The Striker Thread

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I agree with all bar Courtois. I think it would be insulting to the lad to be passed on to another P.L team. He's more than proved himself at an elite level in the Spanish league and in Europe. Goalkeepers have to stop shots, he shouldn't really need P.L experience in the same way an outfield player might. The pace of the game shouldn't really effect him, maybe just the physical side.

We have 3 options with him as I see it: -

Sell him / makeweight
Extend his contract and let him stay at Madrid whilst Cech still performing well
Bring him back and tell him and Cech they have to fight it out. However if we do this and he doesn't get games, he's not going to extend his contract and only 2 years left now.

Not a bad position to be in but Cech could still perform at the top for at least another 5 years so a decision needs to be made soon.

I largely agree but I think De Gea would've benefitted from some 'PL experience' before moving to United.
 
Sure.

I think Jose will do the right thing. He had no issue shoving Cudicini out when Cech proved he could shine.

From memory Cudicini got an injury, Cech replaced him and Carlo never won his place back, due to Cechs awesome form (not conceding a goal in a record amount of time, cant remember how long it was, but it was nuts).

The Cech/Courtois thing is a real stumper because I reckon Cech has another few years at the top left. But Courtois is one for the future and if we keep him he could be our keeper for the next 10-15 years.
I trust Jose will do the right thing, even if it is ruthless.
 
From memory Cudicini got an injury, Cech replaced him and Carlo never won his place back, due to Cechs awesome form (not conceding a goal in a record amount of time, cant remember how long it was, but it was nuts).

The Cech/Courtois thing is a real stumper because I reckon Cech has another few years at the top left. But Courtois is one for the future and if we keep him he could be our keeper for the next 10-15 years.
I trust Jose will do the right thing, even if it is ruthless.

If he's happy to sign extensions, no reason why he can't stay in Madrid till Cech not at the same level. Just worries me re: our back up options though.
 
The only reason fro me for Cech to stay is the prem clean sheet record. He would most likely break it next year.

If that was already out of the way I would love Cech to leave with his ten years being some of the best, and his testimonial guaranteed.

As I was saying with Courtois, if he can't be in our starting line-up, we surely could not loan him to any of our rivals. If we are given a choice between the two, we have to go with the prospect rather than the legend.
 
JCC is on the money for me. Whoever we finish up with, and we have so many sell/buy options it makes your head spin, we need to have 16-18 top choice players. Jose seems to have settled on 12 ,and signs of staleness/tiredness are evident. We might scrape through with this policy for the rest of this year, but to go up a notch, we need more choices the manager is willing to play.
Form your own opinion why one of the worlds best left backs watches from the stands, why Luiz, who with Matic, formed our best midfield combo all year, is covered in cobwebs sitting on the bench.
This is nuts from where I sit. Jose doesn't have to marry them, just play them in the appropriate games.Seems unless they are superstars like Hazard, Jose just won't players a long run once he takes a dislike to someone.
That goes with the territory with Jose, so look forward to whatever players come in, suspect we won't see any youngsters again next year, but with Jose, it's anyones guess.
 
JCC is on the money for me. Whoever we finish up with, and we have so many sell/buy options it makes your head spin, we need to have 16-18 top choice players. Jose seems to have settled on 12 ,and signs of staleness/tiredness are evident. We might scrape through with this policy for the rest of this year, but to go up a notch, we need more choices the manager is willing to play.
Form your own opinion why one of the worlds best left backs watches from the stands, why Luiz, who with Matic, formed our best midfield combo all year, is covered in cobwebs sitting on the bench.
This is nuts from where I sit. Jose doesn't have to marry them, just play them in the appropriate games.Seems unless they are superstars like Hazard, Jose just won't players a long run once he takes a dislike to someone.
That goes with the territory with Jose, so look forward to whatever players come in, suspect we won't see any youngsters again next year, but with Jose, it's anyones guess.

Agree that Ash should have played more games despite many saying on here that he had lost his mojo.
It is just that Azpilicueta has been so consistently good match after match
 
Agree that Ash should have played more games despite many saying on here that he had lost his mojo.
It is just that Azpilicueta has been so consistently good match after match
He sure has, but unlike the midfielders and forwards who change game by game, the back 4 are immovable. Hazard, our best player this year by the length of the straight, gets left out occasionally for a lesser player, but not the back 4. This makes no sense whatsoever to me, all players need a week off or even a game out occasionally to stay fresh. I'm hardly Coles biggest fan, but what is being done to him, and to a lesser extent to Luiz, is childish, disrespectful, and dare I say it, unprofessional. I don't think the Club has been put 1st in this instance.