Eggy McMuffin

He just repeats things that are in the Italian papers or are going to be the next day...

This seems as good an idea as any, but with the news that by 2014 roaming charges will be banned within the EU because it's seen as a restriction of movement, does this mean we can get a contract from any country in the EU and pay the same price? So theoretically, if say German (poor choice, as things are expensive there) phone contracts are significantly cheaper, we could just sign up for one and use it anywhere within the EU for no extra fee? Or would a local address usually be required? Either way, it'll work with pay as you go.

I'm not entirely sure what you mean by this, but I'm looking forward to it.

Yes, they did an excellent job of it. http://pirateproxy.se/ http://piratebayproxy.se/ http://tpb.itseco.co.uk/ https://tpb.derp.pw/ http://www.pirati.rs/ http://tpb.piraten.lu/ http://tpb.occupyuk.co.uk/ http://tpb.me/ There's probably about a hundred more, but those are the first few I found.

It's generally an injury thing and something that really is for the benefit of the players, although maybe not for the spectators. The cynical fouls are punished as they should be when they're seen and you'll usually see a yellow card for someone cynically pulling back a player as they try to launch a counter-attack. The difference being that other than being annoying, no real harm is done to the player by being cynical, it stops the attack and gives the defenders time to settle, but the player who does it is given a yellow card and can't do it twice. I'd say it's about right in general, although some referees make poor decisions, as human beings are liable to do. Yeah, I understand that fully, but that to me is a leadership thing as much as anything. It'll be interesting to see who really emerges as leaders in this new young team we're building. Luiz is the obvious one, but maybe that's another thing that needs to be addressed by this midfield signing we need. Mata perhaps a leader in the Lampard mould, but that seems like maybe it. So we need a strong player who keeps the ball and is defensively and tactically sound. Mikel anyone? More seriously, I completely agree with that assessment and I would dearly love to throw everything at signing Khedira, but unfortunately it would never happen.

Does that matter? Does any of this mean that we have to respond in the exact same way? Does that mean we have to be as bitter as this kind of thread is? He made certain points which were good and many more which weren't. People massively overreacted to him because he doesn't like Mourinho for whatever reason. Mourinho is the best, but he isn't perfect, even Mourinho himself knows that. Some took the time to properly argue the points he made, but most just went after the guy. It doesn't matter if he's trying to be a troll or if he's just wrong, that isn't the kind of place this used to be or ever should be. Point out why he's wrong, don't be a c**t about it.

The problem I find with angry players is that they give away a lot of fouls and pick up a lot of yellow cards. It's one of the fears I tend to have when Luiz is in midfield, he loves leaving an elbow in on someone and every time I worry he'll get sent off. I think rather than angry, physical is more what we should be looking for. Someone more like Essien at his peak, he was occasionally guilty of doing something nasty, but more than anything his physical strength, speed and power were what made him so dominant rather than just being angry... although I suspect that might be actually what you're meaning and I'm taking the word angry too literally here. The other worry I have is that 'angry' players aren't always particularly good technically. That Kondogbia we were linked to is a good example of that. He strikes me as a liability in a team that hopes to retain possession as his passing is... worrisome. Essien didn't have that problem, but unfortunately we don't have a time machine to go back to when he was at his most fearsome and I don't know of any players of a similar athletic and football ability to that (that we could sign and come to mind easily that is). Maybe Jose and Emenalo do, though.

I'm gutted that the standard of debate on this forum is at a point so low where this kind of thread is seen as a good idea. I'm gutted that people here think that rather than explaining why you feel someone is wrong and their perception of something is wrong people would rather make backhanded co,mments dismissing anything they say, rather than attempting to debate what they're actually saying and prove it wrong. I'm especially gutted that this is the norm and not an exception on here.

I see.

Also, as someone mentioned, with Umbro we bought the contract out to get Adidas and we will no doubt be able to do the same again, should we receive an offer of sufficient value. The flip side of this is that it would never be worth them buying the contract out were the value of sponsorship deals to fall in the future. We've guaranteed ourselves £30m a year for the next 10 years and we can buy the contract out should we feel it would suit our financial situation better in the future.

I'm fairly sure that 'bot' is supposed to be 'not' they're next to each other on the keyboard and that sentence would actually make sense.

Yeah, I think that's generally the problem here. Implying that the best manager in world football today isn't good enough because he has generally chosen a counter attacking style of play and most people here have an ingrained hatred for all things Barca (and that is understandable). In general I'm a fan of the idea of playing a possession based game, it gives you more control over your own destiny as it were. You control the ball, you control the game as well sort of idea and it's your ability to decide when and how to use the ball and the points to try and exploit opposition weaknesses that along with your ability to do those things that decide how effective it is for you. We even have some of the players to play that kind of thing as well. We have Oscar who can do that and Mata is one of the most intelligent players around and generally picks his moments like few others can. Others such as Hazard, Luiz, Ramires and now Schurrle are more direct and like to be attacking as soon as they have the ball and the opposite extreme is Mikel. It's a mixture and that's often necessary to play it effectively. There are plenty of downsides to the style as well, the type of players who are generally good at this style aren't as good defensively and are generally weaker physically (Barca of course being the prime examples of this). You can also be beaten on the break and can sometimes be shut out by well organised defences. Neither style is right or wrong. The beauty of football is that it can be interpreted in many different ways and it constantly evolves. Real Madrid in their title winning season under Mourinho played a much more counter attack focussed style and in the last season moved to a more mixed style (whether that was Mourinho's decision, the players or instructions from on high we will of course never know) and were much less successful against the 'lesser' sides although that could be put down to the players' motivation and dressing room discord (Discord in my Pisschord would be a great song for Syphilis: The Musical). Personally I think that we might use the more mixed approach this season seeing as we have a mixture of player types (although of course so did Real Madrid in their title winning season). Using fast transitions with our quick exciting wingers like Hazard and Schurrle and quick through balls from Luiz, De Bruyne, Oscar etc. while simultaneously being comfortable in keeping the ball for large spells and picking the right moments as we ramp the pressure up on the opposition defenders. What we can do though, is trust Mourinho and trust that he will accept nothing less than a winning style, whether it's based on passing, counter attacking or a combination of the two. He's the best at what he does and will accept nothing less than the best from the squad and himself, that's ingrained in his character. Our signings (or possibly lack thereof) may show a direction or they may show confusion if he and Emenalo are not entirely on the same page (although personally I feel like Emenalo is more humble than Arnesen and that they'll work together successfully), or they may well show nothing at all, but signing a great counter-attacker in Schurrle does give hints. That was quite boring, though so here is a gif.

