8 hours ago, Slojo said:

That's true, but he's dropped some awful performances when I've watched him. He's a youngster as I said, but I think he's also massively hyped because he's English. 

Scored and assisted on the weekend. 4 goals and 6 assists in 9 games. I'll take that inconsistency for a player who is stronger on the right of a three than left. 

No player is consistent every week. But if a 19 year old is pulling up those stats, he's going to get hyped. Doesn't matter where he's from. Name someone else better at his age? Some posters like to drop an unheard of player at smaller clubs because they are cheaper. I want us to spend some money and get the best. 

42 minutes ago, bisright1 said:

Scored and assisted on the weekend. 4 goals and 6 assists in 9 games. I'll take that inconsistency for a player who is stronger on the right of a three than left. 

No player is consistent every week. But if a 19 year old is pulling up those stats, he's going to get hyped. Doesn't matter where he's from. Name someone else better at his age? Some posters like to drop an unheard of player at smaller clubs because they are cheaper. I want us to spend some money and get the best. 

Dortmund drew 3-3 at home to a team bottom of the league. I watched the game and he contributed the grand sum of f**k all to the defensive phase. The new Jesper Gronkjaer. ?

 

Edited November 25, 20196 yr by the special one

Not sure how I feel about Christensen. I feel like if he was playing under a manager like Pep everyone would be calling him one of the best in the world because of his control on the ball and distribution.

Looking at it purely from a defensive point of view, hes nothing overly special, but I still rate him higher than Zouma, though Kurt has been good in the past few weeks. Certainly better than Tomori has been anyway

2 hours ago, the special one said:

Dortmund drew 3-3 at home to a team bottom of the league. I watched the game and he contributed the grand sum of f**k all to the defensive phase. The new Jesper Gronkjaer. ?

I don't really give a sh*t about defensive phase. Hes19, that can be trained. 

2 hours ago, bisright1 said:

I don't really give a sh*t about defensive phase. Hes19, that can be trained. 

You won’t change his mind.  This is the guy who wants us to sign Jack Grealish and Lewis Cook.

1 hour ago, mwblue10 said:

You won’t change his mind.  This is the guy who wants us to sign Jack Grealish and Lewis Cook.

Was  it him droning on and on about Callum Wilson last season, or was that some other pundit?

1 hour ago, yorkleyblue said:

Was  it him droning on and on about Callum Wilson last season, or was that some other pundit?

Might’ve been, can’t say for sure.  Though I tend to tune out recommendations regarding players with hardly an ACL.

Really really need to shore up the defence.

Centre back and Left back must be the #1 and #2 priorities.  #3 would be a better keeper and #4 a better backup striker.  A Winger would be well down the list at #5 tbh.  3,4 and 5 can wait until 2021.

Would prefer just to spend 100m on a world class centre half.  Someone who can become a Van Dijk or a Varane.  Rudiger is injury prone and not world class even when fit - Tomori is still learning with a long way to go, and neither Zouma nor Christensen have the ceiling to cut it long term at this level.

 

On 26/11/2019 at 04:59, Whiskyjack said:

Really really need to shore up the defence.

Centre back and Left back must be the #1 and #2 priorities.  #3 would be a better keeper and #4 a better backup striker.  A Winger would be well down the list at #5 tbh.  3,4 and 5 can wait until 2021.

Would prefer just to spend 100m on a world class centre half.  Someone who can become a Van Dijk or a Varane.  Rudiger is injury prone and not world class even when fit - Tomori is still learning with a long way to go, and neither Zouma nor Christensen have the ceiling to cut it long term at this level.

 

Totally agree. More I think about it, its obvious to see that defence is the weakest when we think about our past defenders Terry, Carvalho, Desailly, etc where the elite class A defenders. Its no coincidence that Liverpool is doing well now that they have van dijk and even Man city where dominating when they had Kmpany. Man utd when they had Ferdinand and vidic etc. Point is that defence is extremely important and in our team I do not see a leader or an elite defender like the above. Rudiger would hugely improve that but we do need a potential world class star. I have being watching Ruben Dias quite a bit and I think he has the potential to be just that. He is very tall could help Kepa with clearing crosses, powerful, great speed and very good spreading the ball from the back and only 22 yrs old.  We would have two outstanding Rubens in the team. 

