Leif

I think that means he'll play his last season for Roma next season, and it'll be his last peak season. He'll leave for less money than they would've got for him last year (but it was the right move to get that 2nd place), and like Vidal to Bayern, still offer a whole lot to whoever he joins, but the inspiring performances will fade into consistent performances. He'd be a really good clog, but another player has to be the 'answer' or leader in midfield. He's a complimentary player who's exceeded his own ability so far in that leader regard.

Lukaku & Bakayoko are OK, but they'd turn us into the equivalent of what Roma was this season to Juventus. Just a whole tier below in focus, discipline, composure & consistency despite scoring goals (Dzeko murdered the league for Roma.) Ultimately, they lacked balance in mentality. Totti's new mentality, De Rossi's new mentality, the fringe players who're in and out the team, their distracted stars. Mentality is everything. I don't like either player's composure level, & I specifically dislike that Lukaku seemingly thinks about the marketing & PR side of the game as much as the actual game. He's more excited to give interviews than to win games. He isn't fanatical and dedicated to football. He could still finish football and go on to become a doctor or judge. But those people are never top players. Only the obsessed, the players who can barely write in their own language or talk to girls, the ones who only know football, only talk football, only watch football - that's who you want in your football team. Not Lukaku, not Bats. They have too many interests. The greats of the game didn't diversify their interests so much, thus they excelled on the field, and had nothing to do but battle depression once they hung up their boots. (Or they become a manager/pundit/coach, because again, they got to where they are by being focused on playing football. Only football.) But we live in different times now, and we can get the balance right. I'd rather live Lukaku's more diverse life than some ultra-dedicated football star, but if that ultra-dedicated player is happy being who they are, obviously that's the one I want in my team. These are the players who coaches think, while at a young level, won't make it - but surprise everyone with sheer determination, passion, and love for what they do. Those ingredients will make you a star no matter where you start.

fuck yeah boys, 2 honours in 1 season

It's sad for Arsenal that their rivals see a genuine silver lining to them winning a trophy. All of their rivals actually see Arsenal as being weaker now. It's already a foregone conclution that Wenger can't make them competitive, and it's genuine genuine genuine. When City win a cup, Utd, us, whoever, may go 'It was just a Micky Mouse cup anyway.' Or, if Liverpool win the FA Cup, Everton may be like 'yeah but we finished above you in the table, that was our real goal.' It's all BS to try and playdown the gloating from your successful rival. But this is real. We aren't sugercoating feelings and drawing a silver lining to cope. Arsenal themselves created the silver lining, and we find it hilarious. They were in a lose-lose position, regardless whether or not they took home the trophy. We were win-lose, because who Arsenal are doesn't effect us.

Roma supporters all agree that, not even Nainggolan, but Salah is their best player. They're laughing at other wingers being listed at 50m this silly season, saying truly, they wouldn't take that for Salah, and would much rather keep him for a few more seasons (he's only 24), have him enter his prime, and sell him for a shattering figure. He's just had the best season of his career (contributing to about 40 goals including assists, even though he was away for the AFCON), and despite some of his defects, is the only 'calm' player in the side. The game instantly slows down, despite his speed, when he gets the ball. Everyone freezes. Because they know something's about to happen - a defensive line will either be broken or an individual defender will probably be humiliated. He's half the player Messi was before his prime, and that's huge praise. Praise he was already getting at Basel, praise he's getting at Roma - praise he deserves. Only here did he not flourish, and I hope we don't end up being the only football fans who don't see his future greatness. He'll be a top 5 best winger in the world for a time.

Aubameyang to join PSG. Also without a doubt going to be their 2nd highest or top goalscorer of all time ASAP.

but but but Michael has no say of who is and isn't in our team

He's been quietly consistent his whole career, no horror shows to note. I expected him to have more output in terms of goals/assists back at the start though. He reminds me of Schurrle now, but only the good qualities. Definitely an alright option. But I'd use him against small sides, and as a sub against the big ones. He doesn't offer more than Pedro, he can go a bit quiet. In fact if you want to see how quiet, check his Wikipedia. Barely 6 sentences for his entire Fiorentina career.

That time in the league there was Davids, Huntelaar, Vertonghen, Sneijder, Stam, Heitinga, Suarez, plus handfulls of defensive walls & great midfielders who controlled the game. There's not even 3 players in the league now who'll be half of any of those players, maybe 1, and Solanke was still basically the worst forward in the league. He had nobodies to score against. And Baker has taken full advantage of that. Piazon took full advantage of that. This guy couldn't.

Reminds me of Clichy with the defensive abilities of Sagna, which is solid but not a compliment. Not special. Good enough to start each game, certainly useful, but would never go chest to chest with the likes of Marcelo or even Bertrand, they're a level above.

