Mole_Toonfan

Sounds like bollocks to me, gonna believe Ryder on this one

Mixture of the first two imo, at Juve he was a LCM and was given the freedom to do what he saw fit on attack and he was fantastic this season. Be interesting to see what Mourinho does, if he uses him like he used Lampard at Chelsea then he'll be great if he uses him like France did at the Euros then it's an insane waste.

More lacking in terms of CMs who can create rather than AMs imo. Sure Rafa knows that though.

Should have sold him for 10m less to get it done earlier imo.

I've only seen him for Juve. He's half the player Dybala is. Not sure about the comparison there. For me Pogba is the best CM in the world and has absolutely everything. Not many of those kind of players around with the potential he has. I can go along with that. His size and technique combined give him fantastic potential. He's got great confidence and reads the game well. There's just something about his attitude that doesn't sit right. Doesn't perform at the level he's capable of anywhere near often enough. Right now, I'd much rather have Dybala. Maybe Pogba can be developed into a fantastic player, but he's not there yet for me. I made the comparison with Balotelli and I can absolutely see his career going the same way. If you said that before last season i'd agree with you, wasn't the case this season though. I was critical of him myself, but his decision making, passing and practically everything came on leaps and bounds. Not sure the comparison with Dybala though, i agree he's class but he's a second striker so it's a bit of a weird comparison. The reason he's hyped so much apart from his performances in the CL and Serie A is because his skillset is absolutely unique, there is absolutely nothing like him in the world right now. Also Balotelli comparison makes no sense to me, even when i was critical of him before this season his consistency and performances was miles above anything that fraud ever produced. The only comparisons those two have is they both have shit haircuts.

This is certainly true. His highs are very high and he has a great highlight reel. Perfect for the modern, short attention span, YouTube, Twitter, Instagram era. It's really not and he'll prove it as long as Mourinho isn't stupid enough to play him like Deschamps did. See, this is where the logic breaks down a bit. Mourinho is quite stupid at times (see Schurrle, De Bruyne, Lukaku and countless others). He just loves spending monopoly money on players, first class at doing that. Aye i don't trust him either, just saying that the hype is justified based on his Juventus performances but they give him freedom to play how he can be most effective. Waste of time on Man Yoo's behalf if they don't, France play him as a DM because he's a freak athlete, tall and physical But he isn't that sort of player in the slightest.

Interesting, thought he went for a small fee. Strange they didn't see a player in there worth a new contract. They did, he forced the move as he wanted first team football I think. Were they that well off in potentially world class box-to-box midfielders that could be worth a world record fee some day that they couldn't give him a few more first team opportunities? Being facetious but man, and not that they care, but they don't half looks like stupid c***s where this is concerned. See Tooj's post, explains it better Still, Cleverly and an ancient Scholes were preferred to him. Seems mad now. Wasn't just that, Rafael was played in midfield ahead of him as well

This is certainly true. His highs are very high and he has a great highlight reel. Perfect for the modern, short attention span, YouTube, Twitter, Instagram era. It's really not and he'll prove it as long as Mourinho isn't stupid enough to play him like Deschamps did.

Anyone saying he isn't that good clearly hasn't seen him for Juventus, he's one of the best midifielders in the world. Don't judge him on his performances for France as he wasn't given any freedom and basically was protecting the back 4, it would be like playing Yaya Toure as a DM and saying he isn't that good. As long as Mourinho isn't that stupid and plays him as a B2B midfielder with freedom he'll rip the league apart.

SelsOut tbh.

Surely the best defender of the last 25-30 years? Have you seen the footage of him when he was younger? He could have easily been a brilliant winger if he hadn't been a defender. In terms of pure defending Nesta was better IMO, both two of the best i have ever seen mind.

As f***ing if Mike Bassett England Manager is becoming a real life thing.

Wijnaldum hardly started as well and i doubt Rafa is hoping he gets sold, he made specific choices based on the shithole we were in it doesn't matter he doesn't rate them.

Not sure I totally agree with that. It depends how flexible he wants the players beyond those two to be. If we are playing a rigid formation then you may be right, but if we're going to have interchanging attacking players throughout games then it could work well. Someone still has to play the ball into those players, it would be just like England at the Euros where you had a load of players looking to either score or run but nobody playing them in. There's never been a 4231 that worked where at least one of the two was able to put the 4 in front into good positions when they receive the ball. It's one of the reasons Arsenal fell apart at the end of last season once Cazorla went down, they had nobody playing the ball into Ozil and the likes.

It would fall flat on its face tbh, the front 4 would need someone to initiate attacks and set them up. I'm sure Rafa knows that though and if Lucas did arrive he would never pair him with Tiote.

How's he going to learn by sitting on the bench? There's no logical reason behind all that, he's been fantastic since Rafa came in and other than the "he's young". There's not a single logical reason for him not play every game when fit.

He's a good DM who has above average passing for his position, only natural people would rate him imo.

One of those players has to at least have the passing range and vision to initiate attacks though, otherwise you'll see what happens with England is a load of forwards on the pitch but we can't create because nobody is keeping the ball or helping set up that front 4.

I agree, if we need a midfielder it would more of the attacking/creative variety than defensive tbh.

No he isn't: suffered a couple of bad injuries; other than that he's not an Aarons or SDJ type of injured player Really? Thought he was always f***ed. Hardly remember him under Rogers for example. Probably me. If memory serves it was more because Rodgers preferred Allen etc etc rather than him being injured.

Rafa is the manager, i would be shocked if we weren't solid defensively anyway tbh.

Got no issue with him staying tbh, as long as Rafa can get him to give a shit.

Probably because Atletico are one of the best teams in the world He was a starter before he joined them, don't really see why he wouldn't be a starter here if i'm honest.