Thacker

Just purge the entire administration system and replace it with ex-players, managers, and coaches that love the game itself and are willing to lead it out of this era. Enough with the career bureaucrats.

The DOJ has >90% conviction rate on white collar crime. No way they take on multiple executives of one of the world's highest profile organizations unless they believe it is a near-slam dunk. They accepted all of that bribe money, just to hand it over to high-profile lawyers that can't even keep them out of prison.

Lol I was thinking that, but how embarrassing would that be to essentially admit that Mangala was a flop of epic proportions.

City have already announced that they intend to sign a homegrown player to replace their outgoing ones. You'd have to think Sterling is at the top of their list.

Goal of the season for me was Ivanovic's off the Cahill flick from JT's cross. It was what I imagine watching the birth of a child is like.

Bale. Because he's homegrown, proven, and Jose can get the two-way player out of him. The guy can run for days and has experience as a defender, Jose would make him world class.

Godin wouldn't make sense. Buying a 30 year old at what is likely his peak value when we have a top young CB? No thanks.

Have a little faith, baby

The Blues are scheduled to play in NJ, North Carolina, and D.C. if anyone is interested.

Keepers get a different set of rules...as we saw when Courtois got the fk with little/no contact.

Yeah, I saw an interview with Didier where he said that his son wants to represent England as well. Must be fairly good for his age if that's even a discussion.

Honestly think Schuerrle was dealing with depression from all of Jose's tiptoeing around his form and illness. Probably best that we did what was best for his wellbeing, if that was the case. I still have faith that Cuadrado can get to Willian's level and provide some goals though.

I'm always confident that Chelsea will find a way. Even in Munich, I knew we would win. It just felt like destiny from the Napoli 2nd match. WC matches on the other hand, make me pace back and forth.

This. Every time Draxler gets brought up, I cringe. He is overrated and way overvalued. Has all of the same problems as Oscar, but without the high workrate. They both have the potential to be very good, but Oscar is better right now, fits our system, isn't injury-prone like Draxler, and is already signed to a long-term deal. Schalke is Draxler's level imo

If hot weather makes Oscar play better, then he'll score 10 goals if CFC comes to Dallas.

Not a bad idea, I remember seeing something about how Dortmund made considerably more money by advancing in the CL and also securing a spot this season than they would have by just selling Lewa. Anything can happen with Madrid in the picture though.

How much do you think it would take for Real to get De Gea, Mata Beard?

I would shed a tear if I saw Petr (still in his prime) lining up for Arsenal and helping them fight us for trophies.

No, no, no, no, no, no, no No.

You can use that argument for literally any player not in the PL. I don't base my opinion of Robben solely on what he does for Bayern, but the Netherlands as well. Similarly, I take into account what Hazard has done for Belgium so far.I agree that Robben is flashy, whereas Hazard's best attribute is his subtle ability to open space for his teammates and glide past defenders (I made a post on that exact thing in this thread last Fall). That's the difference for me though. Hazard makes his team much better, but he needs his teammates to perform. Robben is like the best kid on the block growing up, he just does it himself. You want to say something because he never passes you the ball, but he's so incredibly good that you just stay out of his way and let him do his thing. If it weren't for injuries, Robben would be higher rated in more people's minds. Edit: I do agree that there isn't a clear 3rd best player in the world, and that Robben is a huge drop below Messi and Ronaldo. And I'll take Hazard over any player in the world for his age, attributes, and potential.

Hazard isn't on Robben's level, yet. Robben has the ability to completely take over a game. Everyone knows he's coming, everyone knows he's cutting in...and still he slashes through the box and makes defenders look silly. He is the third best player in the world imo, but Hazard and Neymar are the heirs to the throne. I can't wait to see what Hazard becomes three years from now. There is no ceiling.

I don't feel confident choosing between Hazard or Matic. They're both so vital.

Neuer's nightmare is lining up for PK's and seeing Luiz flanked by Lampard, Cole, and Drogba

If you had to give him a position, it would be CM. A CM by nature is more box-to-box than an AM or DM because they're typically more well-rounded players. But as others have said, his role is to make plays, and roles are more indicative of what a player does in a squad than positions are.

Why choose? We can have them both for depth next season (1 foreign and 1 homegrown).