I hope we play maximum games every season. With a bigger squad and a better manager, of course.


I'd rather an out-and-out striker than either of them. Rooney is showing all the signs of Torres' final days at Liverpool.

I'd agree with starting our summer spending on the defensive areas, but I have no idea who we would be likely to go for. Thankfully, Pepe publicly criticised Mourinho's treatment of Casillas last week, so if he is the new manager I don't think he's one we'd have to worry about signing

We are not that bad at the back.

We need better cover for Cole and hopefully Shaw will fit the bill.

In the middle we have Terry, Luiz, Cahill and Ivan. Thats not a bad selection if all are fit. They all seem to play better with JT as a partner though i will admit.

Apzi on the right has been pretty good adapting to his first season in the prem. Hopefully he will kick on again next year.

The DM position is still a worry. Mikkel is just not good enough, and Essien back from Madrid is probably past it now. I have enjoyed the Luiz experiment and think we should continue it though.

It should be a good summer for us.

My shopping list grows ever bigger:

Falcao, Shaw, Fellaini and Rooney on the cheap with Lukaku, Cortois, deBruyne recalled.

If we could be sure of getting the Rooney from a year or so ago, I would pick him every time.
As I said, there's something a bit fishy about this business I reckon.

We also have to bear in mind the Premieship squad rules. There's a maximum of 25 players (over 21) only 17 of those can be foreign. The remaining 8 (if we want to use our full allowance) must be "home grown".
Quote: A home grown player means a player who, irrespective of his nationality or age, has been registered with any club affiliated to the Football Association or the Football Association of Wales for a period, continuous or not, of three entire seasons or 36 months prior to his 21st birthday (or the end of the season during which he turns 21).

Players under 21 don't count, so Hazard and Oscar were ok for 2012/13 but may be counted as overseas players for 2013/14. Lukaku will be ok, in fact he may be eligible to be classed as home grown for the rest of his time in the Premiership.
To be honest, I've never really looked through our squad to see where we are in the light of the rules governing players.

With better management our CB's would be far more solid, but there's still big room for improvement. If Luiz stays in CM we'll definitely need to go for a new CB and, IMO, it should be Terry's replacement as our first choice. Glad it's not my job to find him.
Kalas could come in to replace Ivanovic as our RB/CB hybrid. I'd like him to have a season in the Premiership first, but Bran has hardly looked good at all this season.
Luke Shaw should be signed and loaned out for a year. Bags of potential and a solid first season, but another year of regular football is more important than coming in as back-up. Bertrand will be adequate second choice, but never first choice.
DM is a must but, again, I wouldn't know where to start. Kondogbia at Seville is highly rated. 20 years old which fits with our new policy. I think I'd like some players with more experience.

It's so much easier to speculate over attacking players

Rafael Varane is a highly rated young CB, perhaps Mourinho could work his magic and steal him from RM. Have we given up on Jeffrey Bruma ?.he was going to be the next big thing. If we're talking youth, Kurt Zouma is another exciting talent. Of course, we have one of the highest rated (youngish) central defenders in the world in David Luiz. Perhaps we will just have to get used to his lapses in concentration if we don't convert him into a midfielder ?

I agree, in central midfield we need to go for someone with experience. Xabi Alonso is certainly not one for the future, but he might fit the bill for a season or two. Arturo Vidal at Juventus has earned some rave reviews. Khedira was one of Mourinho's first signings at RM and they remain close, perhaps he'll go back for him ? We have been liked with Paulinho, which would increase our Brazilian connection..a tough tackling midfielder, not a bad choice in my opinion. Moutinho is a classy player, not sure if he's quite what were looking for though. Then of course there's Fellaini, but his game has appeared to have changed this season.

Quick word on the game, fantastic performance for the most part, we absolutely caned them for sections of that game but once again couldn't finish a team off and allowed them back into it. We had people falling over and banging their heads when it looked easier to score FFS.

Sad that another dodgy bit of officiating cost us three points but we'd take a win against Man U and a draw against Spurs at the start of the week.

I think ultimately lacking that real cutting edge up front has cost us greatly this season - if we had a decent striker (or at least given Ba a consistent run to get his eye in) we would probably be safely in a top 4 position and looking at least one trophy already.

It's going to be a grind right to the end, can we rest anyone for the Villa match and If we don't are we jeopardizing the Europa League?

The amount of energy we are expending is immense, players like Mata look like they are fading to me.

The player himself says he wants to play DM so it could be an option, and push him up front for a plan B.

I like Varane, but I'm not sure that's a likely signing. If Luiz is to stay a CB I'd suggest Mourinho bring Carvalho in as a coach. Luiz likes to think of himself as a similar player....I don't think I can take much more of him as a defender.

Hamburg have said they won't be signing Bruma. He's was always on the bench when I checked this season. Considering how bad they are it doesn't look good for him.

We should be ok, playing early Saturday then Wednesday evening. We have more than enough talent to win both those games. A win against Villa and we can relax for the final, and the players will soon forget any tension or tiredness.

So a win against villa is a must.

Then a win in the European final.

Then we can cheer Moyes on his way in the last game.

Sounds good to me.

Quality wise we should royally shaft Benfica - the way we done over Basle who are a very good side was pretty impressive and shows that the team are gelling.

Never saw the match(or highlights), but it was a decent result given that we beat Man Utd, a CL place looks likely now and its only ours to blow. We should really beat Villa at the weekend and that should be that. Shame we couldnt have guaranteed it yesterday though

Must win game today. Come on you Blue Boys.

I think it's far from likely!

I strongly fancy Spurs and Arsenal to win their final two games, in which case we'll need a win against Villa or Everton.
We always find it tough away at Villa, and i most certainly wouldn't want to go into the last game needing to beat tricky opponants like Everton.

Still, it is very much in our own hands, and you'd have to take that over relying on others to drop points.

You are right, i wouldnt want to have to beat Everton in Moyes final game to guarentee a CL spot. We need to finish it off now. We were 10 mins away from securing it v Spurs on Wednesday but blew it. Villa should be more than beatable but they are in a relegation scrap so will really be up for it today, i think it will be a tough game but we should still win, IMO(i really hope so!!!)

Lampard and Terry start today, surely a sign that they wont be playing in Amsterdam... Mata and Hazard also start and i fully expect them to be playing both games.

Today's team:

Cech; Dave, Cahill, JT, Cole; Ramires, Lamps; Hazard, Mata, Moses; Ba

A strong team, and I agree it looks like JT and Lamps won't be starting on Wednesday. It's nice to see JT finally get a game though.

We'll win today with that starting line-up.

Very poor defending by Cahill, suddenly it's looking a lot tougher.

Have we actually come from behind to win this season?

Spurs, Everton, Sunderland..we have made a habit of starting sluggishly this season. I'm surprised there have no further goals, neither defence looks very sound. But our build-up has looked so slow at times in this first half, Villa have looked more dangerous on the break.
They need a rocket up the backside at half time, not good enough.

Jesus..that's all we needed.

I remembered Everton. Wasn't sure about Spurs.

Ramires off. Have I mentioned lately how much I hate playing Villa?

Well, that was bloody awful. For once, I'm lost for words.