It's quiet... summer 2018.

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For me the biggest, maybe only weakness in some games last season, was in front of the back 4...When we didnt have the ball, we got exposed alittle by high press teams like Liverpool. If we spent big on any position this summer, I'm hoping we sign the best DM player possible....whether thats Jorginho, Fabinho or whoever. Another forward like Hazard, Bailey or Mahrez would be nice but DM is the absolute must...I dont see Fern playing another season of 30-40 games....
this is my only concern as well, I've thinking this for a while. The one position we need to address this window is DM, Fernandihno is getting up there I love the guy but next season we will be playing more games and we lost Yaya now so we also need replacement for him. Jorginho for me plus a young Yaya type
 
I doubt Pep would let anyone rest on their laurels mate and the players know that. Hazard has been one of the standout players for years in Sane position, but Sane is very special and we need to hold on to him. Could be the best player in the prem in two years with 10 years left in him.

I like Harzard, but if he comes he sits behind Sane in that position.

Sane first season has been phenomenal, better than hazards first season, (age related) why change it?

I'm not advocating putting Hazard ahead of anyone. I'm not that bothered about getting him tbh.
I agree Sane had a phenomenal season, and yet he frustrated the hell out of me at times.
As good as we were this season, I just like the idea that Pep will see this only as a start and the squad will have to see it that way too.
Everyone's position should be up for grabs at the start of the season. Everyone has to prove they're worth the jersey.
 


If you're going to post gifs when you can't think of a reasonable response at least use a couple of different ones. You've used this one 3 times now.

Why can't you understand that people have perfectly legitimate reservations about signing Hazard?
 
I don't see Hazard replacing Sane......will be 2 positions between Sane,Hazard and Silva
 

Mertens would be a great signing IMO. I know he`s 31, but having him for 2-3 seasons would be great business. Considering his age, he would probably not ask to play every single game, and could play both on the left and upfront. He`s a very underrated player in my opinion, and has a 25m release clause. Wouldn`t hinder Diaz from having a future here either.
 
I don’t even know if I really want Hazard. It’s growing on me a little more and more the more I think about it but it definitely doesn’t inspire me the same way Pogba + Mbappe did.

I agree that Sane has the higher ceiling and it’s a risk but I don’t agree with you at all about Hazard being a lock to start simply because he’s on big wages and came on a huge fee. It’s a terrible mistake to think and act that way and fortunately the club is smart enough to allow Pep to run things however he sees fit and if Leroy is the better option then Hazard will sit on the bench. Case in point being Jesus ‘benching’ Aguero essentially from the moment he arrived.

I’m not inspired by Mahrez at all. Has he played on the left a single time in the premier league? That’s a complete waste of his skill set. He’s not rapid, wont hug the line, and his finishing isn’t built to score from the left. He’s a RW through and through as far as I’m concerned. We have nothing on the left after Sane. Raz is wasted over there compared to on the right and unfortunately Jesus is strictly central now.

We’re at a time as a club where we don’t have to stress at all about transfers, squad management, resources, or coaching decisions. It’ll never be better than it is now. If the club is pulling the trigger then I’m as close to 100% as you can get as far as comfortability goes. I couldn’t care less who comes in because I think it’ll be as optimal as it possibly can be with all considerations taken into account.


I just don't really understand the argument that Mahrez can only play on the right. Almost all wingers are primarily one footed so they all work differently on one side to the other. Sterling played mainly on the left for Liverpool and cut inside but we use him more on the right and putting balls in. Sane played mostly on the right for Schalke and now plays on the left for us. Regardless our system sees them drifting inside a lot because the front 3 are so fluid.

Sure Mahrez always plays on the right for Leicester, but thats because he is their second best goalscorer so they want to be able to cut inside and finish that way. We would not need him to be as big of a goalscorer for us so would be much more free to use him wherever. I can't claim to watch full Leicester games but I've seen plenty of him on MOTD over the years and he has gotten a lot of assists from dead balls, balls over the top from deep and from drifting out onto the left so I don't think we would have any problem playing him there.

And going back to the Sterling and Sane argument, they both did very well for their previous clubs on one wing, and then have gone on to do much better things for us on the other side, if the same were true of Mahrez we would have an unreal player on our hands.
 
If you're going to post gifs when you can't think of a reasonable response at least use a couple of different ones. You've used this one 3 times now.

