Eggy McMuffin

You make a good point, but I'd rather keep Ashley Cole, even if he only has 3 years or so left in him at the top level, we'd hopefully have Bertrand and Van Aanholt shining by then. This is where big decisions do have to be made. Which positions can we trust our youngsters in and which positions should we buy in? It's a question, I'm very glad I don't have to answer.

I hope the Mail are right, that looks pretty damn good. I'd better get saving, I think.

I think he'd pose the opposite problem. He may be good going forwards, it's just his defensive abilities which can't match Cole's... in fact I'm not sure if there is a left back who can. Coentrao would probably have a better cross, and be better at getting in a position to put it in. However, at the other end, playing against the Cronaldos, the Messis, that's where Cole shone his brightest. It can be trained into a player, mind you, but the point stands, it's not his attacking we'll miss as much as it's his defending.

I would say good if we weren't in for khedira, and we should only be in for Coentrao if Ashley demands to go to Real Madrid. I don't mind us going in for Pedro though, he'd be an interesting option on the right.

Both, he actually keeps going for a while and has used his shoulders and stuff. I was really trying to point out that it doesn't guarantee on the field performances.

Ah sorry, it's late, I got the wrong end of the stick I think.

Ibra' does it far better.

I think you may be doing him a disservice. You're right in that he'll never be as good as Messi, but that isn't a reason not to sign him. I don't think we are looking for an attacking midfielder, as I said in my last post. I feel we're looking for an inside right. To say he's Torres like surely means you haven't watched him all that often, although I may be wrong there. From what I've seen of him in La Liga, which means not this season as I moved to Virgin Media and no longer have Sky Sports, he's very different indeed. More a Rooney type, although not quite as powerful of course. He plays deeper than the main forward and looks to run at defenders and commit them. He can be selfish, but he does pass it most of the time. He makes things happen and from what I've seen at least has the attributes we'd be looking for in an inside right. Yossi will be used there, yeah, but I'm not sure if he'd be more effective. They'll both play the position in different ways. Aguero would be more like Kalou, with direct running, pace, committing players and hopefully doing it better than Kalou does. Yossi doesn't have the pace for that, he's more likely to slow things down and look for the clever pass, and keep the ball better. Both styles have their advantages, but I think they'd be best served with different opponents. Last season showed we play better at a higher tempo, and Mikel slowed it down at the beginning of the season, but after the African Cup of Nations he was a bit quicker. If we have another player slowing it down, we may face similar problems, although his ability to pick a clever pass may counteract that, it could still be a problem. Aguero may lose the ball more often, but will be far more effective on the break, and he'd be far better at stretching sides, running into the space between centre back and full back and committing defenders he could create more. I'm still not convinced he'll sign, but I'd love him to, because I can see him being perfect for us. I just think he's a tremendous player and would be perfect for that position. I too can see that being our front three next season, with Kalou challenging Yossi and Zhirkov challenging Malouda, however in an ideal world I'd prefer Yossi to be more of a squad player than that, and I'd prefer him to be the understudy to Aguero. Who knows, though. Who knows.

Because we don't play proper wingers... We play something that would be better served being called inside forward. It's a position where the player has to drive at players, like a winger would, but would be too far infield to cross the ball, which is what gives our fullbacks so much space to overlap. The inside forward can choose to either drive at the defenders, creating confusion as to whether it should be the full back, centre back, or even defensive midfielder who should close him down, or he can play incisive through balls from a deeper position, in a similar vein to an attacking midfielder. However the position doesn't restrict a player into one or the other, it allows the player the freedom to choose which is both best at that moment, and which the player is best at. We've had Anelka play there, and he's often chosen a mixture of the two, we've had Kalou there, who prefers to drive at the players to make something happen. On the other side, we've had Malouda there, who has done a bit of both, but preferred to drive at defenders and done so successfully on many occasions.... To say that we should sign a player who can play that position and rule Aguero out is silly. Not many teams in the world play with inside forwards, and if Ancelotti decides that he wants to revert to the diamond, again, not many teams play with that formation. We actually have to sign someone who has the right skills and strengths to play the position, and not necessarily someone who has played it, as there aren't too many of them around. The other point to signing Aguero is that he offers us a slighter, more creative, and agile version of Anelka. Something we don't have. An interesting prospect if we choose to play the diamond again, although that would mean playing Benayoun on a regular basis at the tip, and possibly Kakuta and McEchran (sp?) being thrust into things earlier than expected, but it's an option none-the-less. I do understand your frustration, I feel the same with Mueller and Oezil. Mueller would possibly work in this position, but I don't feel he has that creative spark, and I just think that most people want us to sign him because of the amount of goals he scored. Oezil although creative, wouldn't work as an insider right, and seemed to be anonymous when up against a DM to mark him... something he'd have to face a lot playing for us.