To be fair, buying before selling puts us in a bad negotiating position when it comes to selling as well. The only difference is that we don't HAVE to sell, whereas we do need a defensive midfielder and we need one whether he leaves or not.

Gem, I thought Romeu was great when he first started playing under AVB, like he was instantly looking as good as Mikel with more creative passing and the mental strength to choose the right moments and looked like he'd keep improving. Then he didn't, disappeared with a mysterious injury with speculation over the Barca contract issue and Robbie came in and he couldn't get in the side whether it was through injury or this Barca clause thing still isn't known. He just never looked the same since that. He played a bit in this last season and was sub-par and got more games under Rafa, but still didn't look useful and then he got a massive injury. There are a hell of a lot of doubts about Romeu. Essien isn't the Essien we once knew, either. To rely on those two would be foolhardy, they'll make fine third choice options, but second would still concern me, let alone first choice. If we are to sell Mikel, we need to have options in mind.

You know that there's no point looking at the final games now, right? By the time we're into the final games of the season it'll look completely different. The FA Cup will mean that some games are moved back to around that period, the Champions' League the same (assuming an English side is still involved that late on. There might be changes due to ice in the winter months as well.

By quite a lot, you mean 6, he's played 6 times. I wasn't saying either should stay, both should go on loan, but I doubt Ake will get a loan to the Premiership, I don't think he's there yet. Chalobah has proven himself over the course of an entire season and shown that at 17/18 he's ready to step up to the next level. Ake simply hasn't. Maybe accomplished is the wrong word and proven is a better word.

That's the impression I have. He seems really poor technically and just a physical beast. People on WAGNH are saying how he has a 'really high ceiling', but he doesn't appear to be a footballer. I know we need some physicality in the midfield, BUT AT WHAT COST!? ლ(ಠ益ಠლ) Also, signing a 20 year old who is too raw to be first choice right now doesn't seem the best idea to me. We have Aké who's going to go on loan but looks like he'll progress well and Chalobah who if anything looks more accomplished. I know they're younger and it isn't prudent to rely on youngsters who haven't proven themselves yet, but the lack of technical skill really makes him seem like he has more to work on. If we're looking to replace an established player in Mikel we should surely be looking at players who can come in right away. If anything, this might be an Emenalo signing, perhaps? The ones we sign who just have potential and haven't had that big breakthrough yet, loan them out for a year or two and see how they develop. That makes more sense to me than him being a first team player off the bat.

The papers link us to them most, that may or may not mean anything about Mourinho and his preferences... or whoever makes that decision. Also, I disagree about your definition of box-to-box midfielders, but that's not really important. I just generally don't think Matic is good enough to demand the fee talked about and plenty of cheaper options have been linked, but like I said before links don't mean all that much. Cavani is a close one when it comes to whether he's worth the fee, but again I'm not convinced he's entirely worth. There are less options in that position who are top class, though. To me that says we would be better served in getting Cavani and a cheaper defensive midfielder than we would be getting Matic (who I don't rate as that great) and having to find a cheaper option for the forward position as they just don't exist.

A DM line up of Mikel, Romeu and Essien is good enough to win the Champions' League.

So if Essien was the defensive midfielder, what does that make Makelele and eventually Mikel? Different formations result in different roles and different returns. For example the other midfielders for Bilbao, did they score as many as Lampard? Benfica's? Bayern's? It's an odd comparison to just look at goals don't you think? You've presented the choice as we either sign Matic or we sign Cavani and there is nothing else in the world. I cannot fathom why Matic is worth anywhere near the amount being talked about beyond Benfica having no reason to sell and his buyout clause being high. He's not worth it.

Oddly with Mikel to me it seems to be a combination of the two. There are games where he doesn't seem to have any motivation, but some of the time it just appears that way because of how calm he is, especially when shielding the ball from players (which he is actually very good at). It doesn't help people's opinion of him no doubt.

The first part I agree with, the second part, that was Makelele's job. Essien was box-to-box and offered a little bit of everything, that was his role. Not that this has anything to do with Matic. Matic isn't that good from what I've seen and I can't see any reason you'd rate him anywhere near as highly as you appear to.

After the AVB thing, I reckon they'd rather take a loss than sell him to us cheaply.

Are we thinking of the same Porto here? They'd sell one of their players a good holding midfielder for between £5m and £10m? To us? I don't see that ever.

Player of the year means very little, especially with a player like Parker who the media for some reason love. Parker is fairly terrible. Alonso needed Lucas next to him at Liverpool and needed Khedira next to him at Real. We'd still need Mikel. Who the f**k is talking £25m for Fabregas? That is never going to happen, it's more like £35m at least, not that Barca would sell him again.