Eggy McMuffin

When I read Bent Signs, I thought of this....

That's exactly what I think this signing, and the signing of Benayoun are. Just to fill the gap while we slowly blood the youngsters in and get them ready to be the next set of players to form the backbone of the side (if they're good enough). From then on, I think it'll be a combination of trying the Arsene Wenger tactic of constantly blooding more youngsters in gradually, and the Ferguson method of the occasional big buy to fill the gaps in the squad. We'll probably have to sign a couple of Pienaars and Benayouns on the way to making it work, and give us a viable structure for the future, but I have no problem with that, and to be honest, I like seeing hard working players.

Could we have both teams lose?

Yeah, someone with a reported wealth of about £6-7Bn AFTER he lost some money in the credit crunch will really be bothered by the occasional £20m signing. Do the clubs I mentioned not have to break even then? How can they afford the odd £15m signing? How can they do it without Champions League money? I think we'll keep making signings, and they'll be around £15-£20m mark... the likes of Ramires and Zhirkov... with the likes of Essien at £25m every couple of years, with the squad players in general being made up of youth products. We'll be fine, and basically a cross between Arsenal and Man Utd in terms of player buying.

So you're saying that the likes of Sunderland, Aston Villa, Birmingham, Newcastle, Everton (as in non champions league teams) will ALL outspend us on a regular basis?

Yeah, that would be silly for a left footed player.

You misread that. Pienaar wanted us to guarantee that we WOULD be signing top quality players to challenge for the top honours. He'd do a good job I reckon.

I think I went there after my first ever Chelsea game, and it basically made the night one of my favourite memories ever. It was the home match against Valarenga in 1997. On the train to the game with my parents this HUUUUGE f**king viking of a bloke as politely as you could imagine asked my parents to speak to me, and asked me about it being my first game and everything. He gave me a Valarenga pin to put on my Chelsea scarf, which sort of set up the whole night. Saw Zola and Wise score and we won 3-0, but the meal afterwards is what made it brilliant. We went to this Indian restaurant (I was young and had no idea where we were), but I remember I had a very nice meal, but the owner/waiter was again speaking to us, asking about the game, and how the day had been and things like that. I was given a free desert, but we were given some regrettable news... the taxi rank had run out of taxis, so we had to be given a limo at the same price as a taxi to get us to the train station. As an 8 year old, I don't think you can possibly have a better night... not to mention that the limo had THE MOTHERf**kING HOFF in it the night before. Sorry, mentioning the curry place brought back a flood of some amazing memories and I thought I'd share.

Exactly my thinking, actually.

Yes, do it now. Either him or Federico Fazio. Get Sherman Cardenas in midfield as well.

Frank only managed 24 in 147 for wet spam. Anyway, I'm still not keen on this whole like for like replacement idea. Man Utd still don't have a Roy Keane type player, a David Beckham type player, an Eric Cantona type player, the list goes on... Barcelona haven't got a Rivaldo, a Ronaldo (I suppose you could argue that Villa fits that). They've still managed to be fairly successful, though. Just because a player plays like another, doesn't mean he'll be as good... It's like signing Kenwyne Jones and expecting him to be as good as Drogba. We'll probably never have a Frank Lampard style 20 goal a season central midfielder, but would replacing him with Xavi or Iniesta make us a worse side? Personally I don't see Josh scoring 20 goals a season, but I see him becoming a top level midfielder, possibly at Lampard's level if not better. He could play the same position, but if he did, he'd do it in a different way, and I don't see that making the side worse in any way.

Is own goal on the bench?

Kalou is crap when he starts, lets sell him.

If we win today, do it convincingly, and make a signing in the next few days... not a marquee signing, but an N'zogbia, Sessegnon, Mata, or whoever else that may be, I think it may just be enough to create a bit of buzz around the squad. Which in my view is all we need to get some players fired up. Even if we don't make a signing, a win alone would be enough to begin to get the good feeling back, if we can put the disappointment of Wolves and the last minute of Villa behind us, I have faith in the side to turn things around. I don't care if we play a side filled with youngsters, or the first team, as long as we win it'll go some way to improving the confidence in the side.

Really? Really?? I mean come on, really? You think that city would sell one of their better players to a major rival (perhaps not this season). A player who would not only improve us as a side, but could in fact turn our season around? Not just would they sell a player to us who would turn our season around, and improve us, but they'd do so at a cut price £15m? Really? I would love us to sign Aguero, but I agree that he's out of reach nowadays. I agree with bootboys idea in principle, that we should sign someone for around the £15-£20m mark instead of going all out, but I don't think it's possible to get anyone really good enough for that price from the Premiership. A player like Suarez (despite being a dick), Mata, Navas (if he wasn't always homesick that is)... maybe even a Giuseppe Rossi if he's available.

