Eggy McMuffin

I did mention this in my other post, but this to me seems like an educational issue rather than a governmental policy one. People should be taught to understand how big a problem they could face if they fail to repay a loan back. I mean there could well be a limit of charges on top of the agreed amount to help the issue, but as much as anything it's people being irresponsible with borrowing more than it's companies being irresponsible with lending in this case. The problem with legislating against these lenders is that if they made it harder to get these loans then I as a student wouldn't be able to and I'd be in a much, much worse position as I'd have missed bills and faced larger charges.

I don't think Ake could be guaranteed football at either of those, it's a bit risky. You have to carefully balance getting them playing at the highest level and getting them playing the most games. It's a difficult decision and it's one we've made mistakes with in the past. Also, I'm not best pleased that you're putting Moi's happiness ahead of mine, but she is the forum's French mistress and we must of course obey her.

Oh there are definitely people out there who'd use it badly, but the same goes for any kind of loan. People lie about their income on mortgage applications and the like (which is technically fraud), but that doesn't mean it's intrinsically a bad idea to get a mortgage. It's just that a lot is made of the interest they charge when really, it's not as unreasonable as it first seems when you consider the length of the loan. It'd be nice if it was less, obviously, but these companies still have to make their money and £35.90 if you're short when a bill goes out isn't too absurd. Of course, mine is just one view of it from someone who's had successful dealings with them in the past and they've helped me get out sticky situations once or twice. If you miss a payment, I imagine you'd have the exact opposite view to me as I've read the charges and they are a scary thing and I guess that's where most people get caught out. On the subject of sponsors, though I don't remember any others holding a stance like that, but I do know that in France no alcohol sponsors are allowed on kits and teams have to cover their sponsor when they play away there in European competition (Liverpool had to with Carlsberg if I recall correctly).

Two things, I'd like to see us loan to him to either Norwich, or possibly to a German team similar to De Bruyne's loan (Leverkusen perhaps?). I think either of those would be good for him as a step up in his development. Secondly, could you change the second line in your avatar to 'uno' instead of 'you know'. It would make me a happier person.

I don't think the payday loans are as bad as people make out. They see the interest rates and run a mile, but at the end of the day, they won't lend for a long period of time so the interest rates are not in the slightest bit comparable to normal loans. An annual interest rate doesn't really describe a 5-30 day loan very accurately. If we take the worst example (in terms of interest charged) and go with Wonga (4214%), and take the median values of £200 and 15 days, you'd have to pay back £235.90. That's £35.90 they charge for that, which although extreme when regarded purely in terms of annual interest, isn't so much extreme when you purely look at the transaction. I'm a student and my parents can't afford to support me and send me money. If my loan is late or I mismanage my finances, I have in the past needed to use Wonga to get me through. I know it's not the best idea, I study engineering, I can do the maths, but looking at it in terms of the interest rate isn't a fair comparison in my view and because of that the problem that they present gets blown out of proportion. Much of the time, the interest they charge is cheaper than the rejected transfer fees and late payment fees a bank will charge.

Is Andre Schurrle as good as Ashley Cole at left back, though?

I think you misunderstand. You have to connect your xbox to the internet to play it. Once you've connected it to the internet you have 24 hours where you can keep playing without the internet before you have to reconnect it to the internet. I preferred the PS3 to the Xbox, but sold it when I was made homeless for a while, since then I bought an Xbox because that's what my mates have. Out of the two, the PS3 was a better machine with better games, crashed less and had better features and hardware. The Xbox has better online, but you have to pay for it. This time, I'm going for PS4 I reckon. I was willing to go either way depending on what was announced, but everything so far points to the PS4 for me.

I don't care about the used games thing, the always on internet doesn't affect me and I'm not as worried as many about the kinect snooping on me. What concerns me is the kinect adverts thing. Adverts that won't go away until you acknowledge them and respond to them and the price. We're paying a lot more than they do in America for the privilege of not having the TV features, oh joy. I have never been able to enjoy Halo, it just doesn't interest me. I am likely to only get 4 or 5 games a year. The ones I'll get are GTA V, FIFA, Battlefield 4 (on PC obviously), Gran Turismo/Forza and maybe one other game like Watchdogs or Tekken or something. Pretty much gonna go PS4 for the price alone.

I was referring to the bit about Mourinho only liking big strong players and us having to worry about Mata. In fact, I copied his wording to emphasise that.

This just proves so many shed end posters (and English people in general) don't watch any football outside of England.

