The only place to be

There's a 188 page thread on the Spurs forum about this guy. Yet another kick in the nuts for Spuds. Oh well. Personally I'm happy to see decent players fuck off to France. It's the closest approximation to 'if they won't play for us I don't want them playing for anyone'. Same goes for Falcao - I don't want us wasting money on him but I don't want him going to a rival, so he can fuck-off to some principality that effectively renders him anonymous for a year or two.

I'm not sure. We need a back-up left-back and we'll need a left-back going forwards if Ashley does decide to pack it in (his ankles aren't going to take much more according to some reports). I'm still not convinced about Bertrand (and this is a lad with around 200 first-team appearances at this point) and who knows what PVA is really like? Shaw is a great prospect but is he ready next season? Maybe. What we could possibly do is transition from a 33 year old left-back, to a 26 year old left-back and then to a 19-20 year old left-back in the space of 3-4 years without really skipping a beat. Yes that will cost us about £30 million but left-back is a real problem in our club at the moment (Wright and Nditi have very little chance of making it, whilst we have Azpi, Wallace, Kane and Aina on the right hand side) so it's going to cost money to address it. In terms of being a good fit for us, he's a solid defensive option although not up there with Ashley in my opinion but going forward I've always liked him. He works superbly with a left-winger who likes to cut in so that bodes well for Hazard and he'll provide width and energy down that flank. Plus he's another left-wing option. Generally I'm not in favour of signing players who are this age and this price, but when people were suggesting we go in for Baines at a similar price then this signing doesn't look too bad.

I think Paulo is nailed on for Gary Staker's job if he ever quits, although if we get a guy in who can speak Portuguese maybe not. But it's interesting to see who Jose hired at Chelsea, Inter and Real (Clarke, Baresi, Karanka) - defensive players who know the club and know the league. There's been suggestions that he might bring Karanka with him, but I'd like to see Steve Holland retained in a similar role.

Decently researched articles and the fact is that 'the board' were getting a ton of shit earlier in the season. For whatever reason, people thought that Emenalo's face just didn't fit at this club and there were people calling for a 'football man' to come in and take over (Hiddink was the popular choice for no reason other than he was Guus Hiddink - there were no reasons connected to his ability to do this particular job, a job that a lot of people don't seem to understand). Yet if you look at the areas that this bloke oversees then we're actually moving in the right direction. Before this bloke took over, we were spending £6 million and about £80k p/w in wages on Yossi Benayoun. That's a transfer that we actually made. Now we're a much more streamlined, focused operation focusing on acquiring players with tremendous potential but then actually placing them at clubs where they can properly develop that potential. This season we had more than 20 youngsters out on loan at various times and there's not many you could say were a waste of time. We've also become tougher in contract negotiations, seeking value at every turn be it the contracts offered to new players like Mata or the ones offered to established legends like Ashley Cole and Frank Lampard. Did we go overboard in trimming the fat this year? Possibly in regards players like Meireles, which resulted in a lack of squad depth but this was a period of transition that we'll be better for next season and we still managed to jump three places in the league. My view on him is the same as it was earlier in the season, that it's too early to judge him in this role. But things look to be moving in the right direction and a lot of the kneejerk vitriole that was aimed at him and Gourlay earlier in the season seems to have subsided as those fans are distracted by new, shinier things like the prospect of Jose returning. If we can combine the policy of looking to younger players with a proper league title challenge then this guy has a very promising future at the club.

Well signing him would be the end of Bertrand's career here, and he'd certainly be a good option against the weaker teams in the league which would give Ashley's ankles a rest. Shaw is probably the long-term option who we could possible get at the end of next season and he could then fight it out with Coentrao if Ashley does indeed retire. Still can't avoid calling this guy Portuguese Zhirkov though.

He's also playing in a position where we've got three up-and-comers in Romeu, Chalobah and Ake who all arguably have a better skill set for that position (RLC is further down the line too). If the money is on the table now, it has to be considered. People saying about his ability to break with the ball, and that's a nice ability to have but look at our first goal against Everton on Sunday. That started with someone playing in Rami's position picking the ball up in our own area. Now Rami might've been able to run it out of defence, but this player (Ake in this case) passed it out of defence, initiating a counter-attack that resulted in a goal. Rami's problem isn't that he doesn't have the basics, but that he's inconsistent. When he gets the ball in matches, sometimes you don't know if it's going to bobble off his shin or be a crisp, perfectly measured pass. It's a shame that his touch isn't as consistent as his commitment to the cause which is second to none.

