The only place to be

He got 15 minutes in the first game, 25 in the second, wasn't used against United and then got 22 minutes in the Super Cup Final before asking to leave. It sounds like we're going to see what's available in the market before deciding on him. That's fair enough.

This part of the plan is complete nonsense in my view. It's a symptom of a problem that will probably be eased if we focused on providing better pathways for young players to come through. That encompasses things like better coaching for kids at a younger age, focus on technical skills and the point that actually does make sense to me - the B teams. Call me selfish, but I could give a fuck about Conference football. I love the idea of B teams where players get to play in systems that closely mirror their parent club's philosophy, where they get to play meaningful football every week and where they learn what it is to be a professional footballer. Under-18 football is ok in this country but the under-21 league is fairly meaningless to be quite honest. The idea of partnerships with lower league teams doesn't strike me as any better than what we have with Vitesse and possibly Middlesbrough next year. Overall it's a couple of good ideas mixed in with pathetic parochialism.

Conventional in the sense that the wingers are the ones who provide width, not left-footed players on the left-wing going on the outside of a man and then crossing the ball in. I was discussing this aspect in relation to City's use of wingers or lack thereof. You completely overlooked the point that I made that full-backs need a target and that's something we're direly lacking at the moment. Azpi and Ivanovic have both shown the ability to be effective in the final third so saying we don't have them ignores a lot of what actually happens at our matches. Put in a good target man and our play changes drastically. But of course there will be 6 or 7 'fans' who would rather stick to their agenda.

The creation of a new tier within the Football League to accommodate Premier League B teams is at the heart of the Football Association commission's four-point plan to boost English football. The review also calls for a ban on non-EU players outside of the top flight and a reduction in non-home-grown players in Premier League squads. It also wants to develop "strategic loan partnerships" between clubs. The suggestions come as a response to a lack of available English talent. In the 2012-13 Premier League season, only 32% of starters qualified to play for England, compared to 69% 20 years ago. The figure was 28% among the top four clubs that season. The exhaustive review by the commission, headed up by FA chairman Greg Dyke, aims to restore the amount of English players within the Premier League to 45% by 2022. "I welcome the proposals," said national team manager Roy Hodgson. "Having worked at all levels of football, and across different countries and cultures, I have some reference points about what needs to be done in England. "But I am just one voice of many who have contributed to this important study and I hope the debate that has been provoked can lead to some real developments in our game." http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/football/27327502

Looks likes Piers Morgan's ratings

It's a combination of the way City use their full-backs (they push far further on then our's and provide the width because, in general, their 'wingers' tuck in whereas we play with more conventional wingers in Hazard, Salah etc.) but also the fact that they have targets in the box in the form of strikers. Look at their first goal against Palace - it was a diagonal ball played in by Toure to a target man (Dzeko in this case). We simply don't have that, and whilst Ivanovic and Zabaleta both played the same number of crosses into the box against Norwich and Villa respectively, they were playing to entirely different types of target men. Now I will admit that we need better full-backs going forward next season. I've been wrong about their effectiveness mainly because others have been way too harsh on them (Ivanovic in particular). But this is not a problem that exists in isolation. People are rewriting history when talking about Azpi's crossing ability, which was much maligned when he was at right-back. I defended him on the basis that our targets were simply not good enough and that's still very much the case. If we slotted our strikers into City's team, they simply wouldn't morph into Aguero et al because their movement simply isn't good enough.

Schwarzer Azpi Cahill JT Cole Matic Van Ginkel Schurrle Willian Hazard Who cares so long as they fuck off after. Could see Kalas play. Could see Van Ginkel play. Think Cole will play as it's possibly his last game. Could be totally wrong and we could play a lot of fringe/young players, but honestly don't really care too much. Would like to see us cut loose and try and attack from the off but the season is over. The highlight will be seeing young players like Ake and Baker possibly used.

I think it's an issue of priorities. Maybe we'll push on and get Shaw if we can ship on some of the fringe players, but Man City's strikers cost £110 million. We might need two so that's at least £50 million. We won't win the league without new strikers. We can probably win the league with Ivanovic and Azpi as full-backs.

Ironic considering he has to wear that protective cap now. Hope he recovers well though.

It also shows the importance of strikers. Their third-choice striker has scored as many as our top scoring striker. Jovetic (4th choice) is one goal behind Torres despite starting TWO league games. And despite all that, we took 6 points off this lot...one of them with a goal from Ivanovic.

Oscar is probably going to be our number 10 and if you desperately want a young English guy with massive potential to play in the pivot then why not use Chalobah? Or maybe even Loftus-Cheek?

In those games he's probably been better than JT to be quite honest. Ultimately though, they complement each other very well with Cahill doing a lot more of the running and marking than JT. Sure you can look at the system but that's the case for any great defender isn't it? What he does superbly are the simple things and those are very often overlooked in favour of flashy 40 yard passes that have a 50-60% success rate and the occasional 30-yard screamer. Our system is one that relies on defensive stability and that is Cahill's strength. I'm sure if you want to look for the odd mistake then you'll find it, but that's the case for any defender isn't it?

It wasn't talked about because it didn't happen. Know you've had reservations about him but you haven't mentioned a single specific example.