Monaco to sign Douglas Costa. This after us being interested, but disuaded by everyone saying he's shit. Then, he showed he's even as good as Ribery & Robben. That good. And he's available. There's even the disgustingly scary chance he'll sign for Tottenham in a last second U-turn. Like Willian, I'd sign him just to make sure he doesn't. Griezmann, Douglas Costa, Mahrez already all pretty much snapped up, despite us just winning millions on top of the millions we already had on top of the 100m we've made selling players since we last purchased 1. Are we even in for a forward player? We're not, are we...Well apart from Lukaku, the saviour, #DrogbaMkII.

In the past 2 weeks, Griezmann has slandered Atletico (blamed them, not himself for bottling in finals, for 'not enough trophies'); he's handed in a transfer request; he's essentially rubbed his name right off of the hearts of Atleti fans. His attitude always stunk of 'I want more - i want to dye my hair blonde, party more, start doing coke and hang around more beautiful women until my face becomes drawn and blotchy like Bale's. That's the good life, that's what being the best is.' He's genuinely reeked of that for years. The wannabe Ronaldo energy. Hilarious that he waits to see if United are in the Champions League next season, then pounces, as if they'll do any better than Atletico. Trading Madrid for Manchester's like trading a blowjob for a handjob - with sandpaper. So stupid, all to follow in the steps of Beckham. This guy's a fucking child in love with some romantic notion that he can become half the player someone he idolised was, as if it's not impossible since he'll be defined as his own man. Silly, silly child. Very glad when those with fraud hearts expose themselves.

Did people just not pay attention to the fact he scored 3 open goals in 30 appearances in all competitions on loan at Vitesse? He's a striker. Lewis Baker is more prolific. Even Lucas Piazon is superior. Yes, Solanke will be better there than he would have been here. No, he won't be any better than Jermaine Beckford. He was the absolute bottom of the barrel in terms of the youth teams he played in. Every player around him was dynamic, with so much to offer. Solanke doesn't have one refined trait. Not one. All he'll develop is a decent strike & the movement of Costa if he's lucky. This is how annoyed I am at us losing a bad player to a rival; I can't even remember or imagine what I was like over Mata. I swore a lot regarding Cech. I'll be annoyed if any player from any of our youth teams ends up at a rival. WE fed you. OUR club was the one who turned you from an average person living with an average family in an average area into millionaires.

Personally, me, I'd never seen worse performances from a striker at youth level. I'm sure even Di Santo offered more. Can anyone name 1 forward player from our last 5 or 6 youth teams worse than Solanke? I mean even Kiwomya was more Premier League material; he's basically just Walcott.

You're not wrong. I forget about Stones, he's that average, but I consider Sterling to have improved since they bought him, so at least some of his potential has been fulfilled. Compare that to the 'potential' we savagely go for, then often just get rid of anyway - Rahman. Salah. Miazga. Papy. Bats. Van Ginkel. Zouma. Oscar. Traore. Kenedy. Alonso. It's genuinely mad. No other team from Madrid to Barcelona to Bayern to City buy THIS much unfulfilled 'potential' for the first team, not without a proper loan plan ensuring literally every player ends up a top player. And, when you look at that list of players, you'd have a damn laugh if any other top club on earth acquired all of them. There'd be memes regarding their transfer policy. But it's so normal for us that hardly anyone realises except us that 25% of the players we sign actually play. We've gone from a tight-knit family of achievers to adopting an extended family of 100 low-IQ cousins, and it's bizarre.

I do anticipate a bad summer for us. Either 2nd-tier players who'll never reach the top, or 'potential' players who aren't even in that 2nd-tier themselves yet. We'll go for the players who don't influence a game whatsoever, but on a personal level are potentially great, while City go for players who actually gel and help them get 6 goals a game. United will have a summer somewhere in the middle. If the board were serious, announcements would already have been made. Better transfer links would have been established. But, no, we chase great potential, not great performers. The difference that'll give City the title next season. Gabriel Jesus might be the only 'potential' player I remember them buying in the last 5 years; everyone else was clearly in their prime, or only just past it with heaps of experience. Some players were downright bad, but none were stalled, failed, unfulfilled or simply truly average youth potential. They don't have the same fetish of acquiring stones in hope one day society considers them gems.

