BaneIvanovic

Bring back Ceefax! The glory days of wating on results, reading headlines etc through Ceefax's sports section were just amazing.

That's Jones' happy face.

I disagree with this bit. We had Bosingwa in that position and I was mortified when he was playing at RB, absolute car-crash of a 'defender' so whilst it's not high amongst the most important positions on the pitch, I don't think it's the least important. The top bit I agree with although Xavi is similar in style to Mata in the sense that both control games and dictate the tempo at which the team plays at and for me, that means they have a higher impact than the latter two. I'll add that they're also harder to mark out of games, compared to Suarez and Bale.

Sheva was different too as when he came he wasn't at his peak, whereas Torres was meant to be in his prime years.

Two? I count 4 (Cech, Cole, Hazard and Mata).

If you define a hype job as a player who's scored 78 in 104 league games in the past 3 seasons ( 104 in 138 in all comps) and has scored at least 20 goals a season domestically - and 30 a season in all comps - then I'm pretty sure he deserves all the hype he's getting. It's not as if he's had one stellar season, he's been doing it for the past 3 (and his numbers in his last two seasons at an inferior Palermo side weren't that bad either).

You're opening a can of worms here. And it isn't top trumps, either.

Routledge, Pablo, Michu and De Guzman are all players who are capable of playing as the central attacking midfielder in a 4-2-3-1 and are all better players than Piazon. You're making out as if Piazon was a key player for Malaga or that he excelled there on loan, too, which isn't the case.

He's comfortably world class, imo.

Because their attacking midfield options, currently, are all superior players to Piazon. For all we know, they could strengthen in that area even further (or drop Michu back to play in his 'natural' position, which is behind the striker) which would potentially drop him further down the pecking order if he went there on loan and struggle to get suitable minutes like Josh struggled too at Swansea. Style of play shouldn't be the key factor in sending him out on loan, it should be how much playing time he should be getting. It's not as if Palace are some hoofball team who aren't able or interested in keeping the ball or passing it about.

His playing time at Swansea would be significantly less than what Palace could be offering him (and he won't be a guaranteed starter there). At this point of his development, playing time is crucial.

That was footballing porn. I was in disbelief when I read tha the last time Mata didn't have a summer tournament to participate in for Spain was in 2008 - he's done the 09 Confed Cup, 2010 WC, 2011 U21 Euros and last summer's Euros (obviously, he played more in some tournaments than others but that's still remarkable).

He's 22, I think. The rule is that players who are 21 or younger at the time of the qualification for the U21 championship will be eligible for the proper tournament, hence the 22 and 23 year olds at the tournament.

No he isn't. He got brutally exposed by Bayern for how poor he is defending, you see the contrast between how stable they are in defense when they had Abidal at LB - ie. someone who could defend well - as opposed to when they have Alba, who is excellent going forward but not great at the back. The barometer at LB is stil set by Cole.

He's fine to play in midfield when we're playing a below par or mediocre side when we'll generally have the majority of possession and will be in charge of the game but he got horribly exposed against Spurs that he can't cut it at that role against the top/better sides. Not discplined enough to play that role effectively, fine to have as a rotation option but nothing more. Error per game might be a smidge harsh, I admit.

Well, someone was trying to convince me that because Mata voted for Luiz for the Players' POTY that it means that Luiz is amazing. I am fully aware that Luiz played in midfield but I don't see the relevance of it as it's a comparison of CBs - nor is he a very good midfielder. But yeah, sorry Davey, I forgot that everybody's opinion must be compatible to yours and I bow down to your footballing knowledge. I agree with the majority of what you say here as you're talking sense but comparing Cahill with Luiz isn't that great because they're on complete opposite sides of the spectrum when it comes down to how they approach defending. Cahill is too passive/stand off approach of defending which doesn't work and has cost us at times (like Adebayor's goal the Bridge where he was given all the time in the world and should've been closing him down and trying to block the shot or disposses him). As far as Luiz goes, my concerns with him is the fact that he has lapses in concentration - which happen far too often for my liking - and has a lack of discipline. I know and praise his reading of the game and the amount of interceptions he makes but I'm uneasy with the fact that you feel that there could be an error in him per game/you don't know which Luiz will come out to play. As for 'type of defender', I don't have a preference. The list I had has a ranges in their types so it's not as if they're all crunching destroyers.

This is the same media set that said we'd agreed a fee for Cavani a few days back?

You clearly don't know what hyperbole is, then, and you've contradicted yourself there. Why wasn't the mighty Luiz in any TOTYs? Surely if he's comfortably the best in the Prem, he'd have made the TOTY at CB? Oh. You laughed at the list of CBs who are better than him, yet provide no counter arguement, just a typical Davey answer that's supposed to be funny but isn't.

We're not but if Chelsea wanted, they could've obtained a work permit through the 'special talent' route (I think Arsenal used it for Miyaichi and Miyaichi had less grounds of getting a work permit then Lazar would've).

Basing it off of solely the past season would be a tad silly. Kompany is clearly superior to Luiz and is, when on form, only behind Vidic in the Prem. If it's solely based on form, then Ferdinand would be in the discussion. Piqué's had a torrid 18 months. Easy on the hyperbole, Davey. I know you're a fan of it but tone it down a notch.

You are aware that Luiz isn't a top 5 CB in the Prem, let alone the world. But to answer - Vidic, Kompany, Thiago Silva, Chiellini, Barzagli, Hummels, Subotic, Dante, Ramos to name a few.

I'm pretty sure that if the Final is against anyone else but Bayern, Gotze plays even if he's 80% fit or whatever.

For the money being touted for him, you can practically get any CB in the world for £30m. Ideally, you buy a world class CB.

His moments of madness are far too frequent to be moments. Being a good defender at times and then a poor one at others isn't the makings of a world class CB or a player who'd be an asset to any side. Because he's scored the odd screamer and has improved slightly as a player this season, I think there seems to be a heightened level of praise about him - which is probably unjustified.

The announcement was all Bayern's doing, they knew full well that they could've announced it at the end of the season but chose to do so a couple of days before Dortmund's crucial semi.