48 minutes ago, Sconnie Blue said:

Yeah it's evident our midfield needs surgery. Something I wanted back in 2020 but what's 3 years late? Jorginho isn't going to turn us into league title contenders and even at their best Kovacic and Kante are very limited going forward. 

Going to need 2-3 new quality CMs between January and in the summer. Honestly annoying reading the constant reports of attackers when our midfield is in a dire state. Liverpool are apparently in for both Enzo and Bellingham...

2 new central midfielders as replacements for Kante and Jorginho is a bare minimum. That would still be just replacing players, not getting anything extra to work with but we are talking about key players, key signings. Arsenal is getting the results now and they have Partey, Elneny and Xhaka so here's hoping that our new 2-3 midfielders will make a real difference for us.

Maybe this upcoming summer will end up being the most important transfer window for us, those 2-4 new players could either do a whole lot for us and we'll keep being a top 4 team, or we'll need a few extra transfer windows to come back into relevancy. But I don't believe we can challange for the title after 1 summer transfer window but if we get 3 central midfielders + Nkunku it's a great start.

1 hour ago, Sconnie Blue said:

Yeah it's evident our midfield needs surgery. Something I wanted back in 2020 but what's 3 years late? Jorginho isn't going to turn us into league title contenders and even at their best Kovacic and Kante are very limited going forward. 

Going to need 2-3 new quality CMs between January and in the summer. Honestly annoying reading the constant reports of attackers when our midfield is in a dire state. Liverpool are apparently in for both Enzo and Bellingham...

Bellingham I made peace with the fact was going to Liverpool but I managed to convince/delude myself we had a shot with Enzo so that's deflated me a bit.

1 hour ago, Argo said:

Bellingham I made peace with the fact was going to Liverpool but I managed to convince/delude myself we had a shot with Enzo so that's deflated me a bit.

Liverpool are going to struggle to finance the Bellingham deal there's no chance they'll get Enzo too.  Unless they have some fancy new owner(s) lined up.

14 hours ago, Argo said:

Off the top of my head Kante, Kova, Jorginho, Pogba, Di Maria, Ibra, Casemiro, peak Auba, Ronaldinho (three times), Ribery, Yaya, Tevez, David Silva, Suarez all went to clubs without UCL.

We've by many accounts convinced Nkunku and got Gvardiol potentially interested despite UCL football being in jeopardy next season while another club likely to miss out have appeared to have convinced Bellingham and Enzo (gulp).

Frankly if Rice is that short sighted then I want him even less than I already do.

We don't have peak pulling power anymore imo. Despite their troubles United do, so do Liverpool, Barca and the like. CL matters more to us than them as we are not seen at their level without it imo.

9 hours ago, axman2526 said:

We don't have peak pulling power anymore imo. Despite their troubles United do, so do Liverpool, Barca and the like. CL matters more to us than them as we are not seen at their level without it imo.

I very much disagree. We've already as good as signed Nkunku and have Gvardiol interested (if we lose out to him it will be because the lure of Real is too strong which we'd have had to deal with regardless of our UCL status).

This current generation grew up watching us be nothing but succesful, that alone will keep us interesting to players for a good while yet.

1 hour ago, Argo said:

I very much disagree. We've already as good as signed Nkunku and have Gvardiol interested (if we lose out to him it will be because the lure of Real is too strong which we'd have had to deal with regardless of our UCL status).

This current generation grew up watching us be nothing but succesful, that alone will keep us interesting to players for a good while yet.

In fairness we only have speculation about this and as has been seen in the summer most of this cr@p is generated by agents to get the deals that they want where their players really want to go. Gvardiol will no doubt go to RM but they will use us as the patsy to get the package that they want.

I hope i am wrong but i firmly belief the majority of footballers nowadays are gutless and self absorbed and therefore if they can get an easy life for the money they will always pick the weak leagues. 

5 minutes ago, WhiteWall said:

In fairness we only have speculation about this and as has been seen in the summer most of this cr@p is generated by agents to get the deals that they want where their players really want to go. Gvardiol will no doubt go to RM but they will use us as the patsy to get the package that they want.

I hope i am wrong but i firmly belief the majority of footballers nowadays are gutless and self absorbed and therefore if they can get an easy life for the money they will always pick the weak leagues. 

I wouldn't class going to Madrid as gutless if I'm honest quite the opposite, the expectations/standards there are through the roof.

Any prior achievements are instantly forgotten about if you have a poor following season, compare that to here where for example Pulisic still to this day is given leeway due to a purple patch in a semi pre season.

Just now, Argo said:

I wouldn't class going to Madrid as gutless if I'm honest quite the opposite, the expectations/standards there are through the roof.

