Maverick

That was a midfield that needed some serious reinforcement and Matic had it easy given Mikel had fallen down the pecking order. In this case we have Ivanovic on fire and Azpi playing his best football, unless we look to shuffle our CB pair and bring Ivanovic in a CB role I fear Felipe may have to wait for a while.

Glad we've taken a leaf out of our transfers and started sorting out contracts early too.

As compared to a 18 year old who costed us 17 million and hadn't even played at a level that Schurrle has?

I believe if he plays week in and week out he should be able to show glimpses of what he is made of. Kakuta is an ideal example of that, couldn't get adequate game time at Bolton and at Dijon he has pretty much been their saviour. He has 13 starts and 3 sub appearances and he has produced 5 goals and 3 assists, not bad for a player that is playing in a relegation threatened team.

If a club like HSV/ Vitesse would be interested in him on a season long loan I would go ahead with it. Apart from Carling cup I dont see him featuring much in the league/ Cl/ later stages of FA cup. At 17 he needs a lot more game time and he needs to be playing in a competitive league, even a loan back to Anderlecht may not be a bad idea. What I would fear is that another season like this one would stagnate his growth and the same applied to Josh though I believe Josh would have seen more game time under RDM than he has at Swansea.

Get well soon Bobby. Our prayers are with you.

1.What will be your team to face QPR at the weekend?,what will be you're tactics,will you play Cahill & J.T. or Bertrand & give Cole a rest?,what's the formation. I'll give Both Cahill and Bertrand a run and Romeu in the midfield along with Lampard and Ramires. I'll stick to the 4-3-3 that we have been playing for a while now. 2.Are you happy with how the team play in general,the formation & tactics,the set peices & so on,if not,what would you do in training to change it?. I'll probably hand over all set pieces to Mata considering how Awful Lampard and others have been in the last few years. 3.What's you solution to the Torres question?. I'd play him 90 mins every game till he starts banging them in and a clear instruction to the likes of Mata and Sturridge to play him in even if its a tough pass to make. 4.You can have one new assistant to help you if you want,who will it be?. Has to be Steve Clarke considering the defensive woes that we have suffered this season. He'd probably take care of most of the issues giving me a headache. 5.He'll give you 20-30 mill for a new player/players,who do you want most?. Will have to be Willian or Hazard, if none of that happens I'd look at the likes of Dempsey or De Bruyne.. 6.Is there anything else you want to do the job?. No 7.A no bullsh*t answer to where we will finish in the Premier League,F.A. cup & (coughs) the Champions League. Premier League - 3rd place FA Cup - Finals Champions League - Semis

Probably AVB doesn't rate the two of them to replace Ashley or it could be that AVB isn't a manager who invests in youth. Either which way it looks most likely that PVA will have to find a new club/ home in the near future.

I agree that the Swansea team that took to field last night was very impressive and it maybe difficult for Josh to walk straight in but rest assured he is likely to get game time under Brendan than AVb. Besides most of us tend to forget that football today is more of a squad game than a team. His chances will come definitely and its up to him to step up like Sturridge did and show the world what he is capable of.

Really? I would love to hear what exactly was the problem with Arnesen. The man is now at HSV and with 5 of our youngsters he is pretty much overlooking an exciting transition period at the club. Rajkovic, Mancienne and Tore are pretty much a regular feature for them, if we aren't prepared to gamble on youth doesn't mean we go about blaming the man who ensured we have a great bunch of lads and revamped our academy.

It looks unlikely that he will choose a club in England, Spain seems to be his most likely destination.

I'd rather buy "squad" players like Meireles at 12 million than shelling out 18 million on a far from finished 18 year old striker or a wannabe winger from Russia.

Apparently today is the fool's day in Spain.

I was referring to the competition for slots in the front 3 and currently with no competition for Sturridge on the right he is an automatic starter which is not the case with Josh. Josh has looked good but he still doesn't get the nod because there are older players who are still doing a good job. Can Josh do better? I guess that will be answered only next season or later.

Don't recall any performance from Josh in the pre-season which warrants the kind of treatment that has been dished out to him. In fact he looked promising while playing further up the pitch and did show glimpses of what he is capable of. The fact remains Josh is up against competition that is still performing at a high level whereas Sturridge can walk into the team even if he has had a couple of bad games because neither Torres/ Drogba are setting the world on fire.

Glad that this thread has started, its now Cech's turn to respond or can he?

I would like to us sign a proper right back and a striker around whom AVB intends to build his team around, I am beginning to think that striker is not Torres. An additional option in the left wont be a bad idea as it would allow us to use Mata in a free role which I believe is his best.

Good to see there are clubs still interested in buying Kalou, a fee above 5 million would be great deal for us.

No surprise there given the c^&nts that they are and being proud of that. Coming to the game there is no denying that you guys are now probably not too far behind Real and Barcelona in Europe and credit where its due. I loved it when you gave United a thrashing but I dont think we are likely to see anything like that come monday night. What the league should now be concerned about is that Mancini can very much play his strongest 11 week in week out and prioritize the league over Europa. That doesn't auger well for the league considering the number of goals that your team has been banging in. In all I expect it to be a good game and I am quite optimistic we can get something out of this game.

How about responding nicely rather than calling someone an arse?

In mostly eastern parts of Europe which would involve more travel, icing on the cake !!

Cant hide my grin, the two clubs that were supposed to be the flag bearers of England are out and the media has no clue what to make of it. The FA cup 3rd round just got spicier and if City fail to win the league I am sure its the end of Mancini. The season just got better !!

Or he may look at JT's age and wonder if he could take that role of being the leader in defence for a top club challenging for titles as compared to a club that is the media's baby and pretty hyped but nothing to show for. Of course he is likely to start at Spurs but is it a long term vision? I think not and the same could be said about Arsenal.

Finally some good news in whats been a very testing time for the club and fans.

Yes I absolutely agree that we have made changes for him but for the last few games its been either Anelka/ Malouda with him up front. Isn't that Baffling? I mean you splash cash players to suit a style and on the weekend you play a striker who has lost the pace or his touch to cope up with players like Sturridge/ Mata. AVB surely comes across as a tactical genius when we are trialing but to me he looks a manager who has no clue what his best 11 is. That to me could be his biggest drawback.