Barbara

haven't seen this before, Chou Chou. This thread moves way too fast to read everything, but I appreciate and agree with your view Well I may have watched some of the matches he was less than impressive which is why I said he had ups and downs and I was under the impression he went a few weeks in a row without producing his A game, alternating average, barely above average and bad matches in that span of time. I'd pay at him at most 30m, and it doesn't matter if in 3 years he's worth 3x and we can't buy him... I'm sure we can find some other great midfielder to come improve our team. I don't think we're desperate to one, I think we need a good player - said it just a couple of days ago in some other thread - but I don't think we need to make as much an investment in someone like him.

Come on, you probably watched Juve more than all of us. I've watched quite a few matches and while I think the kid is good and promising, I don't think he's out of this world as some are making him out to be. What's your take on him?

But it's crazy to think at the same age and only two seasons later this kid is worth nearly twice we payed for Eden or 20m more. It's insane and makes as much sense as paying 100m on Bale. Just because some crazy person is willing to ask as much it doesn't mean we should pay it just because we have the money. It's a really obscene fee imo. I'd pay as much for a guy like Suarez who's proved and in his prime and a guy in a position we desperately need. Cavani also fits the bill but Pogba? No way in hell

And I think you may have comprehension issues... The main point a lot of people are making here is that 55m is a huge no-no because 1st he's not world class yet at least not in this planet 2nd that's an obscene amount of money for a guy like him 3rd not sure if you are keeping track but he had ups and downs this season with a quiet long slump of form. So forgive us if we think it's insane to pay that crazy amount of cash for an unproved 21yo that we don't desperately need. In TOPTB defense he's been against the Shaw signing since it was revealed the fee and wages involved and I'm not sure if you realized but 55 is almost twice 30 so I don't get the comparison except for you wanting to take a jab on him unfairly. People are just using some common sense here

I'm not sure Lamps is staying but we look quite short of quality if we look at squad depth. IMO only Matic and van ginkel are salvageable in the list. Ramires is a nutcase and I think Lamps - if kept - is for very specific kind of games... unfortunately he doesn't have the lungs and legs to all matches anymore or even all kind of opponents. Chalobah being promoted is something we definitely won't see Mourinho doing. I'm not sure I'd like Tiago (although for free, I wouldn't mind), but I feel like having only Matic and Marco as good players (the latter even has to prove himself yet, but has potential, but it's unproved nonetheless) seems thin. Ofc Mou loves Ramires and he's not even staying, but he's a starting xi player, but I live in denial when it comes to Ramires and Mourinho

mate, Oscar excels in Brazil NT's 4-3-3... I don't know what you're talking about when you say he makes the system a 4-2-3-1. He's much more suited for a 4-3-3 than for a 4-2-3-1 at this point in his development curve.

