Champions of Europe Thread [2012-2013]

[Sir Calumn]

Lukaku to West Brom on loan. He'll have competition for places, but if he can't beat Odweminge, Cox, Long and Rosenberg for a starting spot he's not gonna makevit at Chelsea.

Not ecstatic about this..... yes he should be able to better those guys, but they are still going to be preferred as they are permanent players. Could easily have loaned him to a better club with fewer rivals and a manager with a better track record of developing talent.

 

[ShiftyPowers]

Those are Premiership caliber players. Tough draw for a 19 year old. But then as you say, if he really does have such great potential it should start to show. But then again, Welbeck was at Preston North End at 19.

 

[kp41]

I don't think you guys need hulk ... I wasn't impressed by his performance at Olympics.

 

[ShiftyPowers]

So... Moses or Oscar this year? Probably Moses, right?

 

[Pogba4Now]

Chelsea's new recruits look really promising... But it might take some time from them to adapt because they're all from much inferior leagues. I expect Hazard to make an instant impact but not too sure about Oscar.

You definitely need a reliable backup to Torres because you never know with him. I'm not a fan of Sturridge. He's very inconsistent.

 

[Zakov]

I'm banking that Oscar will take less time to settle than Hazard, what we're missing right now is the quick link up in midfield, and I believe Oscar can provide that for our team. But saying that if Oscar can get the gas running early, I'm sure everyone else in the team will benefit. Hazard is still developing I think, he's like an early version of Robben from what I've seen in pre-season.

I think Lamps needs to be rotated whether he likes it or not and our future lineup should permanently feature Oscar in the role Lamps used to play. We don't have Drogba anymore so Lampard's ability to pick a long pass isn't needed as much as it used to be.

Although the "Route one" method is useful when everything else isn't working, with Lukaku out on loan, I don't see anyone potentially being able to hold up the ball at the front like Drog usually does.

 

[Sir Calumn]

I agree with much of that. We still haven't signed the Modric\Moutinho that we have been chasing for a couple of years and I fear we could suffer for it....

But we also need to turn out attention to defense. The thing about Luiz and Cahill is that they are both really good defenders and both with a lot of potential but they both play best when they are next to a rock, someone who doesnt make mistakes, someone totally reliable. IMO they are still so inconsistent and unpredictable that if they play together on a regular basis, mistakes WILL happen, mistakes that result in goals. Obviously a younger JT was the perfect foil, but he is now getting too old and also likely will be banned for 8 games. If we sign another RB it will help that we can Ivanovic to provide CB cover, but really I think we should be out scouring the world for the next Vidic.

 

[Mandieta6]

I disagree, once we sign a RB, I have complete faith in Luiz, Cahill, Terry abd Ivanovic to do fhe job. It's one of the last places we need improving upon.

 

[Sir Calumn]

You wait til just one of them gets injured. You were the one that was saying last winter that you liked the idea of signing Cahill as a squad player but hoped he wasnt to be stepping up as a permanent starting CB and that we would still get someone else in to replace Terry (who needs replacing soon if not now), what's changed?

 

[Arnau]

I think you will sign a 9 instead a midfielder

 

[Sir Calumn]

I think you will sign a 9 instead a midfielder

Cavani?

 

[Mandieta6]

Doubt it, that's a lot of money. I do think we need Terry replaced, just not now. Terry-Luiz and Cahill and Ivanovic backing them up is perfect for now. Next season we'll see.

 

[Arnau]

Then you need someone backing ivanovic for the rb spot, azpilicueta?

 

[Sir Calumn]

Then you need someone backing ivanovic for the rb spot, azpilicueta?

That goes without saying, Az or Maicon will definitely be arriving before the end of August.

 

[Mandieta6]

Yeah, my bet is on Azpilicueta. We beed an RB no matter what we do at CB.

 

[ShiftyPowers]

I heard Bilbao is going to go for Azpilicueta. If this 33m Martinez to Bayern transfer goes through tomorrow it might be inevitable.

 

[Zakov]

I'm sure Azpilicueta wouldn't turn down the opportunity of playing Champions League football and the World Club Championships.

Ivanovic to miss the opening three games as well, if we do manage to sign Azpilicueta and he goes on to play well, Iva will be in for a fight.
I'm not sure if he's cemented that RB position over the years. He has played well in that position on numerous occasions but what we really need is a right sided version of Ashley Cole. Adequate and quick in defense and good going forward.

 

[Arnau]

Ivanovic is an absolutely top RB, defensively safe, decent going forward and fantastic on the air. With the lack of good RB in football i wouldn't move him from there.

 

[Mandieta6]

With the current dearth of top-class fullbacks (it's not that there aren't, there just are very few truly world-class players at the moment), I'd say Ivanovic is one of the very best RBs around right now. Anyone we sign (especially because there are only maybe 3-4, if that, better RBs) is gonna be a back-up. That includes Azpilicueta, Maicon, Debuchy and anyone else we've been linked with.

When we sign Azpi (and I say when because if we don't sign him or someone similar I will kill someone), he will be 2nd choice. He'll get games, of course, since Ivanovic is also our 4th choice CB (and he's 4th choice because he's 1st choice RB, if he was only a CB I'd consider him a starter), and Azpilicueta offers more width and drive going forward. He'll get plenty of games against lesser opposition. That's why Azpi is perfect, he's young, he offers something at RB that Ivanovic doesn't and won't demand high wages or too many appearances, which Debuchy might. Not to mention that Debuchy is reaching the peak of his career which means we'll be looking at losing both our RBs in the space of a 1-2 seasons.

Either Azpilicueta now or Maicon now and re-evaluate the market next season, but we need someone quick.

Also, Terry will only miss the Supercup, and not the first CL match too, and Ivanovic sounds like he won't get a ban because the Shield is considered a friendly.

 

[Xifio]

how about van der Wiel?

I just want to see Big Doug at PSG ...