Who do we sign with Pastore gone?

His best attributes for me is his dribbling pace and crossing so no CM pls

I don't like that myself cos I can't see either of them 2 bursting up from midfield for the counters etc and Ram needs to play for me.

Josh and Luka are too similar to play together imo

You are linked with Meireles today...

Kind of strange considering AVB binned him from Chelsea

You mean porto, sepi?

I think with Ashley cole and PVA out wide at LB they will provide the crosses and Sturridge and Malouda can then cut in. If we have width on the RW we'll do really well, remember Malouda can be a good player.

Gil wrote:Modric and a creative wide forward and I'll be happy with our squad.

How will it be beneficial for us to get Modric? Modric is an older version of McEachran as he plays as a CM and creates from there. What would happen to Mceachran if Modric comes? If we play 4-3-3, our midfield will be Lampard/Modric/Mikel. Mceachran can't play where Lampard plays and it certainly won't be beneficial to play him where Mikel plays, so he'll be just another squad player yet again. Not even a super sub. And what happens if Lampard can't handle it anymore, which is already evident?? I'll tell you, we'll panic in January when we find out we haven't yet again managed to fix the problem and we'll end up buying a 35m playmaker to replace him, along with Modric's 40m and 100k+ salary. What we need is someone who can replace Lampard and so there's ABSOLUTELY no point in buying Modric because we already have Mceachran and Benayoun to fill that position. We'll just be buying Modric just for the sake of buying a midfielder.

Blue wrote:

Ade wrote:I really don't understand Malouda, because he actually has good crosses in him but yet he thinks hes Xavi or Fabregas.

I don't want Luka purely because of Josh

Thats why Malouda should play as CM, so he finally fulfill his dream to play like Xavi. :lol!:

Josh will replace Lampard by the end of the season, as i said many times Lampard doesn't have the mobility anymore.

Our midfield by January:

---------------McEachran--------------Modric--------------

------------------------------Mikel-------------------------

If Mceachran is going to replace Lampard then he'll need to get goals and assists by the end of the season. He isn't anywhere near ready to take a big responsibility like that and he will/should only be used as a creative Cm, Modric style (which is why we don't need Modric). I'm not even sure whether he'll develop to be a Lampard or if he'll be a Modric, but it's very evident now that we can't be expecting goals and Mceachran anytime soon. He's good at running with the ball and making passes in CM, but not at finding space and creative goals as of now.

I don't get why we haven't been linked with Honda ever

I think lots of you guys are judging the AM role by Lampard's role, which is fair enough because we are so used to him scoring 20+ goals and lots of assists per season. But an AM is mostly about making that final pass... 10 goals per season + lots of assists would be enough for me, and which is why Josh can be a good player there. He has incredible vision and it will only improve for the next 6-8 years. He would do well at CM as well because of this vision of his but he has some tricks up his sleeve as well and hence he can free up space next to the box and then he could make the final pass to Torres or the wingers. So I think its really unfair to compare or judge McE with Lampard.

+ Zhirkov seems to have agreed for a 4 year deal.

twitter source so nothing is confirmed.

Maybe you are right Infi. But I still have doubts whether McEachran can take that big role as of now.

There will always be doubts but all Josh needs is to prove him self and the doubts will go away. Ask any Arsenal fan and I'm sure they had doubts over whether Wilshere could step up last season but he did.

iNFINITY9910 wrote:I think lots of you guys are judging the AM role by Lampard's role, which is fair enough because we are so used to him scoring 20+ goals and lots of assists per season. But an AM is mostly about making that final pass... 10 goals per season + lots of assists would be enough for me, and which is why Josh can be a good player there. He has incredible vision and it will only improve for the next 6-8 years. He would do well at CM as well because of this vision of his but he has some tricks up his sleeve as well and hence he can free up space next to the box and then he could make the final pass to Torres or the wingers. So I think its really unfair to compare or judge McE with Lampard.

Perfectly said.

A 20+ goal CM is very rare, and they are not necessary tbh. Barca is a perfect example of that. Mikel, Josh, and Modric could play some amazing possession football, they could be Barca lite.

iNFINITY9910 wrote:+ Zhirkov seems to have agreed for a 4 year deal.

twitter source so nothing is confirmed.

Zhirkov is such a useless player, i wouldn't surprised if Kalou gets 5 year contract next.

i'd rather we keep Zhirkov over Kalou though.

But we should sell him.

Twitter is saying hes off to Anzhi for £13.5M

I r confused.

God,please say we are getting 13 m for him!

kick mars wrote:i'd rather we keep Zhirkov over Kalou though.

But we should sell him.

I rather sell both of them.

Ade wrote:Twitter is saying hes off to Anzhi for £13.5M

I r confused.

Please be true

If thats true that will cover our expenditures so far, imagine if we finished the window breaking even haha although theres not a chance in hell of that.

kick mars wrote:There will always be doubts but all Josh needs is to prove him self and the doubts will go away. Ask any Arsenal fan and I'm sure they had doubts over whether Wilshere could step up last season but he did.

Hey! I hope this was not aimed at me..

I fully expect McEachran to eventually break into the starting 11 soon, make no mistake.

But whilst we agree that McEachran has enough potential to make it into this aging squad, I think we disagree on where to play him. I still think we should play him as a CM, but hey if he can play as a CAM then that's even better because then there won't be conflict with Wilshere on international duties.

But we all agree that he shouldn't be playing DM.

Zhirkov going for 13m??

I'll take it!!

This also means that the club trusts Aanholt or Bertrand to play back up LB. Good news!

Tbh I like Yuri but i'd take £13M anyday

as for Josh I do want him to do some more weights to improve his upper body

english_jewel wrote:

kick mars wrote:There will always be doubts but all Josh needs is to prove him self and the doubts will go away. Ask any Arsenal fan and I'm sure they had doubts over whether Wilshere could step up last season but he did.

Hey! I hope this was not aimed at me..

I fully expect McEachran to eventually break into the starting 11 soon, make no mistake.

But whilst we agree that McEachran has enough potential to make it into this aging squad, I think we disagree on where to play him. I still think we should play him as a CM, but hey if he can play as a CAM then that's even better because then there won't be conflict with Wilshere on international duties.

But we all agree that he shouldn't be playing DM.

that was aimed at you. I did not mean to be rude.

IMO, Josh should be groomed to play as a playmaking CM, especially as we have Lucas and Kakuta in our ranks, both AM's so Josh will either compete with them or make another spot his in the future.

Ok i personally have a slight spot for Yuri so I wouldn't honestly mind him staying.. but if we get 13m I think its a fair deal. Im pretty sure that he will do well in Russia again though... just sad that a player of his potential didnt do well enough here. Maybe we should have got him 2 more years early for him to adjust properly. I still believe that he could offer something for us though.. cos he is what? 27? Same age as Torres.

kick mars wrote:

english_jewel wrote:

kick mars wrote:There will always be doubts but all Josh needs is to prove him self and the doubts will go away. Ask any Arsenal fan and I'm sure they had doubts over whether Wilshere could step up last season but he did.

Hey! I hope this was not aimed at me..

I fully expect McEachran to eventually break into the starting 11 soon, make no mistake.

But whilst we agree that McEachran has enough potential to make it into this aging squad, I think we disagree on where to play him. I still think we should play him as a CM, but hey if he can play as a CAM then that's even better because then there won't be conflict with Wilshere on international duties.

But we all agree that he shouldn't be playing DM.

that was aimed at you. I did not mean to be rude.

IMO, Josh should be groomed to play as a playmaking CM, especially as we have Lucas and Kakuta in our ranks, both AM's so Josh will either compete with them or make another spot his in the future.

That's what I was saying. I would prefer him as a CM rather than an AM. But that would obviously change if we get Modric.

BTW, Zhirkov's prospective teammate is saying that Zhirkov will leave Chelsea...

EDIT: Another reason why I do not think McEachran is suitable for the CAM position is because of his weight. If the opposition side has a DM, then that DM would easily eat McEachran alive because of his slight frame. But at CM he won't have to face a DM.