The only place to be

We could put out the kids teams and they'd show more fucking heart than the players on the pitch today. They're a fucking embarrassment to this club.

I love the guy - but the cold hard reality is that being our all-time top goalscorer will add a couple of grand to those after-dinner speaking gigs.

One more game closer to Rafa leaving. One more game closer to the end of the season. So we just lump it 40 metres to one of the opposition players?

The lack of leadership on the pitch is terrifying. And that's with JT and Lamps on the pitch (and Cech and Mikel).

That is perhaps the biggest pile of shit I've ever read on the internet. No offence.

Did they mention they've replaced it with Brentford's old one?

Oscar looking for the one-two. Frank looking for the shot. Square peg, meet round hole.

But Mikel is on the pitch. He's usually at least making 100% of his passes, sometimes more.

Better than Scholes?

So that means the team to face Man United will include. Cech Azpi Cahill Cole Ramires Moses Mata Ba and probably Hazard, one of the CBs playing tonight and probably Lamps. Meh.

Nice troll.

Maybe we should have bought AVB and loaned him out too.

We could always stick another player in there if we need greater solidity, but I think with the right ball-winner like a Chalobah or Ake or even a Capoue then you'd have enough energy there to control the other team. The best way to stop a team attacking is to not let them have the ball though.

So we should have stuck with him up to the second leg against Napoli? The guy made too many mistakes and burnt too many bridges here, but he seems to have learnt from that which is what you'd expect from any young manager. The Chelsea job probably came too soon in his career though. As for his signings, I don't think he's any better or worse than the average manager.

Which is why you play someone more defensive alongside him - ideally I'd like that to be Chalobah, but maybe in time it could be Ake as well. It's probably a position we'll look to the transfer market to fill though. What Modric does is move the ball forward in an intelligent, measured manner. He links the defence with the attack and makes the whole team a lot more cohesive whereas at the moment they're disconnected which means we lack numbers in attack.

Really? Sounds like a myth to me. I agree with most of what you said except for the bolded bit. He's never looked up his body as well as he could, especially in the off-season. I think this is why Fergie might be looking to get rid of him now. He's been playing since he was 16 and he was able to play at that age at the top-level not just because he was technically sound but because he was physically strong. But carrying that much muscle does put a strain on the bits you can't strengthen and he's never worked as hard on his body as someone like Ronaldo. I think he's going to struggle as he gets closer to 30 and I don't see him being a top-class striker many years beyond that.

More generalisations about him - nothing specific about his skillset. It's based on watching him over 3-4 years, seeing how he adapts to new challenges and assessing his individual skill set. I've asked a number of times in what ways he isn't ready and all I get are general comments about his age or the type of competition he's faced. So he plays in the PL next year - do we not call him back because he hasn't played in the Champions League? Chalobah is a rare talent. I'm not saying this about Josh. I'm not saying this about Bamford. I'm not saying this about Kane. It's equally important. We're not going to be able to compete at the top level without doing both and spunking money up the wall like it's 2005 won't work in the future. It can't. They're going to win because they've been doing the right thing for almost 20 years. Their success now is founded on their promotion of youth in the 1990s. You mistakenly said that they won with kids in the 1996 season and the fact is United didn't - they won then because they used a mix of young and experienced players, but weren't afraid to throw in youngsters if they felt they were good enough. I think Chalobah is good enough - you point out he hasn't played against top-level folk like Lee Cattermole, Paul Scharner and Luke Shaw. You have a point regarding the way I put that point across. It was frustration. No, that's one way of it happening. There shouldn't be a prescribed method that every player must adhere to. If a player is good enough, then put him in the team and don't bother sending him out on loan. It's debatable whether KDB needed a loan this season. Again, no specifics just generalisations. He's not ready how? So when we're talking about Lamps being kept as a squad player, it's perfectly alright for him to get 30 games a season but Chalobah can only get 15 games a season against poorer sides? Why couldn't he get 30 games a season against a range of sides including Champions League experience in the group stages, League Cup games and even FA Cup games? Oh right, because he isn't ready. Not in any specific way, he just isn't. No. Different players, different skill sets, different physical attributes, different mentalities. Again, this is the generalised view of young players smothering an individual analysis of their values.

Where is it written in stone that he has those players ahead of him? Let him fight for his place and I'm confident he'd get game time. And he lost to a team that had a 19 year old centre-back. It comes down to the individual. And then another season....and then another season....makes sense - they're legends after all. I agree. Without Lamps we still have that mix in my opinion. Good point about Bale - he had one year in the Championship and was then included in the Tottenham first-team squad. But just think how good he could've been if he had gone on loan to a West Brom or a Stoke. That's what needs to be done right? They need to prove themselves in the PL first. But Spurs didn't do that and look at what they're left with. The poor kid can barely use his right foot. Just another young player lost before their time. Sometimes the club and the fans have to show a willingness to trust youngsters with exceptional talent. It might be rocky, but it could be massively rewarding but we've been to chicken to do that and it's damaged us. Sometimes I think we'd be better off if we finished 5th and couldn't sign the Falcaos and *insert flavour of the month player here* and actually had to play the youngsters because we didn't have any other choice. We might sell a few less t-shirts but it might actually make us better in the long run. I don't think we can trust him until he's at least 25, got a couple of hundred league appearances, a few England caps and at least one European Cup. Better yet let's just sell him and buy him back when he's worth £30 million. Then we can put him on the bench whilst a 43 year old Lamps chases goal number 240. :blue scalf: :blue scalf:

Stubbed my toe on my lifesize statue of Nathanial Chalobah.

Not developed in what way? Physically? Mentally? Does he need to be a size 11 to be a premier league footballer and he's only a size 10 and a half? And no he's not the same as Lamps. Do you know what he's perfect for though? The double pivot. He can distribute the ball well, defend, win balls in the air and actually act in a composed manner unlike a certain Brazilian. He also chips in with the odd goal. You bring up this old thing about experience. What type of things do you mean? Things like the importance of local derbies? Things like securing a two goal lead and not throwing them away? People talk about Lamps like he's a fucking mascot on Blockbusters rather than a footballer. If we're going to keep pussyfooting around with youngsters and overpaying 'big names' then we might as well shut the academy and plant potatoes on the practice pitches. Transition has to be handled slowly - yeah, because otherwise we might find ourselves finishing 6th in the league and getting eliminated from the Champions League at the group stages.

Stuff like that annoys me. In what way is he not ready? Yes the jump is big but players thrown in can swim sometimes, especially if they're special talents. He's looked a class above at EVERY level he's played at and I think you could put him in the first-team against West Brom or Southampton and he'd not look out of place. He has a composure and maturity that you can't teach players, no matter how many loans they go on. Physically he's there. Technically he's there. Mentally, he's always had something special about him. He's the type of player supporters want to see on the pitch representing their club.

In what way is Chalobah 'far from ready'? How far? Is that in minutes, months, loans, litres or centimetres? Mata has been as much of a leader in this team as anybody this season. In fact JT has played just 9 league games all season. We're in transition and we're playing a style of football that simply doesn't suit Lamps. Sure we could keep him around to play against the Stokes and West Broms of this world but couldn't we be blooding the future rather than stroking the past?

Klopp plays fairly similar football, and isn't available. In fact Mourinho's style would fit our players pretty well wouldn't it?

Maybe that's a bit of an overreaction.

Maybe he's going to use Ake against United - Benitez might go up in my estimation.