robsblubot

Adebayor is a terrible professional. His commitment is non-existent, which makes him poison in the locker room. Absolutely crazy signing if real...

Difficult to know what he is missing as he's not the slowest as you point out. Reckon it's not necessarily speed but lack of agility and acceleration which might have made him uncomfortable From the start. This Ship has sailed though

One of my fav players - would love to have him in the team. All rounder who can play (well!) in a number of positions and scores plenty of goals. His positioning, awareness, and discipline are really impressive. I disagree with most who say he is technically gifted though. I think he has good technique, but he's not a guy who can consistently use his technique to his advantage. Reckon he relies on his (many) other attributes to give him the edge. And scores plenty!

yes, he usually does really well when we employ a low block and so does Terry. On the other hand, Zouma is the only CB we've got who is comfortable with a high defense line. If we do want to change our style of play, we need to think about the type of players we want. Not entirely sure Jose is the right guy for that considering he has always played with a low block.

He'd be called Arturo Vidal

Tottenham are a good side, but nothing special really. They have historically? (as far as I can remember) played incredibly wide, so the wings will demand a little bit of extra care from Jose. I wouldn't be surprised to see Ramires on the wing with Oscar and/or William (no striker). They are weak in the center of the pitch though and I think Matic can be our advantage as his game is improving. Cahill on Kane will be a mismatch as Cahill cannot handle him IMO.

Well agree to disagree - at some point having a player like this can be disruptive.Btw that was exactly what happened with Torres. You are assuming that he will remain playing at this level despite injuries, But at some point these injuries will take their toll.

He did score a lot of goals when playing alongside Luis Suarez and that was his one great season when he scored 21 goals. Reckon the jury is still out there. a) Is he going to be able to accomplish the same without poaching next to a world class striker? Is he ever going remain fit long enough to regain match fitness and do the above? You need match fitness for the above. c) Wouldn't these niggling (and some serious) injuries take a toll? how much?

that's a big ass 'if' though Personally I've always thought he was technically good, but lacked on determination and discipline, which is a bit less important for forwarders. Now, I think this was the best sale ever, because he appears to be incredibly injury-prone.

Or it might be just his agent working for his money. 90% of these claims come from agents trying to generate interest.

Yes it's a long shot. he may *grow* tired and Spurs would still rather sell him to anyone but us, but clubs get desperate when young players refuse to sign extensions. It's all a manner of what the player wants.

Kane will eventually gross tired of watching CL football on tv.. It's a matter of talking and bringing his agent in the circle of trust.

Thought this was undisputed common knowledge to be honest. Forget about standings and team... think club. Last season Everton was crap and they are still midtable (talk end of the season). Milan has been crap for years, but you are not going to start Kenedy in the LB position against them - that's the gist. At the very least the counter attacking situation is obviously different: Lukaku scored many goals in counter attacks because Everton is pressurized higher up the pitch than CHelsea is. See how most teams face Barcelona. Barcelona only counter attack when they are winning by 2! Otherwise it's intricate passing until the back of the net. Lukaku's main strengths are pace and power and at Chelsea he'd use less of that than at everton. Again, I am not saying he'd be useless - far from it - but thinking that he'd turn into a Luiz Suarez or Lewa is crazy. And once again, HE was the one who wanted to leave. I can agree that we erred in not keeping KDB, and that our development policy is strange, but we did not want to sell Lukaku - he wanted to go. I honestly think we do a disservice to KDB when we bring Lukaku into this thread - completely different cases.

agreed but that was not my point. You don't paid this much money to "keep going" to "bang goals"... you would want Ronaldo not anything less than that and at 30 you will have to ask the question: is it going to be the same Ronaldo and for how long?

It's hard to ignore that playing for a top team is very different than playing for Everton regardless of what Martinez may have you believe. I'm not a fan of Costa, but hardly feel Lukuku would be the answer at this moment. Down the road.... Perhaps, but then again, it was indeed Lukaku who did not want to wait. The same applies to KDB - more of a sure bet but a bet nevertheless. I watch him play and yes he's good, but if you read this thread you'd think he's a world beater and that he certainly is not - at least not yet. The main valid criticism about KDB situation is that as far as we know he did not want to leave. So, we could have waited for his development but we are trigger happy with young players and that is not how you do it.

Millions and millions for a 30 year old player who is highly dependent on his physique makes little sense. How many seasons playing at his best does still have? One two at most? Then what type of player will he become?!

Sure I am also concerned about Oscar's development or complete lack thereof. However, I would not write him off based on what he has already produced for both Brazil and Chelsea in the past. Yes, it has been short lived, but quality is quality and he's still young. Hey if Coutinho develops - that's great for Brazil! He's awful small though and that will always be a limiting factor for him. I still think Coutinho and Oscar are completely different players. The position they play is less important than their characteristics and their role in the team. Oscar and Coutinho can play together and complement each other, the same way Hazard and Oscar once did/do.

See that's where we disagree: Oscar wears #8 and plays as a #8 to me. I can certainly see both Coutinho and Oscar playing together without issues. Oscar form is a different discussion altogether and he does have to step up, but he's also been a bit unlucky with injuries.

Besides the goal was all Costa! That was not even an assist as Fab just kicked the ball forward towards two players - it was a nice ball, but hardly a throughball. Costa is not a top Striker, but neither is he a quack. He's a good striker who, along the rest of the team, was in terrible form. As their fitness levels rise, they will be playing at their norm.

Much better but still not at his best. Movement and passing up there to what he can do. Strength (tackling) and finishing - as pointed out above - still lacking. Many players improved and are improving slowly from the torrid start of the season. Once again, the evidence points to bad fitness levels as the most likely culprit.

It's really not that shocking if you have ever actually watched countinho play for Brazil. He never had a good - said good not great - game for Brazil. Played the entire copa america and was shit, so it's really up to him to up his game at international level. These comparisons here still make no sense to me... is Coutinho better than willian? Is Coutinho better than Hazard? latter at least makes some sense. Coutinho is their Hazard - the entire team plays and runs for him as Shirley has already said we do for Hazard. These comparison make no sense to me because you can't play with 3 coutinhos/hazards up front. Players like Oscar and Willian provide the balance especially when you play 4231 since otherwise your CMs would end up overwhelmed. No I'm not saying Oscar is the best we can do in that position, just that he does NOT compete with Coutinho for a spot (for Brazil).

By that you mean that their mikel is starting to get minutes? feel good to know they also have their average players lurking around and ready to come on.

Yes remy is at his best when he does not play - truly world class then...

Prob has been posted already, but just to be sure... If he weren't injured before, he certainly is after that ordeal - did he get headbutted a t some point?!

well nobody hates Boro...