Why can't you understand that people have perfectly legitimate reservations about signing Hazard?
That gif is something I use in response to utter nonsense that people make up in their heads without ever considering reality and/or fact, especially about players. Hope that clears it up.
 
I just don't really understand the argument that Mahrez can only play on the right. Almost all wingers are primarily one footed so they all work differently on one side to the other. Sterling played mainly on the left for Liverpool and cut inside but we use him more on the right and putting balls in. Sane played mostly on the right for Schalke and now plays on the left for us. Regardless our system sees them drifting inside a lot because the front 3 are so fluid.

Sure Mahrez always plays on the right for Leicester, but thats because he is their second best goalscorer so they want to be able to cut inside and finish that way. We would not need him to be as big of a goalscorer for us so would be much more free to use him wherever. I can't claim to watch full Leicester games but I've seen plenty of him on MOTD over the years and he has gotten a lot of assists from dead balls, balls over the top from deep and from drifting out onto the left so I don't think we would have any problem playing him there.

And going back to the Sterling and Sane argument, they both did very well for their previous clubs on one wing, and then have gone on to do much better things for us on the other side, if the same were true of Mahrez we would have an unreal player on our hands.

If you’re right then I don’t have a single problem with Mahrez. He’s a monster in open play (which we rarely get), his dribbling is phenomenal (creates space then can whip it in effectively like Bernardo or can cut in and has a devastating shot) but I think he’s wasted on the left and I don’t know why Pep would even want him on the left. An advantage of Leroy is the pace, agility, and sheer power of his low cross so I just don’t see him Mahrez playing effectively out on the left side.

What players have done one the past and for other teams is pointless because Pep puts players in positions that maximize their skill set and there’s a reason Fern stopped rotating positions, Kev stays on the right as a false 8, jesus stopped playing LW, and we don’t fuck with swapping Raz and Leroy around (we did OCCASIONALLY in a few second half’s).

I don’t know Peps vision for Mahrez is and I’m probably way off but as now and what I can piece together I’m not seeing it.
 
I agree with this.

I said the same with Sanchez last season: don't want him.

Imo, if we had signed Sanchez at the start of last season, Sane would not now be y.p.o.t.y. & Sterling would have considerably fewer goals due to both having far less responsibility.

No guarantee Sergio would have found the form he did, either. (It might even have fucked up our season, when you look at how average Sanchez has been for both Utd & Arsenal). I think he would have just been a huge spanner in the works of our forward line. Hazard hasn't been much better than Sanchez apart from a few flat track bully performances.

Hazard is a huge level above Sanchez though, & for that reason, makes it potentially much worse for all of our front line imo. As you say: he has to play. Someone has to drop out, most games & if he isn't actually as good as the players we already have, when he does play (which is a 50/50 possibility) & does get less time than he anticipated, he will stink the fucking place out with attitude & try to drive a wedge between the manager & KDB etc .

If we sign him & it works out, we will possibly be even better than we are now, because he is one of the best, individually. If it doesn't work, it will probably cause some of the current team or manager to leave.

We don't need him, we can still improve hugely without him, by signing alternative competition for places, without needing them to have superstar status. So why risk it, at his age ?

As it happens, I don't believe for one second that we will try especially hard to sign him, for the reason that we don't need him. I recon we'll enquire, laugh at the fee & that's it.


Exactly. Hazard would stink the place up if he was benched in a big game.

He may not have started the revolt against the gouger but he did sulk all season and surely played a role in the sacking. His recent comments after the FA cup only solidify this. Criticizing the defensive approach. Saying he wants to wait to see who the club sign before he extends. Saying he plays better when he is surrounded by good players (basically saying his current team mates are not good enough). It may be honest but I don’t like these comment and would not appreciate them if one of our players said something similar.

Don’t think we will go all out for him like you said. If he was available for a decent fee and reasonable wages we would buy him but Chelsea will ask for a lot more than we want to pay and Hazard will demand to be our best paid player so for me this deal is unlikely.

But being linked with Hazard is good for all parties. It should help us in our pursuit for hopefully Mahrez and it will help him get a move probably to Real or encourage Chelsea to pay him crazy wages and sign some talent.
 
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Signing someone like Jorginho is far more important than capitalising on Chelsea’s frailties by signing their talisman.

Personally, I would be delighted if we just signed Jorginho and Mahrez. They both would add something new to our already phenomenal squad. Anyone else is just a bonus in my eyes.
 
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