It'd be 'an absolute steal' if he was actually worth that kind of money, but he's not. He's a steady player, nothing more. He'd do well at an Everton, or a Fulham even, he's just not good enough for us. He'd be a squad player for us. He plays a similar style to Essien, just nowhere near as well. I'd rather have Mikel in our side than Khedira. He'll be more willing to stay disciplined and allow our full backs to bomb on... something I've not seen from Khedira really, and Mikel would allow Essien a bit more freedom. With either of Schweinsteiger and Khedira, playing in midfield with Essien, they'd have to take it in turns to sit, and with someone lacking the ability we'd need I don't think it'd be worth making Essien sit, even if it's for only part of the game. If you want 'an absolute steal', let Oezil stay where he is for a year and run his contract down.

That's if they fail to sell Ibra, but if they do sell him, they'll use that money to help fund a move for Fabregas and look more like... Valdez Alves Pique Puyol Abidal Busquets Xavi Fabregas Messi-------------------------------Iniesta Villa

I believe the plan is to move Iniesta to the left wing, with Xavi and Cesc in the centre.

Ah, that might have given it away, but I've since realised that with his composure at just 9 he's unlikely to score many chances.

No, what gives you that idea? :o

Simplyfm.net - Football Manager and General Chat been a member there since I was about 15... avforums - I just browse out of interest though. FM-Britain - another Football Manager one, mainly go there for tips on my tactics That's where I go, really. Not particularly cool is it?

I have one converted, now to find Abramovich. :D

My main opposition to the signing is that we have too many players who are similar. He's fast, can finish and is quite strong, and we have Anelka who is fast, can finish and is quite strong, with Drogba who is strong, fast and can finish. I accept that they may only have 2 years in their legs left, but would they be happy playing second fiddle? Would he? Do Anelka, or Drogba deserve to be second fiddle? Forgetting those points, there's also the fact that a fast striker like Torres requires chances to be created for him, and I'm not sure if we have the players to do that. Could we afford another big signing? As in someone to create the chances. We've seen the same with Anelka, he needs to feed of the creativity and craft of others, and that is what we lack, more than actual goal scorers.... in my (probably wrong) opinion anyway.

I don't like the ending.

I seem to remember that they were having serious financial problems, but somehow scraped, I think it was £20m together to sign him.

Someone Specific would cost a truly ridiculous amount of money, I'm not even sure if Abramovich could afford him if he sold all of his yachts.

My mum found this on the History channel website. http://www.history.co.uk/videos.html?bctid=89553391001&1970:-Chelsea-FC-Sing Thought you all might appreciate it, I did. :D

Who gives a sh*t about his credibility? Who gives a sh*t if people don't like him outside of Chelsea FC? What's important is how he performs for us, and he has very much performed for us. He can f**k 20 ladyboys a night, and throw huge chunks of sh*t in the face of the pope for all I care, as long as he keeps playing as well he always does.

I hope to see you at the 'get behind the team or f**k off' event, it's going ahead just in time for the charity shield match. Make sure you're there so we can tell you exactly where to f**k off to.

I'll go with that. I've said it all along, Oezil looks lost when there's a DM to mark him, and considering the fact that we need to break teams down, who play DMs... well, I can't see him being much use for us. Schweinsteiger has pace, and creativity from deep in midfield as well as the ability to track back. Him and Essien working together in tandem would be immense, one can sit, the other go forward and vice versa. If we're living in dream land, someone to play the inside right position would be nice. I heard that Messi is looking for a change in scenery after achieving all he can with Barcelona (yes I did make that up, I too could be a journalist). An insider at the very top of Barcelona has even intimated that a bid in the region of £12.50 and a bag of those awful pork scratchings you tend to get in cheaper pubs may be enough to tempt them.

I was very much just making the case for signing him rather than Oezil. :P Although I would personally say that right now we have Mikel - Essien - Lampard with Malouda and Matic covering, we've got a very versatile side, so we don't need as much cover as other sides, but I think a good centre mid who can give us a touch of pace when Essien is out, attack from deep like Essien does, and not be a liability would be perfect for us. We could of course sign Aguero (or indeed any player who could play the inside right position effectively) instead of Schweinsteiger and the side would have just as much cover, it would just mean that Malouda is converted to a full time central midfielder, our first team looking like... Cech Bosingwa Alex Terry Cole Mikel Essien Lampard Aguero=============Zhirkov Drogba Second XI Turnbull Hutchinson Ivanovic Bruma Ferreira Matic Kakuta Malouda Benayoun----------------Kalou Anelka There's not too much difference there, although it does look a bit weaker centrally, we still seem to have plenty of options. Like I said, I can only see one signing, and it may well not be either of the two players I went with in this, I would just expect that they'd be players who play those two positions. Also it might be worth noting that on the second second XI (I couldn't think of a better way to put that), we'd also have Mancienne to be able to cover the holding midfield role, which he's done successfully for Wolves. Far more successfully than when he's played at centre back, anyway. Having said all this, my opinion counts for nothing. :D It's all about what Ancelotti and Abramovich decide to do, so it's probably just as good to wait and see.