43 minutes ago, Ernie_blue said:

Should have kept Ake. Can play 3 positions and would have got enough games.

Ake chose to leave. Not a lot the club can do about that.

14 minutes ago, BMox81 said:

Ake chose to leave. Not a lot the club can do about that.

He was under contract until 2020 he held no leverage at all, the club could have easily kept him.

Nat Chalobah was the one who forced the club to sell, by refusing to re-sign.

bigger clubs have vastly bigger squads atm so we need to  bulk up the squad today

3 hours ago, Blue Exile said:

He was under contract until 2020 he held no leverage at all, the club could have easily kept him.

Nat Chalobah was the one who forced the club to sell, by refusing to re-sign.

But we should have tell him, NO. We sell him for 5mln. He was a great squad player. Better lose 5mln., then give 40mln. for guy like Drinkwater ....

 

 

4 hours ago, BMox81 said:

Ake chose to leave. Not a lot the club can do about that.

Never heard that before.

Very worried a few longer than average injuries and we are thread bare competing at home and Europe .

 

If we sign no one could Conte walk ?

2 hours ago, brakeit said:

But we should have tell him, NO. We sell him for 5mln. He was a great squad player. Better lose 5mln., then give 40mln. for guy like Drinkwater ....

 

 

He was going to be out of contract in less than a year, he didn't want to sign a new deal. One way or another he was leaving. 

Id rather get the cash than have a squad player who didn't want to be there for even that small amount of time.

Comparison between our current squad and the 2004/2005 squad which won the PL, League Cup and got to Semi-Final of CL:

GK

04/05: Cech, Cudiini, Pidgeley
17/18: Courtois, Cabellero, Eduardo

LB/LWB

04/05: Bridge
17/18: Alonso, Rahmann

RB/RWB

04/05: Ferreria, Johnson
17/18:  Moses

CB

04/05: Terry, Carvalho, Gallas, Huth (2 CB formation)
17/18: Rudiger, Cahill, Christensen, Luiz, Azpilicueta (3 CB formation)

CM

04/05: Makelele, Smertin, Lampard, Geremi, Parker, Jarosik, Tiago
17/18: Kante, Fabregas, Bakayoko

AM

04/05: Cole, Duff, Robben
17/18: Hazard, Pedro, Willian

ST

04/05: Drogba, Kezman, Forssell, Gudjohnsen
17/18: Morata, Batshyaui

 

We only really had 1 LB that season as well and we saw Gallas fill in there sometimes. I can see us moving Azpilicueta, Moses and maybe Zappacosta if we sign him, over to LB if needed, and we also have Baba to come back. So I don't think that position is weaker than in 04/05.

If Zappacosta comes in as another RB, then I think we're covered well there.

CB we are well covered.

Attacking midfielders we are decently covered, unless Conte wants to switch formation, I think 3 is enough.

 

The only positions I think we need to strengthen now are CM, where you can see we are massively weaker in numbers than in previous seasons, and another ST. If Drinkwater comes in, I still think we could do with another CM, unless we are going to see Luiz move into CM more often.

Just seen our ins and outs from this window, we've brought in 6 and let 39 leave either permanently or via loan, I know some of those players wouldn't have broken into the first team but sh*t, you can see why we're thin with that stat

Who ever is in charge of transfers needs to see the door. Matic sale was disgraceful, Whoever sanctioned AKE, Matic and Chalobah sales, messed up Chamberlain, Lukaku and Danilo deals, and trying to sign Drinkwater.  WTF!!!  Not exactly gonna set the CL on fire when other teams buying well. 

To be honest everyone seems to be banging on about other teams squad depth compared to ours, but looking at Utd's bench at the weekend (one of the main comparisons) compared to ours when everyones fit and available I think ours is better and we have a better starting 11 too.

Chris Smalling?? (pants)
Jesse Lingard? (pants)
Marcus Rashford
Sergio Romero?? (pants)
Ander Herrera?
Marouane Fellaini? (pants)
?Matteo Darmian ? (pants)

Willy Caballero 
Tiemoue Bakayoko
Willian
Charly Musonda 
Michy Batshuayi
Andreas Christensen
Antonio Rudiger

and thats not including Zappacosta and Drinkwater.  City are the only team I can see that beat us squad wise.  Plus we only need to get to January before the reinforcements arrive.