Judging by the thread from the first game, this is a must-win that everything hinges on. I'm going for Chelsea to win 5-4. My prediction for the line-up is that we'll probably pick 11 players.

Saw we were 3-0 up and lost 4-3. Good game for the American market and people really don't need to read much into this game. In terms of brand awareness, a win or a loss isn't the most important thing. Having players like Oscar, Luiz and Torres in that team is probably more important than the result. Kit looked really nice, Blackman didn't (which isn't a massive surprise because the people who rate him highest are usually the ones who have seen him the least).

Sadly I think he doesn't have much of a career with us, if at all. To put him into context, he's actually older than Azpilicueta but has less than first-team appearances than Luke Shaw.

There's nothing wrong with people getting excited about a very promising crop of youngsters, and if you think people are going overboard then why not present reasoned arguments that present a note of caution rather than just saying people are overrating them?

Actually we won the title twice with a team without a prolific striker. I'm simply using examples from our own recent history to suggest that you might be wrong in your belief that not getting a big-name striker in will cost us the title. Here's another point - we would've been level on points with Man United if we had won all of our games against the teams who finished in the bottom 7 last season. That includes not throwing away two-goal leads against Reading and Southampton, not losing at home to QPR and not being so naive defensively against Newcastle away. Now I don't know if you watched those games, but my assessment was that we lost those games in midfield as we did so many other games. I firmly believe that is the difference (along with squad depth) between us being a top 4 side and a league-winning side.

I think the general consensus is that they are excellent prospects who deserve a chance. That doesn't mean people are overreacting or overrating them. Also if you're referring to me with the 'Chalobah to become English captain' then I think you've misread or misunderstood that.

So what you're saying is that defence can win trophies too? I never thought of that when we were throwing away two goal leads to Reading and Southampton, conceding from SWP breaks and watching us gift Newcastle the run of half the pitch. I actually agree with what you're saying which is why a 30 goal a season striker isn't the top of the list in my mind. That midfield is. That's the link from defence to attack, that's what will make us hard to beat and that's what will win us the league next season.

Except if they had sold Suarez for £40 million they might have been able to buy other players who made them a better TEAM (remember the other 10 players on the pitch also matter). That's the funny thing with football. Sometimes you can parlay one good player into a number of cheaper players who better serve your TEAM. I think they hand it out to people who can talk intelligently about football - pointing out when people are saying ridiculous things is just the little garnish I like to bring to it, to make it my own. Look, I put together a decent argument about how strikers aren't the be all and end all. You could've pointed out that in both those seasons we had Lampard at the height of his powers (or damn near close) playing almost as a second striker and getting us important goals. Or you might have said that the Cole/Robben/Duff/Gudjohnson group was far more prolific than what we have now. Those are fair points, with decent reasoning behind them. You essentially stuck your fingers in your ears and went 'na,na,na'. Can you blame me for having a small pop?

Close. He's 20 and he will be.....anyone.....21. From that point on who knows. Maybe you're confusing him with Varane, that great defender we should definitely buy except he's 20 as well now. He played well in the Champions League for Real Madrid, but probably needs a loan season at Swansea first before we know for certain. When he can be the same age as Jovetic and hopefully score less goals than he did this season - that's the dream right there. Oh, so he's going to be that young footballer who develops at a top club with patience. I wondered who would be the lucky kid. Look mate, I'm not going to agree with you simply because I've watched this man play all season and think he's ready to be part of our squad. I think he has a level of maturity that makes referring to his age alone SIMPLY FUCKING STUPID. I think we will get another striker and I hope it's Rooney because that allows for the development of Lukaku best in my opinion. But he's a 20 year old man who gets paid to play football and he has a mentality that doesn't come with age. Players either have it or they don't. The sooner people realise that, the better.

Wow....don't even bother buying the dvd. Just stick to licking the tv screen rather than watching football on it.

More efficiently? What the fuck does that mean? Do they take less touches to score, ergo reducing the wear and tear on their boots? Do they cover less ground this reducing the strain on the pitch - great thinking. With less ground staff needed we can easily afford to spunk money up the wall on these players, because as everyone knows the ground staff at our club are the really big earners. We won two league titles without a 20 goal a season striker. We have players like Hazard and Mata who contribute goals from midfield....oh and we have a young striker who actually scored 17 goals in reduced minutes in his first season, but all those goals were deflected in off his arse so they don't count. :banghead: :banghead: :banghead: Liverpool had the second top scorer in the league last season, and they finished 7th. The relationship between a striker who scores goals consistently and the league champions isn't as definite as some people are making it out to be.

