g3.7

italy won't be doing anything. it isn't a team filled with great players so to miss marchisio and verratti amongst others will hurt them. once they are mathematically eliminated we can send word for pauly.

personally I think it is a pretty good squad and I think it is good that those three have been picked. I'm a bit worried about the latter two because of their injuries, but more and more I don't believe national sides should be a meritocracy based on club form. jose said if you are a national team manager you pick the players you like and trust and you stick with them. I used to think that it should be the 23 'most deserving' players that should go. if you think of representing the nation as a reward in itself, that would be true. and whilst it is in some way a reward, actually that is the way fans think. if you look at it through the eyes of a manager then really you need consistency of selection. you get so few training sessions over the cycle of an international tournament and its qualification so it makes sense to pick the players who have established on pitch relationships with one another. if he's fit I'd pick henderson over drinkwater every time for example. put it another way- I don't see any outstanding omissions that upset me hugely. I might've personally been tempted to take carroll, I still am unconvinced by the spurs fullbacks but overall I don't have too many issues with it. the nucleus of a decent side is there, building around the likes of alli, kane, dier etc is good. I think it is quite an exciting squad. we won't win the tournament but we could do fairly well as outsiders.

abramovich sounds like certain people in the match threads in that account- absolutely clueless about the game and with little grasp on reality.

You've answered the question yourself though- it's because of the circumstances he inherited that he gets judged differently. That's only fair surely. By the time he arrived the season was basically a write off already. He could have taken us further in the cup but Everton away isn't easy, especially as they put all of their eggs into that particular basket. He could have played the kids a little more (but not to the extent some people seem to have expected), but he's still given them some exposure to the first time. Even in those circumstances no one is saying he's been amazing, but he was always going to be a temporary appointment and I don't think the comparison with Jose or conte really applies. What's done is done.

A good and correct appointment under the circumstances and did an adequate job. Thanks guus, and good luck. Now let us never speak of this season again.

looking at the guardian and telegraph reporting of this offer, their suggestion is that the terms are reduced, but not that dramatically. what they do suggest is that conte will ask for a first choice defender to be signed and that as this new offer includes more money coming through appearance fees it is possible he might not be a first choice player (at least initially- personally I'd back him to play ahead of anyone else we have).

I would have to agree barak. he's been reportedly offered a contract in china worth £20m and he's been laying the foundations for that type of offer for some time. if in the end he decides that is what he wants to do then fair enough. if he stays what more could he win? it is more likely than not that we won't win anything in the next year or two. does being part of a rebuild that he might never see the fruits of (in terms of trophies) appeal to him more than a massive, relatively low stress payday at this stage in his life? getting higher up the all time appearance list might well be all he could achieve on a personal level. I hope he does stay (if conte wants him)- even with the potential political and footballing drawbacks keeping him might have, he's still our best defender.

3 years ago he was out of the side under benitez. One year ago he had arguably the best season of his career. What are you talking about mate?

Well it depends how you play. Azpilicueta at left back was initially an accident (I don't think when he was first put there it was with the long term in mind), but it does suit hazard in one sense (although I take the point that an overlapping player would help him) and more importantly I think it helps jt to have a player narrow next to him. It massively reduces the amount of running he needs to do and it reduces him having to deal with balls into the channels. Jose built a first 11 that was really finely balanced - it will be interesting to see what content does to change how we play. I expect more emphasis on the construction of the game from the back, but he'll need to find new solutions to protect jt and fabregas etc

Maybe he's not been up to scratch in training? Its a difficult jump to go from the US to the premier league, especially at a young age in mid season. But it is interesting to draw the contrast between the annoyance he isn't playing and the desire to see baba rahman sold after one season.

Without any inside knowledge, to me it's more politics. Jt pressured them using city years ago so the club kept him on a short leash. Then he went public in Milton Keynes and the club have left it to the last minute to publicly put the ball back in his court. I can't say I'm massively impressed with either party in all of this. I don't want my support to be used as currency like this.

Probably on reduced terms and I don't think it is at all a sure bet that he'll sign it

been touched on already, but what most encouraged me was that I thought for a large part of the game matic looked good. not back to his best, but really worth his place in the side. I hope he stays and recovers, because he's potentially as good as anyone in the league at what he does. I think a top form matic is a conte player.

personally I would've preferred he played badly since his return.

I remember them being good comedy when we were en route to winning the title. just absolutely full of people in tears at all times. after yet another win. I wanted to start a match thread thread in which we could rate the posters' comments in the match thread in real time. anyway, I imagine now we're actually having a bad season those people have a new perspective and don't all rush in to call ivanovic a c*nt seconds after a misplaced pass.

Now it seems like maybe you do want fabregas to be captain. I don't know what to think anymore.

It sounds like you don't think fabregas would be a suitable captain.

what about sofa manager and his love of all things portuguese? let's be having you fernando.

If he can be rehabilitated, then we have the best midfielder of his type in the league. Just what on earth has happened to him? No major injuries, in his prime years, Jose is gone so he couldn't point to him anymore... It's the biggest mystery of the season.

as I recall he was seriously easy goin'

I always assumed he was one of your spare accounts. like brian m.

hazard. think that was a good point ethical. if you look at the fouls only on hazard, that's a typical game for him. the other night was basically our entire team getting to feel what it is like to be eden hazard every week.

honestly I never manage to put these things together. I've been pm'd by other people in the past telling me not to encourage him in some previous username. I mean I think it is fair I apologise for my part in it right here as I'm sure it was a genuinely awful reading. but anyway as blue daze he sent me a message wantingto meet up so I could repeat my opinions to his face (because apparently this medium was no longer cutting it?) then as shedender he got upset when I said he was being specious, sent me a pm saying he wanted to be friends and that I'd hurt his feelings and needed to change my tone. I responded by saying I stood by what I wrote (and said he was being a bit propagandist) which provoked a "OH PLEASE TELL ME HOW TO BE GOOD AT POSTING ON THE INTERNET LIKE YOU!" style response where he asked for examples of that. then he deleted that message. then he sent me another post saying he was taking advantage of my nature and apologised for that. then he added that no-one would have the time to find examples (which I found ironic given how many posts he'd made in about six weeks). but I think it was at this point that I decided it would probably be better to not respond to anything he wrote, either by pm or in the main forums. strange guy.

I'm not sure I agree, but even so he also finished behind atletico in the league as well as barca in his final season and lost a cup final to them.

would you say jose was a failure at madrid on that basis then? 3 CL semis and one league title and one spanish cup with a team that cost much more than bayern? bayern have always been able to buy the best domestic talent. they've rarely won three titles in a row. I think this season shows us how difficult it can be to keep a winning team motivated. for me, to compare it to the spl is pure hyperbole. in any case I'm not saying you can't criticise the manner they went out in the first two semis, but at the end of the day it is a cup tournament.