With the news that we are likely to sign Gary Cahill as an immediate replacement for Alex i can't help but think that we need to sign one more CB. There is every chance John Terry could be facing a ban later on this season and if the worse comes to the worse with Ivanovic now a right back we will litrally be left with Cahill and Luiz, one of them get injured and its Ivanovic in the centre (where he is unconvincing as) and Bosingwa back at right back for crucial champions league games. Now it has been seen many times that Bosingwa at right back and Ivan in the centre at the same time does not work atall and we need to everything we can to avoid that happening again after January. So for me we need 2 centre backs, Cahill looks on his way, who else?
It would be great to see an all english backline of Hutch , Cahill, JT and Ash I think only one center back is necessary this window as there is every chance Raijkovic could return in the summer
Thought Bos had a good game at CB tonight and once again we looked very comfortable with Paulo back in the defence. I agree also it would be great to see Sam back, would be absouletely remarkable and quality!!
Was impressed also. People say he can't defend at full back so it was pretty impressive to play at CB the way he did. Has he ever played there before?
Not sure about his previous clubs mate but never before for us, i know Paulo has that's why i was suprised we stuck him at RB. I agree aswell he actually defended much better in the middle than he does right-back
Paolo is one of the most consistant players I've ever seen, he's just gone downhill without regular games and age. A model professional aswell and often goes unrecognised in that sense.
Totally agree Drogs, commented on loads of threads before we should keep him as his still a great player, puts 100% effort in and is happy being a squad player, not to mention we wouldn't get anything for him anyway so theres no point!
Would be a great coach to Luiz, just teach him that theres no need to panic and to just relax and take it easy like Paulo does. Bit too quiet to be a main coach though, but his a legend nonetheless!!
Ferreira > Drogba Didn't watch the match today and nice to hear Bosing played CB and held well.. So looks like our make shift backline is better than most of our rivals..
I think we will be just looking for like for like replacements in Jan with Alex and Anelka certain to leave. Most likely at this stage looks like Cahill and the guy from Juventus (name escapes me now). I don't expect any 'major' signings until the summer but with Essien due back new year that'll be like having a new signing (hopefully!)
Alex, Bosingwa,Ferrera off and Luiz not totally convincing as a CB, says to me we now have to bolster the back 4 and 2 will be needed!
Not being funny but since when were Ferrera and Bosingwa 'off'? Alex is not certain to leave but likely, the others are going nowhere. Bos is arguably first choice (and has been pretty good this year) and Ferrara seems entirely happy to play a squad role (and you have to have players like this). Really you need 2 players in each position which means at the moment we have Ferrera Luiz Terry Ivanovic Alex Bosingwa Cole Bertrand This doesn't take into account any youth/reserve players or loanees (can we bring any back if need be?) 2 rb, 4 cb and 2 lb (allowing for ivan at centre but obviously can play right side if need be as can Luiz). If Alex leaves we just need to replace him with Cahill. I'm also wary of a potential Terry ban but we surely can't just buy another centre back just in case Terry gets a ban. Maybe bring someone in on loan just til the end of the season??? Luiz has had his moments but I'm sure we can all see the player he will become and he's young, only been here a year and cost over 20 million, we can't be seriously considering replacing him!?!?
I think the only people we really need is a CB, a midfielder, and a striker. It looks like Alex will be going so a CB is a must, most likely cahill. I still think we need another midfielder - modric,moutinho or tiote due to the fact apart from lamps, ramires and meireles we haven't got any other main midfielders that aren't holding midfielders but saying that we will have Piazon available to be selected in the first team from January, and come January it looks like Anelka will leave and Drog n Kalou are off to the ACN so if Torres gets injured were pretty much ****ed so i think we'll have to buy a striker, hopefully pato or cavani
I agree I think we need another midfielder but only one who will bring the creative influence we are missing. Modric would be that player but is not going to happen and is Tiote top quality?? Is he going to run games the way a Modric/Fabregas/Alonso type can? Moutinho is a good shout but would be next year at the earliest as Porto aren't selling in Jan. Personally I think we should wait till the summer and make Swiensteiger (sic?) our no 1 target. The guy is top class and still fairly young. Very very hard to sign players from Bayern but he is better than Modric and we were going to pay 40 million for him. That sort of money may tempt them. If that doesn't work out, the likes of Gotze, Moutinho even maybe Nasri (if he fails to settle) are other options. Or play Josh but clearly AVB doesn't think he's ready so we'll have to see how the inevitable loan goes. As for a forward, the ACN only lasts a few weeks so I wouldn't buy someone just to replace drogba and kalou for a few weeks. But I agree Anelka needs replacing. Piazon seems to be doing well for the reserves, why not just promote him?? That would give us Kalou, Malouda, Mata, Sturridge, Lukaku, Torres, Drogba and Piazon till the end of the season. That's 8 into 3 positions or 6 for a few weeks during ACN. If Torres gets injured we will simply have to play Danny upfront or rely on our 18 million summer signing!!