The Cahill thing was a contrast rather than a comparison, just to show the different styles of defending. I think you overrate the amount of errors Luiz actually makes in defence. It's something that was worrying when he first came, definitely, but he has clearly and continually improved this part of his game and it isn't so much an error per game, it's now down to a point where I don't expect an error, I'm not waiting for it. It's a surprise and a disappointment when it does happen, but it's something that he more than makes up for with the other things he brings into the game.

No need for this sort of thing imo. Make your argument and let them make theirs, someone's will make more sense or you agree to disagree, but either way you hopefully learn something. No need to bang on about a single point, it doesn't get things anywhere.

I have a dislike of Cahill's style of defending and like to bring it up when it isn't really necessary to. Yeah, he's a back-up and probably won't complain about being such which every squad of course needs. I just find myself concerned with him to ever trust him as a first choice. Luiz can't play midfield well enough to be of use there in my opinion. He loses any sense of discipline he has at centre back when he's in midfield so needs a defensive player alongside him and his passing style is too direct there unless he's alongside Mikel to balance that out and provide some level of possession. I'd prefer us playing Oscar there if we have to play a defensive player alongside him anyway. I'm fine with it in an emergency, but other than that it's a big no from me (but then what do I know?). Of course it's ridiculous to call Luiz a liability and as I said above he's not far off being the very best at centre back. I'd like to see him as captain one day as well, but he could do with an organising defender with him, somewhat similar to Pique to get the best out of him. Although there is a chance that with proper tutelage from Mourinho and his team he might well not need that.

I think Ba could work, given some time, he's only been here 5 months, has been used to a completely different more direct style and has on occasion shown flashes of quality. They may have been too few and far between, but there were glimpses. That all being said. I think that if we get Cavani and Lukaku comes back, that's three quite similar options up front. Obviously there are differences, Lukaku is faster and Cavani has better movement, but tactically it's a real dearth of different options. Whereas Torres from a purely tactical point of view, Torres is more worth keeping than Ba. Again though, there's another aspect to view it from. The baggage of Torres and how badly he works when he isn't the star option. It's a tough one, and I would say that neither option is particularly wrong. On Moses, he is well worth keeping in my view. Again he's something different to our other options and lets us change things about. He's very direct and he works hard, he's young and will improve. He's basically our current Kalou. We have the flashier options to play the attacking midfield Mata, Hazard, De Bruyne and Oscar (although I see him deeper eventually) and Moses can come in, he'll track back (although he isn't the best at defending and needs to improve it), he's young and won't complain about being 'the option' rather than the star. A squad fighting on all fronts needs these kind of players, although obviously shouldn't be made purely out of them.

Do you mind if I come in and offer an 'arguement' [sic]. You complain about Luiz's defensive lapses and list Hummels as better than him. Hummels makes more mistakes at the back than Luiz does. Not as many as Cahill, mind. Pique also isn't particularly good defensively and mistimes his tackles a lot. Also, I think you named Barzagli as well, I'd contend his inclusion, but they're very much different styles, so it's hard to compare. The rest I either can't argue with or I've forgotten because it's on the other page. Anyway, it's clear that you like a certain style of defending. You don't like defenders who read the game and nip in front. It doesn't look safe, but a good defender of this style does it consistently and knows when not to. Carvalho mastered this and made it look like he wasn't even defending most of the time, because that's how the style works. When you nip in and intercept the ball, it's better than a tackle because you are more likely to keep the ball and you're further up the pitch. It leads to faster counter attacks and generally better possessive play, but doesn't look like defending. Cahill looks like he's defending, because he's reactive (read: much too reactive). He makes spectacular looking blocks because he's giving the striker a yard. It's how he defends, it's dangerous and more prone to error. It looks like defending, though and you'll get Alan Hansen or any other old school centre back on TV commending the great block, ignoring the fact that it's his fault they got that space and time. Luiz is a very talented defender and he's as close to Carvalho as you can get without having Carvalho. He's fast and good in the air, powerful and reads the game much better than you will likely ever give him credit for. He clearly is a top quality defender and is only getting better. I think top 5 may well be too far, but he's comfortably top 10, and I would say top 7 at least. If he continues to progress he will be top 3 of that I have no doubt and that could be next season. A bigger question is who we partner him with once Terry can longer continue and I'm not convinced by your namesake's ability to claim that spot.

