaku is better finisher. Morata is inconsistent as hell, I would never have him as lone striker. But also Morata is ten times better at link up than Lukaku will ever be. He is absolutely brilliant dribbler and passer for a striker. Better than Aguero on that matter IMO. People want to get rid of Costa because ''goals are not all'' and striker needs to be good at link up. To me it seems half the forum ideal stiker is Morata, but when they actualy face the facts they prefer Lukaku because of goals. Well, Costa scores goals and he is apparenty ''average''. The people on forum got spoiled and they want a new striker while Costa is more than good. As long Costa is here we dont need new striker simple as that.

IMO he is almost good to go as starter. I always thought we need a ball playing CM, but more I look the games, the more it seems we realy need a Matic improvement. Someone quicker, more agile and with better technique. While its true, Eden needs to get in middle to collect the ball a lot because Matic cant bring the ball further up, it makes sense to get someone who can dictate and spray the balls to our attackers. But at same time, Matic role as defender is crucial. It allows Kante to roam, it gives balance to our defense. A playmaker would ruin all that, so unless you know perfect Matic/Cesc combo player we can buy, then we simply cant afford to have playmaker in middle. Many say we dont realy need height and strenght, and while its true, small players can work, I saw enough of PL to know there is no way we would play two small guys in middle of pitch whole season. Even the likes of Dahoud, he aint small by no mean but seriously anyone believes he would fit next to Kante? Anyway, the solution as long we play with two men in middle is Matic improvement and Bakayoko is everything you need. Perhaps even stronger than Matic, certainly quicker, younger, more dynamic, at least as good defender and miles better dribbler. As long our middfield can get the ball forward (which Kante and Baka could), then we would be just fine if we have two brilliant wingers. People also forget that football is not fifa. In real life its not easy to change even the side you play nevermind whole formation. Bakayoko always plays on left side to Fabinho, in two man midfield with two wingers and two fullbacks. The exact same position Matic plays here. Fact that he would even have French partner in Kante is probably great too. Yeah he makes simple passes most of the time, he prefers to dribble past opponents and then pass, rather make risky pass forward. Very raw passer. Sure he can pull great pass here and there, but so can Matic. If you look for Kroos, you will be dissapointed. If you look for Yaya or Vieira, then Bakayoko is the closest thing in years. His passing gets him down sometimes, because he gets the ball and then instead of passing forward, he just makes simple pass to nearest player, but his dribbling and ball control makes him great at pushing the ball forward without killing the tempo. Its realy all about his role. If he gets free role to roam, his dribbling will be menance for any defense, if he gets the role like in city games when he has to stay deep, his passing will be the most basic. I would be very happy with him. We need his type AND playmaker anyway, so by getting Baka, we cant lose realy.

Yaya is much better, Kante is better and Matic...from what I saw they are about the same level realy, but the fact that Bakayoko is quicker and more dynamic gives him advantage.

Some rumours that our back up for Marcos Alonso could be Emerson Palmieri from Roma.

http://www.skysports.com/football/news/11668/10809638/thibaut-courtois-wants-new-chelsea-contract-amid-reported-real-madrid-interest

As long as that our "creative" CB is very good defender and strong physical type, Im ok. But I dont want any kind of ball playing CB that is average defender (ie Stones, Thiago Silva,...) I think the ugly truth about Christensen is that IMO he is not going to be what people expect. Good on the ball, but only decent defender at least for Premier league demands. Sure he is young, but if Conte decides Cahill is not good enough, I think we need either utilise Zouma or get new CB like Dijk or even Tah. Just because Christensen can start from the back for the cost of worse defense, no thank you.

Brilliant. What lets him down sometimes is his passing. If he was better in that aspect, he would be a complete midfielder, because he is strong, quick, good tackler and very good drbbler. Tho I think it has more to do with his role rather his ability, he can still become a very decent passer in near future.

Like having younger Ivanovic with little end product...I rather have wingbacks with good ball control.

5 seasons. How fast time flies...I remember all the rumours where he will go as if it was yesterday.

I hope this Monaco team holds together for a year at least. Will be interesting to see how they do.

I was mad for long time we sold him, but if we continue with current formation, he wouldnt have place anyway.

It could also be tactical training by Conte. Cahill moved to far post side and left Rashford deal with Courtois at near post, giving him less space.

This thread so quiet...I thought he warmed that bench brilliantly today.

Guess, some would like us to play attractive football like Arsenal does...

You mix fragile with small. Kante, Sterling, Eden, Coutinho, Shaqiri,...neither is big but they are quite strong and balanced players. Then you have Matas and finaly Cuadrados... But they can hardly push through defenders, can they? However the point again isnt in Silva that he is tiny and not capable to handle PL, but rather his style of play which is similar to Eden and I prefer we target Bale, Robben, Sanchez type of player. Direct with good finish. And Silva is exceptional player, but you are making him next Messi. He is good, but a long way to reach Eden, Neymar etc.