robsblubot

zouma's injury is one of those that when he's back he still isn't... he will need time. My problem is not with Roman - he may or may not feel like splashing the cash in one of his hobbies. My problem is and has been with the lack of creativity (read lack of talent) from our people in change or transfers. If you don't have the funds for the expensive players, you find alternatives: go for lower leagues... Portugal, Brazil... buy younger... anything! It's just ridiculous that we have senior squad players who add nothing: not good enough to start and too old to improve.

should we not keep him then? perhaps they know something we don't...

Then this is the exact right time to go for him - never mind our folks aren't that creative.

The other Gabriel is better - Jesus from Palmeiras (younger too)

Yes it is a big difference, but not as great as that. I also don't think Leicester would be top4 with or without Kante - football isn't tennis after all. The same board that left us without Ramires for half the season - without any replacement regardless of quality - for no apparent reason other than incompetence. The same board that makes bids to important players in the final days of the transfer window, when their clubs have no chance to find proper replacements. Board that has no creativity in finding the less expensive solutions, and depend on all or nothing deals - and end up with ridiculous signings. Not even going into the squad players right now, but merely seeing who actually get minutes with the managers should be enough to see how inadequate they are. Hey fair enough that you think they are doing well. I have zero confidence that the problems of this squad will even get solved by these same folks.

are you implying that we have a great squad with great players in every position and all that was required was a ramires replacement (we lost ramires mid season) as the icing on the cake? If that's the case, and it certainly reads as such, sorry but I suspect you may be alone there. IMO the fact that the board only goes after players like Kante, after a fantastic season, or Koulibaly who is hardly a find himself, shows a lack of creativity which is frankly what most people complain about.

reckon Ozil was far more established and played a much bigger role than James though.

Indeed he does look good and 21! - any similarity with Gilberto silva is not a coincidence since Gilberto spent a season at gremio while Wallace was in the youth team. luan also from gremio is an interesting player too, but apparently he is Barcelona bound for a Pedro role. Impressed by Gabriel Jesus and his intensity - very interesting player. yeah tell me about it - finally some potentially top players in the horizon (in numbers too).

Nope. Suspended in one of the stage group matches - Wallace got in and never left playing the last four matches including the final. Many said Wallace and luan fixed the team which did not look so great in the group stage. wallace btw would be perfection the pl... Tall, strong and technical.

Lost his place to gremio Wallace in u23 Brazil, who is the better player btw.

he used to play like a 29yo when he was 24... friend of mine - arsenal fan - told me exactly that.

'clause which forces them to buy him permanently next year' that's called a sale with first payment starting after 12mo

Take away his handful WC games where he played poor opposition, and he has very little to show. he is a potential player priced as the end product.

It's just too late for the big name signings. Unless their club already got a replacement, they simply won't let them go for anything but an absurd amount of money. At this point, the most attainable players are aspiring/younger ones, but even those, the better ones, have been moving to other clubs. Sadly this squad as it is simply can't challenge for anything and is a couple of injuries away from another fiasco. I honestly never seen anything like it... you can compare us to liverpool or arsenal, but when they had their down seasons, they still had abundance of players: all they needed was a couple of youngsters deliver to challenge (like liverpool did at one point). We on the other hand, do not have the number of youngsters (to play the odds) and neither do we have the overall quality in the senior players.

Yes, it would indeed be somewhere in the middle if one values the options here and facts, equally. I for one would gladly revise my opinions of certain players in the squad had they received a 20m+ offer from a club like juventus, but that's just me.

There is only one way to assess whether a manager rates a player or not: does he play? jose would say the most wonderful things about mikeI, and yet mikel did not play much under him. Managers cannot diss the players publicly because they are not his assets - they are the club's.

no I am not saying Lukaku does not want to leave - he might want to move to a bigger club which might be difficult for him atm. I have to hold the club to some level of respect. If we sell a player everyfuckingbody thought had potential for 28m, and then buy him back for over 60m after he hasn't really blossomed or done anything especial, it is not just bad business, it's ridiculous business. My point of view is that this squad is still very weak and we are a couple of injuries away from 10th place again... YMMV

wanna away to where exactly? As far as Everton knows Lukaku might not get a better deal (wages) anywhere else. It's not like any other big club has shown interest in signing him... In business you don't go asking for a raise for no reason - you go to your boss either because you've done something important or you've got an offer. Can't think of anything important or special Lukaku has done lately so, I must still believe he was shooting for the latter. And these guys are under long-term deals with high release clauses which makes losing them ever harder. That's what agents do for a leaving - spread rumors on behalf of their clients (usually along with the moaning of the players). The better ones have contacts in the press and use them often. You may think this is a different case, and that's fair enough, but I think it looks exactly like what I've seen 100x before: the usual way agents play the tabloids and papers.

ha! oldest trick in the book!!! Agent instructs player to declare interest in joining bigger club because <insert random reason here>... papers duly ride on the 'info' for weeks if not months until his club offers a new deal 'to keep him from the clutches of <insert bugger clubs's name here>' Only club screwed in this: Everton Personally I am glad because I don't think Lukaku is a very good player.

completely traumatized by watching mikel play from the bench.... will need a good shrink at Juve.

regardless of his overall technique - which is debatable and varied erratically over his short career - for me he is useless without his workrate. So, I tend to believe that the leaked comment from Conte, or another coach, was just a warning to Oscar: he seemed to have noticed it. Ironically his work rate was his only virtue very often under Jose. I'm Ok with mikel leaving without any replacement because IMO anyone can replace him - Chalobah for example is already a better player and just needs minutes to prove it. Though concerning Oscar, I agree with Juan Mata that he should only leave if replaced by someone better. No, if memory serves, both Cuadrado and Moses were just as average if not worse than Oscar's worst moment, so not as easy as it sounds. BTW, even though I questioned the overall idea that RLC was going to be a starter this season, pretty out there tbh, I've been nothing but scared by his performances or lack thereof. So, no RLC at the moment, does not seem like a useful player.

interesting match that showed the gulf that separates (most of) the youngsters from (most of) the senior members. the match would've been a lot more entertaining had the clubs agreed to play the younger folks in the same half though. On the other hand, it was a good to pit them against their senior opponent to see what they could do... not very much. Caveat about the second half is that the opposition was a lot weaker, so anything good should be taken with a grain of salt. Same goes for the disappointing performances in the first, the opposition was a lot stronger.

I really want to believe what you wrote and trust that the club has that vision, and yet I just look at out squad and we have a 30yo glorified bench warmer making 75k a week. regardless of what I think of him as a player, I think that in itself is very telling. I'd rather watch Chalobah, but that's just me I guess. Watching the WC like everyone else, I saw Cuadrado, mr square, and thought he was awful. Like Barbara described Moses: no technique just power and pace. Well to me cuadrado is like that minus the power (the upper body str). I challenged someone last year in that RLC will be nowhere he starting xi and I still think very few of these younger players will be part of the squad. If they can't deliver against liverpool's third team then I guess the club shouldn't really trust them... i guess we will find out soon enough.

I know... but at the end of the day it does not seem the club trusts our youngsters that much as they don't encourage the managers to use them. There are youngsters and youngster and they simply don't think ours are strong enough to produce consistent performances in a tough league with a manager constantly trying to prove himself. I've come to realize that these type of players is as good as it gets... at least moses is not 30... yet.

While I agree with your assessment of moses, I think the squad has been so thin lately that I find it difficult to wish players to be gone (couple of exceptions). I'd describe Cuadrado exactly the same way: zero technique, just running. At least Moses is strong while Cuadrado is easily outmuscled out of plays.