Leif

Just to add to this thread since it's getting some active users in it today:- I'm probably now known as the "Guy who hates McEachran and wants to burn his house down and steal his dog", but I just want to clear that up. It's not like that at all. I just, with conviction, like to state my opinion that I can't see any way that he'll make it here. That's not to say I don't want him to though. When I critique his performances for Boro, that's all I see him as - A Boro player. I don't wear the blue tinted glasses and deal with what-if's to find positives about some of his performances which aren't even there to mask up his rather average playing time there. He started as one of their best players in the opening part of the season. He should have had a few goals but his well documented poor finishing let him down. This would be a good time to make a comment regarding something by the way; He's often hailed as being "One of the most composed players in his age group", but I disagree, which his numerous failed penalties for England youth teams and crap shots in front of goal will testify to. He may look composed on the ball, but I think it's a lackadaisical style and not a composed one. His best performances, in my opinion, actually came from being played out of position on the wide-right of a 4-man midfield. When put in what people consider his 'best position' (deep midfield), his performances began to drop, it was too costly to keep playing him there due to his lack of energy on the pitch (not chasing down lost balls; often leading to the opposition scoring) and thus he was eventually dropped. He no longer seems to be one of the first names on the sheet at Boro, so how do people expect him to be one here? It's true what someone said about this loan move starting well, but in general, being an odd/bad move. He should have been loaned, yes, but to a passing-based team like Watford or Brighton. He'd have players thinking the same way he does there and he'd flourish there. Now a note:- He is 20. There are players at the age of 17,18 and 19 performing head and shoulders better than him in the Championship - including our own Chalobah. McEachran has bloody Champions League experience yet is still out-performed by average players. Do you know why? Because he is an average player; just with above-average passing. "If he's so average, why did Carlo pick him in the CL then!?!?" yeah, well, Kalou and Bosingwa played plenty CL games for us, didn't they? Now here comes the sting for some - Why the fuck would any incoming manager put Josh into our team ahead of someone like (potentially) De Bruyne, one of the hottest Belgian talents ever? Why wouldn't they rather spend money on a proper deep-lying playmaker such as Benat or someone even more well-rounded than him? There is no reason to play Josh. I think people are clutching at straws because they/we have been following him for a long time and thus don't want it to feel like such a waste. Well guess what? Clifford, Matic, Sinclair, Sturridge, Kakuta, soooo many more didn't make it here, and neither will Josh.

Does anyone else cringe a little when Drogba and Essien both call Mourinho "My dad" basically? It was 'cute' the first 1 or 2 times. Now it's just really odd and almost questionable. I always did wonder what the secret was to Mourinho's man-management. Perhaps he tucks his players up in bed at night to create a bond while reading them a story book to prepare them for a big game?

I couldn't see him turning down an offer to Dortmund really. Perfect club for him long-term.

Would a certain someone like a Brazzers log-in for their birthday?

@TorontoChelsea, Are you a dating wizard? I think that's exactly what I wanted to hear. I owe you. (Well, I should do anyway. The date is this Saturday. Will post how it goes!)

Just arranged to go on my first date ever. Rather daunting considering how mature and big-boobed she is. I'm really shitting it. Someone help

If Watford get promoted I can't even express how happy I'll be. Been tracking Chalobah more than I've ever done with a youth player. Would be nice seeing Zola's face every weekend too. Hopefully Chalobah gets loaned back there again IF he's sent out on loan again.

yay

Jesus Christ. I feel like a bit of a dickhead for posting a video of this guy's again with a negative comment but he truly is fucking clueless. Anyway, if anyone wants entertained regarding this topic: (A few things he mentions: "We have a history of taking Liverpool's best players". Er, we don't. "Falcao is the 3rd best player in the world." Er, he isn't. He also talks about Schurrle being a striker.. which he isn't.. just... urgh. This is one of the reasons our fans have a bad rep. The only fans of ours on Youtube who do videos like these [there's only 2 I know of] are clueless.) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HPDfFl4oBMo

Ibra's trying way too hard

We could use a player like Alex...