22 minutes ago, Gentian said:

Totally agree. More I think about it, its obvious to see that defence is the weakest when we think about our past defenders Terry, Carvalho, Desailly, etc where the elite class A defenders. Its no coincidence that Liverpool is doing well now that they have van dijk and even Man city where dominating when they had Kmpany. Man utd when they had Ferdinand and vidic etc. Point is that defence is extremely important and in our team I do not see a leader or an elite defender like the above. Rudiger would hugely improve that but we do need a potential world class star. I have being watching Ruben Dias quite a bit and I think he has the potential to be just that. He is very tall could help Kepa with clearing crosses, powerful, great speed and very good spreading the ball from the back and only 22 yrs old.  We would have two outstanding Rubens in the team. 

Ruben Dias also gas a £60m buy out clause. He would be a great signing, but whose place does he take? 5 centre backs is overkill imo, so one of Tomori, Zouma, Christiansen, or Rudiger, will be surplus to requirements. 

January is a difficult time to buy players, so i actually think activating release clauses would be a great idea. Dias for £60m, and Werner for £30m. Then look at the more difficult negotiations for the summer like chilwell, sancho, etc.

On 25/11/2019 at 08:47, bisright1 said:

Scored and assisted on the weekend. 4 goals and 6 assists in 9 games. I'll take that inconsistency for a player who is stronger on the right of a three than left. 

No player is consistent every week. But if a 19 year old is pulling up those stats, he's going to get hyped. Doesn't matter where he's from. Name someone else better at his age? Some posters like to drop an unheard of player at smaller clubs because they are cheaper. I want us to spend some money and get the best. 

4 goals and 6 assists in the Bundesliga though. 

This is the same league where Serge Gnabry is the best winger. If you play for Dortmund or Bayern, you're going to pull up decent stats.

6 hours ago, big blue said:

Ruben Dias also gas a £60m buy out clause. He would be a great signing, but whose place does he take? 5 centre backs is overkill imo, so one of Tomori, Zouma, Christiansen, or Rudiger, will be surplus to requirements. 

January is a difficult time to buy players, so i actually think activating release clauses would be a great idea. Dias for £60m, and Werner for £30m. Then look at the more difficult negotiations for the summer like chilwell, sancho, etc.

Totally agree. I would personally sell Christiensen since his stock is still high, we could possibly get at least 30 million for him. Unpopular opinion but Tomori has not being that great either, there is nothing outstanding that he offers apart from pace and he is a bit short for a defender. 

4-3-3
                                               Kepa (Button)
Azpi/James - Zouma/Christensen - Hubner/Tomori - Chilwell (Azpi/Rahman)
               Kovacic/Cook - Jorginho/Cook - Grealish/RLC (Mount)
    Gerard/CHO (Brown) - Abraham/Gerard (Brown) - Pulisic/Grealish
      
4-2-3-1
                                              Kepa (Button)
Azpi/James - Zouma/Christensen - Hubner/Tomori - Chilwell (Azpi/Rahman)
                  Kovacic/Cook (Ampadu) - Jorginho/Cook (Ampadu)
          Gerard/Pulisic/CHO - Grealish/Mount - Pulisic/Grealish/CHO
                                      Abraham/Gerard (Brown)
                       
4-1-4-1
                                             Kepa (Button)
Azpi/James - Zouma/Christensen - Hubner/Tomori - Chilwell (Azpi/Rahman)
                                      Jorginho/Cook (Ampadu)
Pulisic/CHO - Kovacic/Mount (Brown) - RLC/Grealish - Grealish/Pulisic/CHO
                                       Abraham/Gerard (Brown)
                       