Oh, so you haven't been watching when he's gone to 4-2-4, and various other formations the last couple of games then? Also, Sturridge and Kakuta are all he has available to bring on.

Yeah, I agree with that. You make a fair point about Suarez, too, it's more that he's just a name which came to mind in the same age range you mention, and wouldn't cost £30m, rumours suggesting £20m or so, similar prices to Ramires and Zhirkov. Johnson may want to join for first team football, but he has little reason other than that, and personally I'm not too keen on Young, I think he's more hype than anything. Someone on those lines would be perfect, though in my eyes. If the Mata rumour has substance to it, I would just about rip my cock off.

I think we also have to think about the future though TWW, and think about how long Anelka has left. Would Kalou, Kakuta or Zhirkov replace him effectively next season? I think we may have to look to someone like Suarez who'd be around £20m or so, which may be a stretch with finances, but it's a signing which would bring some excitement to the squad, and would be lively on the pitch. He's not the greatest ever, and it'd probably take at least a year for him to be fully settled, but I think the excitement and competition for a place is what we need, more than someone to necessarily be a world beater straight off.

It's easy to mix in with a side playing well, it's not with a side playing badly. If they're brought in to start a Premiership game, the pressure will be on them to be the difference. If they don't, which is very likely it will affect their confidence... remember Kakuta taking that penalty last season, it affected him and he didn't make it into the side for a fair while. None of this is even to mention that playing too many games too early, can affect a player as well. Youth is the answer to our long term problems, what we have now isn't a long term problem, it's a problem which two, or three solid wins can solve. Chucking the youngsters in is an act of desperation, and simply won't have the desired effect in my view. It's not entirely him, though is it? If the only real options he has aren't playing well, there isn't much he can do, and until players come back from injury, specifically Benayoun, Mikel and Zhirkov, we can't put the pressure on the first team players, and we can't replace them when they don't. We were playing badly before his dismissal, but we were still winning, just... anything affecting confidence wouldn't help in that state. No, not at Carlo's level. Give me a list of 5 managers who would consider joining us, and you'll have a list of managers who won't be as good, will probably need signings to make the side their own, and will probably do little better. We may need to change things a little to spark the players into life, but why is the manager the first person to go? I think one player, one signing could do enough... a winger/forward, and letting Anelka go the MLS at the end of the season, thanking him for his service would be perfect. It doesn't have to be a £50m signing, either... someone like Suarez who would cost £20m or less, but someone who'll bring a buzz to the side, and to the dressing room would make as much of a change, if not more of a change than getting a worse manager in ever could.

