With Remy looking a goner, that leaves us with one, a hamstrung striker who ,when fit is brilliant. When fit being the important words, cause he wasn't for a third of the season. Bamford , who would be a walk up starter in my squad, will be sent somewhere else to up his value and then moved on, so I don't think we will ever see him in blue at the bridge. My 2 choices are Benteke, a like for like sub for Drogba, and a good 1 up front for the "cut out the midfield game" we often played with Drogba at his best. That will work well in the PL maybe not in a tougher format. My other choice is Lacazette, though that is unlikely because he has what Jose doesn't like too much of, skill and flair. Now Jose has won a couple more trophies than me, but is not, in my opinion without his faults, one of them being he is quite rigid in his thinking. Yes he won us the PL title, but he failed to impose us on the CL. I understand that last season was a rebuild and catch up sort of time, and we did it incredibly well. However, I believe that by sticking with what has worked for him in the past, he has been outdone by more creative managers like those from Barca, especially from Atletico, and also Bayern. Not to say they are better, just more daring, more up to date.Or they were last season. My feelings are we could carry one brilliant attacking striker with a great record of scoring ,without endangering the "tracking back" philosophy that is our mantra. Someone like Gerd Muller may not have got into a Jose team. We did very well last season , but were exposed when measured against the venomous attacking game of Barca, Bayern, Real and Juve,. We couldn't even put away a mediocre PSG. So to become a major force again in the CL, where the big kids play, we need a change in philosophy. Teams like Barca have moved on, but we haven't done anything except solidify, and that's a good start. But we will be playing for "best of the rest" against pretty expensive but ordinary PL teams unless we up our attacking venom. Starting with a striker. Interesting indeed who will be our strikers for next season, just a month or so away now.
longest month of my life for few professional reasons as well. Can't wait this month to be over. Would like Remy to stick around. 3rd striker could be falcao or Benteke. Think we could pay half of Benteke's fee with Falcao's wage & loan fee. That is no brainer.
Totally agree with Remy, he looked a very good player with proper game time. Very apprehensive about Falcao, but Jose must be trusted, most of us questioned Fabregas, and Jose was 100% correct.
I think that was just you CP to be honest!! I was made up with the signing myself. Falcao looks a disaster waiting to happen. Hoping a player rediscovers form from 2-3 years ago following a horrible injury and horrible first season in England and at his age is more than wishful thinking. If Remy wants to leave to get first team football then fair enough. He is too good to sit on the bench most weeks but probably not good enough to lead our line as first choice.
Few of us had doubts over Cesc going the distance. He struggled to some extent towards the end. But overall most of us knew Cesc will be good fit. In the end he was a great fit considering everything. Now, Falcao looks worse than Nando & Sheva put together!! I am not on board with Jose, unless the super agent helps to sign some other player due to Falcao deal.
I think the problem is how to replace a 30 goal per season midfielder that we used to have to cover up our lack of striking prowess is the problem. You don't know what you've got till it's gone so to speak. We have not had a prolific strike force since the Dixon/Speedie partnership up top, many moons ago. Drogba came close but was more an important goal scorer than a prolific one. We need to sign a blue chip striker to complete the jigsaw. I like Costa when he is fit and has his goal scoring head on, but when he does his UFC impersonation then well.....It isn't what we need.
I think part of the problem is that Jose gets too caught up in the PL. there's simply too many bragging rights to be had over the course of the season. That and the media he finds it difficult to see past the lights shining in his direction. It's not like he hasn't got pedigree in winning the CL. Just that he seems to mess it up colossally when he does it with Chelsea.
I think he's just sensible. Premier league is easier to win. He made 3 semis with a very good Real team and lost them all. Would be very hard for an English team to win it at the moment.
I am going to have to change tone a bit but up top we don't have the quality that we need. Costa is fantastic but injuries are going to always be there and I fear with more frequency. I'd love to see Bamford play some games, but at the end of the day I think we need to sign another striker. Would never have suggested Falcao, but as said above if it is a ploy to get Griezman then I support it. Wouldn't mind raiding Madrid for Turan either but we'll see... What we do know is that we do need to bring talent in as well as up from the reserves.
You signing Falcao will be like hoping Torres would come good, how many games do you think that cost you ?
How many managers will be the right question! TBH - signing Rad without any Sub or Main plot, will be Charity!
Spot on Varier, a fit Costa is the business, and Remy is a great #2 but perhaps just not quite good enough for #1. Bamford would be the perfect #3 until he gets a little more experience. So as it stands looks like we only have Costa, so we are well short up front. I'd like to see a Jimmy Floyd type rather than a Drogba type as I think one biggun up front is not the way to win the CL anymore. As for Falcao, all we can do is hope. Hopefully he can be returned to Monaco new year if he doesn't perform, we don't want another " Nando" season from him. We could also do with another Cesc type in midfield and another ball playing CD for the future. That's in addition to Zouma, who I really rate. Any news on him?
Have a feeling Bamford will be loaned out again, to someone like Watford, then sold next summer. Remy is good, will be sad to see him leave if he goes, but understandable seeing as he will only get games when Costa is injured or suspended. Costa, as has been said, is a brilliant striker, but if he is only going to play 25 league games a season due to suspensions and injuries, our second choice needs to be on the money. And yes, as also mentioned, Costa needs to cut out the UFC ****. He already missed 10 games per season with injuries, we don't want him getting needless suspensions for stamping, elbowing etc I kinda like how he gets in defenders faces and annoys them psychologically, kinda a head **** game plan, but he cannot cross the line to the point where he is getting red cards or suspensions for stamping etc, needs to reel that in a little.
Lol why does he even do all that stuff? Its just not necessary xD I like remy. I feel hes beeing shortchanged just as demba was before him. The only upside of this loan is that a dpace remains open for bamford next year