What a fucking amazing response. If you think the striking position will dictate next season for us then I'm envious of you, because you clearly haven't watched this club at all last season and had to put up with the amount of shit the supporters have. Just skip to the end of the Season Review DVD and watch the Europa League final. I won't spoil it for you, but don't switch off at the end. :eyebrows:

So you tell me the day in the next 20 years when the pressure at this club will be any less. You tell me when this man (he's a 20 year old man who is paid to play football professionally by the way) who loves this club will not be under pressure wearing the shirt. This guy has shown a mental toughness that few players much older than him have and the fact that we're having this discussion in a thread about buying Steven Jovetic is absurd.

Is our striker the only person who can score goals for us then? I'd point you in the direction of our 2005 and 2006 title winning teams. We didn't have a single striker who scored more than the 17 goals that Lukaku scored last season. In fact Drogba scored 10 and 12 goals in those seasons whilst other strikers like Crespo barely reached double figures. We were a team that relied on goals from around the team. With players like Mata (12 goals) and Hazard (9 goals) we seem to be building that again, and if you want to look at reasons for us dropping points then I'd suggest the midfield is of greater concern than our strikers. Not every team has to do the same thing and be built the same way. Personally I'd still like us to add a striker and for me that would be Rooney because I think he fits the squad better, but if we go into the season with the four striking options I mentioned but improve the midfield then I'd back us to win the league.

Is there a particular reason you think we need a big name striker? As I've said to you in the other thread, we do have a young striker who scored 17 goals in the league last season (that's more than Jovetic has ever scored in a single season btw).

So we won't sign Falcao and might miss out on Cavani. That's not the end of the world. A front line of Lukaku, Ba, Schurrle and Torres is capable of winning the league if we actually sort out the midfield. Is that going full retard?

I like Khedira. I think he'd add steel to our midfield, but also seems to recycle possession well. As much as I love Rami he can be a little inconsistent with his passing and that Villa game showed that he can lose his head a little at times. I don't know how much you can rely on him, but he'll stick around because he's versatile and offers a more attacking threat from midfield. Ake had a very good game at the weekend, contributing directly to our two goals with his distribution and also his ability to break up opposition attacks. Yet he's still not up to Chalobah's level which is why I'd definitely want to see him given a shot at this position. Then there's Romeu who could go either way. He's a very good player but he's coming off a long lay-off. Any three of these players could prosper under Mourinho. But I still think that we need someone like Alonso alongside them. For me, he's the archetypal deep playmaker who also has a physical presence similar to Schweinsteiger and there really aren't many of them. Maybe it could be Oscar who has a tenacity and ferociousness in the tackle that belies his size or maybe Mourinho can coach Lamps on the defensive side of the ball a bit but for me that link between defence and attack has to be the priority in the summer. That's where we lost points at the end of games and that's where we failed to create enough in matches where we dominated possession.

Courtois has obviously been the best player this year, and we could probably sell Cech and stick Courtois between the sticks and not miss a beat - he's that good. Lukaku has scored 17 goals in his first proper season in the league. That's not something you fluke and if we got the right player in (I'd say that was Rooney due to his versatility and possible price) then he could flourish as our second striker under Mourinho, getting maybe 30 starts next season. He definitely needs to go on the summer tour and is the type of pro we need at this club. De Bruyne - turns water into wine, deflowers virgins just by making eye contact with them and is the Chuck Norris of Chelsea Football Club. Even if he never plays for us he should have his shirt retired and be Player of the Season every year until one of his many red-headed spawn joins our ranks. Or he's just a very good prospect who needs some time in our squad to really make a position his own. Worst case he becomes something of a utility player in the front four. Chalobah - love this kid. Love his attitude, love his spirit, love his technique, love his tactical appreciation of the game in both defence and attack, love his physicality, love his passing and I love the fact that he can contribute goals too. Carried that Watford team at times and the easy thing to say is that he should stay on loan there if they get promoted. Personally I'd like to see him back for the summer tour and given a fair crack to win the shirt. He's played 41 games this season - Romeu had played 49 games for Barcelona B before we signed him and used him in our squad. Why wouldn't we do the same for Nat?