Maverick

Welcome on board Murray !!

Let me help you here - what exactly was Arnesen's designation? Looks like your unaware about the way our board works. And I have never stated that the manager has an "incontrovertible right " regarding decisions, its just that I find it hard to believe the rumours given we haven't found a replacement for Arnesen and Carlo apparently has not been consulted. The board currently lacks a footballing brain to take these decisions.

Brilliant stuff from the boys to actually come from a goal down and win it on penalties.

Buying a single player like Sheva/ Yuri out of admiration is different as compared to replacing the core of a team under transition. And please go ahead and name the "most" continental clubs where the managers/ directors dont have a say in buying players.

I'd put just those two in that bracket since I am not sure whether Villas has done enough to make it into that league. As good as he might be Jose and Hiddink are possibly the two best tacticians I have come across.

Marko Marin (from Bremen) and Toni Kroos (From Bayern) are two outstanding talents currently in the Bundesliga. Marin is the sort of player that we could with currently, with his pace, vision and end product I am sure he would be an ideal replacement for Malouda on the left. Kroos on the other hand is a midfielder and could be looked at as Lampard's possible replacement. As far as the Borussia lads are concerned I like the look of Kagawa but its big gamble to take since not many Asian origin players have made it big in England.

He's surely got to be kidding. Buying 5 players without the manager/ director's input would be madness and I dont think Roman would do that. Of course the other way of looking at it is that these targets have been made in consultation with the next manager.

From the clubs that are likely to be relegated I think these are the best bets - Parker, Nzogbia and Kirkland. Kirkland may raise a few eyebrows but if he is willling to be our #2 I think he could do a better job than Turnbull when called upon.

Welcome to the Shed and have a great time posting and interacting with fellow blues.

And Drogba isn't going to be around for too long and thats the reason I believe its time we let him go and build a team around Torres and Sturridge. Will we do it? I hope we do it and I hope Carlo sees sense if he stays on that is. If he gets the sack I still dont see any competent manager to be foolish enough to build a team around Drogba.

Something that most forget is that every manager post Mourinho has just inherited the squad that the special one had assembled. We let most of our flair players (Duff, Robben, Eidur) leave but never made adequate replacements or provided managers the freedom to buy players that other clubs would have. The current situation is similar to what happened with Barcelona before Pep took over and we all know that they did a massive overhaul in the squad and the manager to ensure that there was indeed a "change". Do we need to undergo a similarprocess ? I'd like to think so.

Or we might not be playing to his strengths and therefore his inability to score as many as we expecxt him to. Is he still the same player that he once was? Well roll back the tape of our trip to Anfield and then we shall talk about it.

I'd agree with the formation change has had an impact in the role that Malouda and Yuri play but my point was I dont see him beating a man with his pace or putting in a peach of a cross that resulted in a goal. Surely he seems to be able to drive well in the penalty area and win us penalties but apart from that he has barely shown that his end product could be tagged as world class. As far as his performance for Russia goes I did see him play in the Euro'08 though he played as a LB he looked impressive but this is a different league and he has not yet stepped up to the plate.

Has hardly done much after that game and thats probably a result of a) his fitness levels B) pretty poor in the chances that have been given to him. I see a lot of fans referring to Zhirkov as a winger but I am yet to see a single performance from him that could be compared to Duff/ Robben.

A manager who doesn't has a say in who is assistant should be would have a say in the players to be retained? The way I see it is Ray and the 5 first team players were a part of the offloading process planned by the board.

Isn't Wilkins sacking an ample evidence to suggest how the club operates today? I am pretty sure that it was Roman + the board's decision to cull the squad because I dont buy the theory that Carlo would have let the likes of Ballack and Carvalho leave if he had a say.

Starts 11th of June and ends on the 28th.

Add Essien to that and it makes his approach look even worse. How Essien managed to get the nod over Ramires every time is beyond me. It was evident that Essien was struggling for form and on the other hand Ramires was looking good with every appearance and still Carlo stuck with Essien for the entire season. I hope Essien recovers his form but his performance in the big games have been ordinary to say the least and if there was a time to offload him this is it.

Not sure he'd score too many goals in that role, thats my only problem and someone like Sturridge generally performs on confidence which is generally a result of the number of goals.

Not many managers out there who would not crib about lack of funds if the expectations are high, hell Rafa did it even when he spent a good 60 million every year. With the UEFA financial rules coming into play I'd like to think that Roman believes Carlo is the man to back given his nature and approach.

I would have agreed to that sentiment had we not gone on this late surge for the title. That alone makes me believe that given the resources he may be a good bet to back in the long run. The question that I'd like to ask the ones calling for his head is who do you see as a replacement? Apart from Jose and Hiddink I am not sure there are too many around who have the CV that Roman is looking for.

How about using the same stat to conclude that the manager doesn't rate him highly enough to play him ? Add injuries to that and I dont see how he fits into our squad.

Without getting into a debate about the points you've mentioned I'll add a question that should seal this discussion. Has he been fit to push for a first team spot? No, In fact I'd be pretty sure he has missed the most time due to injuries barring Bosingwa. You dont get to play from the medical ward do you?

Well in that case I am yet to see the wing/ attacking play from Zhirkov that would warrant the fee (18 million) that we paid for him.

Its not easy to sell a young prospect (for a club like ours) if the other clubs know that the player is unwanted and is looking to be offloaded. As we saw in the case of Scott Sinclair and to see him perform for Swansea you wonder if that's the "transfer" of the season in all of England.