3-4-2-1
                                             Kepa (Button)
               Zouma (Azpi) - Christensen (Zouma) - Hubner (Tomori)
     James (Azpi) - Kovacic (Cook) - Jorginho (Ampadu) - Chilwell (Rahman)
                       Gerard (Mount/Brown) - Grealish/RLC/Mount
                                      Abraham/Gerard (Brown)

Incoming: Button (£5m), Hubner (£15m), Chilwell (£70m), Cook (£40m), Grealish (£70m), Gerard (£40m), Brown (free), Rahman (free)
-£240m

Outgoing: Rudiger (£30m), Emerson (£35m), Willian (free), Alonso (£35m), Kante (£80m), Giroud (£5m), Pedro (£5m), Barkley (£25m), Batshuayi (£20m), Bakayoko (£30m), Caballero (free)
+£265m

Profit: +£25m

Edited December 2, 20196 yr by the special one

Seems we all agree the defence needs sorting out. It's also obvious that without Tammy We desperately need a good centre forward.

7 minutes ago, Kev56 said:

Seems we all agree the defence needs sorting out. It's also obvious that without Tammy We desperately need a good centre forward.

We have only been without Tammy one match, I'm hoping Frank comes up with a different solution if he is not fit tomorrow.

 

 

On 21/11/2019 at 15:21, the special one said:

Not necessarily what I'd like to see;

Buy: Button (GK/Brighton), Chilwell, Lewis Cook, Jack Grealish, Gerard Moreno (Villarreal), Benjamin Hubner (CB/Hoffenheim)
Sell: Rudiger, Barkley, Kante, Hudson-Odoi, Giroud, Pedro, Emerson

4-4-1-1/4-2-3-1
                                                        Kepa/Button
Azpi/James - Zouma/Christensen - Hubner/Tomori - Chilwell/Alonso
  Willian/Pulisic - Kovacic/Cook - Jorginho/Cook - Grealish/Pulisic
                                                  Mount/Grealish
                                                Moreno/Abraham

The buy list is pretty poor outside of Chilwell.

But the sell list? What an atrocity it would be if we sold both Kante and CHO???? (Though I do agree on the other ones that need to be sold though)

34 minutes ago, DisposeOfDeadwood said:

The buy list is pretty poor outside of Chilwell.

But the sell list? What an atrocity it would be if we sold both Kante and CHO???? (Though I do agree on the other ones that need to be sold though)

Don't get me wrong I wouldn't be happy if we sell Kante but £100m+ profit toward the stadium and a better team for it? I'll take that any day of the week. Sorry but I'd take Grealish over CHO in a heartbeat.

Incoming: Button (£5m), Hubner (£15m), Chilwell (£70m), Cook (£40m), Grealish (£70m), Gerard (£40m), Brown (free), Rahman (free)
-£240m

Outgoing: Rudiger (£30m), Emerson (£35m), Hudson-Odoi (£50m), Alonso (£35m), Kante (£80m), Giroud (£5m), Pedro (£5m), Barkley (£25m), Batshuayi (£20m), Bakayoko (£30m), Caballero (free), Pasalic (£25m)
+£340m

Profit: +£100m

 

Edited December 3, 20196 yr by the special one

37 minutes ago, the special one said:

Don't get me wrong I wouldn't be happy if we sell Kante but £100m+ profit toward the stadium and a better team for it? I'll take that any day of the week. Sorry but I'd take Grealish over CHO in a heartbeat.

Incoming: Button (£5m), Hubner (£15m), Chilwell (£70m), Cook (£40m), Grealish (£70m), Gerard (£40m), Brown (free), Rahman (free)
-£240m

Outgoing: Rudiger (£30m), Emerson (£35m), Hudson-Odoi (£50m), Alonso (£35m), Kante (£80m), Giroud (£5m), Pedro (£5m), Barkley (£25m), Batshuayi (£20m), Bakayoko (£30m), Caballero (free), Pasalic (£25m)
+£340m

Profit: +£100m

 

Stop it, its boring now.

