Grant- Ready To Buy If Quality Is Right‏

[EskWeston 696]

Hii think we do not need a certain "type" midfield as we have ? the 2 players in the world for opening up teams , lampard & ballack , for now at the window we need a quality forward & 1 other somewhere else , we got the keepers , defenders for now , midfield covered , i think mabey only the one , but its gotta good , can anyone fill drogbas place

Ballack to a certain extent can be a playmaker but not in the way that we really need. Lampard and Ballack are the ultimate box to bo midfielders, they are not the sort of players who are going to create a piece of magic on the ball and tease their way forward. These sorts of players are the ones like Kaka, Deco, Modric ect... who have real creativity.

[Elliott 7]

I always think of Joe Cole when you say playmaker though. I think maybe we should be looking to bring him back to his original position. Could sign another playmaker I too I suppose, to make sure we have two.

[EskWeston 696]

I always think of Joe Cole when you say playmaker though. I think maybe we should be looking to bring him back to his original position. Could sign another playmaker I too I suppose, to make sure we have two.

Yeah i agree totally. If we have 1 player in our squad who can do that role it is Joe. I can never understand when we do what we did at the weekend and play Shaun in that role and not Joe..... doesn't make much sense to me.We have creative players on the wings like Joe and Kalou but we need a bit of that down the middle as well.

[DavidEU 2,023]

I can't see us signing a van der Vaart kind of player, because we'd have to completely change our system again, probably to the diamond. The three CM's is going to be (when everyones fit), Essien and Lampard, with Maka or Mikel holding, so where would the playmaker fit?

[EskWeston 696]

I can't see us signing a van der Vaart kind of player, because we'd have to completely change our system again, probably to the diamond. The three CM's is going to be (when everyones fit), Essien and Lampard, with Maka or Mikel holding, so where would the playmaker fit?

Well the point is that with 3 central midfielders you should have in an ideal world a holding midfielder, a box to box midfielder and an advanced playmaker. With a holding midfielder (Mikel/Maka) and 2 box to box midfield grafters (Essien/Lampard/Ballack) i feel we are lacking somewhat. Obviously we have a lot of midfielders, but i feel it is time to sign someone who play the creative role at the expense of someone in the squad.

[HeRo 0]

I think we should sign RB. If Belletti gets injured i just dont trust Ferreira anymore. With Belletti we have solved our problems with RB but we need decent backup. I think that our midfield with Lampard, Essien and Mikel is good and i just don`t know who would we drop than? We have Ballack and Makelele as backup, but it could be problem when Essien and Mikel go to ACN than we just have Lampard, Ballack, Makelele and poor Sidwell.

[Aesthetic Relic 301]

Ferreira always does a solid job imo, and is decent enough back up to have.

but it could be problem when Essien and Mikel go to ACN than we just have Lampard, Ballack, Makelele and poor Sidwell.

What about Joe Cole and SWP. We also have Sahar and Sinclair coming back from loan for January. If we are gonna be missing Drogba then we will have to change our formation. Sheva I feel cannot play the Drogba role and would need a partner alonside him, so if we go 4-4-2 with Sheva and Pizarro up front. A midfield of Lampard, Makalele, Joe Cole and SWP we should do ok.

[Badboy 1,526]

Well the point is that with 3 central midfielders you should have in an ideal world a holding midfielder, a box to box midfielder and an advanced playmaker. With a holding midfielder (Mikel/Maka) and 2 box to box midfield grafters (Essien/Lampard/Ballack) i feel we are lacking somewhat. Obviously we have a lot of midfielders, but i feel it is time to sign someone who play the creative role at the expense of someone in the squad.

Mikel (dm) Essien (box to box) Lampard (attacking) who would you drop then ? ? ?

[Elliott 7]

For the sake of playing a different, more inventive system, Mikel, move Essien to defensive midfield.

[Steve 10,227]

i like the idea of bringing joe back to his orignal position he does so well there and he works so hard so yea good point

[misschief 24]

'It will not be a problem of money, it will be a problem of quality.

So last season when we were desperately short of cover, there wasnt any money coming forward and yet this season its not an issue. Funny that! I know they'll say he's a new manager and needs to bring in his own players etc, but it just grates after what went on the same time last year.

Even with the African Nations, we do not want to take players that will not be good for us in the long term.'

Another dig? Or maybe just a subtle hint at Roman not to invite any more of his mates over?

[Fulham Broadway 17,299]

Like someone said, he must be insecure to keep bigging himself up with subtle putdowns. Interesting to see how much he has prised out of Abramovichs wallet, just hope we dont get an influx of 'promising' Israelis