Time for a long, long post. I've been avoiding this for some time, but I feel I need to have a crack at it now. Looking at the starting XI, like Plok says, we have one of the best in the league, but the problem is in terms of our depth. We don't have a player on the bench who can come on and can turn it around, or find the final ball to split open a defence. In the summer we cleared out a few of our elder statesmen, and Joe Cole, who probably could turn the game around, and we tried to replace them. Taking our first XI as... Cech Ivanovich - Alex - Terry - Cole Mikel Essien - Lampard Anelka----------------------------Malouda Drogba That leaves us with a second string as this Hilario Bosingwa - Ferreira - Bruma - Zhirkov/Van Aanholt Ramires Benayoun - Josh Kalou---------------------------------Kakuta/Zhirkov Sturridge Which isn't the worst side we could have as a second string, but it is worse than last year... and although some may disagree, it's because of the inclusion of the youngsters. The obvious place to improve things in this side is to sell Ferreira for another defender, but then again, we could just use Bosingwa as our first choice right back, Ferreira as his back up and play Ivan in the centre. It's a little bit weak in the centre of midfield, but that's because Ramires can't be expected to be playing at his best yet, as it's his first season in a league known for taking a while to get used to, and because Benayoun and Mikel are out injured this effectively leaves Josh as the only sub, and that might be too much pressure for him at this stage, no matter how well he handles that on the pitch, we can't know him off it, and how he feels then. Not to mention that rushing any of the youngsters too early could have a big effect on their progression later on. Up front could be improved as well... Kalou and Zhirkov are good back ups to have, but Kalou is badly out of sorts, and although great coming off the bench, is only good starting when he has a confidence which is lacking from the entire team. With Zhirkov out, that leaves Kakuta and Sturridge as the only real options, and neither are quite ready for that level of pressure, although it is easier for more attacking players. So that leaves us with no real game changing subs to make, or even a real choice of players to start. The even bigger problem, though is how to solve this situation. If we sign a central midfielder, we have to consider that it'll mean that Josh won't be a backup to the first team any longer when the whole squad is fit at least. If we sign someone to play in one of the front three positions, we'll either have to consider Kakuta, or Sturridge in the same position as Josh would be if we signed a central midfielder. Failing that, we'd have to sell Kalou, or Zhirkov... now I can hear Nibs and a few others screaming to sell Kalou, but there's a problem with that. Kalou is well loved by almost every one in the squad, he is probably the most popular player, and is a very useful squad player, happy to sit on the bench as others get their chances. We may well have to sell him anyway and take the risk there, but it could have a negative impact, and that's a worry. We may well be signing a centre back and moving Bosingwa, or Ferreira on, and making Ivan our first choice right back, which would no doubt strengthen the squad. So what got us in the mess we're in? I personally think that the combination of a weaker squad than last season - mainly due to miscalculations in how long it'd take for Ramires to settle - and injuries have put us in a bad place, and in that bad place, we've lost the aura which we had last season, and the confidence that we'd win almost every game, the confidence that at one point the opposition will make a mistake and we'll score. Then without the confidence, and with injuries and a smaller squad, we can't make the changes to the first team to get it back. We're left in a spiral, almost. Carlo could possibly have done more, early on, as it's his job to keep the squad believing no matter what, but the thing is that with the results we've had, and the form we're in, it'd take a miracle worker to keep the squad confident in this sort of situation... not even Jose or whoever else you can name would be able to do it. How do we get out of this mess? There's three main ways to get out of it. One big signing, something to say that we're back. A big name player up front to spark the squad, and also to give us an extra couple of options when it comes to changing games. This would mean selling Kalou, or something I didn't consider (or even think of, if I'm honest) earlier is that we could sell Anelka, or keep him until the end of the season and let him go to the MLS which he has hinted at. This could solve a few problems for us in the long run, too. So that may be an option. Option two, is that we plug away and eventually get that win which sparks us back into life... that almost happened earlier, and I have no doubt that if we'd have beaten Villa, we'd have beaten Wolves and this post would not have happened. However, we didn't, but there is stuff to suggest that we may well be on our way back, but it's a big risk to take. As part of this we could sign a defender, but that wouldn't really give the squad any real impetus in terms of getting back to winning ways, it'd just bolster the side. Option three, the least palatable, is to change the manager. The idea here is that it'll give a whole new air to the dressing room, and give us a bit more drive for a couple of games, and enough games for us to get our confidence back to start winning again. The problems with this are massive; there's no manager good enough available, there's no guarantee it'll work, a new manager would probably want new players to make the squad their own, and the squad like Ancelotti, so it could make performances worse, or even lower confidence. Personally, I think the big signing is my favourite option, but I think we're more likely to take option two, because it's cheaper. Who knows, though. When players like Benayoun and Zhirkov come back, we'll have options to change games again, and even the side if players are out of form (which they no doubt are), when Alex is back, we have our first choice back line again, and probably the best defence in the world (or at least one of them) back, when Mikel is back, we'll have our first choice midfield again. The problem is, we could probably do with things happening before that happens, and that leaves us with options one, or three... and I hope to god that we go for option one, and I don't even believe in god. If we go with option two, we have to hope that either the FA cup win on the weekend, or something on those lines will give us the confidence to win some league games, and get back to form until we get all our players back to fitness. Whether the fans, or the board have the patience for that, we will have to find out. If we go with option three, we're most likely to go backwards, because I can't see us getting a better manager for some time.

Another thing to further DKW's point is a look at players who are similar and successful later on in their careers. Iniesta only started playing for the first team at 18, and made 6 appearances that year, only going up to 10 in his second season, with half of those 10 being substitute appearances. Then the season after he made 37 appearances, with 12 of them being starts. From then on it increased and increased. If McEachran can be anywhere near as good as Iniesta, I would be over the motherf**king moon. The problem is that because we're all wanting to see Josh play, we could rush him, and we could go the other way, but I think it's being done the right way so far. It's much easier to go into a side which is playing well, than going into a side playing badly, and having massive pressure heaped on you. We all want to see him play, Nibs, it's just that sometimes it isn't for the best.

I'd put Benayoun in that as well. Having him on the bench to come on late and change things around late on. Play anywhere in midfield, and have the eye to pick out a pass. In fact, almost the exact reasons people want to see McEachran, except with added experience, and versatility. I missed the game as well, but I've decided to cheer myself up by watching The Ashes.

As long as Bruma is making his mistakes in interviews instead of on the pitch he should be well in with a shout of starting each game.

Explain to me why he's been unsuccessful... His aim was to have a player in the first team squad, we now have McEachran, Kakuta, Bruma, Van Aanholt all pushing for a place, with Hutchinson unfortunate enough to have injuries end his career very early. We have players like Chalobah, Tore and others looking to be the next group of youngsters given the promotion to the first team squad. We've even started to make a profit out of the academy by selling players like Sinclair, Stoch and others instead of releasing them like we have done previously. I don't see any way in which he hasn't been successful. We started out with effectively no academy at all, and he (with the help of Abramovich's money of course) built us one, with top notch facilities, coaching, and is producing prospects capable of making it in the first team, or at least making us money on the players we produce.

Right, I'm going to bed.