Any prior achievements are instantly forgotten about if you have a poor following season, compare that to here where for example Pulisic still to this day is given leeway due to a purple patch in a semi pre season.

You get multi million pound money and about 4 tough league matches a year. If any of these blokes have the chance to earn millions in the toughest league in the world making a name for themselves or earn millions cruising around in a two team league, it is easy to see what they choose. All this about its always been their dream to play for so and so, what tosh.

Pulisic is given leeway here, as so many players are becuase of the stupid wages we all pay to mediocre players that look like fantastic "generational" talents and clearly aren't so that they end up on money islands that we cannot get them off of.

4 minutes ago, WhiteWall said:

You get multi million pound money and about 4 tough league matches a year. If any of these blokes have the chance to earn millions in the toughest league in the world making a name for themselves or earn millions cruising around in a two team league, it is easy to see what they choose. All this about its always been their dream to play for so and so, what tosh.

Pulisic is given leeway here, as so many players are becuase of the stupid wages we all pay to mediocre players that look like fantastic "generational" talents and clearly aren't so that they end up on money islands that we cannot get them off of.

I simply don't agree with this narrative La Liga is an easy league. It was made to look easy because Barca and Real were so good. In the last few years since they've both been relatively poor for their standards there's been many shock results (the kind that was used to demonstrate how amazingly competitive the PL was when we had reasonably poor Champions losing/drawing more games than they should have been).

Pep and Klopp have made this league look just as easy as Pep and Jose did La Liga back then, if not more so.

2 hours ago, Argo said:

I very much disagree. We've already as good as signed Nkunku and have Gvardiol interested (if we lose out to him it will be because the lure of Real is too strong which we'd have had to deal with regardless of our UCL status).

This current generation grew up watching us be nothing but succesful, that alone will keep us interesting to players for a good while yet.

They also grew up knowing one of, if not the, best player of that successful Era joined us only because Lamps and Co won the CL to keep us in the CL the next season, not because of any past achievements because they were all short term compared to the longevity of aura a Real, Bayern, United or Liverpool

We need players of that quality joining if we are ever to have hope of going head to head with City again. Cast offs like Koulibaly and Sterling don't cut it.

On 13/12/2022 at 14:50, Gol15 said:

2 new central midfielders as replacements for Kante and Jorginho is a bare minimum. That would still be just replacing players, not getting anything extra to work with but we are talking about key players, key signings. Arsenal is getting the results now and they have Partey, Elneny and Xhaka so here's hoping that our new 2-3 midfielders will make a real difference for us.

Maybe this upcoming summer will end up being the most important transfer window for us, those 2-4 new players could either do a whole lot for us and we'll keep being a top 4 team, or we'll need a few extra transfer windows to come back into relevancy. But I don't believe we can challange for the title after 1 summer transfer window but if we get 3 central midfielders + Nkunku it's a great start.

Do we actually need 3 midfielders considering Nkunku functions as a 10? To get the best out of Nkunku we would need to either switch to a 4-3-3 or a 4-2-3-1, can’t see Potter getting him to function if he intends to stick to to his favoured back 3 in this league. Sure he could use him in a 3-4-2-1 but that would hamper players like Sterling who would be shafted to the AMCR, or use him up top in 3-4-1-2 but that comes with it’s own problems also.

Hypothetically he switches to a back 4, we would need 6-7 midfielders Nkunku inclusive. Even if we assume Kante & Jorginho are leaving on a free and we flog  RLC to an Italian team, we would still have Mount, Gallagher, Kovacic, Chukwuemeka, Casadei fighting for 5-6 places (assuming Nkunku is set). You buy Declan Rice & Enzo Fernandez, and that is 5 players trying to fit in 3-4 squad places. We would need a back up for Declan Rice in the DM role, and Ampadu on loan at Spezia is a free option and offers us flexibility since he can also at CB. That further reduces the squad places to 2-3 places. Kovacic is a key player for me, and offers us experience so that further reduces the available roles to 1-2 places. Then you could have Mount/Gallagher permanently cover at RW & at AM for Nkunku so that is one of Mount/Gallagher, Casadei or Chukwuemeka having to slot in 1-2 midfield roles. Can’t see us finding a place for a 3rd new midfielder.

2 hours ago, ducavis said:

Do we actually need 3 midfielders considering Nkunku functions as a 10? To get the best out of Nkunku we would need to either switch to a 4-3-3 or a 4-2-3-1, can’t see Potter getting him to function if he intends to stick to to his favoured back 3 in this league. Sure he could use him in a 3-4-2-1 but that would hamper players like Sterling who would be shafted to the AMCR, or use him up top in 3-4-1-2 but that comes with it’s own problems also.