I think it's okay either way. Carlo accomplished something Mourinho didn't. That means nothing. Only one manager gets to win UCL in a season. Mourinho was close a few times, but he wasn't the only one not to lift it in the last few seasons. I'm not criticizing Mourinho for not winning it, but I've been saying for a while he needs to add more options to his systems. Most changes Carlo did involved players that were already in RM when Mourinho was there. Mourinho really wasted Modric, who looked mediocre while Mou was there, overloaded Alonso, and it seems like he didn't use di María in the best way. I wasn't aware Angel played like that for Argentina as @Joker10 said. I only followed Belgium and Germany in the last couple of years in terms of NT. Not even Brazil NT I've watched except for two matches in the Confeds Cup. Mourinho is too loyal to his convictions and systems which is a good thing, but he needs to spread his vision a bit. His style needs some minor adjustments and he needs to offer more offensively. I think that's where he's lacking a bit, how to organize effectively the attack (although clearly his main issue at RM in addition to the dressing room, was the midfield). With us I feel like we have a good set up for the midfield, but I said a lot of times at the beginning of the season I think our squad is more suited to a 4-3-3 than a 4-2-3-1, but he won't let the 4-2-3-1 go. So either he signs the players to make that happen or he has to move to a 4-3-3. It's just some small adjustments, I'm not complaining about Mourinho. He had a season to evaluate Chelsea and English football (neither are the same from the last time he was here) and now he has to make his move. Some managers are more suitable for some certain kind of squads. Mourinho seems to want to make a lot of changes in Chelsea despite his speech of needing only 2-3 clinical signings. Letting go of Mata, Luiz, Cole and probably Lamps (I think at this point it's 50/50 and the board and Mou may be waiting for the WC to decide if Lamps will be replaced or not by another B2B player) means he's starting from scratch. I think there are big chances of Courtois coming next season already although all the rumors right now state he'll stay at Atleti till 2015. So either he signs the players to make a 4-2-3-1 effective or he adapts to the 4-3-3 the squad is better suited for. We could have a midfield with Matic-Oscar-Willian or Matic-Ramires-Oscar/Willian followed by Hazard and one between Schurrle or Salah with a striker ahead of them as it works infinitely better than any 4-2-3-1 set up with the players we currently have. I think Oscar and Willian working side by side ahead, as B2B players against weaker sides and replacing either of them for Ramires (bleh) against strongest sides would be ideal. We've been way too defensive, which is okay because we weren't ready to be more offensive, but it definitely has to change next season. We don't need to be as cautious as we've been especially against small/medium sides. Willian showed he can handle EPL's physicality - something that worried me - and Oscar can play well in a 4-3-3 (but I don't think he can do it in the pivot in a 4-2-3-1), as he does for Brazil, although Brazil has two pivot players behind him... for some matches we could have Matic and Ramires, but for many others Wills and Oscar is more than enough to handle opposition's midfield and still give us versatility, vertical transition and quality pass. Then of course, we'll rely in Hazard even more to be creative while the other wing with either Schurrle or Salah will be basically about pace and verticality. Oscar can be Lamps of the old in a 4-3-3 imo, but can't in a 4-2-3-1. Mourinho has to figure out what he'll do with it. I hope he watches tons of Brazil matches and realize how effective Oscar is playing as the third man in the midfield, but I'm not sure he'll let go of his 4-2-3-1 fixation. In case he keeps the 4-2-3-1 I think Hazard could be moved to #10 with Willian in one wing and one between Schurrle and Salah in the other. Then there's no effective place for Oscar in the team other than being Hazard replacement - and we've seen Mourinho plans to play Eden all matches. Oscar doesn't offer much in the wing and he struggled playing #10 in a 4-2-3-1.

Yes, Carlo did what Mourinho couldn't. With the team RM already had we can't really talk about Isco, Bale, Illara when he already had Alonso, di Maria, Ronaldo, Benz, Pipita, Ozil... RM had a great team and Carlo actually improved Madrid's tactics. He played Alonso and Modric in their rightful positions imo, he moved di María to a third man position in the midfield that was surprising. He took a lot of risks. I cursed his moves a lot at the beginning of the season because he wouldn't make changes when his ideas weren't being much productive, but he was right. He was sticking to his ideas and it paid off with La Décima. His RM though was a shame in La Liga. They should have won it, but they tanked in the last 4-5 games... it was sort of ridiculous some of their games, but I'm not sure if it wasn't because their minds were already in UCL final. There has been an obsession at Madrid with winning La Décima. Good thing it's behind the club now. I didn't follow much of RM this season because I still have many issues with Florentino Crazy Perez, but the Bale signing paid off and well, good for RM... I don't discredit Mourinho to losing to the teams he did in all those lost UCL SF, but I do think he needs to improve his repertoire. He's been a bit stuck in the same tactics and systems and he needs to adapt better and start offering answers when we need them. I prefer Carlo's RM to Mourinho's, partially because of more suitable (not better or worse) tactics and because he didn't have half of the dressing room against him like Mou did. Mou did nothing wrong to those mother fuckers that went against him. He was doing his job and they weren't doing theirs properly... but shit like this happens (it happened here too) and everyone involved payed for it. It'll have a special taste to succeed RM as UCL champions Maybe even over them Well done Carlo, but I think Mourinho did a good job at RM especially given the circumstances after the dressing room was missed.

