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Are you trying to say Verratti is an attacking midfielder? He would be the DLP that we're aching for.

Assuming Mata is valued at 40 mill (at least), why would we accept 10 mill + Ibra who joined PSG for 20 mill? Has his value gone up despite being in his 30s now?

I know, ridiculous. There's a good chance that may happen on the future, but right now it's not even debatable

If you've watched Madrid this season, you'd know they play a 4-3-3. There's Casemiro, Modric, Illarra, Alonso, Isco, and Khedira for the midfield. Strikers they have Ronaldo, Benzema, Bale, Jese, Morata, and Di Maria.I don't know what you're getting confused about, they have 2 quality players for each position, and simply don't require Ozil's services anymore since the formation doesn't have a pure AM. He doesn't track back so he can't play in the midfield, and he's not nearly as effective out on the right wing.

Great, great game today by the kid. Was able to snatch the ball from the opponents a few times and start off our counterattacks. He was all over the pitch tonight and his workrate is amazing, hustles back to win the ball back and then making some nice dribbles that were slightly reminiscent of Hazard's. With those 2, along with Schurrle, I feel really comfortable if we have to rely on the counterattack from now on against some of the bigger teams. And they're all just 21-22, amazing.

Meh, I'm only afraid of their depth/quality in CM. I don't see Soldado as too much of a threat, our defenders can easily neutralize him. Spurs are paying for potential at this point when bringing in Lamela, and Eriksen fell off the radar by big clubs recently (Definitely not as hyped as he was 2 years ago) Goalie they have Lloris but we already have Cech and Courtois, nuff said. Their defense is inferior to ours as well, we have more quality/experience and they have a glaring hole at LB. I'd be surprised if Levy wasn't trying to include Coentrao in the Bale deal, who wants out of Madrid Again, their only area where I'm genuinely jealous of is in their central midfield. I'd gladly take any of Paulinho, Capoue, Dembele, or Sandro on this team; lots of steel, just what we need right now.

Meh I like to think of it as Neuer's screw up on the second goal making up for Oscar's. So they cancel each other out and ultimately we end up being one goal up like we rightfully should be. Or well it at least helps ease the pain a little

Even if he was brought in to play in the pivot, that was 2 coaches ago- things change. I'm not sure how you can say he doesn't look comfortable with the ball especially since he always tracks back and asks for it in order to keep the play flow moving.

^ What's with you and Oscar? Get off the lad's back, IMO he was our best attacking player tonight

Looks like some of us were right in our predictions of him being played as Striker- let's see how he does today

Willian isn't older than Mata. They were born in the same year, but Mata at an earlier month

Well there were actually reports around the time we played Shakhtar in the CL last season of Chelsea being his favorite team, coupled along with the major excitement he expressed after being signed by us.

I for one am very happy for Willian, he finally fulfilled his dream of playing for his boyhood club, truly inspiring. I just know that he's gonna give it his all and become a fan favorite here. Welcome Willian Borges da Silva, we wish you all the best

I hope he goes back to that braided hairstyle... it looks so badass and would make us more intimidating as a team and have more swagger

He often played as second striker during his time at Leverkusen, it would be interesting to see if he can make that transition to CF. However this is what preseason was for, if the club had any intentions to try him out in that position then it already would've been done.

Ya why can't we have Kalou, Benayoun, and Meireles instead.

Instead of a straight swap,I would rather sell Mata for 40 mill to a team outside England and then use that money on Rooney. No sane Chelsea fan can bare the thought of him pointing to the crowd after a goal in that red United jersey

This reminds me of the time in Madrid when Marcelo just came off a world class season and then Mourinho decides to buy Coentrao for 40 mill.

Have to go all out for this one, the question is which one will start on the right- Mata or KDB

Lampard needs to relax and not think he's Alonso or something

I'm sure this is a brilliant analysis and props to you but I just don't have the heart to read this...

Hahahahahaha this is actually hilarious, some things never change.

Depends how you look at it. Gustavo is much more defensively responsible than Ramires, part of the reason Scolari chose him instead to pair with Paulinho who tends to go up and link with the attack more often Whatever, I doubt we get him anyways. I'm content with the pivot we have

Three of those guys you mentioned are B2B's, not DM. Do you even watch Gustavo? He's a destroyer, exactly what we need. However I'm fine with what we have as long as MVG and Ramires keep up their strong play together

Luka Modric is not coming back to Spurs, he would have walked to Madrid last year, remember? Worst case scenario for him: he ends up in Manchester United. How would this be possible when everything he said this summer was that he loves Real Madrid, he is not going anywhere and Carlo Ancelotti just said very recently that he has an important role in the team? And United won't pay 60m for him anyway. The only players they have a shot at is Di Maria and Coentrao, but even then I'm not sure they want to be stuck with their wages especially when the new stadium has to be paid off. On the other hand, I'm not sure those 2 would want to play for a team competing in the Europa League.