The only place to be

Those prices sound much more realistic although there is a question about how Courtois fits into any of this. As for how he fits into the team, I love his movement. He's always keeping defenders busy and you'd hope that one of Hazard, Oscar and Willian would be capable of playing balls through to him. He's a massive unit as well and has that physicality we've lacked all season (Demba only recently learning how to play with his back to goal apparently) so should help create space for the AMs as well as being a good target for crosses. Of course I'm hesitant about signings of this nature because of our track record, but he seems to be Jose's choice and fit a lot of the criteria Jose likes in a striker. He's also got that nasty streak in him which we DO need ahead of the choirboys like Hazard and Oscar. Exciting times.

And now we might. It's why using the league title as the ultimate barometer for success is a little flimsy. We are in a transition season. We are 7 wins away from having the greatest season in this club's history. This season has been a success no matter what happens from now on.

So that's it. We have to win our last 4. 3 against teams in the bottom 4, 1 against the team top of the table. Fucking come on. :blue scalf:

Maybe Jose should've fought harder for him to stay, but Lukaku walked into the office of one of the greatest managers in the world, the manager of Chelsea Football Club, the manager who had given him two opportunities in our first two games of the season at Stamford Bridge as well as a chance against the European Champions and asked to leave. Players will queue up to play for this club and this manager and these fans....who is Lukaku?

Everton - 25 shots Palace - some really good chances West Brom - shit performance all round but limited West Brom to one shot on target which came in the 87th minute. If Luiz could man-mark Anichebe then we have 2 points. Basel - we were shit. PSG - They had one more shot on target than us, plus we hit the post. Away from home in the first leg that ain't too bad, especially when you consider we should've only lost 2-1 but for a Cech howler. The fact is that we've gone all season without a good striker who can do all the things a good striker does. A new striker immediately goes into the first team whereas a new left-back probably doesn't. That's what it comes down to for me. If you're going to spend £25 million+ on a player, does he immediately make the starting XI better? Matic did. Costa does. A midfielder probably does as well. Does Luke Shaw even start straight away?? I honestly couldn't say. I'd still like him here but he's not an immediate necessity. He's a project who it's very, very nice to have.

One would expect they'd feature in different positions (Barkley as a number 10, RLC as a member of the pivot).

Decent crosses to who? We have width from our full-backs when they're told to get forward. If you want space for the attackers, get a decent striker who will actually force the defence back like Didier used to. I agree that it would be nice to get a left-back like Shaw and have Azpi on the right, but it's not like Ivanovic isn't a good full-back. When he has targets to aim for in the box, he actually does pretty well. Plus he gets goals. I'm not insinuating that - I'm just saying it. We create good chances despite not having a decent striker yet there's a myth that we find it hard to break down teams. People were even saying that in the first-half against Swansea despite Salah missing two glorious chances on his own. How am I forgetting he's 30? I know he's 30, just like I know how old Kalas, Wallace, Kane, Omeruo and Aina are. I just think you focus on the immediate problems first and right now our most immediate problem is the lack of a striker. If we had that, we'd have won the league. Another left-back doesn't change a single result in my opinion, whereas a striker maybe finishes one of the 40 chances we created against West Ham. Yes that may be just one game and two extra points....but we're two points off the lead so maybe it'd be nice to have them. Then there's the Everton game where we created 22 chances and managed to miss one open goal and a host of other good chances, none of which were the result of not having a different left-back. Shaw would be a great signing for the future. But I don't think he makes as big a difference to our chances of winning matches as a striker or two does in the next 2-3 seasons hence why I think our priorities are the way they seem to be.

Actually I was thinking about the West Ham game too when we created about 40 chances. Oh no, we need another left-back wasn't really on my mind much. Palace game wasn't much different. Azpi trickles the ball across the 6 yard box and we lack a striker - my first thought is I wish we had a decent striker, not a left-back who can play that exact same ball with his left-foot. It's not though. We need a striker next season, we don't need a left-back. He's a long-term signing and an expensive one at that. I'd love for us to get him and it does make some sense, but if we had a striker this season we'd be certs for the league. If we had another left-back I don't think that's the case.

Finishing chances has been our problem. £30 million on a left-back when we have arguably the best left-back in the league and need to spend at least £40 million on a striker and possibly a few million on a midfielder is a tough sell. Shaw could do us a favour by waiting a year until we can spend big next summer on him. His price isn't likely to increase that much over 12 months and it's not like he's going to get European football at United.

Sutton? Casiraghi? Fleck?

Looked good and be interesting to see what happens on Saturday. The under-21s have a game against West Brom but there's got to be an outside chance that he makes the first-team squad.

Looks to be gathering momentum. Would be a real shame if we don't get him because he ticks so many boxes, but it is a massive fee that's being reported. We have a lot of young talent at right-back but look bare at left-back unless Ake is being seriously viewed as a left-back. He's looked quality there for the youth team but he's not at Shaw's level yet simply because of a lack of first-team action.

Watching that video its noticeable just how quickly he does everything. Really adds a different dimension to us going forward and was reminiscent of a young Giggs at times. Still very early days but I like what I'm seeing from him. On another day he scores two and gets a few assists too.

Yesterday was the perfect venue for his unique abilities. Unfortunately he was stuck in Swansea whilst the London Marathon was going on.

Fair play to him. The goal was scrappy but he showed a lot more strength today than he has done previously which was one of my criticisms of him. Did well with his back to goal against Williams and probably deserves a start in the next one.

Also thought Ivanovic was good today. Gets a lot of stick for his crossing but laid one on a plate for Salah in the first-half and then put in a beauty for Ba in the second.

Looked like we were half-asleep for most of the match but Tuesday night was an emotional one. Should've been up by more but a bit of quality from Matic and a decent finish from Ba was enough and it was the old cliche about playing poorly and winning. Despite his misses I loved what Salah brought to the team. Makes intelligent runs and having a left-footed, left-winger going on the outside of full-backs was a real throwback.

You just said we should be 2-0 up away from home at half-time.

Who puts the ball across for Salah in the 6th minute? How many times has Azpi overlapped Schurrle? We've created chances against a team who are defending deep. Just relax.

Fucking hell. Both yellows but still feels a bit harsh.

Number of 'Fuck Off Ramires' I've uttered in the first 12 minutes. Three.

My sentiments exactly. Tiny bit worried today.