In: A.Telles (£25m), Romagnoli (£80m), L.Martines (£60m), Areola (£20m)

Out: Alonso (£15m), Barkley (£15m), Christensen (£25m), Pedro (n/a), Giroud (n/a), Baba Rahman (£8m), Zappacosta (£10m), Drinkwater (£12m), Bakayoko (£25m), Kenedy (£10m)

Net Spend: £65m

Squad:

Kepa/Areola

        James/Azpi    Rudiger/Zouma    Romagnoli/Tomori     Telles/Emerson

Jorginho/Kovacic      Kante/Kovacic

Willian/Pulisic           RLC/Mount          CHO/Mount

Tammy/Martinez

 

Anyone that disagrees is wrong. 

 

7 minutes ago, RIP Mourinho said:

In: A.Telles (£25m), Romagnoli (£80m), L.Martines (£60m), Areola (£20m)

 

£200m on that lot ? non of them have played in this country before, too many gambles. We need players who have EPL experience as well, our last world class signing Kante came from this league,  we signed Morata and Higuain, both looked good in other leagues, comes to this league and looked like lost souls. No way we should dump all our money on unproven players.

25 minutes ago, coco said:

£200m on that lot ? non of them have played in this country before, too many gambles. We need players who have EPL experience as well, our last world class signing Kante came from this league,  we signed Morata and Higuain, both looked good in other leagues, comes to this league and looked like lost souls. No way we should dump all our money on unproven players.

Please name a proven LB, CB and ST from the prem we can realistically buy. 

£70m on Chilwell is extortionate.

£40m for Ake who is on par with Christensen?

Our best signings have also come from abroad. Hazard, Drogba, Ballack, Essien, Ivanovic, Cech. I could go on. 

Torres was proven in this league, wasn't exactly great. As was Barkley, Giroud.

Best strikers in the league all came to the Prem with absolutely no previous experience here (Aguero in La Liga, Auba in France and Germany, Firmino in Germany, Kane in the lower leagues) 

4 minutes ago, RIP Mourinho said:

Please name a proven LB, CB and ST from the prem we can realistically buy. 

£70m on Chilwell is extortionate.

£40m for Ake who is on par with Christensen?

Our best signings have also come from abroad. Hazard, Drogba, Ballack, Essien, Ivanovic, Cech. I could go on. 

Torres was proven in this league, wasn't exactly great. As was Barkley, Giroud.

Best strikers in the league all came to the Prem with absolutely no previous experience here (Aguero in La Liga, Auba in France and Germany, Firmino in Germany, Kane in the lower leagues) 

Hazard 6 years ago, drogba, 14 yrs ago,Essien 15 years ago,........................Torres a decade ago.......Any up to date examples?

Barkley and Giroud were vfm gambles, we didnt spunk loads of £ on them.

All i am saying is we cant rely totally on overseas players, we have to mix it up with players sourced in this league. I could mention names, and i have done elsewhere, but i just dont want us wasting money on a bunch of Moratas, Bakayokos, Kepas, 

My mind changes daily on this tbh. 

In :Ruben Dias £60m, Telles £25m, Sancho £100m, Ziyech £50m, Werner £30m

£255m

out: Pedro, Giroud, willian, free. Barkley £20m, Batshuayi £25m, Christiansen? £30m, alonso £20m, Bakayoko £20m, Morata £50m.

£165m

£100m net spend.

Gk Kepa, cumming

Dr James Azpilicueta 

Dl Telles Emerson 

Dc  Dias Rudiger Zouma Tomori 

Mc Kante Kovacic Jorginho Ampadu

Amc RLC Mount

Rw Sancho Ziyech

Lw Pulisic CHO

Cf Abraham Werner

19 minutes ago, RIP Mourinho said:

 

Best strikers in the league all came to the Prem with absolutely no previous experience here (Aguero in La Liga, Auba in France and Germany, Firmino in Germany, Kane in the lower leagues) 

Liverpool won the CL -and probably EPL - mainly buying players with EPL experience.

8 minutes ago, big blue said:

Gk Kepa, cumming

 

That explains the weak wrists.