I said from day 1 not to pay attention to Solanke. One-dimensional, and that one dimension of his is so below average. His mentality was fucked up, he had no drive, no charm, nothing warm about him. So this shouldn't be a surprise. But still, he's a true money grabbing, turncoat bastard. Without our guidance in the youth level & him gaining the leverage of being associated with our brand, he'd be even less than he is now. An equally shit footballer, but in the Championship, barely making a grand a week, which is still more than he deserves. How dare such a shit player demand double the wages of his youth-level peers, then snub the rebuttal which'll have been a perfectly fair offer. Then leave for a disgusting city. Hope him nothing but failure.

9 times out of 10 a sane man who plays for Arsenal chooses Man City over us in this position. It's simply so much less heat on your back.

Well this is funny. He's a crap player, who'll turn nothing beyond decent for Liverpool, but they'll think they've made the deal of the century since a young Englishman is a rotation option in the cup games. He's not half the player Sturridge is, and they're getting rid of him if they can.

Levy defines what an Inferiority Complex is. He'd sooner sell Kane to Real Madrid for £40m than to us for £80m, just because it makes it look like we've got the bigger cock. But forget that, look at this. Did you know Kane grew up an Arsenal fan?

His record is so depressingly insane. He's 23 but if he keeps up the rate he has for the past 3 seasons, he eclipses Drogba in league goals next year He was supposed to be a failure. He's a 23 year old English boy who looks like he does smack. He came through the Tottenham youth system making barely any waves on any loans. Then they just slide him in the team and he becomes the best poacher we've seen for 5+ years. Just how? (78 goals in 113 games. Before Aguero came to this league, I didn't even think being that prolific was possible. It's slightly, just barely more prolific than Suarez was.)

If we play 34 games in a season, I expect 30 top, solid performances from Kante. That's the standard he's set. To be consistent. But we get more than that. We get borderline MOTM performances in 30/34 games. We get a player who while playing the most defensive role in the league, has inspired those around him to vote him the best player among his peers. Kante gives us a lot more than what I thought we were getting when we signed him. On his worst days he still does more than many on their best days, and that includes Mikel, Ramires, Meireles, players we've been cursed with. To complain over 3 or so not-hot games of his is mad; it's like Tottenham going from Adebayor (20 goals a season) to Kane (40 a season), to then have the nerve to complain when Harry Kane goes 2 or 3 games without scoring. Kante is definitely the least of our worries.

We were high on confidence after winning the league vs. a team Cesc used to be synonymous with. A lot of managers, and I'd consider it too, simply drop players when emotional stakes are that high. I'm sure it reinforced Wenger's decision to leave Cech out too, the fact he'd be in a final, facing the team he loved and left, right as that team just crushed them in the league. Pressure. Unwelcome pressure. It was maybe a move many of us disagree with. Sure. But it was a logical move. Plus, starting Fab would finally and only for the first time admit in clear black & white English to the player, 'Hey, Matic, you aren't that good.' The manager isn't allowed to do that. Not in a competition where we were undefeated, thus had no 'reason' to experiment. Only when we've been spanked or embarrassed do we then drop Matic and slide in Fabregas, because we can pretend its the 'team' and not just a horribly shit player causing us to stall. Finally I imagine Fabregas thinks more than those around him, and that makes him twice as likely to buckle under pressure from his ex club, even if he's stayed strong before. Conte could presume that too. You only become as good as Fab became at passing by being very in the head, but like Xavi/Iniesta and others, those who think the most, eventually, end up thinking too much. It's a fountain you're constantly adding drips of water/thought to, and there's no drain. All season long, layers and layers of water have been added to Fabregas's fountain. Thoughts and thoughts, emotions and emotions. And then these players end up 29/30 years old, suddenly thinking about investments/family business/private life in the middle of games. A point's been reached where football barely demands anything from them, usually because they're benched a lot. So there's a huge chance for that sharpness to be lost, just like in a boxer who goes from 2 fights a year to 1 fight every 5 years. He'll lose that focus in the ring he had. Because focus is habit, and Fabregas didn't have a season long enough to fully instil that focus. It left him after every good performance, because he never got a run of games where he could build it up. For as great as he was for 75% of his games this season, he still had games on par with his worst for Chelsea. I don't agree with Conte's decision, but I accept it, I think I get it. I think we would've won had we started Fabregas, just by chance, not logic. But that scenario takes a gambling man which perhaps Conte is not. Hence our XI's being as never-changing as Jose's. Every manager has their own methods. And it's not like we lost because Matic played while Fabregas didn't. We lost because from Hazard to Costa to Kante to our full backs, we didn't act professionally.

I feel like when 90% of a player's games are top performances it's disrespectful to write essays about how bad a game they had. Not every player deserves Mikel/Cahill/Matic treatment, not every player has played many 6/10 & below games for us. Those who have deserve the criticism. Those like Kante who have 3-4 bad games per season - that's less bad games than Ronaldo, Aguero, and others.