Hypothetically he switches to a back 4, we would need 6-7 midfielders Nkunku inclusive. Even if we assume Kante & Jorginho are leaving on a free and we flog  RLC to an Italian team, we would still have Mount, Gallagher, Kovacic, Chukwuemeka, Casadei fighting for 5-6 places (assuming Nkunku is set). You buy Declan Rice & Enzo Fernandez, and that is 5 players trying to fit in 3-4 squad places. We would need a back up for Declan Rice in the DM role, and Ampadu on loan at Spezia is a free option and offers us flexibility since he can also at CB. That further reduces the squad places to 2-3 places. Kovacic is a key player for me, and offers us experience so that further reduces the available roles to 1-2 places. Then you could have Mount/Gallagher permanently cover at RW & at AM for Nkunku so that is one of Mount/Gallagher, Casadei or Chukwuemeka having to slot in 1-2 midfield roles. Can’t see us finding a place for a 3rd new midfielder.

I agree, 2 would be enough, specially if Potter rotates when needed and gives Casadei the chance to play. Gallagher might find it tough to fight for his spot once Nkunku comes but he's maybe one of our best finishers so Potter shouldn't give up on him.

On 12/12/2022 at 10:41, just said:

Thanks for this Sconnie. Third and final simple "yes" or "no" question.

Do you think a good "defensive" midfielder should be able to defend reasonably well?

 

On 12/12/2022 at 11:01, Sconnie Blue said:

No problem. On the topic of simple questions, I have one which also requires a Yes or No answer. 

Do you believe the deepest lying midfielder should be able to lead a build up and retain the ball against the best teams in the world?

All these lines gentleman yes or no to this one.

Do you agree with @Munkworthand myself that @Gol15is in fact really Jorginho?

5 hours ago, axman2526 said:

 

All these lines gentleman yes or no to this one.

Do you agree with @Munkworthand myself that @Gol15is in fact really Jorginho?

On 15/12/2022 at 23:35, Munkworth said:

Looks like @justis a bit busy celebrating Jorgis likely departure and @Sconnie Blueis too busy putting pins in his Mount voodoo doll to reply Munk.

9 hours ago, axman2526 said:

Looks like @justis a bit busy celebrating Jorgis likely departure and @Sconnie Blueis too busy putting pins in his Mount voodoo doll to reply Munk.

Well in further sensational Declan Rice news that may grab their attention, he had a curry at as the New Kyber in Kingswood the other day which is right next to where I live. In fact I was there working the day after. You could say that me and Declan are now best friends. 

Just now, Munkworth said:

Well in further sensational Declan Rice news that may grab their attention, he had a curry at as the New Kyber in Kingswood the other day which is right next to where I live. In fact I was there working the day after. You could say that me and Declan are now best friends. 

My BFFiness with Bobby Tambling, Joe Cole, Jason Cundy and Neil Barnett is much more significant 

1 minute ago, Valerie said:

My BFFiness with Bobby Tambling, Joe Cole, Jason Cundy and Neil Barnett is much more significant 

I’ll raise you Jimmy Floyd, Torre Andre Flo and Luca Vialli but then I’m all out of Chelsea players I’ve actually met!

1 hour ago, Munkworth said:

I’ll raise you Jimmy Floyd, Torre Andre Flo and Luca Vialli but then I’m all out of Chelsea players I’ve actually met!

But have you been kissed (chastely on the cheek) by any of them?

Edited December 18, 20223 yr by Valerie

Top or bottom cheeks?

4 hours ago, Valerie said:

But have you been kissed (chastely on the cheek) by any of them?

Ah @Munkworthif only you had met Carlo Cudicini and gotten a kiss on any of your many cheeks...

Edited December 18, 20223 yr by axman2526

1 hour ago, dkw said:

Top or bottom cheeks?

A lady doesn't tell and neither do I, so I'll leave that to your imigination 😛

On 12/12/2022 at 18:26, Argo said:

That reminds me of when United fans use to try and argue with me Wan Bissaka was better than Reece because of the formers reputation for well timed slide tackles.

I remember when Chelsea fans used to argue that we should sign him from Palace.

Read some articles that talk about how Liverpool has agreed to sign Enzo Fernandez for the full buyout clause of 100m+ next season while he stays in Benfica for a full season or till next January... 

 

2 hours ago, Gol15 said:

Read some articles that talk about how Liverpool has agreed to sign Enzo Fernandez for the full buyout clause of 100m+ next season while he stays in Benfica for a full season or till next January... 

 

I can't wait for the excuses when Enzo is transforming Liverpool and Rice is here hiding behind attackers and trying to dodge getting involved in the build up phase.

And you bet it will be the same that have spent the last two years telling us how great he is how our expectations for him are too high.