Why can't we have a corner-kick taker like Beckham? Imagine how many goals Terry would score with him! mmm.

Or Ibra. Shit. Good shot.

Cmon Beckham. Do a Greece.

Lucas wins sooo many free kicks, and the impressive thing is, the majority of them aren't actually dives like I'm sure many would presume.

Can't believe we nearly signed Pastore. If we did that we probably wouldn't have Mata right now. I'm thankful for whatever called the deal off (did we just offer less money than PSG?)

Pastore is quite average eh

Lavezzi is quite good eh

I saw this in a philosophy thread on a forum related to a hobby of mine and I think I might try and start doing this when I can. It'd be a shame if someone were to take advantage of this though and use the 'service' when they don't actually need it at all:

I believe the guys going out will be:- Lampard Torres (not completely convinced he'll leave yet though) Malouda Ferreira Marin (loan) Demba Ba (yes, already.) Benayoun Hilario Courtois (loan) McEachran (loan) Kakuta Piazon (loan) van Aanholt Bruma Chalobah (loan) Likely ins for me are:- Clyne or Shaw. We have to have more English talent (yes, it's a need, not a want). There's no other English talent we'd be interested in I believe unless we make a slight shock move for Richards who we've been interested in before. Gomez or Higuain (unfortunately for the former. I think he'd flop here) Benat (I believe the reported interest was indeed true. I also feel that with Alonso not renewing his Madrid contract, they'll be keeping Modric around) at a long shot, but in all honesty I don't see the board buying a central playmaker at all at times because they've neglected and continue to neglect that area. I don't see any central defenders being purchased unless we move for Richards and use him in the centre. All in all, I think we'll have a Summer which, although will see the return of Essien, will leave us even more bare than we currently are.

He deserves to win the Premier League Player Of The Year award. But no, he won't. Van Pussy will probably win it despite being anonymous for the second part of the season or Mr. "I have to take 15 shots before scoring" Suarez will win it, I guess. Or Bale, who was anonymous for the first half of the season. Mata is statistically the best midfielder attacking-wise in the whole of Europe this season. We are far from a 1-man team, but he's been the most vital clog out of all top teams I can think of. He has dominated top teams where-as Van Persie, Suarez, Bale etc. have done little spectacular vs. the likes of us and vs. eachother. He has a goal tally rivalling the top strikers in the world. An assist tally which I believe no one currently matches. If he was at a top club wearing red he'd be the unanimous decision.

Before his injury he was "OH MY GOD THIS GUY IS GOOD OH MY SHIT PLEASE SIGN HIM!!!!", but now he's more "Oo, he's decent." Luiz, Terry & Ivanovic are all better than him right now. He's probably currently on Cahill's level in my eyes although they play differently; but Cahill helps with the homegrown quota.

So - He currently averages 1 goal every 3 games, yes? That's a better strike rate (based on current form) than Van Persie, Torres, Aguero, and I believe even Rooney(?) It's also a bit better than the striker partner he left behind at Newcastle, Cisse. This is with him still adapting to the team as he has not been given a fair run in the team yet with the stupid rotation policy and the fact that he's not eligible for the Europa League. If rumours are to be believed, he did indeed join us for only single figures (in the millions obviously). It's rare that we spend under £10m for a first team player, isn't it? I believe that's a good return we've got, especially considering not just the goal-to-game ratio of 1-3, but the vital goals which you can sometimes just not put a price on like yesterday. There's little point in even going into his all-round play as it's far superior to what our other striker has to offer. On top of all that, we've seemed to have brought a genuinely nice, humble guy into the squad. My head tells me he'll be gone already in the Summer to some team like Monaco unfortunately, but I really do hope he stays and continues to play a part. If that does indeed happen, it looks like we'd either make a profit, break even, or take a loss of around £3/4m (which again is quite decent for our club given how many losses we typically made over the past.) I say this deal has been a success.

If we end up going for a player to cover the AM positions, I've always fancied having Diego of Wolfsburg here. He'd also add experience. I want him.

Jesus Christ, someone on RedCafe has over 22,000 posts! Anyway, nice to see someone gracious in defeat: