Leif

Not saying they're at all similar players, but I think Bamford will have a similar career to Peter Crouch at club level.

I don't like Drogba being in a section called 'Ex Blues' He's still blue dammit. He should be in a 'Legends' section or something

There's not too much young English talent out there right now good enough for top Premier League teams at the moment and next season with the departure of a few individuals (such as Lampard unless he gets another contract extension) I think we'll need to sign some new English blood. Out of all possible targets, the one we've been linked with most I believe is Ross Barkley who's obviously just made his England debut. I might be alone in thinking this but I think he plays like an English Dembele kinda.. or something similar to Lampard but not as naturally good at finishing, and better at tracking back and defending. Idk, point is, If we sign anyone English any time soon, I hope we sign him (or Shaw ). I think he could be the perfect link between defence and attack. He can do everything. Chalobah - Barkley could be a rather decent duo some day.

He really is a good passer, but with a cross like his, I think he simply must be a winger. There shouldn't be any more talk about him playing deep and playing centrally behind the striker should stay just an alternate position for him IMO.

Had we not signed Willian and these National Team niggles or injuries to Hazard & Oscar been more serious, we'd be forced into playing Schurrle - Mata - De Bruyne with 0 cover for them on the bench (if we were to persist with a 4-2-3-1 in their absence). Unless of course we want to put Ba/Torres up front ahead of Eto'o and have him as a bench option But I think this just shows that too many people take depth for granted. Arsenal fans would kill for our level depth.

Am I scary? Aware I need a shave. And I need to smile more. And probably put some more clothes on.

It should be illegal for Vitesse to have so many of our players! Atsu is going to completely destroy defenders all season in Holland with their really average defenders (well, typically). He will be amazing to watch.

I shouldn't be talking about the January transfer window already but I hope Leroy Fer catches Mou's interest for our midfield in the coming months Apparently he wanted him at Inter when he was a youngster. Easy to see why obviously.

Cech is considered one of the greatest goalkeepers ever, right? Certainly one of the best in football now. It's also generally believed, I think, that Courtois is currently near the level Cech was at his peak (seems the general consensus with Spanish journalists, who I agree with); and Courtois still has plenty of growing to do. It should be remembered also that Courtois has been performing at this high level with a less than great defence in a league which usually ships goals. Letting go of Courtois under any circumstance before he's played for us would be lunacy. I think that once he gets the chance to prove himself (hopefully) in the most watched league in the world that he will eventually be considered the best 'keeper of the modern era. (Someone somewhere will argue that Buffon or Casillas are unsurpassable greats of the modern era though.)

I actually think this is the perfect move for him. He's proven he can kick it with a mid-table team in West Brom who only ever aim for an average league finish. Now he's at Everton who, despite their rather 'meh' start this season, have consistently been pushing for a Europa League spot in recent memory. Everton, perhaps more-so specifically Roberto Martinez, do decent in the cups so he'll definitely be getting plenty of games and possibly more opportunities to work on clutch moments in high-pressure situations such as penalty shoot-outs. This is a step up from Mid-table/West Brom. This is now Pushing for Europe/Everton. After this step you actually get competing in Europe. So after this loan, assuming he impresses, I think he'll finally be ready for a proper part in our team. His direct competition for a starting spot at Everton is: Kone & Jelavic. Here it would be Torres & Eto'o (Ba would probably have left had Lukaku stayed of course.) On paper, it looks to me more difficult to beat Torres & Eto'o to a starting spot than it is against Everton's strikers. This loan move will be telling. If he can't compete with Jelavic and Kone, how on earth will he compete with strikers at a top club like Chelsea? If he can however start ahead of both of Everton's strikers, he can finally be a genuine candidate in a manager's mind. The jump from starting striker at West Brom to starting striker at Chelsea is just a bit too much. For huge clubs like Chelsea, Real Madrid, AC Milan etc. this is just the ideal way of doing things with well developed but still rough diamonds. We can't afford just throwing in youngsters because they've showed some bright sparks like Liverpool did with Sterling, Arsenal did with Chamberlain or even England did with Walcott (if that can count). If you thrust a young footballer into the spotlight too quick at a top club, no matter how talented they may be, it's usually damaging. Edit: Just a thought: Lukaku was never going to be our starting striker after Eto'o was confirmed to be ours, so surely this move should please Belgian fans? If Benteke can get selected for what he does for Villa then Lukaku can surely get selected for what he's going to do for Everton. You'll have 2 strikers properly competing for the striker spot in your national team instead of a firing Benteke and an in-and-out-the-team Lukaku at Chelsea. This then comes back to Chelsea as the more he gets to play for his national team, the more chemistry he builds with De Bruyne & Hazard and the more he just develops - period.

I'd rather Lukaku at Everton. His offside awareness, sharpness and composure will improve far more under Martinez I feel.

Someone give Zidane a cookie

Before Herrera joined Bilbao I thought he was the next Iniesta or something. Ever since his move, he's been good, but looked more like the next Xabi Prieto if he's lucky.

Why have we not signed Benzema yet. I woke up today hoping we'd sign Benzema.

It's not exactly like penalties shows which team is better anyway. I've come to just consider this game as a draw. We drew vs. the best team in the world. And that's good.

Those Katy Perry lyrics: "you're hot then you're cold / you're yes then you're no" fits well with Tottenham's midfield.

Everton's strikers have done nothing this season and could easily have had 3 losses in a row. Their obvious bright spark is Ross Barkley but aside from him I don't see them posing a real threat. Roberto Martinez has tamed the team so much. Too much. 3-0 to us I think.

The ball basically hit off his head with him having barely any idea. Stop bloody going on about Sturridge and 'we shouldn't have sold him'.

OP Lost.

Lukaku wasn't originally going to take the penalty. Apparently he insisted to Mourinho he wanted to take it, to which Mourinho replied: "Are you sure?" and Lukaku obviously said "Yes". Maybe he wanted to do a Drogba. It looked like he was going to replicate his penalty too. Maybe it's not us comparing him to Drogba, but himself trying to write the headlines and just falling short that's affecting him most. Moving on now (promise).

With Ba not moved yet (and there not being much time left for a transfer) I guess I can kinda see Lukaku going on loan now and our options being Eto'o, Torres, Ba. I personally feel more comfortable with this since it's more 'established' etc. but whatever. Glorified friendly I just really wanted to win.

I was going to post something tonight in this thread but now that he's fucked that up it'll be called a 'knee-jerk reaction'. Either he's a boy or he's a man. Either he's a boy and shouldn't be mentioned in the same breath as Torres or Eto'o when it comes to who leads our line, or he's a man and therefore all the emotional investment which goes into posts on here seemingly 'protecting' him from the big bad world are just so uncalled for. I think he's fucked his chance up for this season.

Oscar shouldn't have stopped pressing. Why he decided a casual jog was acceptable there baffles me. Oh well.

dp