I think it's a little strange to talk about defenders as individuals, when the best defenders are often part of great defences or defensive partnerships at the very least. I'd defy you to name a great defender of the last 30 years who wasn't either played alongside another complementary or in a strong defensive unit. Tony Adams was a great defender but can you ignore Bould, Keown, Winterburn and Dixon? Baresi was phenomenal but what about Costacurta, Maldini and Tassotti? When JT was at the height of his powers he had Ricci alongside him and players like Cole, Makelele and Cech around him. JT and Cahill's partnership has been one of the standouts this year and I'm not entirely sure what conversation people are trying to have or why? But your last point is interesting - if you don't protect a defence then sometimes they can look vulnerable. Probably best not to do that then.

That's the obvious choice, maybe along with Feruz. You'd have thought it would be players who featured in the under-21 league rather than the youth cup. RLC could bypass everything and feature in the summer whilst you'd hope that players like Bamford, Omeruo and Chalobah are done with loans to the Championship. Christensen might be another option too.

Disappointing that some people booed at the end or had fucked off already. Far too many tourists in the ground.

Only just seen this thread and wow, are you actually illiterate? I'm a Brazilian hater? That's despite me praising Oscar for most of the season and defending him when his form dropped off? I've criticised Ramires and Luiz but I've already criticised Mikel. Does that make me a Nigerian hater too? I also think you're wrong about zolaeyes - he's by no means the only person that hates you. Anyway...decent idea.

We've also been linked with goalkeepers, central defenders and attacking midfielders.....between you and me I sometimes think these links aren't entirely based in reality. Anyway, we're just going round in circles here. Yes we need to invest in other areas but that's inevitable when you look at the current squad make-up. The simple fact (and I call it a fact because in my opinion it's indisputable) is that no area in our team needs investment more than our striking options. I'm firmly of the belief that we could win the league if we get the right striker in and completely ignore the left-back position....mainly because we already have one of the best left-backs in the league already (a point that goes amiss with alarming regularity on here).

Again, it's a really poor point. Teams that sit deep/park the bus don't leave many gaps in transition because they don't commit many men forward. In fact we hit the post on one of the rare occasions Norwich did leave spaces and Matic was able to win the ball back and immediately play Schurrle in. That was a fantastic example of how we can exploit this gaps on the rare occasions they appear but the issue has been consistency especially from the number 9. And don't worry - most of the replies I post seem obvious to me but apparently aren't... to about 6 or 7 members.

Called out? Gave people the chance to put their money with their mouths were I think is more apt. I think some of your criticisms are bizarre. Slow transitioning from defence to attack?? That's the one thing we've looked remarkably adept at for much of this season and have devastated some top teams like that. Away to City we did that. Home to Liverpool we did that. Home to Arsenal we did that. Away to Galatasaray we did that. It's been the second phase attacks where we've suffered after the counter breaks down. In those instances there's been a distinct lack of movement from the strikers. We don't have a decent focal point for our attacks so what is there to build around? As for Atletico, they have a defined target man in Diego Costa so there's someone for their attack (including the full-backs) to build around. They also have Raul Garcia who is strong in the air. Despite that they couldn't break us down at their place and it wasn't until Eden Hazard decided to not bother defending that they scored against us and basically destroyed our gameplan. You can maintain that getting a left-back and midfielder is as vital as getting a striker, but that's hyperbolic....and also hyperbollocks. A striker changes our whole team. A new left-back probably doesn't even start the first match of next season.

Gerrard's first language isn't English.

Because defence isn't part of football? When you graduate from the Kevin Keegan School of Football Tactics, do you get a certificate? Liverpool were the highest scorers in the league this season. They have scored 99 goals, 30 more than us. That's remarkable. Their goal difference is 7 better than us. 7, with arguably the world's in-form striker against our non-in-form, non-strikers. This season was always about developing a platform for next season. Jose said as much at points this season, and the transfers were explicitly about next season as well. If that was the target then how has this season not been successful? I suppose the fair thing to do is wait to judge it at the end of next season when we know who has won the league, isn't it?

Gross maybe, not net. We have a fair amount of dead wood to get rid of, and that includes players on high wages. Even formerly top earners are looking at reduced terms so financially I actually think we're looking good going into next season. We could sign a left-back, but is there one out there who is clearly better than Azpilicueta? Shaw isn't yet. We won a league title with Gallas playing at left-back, but there seems to be a mental block amongst some people when it comes to seeing a right-footed player at left-back. There's a great rush to see Azpi returned to right-back, despite there being A LOT of criticism about his crossing when he played there. We can win the league with Ivanovic and Azpi as full-backs. It's not the most immediate area to upgrade, especially if the number one choice is an 18 year old who would cost a lot. We could sign 2 midfielders, but we're possibly going to sell 2 (Mikel and Luiz) for a combined real terms cost of possibly £25 million. Striker is the one position where we absolutely need to invest and I think that will have the most transformative impact on the team. There seem to be 6 or 7 members who accept that we need a new striker but stop there, refusing to acknowledge the impact that a striker has on the rest of the team, the way they generate space for others and make chances for themselves. So I think you're being massively pessimistic when it comes to how far away we are from being a top side.

Shaw would be first-choice left-back in most people's views so I can understand that. What exactly is David Luiz's role at this club? He's not considered a central defender by Jose Mourinho so he's a midfielder? Oh right, he plays when Matic is cup-tied....which he won't be next season. £25 million for a substitute. But yeah, call people Mourinho lovers because they can see the sense in selling an under-utilised asset for a good price in order to buy more appropriate players.

There is always a possibility that we just go with Van Aanholt's attacking prowess and ignore the fact that he's shakey in defence. If you've got Ramires and Matic in midfield then maybe you can let them cover the full-backs as they get forward and stretch the pitch. Bertrand...never really seen him excel either going forward or defending.