venom2011

He played deeper against City and was superb, even without considering his goal. His technical ability makes him more effective than Ramires when he drives forward.

The club wouldn't sign him if they think otherwise. In fact there should probably be a misconduct clause in his contract.

His physicality is excellent. Strong as an ox. Mourinho earlier this season before Everton match: “I like a young player, a young English player,†said Mourinho. “The market is closed but I asked a question to position myself to see where he was. We are speaking about a very young player but his price was like he has 50 caps when he had none. “The price for English players is very high, the market is very difficult.†37mil is ridiculous though.

I'd take that. He seems overly ambitious and even after the a World Cup I don't know if he'd want to play second fiddle.

Amazing player. Will seriously miss him.

If he bites/drop kicks Suarez I'm getting his name tattooed on my inner thigh.

This. You can't be upset that you can't buy a new car when you clearly don't have the money.

If you can't beat them, make them slip.

It's possible, but rare because the player needs certain attributes. Any player can play in every position. It doesn't mean they'll do it well. Many have advocated a move to CM for Oscar. Oscar.......the same player who can be knocked over by a stray leaf. Goetze is equally weak. It's a massive part of being a midfielder in a 2-man midfield. Can you imagine Matic driving forward, losing the ball, and a team like City counter with Oscar or Goetze covering? The very notion is ridiculous to me never mind a coach like Mourinho. That's why I was so impressed with Barkley today. I've seen him in an attacking role but wow he was so composed in a deeper role. That boy has everything - pace, power, good technique. I just hope we renew our interest as Jose alluded to earlier this season. People seem fine with paying 40m for Pogba but 20+ for Barkley seems a stretch.

Watching Barkley today look so comfortable in a deeper role has piqued my interest. Looked very assured and obviously dangerous going forward. Perfect partner for Matic I'd say.

Sure. I get what you're saying. It's a toss-up really. On Shaw=Rooney, again Rooney improved greatly after that - Shaw may not. The homegrown issue is a major concern going forward. No doubt the club are looking at likes of Barkley, Stones and Shaw because of it.

If Shaw is here for 10 seasons that means he has progressed and of that there is no guarantee. At the moment he's still far from being a top class fullback in my opinion - a bona fide talent certainly. If he does not improve over the next 4 years though, we've spunked 30m on a decent player with a heavily depreciated resale value. Ultimately these permutations are of little relevance. What we need to worry about is quality. There are better quality fullbacks available for less. Azpi arrived for 7m and was arguably at the same level Shaw is now. For 30m I expect the likes of Marcelo/Alaba etc. I of course wouldn't be disappointed if we signed Shaw.

Torres linked with Inter and A.Madrid so let's hope it's finally the end. Rather have Eto or a young striker.

We need to stop thinking about the future and think about next season. It's time to buy impact players again a la Matic. In any case Felipe has one year remaining on his contract I believe. Hence the interest and possibility of a cut-price deal. No way anyone pays £17mil for a 28yr old left-back with a year remaining.

We could have torn it up as well. Our whole season I mean. Let Mata roam around. Let Hazard not track back. Score a few great goals, crushing weaker opposition. All backed by the technical brilliance of Ramires, Mikel and Luiz. And then we would have enjoyed a comfortable position way behind the league leaders and the young guys would have spent another season not learning about how to mount a title challenge in the toughest league in the world. Hindsight....

Right. It's all relative. That's why I prefer to discuss attributes and skills of potential signings. Costa is not absolutely top notch. Certainly not as good as Falcao. But he gives you work rate, he holds the ball up well and made a few dangerous runs which never paid off - one of those players who don't excel at any in particular. I'm not his biggest fan but I think he would get 20+ goals a season for us. Unfortunately I think we're priced out of any elite striker transfer but no doubt the club have a list and the likes of Costa and Benzema are on it.

Would be difficult for me to stomach that without moving him to CB. Ivanovic is just a beast. He would be starting RB or CB in most top teams.

Yep. He doesn't need to create 100 chances. He needs to help the team dominate the game first and foremost and then create a few. And he was fine in that regard at the start of the season. If we were to play the CL final against Madrid, I still believe that we would have more of a fighting chance with Oscar rather than Mata.

Yes. We saw once again the problems associated with a midfield pairing of - a defender with decent technical ability and a midfielder with none. And both had absolutely no clue how to breakdown Atletico. Lampard, Mikel, Ramires, Van Ginkel - if Matic is injured that midfield combination doesn't even look like top 6 material. One of Mikel or Lampard (contract depending) I'm sure will be replaced by a more usable midfielder soon.

Yes certain games. He wouldn't have helped us tonight and possibly in some of the other big games - City and Pool away. He may have opened up Palace though...

Not sure if I would take him over Costa but he would certainly improve our forward line. And he has scored a few beauts this year. Not a bad option and coming into his peak.

Well their delusional fans sure do.

...

So competing for the title this year does not seem much better to you than the hogwash we served up in previous two seasons? The point is this: when you don't have the strongest or most productive team then the only way to compete is work ethic. That is essentially small team mentality but the likes of Klopp, Guardiola and Jose have added that to their own philosophy. I guarantee you that if you swapped Mata and KDB into the team we would have lost more games against better opposition. Hell, KDB was last in the pecking order for CMs and AMs for a reason. I want to to see the team evolve into a well-oiled machine and NOT rely on the odd magical moment.