Come now, Lex. Where was it ignorant? I said I couldn't disagree more with your opinion and I thought it was nonsense to say he isn't worth 15m when he's sold for nearly 50m. Barcelona were willing to pay around 35 in the last window... Where is the ignorance? Can't someone say they disagree massively with someone else? Does it make people ignorant? As for the bushman note it was just a joke, that I expected you to take lightly as it was supposed to. Sorry if you feel so offended by 3 lines where I didn't disrespect you or your opinion for one moment, just stated how I disagree and how the facts show that saying he isn't worth 15m when he's sold for 50m makes no sense... I don't know if you realized you wrote something that made nonsense and became sensitive about the reactions or if only the latter, but I was absolutely respectful in my post to you except for one light comment that was supposed to be that, light comment, that you YOURSELF have made before. Your reaction though at least to my post seems out of proportion, but lesson learned. Two of them actually... and I'm rather disappointed. Maybe you never had a chance to watch them in Brazil... Silva make up for everything that Luiz lacks and Luiz compliments Silva style perfectly. They have excellent chemistry and understanding and that is an engine for a defense to work well. Time will prove if I'm just being a Brazilian worshiping come countrymen (which if you knew me well you would know I don't automatically do. I criticize Ramires and a other players in the NT that I don't rate at all, just because I love Oscar, Willian and Luiz it doesn't mean I love all Brazilian players out there, I'm quite critical of many, many, many of them and I can list you at least 10 playing in big clubs in Europe now that I wouldn't want here) or if I'm just someone who's watched those guys playing together for Brazil and saw just how solid they are... Brazilians I don't rate or rate as overrated cunts that I don't want here: Dani Alves - huge cunt, passed his prime Dante - bad defender Hulk - not Chelsea level, lack technique Henrique - overrated defender by Felipão Lucas Moura - overrated brainless kid that has a lot of talent, but seems to have an empty space between his ears when it comes to football vision Lucas Leiva - belongs to small clubs such as Liverpool Maxwell - don't rate him as a great FB at all (he's not bad like Dante, for example) and I don't know why he's there and Filipe Luis isn't... Maicon - although I absolutely love this guy, one of my fave Brazilian players ever, he's way passed his prime That's eight only looking at the 30-player squad for NT. If I ignored NT and looked at the players in top teams that aren't in the NT the list would probably multiply by 3. But it's been nice to have a chance for you to know me better. Maybe next time you won't jump to conclusions... not that it'd make any difference to me if you do or don't.

we aren't desperate, this isn't a position that will lead us to places we haven't been before. We won't become the next Barcelona because of Luke Shaw. I know £30m isn't even that much money when we sell bench defenders turned into midfielders for almost 50 and deadwood for almost 40, but why should we gamble? Was he someone like Hazard, then I'd say, go for it. That's a position that if the promise becomes true it can change us. But for a LB? 18yo? Especially while there are areas we need massive reinforcement in times of FFP? I don't know what kind of joke it's this PSG deal while they're fined by FFP (maybe I'm wrong and the whole FFP is a joke after all, but I'll keep believing it will be useful) and I know we don't have problems with FFP and we're far from having with the crazy amount of money we've made in the last five months alone, but we're not desperate yet to have a guy like him. We gambled with Atsu and Traore - that's how you gamble with youth. You have people with eyes in kids like that, bring them very young here to be considered homegrown, pay some derisive amount and see what happens. Or you do it with foreigner older players such as Thibaut and Cesar for a sensible amount and see what happens (actually both are considered steals on our part imo, not simply sensible). I want Shaw here just like the next person, but I want the deal to be good for us considering it's still just a gamble. If we keep making business like we've been doing, rivals will have even more reason to envy us and our Russian emperor

We should remember Azpilicueta's deal in moments like this. we're talking about a defender. The signings of Courtois, Azpilicueta are the ones we should be aiming. I know they aren't that easy to find, but while I would love Shaw to be here, this £30m fee plus crazy high wages makes no sense whatsoever. Why should we gamble so hard in a position we don't even have a problem now and we could get some other guy for a quick fix in the next few years? This board has been brilliant with Mata's and Luiz's deals - which makes me think they could have milked de Bruyne more, but I think they allowed the kid to leave soon to a club he wanted, also he isn't proved like the other two, who are in theory in their peaks. So not only we buy Cahills, Azpilis, Thibauts for the price we do - all of which who became very good players (Thibaut is nearly brilliant and Azpili must have the best attitude in football world) for literally a bargain, but we sell the likes of Mata and Luiz for almost £90m. I understand @The only place to be change of mind about it. It's one thing to be willing to pay, I don't know £20m and some reasonable wages for/to an eighteen year old, but it's another completely different to pay 30 and have some astronomical wages coming with him... Yes, it would be great if he came here and 1) became what many expected him to become 2) contributed for real for the English value in the team (not only homegrown quota) 3) to have a true Blue wearing this shirt. But this is real world business, not some video game, and there's no reason why we should break the bank in a situation like this. The times of signing Torres for 50m are over... thankfully. Now we're wise and sneaky to make great deals like we did with Mata, de Bruyne and Luiz - to mention just a few players that contributed very much for us while they stayed (except Kevin) and contributed even better with their departure fee. (btw is Luiz now the highest fee we received for a player we sold? and can you believe we got £10m more for him than we did for Mata? What's next?)