I along with many here it seems would much prefer Lewandowski to Cavani for several reasons. The obvious ones that have been mentioned are good reasons, £25m is a bargain for one of the best in the world and he's younger than Cavani as well so fits in with the 'buy young' ethic we're developing. A reason that hasn't been mentioned and one that I feel is rather important is that we play the same formation as Dortmund. Instead of Reus, Blaszczykowski (I had to google the spelling and still probably got it wrong) and Goetze behind him, he'd have Mata, Oscar and Hazard. Similar players in terms of style, although I'd argue ours are better (but then I would). Cavani is playing for a Napoli side where they normally play two up top (from what little I've seen anyway), and only really Hamsik falls into the category of playmaker like ourselves and Dortmund have. Cavani is very adaptable, mind you and can easily play on his own and I read a thing yesterday saying he played left midfield for Uruguay. Still though, it's a lot of change for him to come to us and learn a new formation and get used to the type of service he'd be receiving as well as a new league, culture and faster paced league. It might just take him a long time to settle and with £55m hanging over his head, if he's not strong mentally, we've seen with Torres what that can do. Just some musings.

Is his preference for a 4-3-3 why he played a 4-2-3-1 at Real and 4-4-2 diamond at Inter? That's not a question for Mourinho, mind. He also alluded to the second question at one point when he talked about there being a different profile at the club. He hinted that he will be looking at playing younger players as there's more of a long term focus this time around. I don't think there's much you can really ask him that wasn't answered or hinted at in the press conference to be honest. He wouldn't have commented on specific transfers and the press know that the Mata/Luiz stuff is baseless and getting it quashed gives them less to write about.

The journalists know the rumours are bullsh*t and having him quash them would mean they have less to write about...

Aquilani to Liverpool.

Who and where do you normally read stuff? I could always do with learning more about Brazilian football.

I disagree with this quite massively and it's more often than not people who support other teams who say this. His mistakes at centre back are over reported and since signing he has cut them down further and further. To be honest, I think Cahill and Ivan make as many, if not more... not to say that's a good thing, it's just he doesn't make many mistakes at centre back. What he adds though is what no one else can. He's fast and turns well which none of our other defenders do and is quite rare in a centre back who can handle themselves in the air as well. His passing and ability on the ball gives us another dimension. It means we can turn defence into attack with a pinpoint through ball before it even gets to the midfield, which few teams can do (only Hummels and Pique compare and Hummels is worse defensively), and when we have the ball, it makes it harder for teams to press all the passers in the team. In midfield, he seems to get too relaxed and his passes put us in more danger and positionally he is far from the defensive midfielder. He tends to charge forwards at every opportunity and leave us exposed. He usually needs Mikel alongside him, when he's with Ramires we're constantly exposed and although Lampard does cover his runs, they both play it long too much and cut out Mata. He could play it if he worked on it, but he'd have to curb his constant desire to get the ball forward as quickly as possible, which in defence means we counter faster, but when the ball is in midfield the opposition have usually settled back into their positions and it just isn't effective. His positioning off the ball is also usually too high when he's in midfield, in defence he usually takes the lead from his defensive partner and the holding midfielder in front, but his aggressive closing down in midfield means he's often caught too high up the pitch. Not everyone agrees with me on this, but I think we lose too much with him in midfield and he needs to work on it too much for us to gain anything of note. Two, maybe three screamers a season doesn't cover up for how much he needs to improve to play that position on a regular basis. He's fine to cover in an injury crisis, but I'd rather we signed a proper midfielder than lose our best centre back for a middle-in to good midfielder.

I don't really watch Brazilian football, but have any European teams been linked with him and is there a reason for that? I'm vaguely aware of him and where he plays, but haven't seen enough to comment on his ability. How good is he?

I think he needs another year out at the very least and possibly two at that. I heard rumblings that Anderlecht were interested in taking him for a year, although I'm not sure if it's enough of a step up from Vitesse.

I'm not so sure, they both play pretty much every role and with Marin likely to leave, Essien past it, Lampard in his last year and Schurrle not sewn up, it's not like we can't have both in the squad, but I do see your point. This is true, I must admit he isn't as good as he was at first, but he does strike me as the sort of character (something almost impossible to judge, mind) that Mourinho would get the most out of. It's just he's my favourite Milan player so I'm a little bit more excited about this than I should be, and really I should know better.

I don't think the two are related to be honest. I don't think he's average, but then again I don't think he'd be first choice for any position here, unless he strings together a good run of form. Like I said, it's unlikely though which is why I put it in here.