sorry, Alex. That's nonsense... Are you saying Luiz is more often than not useless as a defender? Not worth even 15m? mate, that was bushman level, sorry to disagree massively. Also, no doubts PSG will have one of the best, if not the very best defensive partnership in the world if they don't sell Silva. Luiz and Silva is a match made in heaven for defending, they compliment each other very well.

was the real amount undisclosed? Anyway, anything over 40m pounds definitely makes it worth. Now I don't get what PSG is going to do if they were just fined by UEFA for not reaching FFP demands. Does it mean they'll sell big? Maybe Cavani, who's reportedly unhappy there? The best of the luck to him. I really love him, but I don't usually follow players' career, so count me out among those who'll be supporting him at PSG. I won't. Also I don't even like PSG, one more reason for me to severe my ties with Luiz.

this post deserves to be in this page too

Azpilicueta still has a lot of trouble attacking. I'm not saying Patrick doesn't have a spot here, I'm saying it's unlikely, he's Bertrand 2.0 imo and until he proves me otherwise, that's what I'll always think of him. It took us long enough to get rid of Bertrand and I hope we get rid of him completely. It seems like not even the Mourinho effect helped him because Mourinho can develop, not create things - and even then he's not able to develop all players under him. So yeah, not holding my breath at all about Patrick

Cech is so much class! Now here to remember some of this legend moments with us

van Aanholt has spent so much time everywhere and he still hasn't learned how to defend. A guy like him has absolutely no chance in a Mourinho system unless Mou is able to do to him what he did to Marcelo. The thing is Marcelo was already much a better player at the time than Aanholt is now (although I don't know their ages, but Marcelo was hardly much older - if at all - than van Aanholt. I'm not giving up on hope yet on Shaw, although I do agree, it's a risk. How many English players we've seen looking promising and then just fade away? We've had our share of those, and tbh it's not even about English players, it could be about anywhere. In Brazil we see those guys fading away playing here or in Europe, every year. It's always a risk with youngsters, but let's hope we end up signing the good ones.

Don't want Fabregas anywhere near this club. For real. Few things would make me more upset than that. Also I don't think he's as great as some of you think. Get the cash, swap moves are rare anyway, the club is unlikely to make one.

I said a few days ago I didn't see him staying, and tbh, he shouldn't. Mourinho didn't give him some bad treatment as some here implied. Azpili played better than him at the end of the day and that's what got him in the team. That doesn't take anything away from what Ash is to his club, what he's done and what he means to us. I think he was struggling a lot with the defending when the matches piled up. At the end of the season he was able to play well because he was well rested, but the age seems to have caught up with him. He seemed out of breath quite enough times before Azpili displaced him. I'm sad he's leaving, but at the same time I think there was no point of keeping him if he could still do something somewhere else (in Mourinho's system he wouldn't have much of a chance). I also don't get the Lampard comparisons. Lamps had a better season than Ash did. I'm not saying we should give Lamps a new contract, but he wasn't as out of form as Ash was at some points and then there were the injuries too. I wouldn't be surprised if Lamps leaves or if he stays, but it was sort of obvious Ash was leaving. We may replace the player, but replacing the man will be difficult. I wish him the best and I'm very thankful for everything he did for us in those 8 years. Proper legend, he's left as one of us.

easily predictable we wouldn't give him a new contract, but such nice words from Ash.

Gambling is not my thing. I'd rather a more active thread and some banter.Steve give a good title for my bragging

Winning reps is boring, although a nice prize, but people can't see it To be honest even I wouldn't know if you added them or not (have no idea if as I write this post you already did), and I want to brag, hahahahahahahahahahaha. I enjoy your other idea much better - although as far as I understand you're thinking about doing both, right?

and that means Mandzukic shoudn't come any closer to the Bridge, especially if Costa is already coming. How many un-technical strikers are we willing to sign? It's good to have ONE poacher in your squad, but only have them? Guys that score because they're strong and annoying? Sorry, they may score goals, but they're very limited technically and who knows if they'll adapt to English Football? They won't have good technique to bail them out of the jail then. I think we're begging to make the same mistake all over again. I don't want him here, especially if the other striker is Costa.

are you kidding me? So many in this cunt list of yours aren't cunt... and cunt and having an ego aren't synonyms, I don't what your point could be

3rd place in my debut playing this kind of stuff. I'm tapping my own back now I remember I didn't even know the rules when I signed in and I filled @Ankit inbox with many questions about it. Well, it's been fun playing with you boys, but there should be more banter between us. Come on, we should come here and be more 'competitive' and provoke our rivals and stuff like that, ofc all in a very playful way. What were the prizes again @Steve? I don't remember, but I guess my 3rd place will give me something